#Ive never posted a snippet before

[brokenheartwithheartbreak]

Okay I don’t even go here and I’ve never done this before but I’m 10k deep into a post-finale probably AU platonic Thiam fic based on Theo trying to figure out his shit and function as a human being and DOUBTING my writing very hard rn so. What’s the consensus from anyone whose been in this fandom for longer than two months (see: anyone but me)

Excerpt:

Melissa bustles away before he can unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth, Liam watching her go with an oddly forlorn look, still draped over the desk, before those wide puppy-innocent eyes snap to Theo, still hopelessly open and unguarded even as he sighs, a heavy laborious thing, and shakes his head.

“She’s still mad at you.” He says by way of greeting. Theo frowns, has lost Melissa in the throng of people toing and froing in the hallways already, eyes cutting to Liam instead and attempting to dissect why he seems to think this matters.

“I killed her son.” He says flatly, when it becomes apparent Liam expects an answer, “He’s still pissed. Why wouldn’t she be?"

Liam’s gaze turns thoughtful, studying Theo as he stands there in his threadbare t-shirt and the same jeans he’d been wearing when Gabe’s blood was splattering on the tiles, four floors up, three weeks ago. They've been cleaned since - he managed to scrape together enough change for a trip to the laundromat last week - but being back here he can distinctly remember the specific scent of blood and fear and death, a little different for every dead body left in Monroe's wake, tinged with a slightly different mix of the same three things her teenage soldiers feel in their last moments.

Liam's still looking at him with those deceptively sharp eyes, blue like the sky, like a bottomless ocean. He has a skill for looking at people - at Theo - and giving off the impression that he's looking deeper, peeling back the guarded layers and taking a look at the exposed damage underneath, poking at that damage and seeing how much it takes to make him jump, not in a malicious way, though, in a 'testing boundaries' sort of way, in a 'how far can I push you before you snap back' kind of way that Theo respects more than he resents, because he's the same, in a way. He gets the feeling Liam is still waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Theo to slip and the carefully crafted master plan to crack and splinter and shatter down around him all over again, gets the feeling this pushing and prodding is a reflexive, knee jerk reaction to how easily he'd slipped into their ranks and earned their trust last time around. While the rest of the pack seem to have decided the best policy is just to keep him at arm's length until they need to pull him in for a human shield, Liam seems to have gone for the opposite; tugging Theo closer so he can peer into the cracks and crevices Tara clawed into his armour and decide whether the things he does and the words he says are genuine or just another misdirection.

Theo really doesn't have the energy for misdirection anymore - what's the point? All these people have already seen the worst of him, have seen him rip them apart to take what he wanted, seen him rip apart his own pack to take their power, there is nothing he could say or do now to wipe that slate clean and make them forget, that much has been made quite obviously clear. And, somewhere along the line of those four months that felt like four years, four decades, too much time and not enough and how do you reconcile losing that much of your life when it felt like repeating the same five minutes over and over and over again, somewhere along the line the parts of him that were so well trained, so carefully schooled he could control his heartbeat and his chemosignals and his every minuscule emotion like his own body was his puppet, those parts died, ripped out of him a thousand times over alongside Tara's heart and left to rot on that cold hospital floor.

He thinks, privately, in some dark corner of his mind, that Liam might be the only one of them that's actually maybe worthy of being an Alpha. He's explosive and angry, yes, but when the anger drains out he's quiet and clever, stubborn and selfless and so quick to forgive. He's rushing headfirst into danger to give his friends a fighting chance, he's pounding fists against stone until his knuckles break to stop himself hurting a kid who honestly deserved it, he's a heart skipping traitorously over 'I'm not dying for you either.' He's the only one Theo might delude himself into believing has possibly come close to forgiving him, despite it all, despite Theo manipulating him into attacking his own Alpha, despite Theo taunting him and goading him at every opportunity because once, Before Skinwalker Prison Theo thought it was kind of funny to see how many buttons he could press before Scott's favourite blew a fuse.

All that, and he's still the top contact in Theo's pitifully empty phone, he's still the one who came looking that night after the hospital, after Gabe, limping on his own bullet wound, to find Theo sprawled in the back of his truck, rolling the crumpled slug he pulled from his sluggishly bleeding shoulder across the scratched plastic of the tray and trying to erase the feeling of death creeping through his veins as Gabe's heart gave out, pain free. He doesn't know where he stands with a lot of the pack these days, other than understanding the general air of discontent and distrust whenever he happens to be in the same room, but with Liam, at least, their relationship is relatively clear, cut and dried. They're not friends, probably never will be, but they went through something together, survived something together, and that simple act has tied some sort of invisible string between them that has Theo gravitating towards Liam like he's a sharp metal blade and Liam a magnet.

Maybe he's lonely, left behind by everything he's known, cracked open by Tara's hand in his chest, left exposed in the aftermath in such a way he doesn't know how to put the mask back on and pretend anymore. Maybe Liam doesn't look at him like a monster, just a puzzle, not ugly-messy-killer boy but beaten-tired-trying boy. It's not much but it's enough for him to think maybe one person in this fucked up town doesn't completely hate his guts, and that breadcrumb of hope is enough to stir the dead thing in his chest into some sort of continued existence every morning.

None of that stops him from feeling a little like a bug under a microscope, now, trapped in this moment that seems to last hours and seconds at the same time, caught in the arcing swing of the pendulum on a grandfather clock, caught under Liam's gaze that sees too much and not enough at the same time. He fights the urge to let his hands curl into fists, tries instead to remember what it felt like to break Liam’s nose - four weeks ago, five, it doesn’t matter - last time so he doesn’t give in to the urge to do it again, bloody and broken, right here in front of all these hospital staff, these Normal people who might not be so Normal after all. Half of them were here, were working when Monroe’s hunters took over the hospital, when they threw guns into the hands of children and told them to go to war against their classmates, told them that murdering a teenager for being Something Else would net them a win in some sort of moral war as well as the actual, bloody, violent one.

He wonders if any of them recognise him and Liam, two teenagers lingering in a hospital hallway, two Others making themselves easy targets.

“What?” He snaps, surprises himself a little with the sharp tone, but Liam hasn’t moved, hasn’t stopped pinning him with that piercing look, and that’s supposed to be Theo’s job, reading him like an open book, putting together all the little invisible tells and figuring out exactly which buttons to press to get the reaction he wants, the fallout he wants, writing the script and having Liam-Scott-Stiles, all, follow along without ever even realising it. He’s not so good at that anymore, lost that skill somewhere around the three hundredth time Tara ripped her heart out of his chest.

Liam has the grace to look bashful, peeling himself off the desk in a way that looks vaguely like tearing apart Velcro, wobbling to his feet in a way that speaks of long days and longer nights, exhaustion drifting off him like cologne. “Sorry, you just…seem different.”

