#Leaf is my bestest friend

[rileys-castle]

who r your favorite animal crossing villagers :O ?

!! i have a few!!

Fuchsia, Punchy, Audie, and Celia!!!! I have all 4 of them on my island and i wuv them so much!!!!

[undead-supernova]

High Tolerance

Part 1 / Part 2

Masterlist

warnings: weed consumption, sickly sweet pining

pairings: bestfriend!bisexual!modern!eddie x bisexual!fem!reader

plot: you and Eddie are besties and like to get high. and maybe you are yearning for one another. just maybe. juuuuust a little bit.

wc: 3.6k

I'm so proud of this, I hope people enjoy it!

Part 1: Strawberry Syrup

You and Eddie mirrored each other, your elbows resting on the glass counter as you rested your chins on one hand, listening intently to the clearly stoned woman talk about the promising high of the day.

The bottle she’d taken down from the shelf looked like a tiny juice box, with pink liquid sloshing inside and a green label with a cannabis leaf, because of course.

“Look,” she said, pointing at a thin layer of film at the top. “That thin layer right there? That's the THC.” 

You looked over at Eddie, his expression matching yours in wonder at how products like these existed. He was nearly grinning, mouth twisted to the side in awe. She continued to explain the process to you—this was Delta-9 THC syrup. Strawberry flavored. Your instructions were clear: mix it into a drink, preferably soda, and have fun.

When the two of you emerged from the smoke shop, you took a sharp pivot across the street to the gas station to get sodas. The southern July heat was starting to show its unwelcome presence, beating hard on you within the two minutes it took to walk over to the Exxon. 

Eddie never truly got the memo for the sun, even when you told him how hot it was going to be outside. He donned a black t-shirt with one of his friend’s band logos on the front and a simple silver chain around his neck. He still wore his leather jacket and navy jeans, denying how hot he was when you called him out for being sweaty. 

“Woah! Rude!” Eddie exclaimed as you walked through the automatic doors, putting a hand on his chest. There was even sweat running down his knuckles from his rings. “I am perfectly content. Maybe I like a little sweat.”

You gestured to your own sweaty body, clad in a black crop top with red lining along the low bustline and black jeans. And you quickly realized that you were also wearing jeans in eighty degree weather.  

“I’m afraid I made the same mistake and I am a hypocrite,” you empathized, catching him off guard. “My apologies.”

“Yeah, I guess you did, huh?” he said softly. 

He glanced down at your outfit and you suddenly felt nervous at the exposure. You paused, realizing you’d both stopped walking. Holding his stare, you looked up at him with a slight smirk. Was Eddie checking you out? Did he really do that? And were you teasing him back? Was that what this was?

No. You were getting ahead of yourself. You were always making up shit like this.

You pivoted, skipping over to the refrigerated drinks, Eddie following in tow. “I’m excited to try this. I’ve seen it in there so many times, but I couldn’t figure out the right time to try it.”

“And you’d never do it without your bestest friend of all best friends, right?” Eddie asked, a playful smile settling on his lips as you flitted around him. 

“That is correct.”

Eddie settled on a Sprite while you decided to grab a strawberries and cream Dr. Pepper—despite the sound of disgust leaving Eddie’s lips.

“That,” he pointed to your drink, “is nasty,” he said before dramatically shooing you away. “Get it away from my face. You've failed me, sweetheart.”

Letting out an exaggerated gasp, you replied, “Excuse me, but it’s already strawberry flavored. Wouldn’t that logically help it taste better?”

“No. Nope.” He pointed to the bottle again. “That is what’s killing the children. Dr. Pepper having a strawberries and cream flavor? We’re truly failing as a society.”

You rolled your eyes, shoving his arm lightly and pointing towards the checkout counter. “Let’s get going. I wanna try it out.”

When you got into Eddie’s van, he quickly put your drinks in his half-broken cupholders. Your fault, three months ago. Talk about greening out when you kept trying to shove a drink in and repeatedly hit the plastic until half of it snapped off. The van was pretty clean today, surprising Eddie. He’d tried to clean it out the best he could this morning, getting up way too early to do so. Maybe it was to impress you. Who knew. He certainly didn’t. Not at all.

You twisted off the caps as Eddie pulled the strawberry syrup out of his pocket.

“Half for you, you sick fuck,” he said as he carefully poured the pink liquid into your Dr. Pepper. You let out a hearty laugh as he let the rest drip into his own. “Half for me.”

You put the caps back on your drinks before carefully mixing them together, teetering them back and forth to reduce the likelihood of an explosion. Eddie grinned at you and you couldn’t help but smile back, tapping his bottle with yours. 

Before either of you could take your first sip, Eddie said, “Hey, don’t shotgun it.”

You feigned offense. “What? Me? Why would you dare accuse me of being so irresponsible?”

But you knew why. You knew precisely why. There was something about trying stuff with Eddie, from his fresh edibles to the slushies on tap at the hemp store, Jailbait Hemp. (The name was absolutely cringe worthy but you and Eddie swore it was the best place in the city.) Then there were the pre-rolls, the dabs, the potent gummies. You didn’t want to get Eddie started on how many chocolate bars you’d scarfed down before getting a stomach ache and needing to lie down and watch three movies. It wasn’t necessarily unlike you to get ahead of yourself, downing whatever was given to you immediately, especially ones with high doses. Just to see what would happen. Just to have the experience.

Eddie both loved and hated that about you. You’d never thrown up or done something stupid because of it, (other than the tragic cup holder incident), always a little quieter depending on the level of inebriation you were operating on. He loved it the most when the two of you got high in public, like today. Neither one of you were ever loud or obvious about it, usually giggling with one another in hushed whispers. It was actually quite nice.

But, most of all, he loved getting high with you in public because you held his hand. Anywhere you went, whether it be to walk around Hobby Lobby or taking in nature at a nearby park, you held onto him as tightly as you could. You’d told him once, in a haze of one of those blue raspberry Delta-9 slushies, that you felt safe by his side, knowing no one could hurt you when he was there. His mere presence left you feeling more relaxed than at any other point of the day. Even when you were sober. 

He’d looked at you after you said that, stunned by your admission. You’d said it simply, as if it was just a well-known fact that he should’ve known already. Even when you’d looked away from him to gaze back out over the Chattahoochee River, surrounded by loud families and barking dogs, he couldn’t help but soften around the edges. Water had collected in his eyes, nearly slipping out and over his rosy cheeks. But he’d forced himself to look away, to fight the urge to confess that you made him feel the same way. (And then some.) 

Eddie only hoped he’d see the day where you took his hand without the THC in your system. 

“Yes, you, Weirdo.” Eddie shook his head. “Do you not remember when we made that beer cheese with that Delta-Whatever shit your sister got us for your birthday and then you took half of the cheese and—”

As he spoke, you quickly tipped the bottle into your mouth and began to chug.

Eddie said your name with an exasperated sigh. “You’re literally the stupidest person I’ve ever met.”

Unable to respond verbally, you winked at him and threw up a middle finger, letting the seamless mixture of Dr. Pepper and artificial strawberry flavoring slide down your throat. Usually there was an aftertaste of THC in different products. But you couldn’t even taste the syrup. It was like there was nothing else in the drink. Brilliant.

Eddie only shook his head with a smile, knocking back nearly half of his drink just to give in to your antics. Why not? It was a lazy Thursday, anyways.

This was one of those rare occasions when you and Eddie had the same day off of work. It usually happened once or twice a month, leading you both to take the opportunity to go by Jailbait Hemp, find something new to try, split the cost, and see what happens. 

As the bottle left your lips with a small pop, you couldn’t help but let a loud burp ripple through the air, smiling proudly. Eddie squinted his eyes with a serious expression on his face, pretending to listen intently like he was interpreting art.

“That might’ve been my best one,” you admitted, your face a bit smug as you slammed the empty bottle back into the pitiful cup holder. 

Eddie shrugged. “That was about a six, Weirdo.”

“A six?” you asked incredulously. “Are you joking? I don’t think I’ve ever reached that octave before.”

“Sweetheart, you forget that you have the world champion in front of you.”

“Prove it!” you exclaimed, leaning in and scrunching your nose at him. Taunting him further, you added, “You won’t.”

Eddie mirrored your expression, the two of you looking at each other like mischievous little kids. The kind of misbehavior that would get you sent to the office in middle school with a threat of suspension and mud smeared over your clothes like a 1st Place ribbon. 

“Fine,” he said before beginning to down his Sprite. Before you could compliment him on his shotgunning abilities, his burp rang through the van, loud and deep, clearly ten times better than anything you could muster. 

