#I went to this one egg hunt thing at school

[oldcloroxcasserole]

That notebook was MINE‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

[eff4freddie]

After She Left | Five

Words: 6k

Preparations for Jackson's first ever prom are well underway, and even Ellie is helping out. As Jackson's only teacher it is, of course, your job to run the show and you'd be more than capable if one parent didn't keep distracting you.

Chapter warnings: Illusions to smut, slow burn, angsty memories of being a teenager, 'She' finally arrives. Minors DNI.

A/N: Ok, second act kicks off after this chapter. You'll get a glimpse of what that means now. Hope you enjoy!

Four | Series Masterlist | Six

Your dreams were changing. Used to waking with a chill, the echoes of loss and the face of your sister blurred in the grey clouds streaking across your dreamscape, you’d started to wake now with a warmth, a vein of light. You felt it on your skin like the first spring day out of a long, cold winter. You’d wake trying to grip its tail as it slipped from you.

The prom thing was your idea, and you only half regretted it. You’d had the idea when Isaiah had asked you what school for you was like, so fascinated by the before times, the kids trying hard to imagine classroom upon classroom filled with students all of the same age. You’d tried to explain that school wasn’t anything, really, that sometimes you didn’t even go because it was so boring, and they gawped at you, disbelieving. You felt a little sliver of shame at having wasted it, reminded yourself that was what you were supposed to do at age 14.

You’d mentioned prom, and there had been a ripple of interest throughout the room.

‘So, there was dancing? But it wasn’t the whole town, it was just you and your friends?’

‘Well, there were teachers and parents as chaperones, but…yeah, there were so many of us that it was just each grade. We got all dressed up, we had our picture taken, we had to choose dates.’

‘You went with a boy?’ Celina piped up from the front row, her nine-year-old face scandalised by the idea that you would willingly expose yourself to boy germs.

‘Yeah, well, some girls had boyfriends in their grade.’

‘Did you have a boyfriend?’ someone asked, the judgement almost silent, and you knew without looking that it was Ellie.

‘No, I didn’t. I had a crush on a boy, but it didn’t really…’

You remembered him, even now, an actual apocalypse not enough to erase the shame. You’d let your friends talk you into a promposal, standing in the bleachers as he ran track with an enormous sign that you’d spent far too many hours painting at your bestie’s kitchen table. It had heart-shaped glitter. You were especially proud of that detail.

You hadn’t realised that the entire track team would also see it, that you would need to specifically point him out in the crowd. Never had you imagined that he would dodge away from your finger, pretending to hide behind another boy, dodging your desire for him while his teammates laughed. It was enough to shrivel your heart into coal. You’re not sure you ever recovered.

You said none of that in your Jackson classroom. Instead, you focused on the decorations, that there was always a theme, that you heard the high school two towns over got Nelly Furtado to play live at theirs, but you weren’t convinced that was any more than an urban legend. They had no idea who Nelly Furtado was. You didn’t try to explain.

‘So can we have one?’ Mika asked, finally looking up from his comic book. You hadn’t thought he was paying attention.

‘A prom? Well, I’d have to talk to the town council.’

‘Tommy’s my uncle, I got an in,’ Ellie said, her face lighting up with the power of being connected, such nepotism so rare as the last vestiges of civilisation withered.

The kids grinned up at you, and you realised that maybe this was something they needed. Jackson already did Christmas, blew eggs, painted them with bees wax and dye from mashed beets and honey, and held a hunt on the first weekend of what the town council’s best guess was April. You could get the kids to decorate with paper flowers. It would be really cute to watch them decorate the mess hall, and there was probably some kind of educational value in it, too.

--

From his post, Joel watched Guillaume and Jonah, his new patrol partner, disappear into the treeline. He watched them, a little nugget of shame festering in the depths of his belly, but mostly – if he allowed himself to admit it – he was happy to have been moved to shifts on the wall. It meant he wasn’t back so late for Ellie, that he could be home to help with her homework or make her help him make dinner, and he didn’t feel so paranoid all the time when he could see the horizon. He didn’t mind the early starts, preferred the quiet up there, liked being able to turn and survey the town as much as the wilds outside it.

If he turned and leaned over a little, up on one foot on the top rung of the ladder, and leaned a little to the right he could make out the path heading up to the schoolhouse. When Billy asked him what he was doing, he explained he wanted to make sure his girl got to school OK. He generally, for the most part, broadly speaking, was referring to Ellie.

Tommy had been nice to enough not to give him shit for it, even after a bloody-nosed Guillaume took it upon himself to point out that Joel was a liability out there. Tommy had appeared on his doorstep the next morning, his brows crowding together, but Joel had spent most of the early morning on the wall, had imagined you lying in bed as he made sure to keep the nastiness away from you, and he was more ready than his little brother expected to hang up his boots.

‘M’getting older, Tommy, we talked about that,’ Joel reminded him, and Tommy nodded.

‘Still the best shot we got, and the best survivalist.’

‘Don’t mean I can’t advise if anyone asks it of me,’ he said. ‘S’not even that hard, just gotta keep your wits about ya.’ He thought for a long moment. ‘Maybe it’s gettin’ harder, now I think about it,’ he conceded.

‘Well, so long as you’re agreeable,’ Tommy said, shuffling awkwardly.

‘What would’ya have done if I wasn’t?’ Joel asked, a crooked grin forming on his face.

‘Would have taken you off patrol, but mighta felt a little bad about it,’ Tommy answered, earnest. Joel scoffed.

‘You’d pull rank, Town Councilman?’

‘Yes’sir, I would,’ Tommy said, no less earnest. Joel nodded at him.

‘Good,’ he affirmed, and saw the way Tommy expanded under the praise of his big brother. ‘You do what’s right for Jackson, always,’ Joel said, and Tommy agreed.

It was cold up there, though, the windchill on his face and his fingertips causing his whole body to tremor in his coat. It was Spring, but it was turning out to be a cold one, not a lot of warmth getting around the mountain. Joel shuffled his feet, trying to get the feeling back in his toes a little. He hadn’t brought his big coat, thinking the sun would be enough to keep him warm, but now that it was nearing the end of the day, the sun disappearing below the mountain ridge, he was counting every minute until he could clamber down and warm up.

He knew you’d be at his place already, working with Ellie at his kitchen table now that the heat had gone out of the day. He was going to try and make his beef stew tonight, had practically begged the kitchen staff to let him have a side of the meat. He hadn’t resorted to violence, but he would have.

He just wanted to thank you for everything you were doing for his daughter. Wanted to nourish your body the way you were nourishing her mind.

Billy called up to him from the bottom of the ladder. ‘Come on down, Joel, night shift’s here.’ Casting one last glance at the treeline, he vaulted down the ladder to rungs at a time.

--

You’d held a democratic process to determine the theme for the prom, but Ellie had dominated it anyway, either unfamiliar with, or just straight up unwilling to, compromise. As the day grew closer you gave up any pretence of tutoring her, working instead on cutting out yellow paper stars at Joel’s kitchen table.

‘Why does the moon change?’ Ellie asked, one day, and you’d paused for a second. You weren’t sure how bad FEDRA school was by the time she was in it, but that seemed fundamental.

‘Well, I mean, you know we’re a planet, right? That we’re like, a big round ball? Floating in the sky?’ Ellie levelled an impatient gaze at you, and you swallowed.

‘Do you think I’m an idiot?’ she asked, and you thought very hard and very fast.

‘I think you’re brilliant and FEDRA school is terrible,’ you said, diplomatically. She softened, her cheeks pinking up a little.

‘Can’t argue with you there,’ she said, quietly.

‘I mean, how much did they teach you about planets?’

‘Sweet fuck all,’ she said, plainly, and you wanted to tell her not to swear but she was in her own house, and it felt like the horse had bolted long ago in any case. ‘But I read about it as much as I can.’

‘The moon?’

‘All space… being that high up where nothing can, no-one up there who can…it’s just so cool. Were you alive when they landed on it?’

‘Ellie, that was the 60s,’ you complained, waiting for her to do the mental maths and wondering how old she thought you were, or if all adults were just ‘old’ to her, a kind of non-descript age in which you are both responsible for everything and also mere moments from shuffling off into death.

She stared at you blankly. ‘I wasn’t born for another like, twenty years,’ you said.

She nodded. ‘Oh.’

‘A lot of people didn’t even believe we really did land on the moon,’ you said. You picked up another piece of paper, your pile of stars nearly double the size of Ellie’s. She wasn’t being careful, her general distractedness was making her slow.

‘What? But wasn’t it on TV?’

‘Yes, it was, but they said it was faked.’ Her eyes blew wide at this, and you realised she was considering it. ‘Ellie, there’s no way it was faked. There are footprints up there that’ll be there forever.’

‘Guess we’ll never know, now,’ she said, quietly, and you suddenly wondered whether the space theme was such a good idea, after all, whether you were tormenting the kids with something they would never see, never have even the smallest chance to explore.’

‘Ellie…’ you said, but she wasn’t looking at you anymore, concentrating hard on her paper star.

‘It’s ok, it’ll be fun to pretend for the night,’ she said. ‘There’s a lot of pretending, won’t be too hard.’

You wanted to ask her what she meant, who she thought was pretending, but you heard heavy footsteps on the front porch and knew Joel was home. You felt your cheeks flush, your hands picking up a little tremble that make it hard to grip your scissors.

‘Hello, ladies,’ Joel said, and when you looked up, he was grinning at you both from the doorway, his hands criss-crossed over his chest as he leant on the frame. It was a domestic enough moment that you had to fight the impulse to go over to him and welcome him properly, into your arms. Ellie barely acknowledged him, because she was 14.

‘What are we making?’ he asked, picking up one of Ellie’s ‘stars’ and genuinely requiring clarification. You winced a little at it. Perhaps it could go towards the back.

‘Prom decorations,’ Ellie said, and she still seemed a little down. You watched her, carefully, trying to determine if she’d already lit her fuse.  

‘Oh, I won’t interrupt,’ Joel said, raising his hands, feeling something in the air. ‘You stayin’ to eat, Teach?’ he asked, and he hoped his voice didn’t make him sound too eager, didn’t give him away.

‘I don’t want to be a bother,’ you said, just like you always did.

‘Oh my God!’ Ellie sighed, throwing her star down in front of her and pushing her chair back. ‘Just say yes, you always end up staying anyway.’

‘Ellie!’ Joel barked at her, and she huffed, her shoulders so high they nearly touched her ears.

‘It’s true, you guys do all this polite bullshit and for what? Just say what you want and then you can get it. It’s not so hard.’

You looked over at Joel, who was staring at his likely hormonal teenager with a perplexed look on his face. You took a second to gather yourself.

‘I would love to stay for dinner, Joel, but one of these days I want you to let me cook for you both.’

Joel paused, considering this. Eyes still on Ellie, who was still quietly fuming, he nodded his head, once. ‘I would like that, Teach,’ he said, his careful tone that of every bewildered teenage-girl-Dad the world over. ‘Ellie, I want you to go wash up before dinner, then I want you to peel the carrots.’

She stood up, stomping to the washroom. You concentrated hard on the paper in your hands, hoping it was enough to stifle your smile.

‘I want to know what the fuck that was about,’ Joel said to you, but smiling.

‘I want to remind you there’s nothing worse than being a teenage girl,’ you replied.

--

You stood, wobbling on the end of a step ladder, hanging up the stars. Tommy found some string lights and put them up around the mess hall, and Johnny and his assembly of post-apocalyptic musicians set up in the corner. You and Tommy had already pushed all the tables back against the wall to make a dance floor. As you worked, he regaled you with his favourite memories of his own prom, most of which seemed to involve trying to get up the skirt of someone called Tammy Schmidt. She’d never let him anywhere near her, and you told Tommy to his face she was right to do it.

‘You would have been Tommy and Tammy,’ you said, and he started to giggle. Actually giggle.

‘That was the appeal!’ he said, sheepish. ‘I figured it sounded like those made-up celebrity names.’

‘Brangelina,’ you said, and he grinned.

‘Tomammy,’ he replied, and you rolled your eyes.

After everything was set up you went home to get dressed, pulling out a little black number foraged from the bottom of Maria’s wardrobe. She had complained she was never going to get back into it, and you had waved her off. It made you feel silly and out of place and pretty and ridiculous, and you liked the way it swished when you walked. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d swished anywhere. It felt so normal you weren’t sure you could trust it.

When you arrived back at the mess hall the lights had been dimmed, and Johnny and his band were starting to warm up. With the lights down and the paper streamers and stars you could forget for a moment it wasn’t a normal prom, a real one. You felt a surge of pride in your belly, looked around at the tangible good.

You heard the doors to the mess hall swing open, followed by shrieks and laughter and multiple sets of rapidly advancing feet.

‘Oh my god it’s so amazing!’ Mika said, his face illuminated by the warm glow of the string lights, of the smile stretching his cheeks.

‘This is cool,’ Dina said, quietly, up the back, and you grinned. Something in you, some teenage part of you, was quietly relieved.

More kids arrived, some trailed by their parents, and you busied yourself setting up the orange juice and cola station. The kitchen had done little sandwiches and finger food and you wanted to make sure the kids ate, worried you’d send them home on empty stomachs and sugar pinging through their veins. That their parents would never forgive you, and that they would be right.