The apology rolls of his tongue so easily, so simply, like Theo can’t count on just his fingers how many times someone has offered him any sort of apology, and it’s about nothing, about accidentally staring in a fatigued sort of way, but it’s about so much more than that in his head and Liam’s simple-easy camaraderie makes something in his chest ache even fiercer.

‘You seem different’ Liam says, and Theo thinks about his belt being two holes tighter, shirts hanging a little looser, hard ridges of bone hidden beneath. He thinks about long, uncomfortable nights, broken up into sections of haunted sleep and a constant, thick exhaustion he wears like a second skin. He thinks about the sandwich he wolfed down at the last pack meeting to discuss the Hunters, two days ago, that barely made a dent in the gnawing, empty feeling of his insides. It’s fine, he’s managing, he’s still alive; call it another test, perhaps. How long can The Subject sustain itself with no resources?

He wonders how much of that Liam can see, wonders if ‘different’ means ‘thin’ or ‘tired’ or ‘a facsimile of who you were before’.

Theo chooses to ignore the comment entirely, stuffs his hands a little deeper in his pockets, shakes around the boxes of himself in his mind to find some semblance of his usual cold, calculating snark. His lips curl into an expression that is all fangs without ever baring his teeth, one eyebrow lifted in challenge. “You call me here just to stare, Dunbar?”

[adolins-heart]

It's thinking abt Gwenna hours again

[pumpkinwastaken]

[stellewriites]

can’t stop thinking about a 141 ted lasso au,,

[themyscirah]

Did I seriously just finish an art piece??? I know I'm me but did I get abducted by aliens or something like who is this person

[rebornofstars]

thanks for the tag! i had to go digging for this one - all my recent work has already made it to posting:

“Wind?” she says again. She looks at him more closely. Her face twists into something less excited and more caring. What can she see? He sniffs. All he can smell is the iron tang of dried blood.

i... i dont think this one will ever become a complete fic, unfortunately. unless... maybe i can work it into my most recent wip... it would be a shame to waste such a good idea... 🤔🤔

no pressure tags @hotcheetohatredwastaken @needfantasticstories @elle-rosewater @aeghina @marsnooodlesoup @sketchy-potato !!

I’m a bit late oopsie

tagged by @appalesbian! Post six sentences of a wip and tag six people

“Oh c’mon Mako, you weren’t worried about them, were you?” Bolin poked at the firebender’s chest with a big grin.

Suddenly defensive, Mako brushed Bolin’s finger away. “No, no. All I was saying is that it’s good we made it out without a scratch. Is that such a bad thing?” Always with the jokes on this ship, he sighed.

“Stand down, Sea Salty,” Opal suddenly called from up in the crow’s nest, and Mako rolled his amber eyes at the nickname while Korra laughed lightly, “Bo’s just poking fun. But I wouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves. The stern actually did get clipped back there.”

Tagging @shadowlinktheshadow and whoever offers themselves up as tribute (no pressure though! Do what you want you can be lawless)

[silens-oro]

Well Enough Alone: Part IV WIP

Pope Cody x f!reader (nicknamed Hawk)

no links, no frills. just a lunch break post. here’s a snippet from the next part because y’all have been so kind. my masterlist is pinned, so check it out if you’re new heeeeeere.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

“Need help, birthday boy?” Pope looked over his shoulder at Hawk’s entrance. She sashayed into the kitchen, her silk robe flowing around her as she walked up to Pope. The lacey bralette and boyshorts revealed underneath made Pope’s mouth go dry. He cleared his throat and averted his eyes back down to the coffee machine in front of him.

Hawk placed a gentle kiss to the side of his neck as she approached him and wrapped her arms around his shirtless waist. She let her hands linger over his warm, taut skin of his stomach as she walked to the fridge to grab some eggs and a bowl of sliced fruit so she could make a quick breakfast.

“Just trying to make a cup of coffee, not fly to the goddamn moon.” Pope muttered as he pressed around the machine unsuccessfully. Hawk laughed quietly and bumped her hip with his to scooch him out of the way.

“I got it. Go sit,” Hawk directed with a chuckle, pointing to the barstools where she usually sat. “Hungry?” Pope shook his head, his hand going to his stomach with a grimace at the mention of food as he took a seat.

“My stomach’s been messed up since I got out. Probably just not used to real food yet.” Hawk’s mind went to the pills she saw Janine crush up -the same pills that were in her purse. The same pills that manifested as guilt that ate away at her the longer they lingered. She had to say something and she would, but Hawk had to be careful with how she went about it. Smurf was her main concern. She knew Pope would be upset when he found out, but if he found out from Hawk…Smurf would put a target on her back.

Any normal person could see that Pope probably needed to be medicated -as many people needed to be, but he definitely didn’t need to be drugged. Smurf didn’t have any right to do this to him, but that never stopped her before. Hawk set a cup of black coffee in front of Pope and loaded a couple slices of bread into the toaster next to the stove.

“You uh…you’re not on any kind of medication, are you?” Hawk asked tentatively as she cracked a few eggs in a bowl to scramble. She tried not to be obvious, but she needed to know if he suspected anything at this point. “Sometimes they can mess up your stomach.” Pope looked at her weird when she shrugged, like the question was so wildly out of the realm of possibility that she shouldn’t have even asked. Hawk brought the bowl to the stove and busied herself with finding a pan and flicking the burner on. “Maybe ibuprofen? Sometimes if I take it on an empty stomach I can’t eat for a few days…” She looked over her shoulder to glance at Pope.

“No, I’m not.” He responded dryly, watching Hawk’s every move with his full attention.

“Then you’re probably still adjusting.” She said nonchalantly. It felt wrong, plain and simple. Her own stomach was starting to turn, twisting and flipping in the worst way as she plated the eggs, toast, and fruit before sliding a small plate over to him.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Hey hey, an upd8. Looks like Vriska leveled up from killing Jane. It's kind of hard to read some of these tier names, though. "Descent Horizon" is an a'ight one. Kind of weird that the non-pun one is the one we're one, though. Not even irons in the hellfire.

John sees some images of a Pumpkin Cake (What Cake?) and...himself as Mark Immortell from Pathologic? Is the idea that these are alternate realities?

Rose is freaking out at not being in a coma. The "Thanks for Playing" message being destroyed is a good gag in and of itself, but also a good visual for Rose's carefully laid plan to make Kanaya hate her before going brain-dead falling to pieces.

Panel from Narbonic

What the fuck, Jane survived having her head cut off?

Anyway, never mind that. It's Adult!Vriska. I guess being in Silhouette isn't stylishly hiding her Hell Tier form from us, she's literally all black when transformed.

KARKAT: BY THE BY, WAS TELLING ME VRISKA WAS BACK ON ANYONE'S AGENDA?

I went to check the epilogues to see if anyone had a chance to tell Karkat that Vriska's been back this whole time, but Homestuck.com is broke and they're not in the unofficial collection. I think Vriska appeared in Candy just in time to bang/kill Gamzee before HS2 started. God, no one ever tells Karkat anything. I guess the kids didn't mention it to Rose/Kanaya.