Even in your obvious defeat, you had to suppress a laugh, trying as hard as you could to continue the bit. “That was obviously a two,” you said. “They should’ve crowned someone else.”

Eddie swatted your arm and you did the same. “You’re an absolute menace, you know that? And a liar.” Before you could offer a witty retort, he said, “Now, come on. This’ll hit soon and I don’t wanna be driving when it does. We got shit to do.”

“What’re we doing at the aquarium?” you asked as Eddie pulled into the parking garage. There was a banner above it, fading from a penguin swimming in the ocean to three more resting on rocks. You’d always found it adorable, filling you with excitement. 

“Uh, well, uh,” he stumbled as he stretched through his window and grabbed a parking voucher. “Yeah,” he continued as he set it on the console and drove through. “I just thought that the syrup would go well with the fish, you know? And it’s deserted right now, being Thursday and all. Also, don’t worry about a ticket. I got you covered.”

You gawked at him. As Eddie parked and reached for the seatbelt latch, you placed a hand on his shoulder. His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. 

“Eddie, it’s, like, fifty dollars to get in. Let me get my own,” you pleaded. “Or we could go somewhere else. I know money’s tight for both of us as it is.”

Eddie shook his head, his smile beginning to falter. “You like to come at least once every summer,” he murmured, looking down to fiddle with the seatbelt still in place. “I wanted to do something nice for you, you know? You’re my best friend.”

Your heart ached a bit at the way he said “best friend.” It sounded removed, like a placeholder for something else, something more. He looked up to meet your eyes again and you felt some part of you wince as a wave of emotion bubbled inside your chest. 

Because that was just the thing, wasn't it? He wasn’t just your best friend. He was the one you spent most of your time with, the person you swapped places with for a sleepover almost weekly. The person you went on mindless adventures with to explore Atlanta, window shopping all of the mansions out in Buckhead for when Eddie would become a rockstar and (jokingly) leave you a tiny guest house in the back. 

The person who had remembered an insignificant detail about you and decided to give you a present.

All you wanted was to lean over, to lightly brush your lips over his, slowly leaving remnants of a soft Thank you. But you couldn’t. No matter how much you suspected Eddie’s affections, you couldn’t attempt to make a move. 

So you opted to slowly headbutt his arm and get out of the car. 

“You’re so weird,” he teased as you walked around the side of the van. 

“So-rry that I’m showing my best friend affection,” you joked back. “We don’t always have to hate each other.”

Eddie snorted, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets. “Ah, yep. Definitely. We hate each other so fucking much.” He stopped suddenly. You raised an eyebrow as he turned to you, jumping into a fighter’s stance before waving an imaginary sword in your direction. “I am here to avenge my father’s death!” he exclaimed, mimicking a warrior’s bellow. “You will pay, scoundrel.”

You jumped into a similar position, moving your imaginary sword closer to his chest. He moved with you, as if to block your approach. “Thee foul fiend,” you started with a British accent. “I will vanquish thou and feed you to the dragons. Purge you in the fiery—uh—fires of the dungeon moats.”

Eddie couldn’t keep going, bursting into a fit of snorts. You broke too, your laughter making every passerby stare. He put his arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer as you walked. 

“‘Fiery fires’?” he asked. “That has to be the funniest shit I’ve ever heard.”

You laughed at your ridiculous word choice. “Yeah, I don’t know, man. I panicked.”

“I think I’m starting to feel it because I seriously haven’t laughed that hard in a while.”

You could be wrong. That’s what you reasoned with yourself. You had a possibility of being wrong, so you did nothing. After that first time you accidentally held his hand on sheer impulse due to the half cup of Delta-8 beer cheese you chugged, you kept doing it. He thought it was funny. He also said it was cute. Something you did was cute to him. So, whenever you were inebriated, you disguised the action and made the most of it. He always let you hold it, let you cling to him wherever you went. He never even commented on it, just accepting it when you made the contact.

And you could’ve been wrong, but Eddie was looking at you like you were the most beautiful girl in the world and he was looking at your mouth and not your eyes and there was something verging on romantic about this moment. 

But there was that chance, that tiny glimpse of doubt that led you to believe you were destined for the wrong timeline. The one where it wasn’t true. You were the delusional girl in the film that would never get the love interest at the end. The one left behind.

So you held his hand tighter and looked away.

You were like a little kid when you went to the aquarium, nearly running around to each pane of glass. Looking at the different plaques, you’d search for each individual species listed, tapping on the glass each time. And that hadn’t changed. You just so happened to be a little bit more amazed by the beauty of sea life from the high. 

How wonderful it was to be surrounded by a different existence! Something that humans could never truly fathom living. They moved differently than us. They felt different. Saw colors differently. They even breathed differently. Life was much bigger than just you, despite it always feeling like you and Eddie were the only ones left in the world. 

For some reason, Eddie seemed a little more reserved today. He wasn’t bouncing off the walls like you were. Instead, he took his time. He responded when you spoke, of course. When you asked if it was okay to run ahead, he promised it was. He’d always catch up with you eventually, pointing out fish you hadn’t spotted yet. But he always made the time to stand back with his hands in his pockets and stare, like he was just as captivated as you were, maybe just in a different way. 

Eddie didn’t tell you that he’d put aside that $100 to use once he asked you out on a date. But he’d desperately wanted to see this look on your face, your slightly red eyes wide and your mouth hanging open in awe as you witnessed the beauty surrounding you. You were nearing the end of the moving tunnel, surrounded by fish on all sides. There were even a few divers waving at the glass. The blue lighting made you something to marvel at, the ebbing water spreading dappled light over you. He knew this look, the one where you were somewhere else, in a deep appreciation of the world around you. It was when you were keenly aware of the meaning of life. He’d know it anywhere.

And it was him you were holding through it all. For some astonishing reason, you’d let him in to witness the rawest emotions overcoming you. The ones that others couldn’t be privy to, wouldn’t be. When you turned to look at him with tears in your eyes, your lips stretched across your face.

You smiled that smile, the one that told him something was hiding there, like there were words written on your lips that couldn’t be shared. While everything else was his to know, this one smile was not on the list.

Because, every time you smiled like that, Eddie asked, “What? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

Like it was a challenge. Like he wanted to push you to say what you were thinking, even if it was just out of spite.

And you’d look away, waving your hand around, saying, “What? Nothing. I’m not looking at you like anything.”

And he’d respond, “Yeah, okay, sure.”

So, like every other time, Eddie asked, “Why’re you looking at me like that?”

But this time you shrugged, holding his eye contact. “I just, uh,” you stumbled, your smile only growing. “I just really love, um…” 

Eddie’s eyes began to widen at the implication of something more, something brilliant. His back straightened, the haze of the high nearly intensifying the moment. Everything was perfect. This moment was perfect and this was going to be it. You were going to finally say something. 

“I just really love what you did for me,” you finished. “I appreciate it a lot.”

And just like that, Eddie was cracking under the disappointment. The high settled back underneath his skin and dragged him down. Of course you didn’t say anything. Why would you? He’d only gotten his hopes up based off of a wild theory he had. One that he knew he’d made up just so he could live in some fantasy where you were together and in love. He just wanted to project how he felt onto you. It was as simple as that. 

But he couldn’t help being disappointed by it.

He only hoped that you didn’t see him deflate. 

  “Yeah, sure,” he responded finally, turning to look back at the fish as you stepped off the moving track. “Don’t mention it.”

You didn’t drop his hand, but as he looked away from you to keep walking, nausea began to pool in your stomach. The tank was starting to slosh you around its current and you moving along with it was making it worse.

You immediately excused yourself to go find the bathroom. When you found it, you proceeded to throw up in the trash can. Luckily no one was in there, but you still felt awful. It was an utterly embarrassing feeling, knowing that you’d just thrown up in a public space because of sea sickness that you’d never had before today from being blasted on THC syrup. Oh, and you’d almost just told your best friend that you loved him. While holding his hand. While he was also blasted from THC syrup.

God dammit.

You didn’t mention throwing up to Eddie. In fact, you’d managed to collect yourself for the rest of the day, walking through the aquarium for another hour and a half before Eddie was sober enough to drive back to your apartment. You ended up cooking enchiladas and watching two movies (The Proposal and The Invisible) before Eddie was snoring next to you, stretched out across the couch with his legs in your lap. When you realized he was asleep, you quietly turned the TV off and moved his legs carefully to rest on the couch. You draped a blanket over him and lifted his head to make sure the pillow was positioned at the right angle so his neck wouldn’t ache in the morning.

And here you were, staring up at the ceiling and recounting the errors you’d made. How you’d almost confessed your undying love for him. How you spent the rest of the day inching towards him despite feeling humiliated. How you couldn’t help but lean further in as if he was the only one who could provide you comfort from fucking up so bad.