As soon as the band started up you stepped back, letting the kids swarm the plates and start to dance. You wanted to join them but you also felt a pull back to the edge of the room, kept thinking you were seeing snatches of your sister in the half-light, of you as a girl. You weren’t sure what the feeling was, some kind of melancholic nostalgia, some kind of longing for something that didn’t make sense to you. You’d never even liked prom that much, had mostly just gone because everyone else was. But it was different seeing one from the other side: from the other side of adolescences, from the other side of the end of the world. It felt precious and sad and joyful, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to turn away from it or bottle it up and store it safe under the bed.

You kept wondering if this was what your 14-year-old self ever envisioned for herself, if she could have envisioned anything so apocalyptic at all.

The doors swung open again, and you exhaled the breath you didn’t realise you were holding when Ellie strode in, almost skipping, her face titled up to the ceiling to see all her decorations hanging in the rafters. ‘Holy shit!’ you heard her exclaim, and you cringed a little, trying to avoid the eyes of the parents. You would have to speak to her about that, eventually.

You turned to pour yourself a juice, the acid tingling at the back of your teeth, before you heard heavy footsteps behind you, even over the thrum of the music and of Ellie grabbing Mika and swinging him around the dancefloor.

‘Hey, Teach,’ Joel said, his baritone rumbling out from his chest. You suppressed a shiver.

‘Joel,’ you turned to him, allowing the surprise to show on your face. ‘What are you doing here?’ You were ignoring that he was standing in black suit pants and a white shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, maybe a size too big, you couldn’t be sure. He’d done his hair, or had made an attempt at it, maybe running water through it and in the humidity of the room it had started to curl. You were alarmed at how distinctly you wanted to lean forward and sink your teeth into his neck, to lave at the skin there, to feel his pulse with your tongue.

You swallowed, the juice catching in your throat and making you splutter. Suddenly Joel was beside you, an enormous warm hand between your shoulder blades as you fought, doubled over, for breath.

‘Easy, easy,’ he was saying, and you wanted to slam your eyes shut and imagine him whispering exactly that as he slid inside you, as he rocked into you and felt your cunt quiver around his length. Jesus Christ, you were going to spontaneously combust.

‘Sorry, went down the wrong hole,’ you said, fluttering your hand in front of your face in the hope it would ward him off somewhat. As you straightened, he let his hand slide down your spine and away just as he reached the small of your back, and you felt your spine arch towards where his touch had been.

Fucks sake, you needed to get it together. You were like some horny teenager at, well, prom.

‘Tommy had something he needed to do at home, something with the baby.’

‘Is he OK? Is Maria Ok?’

‘Yeah, they’re fine, the baby just has a sniffle and I believe Maria’s exact words were “you’re not going out there to watch teenagers marinate in their hormones while I sit at home being snotted on by your crotch fruit”.’

You gaped at him. ‘Maria did not say crotch fruit.’

‘Might have put my spin on that bit,’ Joel said, grinning.

For his part, Joel was watching your eyes so that he wouldn’t look down at your dress, a little black flitty number that came up to your knees and down close enough on your chest that when you leant over trying to get your breath he had to move away to resist the urge to stare at the swell of your breasts, instead coming to stand beside you and placing his hand on your back just to try and keep himself standing. You were so fuckin’ pretty, done your hair all up nice. He wanted to swivel you around, tuck you into his chest and nibble on the nape of your neck, put his nose in your hair and inhale as he flipped that silly little skirt over your rear, letting one hand wonder over your cheeks as he slid further down, cupping and probing, into the slick between your legs.

Christ on a cracker, he needed to get it together. He was behaving like Tommy at, well, prom.

‘Place looks great,’ he said, his voice slightly strangled. You gazed up at him, taking a second to comprehend his words.

‘Thanks, Ellie did amazing work with the stars,’ you said, and you knew he knew you were lying, and you also knew he was a good enough Dad that he was going to let you get away with it.

‘She certainly has her own style,’ Joel replied, eyeing one particularly wonky cutout you had strategically placed in a dark corner.

You turned to watch the kids dance, Ellie’s hair bouncing around her face as she twisted her hips, holding Mika’s hand as she did.

‘She’s really gravitated towards him,’ you commented, and you looked over at Joel just in time to see a cloud pass over his face.

‘He probably reminds her of…’ he said, but then he trailed off, recalibrated. ‘He’s a sweet kid, so it makes sense,’ he finished.

‘Oh, speaking of sweet, Billy loves having you on the wall,’ you said, smiling at him and watching him blush.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked, and you swore you could see genuine anxiety on his face.

‘Big Bad Joel Miller helping out? Billy getting to tell you what to do? He’s like a pig in shit.’

Joel could feel the heat on his cheeks and was powerless to stop it. ‘Big Bad Joel Miller,’ he echoed, feeling the words on his tongue, seeing how they tasted. ‘Not sure about that.’

‘You must know there are stories,’ you said, leaning into him a little, goading him a little, wanting to see if you could get him to crack and tell you something about himself.

‘Don’t pay any of that much mind,’ he said. ‘Don’t reckon any of ‘em are close to the truth.’

‘Well, no they can’t be,’ you agreed, quickly, feeling like the conversation was slipping from you and not really knowing why.

‘Not sure there are words for some of the shit I’ve…seen,’ he said, and he saw the shift in your face, the shock before you covered it, and he knew that he’d scared you a little, but there were things he didn’t want to talk about, shit that he’d had to do to get Ellie here, to get her to be able to forget the cost of it all. Big Bad Joel Miller. No one had any fucking clue.

He looked over at you, at the way you had sunk into yourself, and he cursed himself. You were too sweet, too warm, and he’d gone and thrown a wet rag on your fire. If you knew about him you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him. He took a step back, too. You’d made him forget for a second, that he was no good to anyone. Especially not to someone like you.

You were lost in your thoughts, watching the kids again but not really seeing. It wasn’t even what Joel had said, although you felt the way he was pushing you away, and you went willingly. It was that as he spoke you realised, finally realised, what the feeling was that had been pulling at you all night.

You were fucking lonely. 14-year-old you might have been OK with the QZ stuff, with what you had to do to survive, with keeping your sister alive along as you could, with making sure her death meant something, even just until they cleared her body away. 14-year-old you might have even been OK with the teaching, although that would take some convincing. But the fact that you were alone, that you were nearing 40 and hadn’t ever really loved anyone other than your family, hadn’t ever really had anyone love you. OK, so you hadn’t married Jonathan Taylor Thomas, in the circumstances maybe for that you got a pass. But that you weren’t with anyone, that you had wanted love for yourself and never got it, that you had wanted to belong in that most specific way and you hadn’t, hadn’t ever really come home. 14-year-old you was screaming and howling and gnashing her teeth. You’d failed her, failed the both of you.

You were horrified to feel a tightness across your throat, the heat building behind your eyes. You needed to get away from all these people, needed to go and pity yourself in peace.

‘I just need some air,’ you said, barely above a whisper, pushing past Joel with your face turned away lest he see your eyes growing redder and wetter by the second.

‘Teach…’ he called after you, but you were gone, heading straight to the door, not seeing Ellie turn to follow Joel’s voice, to see you making a break for it, turning back to him with her hands in the air.

Joel felt his stomach drop, staring back at Ellie with panic written all over his face.

‘What did you do?’ she mouthed to him, and he shrugged, helpless. He’d pushed you away, had shut you down, had been rude and cruel and cold. But he had no idea how to mouth that to his teenage daughter across a dance floor. ‘GO AFTER HER’ Ellie whisper-screamed at him, and it jolted him, got his feet moving before he’d even given it another thought.

You were standing under the awning a couple of paces from the door, leaning on the railing and sucking in the chill of the air. You realised when you heard the door swing open that you’d cornered yourself, cursed yourself for getting all your years in the QZ.

‘Teach,’ he said, and you hung your head. ‘M’sorry, I didn’t mean to…’

‘Wasn’t you, wasn’t that, I just…I needed to breathe for a second.’

Joel paused, watching the way your shoulders rose and fell, sharp and insistent, as you gathered yourself.

He took a step forward towards you, saw the way you flinched and turned away, and stopped, deciding instead to sit on the steps, giving you space but not too much, distance but enough that he could reach out for you if you wanted him to.

‘I did a lot of things to get here,’ he said, after a while. The hair stood up on the back of your neck. ‘I ain’t ashamed of ‘em, I’d do ‘em all again to keep her safe, you understand?’ he asked, and you nodded, still with your back half-turned. ‘Never regretted getting her here, both of us, to safety and to family.’ You nodded again. You knew all of this, had lived all of this, but you didn’t stop him, couldn’t turn to look at him, just let him talk because you couldn’t think of a single thing to say. ‘What bothers me, Teach, is that Big Bad Joel Miller might be too old to do ‘em again.’

You felt a pull towards him, turned your body to peer at his face. He was staring down main street, avoiding looking at you, too.

‘What if I can’t keep her safe?’ he asked, almost to himself. You swallowed, moving towards him, sucked into his gravitational pull. As you sank down beside him on the step, he shuffled to make room for you, but you didn’t want distance, leaning further over so that your shoulders touched. He was so warm even in the chill of the night. You wanted him to take your hands and blow warm breath onto them, smile and put them on his chest to warm them even though the cold of your skin stung him.

‘She’s so capable, Joel,’ you said. ‘You did that. She’ll keep herself safe, soon.’

‘She’s just a kid,’ Joel said, but he wasn’t attacking, just stating a fact.

‘I wasn’t much older on outbreak day,’ you said, simply.

‘Lotsa girls her age weren’t so lucky,’ he replied, quiet.

Blood smattered all over a pink and purple tee-shirt. Curls caked in blood and mud. He swallowed.

‘I know that,’ you said, after a while. Joel watched your face. He saw that it was true, that you knew.

‘S’what was it, if it wasn’t me being so rude to ya?’ he asked, after a long silence that would have made his bones itch if he’d been sharing it with anyone else but you. You shied away a little, and he watched as you started to recede. ‘Hey,’ he said, reprising the conversation from the night at the kitchen table. ‘I want you to tell me what’s up,’ he said, and you smiled, faintly, recognising what he was doing.

‘Prom, I guess. Memories. I don’t know.’ You paused, tried to form the words. ‘It’s all about promise, isn’t it, being a kid and being in high school and doing all of these…rites of passages. There’s an assumption about how things will go. We all make ‘em, made ‘em. Guess it’s hard when they didn’t come true.’

Joel nodded. He wanted to pull you into his lap and rock you, gentle and soft in the night, feel your warm breath on his neck as you pushed your fingertips through the buttonholes of his shirt.

‘Most of the time I’m OK,’ you went on, trying to repair it, slink back under your shell, your slimy snail body suddenly exposed to the elements.

‘Everyone’s OK til they ain’t.’ Joel said. He turned to look at you, swivelled his body to yours so that your knees rested against his. His eyes were so deep and dark in the streetlights, his brows saddled as he petitioned you. ‘I don’t mind it, Teach. You can be all of it with me.’

You felt your heart gallop in your chest, heat suddenly in your belly.

‘So can you, Big Bad Joel Miller,’ you told him, smiling but earnest, wanting him to believe it was true. ‘I’ll take whatever you got,’ you said.

There was a moment, Joel knew, when he could pull back from it. That this was that moment, when he could turn away from you, could crack a joke or make some excuse to head back inside. Could get up and bolt for the gate, swing it open and face whatever demons were out in the darkness so as not to have to face his own. He knew this was the moment of no return, for him.

He looked down at your lips, painted red for prom and so soft, so plump. Your skin soft and glowing so gently in the light. How many more times was he going to have to resist you by porchlight? How many times could he?

‘Joel…’ you whispered, edging yourself closer to him, leaning in without even really thinking about it, watching him mirror you and Joel knew the moment had passed, that your little whimper of his name was branded on his chest, that he would parade it around town for you, would bare it to anyone who wanted to lay their claim.

Your hair was soft, so soft, in his palms as he pulled you into him, his lips crashing into yours, your mouth opening to welcome him, tongue dancing across his. He groaned, from deep down in his belly, for the want of it, for the way his tummy flipped at his first taste of you.

You were pretty sure you were dead. It was the only explanation. But if this was heaven then so fucking be it, because Joel was cupping your face in his hands, and his kiss was insistent and gentle and he was guiding you through it, teasing you open as you felt the hinge of your jaw creak under the pressure of your want for him. You weren’t sure you were breathing. You weren’t sure you cared.

He was pulling you closer, wrapping his arms around your back and pulling you into him, the weird angle meaning both sets of knees were in the way. You considered vaulting over the top of him, riding him on the steps of the mess hall while a bunch of teenagers supposedly under your charge danced under paper stars, but you had the wherewithal to hold back, to pry yourself from him, to lean your forehead on his and catch your breath.

Granted, you didn’t have a lot of experience. But you’d never had a kiss that felt like that.

‘Teach,’ Joel said, so quiet and just for you, and you could hear that he was out of breath, that his chest was heaving, that he was fighting it back just as hard as you. He lifted his head and gazed at you, the look of naked desire on his face such that you wanted it to be photographed, painted, hung in a gallery and studied by future generations.

Then, alarms. And yes, you thought, that felt about right. Everything had just shifted off its axis, after all, it made sense that the universe was now screaming.

Except it sounded weirdly familiar. Kind of like the one that you pulled when there was a problem at the gate.

You turned your head down main street as you saw the flood lights come on. You were up, Joel just behind you, as you and your little swishy dress headed towards it, front doors ripping open around you, men and women pulling on jackets over their pyjamas, arming themselves for war.