MEENAH: figured youd pop a vessel over it MEENAH: decided to keep that out of your briefs MEENAH: im the only one around here watchin your blood pressure MEENAH: and your briefs VRISKA: Don't mention it! VRISKA: Just one grown adult helping out another. VRISKA: I mean damn, Karkat, speaking of grown. VRISKA: Look at you! MEENAH: i know right VRISKA: You're like... yoked. MEENAH: i knowww right

Now that Jake English is god, Karkat is Jake English. Also Candy Karkat meeting Meat Karkat is going to be amazing.

JOHN: besides vriska looking like lucy liu from charlie's angels now JOHN: is that what the machine was for? making lucy lius? not that i'm complaining, but... KARKAT: OKAY, HOLD ON. KARKAT: SHE LOOKS WAY MORE LIKE SANDRA BULLOCK FROM A TIME TO KILL. KARKAT: OR THE INFINITELY BETTER MISS CONGENIALITY. KANAYA: Sure KARKAT: ACTUALLY, LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT MOVIES ANYMORE OR WHICH TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WOMEN FROM A DEFUNCT ALIEN SOCIETY VRISKA WHO IS AN ADULT NOW MAY OR MAY NOT LOOK LIKE. JAKE: I think theyre both equally good, if were sharing movie opinions. JOHN: wait, are you naked under there? JAKE: Well,

While John/Karkat conversations are always great, what really makes this scene is Kanaya's "Sure". She's above this silliness, but she still has opinions.

MEENAH: step one we gut scale and filet this sea cow ROXY: !!!! JAKE: Shucks and shit, people, not sure whats left to try. JAKE: I mean look at her. MEENAH: tsk cmon kingfish what is this amateur hour? MEENAH: you blow all your gumption out when you were stalkin the battlefield like a human lens flare? MEENAH: clearly we gotta give this dirty girl a bubble bath JAKE: Er, id rather not. JAKE: Ive been twenty thousand leagues under that particular sea more times than a fellow might care to remember. MEENAH: oh yuck MEENAH: im talkin bout dippin her in acid JAKE: Oooooooh! That should work! JAKE: Or if it doesnt we could give her the ole mummy treatment. JAKE: Jade did a bang-up job with dave... JADE: aww thank you! JOHN: or we could just smash her with a hammer. JANE: Mmf????? VRISKA: Hey, so- KARKAT: LOOK, AS MUCH AS I'D LOVE TO SPEND THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON TESTING OUT VARIOUS CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS ON JANE'S HEAD UNTIL SOMETHING STICKS, THERE'S AN ANNOYINGLY VAST ARRAY OF VITAL INTEL WE NEED FROM HER FIRST. ROXY: wow okay can we pause for a second JOHN: yeah, what kind of intel? ROXY: not what i meant!! KARKAT: DO YOU KNOW WHERE JANE'S HEAD KEEPS HER POLITICAL PRISONERS?

I just wanna post snippets of dialogue and say they're good. These are fun characters and they have fun chemistry and we basically have not just let them riff for the entirely of HS2 or the epilogues.

Also, obviously John's plan is a hammer. Even now, he can't let Homestuck 1 go.

KARKAT: DO YOU KNOW ANY OF HER PASSWORDS, FOR THAT MATTER? JOHN: i guess not. SOLLUX: i do. KARKAT: YOU DO? SOLLUX: yeah. SOLLUX: the passw0rds, anyway. SOLLUX: problem sleuth with a zer0. SOLLUX: honk undersc0re enjoyer sixty six. SOLLUX: imwithher. SOLLUX: id0whatiwant<3 JOHN: this guy again. JOHN: why are you even here?

Oof, the Hillary Clinton reference there. I know a lot of people accused Jane of being a blatant Trump analogue, was she meant to be Hillary Clinton this whole time?

Also, bantz aside, Jane is the Maid of Life. Can't she just, like....get better? Stick her head back on that body and be good?

Anyway, Vriska explains that Candyland is doomed and everyone here is going to die as the Black Hole collapses without Alt!Calliope sustaining it.

VRISKA: 8ut, as I said, I can get all you guys out of here! Hell Tier gave me a pretty comprehensive lay of the land, metaphysically speaking, and we can move on from this 8ummer aaaaaaaaltogether. KANAYA: Including The Children KANAYA: ? VRISKA: Of course! That's actually where shit gets real interesting. VRISKA: Turns out they're all needed on the other side, for a very, very special game. JOHN: wait, you don't mean... VRISKA: Oh, 8ut I do. JOHN: :D JADE: D:< JADE: NO WAY! JOHN: what? JOHN: why not?

God, I really do love John's midlife crisis manifesting as Homestuck nostalgia. He's so fucking hyped to kill his kids!

VRISKA: I'm... normal now.

Lies.jpg

Vriska literally walking out of the comic is a good visual.

Oh god, what is this.

Let's start with "You are coming". I presume it's not another Meat/Candy choice and it's just who's splitting up where.

Oh wow, only the kids go, and it's mostly only Yiffy that wants to. Meanwhile, in the other path

JOHN: we have to go fight dirk! JAKE: Erm. JAKE: Fight him? JOHN: he's obviously like... the new bad guy! CALLIOPE: oUr friend dirk...? JANE: HMMHMHMM?? ROXY: john ROXY: wt actual f are you talking abt JOHN: roxy, this is our do-over! JOHN: our meat! MEENAH: nobody wants to hear about your meat man

John's midlife crisis being nostalgia for Homestuck is funny, but also it's so goddamn sad. He doesn't actually care about any of this, he just wants an adventure.

KANAYA: What Did She Say JOHN: well... we were kinda talking about how messed up every thing was on sort of a fundamental level, and she basically said she was happy every thing was shaking out as it has been? JOHN: which was nice to hear in the moment, but when you think about it for a little longer, people have died? KARKAT: YES, JOHN. KARKAT: QUITE A FEW FUCKING PEOPLE HAVE DIED. JOHN: also that she's been married twenty years, but also not? JOHN: it was all kind of over my head, but also i sort of get it. KANAYA: Takes A Depressed Dissociative Cop-Out To Know One I Suppose ROSE: I think I'm going to be sick. KANAYA: *FUCK*

Of all the Candy characters, John is the one acting the most like his original characterization, and that makes him the most fucked-up one of all.

JOHN: no offense, jade, but you're right behind rose on the crazy train. JOHN: you can't even be trusted to be normal around a dead body. JOHN: OR TO NAME A BABY.