And when Eddie found you puking from the stress at four in the morning, you knew that this was bad. It was getting harder to keep it in. This was going to boil over and it was going to be soon.

Fuck.

[trickstergemini]

the bestest friends!!! they do a dancey dance

me n MY bestest friend @unoriginal-and-dumb being sillay on the blox last night…… we like these 2 so MUCH……..

sharing some of our headcanons we thought up with our big brains for kasper and lampert under the cut (most of them r mainly lampert related)

wiki says lampert was formed in a factory but it doesn’t say he was brought to LIFE in a factory. we hc that kasper “made” lampert as a child because he was lonely in ikea and had no friends. he drew a face on a lamp and the next day it turned into a boy yippee. they grew up together as best friends

kasper originally named lampert lamper, cause his name is kasper and he just replaced the kasp with lamp. when he came to life lampert was like no i think its lampert, not lamper and kasper was like ok 👍😁

they liked to play cars on the car play rug in ikea. kasper liked to race and crash them and lampert liked to send in the police and ambulance for cleanup. theyd play that over and over again it never got old

when they would play outside, they liked to set up things to look really pretty (like a nice stick and leaf house or dress up a really pretty doll) and then set it on fire with a magnifying glass (lampert liked the first part, kasper liked the second part)

kasper is korean-american and he had slightly lighter hair as a kid

both them ace and specifically lampert ace aro and specifically like romance and sex repulsed ace aro like if you stand too close to him he freaks out imagine if someone were to kiss him that would not fly. romance and sex r NASTY to him do not touch him

when lampert would hang out with kasper he would just stand very still in the corner of the room the whole time. not for any bad reason, he is just a lamp and does not see the need to do anything else than stand in the corner while he talks. when they hang out at ikea sometimes kasper starts talking to the wrong lamp because of this

lampert has a set list of facial expressions that show exactly how he feels. this is verging on not ok :) (his normal expression) this is not ok : ) or this : ( this is silly :] these are all fine :( :[ D: :D

lampert talks with a similar cadence to baymax snd also is politely blunt in the very autistic way. he states his opinion on something even if maybe its not a nice thing to say but he says it very politely (when eating food someone made for him that he really doesnt like: “i dont think i will be finishing this, it does not taste good. thank you! goodbye”)

[leafdebrief]

so here's how the live text social network works for me now

this (Tumblr) is the long form text one. i will write important things here, to myself.

anyone who needs help will find me when they need it. i left my live text social network intact this time (because it's Bsky, NOT Xitter) and that is so i can provide: ... (theme music starts playing)

hearts as tokens of encouragement for good things i see you doing

reposts as administrative boosts of mutual aid and successes big or small

attention to what is going on for your benefit and for those in your life

content where i can make it and make it heard which will be sparse

for mutual aid, it will be in Paypal. if that doesn't work for you, then the aid will not reach you unless you are in Canada.

emergencies? email me or text me if you got that number when it mattered, it does work mostly based on when i answer it.

the show (yes, the show!) must go on, but it will go on YouTube where people go to watch things and it will keep getting made because that shit excites me and i crave attention like you!

i still don't understand Discord but my bestest friends are in there so i'll figure it out. give me time. i'm juggling on one foot now!

i'll let the Right people know if time is actually running out, for me, which it will. you'll see it in the videos if you watch though. i cough a lot these days.

if you keep posting your NGL comment boxes on the ol 'Sky, i'll ask you a question. anonymously so it's in your comfort zone, and you can consent to answering it before even doing so. i will not make it publicly known but it will be the hardest question you receive that day.

if anyone from Bsky sees this one, give it a heart of encouragement, and let someone know that matters to you if they need my help for something too one day. i can no longer speak for all of you.

i can only let you speak for you and make sure your friends are listening harder than ever.

me? i speak for just myself and her. but i have a unique skill for telling stories with your words.

if you have skills making Bluesky feeds, HARD level, i'll need your help soon to help me help others tell their story.

we all need to memorize each other's unique and awesome characteristics before time runs out!

enjoy the (new) show where the actors make more than ¥298 a week! this is finally

LEAF ✱ DEBRIEF 🫶

[gessshoku]

Home Guardians

They’re actually rlly cool and bestest of friends <3

I was outside buying cat food but saw that there was enough snow around for some arts and crafts. I was kinda embarrassed cause my neighbor (old man) walked out to his car (and for a smoke)

I didn’t have any gloves on but I didn’t care, I wanted to make snowmen!!! I could’ve stopped at one but I felt bad because Eyeball (the one with the dirt on face) was alone ;(

So I made leaf! I wanted to give em to my neighbor who was still watching and talking to me but he said to put em with eyeball. Now they’re together on my porch! Maybe I’ll go out again but rn I’m hungry and warming up!

[sergeifyodorov]

Who is your comfort 4th line forward or bottom 6 defenseman?

darren mccarty my bestest friend... he only ever beat one goalie one-on-one in his entire life!!!! either that or leafs era jason spezza i love it when hockey players are old (generously 40) and still kicking

[readingoals]

It was my birthday last week! And I got a few book related presents!

My family gave me a copy of Irish Folk and Fairy Tales and a set of skull bookends (they were white to start but I covered them in gold leaf lmao.

And I got another copy of my favourite book from my bestest friend and one of my favourite people. She kindly annotated a copy of Frankenstein for me (despite the fact she ended up hating it 😭)

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

tti episode 12

“Last time, on Total Takes Island: Chef had the campers partake in his specialized boot camp, resulting in another round of heinous injuries. Julia gave Michael the cold shoulder to warm up to Scruffy, and Courtney attempted to regain Bonnie’s trust after Caesar’s elimination the week before. Ultimately, Michael won for the Anons and the Fujoshis sent Ass packing- finally! Will any of Courtney’s team survive to see the merge? Will Max finally snap? Find out now, on Total! Takes! Island!”

Scruffy sits in a sunny patch of flowers somewhere on the furthest point of the island, far enough from the cabins to not have to worry about being disturbed. They leaf through their notepad, where various notes and half-scribbled drawings are put to paper, and then translate those notes to a leatherbound journal in their lap. 

The sound of an explosion, and then of Chris’ booming laughter over the intercom system momentarily causes them to pause their transcription and take some more notes on a fresh page of the pad. 

The journal is carefully handwritten in amazing penmanship, done in a black ink that glistens in the sunlight. Illustrations accompany a few of the sections, mostly of the anomaly Scruffy has been observing on the island- two-headed chipmunks, sentient venus flytraps, seemingly massive squid tentacles off in the distant reaches of the lake in the early hours of the morning. It perplexes them, half because there’s not nearly enough evidence of something serious to talk about it, half because they haven’t seen a single sign of radioactive material or robotic creatures scurrying around. 

Scruffy sighs, closing the notebook and placing it in a small, shallow grave under a large rock. 

---

SCRUFFY: “I feel like I’ve been giving off a kind of secretive vibe lately, and that’s why I have all these other players on my back now. I’m not really hiding anything- I just don’t really need to share.”

---

Julia waves, sitting on one side of a very tired looking Michael at the end of the Anon’s table. Scruffy walks over, giving Scary a nervous smile as they glide past her, and then sits beside Julia. 

“Where’ve you been, Scruff?”

“Just taking some more notes, putting things on paper,” Scruffy shrugs, emphasizing the word notes so she’s sure they aren’t hiding anything. Julia doesn’t seem to care. 

“Oh, silly me. Have you met Mikey yet?” she says, gesturing to the green-haired girl beside her. Michael frowns at her friend, and then stares with a slight contempt at Scruffy. 

They look away. “Yeah, we’re acquainted,”

“Good, can’t have my two bestest friends in the whole world feeling left out, huh?” Julia beams, pulling them both in for a hug. She smirks at Max a little from across the table. He rolls his eyes. 

---

MAX: “Whatever. I don’t need Julia, I don’t need Scruffy, and I definitely don’t need Michael. There are plenty of good players left! I mean, there’s… there’s… um…”

---

Austin sits across from the trio, Kelly nowhere in sight.

"Where's your owner at?" Julia teases.

He answers without missing a beat. "Tanning,"

---

JULIA: "It's not that I see either one of those clowns as a threat, but I'm not letting anyone fly under the radar. Not on my watch. Plus... he just annoys the crap out of me."

---

The sound of a plane buzzes over the mess hall, causing everyone to duck and cover their ears. 

Austin is the first out the door, followed by Kelly and the rest of the teams, who watch as Chris lands a large mustard-yellow (and barely stable) plane on the grass outside the mess hall. 