‘State your business!’ you heard Billy yell from the top of the gate, his rifle trained at a hard angle just beneath him. Jesus, they were close, you realised. Nearly right up on the iron.

You couldn’t hear the reply, vaulting up the ladder without thinking, without a weapon, leaving Joel to defend the gate.

‘State your business!’ Billy called again, and you came up beside him, peeping over the edge to report back on what you could see. There were three of them, that you could see from here. You scanned the treeline, the floodlights turning the trees into fingers scratching harsh at the night sky.

‘Where they come from, Billy?’ you asked, and he gestured with his head over to the right. You picked up the binoculars and scanned.

‘Can’t see any others,’ you reported back, going to the other side and holding up three fingers to the crowd.

‘We’re just passing through,’ the man called back, ‘saw your lights and thought…we’re injured.’

‘Injured how?’ Billy called. You could hear murmuring beneath you, a plan being hatched.

‘One of us is a woman. We were ambushed. They took everything we have, nearly took her but she got away.’

You peered down over the gate, could see that a woman was indeed holding her arm in a sling, her face pale. She was wavering, like she was ready to collapse.

You heard footsteps on the ladder, felt it sway the wall as Tommy appeared beside you.

‘Whatdya reckon?’ he asked you, his eyes focussed but his breath coming in short and fast.

‘They’re telling the truth so far,’ you said, ‘best I can tell.’

You stepped out of the way, Tommy taking your place at the wall while Billy stayed fixed, his gun unwavering from the strangers.

You heard a gasp, a kind of choking shock. ‘No fucking way,’ Tommy said, and you peered over his shoulder again, trying to figure out what he could see. ‘Shauna?’ he called down, the woman’s face snapping up to him, a shaky hand covering her eyes to make him out.

‘Tommy?’ she asked, as though she was dead and found herself at the gates of heaven, surprisingly less gilded than expected. You swallowed, saw Billy’s hold on the gun waver.

‘Open the gates!’ Tommy called, before turning back to the strangers. ‘Hands up and come forward slowly, I’ll meet you there.’

‘Who is that, Tommy?’ you asked him, grabbing at him as he made to hurry past.

‘It’s Shauna,’ he said, his face pale and disbelieving. ‘Where’s Joel?’

‘Who the fuck is Shauna?’ you asked, every nerve ending screaming.

‘She’s Sarah’s mom,’ he said, before he disappeared down the ladder, calling for Joel as he went.

‘Who the fuck is Sarah?’ Billy said to you, his gun lowered but eyeballing the group all the same.

You had no idea.

Taglist (let me know if you want to be on it)

@harriedandharassed

@vickie5446

@kaseyconnour

@orcasoul

@missladym1981

@spacesoutdaydreamer

@tangled-tumbler-blog-blog

@fancyyoouu

@anoverwhelmingdin

[takaraphoenix]

Camping & Bonding (Part 4)

Tags: m/m, Erica Lives, Boyd Lives, Jackson Doesn't Leave, Pack Mom Stiles, Pack Feels, True Mates, fluff, hurt/comfort, camping, mutual pining, m/f

Main Pairing: Derek/Stiles

Side Pairings: Scott/Allison, Boyd/Erica, Jackson/Lydia

Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Derek Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd III, Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin, Cora Hale, Scott McCall, Allison Argent

@writersmonth Prompts Part 4: season + school

Summary: Stiles thinks the pack should go camping, as a bonding exercise. Much to his surprise, Derek agrees with his plan. So the pack goes off into the mountains to camp together.

This Fic on AO3 | This Fic on FFNet

Stiles Summer Stories 2024

--

Part 4: The Confession

They brought enough eggs to make twenty omelets. While the wolves went on their morning run to also hunt a little meat on the side of those eggs, Stiles went to forage for mushrooms and herbs with Lydia and Allison. A little walk of their own. It was nice. Chilly, but beautiful. The orange and red and yellow leafs. And every now and again, they saw the pack running by in the distance.

When the three of them returned to their camp side, they started prepping everything for breakfast before the wolves returned from their hunt. Once again, Derek dropped a dead animal in front of Stiles, which was going to keep freaking Stiles out. Just because he knew how to take them apart didn't exactly mean he enjoyed the sight of dead animals, especially not when they were unceremoniously dropped metaphorically in his lap.

"Good hunt," Stiles offered when the Alpha kept staring at him. "Now go wash up. Seriously."

And since when did Derek need this much affirmation? Still, it was kind of cute to see that preening Derek did at the praise before once again rounding up the pups to herd them to the creek for a quick wash. Shaking his head, Stiles waved Allison over to help him take apart the catch of the day.

"We could save some cuts for lunch, we brought enough bread to make sandwiches," Stiles suggested. "I was thinking we could go on a hike, so take them with us. Yes, we. All of us. Stop groaning, Lydia. It will not kill you, I promise you that."

Not that Stiles himself was the biggest fan of hiking. But he knew the pups needed the exercise and he knew this would be a great way of bonding. Plus, he'd heard the view was breathtaking.

"You do know what Derek is doing though, right?" Lydia asked, while stirring the omelet.

Stiles looked confused at her. "Uhm, currently? Taking a bath, I guess?"

"No, Stiles," Lydia heaved an exasperated sigh. "You look so confused every time Derek drops the hunt in front of you. I thought it was weird yesterday."

"Yeah, it really was weird, right?!" Stiles threw up his hands. "Thank you, Ly-"

"No, your reaction was weird," Lydia furrowed her brows. "Like you didn't know what he was doing. And now again. You don't know what he's doing, do you?"

Stiles paused, looking at her. "What… What do you mean? What is he doing?"

"How do you not know that, I thought you researched werewolves to the smallest detail."

"Don't sound so accusatory," Stiles glared. "How am I supposed to know everything. There might be things even I missed. Or didn't deem important at the time due to the massive volume of research to be done. Also school. Like. There are more things than the supernatural that I have to do too, studying and helping Scott study, and take care of my dad, and the household, and the pack-"

"He's courting you, Stiles," Lydia blurted out to interrupt him. "He's bringing you the game he caught himself, and don't think the wolves haven't noticed how much you two smelt like each other this morning. Jackson froze up and told me. You two weren't just sharing a tent."

"We shared some body-heat," Stiles defended with a blush. "But that's not-"

"Stiles," Allison offered him a small, nearly pitiful smile. "You're the only one who can sway Derek. Don't get me wrong, he listens to everyone's opinion, he learned to do that. But… but you are the one who can convince Derek of any of our ideas and who always has his ear and trust. You're his second, Stiles."

At that, Stiles huffed out a laugh. "No, I'm not. Peter is Derek's left hand."

"Not his left hand," Lydia heaved an exasperated sigh. "His second. His second half. The co-leader of this pack. The only one to outrank the left hand. How do you not see it."

Stiles froze and stared at the girls a little dumbly. He wasn't Derek's mate. He would know if he was Derek's mate. They'd known each other for well over a year now and they had been… close, for months. And Stiles was the one who figured these things out! Erica and Boyd. Jackson and Lydia. Allison and Scott. Heck, Allison and Scott were how Stiles had figured out that mates were a real thing, he had put that together. He would know if he was someone's mate.

/break\

Something had happened while the wolves bathed. When they returned, Stiles was… jittery. Even by Stiles standards. Derek frowned as he watched his mate cautiously.

"Training," Derek growled after breakfast. "Pair up. Erica and Jackson. Cora and Isaac. Boyd and Scott. Don't groan at me. You have predictable patterns that your usual go-to sparring partners know. Switch it up. Now go."

"Sourwolf," Stiles huffed annoyed as soon as the betas got up. "Don't growl at the pups."

He had his arms crossed and he was glaring at Derek, making the Alpha falter a little. Damn it, he needed to have better control. But when Stiles was upset – and especially when Stiles seemed upset with him – it still messed with Derek. Perhaps because Stiles was his anchor, Stiles calmed him, so when Stiles was upset, his anchor was the reason for Derek's own upset feelings.

"You flinched away when I touched you earlier."

How much Derek hated admitting these things. He crossed his own arms, trying to brace himself, glaring at a point behind Stiles – where the betas were training with each other and decidedly pretending they couldn't hear Stiles and Derek's conversation. Allison and Lydia were pretending to be busy with the clean-up. Stiles stared at him in bafflement.

"I didn't…" Stiles trailed off and then sighed. "I didn't mean to. I was just really in my head and you startled me. But, Der, c'mon. Even if I flinched, that should not make you lash out at the pups! They didn't do anything."

"They didn't," Derek agreed, with a heavy sigh. "I'm… sorry. I just… It messes with me when you… When something is wrong with you."

"Why," Stiles frowned at him.

Derek remained stubbornly silent. He couldn't tell Stiles. He shouldn't tell Stiles.

"Why," Stiles asked again, more pointed, his eyes narrowed. "I need you to tell me, Derek."

"Why do you need to know," Derek growled. "It doesn't matter."

"It does!" Stiles threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "If it affects our pack, then I need to know, so I can figure out what to do to avoid it!"

"I don't like when you're upset, or hurt, or – or when anything is wrong with you."

Stiles stared at him like the air got knocked out of him. "They're right."

Derek tensed at that, hunching over a little like he was bracing himself. "Who was right."

"The…" Stiles motioned over to Lydia and Allison. "The girls! They said that I'm your mate. That's what kept me so distracted during breakfast. Because surely that can't be, right. 'Surely, Derek would have told me at literally any point during the past months that we've been friends, that I've been in his pack. There's no way he would have kept something like that from me. Even if he doesn't want me, he knows how important the trust between us is to me, he would have told me the truth,' while I replayed pretty much every single interaction between us since I joined the pack, I kept thinking that. And I guess I'm fucking wrong, huh."

The more he talked, the more bitter and louder his voice grew. He turned away from Derek, a sneer on his face. The cold autumn breeze carried over a scent of misery and Derek's inner wolf whimpered because he knew they were the cause of it.

"I could have been okay with you not wanting me, Derek," Stiles turned to look at him with a devastating look on his face. "You know I can handle rejection. But this… this is about more than you and me. If I'm your mate, I'm the Alpha mate. That… That's really fucking important information regarding our entire pack and I should have known that. You should have told me."

Derek didn't know what to say, or how to say it, not that he got a chance to, because Stiles barreled on. "I deserved to know. You know how weird the past months were for me? I kept cuddling up with my classmates, I fucking nuzzled Jackson at school the other week. I genuinely started to think I was losing it but no. No, I'm the Alpha mate, of course have I been more in tune with the betas. Which also, explains why I keep thinking about them as the betas! Part of me has gotten really fucking worried that I kept mentally excluding myself from them, like, what, was I not seeing myself as pack, what was my problem? But no. No, my problem was that I'm not a beta. I just didn't know it. Because nobody fucking told me."

Stiles was radiating frustration and anger and hurt and all Derek could do was watch and listen quietly, knowing his mate needed to vent. He always talked a lot, especially when he was being emotional. Maybe it'd help him to get it out of his system.

"I would have been fine, Derek," Stiles whispered, and the whispering scared Derek much more than the yelling. "I was in love with Lydia for years and I was fine when she rejected me and got back together with Jackson and we're friends now. I would have been fine if you just told me that you don't love me. We could have led this pack together. As friends. Even if you don't want me."

Suddenly, it felt much colder than it had any right to, and it had nothing to do with the season. The blood in Derek's veins froze as Stiles' words – all of his words – finally fully sank in and context was webbed between them. Stiles was angry because Derek hadn't told him. Stiles… expected rejection. Because of Derek's actions, or rather his inaction, Stiles thought he wasn't wanted.

"Can I… talk now?" Derek asked softly. "Can I explain why I didn't tell you?"

With a sarcastic smile, Stiles made a gesture that indicated 'the floor is all yours'. Derek took a deep breath, trying to mentally prepare himself to talk about his feelings. The feelings he hadn't shared for good reason so far. But that had hurt Stiles, the last person he wanted to hurt, and now he had to fix this somehow, he had to make Stiles stop hurting.

"I want you, Stiles," Derek looked his mate directly in the eyes, wanting for Stiles to see how serious and sincere he was. "I want you more than I ever wanted anything, I want you so much that it scares me, because if I… if I had you, I could lose you again. I would lose you again."

Stiles stared at him in confusion. "That doesn't even make sense. If you don't have me, you can't lose me. Well, great, but you're also not having me, so what's the big difference."

"The difference," Derek growled and ground his teeth together hard. "The difference is that every good thing I ever dare hope to have dies or is otherwise forcibly taken from me, Stiles. P… Paige died. My family died. Laura died. Boyd and Erica were taken and tortured because they were part of my pack. Everyone I love gets hurt because of me. And the thought that someone hurts you, takes you away from me – from the pack, from your dad – all because of me? I can't… I would much rather not have you than lose you for good, Stiles."

In front of him, Stiles crumbled. The anger and hurt melted away to make room for the most heartbroken look Derek had ever seen. Stiles walked up to him, with careful and slow steps, as though he was approaching a cornered animal. Once he stood close enough, he reached both hands out for Derek's face, gently cupping it and leaning closer.

"You big, dumb idiot," Stiles heaved a sigh. "Look at me. Look at me. I'm the human who runs with wolves. I got hunted by a less than sane Alpha. I got tortured by an evil hunter. I regularly get attacked and nearly killed by whatever evil lurks in Beacon Hills. And I'm still standing. You are not getting rid of me that easily. You are not going to lose me that easily. I love you. You and me, we save each other. That's what we do, Derek, and that's what we'll continue doing."