He's got a point there tho

JOHN: and i've been really trying, but no matter what, it all seems kinda ... dumb and random? KARKAT: OH, I WOULDN'T SAY THAT. JOHN: what do you mean? KARKAT: JADE'S A PATHETIC PATHOLOGICAL LIAR, BUT SHE'S NOT STUPID. KARKAT: NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS IS RANDOM. KANAYA: ? KARKAT: TELL ME, WAS A KID NAMED "YIFFANY LONGSTOCKING" A JOKE DAVE MADE, OR DID YOU JUST *THINK* HE'D FIND IT FUNNY? JADE: are we seriously talking about this NOW? KARKAT: THE ONE THING HE EVER STOOD HIS GROUND ON. KARKAT: AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN LEAVE HIM THAT, COULD YOU? JADE: its not that simple! KARKAT: SHE LOOKS LIKE HIM! THAT'S, WHAT, A HAPPY ACCIDENT? KARKAT: THERE WERE A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF WILLING, UNMARRIED WOMBS OUT THERE, BUT YOU JUST HAPPENED TO STUMBLE INTO THE CLOSEST ONE THERE IS TO DAVE? KARKAT: WOW!!! KARKAT: LUCKY!!! KANAYA: Huh

I really do love the Jerry Springer-ness of Candyland. All these people are so unbelievably fucked up, too busy fighting over stupid shit to notice all their kids went away and left them in the doomed timeline.

KARKAT: I HAD A LIGHT PLAYER RUNNING ESPIONAGE FOR ME AND IT STILL TOOK US FIFTEEN SHITTY, GRUELING HUMAN YEARS TO WIN THIS EMBARRASSING RUBE GOLDBERG TRAVESTY OF A WAR. KARKAT: ALL THOSE WEAK-ASS PROGNOSES... MUST'VE BEEN A REAL RIOT! ROSE: Karkat, please... I never tried to hinder the war effort... KARKAT: YOU MUST'VE USED UP ALL YOUR HINDER QUOTA ON SABOTAGING YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FUCKING WIFE THEN. KARKAT: BUT HEY, WORKS FOR ME!

A lot of the time Karkat's not really mad, it just reads as angry because his text is all-caps, but he's out for blood today, Christ.

KARKAT: AND NOW, KANAYA FINALLY KNOWS THAT YOU AREN'T FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER. KARKAT: YOU NEVER WERE. ROSE: *Sniffle.* KARKAT: ARE YOU CRYING? KARKAT: WHAT THE HELL. STOP THAT. KARKAT: YOU DON'T DO THAT. KANAYA: I Think Those Might Actually Be Real Tears ROSE: *Sob.* JOHN: see? JOHN: this is what i mean. JOHN: the only reason why things are even remotely better now is because of karkat. JOHN: he's like the only guy capable of putting all of us in our place when we start acting insane! JOHN: and... he's the only one that won't be around forever.

See, like, I know I said I like the banter, but that's because I don't exist in this fictional universe. John does, and acting like Rose being reduced to literal tears is "better" than that not happening is fucking insane.

JOHN: listen, i've tried taking roxy's advice. JOHN: i have been paying attention, i've been involved, and i can't shake this feeling that maybe, there is such a thing as too much freedom.

John going insane while at the same time turning his back on "Freedom" is going to drive the Classpect Inversion theorists wild. I can hear BladekindEyewear from here.

ROXY: john! JOHN: i'm glad you've been happy roxy, you've done so well for yourself. JOHN: but... that doesn't change the fact that none of you are good people. JADE: because youre so great??????? JOHN: no, not at all! JOHN: that's my point, i only had like half a foot in my own kid's life for ten years! JOHN: and i was a real jerk to you guys. JOHN: ugh, i even emotionally cheated on my wife. ROXY: exsqueeze me? JOHN: and honestly i don't even know how old she was. JAKE: Dude.

What in the fuck is happening? Is John saying he wanted to bang....Vriska? What the fuck is he even talking about.

JOHN: and i think the last time i did was when we were all in the game. JOHN: that's when we were all at our best! JOHN: right? JADE: john! JADE: WE ALL DIED! JOHN: that didn't even happen to this you, don't pretend like any of that affected you! JADE: of course it did!!! JOHN: ?????? JADE: OH MY GOD.

What? What is John talking about? Of course Jade died. She died the most of any of you and she went to Squiddlehell.

God, this art of Dave's corpse is so fucking creepy.

JADE: you keep talking about something being wrong with us, yet not once have you asked yourself what we all have in common!!!! JOHN: you can't blame the game for everything. JOHN: playing it saved us! JADE: children shouldnt have to make other children, or kiss the corpses of their friends, or know what it feels like to die!!! JADE: the kids have a chance here, john. JADE: to grow up like real people do and be... actually FUCKING normal! JOHN: jade, your daughter has dog ears and a tail. JOHN: she's never going to be normal!

This fight is really well-written because both perspectives are absolutely insane and steeped in fantasy nonsense and yet it still feels really uncomfortable.

Also John had that coming.

Bro, this art is so good. Screenshotting it doesn't really do it justice.

YIFFY: FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tch. Obviously this would be her first line.

JOHN: we have to kill dirk.

John, she left. Like...she's gone. The only bus out of Candyland and you missed it. You've gone completely mad.

And you're the most interesting you've ever been.

[httpiastri]

missing ur fics... what are the chances of a paul's new year fic w popstar reader? 😭🙏

aaaaa so sorry for not writing a lot recently :( ive just had zero inspiration and major writers block..... but at least i could squeeze out some lame headcanons on this topic?? sorry again 😭

– paul is so giddy for this new year's... because sure he's had a few girlfriends here and there before but he never actually got to properly spend nye with one

– until this year!

– he was so excited when he heard that she was free from work on new year's and even more excited when she agreed to come to estonia to celebrate it with him

– he had the whole day planned out; brunch at some cute place in town, dinner with his friends in the evening, and then taking her alone to a specific place he picked out to see the fireworks

– it's a bit out of town, somewhere the city lights wouldn't bother them as much and they could be higher up to see it all clearly, and since it's kinda remote there wouldn't be anyone around! just the two of them alone

– paul would be very touchy this day? to kinda remind himself that this is indeed happening, he is spending new years with his beautiful girlfriend and everything is perfect and he just wants to make sure she's there all the time (even if she's like sitting in his car or next to him in a restaurant lol)

– when they were standing there, arms around each other and looking up at the sky, waiting for the fireworks... i feel like paul wouldn't just be all quiet and wait for the midnight kiss and then go home? he had this feeling that he needed to do something more... so he started talking and expressing his feelings

– cue a whole ass speech from him about how much she means to him and how happy he is to have her in his life... how glad he is that they got together in 2024 and how much better his life is and how excited he is to go into 2025 with her!! and your girl is just standing there in shock like? where did this come from?? with tears beginning to form in her eyes

– and then the fireworks go off in the background signaling that it's midnight and so his hands on her hips pull her in, her arms drape over his shoulders, and their lips meet in a kiss to ensure a 2025 filled with only love <3

– (i also feel like she definitely set up her camera somewhere near the car without paul noticing? to get a video of the two of them with the fireworks in the background... and the outcome was perfect, with them just being silhouettes against the night sky so it's really hard to tell who they are; so perfect that she couldn't help but post a snippet or screenshot to her instagram story and properly launch their relationship for the first time ever even though you couldn't see their faces. and paul would see it when scrolling through his instagram later the same night, but he's very tired and maybe a bit tipsy so he doesn't realize that she is the one who posted it? so he goes "were there paparazzi there?!" 😭 and when he realizes that she hard launched their relationship in front of all of his followers, he gets so soft and so fuzzy and just so so in love)

[pick-a-lane]

Glad I could be of service to the Soapghost and cod angst army 🫡 :D

The El Sin Nombre mission failing and Soap ending up getting tortured in a similar manner to Ghost when he was under Roba

*runs*

HEY! GET BACK HERE!!