He hops out, tossing his helmet away and pulling out a megaphone. “Welcome, campers, to your very own- extreme! Sports! Challenge!”

Courtney gives Bonnie and McLovin an extremely nervous frown. 

“Today, your teams will be competing in a 3-part action-packed death-defying triathlon of lethal awesomeness! Your first challenge is extreme sofa skydiving!” He shouts into the megaphone, despite not being far from the campers. “One player from each team will skydive from this plane and land on a sofa bed waiting below- at least, you’ll hope they do!”

Chef slides the side door of the plane open and tosses two dilapidated parachute packs out, landing at the feet of either team. 

“And our lucky divers will be… Scary and Bonnie!” 

Scary giggles, grabbing the pack and putting it on before running off into the woods. Chris blinks.

“She’ll be back,” Scruffy says plainly. 

Courtney lifts the Fujoshis pack and helps Bonnie put it on. “You can do this! Remember, surviving is our teams only goal right now,”

“R-right,” Bonnie murmurs, shaky hands attempting to buckle the straps of the chute. 

“Before we get started, let’s talk about challenge number two- two victims- I mean, players- will be moose rodeo riding! In our original season, we had the loser launched into a pile of smelly socks, but we ran out. So, instead, we filled a moat around the pen with all the chewed gum Chef’s been collecting from the mess hall!” Chris chuckles, gesturing to a moose in a fenced in area, a large pit full of chewed gum surrounding it. The players wince. “And our competitors will be… Kelly and McLovin!”

Kelly smiles confidently while a look of fear crosses McLovin’s face. 

“And of course, for our final part: X-Treme Seadoo Water Skiing! Contestants will water ski this race course and grab as many flags as they can while an opposing team member drives the seadoo!” 

“Um…” Julia looks around the designated racing area. “Where’s the water?”

Scruffy leans to whisper in her ear. “There is none,”

“Well said, Scruff,” Chris grins. “It’s basically impossible. Austin and Courtney, you’re up for this one. Oh, and Fujoshis- try not to get too hurt. You guys are more of a group project than a team now... And for the winners, you’ll be rewarded with a tricked-out mobile shower!” 

Chris gestures to a small, shiny trailer at the peak of a hill. Just about every contestant oohs and ahs at it, while some jaws drop. 

---

BONNIE: “Okay, even I’ll say it: I would die for that shower. I would kill for that shower. Any bathroom without a million dead flies in the toilet is like a luxury spa to me!”

---

Austin and Kelly sit in the confessional together. 

AUSTIN: “Right groovy, baby, I haven’t had a proper conditioning since I got here, yeah?”

KELLY: “Oh my gosh, tell me about it! My skin is so dead from all the hard water.”

AUSTIN: “I feel like an ally-gator skin purse, baby,”

---

Bonnie steps onto the plane as Scary follows, chewing a mouthful of gum they scooped from the moose moat. 

“Um… where’d you get the- actually, don’t answer that,” Bonnie says. 

The plane lifts off, and Bonnie’s knees shake as they see the ground disappearing. Scary chews faster. 

“Here comes the landing!” Chris shouts, opening the sliding door. The air whips around them, and before he can even tell them to go, Scary jumps out, blowing a massive bubble with their gum and floating off into the distance. 

Chris and Bonnie stare. “How is that even possible?” they shout. 

Chris shrugs. “I dunno, but you’re up next!”

He shoves them outside and they scream in pure terror, initially covering their eyes before remembering their pack and pulling the cords. The parachute pops out and Bonnie floats to the ground, landing on their feet right on the pull-out sofa. 

Courtney and McLovin cheer while the nearby Anons look around for where Scary went. 

“One point for the Fujos,” Chef says, half-heartedly waving a pink flag. Bonnie grins, throwing off the parachute. “That wasn’t so bad,”

---

“Your only goal is to stay on this angry, probably hungry moose for as long as possible,” Chris smiles, setting a ladder by the fence of the pen. “Whoever doesn’t die first wins!”

“Oh, whatever,” Julia says, turning to Kelly. “You better not lose this for us, your highness.”

Kelly shoves her out of the way and climbs up the ladder with ease, straddling the moose and holding on tight. They grin as Chef blares an air horn and the moose begins bucking, throwing them around with ease. 

“If they survive this, someone here owes me money,” Max sighs, hands on his hips. 

Michael rolls her eyes. “Thanks for the team spirit,”

The two glare at each other while Julia leans on Scruffy’s shoulder, watching the rodeo and ignoring her former friend’s plight. 

Kelly’s highly manicured nails have a sharp grip on the antlers of the beast and the entire crowd watches in relative suspense as the time on Chris’ stopwatch slowly runs out. 

Kelly hops off, landing on the ground in a somersault and popping back to their feet flawlessly. "Gymnastics fusion class!"

“A point for the Anons! Can the Fujoshis score on top of that?” Chris grins, looking to McLovin, who seems to shrink 2 feet in height. 

Chef walks over, hoisting up the thin guy and tossing him atop the still-raging beast. He screams in terror as it throws him around, and McLovin manages to hold on for a measly six seconds before it launches him into the gum-pit. Chef fishes him out, sticky and covered in wads of pink and blue. 

He groans in pain. Courtney and Bonnie both slightly wince. Michael rolls her eyes. 

“We have a tie!” Chris grins. “Whoever wins the Water Ski contest wins today’s challenge- and whoever doesn’t gets to send a sore loser home!”

Julia turns to Austin, who’s busy buttoning a Hawaiian shirt over the speedo he apparently owns. “You better not screw this up,”

“Relax, baby, I’ve got this. I’m winning that spa for me and my girl,”

“It’s for the team, doofus,” Julia snaps, then looks down at his shirt. “And why are you wearing that thing anyway?”

“Safety,” 

“Why do I even bother?” She sighs, walking away and dragging Scruffy behind her.

"He was wearing it during the cliff diving challenge, too," they murmur, using their free hand to check the early pages of their notes. "Huh."

“You sure you got this, Courtney?” McLovin asks, picking gum off of his shirt. “I don’t wanna see you get hurt.”

“Someone’s gotta do it,” they sigh, looking at the rest of the team- Bonnie still looks like they went through the spin cycle on a dryer and McLovin can barely stand. They set a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”

Michael watches the display from a few feet away with a frown. Max- standing a bit further from her than his other teammates- takes note of her expression. "What's your problem?"

"None of your business," she snaps back, and then walks around the entire team to stand next to Julia and Scruffy on the other side.

Courtney hops onto the driver’s side of the vehicle, Austin flexing and posing until he grabs onto the handles. They rev up the jet and start off at the maximum speed, throwing Austin around like a ragdoll. He somehow manages to stay upright, cruising along on the pair of sandals he’s wearing without a care in the world. 

Courtney looks behind them every few seconds and growls as he picks up yet another flag. 

He laughs. “Yeah, baby, yeah!”

A button pops off his shirt and a flash of fear crosses his face. He looks down nervously. 

Julia crosses her arms with a wide grin.

---

Julia smiles, holding up a pair of scissors.

---

A few more buttons pop off. 

“Oh, no, baby… that’s not good,”

Scruffy turns to Julia and sees her smiling. “What did you do?”

 The remaining buttons pop off and his shirt flies open, revealing a shockingly perfectly sculpted hairy chest underneath. Julia’s jaw drops. The rest of the contests stop what they’re doing and stare in absolute awe.

Courtney turns back to see what everyone’s looking at and becomes so distracted the vehicle crashes straight into a rock on the course, sending Austin flying across the entire area, over the cabins, all the way out to the campfire area and directly into the stone wall behind it. 

---

AUSTIN: "I'm aware of the effect I have on birds. and blokes. everyone, really, I'm shagadelic baby yeah!"

---

The contestants, Chris, and Chef run over to see his crushed, flattened pancake-like body slide down the side of the cliff face and onto the dirt while he groans weakly. 

“Well… um, I guess we have our winners, then,” Chris says. “Fujoshis, you’ve somehow survived another day!”

Bonnie and McLovin cheer, and Courtney (still a bit dazed from the crash) walks over and grins. 

“Anons, I’ll see you tonight,” 

---

Bonnie steps out of the luxury shower, wearing a fuzzy lavender robe and sighing happily. Courtney follows, peeling cucumbers off their eyes and stretching. “Well… that challenge was something,” 

“Something, yeah. Man, Caesar would’ve loved that!” Bonnie smiles. “I hope he’s doing okay.”

“Anyone off this island should be alright. I think we’re doing okay ourselves, though,” they chuckle, walking beside their friend to the cabins in a comfortable silence. 