He leaned in, more and more, until Derek could feel the ghost of Stiles' breath against his lips and for once, he didn't hold back. He wrapped his arms around his mate and pulled Stiles into a kiss filled with all the emotions he'd tried to reign in these past months. Stiles practically melted against him, warm and firm and there. Right there, in Derek's arms.

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

How the tr character's would set up an Easter egg hunt aka how Takeomi had a very bad day part 2

--

Takemichi- Tries so hard to make a good egg hunt for everyone, cries from the stress of setting it up at least 5 times but in the end manages to pull it off.

Mikey- Egg hunt? What egg hunt? You mean those chocolate eggs he's already eaten?

Baji- Puts his hair into a ponytail so you know he's taking it seriously, gets bored half way through though and decides to just throw the eggs and keep wherever they land as their "hiding place"

Kazutora- Tries his best but accidentally ends up smashing some of the eggs, Baji let's him share the hunt he made though.

Shion- Claims to be the best at hiding eggs (all his eggs are found instantly).

Haitani brother's- Their eggs are only hidden in a small area since they refused to split up to hide them.

Kisaki- Just copies Takemichi's egg hunt plans, manages to hide them more effectively too but it's just not as fun.

Mitsuya- Hides all the eggs in very easy places so Luna and Mana can find them.

Emma- Puts her all into hiding those eggs! (She wants to impress Draken.....and she had to or Mikey would've eaten them all).

Pah and Peh- Team up to hide eggs, they don't do the best job but hey at least they had fun doing it.

Naoto- Does an eggcellent (you see what I did there) at hiding those eggs, so much so that many end up never being found again.

Wakasa and Benkei- Wasn't going to join in but after Shinichiro's and Senju's excitement they also hide those eggs.

Hina- Skips planning her own egg hunt to assist Takemichi's with his instead (she's just nice like that).

Draken- Goes to hide his eggs but finds they're all missing, spends the rest of the day cursing Mikey.

Koko- Why hide the eggs when you can sell them?

Izana- You seriously expect the king to give his eggs away? (Hides one for Kakucho)

Hakkai- Said fuck them eggs part 2, once again decides to follow Taka Chan around. Helps Luna and Mana find their eggs too, lifts them up into his shoulders so they can get an aerial view and reach higher places.

Mizo middle- Gets distracted on some stupid debate and forgets to hide the eggs.

Shinichiro- After many years of living with Mikey he knows to be very careful with his eggs so he can even get to the hiding stage. Will put on bunny ears to hide the eggs and goes above and beyond for his siblings to have a fun day.

Inui- Just let's Koko have his eggs

Smiley- Tries to start a fight by throwing his eggs instead, it's way more fun then just hiding them.

Sanzu- Gets on his knees and presents Mikey with a suspiciously large amount of eggs.

Yuzuha- 100% effort club over here, decorates the eggs and places them very carefully. Only the best for her brother.

Chifuyu- Spends all his time trying to make a chocolate cat instead (cats are better then eggs) forgets to hide any so ends up tagging along with Baji and Kazutora.

Taiju- Too busy doing Christian things (sorry I wasn't paying attention in school when we learnt what this was exactly)

Kakucho- Designs an extravagant hunt for Izana and the other S62, can't stop smiling while he watches them all searching.

Senju- Another one who keeps eating the eggs instead of hiding them, steals a bunch of Takeomi's eggs to eat those too.

Mochi- He's tall enough to hide them in places the others will never hide them

Angry- Very diligent with his egg hiding

Takeomi- Went to hide the eggs even though he didn't want to but found Senju had taken half while Sanzu had taken the other half. Then gets hit in the head with a random egg, gives up after that.

Hanma- Says he's hidden the eggs but hasn't, has a lot of fun watching everyone look for eggs which don't exist.

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Hunting Practice

Future

Warnings: Hunting Fish, let me know if I need to add more.

Author's Note: Su'cona's debute in Mermay!

Summary: Su'cona has been tasked with herding a bunch of Scouts on a hunt. Things go well.

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @kit-williams, @sleepyfan-blog

Just in case Tagged: @kit-williams, @whorety-k

He's been on Ancient Terra for several months, and he's watching over a pod of Scout-aged Salamanders, mostly monitoring how they are doing with hunting after several large tuna, they'd been going after the fish, and a couple of his bolder little brothers managed to spear one of the fish, causing the rest of them to scatter, so long as they brought back at least three or four of the massive fish, they'd be find. He going to do an active part of the hunt if they have trouble getting the amount required of them. Some of the large fish are heavy with eggs, which pleases Su'cona, as the fish eggs are a delight to eat, they pop and have delightfully salty flavor that dancing merrily on one's tongue.

Well, unless they were picky eaters, which, as an Astartes, who can feasibly eat nearly everything, but whether they should or not is another matter entirely. They do have ways to make nutri-paste and that is what they usually eat, but occasionally having fresh, real food, is a treat, it doesn't do much, not unless its in insanely high amounts, but having it as an occasional treat as they are taught hunting skills or maintain such skills so as to not get rusty. A couple of his scouts swim over to him their chest puffed up with pride as they show the massive fish that they managed to catch and he nods smiles down at them.

"Well done, Scouts," He says proudly as he gently pats their shoulders.

They perk up, the smallest bits of praise seem to have the biggest impact, as adorable as it is, it also breaks his hearts as he notices that the Mechanicus has treated the poor younger brothers... poorly when he's been able to gently get them to tell them what they went through. Salamander training is long, and at times difficult, but they nurture each of their little brothers, helping them grow and be the best version of themself that they could be, and to continue to strive to be a better, stronger person as a whole.

He hadn't heard of Primaris Marines, until a little while ago, and they are good boys, larger, stronger, and faster in some ways, but still Scouts all of them. Which means they need training and learning their own strength and how to use it, as well as how to be gentle. They are good boys, a little too obedient at times, but seeing their little mischiefs is good, and as much as it occasionally exasperates him, he's glad that they are starting to, carefully, push their boundaries without going too far, usually, or without someone or someone’s doing something spectacularly stupid or foolish. Usually.

He'd heard of a pod of Primaris Lamenters hunting down a ship for stealing away their Sargent. They'd manage to win the day, a rare occurrence for the terminally, and often lethally, unlucky Sons of Sanguinius. While luck is a force in this galaxy that can be for, neutral and against others, at least, his luck has never been as poor as the Lamenters. He starts to herd the youngsters back to where the main pod of Salamanders in this area are schooling at the moment, it takes several days and they are all happy as they let out chirruping calls and croons to each other, happy to have the young hunters return and have had a successfully retrieved enough large fish so that they may all have a taste of the flesh and scales for it to be a delightful treat. He is glad that nothing untoward had happen before, during and after the hunt. Excitement could happen later, after they are fed and had some more rest.

[weareweirdpeople]

not a vent but diabetic shit because why not I want to share my experience

I have diabetes. I've had diabetes sense i was an elementary schooler on the way to middle school. Diabetes fucking sucks and it runs in my family. Because of this, and the fact that my family refuses to call it a disability despite it literally being a chronic illness, it has taken me a while to realize I do infact have a disability.

in hindsight, I am "lucky" that my mom raised me restricting lots of "unhealthy snacks" (non health foods. My mom viewed fucking cheezits as unhealthy and she came from a family that was even stricter with 'healthy' foods.) This meant that when I got diagnosed with diabetes, I would be prepared for the fact that now they weren't just rare treats my mom was learning to be ok with. Now they were aparently dangerous to my health and I could almost never eat them again.

My uncle has severe type 1 diabetes and my mom used to try to help him manage it, but he's a grown man whos never taken good care of it and does what he wants. So now that I had diabetes she was going to are sure I definitely didn't end up like that. This means that even if he himself brought all the kids a sweet treat, depending on my blood sugar I wouldn't even be allowed to have it. Most of the time she didn't want me to have it. This all went down with covid and I got to live with my diabetic father. The plus side was that the restrictions where pretty much gone, and I just needed to manage my sugar. The bad part is that I was fucking terrified of pricking my finger. It would take me hours to pick my finger, and my dad would be pissed. It slowly became very normal. I also had to learn how to take pills and open a pill bottle.

A while later now that I'm living with my whole family, I still have great care over my diabetes. I say great care as in how my family views it. I have the best a1c, I have the most consistent blood sugars. Personally I'm happy I can do that while having major depression but it makes me sad at the same time. It just pisses me off. Anytime my sugar is high I'm asked "what did you eat? What did you eat today? What was your sugar this morning?" I have an anxiety disorder. The doctors and google have told us that stress and anxiety can heighten blood sugar. Every time its about what I at. If im super sleepy? What did I eat? Whats my blood sugar? If im super anxious? Whats my blood sugar? Is it low? What have you eaten today?

My mom has always been focused on my diabetes. I low key hate it.

But in hindsight some of her ideas and things she let me do were so bad that its actually funny. Like holy shit mom, that was wild.

She at first wanted me to count all of my carbs. Every time I ate. All the carbs. She wanted me to check my sugar everytime I ate and then based on that it would determine what I was allowed to eat.

Then there was the point in time where she let me run around outside all day without eating lunch and sometimes even breakfast or any water until my sugar dropped crazy low and I was dizzy and shaking, and then id go outside again right after it went up. She doesn't like me reminding her of this because she says it makes her feel like a bad mother and that she was distracted. Im pretty sure the only constant meal was eating was dinner.

one time during Easter when we did an egg hunt my siblings got eggs fully of candy like normal. But my mom was running late on candy shopping so instead of giving me candy eggs, she made me get the special eggs she made, thinking they had zero sugar candy. They were fuckkng almonds. Unsalted Almonds. What. The. Fuck. I have never let her live that shit down, because who gives their kid fucking almonds as a treat??? Diabetic or not, unsalted almonds???

I was very very upset that year to say the least. My mom has always been stingy with any candy of any sorts. Even before we knew I was diabetic I was only really allowed 1-3 prices of candy from a holiday at most, and only after dinner. My Halloween candy especially would either go bad or she would eat it as well and I would not get much of it.

And after diabetes? Keto everything. My mom wanted to find as much keto stuff as possible, and I get it. We have a diabetic household, but she didn't do that shit until I got diagnosed with diabetes. I am happy that by now shes pretty much stopped all her restrictions and the keto stuff, she's still really diabetes focused when it comes to my mood and doesn't consider it a disability but that's okish.

Hilariously j don't have type 1 diabetes. Or type 2. I have a genetic mutation, and have had to convince multiple people that no I don't just have type 2, no I didn't not get diabetes because of my eating habits have you fucking seen me I am a god damm stick and even if I was fat that doesn't mean shit, no I cannot just eat fruit instead of candy that's not how diabetes works you peice of shit.

Long story short, i don't get a CGM or an Insulin pump. I actually make too much insulin, and dont really absorb it all and a CGM is to expensive... that means I just have to watch my sugar and take my pills indefinitely and I can't check my sugar too much because then I'd have to wait for my refills to get done because American health care fucking sucks ass.

lol diabetes sucks, stop being assholes to people with diabetes.

[hellshire-harlot]

Categorically, I’m one of the lucky ones. Both my parents are employed, and I have an employment opportunity coming up quite soon. We own our house, I’ve never had to go hungry, and we always have heat, electricity, and Wi-Fi.

and yet. AND YET.

We are barely above the poverty line. Some years I had to go without school lunches because we couldn’t afford the fees. We save money wherever and whenever we can. Going out to eat at a burger joint is a special treat for special occasions because we can’t afford it often. Some of my favorite foods and snacks- pomegranates, veggie straws, chips, hell, even lemonade -are luxuries because we just don’t have the money to spare for it. The attitude has rubbed off on me so much that I go out of my way to avoid spending money and I feel guilty when others spend money on me, even for things like gifts or fucking therapy.

If any of our phones were to break, it would probably ruin us. If any of our cars broke down it would be even worse. One of the reasons I got into achievement hunting and building and exploring in video games is because buying new games is almost always a luxury we can’t afford. I use achievement hunting and making complex builds and finding all the Easter eggs as a way to squeeze out every last bit of enjoyment I can from a game so I can last until we can afford to get new ones. All of our clothes are thrifted or second hand. Same for most of our furniture. We stay in our house all day not only because we don’t like going out often and there isn’t a lot to do, but because WE CANT AFFORD TO DO FUN THINGS MORE THAN A FEW TIMES A YEAR.

I worry constantly about how my basic needs affect my family’s wealth. And we’re the lucky ones, because I’ve never had to worry about being homeless. I don’t consider myself very lucky, actually. My family worries constantly about money. They hate their jobs. They can’t afford to get new jobs because going without a paycheck is too risky. And how would they get new jobs? Neither of them went to college, and we don’t have the money for any of us to go. I’m basically unemployable in my current mental state, and that’s not liable to change. We’re lucky. Most of my friends have it way worse than I do. And yet I don’t feel very fucking lucky.

Everyone talks about poverty in the context of not being able to eat or receive reliable healthcare. Obviously those are huge fucking issues that need to be immediately addressed, and I don’t mean to minimize them. But I hardly see anyone talking about the kind of poverty that gives you just enough to get by a little comfortably- but no more than that. You have the money for your home, your food, your car. But you don’t have money for games. You don’t have money to go out and eat something nice. You don’t have money to buy toys for your kids. You don’t have money to see a movie, or buy that new phone that would be such an improvement over the secondhand one you have now. You don’t have money for anything that would put you at ease. And yet, you’re made to feel lucky, that you should be grateful. You’re not poor, poor people can’t put food on the table. Stop complaining. Be grateful. You could have it so much worse.