[365emotionlessfaces]

i’m literally so in love with her

The Aspiring Teachers Program

Part 4 WC:~1.8k

The next couple days came and went pretty much the same way. Melissa and her Aspiring One kept winning, or at least placing in the top three, and every time Melissa saw that bright smile, she found it harder to not kiss the girl. Their friendship had grown quickly over the past few days, and by the time dinner rolled around on the fourth day, they were practically inseparable. They had gotten so comfortable with each other, it almost felt weird to not be touching in some way or another, whether it was shoulders or knees touching, linking arms to walk around, or all out holding each other’s hands when they were only in need of one useful limb.

The days ended the same way, too. They would don their swimsuits and make their way to their private beach, laughing and bonding before dinner, which was also paired with laughs and smiles that neither of them would admit meant anything more. Her Aspiring one would tell her all the things she would do if she got to go home with Melissa, and Melissa allowed herself to imagine what it would be like. Having this pretty young thing there to treat her like a queen, all the time. Living a life with someone who went out of their way to do nice things and say nice things. She shook the thoughts from her head. This is just a kid. Even though Melissa knew that she’d be getting one helluva sweet deal, she knew that the kid had her whole life ahead of her, and Melissa would turn out to be the Joe in her life. Not being good enough for her.

So, instead Melissa would redirect the conversation and share horror stories from teaching, and when the girl didn’t waver in her dream of teaching, Melissa got to tell her all the things that made sharing her knowledge worth it.

They tried staying out as late as possible on the fourth night because they both knew that after dinner tomorrow, everyone would be packing up and heading back to their homes. Melissa couldn’t admit out loud that she wasn’t ready for this to end. Here was this girl promising Melissa the life she’d always wanted, and the redhead knew she’d have to give it up. So she just enjoyed her last night with the girl, and tried to push the dread for the morning out of her head.

Dreams came to Melissa fast, and unrelenting that night. Snippets of a life she could never have. Parent Trap sitting across from her at their table, eating dinner in the home they shared. Slow dancing in the living room while Burl Ives sings Christmas songs through the radio. Double dates with Barbara and Gerald. Looking through a maternity ward window at a tiny baby with a tiny bracelet that says SCHEMMENTI-

Melissa jolted awake and sat up quickly, mindful not to hit her head on the bunk above her. It was still dark, but almost out of instinct she looked across the room to Parent Trap’s bed. Melissa could just make out the silhouette of the young girl. She leaned against a post of the bed frame, and sighed.

‘I’m being ridiculous. I’ve got Joe at home to worry about, hopefully not for much longer, and what would Nonna say?’ Melissa huffed out a silent chuckle at the thought. ‘Might give ‘er a heart attack. Not even done with my divorce an’ I show up with a doll on my arm younger than the broad Joe had?’

After five minutes, the post was starting to dig into her back, so she decided to use the bathroom light to check her watch. When she saw she had ‘two freakin’ hours??’ until breakfast, she decided that she was gonna watch the sunrise from her little secret beach. As she dressed for the day, and exited the cabin as quietly as she could, Melissa hadn’t noticed that the star of her dreams had woken up.

Melissa only had about ten minutes between herself and nature before she heard footsteps approaching. She turned to see her Aspiring One with that beautiful smile, and those glittering eyes.

“Hey. Good mornin’, hon,” was the first words Melissa spoke for the day. Her voice was slightly groggy, despite being awake for a while now. She saw the young girl flush, and despite being slightly confused- she hasn’t blushed at ‘hon’ before-, she drank it in. This was the last day she’d ever get to see this gorgeous young girl and she’d like to spend it right by her side.

The girl took a seat next to Melissa and linked their arms before replying, “Morning, Em,” with a smile. The sun hadn’t made it over the trees across the small lake, but it was clear that it had come over the horizon behind them. The young girl didn’t say anything else, she just laid her head on Melissa’s shoulder. The redhead leaned her head against the top of the younger girl’s and they watched the sunrise in a comfortable silence. Melissa couldn’t help her mind wandering, imagining what it might be like to be able to wake up next to Parent Trap every day to watch the sunrise together.

After watching the beautiful colors cross the sky signaling the start of a new day, they pulled apart, but only slightly. “I’m really sad that we’re going home tonight,” the young girl said. Melissa hummed in agreement. “I really like you, Em. I wish we could go home together.” Melissa looked over to see the girl blushing again.

Melissa wished that, too, but she knew what she had to do. “Listen, kid-” The redhead was cut off when her Aspiring One placed their lips together softly. The kiss was brief, the young girl pulling away just as quickly as she had leaned in. Melissa had to use every ounce of self control not to throw everything out the window and just take the girl here on the beach.

“Sorry, I, uh, I just wanted to know what it would be like before you shot me down,” the girl said sheepishly. Melissa’s heart felt like it was shattering inside of her chest. They both knew what was about to come.

Melissa sighed before she spoke. The tears were already welling up in her eyes, so she looked down at her hands. “You’re young, you’re just a kid. You got your whole life ahead o’ ya. You’ve got school to go to, and I’ve got a divorce to win. I’d love nothin’ more than to be able to run away with you or somethin’, but I couldn’t do that to ya. It would never work, anyways. You need to go back home to Michigan, and go to school, and be the best teacher they ever see ‘round those parts.”

Melissa couldn’t bear to look back up to the girl. She finally let the tears fall when the girl stood and left, without saying anything more. Melissa couldn’t help but feel like she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Melissa and her Aspiring Teacher won the last contest, of course, but the young girl only spoke to Melissa when she had to. Her voice was still full of kindness, but it wasn’t as enthusiastic, and her eyes had lost their sparkle. Was the shine in the girl’s eye just in Melissa’s imagination? Now that she had broken the girl’s heart, and her own, she couldn’t seeit anymore?

At dinner, Parent Trap sat with a group of kids her age, instead of with Melissa. The redhead, unable to stand being in the same room as the girl without being able to be right next to her, took her dinner to go. On her trek back to the cabin, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to get a headstart on packing. Entering the cabin, she looked to the bed where her Aspiring One had spent the last week, and sighed, tears welling up once more. She’d been on the verge of crying too many times today for her liking.