Courtney sighs for a moment. “But… there’s still something on my mind,”

“Hm?”

“You know when Michael was in the cabin with us, and she warned us about MC? What do you think she meant?”

Bonnie thinks for a moment. “Well, it definitely couldn’t have been anything too serious, right? Look at the guy, he’s like a puppy,”

“I know, it’s just… I keep going over why she would say something like that. Is she trying to throw us off?”

“I don’t know, Courtney. Let’s just try to focus on staying in the game for now,”

---

“Anons, looks like one of you is finally going home!” Chris chuckles, the marshmallow platter in his hands. “In case you’ve forgotten, these are marshmallows- symbols of hope and safety. If you don’t get one, you have to walk the dock of shame, board the boat of losers, and never return. Ever! Ready?

First one goes to… Scruffy

Max,

Scary,

Kelly,

Michael!

Staci.”

The respective players catch their treats as Chris tosses them. Austin looks nervous from within the full-body cast he’d been set in. 

“Austin- you crashed hard. And Julia, you accidentally sabotaged your team out of petty spite. And yet…” he throws her a mallow. “You still have working legs, dude. Chef?”

Chef walks over, picking up Austin’s stiff body and carrying him to the docks. Kelly follows. 

“I’ll win for us, no matter what!” Kelly whispers. Austin says something back, but the cast covers his mouth and garbles his words. 

They manage to give him one last kiss over the bandages before the boat speeds off. 

---

Michael looks through the cabin window as Scruffy and Julia walk by, laughing. Both team buildings have been left completely abandoned as everyone flits about with their friends, enjoying the warm night- except for Michael.

Courtney and Bonnie are painting each other’s nails at a picnic table across the grassy knoll, Kelly is making macramé with Staci in the crafts tent, and Scary has been nowhere to be found for hours. 

She sighs, standing away from the window just in time to hear a knock at the door. Michael raises an eyebrow, and then cautiously approaches to open it. McLovin is standing outside on the porch, hands behind his back and a slightly apologetic look on his face. 

“Great. What?” she asks, crossing her arms. 

He points up to his head, where still several wads of gum are stuck. 

“Seriously?”

“Courtney and Bonnie are busy,” he insists. “And I don’t know who else…”

Michael thinks for a moment, sighs, and then holds the door open a little wider for him to come inside. He takes a seat on the floor after she moves the rug, and she pulls a pair of scissors out of one of the nightstand drawers, walking over to kneel above him. 

Michael delicately cuts away the gum, dropping it on the floor behind her until most of it is gone, save for a few sensitive spots she wouldn’t try for. McLovin’s hair is now patchy and choppy, but still there. 

He stands up, mutters a quick thank you, and hurries to the door. 

“Don’t think this changes anything,” Michael says, picking up the gum and dumping it in the room’s garbage bin. “I still hate you.”

McLovin frowns. “Likewise,” and then he leaves, slamming the screen door behind him. 

Max watches as McLovin hurries out of the girl's side of the cabins with a perplexed expression. He'd been sitting on the porch steps by himself for almost an hour now and couldn't remember any of his teammates going inside.

He thinks to himself for a moment before standing and ducking over to the window, peering inside to see a slightly-dejected looking Michael pull the rug back to its place and sit on the bed with a sigh.

Somewhere off in the distance, Julia and Staci scream in argument over the last communal bathroom stall with a working lock. Michael's head turns in that direction and Max ducks away, hoping she hadn't seen him. He dashes off with a confused look on his face.

[londonknights]

oh happy day, i get to spend time with my most bestest friends in the whole wide world (leafs lb)

[quintinh43]

♡ ABOUT ME ♡

Hello people, my name is sophie/soph/phia/phi or any variation of that, EXCEPT Sophia. If you address me as Sophia, I will find you and steal your knee caps 🤠

Soph is what I go by usually, but any of the aforementioned names are fine.

I have been watching hockey since I was six years old (give or take a few years)

My teams are, in no particular order: The Oilers, Canucks, Penguins, Devils & Leafs

Although if someone took like 3 seconds to share any fact about the Kraken, I would probably become a Kraken fan as well.

If you couldn't tell from the theme of my blog, I'm in love with Quinn Hughes.

This is a side blog that was created like... mid January (i think)... honestly I debated just sprucing up my main blog but there was so much old shit on there that I didn't wanna move around/get rid of, and I was way to lazy to spruce it up so this side blog was born instead

(No, i will not share the url of my main blog because I've had it since i was like... twelve, so it's super embarrassing)

So if you don't see me in your likes/interacting, I promise you I am there! Just under a different name.

I'm THE most average person you will ever meet

I use way too many emoji's

That's all I can think of currently, but if I think of anything else interesting, I'll add it ☺️

Academic validation is my bestest friend of all time 🥰

I'm not a big music listener, I mostly listen to instrumentals

My whole personality consists of being a uni student, going to the gym, liking hockey and being a big sister.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

I have to agree with you re fans who think their fav could win any battle ever! Like it's based on how they feel about each character and also totally forgets that even though the battles in Naruto are cool, they also exist to tell a story.

(Also I love Guy with my whole heart but its so weird when people bring up the death gate in their "who would win" because like what series of events would have had to have happened for him to use that against anyone from the leaf?? Like why the hell would he ever use any of the gates against one of the kids??!??)

Thank you!

With the Gai thing it’s so weird to me. I see so many people talk Kakashi Vs Gai as if they’r be using the eigth gate and DMS but that’s not gonna happen

Kakashi would have no reason to be pushed to DMS like he was against Kaguya, and Obito’s not magically leaning him his eyes for a friendly spare

Gai’s not going full eight gates on his best friend wtf? That’s just not happening. It’s so weird to see those two power’s of their included

And i hate when people make character’s out to only be important if they’re strong. Like people who loved gai when he could use the eighth gate to almost kill Madara who now say he’s ‘nerfed’ cuz he’s in a whole chair and would have been ‘better off dead’ (hate them hate them HATE THEM)

And it’s fine to love Minato or Itachi or anyone else but we know in cannon they’re not beating everyone. Minato didn’t beat Obito or The nine tails. He ran from Obito and had to use Reaper death seal against the nine tails which is a last ditch attenpt to save his village because he knew he wasn’t going to win

Itachi loses to Sasuke and Naruto and a lot of other’s. Like heck, once Kakashi realizes he couldn’t look in Itachi’s eyes even with the sharingan he became much more of a threat to him. That’s Kakashi, who is slightly putclassed by Itachi (without sharigan power’s Itachi is 1 point higher on total stats than Kakashi so he does beat him in a lot of ways but Kakashi is still very much a threat, hence why Itachi risked his chakra in his fragile state to take Kakashi out right away. To avoid risking a long fight)

I wish people could enjoy their fav’s without thinking they’re the bestest most perfect character who can beat everyone

That just gets boring so fast

[soulsilversprings]

WIP Wednesday

It's still Wednesday for me! Enjoy this snippet of my "Professor Oak Summer Camp" piece for palletshipping week. (Ik ik, Ash hasn't arrived at camp yet, but bear with me!)

Sidenote: everyone's around 7 y/o here, so I'm experimenting with a more "childlike" narration style to reflect that! It's been fun haha

“Gramps, where’s Ash?” Gary whined. “You said he was gonna be here.”

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon, Gary. Now... Oh?" Professor Oak trailed off and pointed towards a girl who was struggling to lift her duffel bag. “Would you look at that? It seems Leaf just arrived. Why don’t you go say hi?”

Gary didn't need to be told twice. He bolted over to her. “Hey, Leaf!”

“Gary! Hi!”

They hugged, and Gary took one of the bag handles and led her to the lodges.

“I’m so excited to be here,” Leaf chimed on the way there. “Ooh, are we doing the Onix cave sighting this year?”

“I dunno, Gramps won’t tell me anything.” 

“Aw, boo. That’s no fun." She looked at the row of lodges ahead and gasped. “Hey, race ya!”

“Huh? No, wait u–”

But before Gary could finish, Leaf charged forward, quickly losing her grip on the duffel bag and sending herself and Gary tumbling.

Gary thudded onto the bag. He propped his head up and glared at his friend. “I told you so.”

Leaf stuck her tongue out, and Gary laughed and brushed himself off. He liked Leaf. She was fun. They played together back home a bunch – but not like he played with Ash. They played all the time. Leaf was his friend, but Ash was his bestest friend.

“Viridian Lodge!” Leaf exclaimed, pointing to the cabin on their right. “That’s us!”

The kids scurried up the steps and dropped her bag inside. She was eager to claim a top bunk, but of course, Gary had already claimed the bestest top bunk for himself before camp started. Perks of having a gramps who runs the camp, he suppo–

“Hello?” a girl’s voice chimed.