No one even addresses that yes it could be worse. But it sure as hell could be a lot fucking better, too. And that kills me.

[shoto-chann]

The UA Easter Games

My Hero Academia

Description: At the request of the Class 1A and 1B girls, UA is hosting their first ever UA Easter Games. Everyone is so excited to participate and celebrate the day with their friends. Of course, what's a celebration without a little mischief?

*Contains mild swearing

Happy Easter, everyone!

"COME ONE, COME ALL! GET READY FOR A DAY YOU'LL NEVER FORGET!" Present Mic continued on his rant about how excited he was and how excited everyone else should be. As everyone gathered to the meeting site, Aizawa (forced by Present Mic and All Might) took over. "I'm sure you're all aware by now why you're here. A couple of students from 1A and 1B made a request a couple of months ago to hold an event for the school on this day. With the approval of Principal Nezu, the teachers are happy to announce that today marks the official UA Easter Games" Aizawa said with his usual monotone and unenthusiastic voice. Some of the students started clapping, others were whispering about the way Aizawa delivered the news that was supposed to be exciting, and some (*cough* bakugo *cough*) didn't care about the news at all. "The Games will hold three events, just like the sports festival. The first event will be a cook-off. The second event will be a fashion show. And the third will be an Easter egg hunt. The class with the most points by the end of the day wins" Aizawa was just about to walk away, but a student raised their hand. "Mr. Aizawa, how does the point system work for the Games?" The student asked. Aizawa looked over at the student and spoke up. "Seeing as how it's a team effort for entire classes, the teachers have a scoring system. A rating system from 1-10. Each event is worth 10 points, and based on how you and your class do during each event, you could earn 8 points, 9 points, or 10 points. Any scores that are a 7 or under is immediate disqualification."

Some of the students murmured to each other about the whole thing. Yaoyorozu spoke up next. "I see. So the lowest amount of points needed per round would be 8. But there would be other factors to consider for points besides winning, right?" "Correct. Besides completing the event, the teachers will watch out for three factors: communication, coordination, and completion. After scoring you on those categories, the teachers will average your scores, and whatever score you get will determine if your class passes or fails. As you mentioned earlier, Yaoyorozu, the lowest you can get is 8 points. That's the minimum you need to pass the event." Aizawa said. The students started talking about how excited they were to do this and win. "What are you all standing around for? The Games have already started" Aizawa said. And with that, every student rushed out to prepare for the first event.

The entire day was a huge blur of fun. The first event was a little rocky since everyone spent half the time trying to find stuff to make. It ended with more than half the school getting eliminated. Them came the second event: the fashion show. This one ran more smoothly and had the teachers choose the finalists carefully. Eventually, it all came down to two classes: class 1a and class 1b.

"Okay, our selected finalists are class 1a with 19 points and 1b with 18 points. Now on to the final event." Aizawa said. Both classes waited with anticipation for the last event, the one they were most excited for all day. "The teachers went ahead and hid Easter eggs all around UA. Your job is to try and collect the most for your class. Feel free to do whatever, but you're not allowed to physically hurt the other class in any way, or else your entire class is disqualified. Now get lost and have fun." And both classes zoomed off in search for the eggs.

*FIVE MINUTES LATER*

After a while of searching, Monoma and Tetsutetsu sat down. "This is so boring," Tetsutetsu said with a huff. "This stuff is for babies. I'm a man. Men don't go around searching for Easter eggs." "Oh, calm down, Tetsutetsu," Monoma said. "Although I agree that this is beneath us, it's important that we beat class 1a and prove that we're better than them." "And how do we do that?" "Easy. We take the eggs that they found." Tetsutetsu perked up. "But isn't that cheating?" Monoma chuckled. "Oh not at all, my friend. Mr. Aizawa said so himself. We're allowed to do whatever as long as we don't physically hurt anyone. All we'd be doing is crushing their spirits and making them see that we're the better class!" Monoma laughed. "So, Tetsu, you in?" "Hell yeah! Let's do it!"

The rest of the game, the duo took some eggs from class 1a without them noticing, and class 1b started to win. Now, they were hiding inside the dorm rooms, waiting for someone in class 1a to walk by so they could take more eggs. And as luck would have it, two members of class 1a walked in: Hunter and Ojiro. Both seemed to be chatting about something, but Monoma and Tetsutetsu couldn't tell what until the 1a boys sat down on the couch. "What do you think the prize will be?" Hunter asked. "Who knows? It could be a trip to the beach, a free movie night, no homework for a month" Ojiro said. "Nah, Mr. Aizawa isn't that generous." "Well, you never know, Hunter." The two continued to talk while the hiding 1b boys took their eggs from their Easter baskets. The 1a boys were oblivious to what was happening and continued talking. "You have any plans after this egg hunt is over, Oji?" "Not really. Why do you ask?" "I was thinking maybe we could hang out and play some games instead of having to stay in our rooms the rest of the day doing nothing." Ojiro thought about that for a moment. "That doesn't sound too bad. Would it be okay if I brought my own game?" "Of course, Ojiro. What's the game called?" Ojiro slightly smirked. "It's one I made up with Midoriya. It's called...TICKLE ATTACK!" Ojiro used his tail to quickly tickle Hunter's back. Hunter squealed and quickly caught Ojiro's tail. "Ohohojiroho!" Ojiro laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist the opportunity." Hunter playfully rolled his eyes. "Whahatever" Both 1a boys laughed. Just then, Hunter felt something was off. It was as if someone was watching them. Or rather, it was multiple someones.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop on others, you know" Hunter said as he quickly got up and grabbed Monoma and Tetsutetsu from behind the couch. Both 1b boys grunted as they landed on the couch. Ojiro jumped in surprise at this. "Monoma? Tetsutetsu?" "What are you two doing here?" The 1b boys looked at each other and exchanged a silent message. "We're just looking for Easter eggs" Monoma chuckled as he pulled out an egg that was in Ojiro's basket. "Hey, that looks like the egg I found" He said. Ojiro looked over behind the couch at the 1b boys' baskets. "They've been stealing our eggs!" Hunter looked over and saw that it was true. "That is messed up. Both of you are gonna give us and our friends the eggs that you stole" Hunter's demanded. Monoma laughed. "As if we'd do such a thing. This is a competition. We'd never give up the chance to win against your class and destroy you!" "I'm serious, Monoma. You have one chance to do it" Hunter said. "You can kiss my ass!" Monoma bit back. This time, Hunter and Ojiro exchanged glances and a silent conversation. They smirked and looked back at the 1b boys. "Well then, I guess we'll have to convince you to give them back."

With one fell swoop, Hunter and Ojiro pinned Monoma and Tetsutetsu to the ground and started tickling them. "Hahahahahaha! Stahahahap! Stahahap thihis!" Monoma laughed as Ojiro targeted his sides. Hunter went for Tetsutetsu's hips, making him squeal and wiggle like crazy. "STAHAHAP! IM SOHOHORRY!" "Damn. I'm barely touching you, and you're already begging for mercy. You must be one extremely ticklish baby" Hunter teased. "IM NOHOT A BAHAHAHABY! IM AHA MAHAHAHAN!" "Last I checked, men don't squeal and giggle like a toddler when they see the tickle monster" "DOHOHON'T SAHAY TIHIHIHIHICKLE!" "Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle" Tetsutetsu only laughed harder. "You must like being tickled if you're not activating your quirk" Hunter pointed out. Tetsutetsu tried to tell Hunter to shut up, but his words were replaced with cackles. Poor Monoma wasn't fairing any better. Ojiro was using his tail to lightly tickle his knees and used his hands to target his belly. "STAHAHAHAP! THIHIHIS HUHUHURTS!" Monoma lied. "You laughed when you get hurt? Strange" Ojiro responded as he tickled faster. "PLEHEHEHEHEASE! I CAHAHAHAN'T! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" "Then give us the eggs" "NEHEHEHEVER!" This went on for about ten minutes before Tetsutetsu caved in. "FIHIHIHINE! I GIHIHIVE UHUP! MEHEHEHERCY!" "You promise to give back the eggs?" Hunter asked, slowly dragging his nails across Tetsutetsu's abs. "YEHEHEHEHES!" "I don't believe you" Hunter started tickling Tetsutetsu mercilessly, aiming for his belly button and thighs. Tetsutetsu screamed and kicked and squirmed, trying to fight back on any way he could, but he felt trapped under Hunter's wiggling fingers that seemed to be all over his tickle spots at the same time. Ojiro picked up on what Hunter was doing and started tickling Monoma mercilessly, targeting his hips and feet. That barely lasted a few seconds before Monoma started begging. "WAHAHAHAIT! IM SOHOHORRY! I'LL GIHIHIHIVE THEHE EHEHEHEGGS BAHAHACK! JUHUST STAHAHAHAP! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP! OHOHOJIRO!" Ojiro smirked and looked over at Hunter. "Should we show mercy?" "Yeah, we should. Any longer, and we might actually hurt them" Hunter said as they both stopped tickling the 1b boys. Monona and Tetsutetsu got time to catch their breaths after nearly 30 minutes of torture. Hunter and Ojiro stood over them and watched. "You two done giggling like four year olds yet?" Hunter teased. Monoma and Tetsutetsu just glared at him with a goofy grin on their faces. "As you agreed, you'll give us back all the eggs that you stole" Hunter said. "Plus some of your eggs just for making us go through all that trouble" Ojiro added. "So if you don't mind-"

Hunter was cut off by Tetsutetsu tackling him onto the couch. Ojiro tried to help Hunter, but fell to the ground cackling immediately when Monoma grabbed his tail and tickled it without any shred of mercy. Tetsutetsu dug his now cold metal fingers into Hunter's ribs, causing him to shriek and squirm violently. "WHAHAHAHAT THE HEHEHEHELL?!" "Did you think we weren't gonna get our revenge?" Tetsutetsu asked as he tickled Hunter faster. Ojiro was rolling on the floor dying of laughter because of Monoma's relentless attack. "MOHOHONOMAHA! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!" "I don't think so, tail boy. You made a fool out of us, so it's our turn to do the same to you" Monoma laughed evily as he continued to tickle the hell out of the tailed hero. And unlike the 1a boys who showed mercy, the 1b boys went for their worst spots instantly and never let up for a second. They had the 1a boys crying with laughter by the time they stopped tickling them. Before the 1a boys could recover, the 1b boys left with the eggs. Class 1b ended up winning the UA Easter Games and won a free paid vacation. Hunter and Ojiro ended up paying the price later for losing.

The End

I hope you enjoyed my first holiday tickle fic. I may end up posting a new fic before I post the requested demon slayer one I'm working on, but it's undecided. I'll keep you all updated on what happens.

That's all for now. Until next time,

❄️🔥shoto-chann🔥❄️ out

[queeniecook]

I Found What I Was Looking For - Part 3

Love Day arrives. The kids make valentines at school and pass them out. Eat candy. Think their parents’ kissing is gross. The normal stuff.

Pak and I spend the entire day together.

Even though we have been together for years, it turned out to be one of my favorite days we have spent together. Maybe it was because we just slowed down and enjoyed being with each other. We got to reflect on our lives together. How we met. How we fell for each other but were both stubborn about admitting our feelings for each other. Our marriage. Our kids. Our life.

We also celebrated “Egg Day” which including a visit from someone dressed in a giant bunny outfit and the kids hunting eggs we had hidden in the bushes and behind things for them. We didn’t really have grass to hide them in, so we had to improvise a bit.

❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧

At the very start of summer, I get sad news.

I suppose one would ask why I’d cry over the man who broke my heart when I was young. We had made amends in the past. Hadn’t talked in years. But what I went through with Brandon had made me appreciate Pak and his love even more. It had given me most of the drive I needed to succeed in my career. He was still a human being. A flawed one. But we all have our flaws. I know I do. Even though he had broken my heart. A small part of it still cared for him. So yes, when I heard he had passed away. It did make me sad.

The kids wanted to go to the beach that night, I agreed. Wanting to get out of the house. Distract myself. It makes me happy to see them doing stuff together. Having fun.

“I know now it not a good time. But I figured I might as well tell you when you’re already sad, instead of ruining things when you’re happy.” Pak starts out.

That didn’t make me nervous at all.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you this. Or if I even should, but knowing you. I know you’ll want to be prepared.” He continues.

“Okay. Just tell me.” I tell him. If he kept going without saying it, I was going to get more nervous.

“Since I am a merman. We tend to have longer life spans than humans.” Pak started to explain. “I’m going to out live you, Evie.”

My heart broke. Not for me, but for him. I tried not to cry, the kids are nearby. All this never occurred to me.

“That doesn’t mean anything is going to happen anytime soon.” He added on, seeing my face. “I knew this all along. I knew it when I started to fall for you. I think that was part of the reason I was afraid to.” Pak admitted.

I’m just still trying to process what he’s telling me. He grabs me and holds me.

“But I don’t regret anything. You’re the one I’m meant to be with. Until the end.” He tells me, holding me close.

It’s a lot to deal with. I didn’t want to leave any of them behind. Somehow, I always thought I’d out live him. I was very wrong.

We end the night with a bonfire. I put the conversation in the back of my mind and enjoy the time with my family.