Sandwich in one hand, she tried to use the other to heave her suitcase onto the bed. You would think that it being almost empty would have made the task easier, but somehow Melissa managed to almost drop her sandwich, which made her let go of the suitcase to make sure her dinner stayed safe and edible with both hands. As the case went tumbling, it opened and out fell a little stuffed eagle, clearly handcrafted, wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey and denim shorts.

“Oh, Ronny! I forgot about you,” Melissa mumbled aloud. She had brought Ronny along in case they did somethin’ stupid, like a show and tell type thing. She then, of course, would have told them that he’s named after the quarterback playing for the Eagles the year she started teaching. She bent over to pick him up, and as she stood back up, she had an idea to end on better terms with the young girl that may or may not have stolen Melissa’s heart in the span of a week.

Melissa was pacing when Parent Trap returned from dinner. Her bags, long packed, sat near the door waiting for her.

“Hey. I was waitin’ for ya. I, uh, I didn’t wanna leave without saying goodbye and tellin’ ya that, uh, that I’m really glad I met ya,” the girl looked back at Melissa and frowned, but waited for the redhead to continue. Melissa reached down and grabbed Ronny from where she had set him on Parent Trap’s bed. “I hope I didn’t steer you away from teachin’, I still think you’d be amazing at it. This is Ronny,” Melissa held him out to the girl. “I got him from a student on the last day of my first year. I want you to have ‘im.”

The girl took the stuffed eagle before replying softly, “Thanks, Em.” Melissa looked at her while the girl smiled back at her, but Melissa could tell that the smile would never reach the girl’s eyes. Her still-not-sparkling-anymore eyes. Melissa sighed a ‘You’re welcome,’ before heading towards the door.

As she grabbed the handle of her suitcase, she turned to look at the girl one last time. “Maybe in the future, we’ll meet again. When you’ve finished school, and I’ve finished with the disaster in mine,” Melissa told the girl hopefully. She knew how unlikely it was. She only knew the girl’s first name, and the girl didn’t know her name at all. How would they even find each other?

“Yeah… maybe,” floated across the room softly and quietly. The girl didn’t even turn back to look at Melissa as she said it. Melissa just put her head down, and left the cabin. She cried in the taxi, and on the plane, and in the other taxi, and even a little bit once she was home.

Part Five

[four-alligators-in-a-trenchcoat]

What do I do without a smartphone?

When I got a dumbphone/flipphone, I immediately started living a super cool super fulfilling life! I travelled a ton, ran a marathon, immediately got good at art, read 4 books in a day, and now have 22 close friends! Thats exactly how it works, i'm not lying AT ALL, trust me ;)

...ahhh okay you got me, thats not actually what happened.

Yes my life did change, and all for the better! I do have a cooler and more fulfilling life now, but not like that, I just started living a regular life? This little post is about what that looks like these days (for me)

First, a little bit of math. My screen time with a smartphone was 5.5 hours on a good day and almost 9 on a bad: about an average of 7.25 hours a day. Ive been smartphone-less for a little over about 5 months; just about 170 days.

Average 7.25/hrs a day x 170 days = 1232.5 hours total/24hrs

51 full 24-hour days I got back.

ALMOST TWO MONTHS OUT OF THE FIVE

- Alright, i've never done that math before, holy shiitake mushrooms thats insane. Back on topic, oh my god I would have spent 2 months out of the past 5 entirely on my phone

What do I do instead? What consumes the hours? Or the in-passing minutes?

I live normally, just without a phone honestly, it didn't make me suddenly want to run a marathon or just turn into Picasso day one. It just gave me back the opportunity to live.

I turned to my hobbies, like ceramics, reading, journalling to bring the simple joys back into my everyday!

I stopped being able to distract myself from how icky I felt when I didn't move my body, so I slowly started swimming again!

I started to blog a little! Thanks for reading :D

I got bored at home, so I started seeking out social spaces and hanging out in person with friends and prioritizing making them!

Those are huge things, really big, hour by hour things that take up my life now. I am still a student, in a demanding major, who tries to study 5 hours a day, and I work part-time. Is that the most prominent change? Absolutely, but in the minutes passing between tasks, before I leave somewhere, waiting for something there is also a little mojo added back into my day. I would have been spending those little snippets of time pacifying myself on a quick scroll, 20-30 reels on IG that I would never remember. Instead those morsels are spent...

Doing nothing! Sitting around is a forgotten joy, don't be afraid to be alone with yourself, its the only way you will get to know you.

Sudoku! If i've got 5-10 mins waiting somewhere and feel up for the task, a quick sudoku from the little book I carry around is great.

Tidying up/cleaning! I mentioned this in a past blog post, but it's easier to keep the space around you tidy when you reclaim those little minuets while your breakfast is cooking or your waiting for the water to boil. Bagel still in the toaster? Why not give the kitchen a quick sweep! Coffee is steeping? Wouldn't you know it, thats how long it takes for me to unload the dishwasher! (still a student living at home, that dishwasher is a FULL 4-person dishwasher man)

People watching, takin' a quick ol' gander at your surroundings. Make sure you haven't forgotten what life looks like, or what the general population is up to.

I still spend some time on Tumblr, Reddit, and Pinterest, its not like I went cold turkey or that I'll never see social media again. Its easier to live your life when you have the time, and its easier to have the time when you don't have a monster algorithm in your pocket built to addict you. You can do it! Do it at the pace that is good for you, but get those two months back!

☆ a photo of my cat for good luck ☆

[pshbites]

🎐 𓍼ֶָ֢⊹ ࣪ ˖ : MY 2O25 SEASON’S GREETINGS ‹𝟹

to pshbites nation : thank you for always supporting my works :( , i love each and every reblog, comment, ask, or follow i get on my posts and i love seeing them. truly it makes my day to see all of the silly comments on my posts and im so glad you guys are here to support me. i am so grateful for how far i’ve gotten with you guys and i hope we can stick it out together 🫶

i hope to put out so many more things for you guys in this coming year so i hope you guys are excited to read it as much as im excited to share it with you guys. never did i think i would open this account this year but im glad i did because in doing so ive met so many great people ive gotten close with and i get to interact with you guys !