Gary whipped around, and two new kids were standing at the entrance. Hm. They were definitely new. Their suitcases looked dumb, too. But whatever. They could still be friends. Gramps always told him not to judge people based on appearances.

Leaf hurriedly dumped all her stuff onto her bed before leaping down to introduce herself to the girl. 

“Who are you?” the other camper asked Gary.

Gary reached for a handshake, shoulders proudly cocked. “I’m Gary Oak!"

“Oak?!” the other boy gasped. “Like, Professor Oak?”

Gary smiled pridefully. “That’s right, I’m his grandson!”

“No way!” His face flushed, and he bounced up and down as if he’d just received an autograph from Gramps himself. “Uh, my name’s Goh, and I wanna become the best Pokémon professor ever!”

“Fat chance,” Gary humphed, retracting his hand that never got shook. “My gramps is already the bestest.”

“It’s called ‘best,’ and my dad’s the best!” the girl to Goh’s left snootily declared.

The cabin went silent. “Wait, your dad’s a professor, Chloe?” Leaf asked.

“Uh-huh! Professor Cerise.”

“Who?” Gary asked. He’d never heard this guy’s name in his life.

“Professor Cerise!” Chloe repeated indignantly, as if that clarified anything.

Suitcase tires rolled on the floor. Another camper – blonde with a straw hat – had arrived. She was new, too, and she was definitely acting like it – nervous and all.

“Hey! What’s your name?” Leaf asked.

The girl glanced away, bewildered, as if she were looking to hide behind her mommy. “S-Serena.”

“I’m Leaf.” She grinned. “Is this your first year?”

Serena scratched her cheek. “Well, uh–”

“Alright, campers, welcome!” the counselor cheered, beginning to introduce herself. Gary knew her – well, sort of. She was the lab assistant who’d found him during that one hide-and-seek game with Gramps. He coulda hidden in the tall grass for hours, if it wasn’t for that Oddish and its Poison Powder… 

The counselor – right, Ashleigh, her name tag said – glanced at her watch. “It looks like one of our pals hasn’t arrived yet, but we’ve gotta get going to the cafeteria for lunch.”

“Lunch!” Leaf and Goh squealed in unison.

“That’s right,” Ashleigh said. “Now, who’s ready to have the best week of summer camp ever?!” 

Cheers filled the air, and Leaf tugged Gary along by the hand as Ashleigh shouted “single file!” Gary, however, looked back at the lone empty bunk and the name tag on the cabin entrance that said Ash Ketchum.

Were they really gonna do summer camp without Ash?

[nerdiestnerdtoevernerd]

Which Brother Will Witch Wil Will Into Being

This is a prompt from @ed-writes-fanfiction for @pinchhitsfromthevoid

5 times they should have known Wilbur was a witch and could tell the future and 1 time they realized it

Chapter 1: My Protector

Word count: 2090

It’s a calm morning in the Minecraft household. Kristin’s standing at the stove, preparing a roast for dinner; Phil is sitting at the bar behind her, several papers spread around him; and Wilbur’s puttering around, playing with his toys and occasionally asking to be lifted up onto the counter to watch Kristin.

“Mama?” Wilbur suddenly tugs on the end of her shirt.

“Yes Wilbur?” she distractedly hums back, measuring out ingredients and dumping them into a pot.

“I want a brother.”

Kristin freezes in shock as Phil sputters at their son’s sudden declaration.

“Oh. Uh… Hm. Um. That’s nice honey. Uh… That…” How in the world is she supposed to respond to this? 

Wilbur continues on, undeterred. “He’s gonna like swords! And we are gonna spend lots of time together! And we’ll fight sometimes but he won’t ever be mean to me. He’ll be my bestest friend!”

“He sounds like he’ll be a good brother,” Kristin hesitantly says, ignoring the choking sound still coming from her husband. Wilbur’s probably just talking about an imaginary friend, right? She hopes that’s the case.

“He will!” Wilbur exclaims and then walks away, leaving his confused and startled parents behind.

And that’s it. It’s forgotten (except as a funny story to tell in the far-distant future) and they move on. They think nothing more about the situation.

In retrospect, they really should have suspected something was going on. He was pretty confident in his declaration after all. But, in their defense, children are often confident about subjects they know nothing about.

⛥⛥⛥

They find him in the woods. Thinking back on it, it was weird that Wilbur dragged them out to the forest that day. Though he did like to run around and spend time outside, he was more of a homebody. He liked to sit inside and play with his toys or dance to music or read books with his parents. It wasn’t like he never went outside, but he tended to prefer activities inside the house, and Phil and Kristin did not discourage this. Kristin like to keep him where she could keep an eye on him (the memories of the several times when he had disappeared for days and was found in perilous situations were too recent in her mind) and Phil preferred not having to chase his child through the trees outside when it was time for dinner.

But it was Wilbur’s birthday. And he wanted a picnic. So they agreed.

They pack a delicious lunch with all of Wilbur’s favorites (and, for some reason, the bacon that their vegetarian son demands they add) and set off. Wilbur leads the way, flitting from flower to flower and interesting rock to fascinating leaf. His parents follow him, smiling and indulging in his activities, their pockets very quickly filling up with “the coolest” rocks.

“Look Dad, this rock has red in it! Let’s keep it!” Phil’s pocket gains another rock.

“Mama, this is a pretty leaf. And it’s soft too! Can you put it in your pocket?” Kristin gets out of this one by telling Wilbur to leave the leaf for other people to enjoy.

“Here Dad. Here’s another rock.”

“I don’t know that I have room for another one,” Phil says, gesturing to his bulging pockets.

“Hm,” Wilbur hums, face twisted up in a thoughtful expression before quickly lighting up. “Here, Mama!” He hands her the rock. “Put it in your pocket!”

After Phil and Kristin cram more rocks into their pockets than should be physically possible, Wilbur finally stops in a clearing and looks up at the surrounding trees. He spins around taking it all in.

“We’re here!” he declares, running back to his mother. He grabs her hand and tugs her to the middle of the clearing.

“Oh really?” she asks, attempting to stifle her laugh.

“Yeah! This is where we’re going to eat!”

“Alright,” Kristin agrees, letting out a laugh.

They get started on getting the site set up. Kristin and Phil work on clearing an area of rocks and twigs, Wilbur attempting to help but getting distracted by said rocks and twigs and deciding to build a house out of them.

“Look at my house, Mama! Look at my house!” he exclaims, pointing at a pile of rocks and sticks that doesn’t look even remotely close to a house.

“Looks great Wilbur,” Kristin responds, a smile on her face. “Do you want to come eat now? It’s lunchtime,” she gestures to the blanket and all the food spread out on it.

“No,” he says, giggling as a taken-aback look crosses his mother’s face. “It’s not time. He’s not here yet!”

“Who’s not here yet?” Phil pipes up, a confused and hesitant look on his face.

“My new brother!”

“What?” the blond exclaims, sending a baffled look at his wife. He’s relieved slightly by the equally confused look on her face. At least she’s not hiding anything from him.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be here soon,” Wilbur explains, knocking over his “house.”

“Who will be?” Kristin finally says.

“My brother!” Wilbur giggles. The sound so sweet it melts his parent’s hearts, though the confusion and worry quickly overtakes it.

“Yeah, sweetheart, you already said that. But what do you mean?” Kristin asks. She’s suddenly reminded of the conversation they’d had, which seems like forever ago. Was… was he talking about his imaginary friend?

“You’ll see!” he responds, continuing to play with rocks and sticks.

They watch him for a moment and then Phil speaks up. “Well kiddo, why don’t we eat until ‘your brother’ gets here?”

“But he needs to eat with us,” Wilbur says looking up from his sticks, a confused look now on his face. “He’s hungry. And we have food for him.”

“We do?” Phil says, furrowing his brow.

“Oh!” his wife exclaims, realization lighting her face. “The bacon! You wanted that for him.” A smile spreads across her face, the sweet consideration her son has for others (even if it’s just an imaginary friend) touching her heart.

“Yeah,” Wilbur responds in that way children do when what they’re doing makes sense to them and they’re not sure why it’s confusing those around them. “What else would it be for?”

“Well—” Phil starts.

“Exactly that,” Kristin interrupts, putting a hand on his arm to silence him. She gives him a look, the “Don’t discourage this. He doesn’t have any actual friends, so let him enjoy this imaginary one.” perfectly clear.

“Alright,” Phil mutters, raising his hands in surrender.