The next day comes. It’s time for me to bake another cake. I couldn’t believe it. It doesn’t seem possible. My little girl is getting older.

We’re all there when she blows out her candles. I’m thankful we all get to see this moment together.

❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧

My name is Evie Jean Grant-Uha. I’ve been through heartbreak and triumph. I have loved and lost. Found real love. Found family in my husband, kids and cats. I have my home. I have succeeded in going from having nothing to being wealthy. I have found what I was looking for. What I was longing for. I have no regrets.

<-previous

The start of Generation 2

Note from Queenie – This is the end of Generation 1

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

"I hate the phrase 'healing my inner child' just state what normal activity you are doing and call it that"

Well I for one am healing my inner child by eating a platter of fish, eggs and fries.

You see, when I was a baby and then a toddler, my mother's number one complaint to my doctor was that I was hungry all the time and if she didn't feed me enough I'd go do something like hunt bugs in the garden and eat them... Or scream for more milk than she could make at all hours of the night, etc...

And he always told her that this was probably normal and healthy for me because I wasn't overweight and humans are primates, after all, but she should try giving me more protein in my diet so I didn't risk eating a dangerous bug, because i was like 2 and would just eat anything that moved.

So my mother took to cooking up platters of chicken nuggets and other meats and leaving the plate on the counter or table for me to find and "graze on" through the day... No word back yet on if this is why I seem immune to salmonella poisoning come to think of it... To the point where if I found a platter of meat left out, I just assumed it was intended for me. I was a literal baby, okay?

Did this cause me to eat the whole platter of fish they caught at a family reunion once, because my uncle ignored my mother's warning not to leave it sitting where I could reach it? Yes. And my mother is pissed at him to this day and annoyed at the whole thing because I went on to eat half a burger and an ice cream cone.

I was a skinny kid. [no one thought to figure out HOW/why]

I was occasionally a fat baby, but then I'd have some big growth spurt and the pain of growing would kill my apatite, so I'd grow in these particularly concentrated spurts where I would go from the smallest of my age range to the tallest, and pack on weight in between to make up for it. The base doctors had to repeatedly assure my mother that I was doing okay so long as it was working for me.

Flash forward to being a skinny preteen. 98 pounds on a good day and already 5'7"

I move in with my step mother just before hitting puberty.

She was raised protestant, and I would later figure it out judging by the kinds of abuse she passed on to us.

She was also paranoid of us being fat because she used to be a size 14 dating mr. america or some shit and felt like she had ruined her life by letting herself go since she met my dad. And her daughter had the genes to be heavier, so she was constantly limiting what we ate.

If I took food from the cupboard after school, it was called "stealing", if I took anything outside of meal times, it was called "stealing" and I was punished for it.

She herself would describe me as "gaunt" when this started and was annoyed I didn't fit her daughter's hand-me downs, but still restricted what I ate out of fear I might get 'fat' or it would "catch up with me"...

During mealtimes if I reached for seconds or anything more that what she felt was an appropriate serving, she tried to use shame to stop me by calling me a "glutton" [literally I know that's a little on the nose but gluttony is the name of the sin she thinks I was committing], even when I tried to point out I was just hungry and was growing, and obviously wasn't over-eating.

She also preemptively slut shamed my asexual ass so hard that when men [yes men he was 18] were inappropriate towards me I knew I couldn't go to my parents about it without being blamed. There were a lot of issues. Nearly all of it her insecurity about us not being her children and religious abuse under a different name.

At school, meanwhile, I was passing out from anemia, but if I wanted steak, or my steak rare instead of cooked to boot-leather and/or wanted more than one, she'd leave in anger to go for a walk if my father wouldn't let her stop me.

I have so many complaints about my father too but props to him for the time he "accidentally" under cooked my steak and wouldn't let her almost literally take it out of my mouth to stop me from eating it.

We went from my mother being poor and doing the best she could to feed us -regardless of what other problems I have with her care- to being shamed for being hungry in a house of plenty. Literally my mother was convinced to send us to live with my dad in part by pointing out how much better they could provide for us... There were always leftovers, there was no argument to be made I was somehow eating to keep the food out of anyone else's hands. Food went bad in that fridge. And I got in trouble sometimes for "stealing" and eating it before it could.

I cannot tell you how much this probably stunted my growth or fucked up my development or added to stress that caused me to start developing autoimmune conditions while I was still in high school.

And imagine if I had internalized that she was right instead of looking at the facts and concluding she was delusional. I got up to being 140 ish pounds with lots of muscle, huge fuckign tits, and finally being stopped at 5'8". I wasn't fat then, even if I hated the girl shaped wiggling, and I am not fat now, eating whatever the hell I want and still being about 140 pounds and 5'8" but not being dangerously anemic and on the edge of fainting all the time. If I was fat it wouldn't change anything, but genuinely the point was that nothing -even based on bad principles- was being gained by keeping me from eating and it was only ruining my health. It was about control, not care. Don't get me wrong on this I don't think the parents of fat kids should be restricting their diet either, but if I was on my way to 300 lb at 14 I could understand my parents trying to be body positive but having genuine concerns I did not need a 2nd steak at dinner. The way they treated my step sister who -was- heavier wasn't appropriate either, it was still about control and it was still unhealthy. But the fact was I was skinny and fainting and I was being denied food -that was left to go bad- when I was hungry.

This started somewhere when I was between the ages of 10-12, but even before that after my dad left my mom and she was feeding us on the salary of a waitress with 2 kids and a semi dependent mother... Remember when I mentioned my sister and I were so unused to large meals we split a happy meal on trips?

So yeah, when I eat a big fucking platter of meat protein to help myself heal and recover I am healing my inner child.

Also my inner teen, and also my connective tissue the fuck that's what food is for.

It is an act of self-care and of protest.

And my inner child is at the surface singing a little song about "eat eggs!", and this is normal and healthy for primates when they make themselves food actually.

RIP to you but I have a platter of fish and lack hate in my heart.

[smalife1234]

It's our 5th weekly smiles!!! Please enjoy the read

What made me smile this week?

Monday, 8/26/24 - today is our first day of school! After many months, today, we get a general idea of all the classes! In my first period, we had to introduce ourselves, what year we were in, and what we wanted to be when we grew up. Those types of questions, then we made a name tent, in which you put your name and then draw what you like on the front. I had fun with that, and it's due Friday. We then got a rundown of the class and then played a funny game of what came first. Chicken or the egg, we had to get up out of our seats, in my case, just be in my seat, lol. Then we had to be in different groups per question. There were about 4 or 5 questions, and we had fun with it. We then got introduced to the website we will be using! After that, I headed to the second period; in the second period, we had to create another name tent that had our name and three adjectives that describe our personality using some letters of our name. We then did a lab where we estimated what time Mrs Mauney put the ice cubes in the little beaker that had a dropper at the end. Our team did not get it right since she eliminated our answer choice, but other teams are very close! Plus, we got a free 100 anyway! Woo, tomorrow she Will be announcing which team got it right. May the best team win! I then headed to lunch as I had my first lunch! And I got a yummy salad with chicken, cheese, onions, and Italian dressing! It was very good and worth the wait. After lunch, I headed to third, where we got to learn all the rules of the class and then do a little fingerprint activity. It was a large fingerprint on a sheet of paper, and inside each ridge, you had to write information about yourself. It was pretty cool! Then, after that, we got a lab sheet that showed different stations of fun things/ scientific things, and it wasn't bad! I have all the parts of the microscope left! Then, in the fourth period, I got to be in class with my friend, and we sat the whole class laughing and learning. We did another name tent very simple, and then we made some sticky notes where we had to put what we wanted to learn from the class. Before that, we made a table of contents! It was fun, and now, at home, we're enjoying a warm bowl of potato soup! We experienced the Subway Surfers New World tour and unlocked Billy Bean! Which is always fun! Now we're headed to bed this whole day made me smile!

Tuesday, 8/27/24 - it's my three-month ALS anniversary!! Although I'm not excited about losing a whole percent of body strength! I am excited for what's to come and how far I've come within three months today in the morning we chilled on the game Subway Surfers and talked morning later on we went to the bus stop and talked about our second day of school and then we headed to school in the first period we did a bell ringer which was pretty difficult but I got it done! Then we did this honeycomb beehive activity where we had to connect different things based on their function but also match them with another thing it was tough but thankfully I got it done and then for the rest of class we worked on an assignment in which we had to pretend to be a physical therapist and write things down about a certain patient the patient is not real. Then we went to the second period and began to talk about the syllabus and class rules. Not long after, we got called for our senior meeting! We had a fun time hearing all that they said and the beautiful messages. We got longer-form videos and, sadly, only one tiny video! So we'll put that in the weekly smiles post! Then I came back to a syllabus scavenger hunt. I got to skip most of it and just do the sticker section, so that was fun. Then at lunch, I got to enjoy a yummy salad without cheese sadly but That's ok I had chicken and onions on my salad which was basic but yummy after lunch came the third period we finished up the rest of the lab and finished with it we then played a game of Myth or Fact that was fun! And then, in the fourth period, we did a speed dating thing that was also pretty fun, and then we just went home and chilled for the day! Today made me smile!

Wednesday, 8/28/24 - I woke up and then we took a pretty picture of a tree that was paired with the beautiful sun it was very pretty in the first period we worked on an assignment that we had to write a summary on our patients and wasn't hard and I got it done within thirty minutes we also talked about our struggles and things one girl shared she broke her femur during a car accident and couldn't walk for 3 months! And it happened last year so I hope she is doing well! In the second period, we worked on a density lab where we had to place metal in a graduated cylinder and water to measure its density or something like that! Soon after that, we just made notes! And then we went to third, where I just had yummy salad, except they gave me a whole chicken tender, lol, instead of chicken bites. Hey, I'm not complaining, just shocked 😳! Then, after that, we just worked on forensic work and got to see our first lab! It was pretty cool and fun to do! Then in the fourth period, we just chilled and worked on notes most of the class we chilled at home :) today made me smile!

Thursday, 8/29/24 - today, we just chilled in the morning. Sadly, I had to rush and edit a little video! In the first period, we just got new assignments so that was fun I completed them all in one day the rest of first period just went chill like normal then went to chemistry where we did a card separating activity between molecules and atoms we did some notes and found out that mr s mauney might be behaving her baby September 13th and she will give us an email stating whether or not shes had the baby I wish her all the best in her recovery! Soon after that we got to chill on our phones in third period we started talking about the rules and expectations in her class like a little worksheet type of paper then we took some notes on the temporal lob and other parts of the brain then she told us some story's on this day she said my brain had done something weird I imagined a snake in my dreams and i don't dream about snakes but apparently her husband who sleeps with a C-Pap his mask had kinda un-hooked and it made a hissing sound then another time is when they were very poor back then with there children they would change there kid on there kitchen countertop and in this particular moment the husband was changing the diaper and it wasn't just wet there was obviously poop and they had cloth diapers because they couldn't afford the disposable so not everything would gracefully stay in the diaper and a few minutes later there was some poop on the counter (not actually) but the husband perceived that but in reality it was just some cookie dough that dropped on the counter so she scooped it up with her finger and ate it he started gagging and said you just ate poop and she pointed to the oven meaning it was just some cookie dough that is all that we heard but it horrific yet funny! Then, in the fourth, we sat and chilled, doing a get-to-know-me/ personality poster. Sadly, Willams and Donny's computer was acting weird and kept saying ¨, please do not power off your device” because apparently, the computer was doing some type of critical update! But we went home and chilled, had some yummy mam witch, and were laughing, and listening to Instagram audios that night. Today made me smile!

Friday, 8/30/24 - this morning, I woke up at 6:00 Am, which is rare lol. I chilled and lay in my warm blankets! And then I got ready. As we were heading out the door, I remembered I had left all my jewelry, lol! And they had to help put on my bracelets, my ring, and my necklace, so it was a little bit hectic. We then chilled on the bus and tried to push our way through the entrance because, apparently, so many people wanted to be in the walkway! We chilled for a bit and then headed to class. Since I did not have any work to do in the first period, I just updated some long overdue descriptions, lol! And then I tried filling up my water bottle, but that took forever. It took like 3 minutes, lol! It was kinda funny yet gruesome to wait for my 30-z water bottle to fill up. Lol, I've been typing most of the class, just mainly working on description! Sadly Willam and donnys computer situation is not looking any better I see no progress and it still seems to be having its ¨critical update¨ gosh annoying computers then in the second period since Mrs. Mauney was out we chilled and had a sub I said Hi how are you and she said Hey how are you I said good I sat and chilled for a bit we got our name tents and a new student joined us and sat at our table he seemed pretty chill! We are now doing attendance, and the announcements had a weird cheer thing, which is weird because they never do that. It caught me off guard, lol. Then we worked on a very large paper assignment. It was about matters and things, but I finally got it done! And now I'm chilling here, drinking my water and typing my little heart away. The simplest of things make me smile! Now we're getting ready for yummy lunch! After that, we just chilled in Mrs Churches class and just hung out at home. We had a fun time, and big Donny can officially do thumbnails on his YouTube channel! “Donny & Sc injury” today made me smile!