to nunu : thank you for it all truly. thank you for pushing me to make this account when i came to you with the love on air plot and even before that thank you for reading any snippets of writing i sent you even tho it was the buttfuck middle of the night for you you still made sure to give me proper feedback and i can’t thank you more. i miss you bad habibti and i know we’re both busy people but im glad i get to talk to you even if it is for little bits of the day. i love you and #nununana4Eva @haedgaf @lqfiles

to my best friends : mars, @chobunz words cannot express how much i love and care for you. i love our stupid texts about anything and i love our deeper conversations even more. i love staying up until 4 in the morning just talking about anything and i love our bond so much. i wouldn’t trade it for the world. lee , @leeechin i love you, so so much. i know i tell you this often but truly i love you. i know sometimes life gets busy but even without talking to you everyday i feel so much closer to you. i love when you pop in just to talk to us and even though we still talk often ill still miss you because im forever attached to the both of you. meeting the two of you has made life on here and in general so much better and im glad we get to start the new year together with one another 🫂🫂 #InDaClerbWeAllFam ☹️

to my close moots : liz @cupidhoons , i didn’t think i would meet someone so similar to me in such a short amount of time but i did and im so glad we’ve met and crossed paths. truly, you’re like a little sister to me and i wont drone on but i love you so much. truly i care for you a lot and i didn’t think i would connect so fast with you but we did and im so happy for that fact. lils @suneng , i love you bad my twinem :((( i enjoy our stupid conversations about whatever the fuck and our convos abt life and i’m so happy we’ve gotten a bit closer this year and i hope we can talk some more. sav @ourhees , i adore you so much, i think you are the sweetest thing ever and i love our conversations even if it does get a bit emotional sometimes. i’m glad im one of the people you can call a friend. i care about you so much and i think you are genuinely so smart and talented, it’s been rough but im glad we met each other and i can sometimes give you peace of mind, i hope we get closer later on. mims @kiss4noo , where to even begin 🫠.. i love and care for you so much. i love our occasional conversations but even then some days i strive to talk to you. we’re both busy people and i respect that so much. i’m glad we can go days without talking and still be as close as ever, you may not think it but i do enjoy being here for you and im glad you’re here for me as well i love you so so much and i wont ever stop. emer @coqhee , i know we don’t talk as often anymore but i hold so much love for you in my heart even if its talking about stupid things or talking about writing or just ourselves. i love hearing about your day you smartie pants so i hope we can talk even more about silly things or just ourselves as always.

to my moots : i’m glad to have met each of you and i’m so happy to see that i am so loved on this app, truly i admire each and every one of you in your own way shape and forms and i wouldn’t trade it for the world. i love you all so so much and im so happy we’re starting the new year as moots and hopefully as closer friends 🫂

some moots i want to get closer with : @flwrstqr @junislqve @tzyunaes @okwonyo @bywons @silquids @mygnolia @jaysng @fairqves @leaderwon

[rasolomonwrites]

Would love to read something where Armand is possessive of old Daniel, post-Dubai or during. You choose if Devil’s Minion happened or not :) thank you!

If you want some more input - maybe Daniel catches Armand staring at his scar in a ”strange” manner during the interview. Or Daniel cuts himself and Armand reaction is - strange? Thanks again! Loved your previous snippet!

Thaaaank. Here you go! I got mad into writing this and I feel so alive.

At first, Daniel thought he was imagining it, the unusual level of attention from the love of Louis' life.

But, as the days of the interview wore on and tensions rose, it became undeniable.

A glance here, a lingering gaze here, something definitely happened between them. Those haunted, mesmerizing, piercing eyes grew more cutting by the hour.

Fuck, it seemed like something was happening between them right now.

At first, Daniel had brushed it off as Armand being kind of a weirdo.

He probably just wasn't sure how to interact with mere mortals anymore, if he ever was in the first place.

After all, what would a sensually ethereal bordering-on ancient vampire want with an old man that was spending his last days shaking and hooked up to an IV?

Louis was waxing poetic about Lestat again and Daniel couldn't believe he was spending his last days like this.

It was a final gig which switched between the exhilaration of deadly discovery and the utter boredom of hearing Louis talk about what his half-murdered ex smelled like in the moonlight for the 86th time.

That feeling again, of being watched, of being hunted, distracted Daniel from his break in concentration. He managed to do the impossible.

He caught the vampire Armand off guard.

Those firey endless eyes were burning a hole right into his neck, to his scar, through long inky lashes.

Daniel felt every hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Terror and desire burned through his veins. He heard nothing over his own heart pounding, though he could see Louis continuing to speak.

He caught only the smallest flash of white‐ A FANG- the thought rang in his skull like an alarm and was enough to break the trance.

Suddenly the moment ended, almost like it had never started. His hands were shaking.

Armand looked at him fully composed from across the table, as if oblivious to their exchange.

Louis had stopped speaking. He propped a head on his chin, looking across the table at Daniel with concern.

"Daniel-" He began, only for Armand to interrupt.

"It's incredibly late for him, you probably tired him out. I don't think he's heard anything you've said in 20 minutes."

Daniel sighed and waited for his hands to calm before taking off his glasses and rubbing his temples. He wouldn't have to look at Armand if he couldn't see anything at all.

"It all gets recorded." He said, realizing that somehow not being able to see Armand properly only made things worse.

It seemed that somehow he was touching him without touching him, beyond vision the blurred lines of their bodies like a physical presence.

It felt of pure possession.

Daniel couldn't breathe.

"I think it's best that you rest." Said Louis.

Daniel bristled a little at being dismissed like a whiny kid in need of a nap, but he did want to get the fuck away from Armand long enough to figure out what the fuck had just happened.

He covered the scar on his neck with a hand, feeling strangely naked.

"Sure fellas, see you tomorrow night." Daniel ended the recording.

[xwinterwidowx]

hi guys!! ive kind of been dead for the past few weeks and i've been working on this silly little fic that i might make an au later, so heres a snippet of it because i feel bad that i havent posted in a while :))

tw for control through a chip and attempted murder

Shadow's worst fears had come true. Sonic had been mind-controlled by Robotnik. They'd captured him, but nobody knew what they'd done. Not until now, at least.

"Look at the poor hedgehog, being beat up," Robotnik taunted, making Sonic punch Shadow. Robotnik had figured out how to add a chip to Sonic. How to control him completely.

"Sonic, I'm not going to fight you!" Shadow growled, throwing a chair at him, which Sonic easily ducked.

"Oh, Sonic's gone. He's 001 now."

"No! His name is Sonic!" Sonic grabs Shadow and starts choking him.

"Sonic," Shadow grunts. "I don't want to hurt you." Sonic didn't react to that in any way. He just had a cold, desolate look in his eyes. Shadow had never seen it before. And he hated it. He hated Robotnik for doing this to Sonic. He hated that he actually had to fight Sonic to stop him.

"I'm sorry, Sonic," Shadow murmurs before grabbing Sonic's fist and slowly lowering him to the ground. Sonic takes the chance to kick Shadow in the leg, which loosens his grip on Sonic just enough for him to pin him to the ground.

"Sonic, you need to remember. Please, sun-sun."

"Oh, this is so sweet," Robotnik laughs. "But we do have to get going. Finish him, 001," Robotnik orders and Shadow sees a small flicker of pain in Sonic's eyes. It was so small that Shadow thought he imagined it. "Finish him, what are you waiting for?"