“Wil? As sweet as it is that you want to wait, we do need to hurry and eat. We’ve got other things planned, so we’ll have to go back home soon. Besides, soon the lemonade won’t have any ice. You don’t want lemonade without ice do you?” she wheedles.

“No,” Wilbur admits. He glances up at them, a longing expression on his face. It quickly clears, a joyful expression taking his place as he glances towards the trees. “Oh it’s okay. We can eat now. He’s here.” Wilbur abandons his playing and skips over to plop on the blanket next to his mother. He grabs a sandwich from the plate and takes a bite. Kristin and Phil watch him in confused amusement.

“Well alright,” the blond says, sharing a glance with his wife. Then he too grabs a sandwich and takes a bite, Kristin doing the same.

They eat in peace, the only sound is the munching of food and quiet conversation. But not too long after, Wilbur suddenly puts his sandwich down on the blanket and stands up, staring into the trees.

“Wilbur?” Kristin hesitantly questions.

The boy ignores her, simply continuing to stare at the trees.

“Wilbur?” Phil tries this time, but the only response he gets is the boy raising an arm to wave at a spot at the edge of the clearing. This only confuses them further.

“Wilbur, sweetheart, what’s going on?” Kristin places her hand on Wilbur’s arm, concern emanating from her.

“It’s okay Mama, I’m just waving to him,” he points to the trees.

Kristin squints in that direction, trying to see what her son is pointing to. Something moves. She gasps. “Phil! Phil!” she hisses, slapping her husband on the arm.

“I don’t— by Jove.” Something moves again, and they watch, astonished, as a little head pokes out around a tree, staring at them with wide eyes.

“Hi!” Wilbur exclaims, waving frantically at them. Their eyes, if possible, seem to widen even further and they duck back behind the tree.

“Wilbur,” Kristin gently scolds. “You’re scaring them. Maybe calm down a little bit okay?” The boy nods, properly chastened. “But Mama, he’s hungry.”

“Alright. I’ll take care of it, okay?” She chucks him under the chin, meeting his eyes with a smile.

“Okay Mama. You’re the bestest at things like this!” He settles on the blanket next to his father, picking up his sandwich again and chowing away.

Kristin stands up and takes several steps toward the tree the child is hiding behind. Once she deems herself close enough to be able to easily converse with him, she sits down on the grass. “Hey there,” she says.

No response. That’s okay. It takes time, she reminds herself.

“I’m Kristin.”

Nothing.

“It’s my son, Wilbur’s birthday, so we’re out here having a picnic to celebrate.”

A red (and isn’t that alarming) eye peers around the trunk at her. Progress! She internally cheers.

“Are you hungry?”

The rest of the little head pokes out and studies her before hesitantly nodding, his brown hair, sticks and leaves tangled in the dirty, greasy strands, shaking over his eyes and hiding his face from view.

“Do you want some celery?” she asks, mentally running through what food they brought.

His nose scrunches up, disgust obvious. She laughs.

“Yeah, Wilbur doesn’t like celery either. We’ve got some bacon?” she offers.

She gets a more enthusiastic nod this time.

“Great!” she says enthusiastically, maybe too enthusiastically. The child draws back, his tiny (too tiny Kristin thinks) body hiding behind the tree again. She winces.

“Sorry,” she apologizes and glances back at her family. Phil is watching her with a raised eyebrow and Wilbur is eating. He briefly turns to look at her, an expectant and bright smile on his face, and waves at her and the boy. Her heart melts. Her little baby is getting so big! She turns back around to the tree and is grateful to see that the child has taken a small step away from it.

“Come on,” she stands up and holds out her hand. The child shies away and she immediately drops it, instead turning around and taking a step toward the blanket. She glances back, relieved and somewhat surprised when she sees that the child has taken a step forward as well. She kindly smiles at him, her heart filling with sadness when she takes in the little details. His clothes are tattered and stained. There’s a large bruise that wraps around one of his thin wrists that she knows can only be from someone’s hand. His body is littered with scars, and there are several cuts that haven’t healed yet. His bare feet are a bruised purplish-blue color and are littered with scratches. And, the worst sign of all, he shies away from any possible touch. This boy needs a lot of love, and she is determined to give it.

“Hey,” Phil greets as they approach. “This is Wilbur and I’m his dad Phil. What’s your name?”

“His name is Techno,” Wilbur informs them, not noticing the other boy’s startled look. “And he’s my new brother!” He wraps the dirty boy in his arms, giving him a big hug. The boy flinches away at first but then freezes, staring at Wilbur with wide eyes.

“Wilbur,” Kristin starts, intending to inform the boy of asking before giving a hug, but then decides not to discuss such a heavy topic (that will surely lead into her suspicions of the boy’s trauma) over lunch on her son’s birthday. “He’s probably hungry. Why don’t we get him some food?”

Wilbur beams and let’s go of th— Techno instead latching onto his hand and tugging the boy onto the blanket next to him. He launches into conversation the second they are both sitting as he hands Techno one of everything, not minding when the other doesn’t say a word.

Kristin watches them, a smile on her face. Phil looks at his wife and sighs, resigned to having another child. “I guess he’s coming home with us.”

[flamingbluepanda]

Getting to know you...

Hello dears!!! I was tagged by @ardent-fox @energievie AND @jomilky to do this fun lil ask game. Enjoy learning some random shit about me!

How old are you? Just turned 22!

What do you do for a living? I'm somewhat of a jack of many trades- Ive done nursing shit, psychology shit, medical Assisting shit, janitorial shit, and receptionist shit, but currently I'm an assistant teacher at a daycare and I'm starting my associates degree in education next week

Dream Vacation Destination? My default answer is Italy because I have family over there and have always wanted to go, but I have a bunch of online friends in England who I'd love to meet up with someday... Also California to see @princess-of-the-worlds again 😘

Favorite color? B L U E !

Last thing you drank? Water

Last song you listened to? Shake it off by T-Swift

Relationship status? Single and ready to mingle!!! If any mutuals wanna confess their crushes on me now is the time I'll be the bestest boyfriend ever I promise

Where are you from? Pennsylvania

Biggest pet peeve? Hm .. well, the worst sound ever is anything against a chalkboard, but that's not a pet peeve... I guess people who abuse my trust? There's an actual answer to this that's actually a pet peeve and not something I hate I just can't think of it

Tell me a secret: Funny secret because man the other one is a lil creepy: I ate a leaf once because I wanted to be little foot from the land before time

The kinda creepy one; I have a fully fleshed out plan for what I'm gonna do when my parents die. I know who I'm gonna call, where I'm gonna do their funerals, how I'm gonna use what they leave me, all of it. Don't ask me why I have those plans already set in my mind, I have anxiety and ADHD my brain doesn't shut up on a good day.

Tagging @cantteachanoldguardnewquotes and @vintagelacerosette and @victorian-sexstache

[sergeifyodorov]

hello your 2015 draft class post was ;;;;;;;;; well. anyway now mitchy lives rent free in my mind just thought you should know

he's so.... that mouse is my bestest friend! sad little twink! cant wait (am dreading) for this season when he experiences homophobia again, is bitched at all season, gets the most points out of any leaf in their playoff run, and then this fact is conveniently ignored as his 1-pre-ufa season begins

[ennaku-sirri-da]

Habit Talks To Kamal On An Intercity Bus [ AU ]

(Plaintext: Habit Talks To Kamal On A Public Bus [ AU ] )

Note: The Habitspeak translation without his speaking quirk is present below for those who have difficulty reading his style. And described the emote expressions as well.

--

[ ID: Photo of a Greyhound bus from the USA out on the road in a clear day. Its dark blue and has a symbol of silver running Greyhound dog as it's logo. End ID]

Ooo..phooo.. phoo.. FWOOO-- HEE HEE!! Haw haw haw OK don't gooo- I will stop :-3 Yourm ears and ur prettie earsring r Safe - but I am jost a funny guy!! Genius-es are so unerrrated now u_u 

Ahem.

So wHAT I really wanna say is ..

I think u r the "knees of bees" ..the 6 of them

I wonder y that's a quote...there's nuthin much speshul abt those..u deserve better..like..hmMMMMMMmmmm

Bee bee bee ba-bee?? Ur my bb?? Yes U r!! U hav heard that b4 buthough... bees...they sting me sometims nd die... im forgetting to bury them :-( B4 Tunia makes "CPR"...between u n me dear, I think she likes slurpin em up...anyway its TOO sad! it happens when I take care of my Garden, where bees r of gr8 importance. They rub-a-dub themselfs on the flowers to get the gold dust for polly-nation..in skool I learnt that Bombus terrestris and Antirrhinum majus hav what's called a "co-evolveution"-- they're friends with bee-nefits!