Saturday, 8/31/24 - today, I woke up around 7:44 Am, waking up many hours before that, lol 12:00 Am and 3:00 a.m. I chilled the rest of that morning, then we chilled for a while in the afternoon, then Donny got to see nostalgic memories on an old phone! He thought it was very cool and so breathtaking to see all those old videos and photos! Then we went to Mack's house for a while! Which we haven't done in a while. We swam for a while! Then a horsefly came up and we were screaming and saying bitch at the fly! We were laughing, yet terrified James killed it, and we thought there was no more of them, and during the time of the first horsefly, we said, " What if another one comes back!” And sure enough, it fucking did, lol (sorry for the language; I usually keep this PG, but to be honest, this was scary as fuck. So I apologize for being overly dramatic in the cuss words!) But sure enough, it did come back. We kept Dunking underwater, lol, and we eventually gave up and went inside. Sadly, the pool day ended shortly, but we did get some McDonald's at the beginning of the trip, and it certainly made me smile. Sadly, Donny is having his major pacemaker surgery tonight at 11:00 Pm! So we have to stay up until 6:00 Am! Until he gets out of surgery, it will be the scariest wait of our life, and we will update you on further information into Sundays or this entry! Who knows, but keep reading. So far, it's 9:51 pm, so it's only a short 1 hour and 9 minutes away! We pray for Donny to make it out of this surgery in Good health! We love you so much, Donny! And we pray you make it out of this surgery! This is such a scary operation and we wish you all the best! - we will give you further updates as we get News! It is 10:50 P.m., and it's 10 minutes till Donny's surgery again. We wish him luck!!

Sunday, 9/1/24 - it's now 11:00 P.m., so it's quite not Sunday, but it's so close. Donny is now in surgery. He needs 6 hours and 59 minutes remaining.. we are beyond scared and hoping he survives the surgery. We love you, Donny; ok, it's now 8:07. thankfully, the nurses took great care of him, and he survived the surgery! He seems fine as of right now! And now we found out that Williams's eye swelled! Overnight, what is the week doing to all of us? we are getting haircuts and going to the mall today! At first, we went to the drug store for our parents to buy cigarettes. Then we went to Dollar Tree, and Mom got many things lol, but we got some vanilla cream cookies! Then we headed to Great Clips and got our haircut! It looks good and we're good with how it turned out! Then we went to the mall. Mom and Dad enjoyed their movie, and shortly after, we went to Five Below and bought some things! But the most important thing we bought was a new bag that was for overheating, and catheter storage since our old bag sucked. Lol, we already find the new bag beneficial! Then we bought a spray bottle for overheating/fake sweat 💦 since we cannot sweat. Promise, all the things we bought were not just for medical purposes lol! After that, we visited Claire's and saw a cute mushroom 🍄 plushie! Then we sat for a while, and now we're munching on our chips and sitting on a bench for a while! We are having fun so far! We soon arrived home and are now chilling getting everything unpacked and organized! We are definitely smiling! There was a bad storm, and it frightened us at how loud the lightning was! But we're ok now and we're chilling! But today was very busy but it certainly made me smile!

What made you smile this week?

Img desc #1: shows a honey bee hive activity filled with different organs and their functions. the goal is to match everything into a perfect shape.

Img desc #2: shows a beautiful picture of a tree standing tall as the beautiful grass gives off its beautiful hint of green, and the rising sun is seen in the distance.

Img desc #3: shows doc's lab work showing drawings of the metals

Img desc #4: shows docs salad at lunch with a huge chicken tender and chicken bites and onions.

Img desc #5: shows a picture of cheese fries with tons of bacon on the fries with plenty of containers of ranch!

Img desc #6: shows a card sorting activity on the doc's table.

Img desc #7: doc is seen in the swimming pool *moments before the dangerous horsefly lol* she is seen smiling with sunglasses. She is in a yellow floaty that's around her neck, and her Atrophied arms are floating about in the pool.

Img desc #8: shows the night sky with the sign Hardee's

Img desc #9: doc is seen near a bridge smiling while wearing a grey short-sleeved shirt, beige-colored shorts, and white shoes.

Img desc #10: Emmie is seen near an ocean. She is opening her mouth wide as she is shocked she is wearing sunglasses paired with a white short-sleeved shirt! And a black service dog is beside her

[abluethingphantom]

Orchid the Submissive

Physical attributes:

A light skin color with a dark tan

Soft brown hair that reaches just past her shoulders. She has dyed magenta tips of her hair.

Will either have her hair up in a fluffy ponytail, or just loose.

Light blue eyes

Wears a bunny headband bow, because she thinks its cute. It emotes to her feelings/reactions. She almost never takes it off.

She has a toned and powerful physique

Originally had pert sized breasts, but was mocked by Whitney and her friends into feeling inadequate about having smaller breasts. So she bought a breast enlargement pill, and was eventually kidnapped and turned into a cow giving her now enormous breasts.

She used to have a slim ass that is now large due to the cow to.

She has three tattoos "Bound to Sydney" on her left shoulder. "Sydney makes me :)" on right shoulder. A flower tattoo above her pubic area. (I imagine it's a Orchid flower)

She is a virgin who wears a chasity belt with an anal shield.

Story beats so far/ Li interactions

Orchid kind, is a caring person trying to be helpful to the fellow folks in the town.

Her school performance is exemplary

In the fall she would go into the forest and try and go find foxes. She'd chase them around so she could pet them. The foxboy's kept trying to mate with her, but were frustrated due to the chasity belt. After these encounters Orchid has started burying eggs when she'd get extra.

In the orphanage Bailey has no opinion of her, but overall the atmosphere of the orphanage is kind. Also having a working pepper spray lab.

Was friends with M!Robin for a long time, and recently returned their romantic feelings. Also pays for them at the orphanage. He cherishes her.

Whitney bullies her, and believes she can do whatever she wants to her with minimal repercussions. Orchid with fight her over some of the really bad things Whitney has planned for her. But she let's her walk right over her other than in those instances. Thus making Whitney believe that Orchid is her pet.

Fell for, and Corrupted M!Sydney who is her main love interest. She technically lost her virginity to him, but the prayer room restored it. He wants to be deflowered by her.

Is nice to M!Kylar due to pity, and just wanting to treat him nicely. Tries to not push their relationship more than that. Even though Kylar wants to be more. He is obsessed with her.

Was sold to M!Eden due to not having enough money for Herself and Robin. Escaped after weaking the leash. But was caught and negotiated about staying a week in town. Forgets to go visit him a lot. He thinks she's adorable.

Met M!Avery when working on the science fair project in the park, and dates him for money, but also forgets to go on the dates sometimes leading to him wanting her on a tighter leash.

She occasionally works on M!Alex's farm, but the two are struggling against Remy's goons. They've almost cleared three fields. Alex admires her.

One day she went deep into the Moor and met the F!Great Hawk. They have a nice loving relationship and eventually Orchid acquired the harpy tf. That was eventually replaced by the cow to after being kidnapped and sold to Remy. The Great Hawk has claimed Orchid as her wife though.

Another day she tried going deep into the forest to see what's in there, but was jumped by the M!Black Wolf. After dealing with the assault from all the wolves after he took her back to the pack Orchid treats all the wolfboys, girls, and wolves kindly and looks out for the younglings while the others go on a hunt. But she leaves quite often to deal with things in town. The Black Wolf is glad she is his mate even though.

Has been hypnotized into responding positively to being hurt/ letting people take pictures of her. Beguiled yearning, and sublime flaunting.

She was beaten, and assaulted so much that she has become truly submissive, and a guilty masochist.

While on the farm Remy grew fond of them while Orchid planned her escape. Eventually though Eden came and saved her from the farm. But before then she dug and escape hole, and befriended Remy's horses, and centaurs and would give them all the apples she would receive from the times Doctor Harper would come visit. Remy thinks that she's adorable.

She recognizes Harper from her time at the farm. Orchid doesn't trust him due to the vial treatment he would try on her while at the farm. She'd put up a fight every time he'd attempt it, but was a fine patient all the other times he'd visit. He has no opinion of her though.

Orchid occasionally studies dance at the dance studio when she has the time and money to do so. She's studied enough that Charlie has them performing gigs occasionally. He thinks she's delightful.

Due to them performing dance gigs the nun Jordan has them investigating a disappearance of a fellow initiate to the temple.

She is a initiate at the church she used to have the highest of purity, but has fallen drastically due to being talked into doing lewd things with women. But she cleans, and gardens at the temple really well, and has full grace due to her hard work.

Thanks to their dancing skills, and cow tf she has become a great chef at the cafe. Making the business so much money that it renovated and earning the owner Sam's favor. She thinks Orchid is delightful.

Leighton, Mason, and River has no opinion of her, where as Sirris thinks she's adorable, and Winter thinks she is delightful. But the students think she's odd, and bully her quite often.

Recently the cow tf has disappeared lowering the quantity of milk for the cream puffs at the cafe. Making it harder to get money from that job. The real question is what transformation will be next wolf? Fox? Or back to cow?

Her ultimate goal is to reach 1 million dollars, finish the town projects, and help Alex's farm. We'll see what else happens as the game updates, or if there's a reset back to the beginning.

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

I'm totally looking forward to the new chapters. Can you give us some snippet? (I feel like a beggar asking this 💀)

Lol don't feel like a beggar. I'm getting super eager to share the story already even though I'm not close to being done. I think that's why I posted two snippets completely unprompted this week.

I'll do you one better. I'll give you two snippets. In scenario one I actually have a lot of build up before the Quaritch family vacation even takes place detailing Spiders attempts to escape through the years. I tell the whole attempt from Spiders perspective and then go back and retell that whole event from Quaritch's perspective (and I'm low key worried that'll get tedious to read but I spent to much time writing it to edit it down)

So here's a taste of that

***************************************************************

   Miles jolted awake, the happiness he’d felt in his dream, instantly being replaced by sinking dread. The nightmares had started shortly after his two year anniversary in the cabin, increasing in frequency as the days went by. He only classified these dreams as nightmares because of the anxiety they spiked in his waking life. If Pa knew that he was reminiscing about the old days…..

    Things had been so good between them too. Miles could almost pretend like they were a regular father and son, spending their summer on a camping trip, hunting in the woods, fishing, having bonfires, and sleeping under the stars when the weather allowed for it. It had all been so normal. So easy. Of course his treacherous brain would have to mess that all up.

    The following morning Miles attempted to eat breakfast, his chin propped on his elbow, holding up his head as he struggled to stay awake. Pa’s calased hand reached out from behind him, carding through his hair, giving him affectionate scratches behind his ear. “You haven’t been sleeping well lately have you?” Miles simply nodded his head. “Something on your mind?” The question made his heart skip a beat but he forced it down, shaking his head no. “Is your room too stuffy then? We can sleep outside tonight if you want. You always like that.”

    “I’m fine Pa.” his voice came out low, heavy with fatigue. 

     “Mmhm.” The man didn’t buy it, but didn’t continue pushing the subject. “Take a nap after you eat. Your school work and chores aren’t goin’ anywhere.”  Neither am I, he thought bitterly. “Thanks Pa. I’ll do that.”

********************************************************************

    It was peak autumn when Miles Sr first noticed the vivid dreams his son would have. The boy talked in his sleep, smiling from ear to ear, mumbling their names. The names of that damn Sully family. He couldn’t understand why his boy seemed so hung up on them. From everything he had seen, from all the memories he heard play out in Junior’s sleep, the Sully’s hadn’t been that special. His boy had had fun, sure. The Sully’s hadn’t been very strict with him, allowing Junior to do almost anything he wanted. Any teenager would enjoy that. That wasn’t love though. Love is protecting the ones you care for, keeping them safe, taking care of them. He did that. So how could his son still miss them so much?

    During waking hours Miles Sr watched his son like a hawk. Miles Jr looked so tired and sad, growing more despondent by the day. The father noted how his boy was eating less. How he was tired all day no matter how early his father sent him to bed. Junior wouldn’t even skateboard, or draw. He just seemed so weighted by his own misery. Miles Sr needed to help him snap out of it.

    It was another lethargic morning after another sleepless night. Junior sat at the table, fork in one hand, his head held up by the other, falling asleep into his bacon and eggs. The father couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. A thin line of drool was escaping his boy’s mouth. His hair was starting to get on the long side again, wildly sticking out around his head like the soft hide of a lamb. His boy would have cringed to know how cute he looked in that moment, but Miles Sr couldn’t help but appreciate his own work. 

    He reached out his hand and began to pet Junior’s hair, feeling his curls slip and twist around his fingers. The sleepy boy leaned into the touch, getting comforting scratches behind the ear in response. Junior deeply sighed out his nose, seemingly content. “You haven’t been sleeping well lately have you?” Miles Sr asked. Junior simply nodded. “Something on your mind?” He knew the answer was yes and hoped his boy would just admit it. Instead Junior slightly hesitated before shaking his head no. So disappointing. “Is your room too stuffy then? We can sleep outside tonight if you want. You always like that.” 

    “I’m fine Pa.” Liar. 

     Junior looked so incredibly tired that if he didn’t get some sleep soon he might just collapse from exhaustion. Hopefully with some rest, his son would start thinking clearly and just admit he had a problem. “Take a nap after you eat. Your school work and chores aren’t goin’ anywhere.”   His son sighed again, seeming so defeated.“Thanks Pa. I’ll do that.”

[hanjnah]

I have a memory from an easter egg hunt my school did at a park. I was 6 years old..first grade.. I chose to carry myself in a way that told the world I was invisible, untouchable and above the rules; not because I was afraid of anything but because I did not care about rules or the way people wanted to do things, I just felt nothing for what was deemed ‘normal’ and ‘ mentally healthy’ for me.. I wanted it to be this way..