"Sonic. I know you can hear me. Please, snap out of it," Shadow pleads, watching as Sonic takes out a gun and points it at him. "If you want to shoot me, do it. I'm not going to fight you."

The gun cocks.

[coirionin]

wip snippet

heyyyy, so ive been working on this cunt for a while which means an embarrassing amount of rewriting bc most of the early stuff and also most of the recent stuff i wrote i did so incredibly sleep deprived—anyway! my point issss, have a taste! this will be posted before May 24th for sure! (its in my ao3 drafts and when they say "The work will be scheduled for deletion on [insert date]." they mean that shit!) enjoy!

———

It had been one of Anakin's most well-guarded secrets, it had also been one of the greatest blessings that the Force had given him.

No one knew, at least, no one else.

Running through the desert, sand digging into his skin and flying in his eyes, lungs heaving for air, while in his hands, Anakin's lightsaber felt impossibly heavy. Against his brain, at the base of his skull, the Force kept applying pressure; it kept urging him, pulling him along.

On Tatooine, the suns always beat down on her people; they were bright and powerful, they never relished in the suffering they brought, but their existence, their nature, meant they couldn't help themselves. That to stop would mean death, and thus they lived. In the heat, against the sand, desperation permeated, it made the air waver and wane.

With a lurch at the sight of smoke against the first setting sun, Anakin nearly fell to his knees with relief, but the Force pulled at his spine, keeping its hold tight, urgent, steady.

Panting, running, and running, more than ever before, harder than ever before. He needed to get to his Mother; she was screaming, she was on fire, the scent of the burning reached his nose, the second sun had finally set. Bathing the dull landscape of Dune Seas and cracking back in a cool darkness, pure like space, the realization felt distant to Anakin. Whatever rationality he had was fighting against his despair. Like space. Echoed against the bone of his skull. Like space. His mind clawed to keep against his chest. In vain, as before him, he had become sharply aware of the Tusken camp. No, not the Tusekns. Anakin paid them no mind, his lightsaber was lit, heavy. In his arms, his Mother. Trembling, crying, full of love, and cold.

Anakin had screamed, he had screamed and screamed, loud enough to the point where his throat began to burn and crack and bleed. Anakin couldn't see and couldn't feel; his body was filled with agony and despair, and in his arms was his Mother.

The Mother who had given him up to Freedom, the Mother who had loved and cared for him, the Mother who taught him to be kind despite the cruelty, the Mother who was always gentle and firm and never faltered. The very Mother whom he had found again after losing her, and whom he refused to let go a second time.

It was so loud. It was so cold.

Fire burned him from the inside as sand scratched his unprotected flesh, but all Anakin could feel was grief.

All around him, a great heave, as though it had pushed through dense mud, wrapped itself around him, gentle and warm, bright enough to block his view but not to the point of harm. Everywhere he stretched himself out to, in hopes that it would soothe the pain of his cold Mother, it reached too. Gathering him, tenderly, as tender as a Universe could be. And unlike those times before, when Anakin worried that they would bleed into each other, melted until he couldn't taste where he ended and it began, he did not attempt to stop it. He welcomed it, wept and wailed, and broke. Into easier-to-digest pieces. All until he was no more, until he was all and everything beyond, until Anakin wasn't his grief and his pain and his loss, until Anakin was something entirely new and ancient, the unknown and the truth.

Drifting, small, in misery, the Force cradled him, whispering comfort, almost humming, it didn't echo, it barely brushed against him, it felt warm. Alive. Lost, not abandoned. He had been robbed. Anger spiked. It rose like a volcano being born and ready to erupt with its first cry. Singing, mourning, Anakin cried. What embers dared persist, all but died. Yet, he wasn't cold. He wasn't alone.

"It's okay, baby brother..." strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him back into his body with a violent yank, he didn't recognize the scent filling his lungs, just knew it was smoke, "it's okay, I've got you, 'm right here..." he didn't recognize the texture of the fabric against his face but he recognized the voice. It was his brother. "Oh, Ani..."

Owen's voice was thick, it was slow, his arms warm, strong despite their tremble as he sobbed into his shoulder. Anakin felt his legs give way. Together they both sank into the sand, their Mother between her sons, grief thickened, draped itself over their shoulders.

Present registered after that, it was almost as though he was living through a veil. Owen was never far, and neither was Beru; they were both so warm, though Anakin never managed to fight off the chill in his bones.

"Come here," Owen held out a hand, taking it, he was pulled to the floor where the older man had been sitting, sniffling as he gathered Anakin into his lap, "I remember, you know, the first time we met." He stopped to swallow down a sob, "you looked small, and skinny, even through the holo, I just knew." Owen's voice dragged itself out of his throat. When was the last time someone held him like this? "And I remember asking Mom—" Anakin sobbed quietly into Owen's chest, "if you were cold..." Curled up, trembling again, overflowing with tears, again, the Force wrapped itself around him, thrumming to the beat of Owen's heart. "She said... she told me that maybe one day. You would need a hug, that maybe... one day you'll need me..."

Everything around him dissolved into white, his face was hot, and his eyes were burning; there was blood on his lips from his throat as the feeling of hollowness eroded away at his insides. Owen held him tight. In his hair, Beru's fingers were careful, her nails gentle against his scalp, and not for the first time, Anakin hoped, with his all, that his brother could feel him, me too-me too-pain-grief-love-love-love. Even though the world remained quiet. Even though the world remained still. 

When the time to leave came, Anakin could only muster a feeble goodbye; any more and he would've burst into tears all over again. But Owen and Beru understood, they sent him away with one last hug, handing over a basket of treats, behave, Owen had said, he too was hoarse, careful-sadness-love-love was what Anakin felt. Be good, Beru had whispered, so much like his Mother, Anakin broke all over again, but the Force was there to wrap itself around him tight enough that nothing slotted out of place. She smiled, and Anakin couldn't help but smile back.

Artoo was quiet, it was the droid's bid to comfort him, he took control the moment they broke the atmosphere, Anakin was too busy crying to care, he crumbled next to the astromech, clinging to him.

Crooning, singing, humming. The Force opened itself, gasping, Anakin's grief and agony seemed to fill their ship. Letting go of Artoo, curling in on himself on the floor.

Careful, as though made of sugar glass, the Force gathered Anakin, not to contain him, but to soothe him. Warm and whole, at long last, it felt like Home. There was still this, it. Anakin was not parentless; he was not lonely, nor would he ever be, not with it here, always.

By the time he reached Coruscant, Anakin was dry of tears, and his grief was no longer a raging, all-consuming sandstorm; it was a dull wind, ringing in his head and in through his chest. Placated, stepping out of the fresher, running into Artoo, and sighing at the insistent beeping, Anakin cleared his throat.

"Artoo, don't worry," wincing at not only the feeling of speaking but also the sound of his voice, Anakin cleared his throat again, "I'll be okay, it... it'll just take some time. It's okay now."