I dream I also listened 2 the lesson's rest.. o, wish, acksually. AFAIK was thinking abt making a PokéMans card for u.. 

--What? Oh, I see. No it's not embrassing. U can ask me anytime, am happy 2 claritify.  Sooz, the common names areee bumble bee and ..the flower..um.. crapdragon. I do'nt know whats wrong with whoever diss-covered that 1. Habit Tip! They shuld keep all their windows locked tight and seal the crawl space.

Is the other thingie clear? U already know? Ok. Eye...lost my thoughts-train. What was I chuggin on about? Helppp a guy out dahling? 

HEY I HEARD THAT.. " Seeeni khhaaai aaaase "?? Don'tnot understand whole mumble but ime NOTTT putting butter on U PROMISS!! It's you're fault your so ez to love. Work on it. 

( Note to any readers who wouldn't already know: " Seeni khai aase" is an Assamese slang expression. Seeni means sugar and the whole phrase means someone being too sweet to you, butter-coating things. )

I can see ur smile u know. Ur already in-operative.

LAFFING NOW REALLY REALLY--Ugh just PLZZ tell me what I was talking b4 it poofs FOREVER!! 

Mmm..mhmm ..uh huh..O alright. Yes!! Thatse it!! Such a good listen-er. <:-)

B4 u asked me that, I said "friends"..u r my very bestest friend...

..am I yours?

Thx for reminding me. Am trying. Not to keep asking those things. Let It Flow, like u said. I remmeber. 

U counted??? I-- 

its only been the 3rd tyme this week??? Huh that's good proggerss-But why did u-- how--I don't-- *Leaf it. I'll lose what I was saying Again. All these years and u still manage 2 SirPrize Me. Lolol, I guess it goes both ways !! 

Oh, HA ha, the lucksy '3', U say! Uncle back in Moscow used to ballyho-- 

This iz a bit of a Tang-Ent acksually. U want to hear? 

K. Just tell me "fri-end" after i-end. I'll continue. 

-- b-ally-ho if the sum of the 3 odd-place dijits on a busket-- I mean bus ticket-- = to the sum of 3 even-place digits, it is a luck charm!! A Real (una)Live Leningrad ticket. 

Of coarse...we can't never get 1 on this cramped lil Greyhound. Pffffft. 

(Yawnnn) Were'nt u spposed to tell me some-thing...

Hmmm..??

Uh...I can't hear youuuu....

Sorry..? Again?

What was--

WOa, woa there...Dearie me! I get it! Try to clam down..str-eee-ss isn't helpthy for the body ha.. I heard ur "FRIEND!!!" VERY loud n clear

--They can't. Bc everyones ears are BUSted from the early-ier parkinh "Phhsst". Get it? Ha ha?

Eeeeeeee...!! Goodness me I lurve ur laugh…looks like i maked u feel better after the noize… :\\-)

Oh! Ha ha! What, me? No-Thinggg,, I didn't "mutter" anyth-ing,,,

Hmm?

Aha. try nawt’ta do-it again, OK, man? I accept your apollogee about the interccept…

Anyway uh!! Ur one o' those 2 me obvs( a FRIEND)!! Even if we r feeling a lil awkward rite now!!! 

andso.. no also..what's more..the, flowers! r my friends too... 

Hrmm..Ain't nothin better than when stuffs we cherryish come to-gather huh? Transalating 2 Nerd Language heeehee..call it...you..."I'm writing a Cross Over, "! 

OK SO

Heer me out- ‘’Cross Over’’- of…of…m-ie dear FRIEND~~ Mhmm. You-you!!

AND…ANNNND..Guesss!! GUESSSSSS GUESSS HAWHOOO OOO OO

Flowers…and m-ie dear FLORRRAAAA~~ Mhmm. You-you!!

( GIF description: A white lotus blooms in water. GIF is watermarked with 'Zadenkai' end GIF Description )

--To be continued, maybe! If you have any questions you can ask. I'd usually give a HCs explained section but I'm kinda tired right now.

-- Translation below

Ooo..phooo.. phoo.. FWOOO-- HEE HEE!! Haw haw haw OK don't gooo- I will stop :-3 ( catlike smile emote ) Your ears and your pretty earring are Safe - but I am just a funny guy!! Geniuses are so underrated now u_u ( mock-resignation closed eye emote )

Ahem.

So wHAT I really wanna say is ..

I think you are the "knees of bees" ..the 6 of them

I wonder why that's a quote...there's nothin' much special abt those..you deserve better..like..hmMMMMMMmmmm

Bee bee bee ba-bee?? Your my baby?? Yes you are!! You have heard that before but, though... bees...they sting me sometimes and die... I'm forgetting to bury them :-( (frowning emote ) Before Tunia makes "CPR"...between you and me dear, I think she likes slurpin' 'em up...anyway its TOO sad! It happens when I take care of my Garden, where bees are of great importance. They rub-a-dub themselves on the flowers to get the gold dust for pollination..in school I learnt that Bombus terrestris and Antirrhinum majus have what's called a "co-evolution"-- they're friends with bee-nefits!

I dream I also listened to the lesson's rest.. oh, wish, actually. AFAIK was thinking about making a Pokémans card for you.. 

--What? Oh, I see. No it's not embarassing. You can ask me anytime, am happy to clarify.  Soz, the common names areee bumble bee and ..the flower..um.. crapdragon. I don't know whats wrong with whoever discovered that 1. Habit Tip! They should keep all their windows locked tight and seal the crawl space.

Is the other thingie clear? You already know? Ok. I...lost my thought-train. What was I chuggin' on about? Helppp a guy out dahling?

HEY I HEARD THAT.. " Seeeni khhaaai aaaase "?? Don't understand whole mumble but I'm NOTTT putting butter on YOU, PROMISE!! It's your fault you're so easy to love. Work on it. 

I can see your smile you know. You're already inoperative.

LAUGHING NOW REALLY, REALLY--Ugh just PLEASEE tell me what I was talking before it poofs FOREVER!! 

Mmm..mhmm ..uh huh..O alright. Yes!! That's it!! Such a good listener. <:-) ( smile emote )

Before you asked me that, I said "friends"..you are my very bestest friend...

..am I yours?

Thanks for reminding me. Am trying. Not to keep asking those things. Let It Flow, like you said. I remember. 

U counted??? I-- 

its only been the 3rd time this week??? Huh that's good progress-But why did you-- how--I don't-- *Leave it. I'll lose what I was saying Again. All these years and you still manage to surprise Me. Lolol, I guess it goes both ways !! 

Oh, HA ha, the lucky '3', U say! Uncle back in Moscow used to ballyho-- 

This a bit of a Tangent actually. You want to hear? 

K. Just tell me "friend" after I end. I'll continue. 

-- ballyho if the sum of the 3 odd-place digits on a busket-- I mean bus ticket-- is equal to the sum of 3 even-place digits, it is a luck charm!! A Real (una)Live Leningrad ticket. 

Of course...we can't never get one on this cramped lil Greyhound. Pffffft. 

(Yawnnn) Weren't you s'pposed to tell me something...

Hmmm..??

Uh...I can't hear youuuu....

Sorry..? Again?

What was--

WOah, woah there...Dearie me! I get it! Try to calm down..streeess isn't healthy for the body ha.. I heard your "FRIEND!!!" VERY loud n' clear

--They can't. Because everyone's ears are BUSted from the earlier parking "Phhsst". Get it? Ha ha?

( Eeeeeeee...!! Goodness me I love your laugh…looks like i made you feel better after the noise… :\\-) ( blushing smile emote ) )

Oh! Ha ha! What, me? Nothinggg,, I didn't "mutter" anything,,,

Aha. try nawt’ta do it again, OK, man? I accept your apology about the intercept…

Anyway uh!! You're one o' those to me obviously( a FRIEND)!! Even if we are feeling a lil awkward right now!!! 

andso.. no, also..what's more..the, flowers! Are my friends too... 

Hrmm..Ain't nothin better than when stuffs we cherish come together huh? Translating to Nerd Language heeehee..call it...you..."I'm writing a Cross Over, "! 

OK SO

Hear me out- ‘’Cross Over’’- of…of…my dear FRIEND~~ (singsong) Mhmm. You-you!!

AND…ANNNND..Guesss!! GUESSSSSS GUESSS HAWHOOO OOO OO (laughing)

Flowers…and my dear FLORRRAAAA~~ Mhmm. You-you!!

(Plaintext: Flowers…and my dear FLORRRAAAA~~ Mhmm. You-you!!)

--To be continued, maybe! If you have any questions you can ask. I'd usually give a HCs explained section but I'm kinda tired right now.