I was basically learning to manifest invisibility so that I could have the independence and freedom that felt natural for me. When I went to grab an egg I found, a kid came running and snatched it first, having seen me slowly and calmly reaching for it, he probably thought he’d cheat and take it from me, who spotted it for him. I hated that so much, I didn’t race to grab any eggs, I just calmly walked and looked around. This was me practicing being invisible; it was good but maybe not the best place to do it. I ‘believed’ I would find eggs simply because I deserved and wanted to, and this is a great way to exist, it was very natural to me, this was just a bad place to practice.

I was really mad at the kid and the way everyone was so mindless, running frantically to get as many eggs as they could like it was a race, fuck you I got mine, almost like they were a bunch of..first graders..

I ended up with just one egg I think, and I was really sad about that. T T

[chouxtranslations]

Shizun 017 - Job at the door

The next day, Lu Yunzhen woke up feeling refreshed. 

Ever since he turned down Mo Changkong’s original offer of waiting on him every morning and evening, Mo Changkong has figured out other ways to serve his Shizun. Every morning he would line up at the supermarket to buy discount eggs (a little over 2 yuan for half a kilo, limit 2 kilo per customer). It was great for making tea eggs, omlettes, scrambled eggs, and egg dumplings, the only issue is that it’s not quite enough food… 

And now, Jin Yunu is here. 

Mo Changkong took out an enchanted umbrella made of shade beast hide from his seed space, which can stop sun damage for creasures such as skin painting demons, so that he could do chores during the day. 

Shade beasts went extinct ages ago, there aren’t many of these umbrellas left in the world…

Jin Yunu was touched to the point of tears and was ready to spill his organs, whatever Mo Changkong wanted. 

Thus, Mo Changkong took him to buy eggs together, even telling Jin Yunu to switch to different skins in the washroom so he can line up a few more times…. 

The two of them returned home loaded with discount eggs. 

Lu Yunzhen had finished washing up by then and was very happy at the harvest. After asking everyone for their opinions he went to the kitchen and made a massive batch of crepes. 

Everyone was very full. 

Lu Yunzhen has also left the small funk he was in the day before. It was unfortunate that he asked for little money for capturing a skin painting demon and left a lot on the table, but being a person means to be solid. He’s a stem major, how could he rely on the supernatural to make money? 

The most important thing is, he thought it through. 

He’s met three evil spirits in his 20 years of life, and he was only paid once! If he counted on exorcisms to make a living he’d starve even if he charged 5 figures each time! 

“We can’t take wicked shortcuts, to study well is the righteous path.” The Wujian Peak sect leader announced to his disciple and servant. “I’m going to talk to my advisor to see if there’s any projects I can work on, get more experience, get a good job after I graduate, and work from 9 to 9 as a code money. A 5 figure monthly salary isn’t a dream!” 

There were a few people he knew from the program who have 7 figure yearly salaries now. They’re all winners at life and it’s so inspiring! 

He’s going to use his own hard working hands and lead his household to prosperity! 

Mo Changkong applauded seriously, “Shizun is correct.” 

Jin Yunu had lived in wealthy households and has seen extravance. He looked at the previous treasure in his hands, then the countless spirit stones in the house, and only felt confused… He felt like the sect leader had some rather strange goals… is this some special godly way of cultivating? 

Mo Changkong glanced at him coldly. 

Jin Yunu knew his place and didn’t dare to disagree. He immediately clapped, “That’s wonderful, sect leader! This one has benefitted so much from you wisdom it was worth 10 years of study!” 

Lu Yunzhen was practically floating from all the praise. 

Jin Yunu respectfully walked his sect leader and master to the school, then stayed at home to clean up, absorb some spiritual power, and light himself a little scented candle for a snack. 

It was a wonderful little life. 

…

Lu Yunzhen has great grades and has studied a lot of stuff on the side to help with his post graduation job hunt. He can do most types of code money jobs. 

However, programming jobs are often outsourced to an outsources. By the time it gets to a student they turn into hard work for little money. Not to mention there are many monks for very little gruel, and everyone has to fight for it. 

Things like app development requires time and resources, and success depends on luck. 

Heh, intangible things such as luck… 

Lu Yunzhen is the kind of person could get water stuck on his teeth. He gets a stomach ache every time he has a test and has been forced to be the kind of person who puts a medical kit in his backpack whenever he has an important test. 

All of his advisor’s projects were already gobbled up by his upper classmen, and the few suitable jobs online were also grabbed in a blink. 

Lu Yunzhen posted in his class group chat and in friend circles, saying that he wanted to take a computer related job. He was very personable and everyone happily agreed to keep an eye out for him. 

2 classes passed by in a blink. 

During the break, Luo Xiaopang squeezed in by Lu Yunzhen’s side and patted him on the shoulder. “Hey, you honour student. Why do you keep looking out and laughing like an idiot today?” 

Lu Yunzhen replied, “I’m looking at my friend.” 

Mo Changkong had followed him to school and was sitting underneath the gingko tree outside the window. He had worn a baseball cap and was playing games on Jin Yunu’s phone. Weirdly, even though he’s so eye catching no one passing by seemed to notice him. 

Luo Xiaopang followed his gaze out but there was nothing underneath the tree. There were a group of cute girls practicing cheerleading on the nearby field though, they seemed very energetic. 

He grinned and shoved at Lu Yunzhen, “Bro, look at your face. Do you have a crush?” 

Lu Yunzhen was a face full of confusion, “What?” 

Mo Changkong saw that Shizun had noticed him and walked over to explain. “Is something the matter, Shizun? I was worried about causing trouble and used a camouflage spell.” 

Luo Xiaopang couldn’t see him and kept on asking. “Yunzhen, which girl are you looking at? The one in blue? Aiya, she fell.” 

Lu Yunzhen didn’t know how to explain, so he just played possum. 

Luo Xiaopang kept giggling. 

Mo Changkong pushed down the boiling flames of jealousy and asked with an awful look, “Shizun… has someone he fancies?” 

Lu Yunzhen felt his heart get hairy from the terrifying stare and immediately explained. “No.” 

“No what?” Luo Xiaopang saw his bro was strangely nervous and thought he figured things out. He kept on joking around. “If you’re not looking at the girls, then are you looking at a guy? I heard from Liao xuejie that…” 

There was a bunch of track and field students sweating on the sports field. 

Luo Xiaopang’s joke has gone too far. 

“What are you saying? Do you still want to copy my homework?!” Lu Yunzhen was so embarrassed he was getting mad. He ignored the look on Mo Changkong’s face and strongly slapped Luo XIaopang on the back of the head, scolding, “Don’t start nonsense with Liao xuejie. She draws danmei comics and is looking for material everywhere. She even started shipping the two tomcats at the school and it’s even popular online…. How could I like men?!” 

Just because he doesn’t have a girlfriend it doesn’t mean he’s looking for a boyfriend! 

“Zhen bro, my bad.” Luo Xiaopang immediately pleaded for mercy. “You’re as straight as steel, you only like women, and those with a tough life at that!” 

Lu Yunzhen hit him two more times and then let him go. But then he turned around and saw that Mo Changkong was looking even worse. His eyes were almost filled with despair, as if he was about to eat someone in the next second…

What happened? 

Lu Yunzhen was panicking, he combed over what was just said but couldn’t figure out what’s wrong. In the end he waited for Luo Xiaopang to start playing his game and quietly asked, “You… don’t like having a Shiniang?” 

Mo Changkong took a deep breath, “No.” 

Lu Yunzhen panicked even more, explaining, “There’s no girl I like.” 

“That is fine.” Mo Changkong pushed out a terrifying smile while gritting his teeth. “I have improved myself, I won’t do bad things or hinder Shizun’s feelings anymore. Shizun can like whoever he likes, there is no need to worry about this disciple…” 

Lu Yunzhen is panicking more and more. 

He felt like a little frog that was being stared at by a giant python. Something bad might happen if he kept on saying the wrong answer but he thought until his head broke and couldn’t figure out what’s the right answer. 

Mo Changkong noticed that his suppressed evil nature was trying to come out again, with images of the school being destroyed flashing in his brain. Again and again, he harshly pushed the thought down. 

The bloody aura of the world ending demon was slowly flowing out. 

Lu Yunzhen got a flash of inspiration. “Don’t worry, when I look for a partner I’ll get your approval first! If you don’t like it then I’ll be single!” 

The bloody aura stopped. 

The terrifying feeling of oppression disappeared like it was nothing. The sky was blue, the clouds were white, nothing happened at all… 

Mo Changkong asked quietly, “That’s not appropriate, is it?” 

“It’s right.” Lu Yunzhen finally understood and answered honestly. “You’re my disciple from my previous life and a member of the family. If we’re adding people to the household how could this teacher not consider your opinions?” 

SIngle parents looking for relationships have to think about their children! Even more so if it’s a demon with a strange personality who’s not used to other people!

Mo Changkong was finally satisfied and went back to playing his game under the tree. 

Lu Yunzhen looked at his cheerful silhouette and felt deeply once more… He probably had no chance of getting married this life… 

He thought about how to explain at his grandpa’s grave that he took in a demon disciple and thus has to stay single and not get a granddaughter in law for him. 

Grandpa’s a good guy, he’ll understand, right? 

While he was thinking all that nonsense he heard cursing from his classmates. 

“Fuck! The server died again!” 

“What broken game is this?! It keeps dying!?” 

“We should use the devs as human sacrifice!” 

“I could program better than them with my feet!” 

“...” 

Lu Yunzhen rubbernecked a bit and saw that it was the game named Hero that Mo Changkong was playing the previous day. The game was well made with fun mechanics, and the beta was super hyped. A lot of classmates had been talking about it lately. 

But, the backend quality didn’t match the game contents at all, with the connectivity and saving issues. The game company kept issuing maintenance notices, causing the players to curse at them. 

Lu Yunzhen didn’t play games and didn’t care. He kept on looking for new jobs. 

Suddenly, Long Jingtian sent him a message on wechat. “Master Lu, are you there?” 

Lu Yunzhen replied, “Yes.” 

Long Jingtian carefully asked, “I saw your friend circle post, it seems like you want a job involving computers?” 

After the demon incident, he was scolded many times by his father. His father said that Master Lu is a hidden taoist with great morals, that meeting him was the kind of fortune that would make smoke come out of his ancestors. He had to maintain a good relationship with the master, otherwise he had no shot at a lambo. 

Long Jingtian had no idea how to deal with sects, not to mention he didn’t have a phone number or address, only a weibo account. He asked his friends and everyone had the same suggestion: find another case, invite the master out, and build the relationship. 

Thus, Long Jingtian spent day and night sending out the same message in dozens of groups. “Has anyone gotten hit with bad luck lately? Come find me!” 

Ignoring all the joking around in the groups, everyone knows that the Long family was very rich and there was still a lot of people who wants to suck up to him. After asking for more details they looked for all sorts of ways to find an incident. 

There’s power to a crowd. 

In the end, they finally found it…

Long Jingtian asked, “Master, do you know about servers? I have an issue related to that.”

Lu Yunzhen was excited, “I know!” 

Let it be website building, server management, code writing, bug fixing, or system security, he knew it all. Whenever there was a contest at school he always won some kind of prize. His only problem was that he had bad luck and few chances to show off. If a fuerdai like Longjingtian brought him a job that means there’s no middleman and he could make a lot! And build his reputation at that! 

Long Jingtian said, “I have a middleschool classmate whose family has been making games. But the server keeps having problems and they just can’t seem to fix it. She wanted to invite Master Lu for an exorcism.” 

“...” 

He wanted to block this moron. 

[potatoes-tomatoes]

this a bit late but I saw ur tags on that sp easter episode gifset "not my ass pulling a stan at the tender age of six" - I'm so curious what ur easter questioning origins were 👀

i was (…am?) a lil insane growing up, like ok, I have memories of telling everyone in my kindergarten class that santa wasn’t real and wouldn’t care if they cried, bc they HAD to know the truth like, how could santa deliver those gifts in one night? why does he only give gifts to kids in america/ with enough wealth? You can still love the specials, and the holiday, the characters of the santa mythos, but believing a lie told by adults just didn’t sit right with me. also bc my parents told me he wasn’t real lol. (listen. my mom grew up very very poor. My grandma told my tias and tio that Santa wasn’t real, and only existed for the gringos with money jfkfkfjf) so. yeah my religiously zealous ass is the preface for even more religiously zealous stuff

so I grew up as a conservative christian girl that read the bible like a storybook every night, but I also have memories of questioning everything, it drove everyone crazy. I would hound my pastors after service with new questions someone my age wouldn’t usually have? I knew they thought it was kinda annoying if not mildly cute but I needed answers for every goddamn thing. Easter traditions bein one of them 😅 Now, I was raised very traditionally, as in, we examined good friday and went to a long Easter service and then, that’s it. Eggs, Rabbits were worldly, and had nothing to do with Christ, and tbh the most my fam enjoyed was the after church carne asada and the trip to walmart the coming monday to get discounted candy to munch on thru summer lolol. But I asked my classmates and teachers at school like at what point did easter become abt eggs? so if you’re not christian then, what exactly are you celebrating? You’re just doing elaborate stuff to eat candy. what’s the true purpose of the bunny? where did this originate? and everyone was like, just paint ur damn plastic egg for class Cel, you’re 6. 😂😅

Well that’s done and over with and I’m completely sane now. Also I did not paint and properly prep my first easter egg and participate in an egg hunt until last year with some friends and it was cute lol.