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eddieydewr · 8 months

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I hope if you watch the tutor you’ll post a review after 🙏

you’re in luck bc i watched it yesterday and it was, um… well, the concept is interesting but poorly executed, and the pacing doesn’t make sense. i got the feeling that i’m supposed to root for ethan, aka the tutor, at first. but the actor looked like he was doing the movie at gunpoint and only started to put his whole hedlundussy into the last 15 minutes. which makes sense in retrospect since i read that garrett hedlund wasn’t sure about the script. noah was great the whole time but i hated his character design and i’m not even sure if his character (jackson) was putting on an act around ethan because the writing is that bad. he looks like chuck bass and young sheldon combined, with the pallor of a victorian child half dead from consumption. i’m aware that i should be creeped out by jackson but he clearly has something on ethan. i’m not saying he wasn’t creepy or unnerving but i knew it was on the surface, that there was something more to it. garrett and noah were great and did their best with what they were given, but the initial character design for them wasn’t convincing enough. or maybe it’s just me seeing through the flawed writing and pacing. i knew the film was bad so i was already watching with a critical eye.

the movie opens and ends abruptly. the editing is choppy but also flat. i would’ve liked the movie better if it had a terrible 90s camp vibes, like roald dahl’s the witches (1990) because it didn’t really work as a thriller or whatever genre it’s supposed to be. i’m also stuck wondering if the ending was supposed to be an open ending; again, because of the writing and editing. it’s almost frustrating because the story doesn’t feel complete and i still have questions. and not because it was done on purpose but because there’s no setup that leads to a satisfactory payoff or conclusion. there’s no clear reasoning or motivation although we do get a vague idea. basically the movie is good enough for passive viewing on the lifetime channel. usually i wouldn’t care if i’m watching something crap but i’m annoyed this time because noah’s in the movie and he has the range!! he was great but it felt like i was reading a hyped up book and i only liked the book cover. i’m just glad i didn’t pay for the privilege and used american netflix instead 😭

and that’s all i can say without spoilers, lmao. although i’m happy to reveal the plot (under a read more, ofc) and expand on my criticism, like noah’s character design, for example. i’d also love to complain about ethan’s hair!!!

ALSO… justice for noah because that video of him screaming and having a meltdown was definitely taken out of context. he does not deserve the lashings, omg 😭 like i can say it looks goofy but the fun stops every time noah antis spread it around for clout and to get people to take the piss 😩✋🏻 not to mention the clip of jackson with the gun being included in the trailer (was it? idk); that was done on purpose to make jackson look unhinged or something. and i am disappointed because of spoiler related reasons!!

i gotta stop now or i’ll just keep talking 🙈 sorry about my poor excuse of a review btw. i’m no roger ebert. or any basic movie reviewers, actually!!

#why can’t i be normal when i talk #just pure yappings #beth answers #oh christ i forgot to mention victoria justice

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midnightstar-90 · 2 years

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do you do fics that aren't slash? if so Sheldon Cooper being burn out and Georgie comforting him would be everything! set in Young Sheldon of course

Make You Proud

Taglist | Request | Wattpad

Main Masterlist | Young Sheldon Masterlist

A Young Sheldon Fanfic

Summary: In order to graduate, Sheldon must pass his P.E. class, the only subject Sheldon is not a master at. His brother offers to help. And in the end, earns his father's validation.

A/N: My first fanfic that doesn’t deal with a reader or OC! 🎉

Also, I know nothing about football, so I went off a few sites off of google.

OLDER SHELDON NARRATION

“P.E.

My greatest failure. You could give me as many english, math, and sciences classes as you desire, and he would thank you. But P.E.? That was like handing me a death certificate with my name on it. It wasn't just because I was small and scrawny. P.E. and I just never got on well.

But P.E. class brought me and my brother together. And my father had been proud of me. I felt a bond between the two men in my life, besides Dr. Sturgis, of course. That was until that semester ended, and I’d be done with P.E.”

Sheldon’s POV

I stood off to the side of the track, watching my life flash before his eyes. In the middle of the football field, inside the track, was a group of boys from my gym class. They were all huddled together, but that wasn’t the only thing I had noticed. I noticed the large dummies the football players used to train and the bag of footballs Coach Wilkins kept at his side. I instantly knew what was to happen.

Coach Wilkins lifted his head from the huddle and looked straight at me. “Cooper! Get over here,” the coach yelled.

“Um, no thanks. I don’t do well with contact sports,” I replied. All it took was one look at my setting for me to remember all the times I was hit in the head by flying projectiles, because I couldn’t, or wouldn’t catch it in time.

After that, my entire world had come to an end when Coach Wilkins said these words, “You know that if you don’t at least participate, you’ll lose participation points, which is most of your grade.” It was quite the conundrum.

My eyes went wide at the statement. I had worked exceptionally hard to maintain my 5.0 GPA, even though my school only went up to 4.0 on their grading scale. Anyways, I couldn’t lose that. So, I did the only thing I could do. I walked onto the field with my head hung low in disappointment.

When I got over to the rest of the boys huddled together, I squeezed between the boys and looked up at Coach Wilkins. “Okay, Class. This week, we're going to be playing football. Today is gonna be easy. We are going over rules, and starting tomorrow, we’ll play a game or two, each day.” Everyone gave Coach a nod, except for me, because I didn’t agree with the things he was saying.

I never understood why P.E. is a graduation requirement. What does being able to run or not have to do with academics. Why can’t it just be an elective like all the other boring and dangerous classes, like workshop? What will I, Sheldon Cooper, need gym class for in my future? Nothing, that’s what.

Anyways, I stayed in my spot, watching the boys walk out to the field. I felt a gust of wind from the girls in my class behind me, running track. I’d rather do that instead of Football. I would just imagine myself as the flash, zipping through the track with my small legs.

“Cooper!” Coach Wilkins yelled out, turning my attention from the girls to him. “I need you out on that field, Sheldon,” Coach said, giving me a stern look.

Sheepishly, I responded back with, “Isn’t there something besides sports that I can do in this class? Maybe I can do your taxes for free this year?”

“No bribes, Sheldon.”

“I’ll tell my dad,” I threaten the coach.

“He told me to treat you like a regular student,” Coach said. His smug look that he wore was saying ‘Ha! Your move!’

“Fine, but don’t expect perfect performance,” I said, angrily.

“All I ask is you participate.”

“Fine, but I won’t be happy about it,” I said with a pout.

When I got home, I made my way to the only supporter that would back me up in my graduation necessity.

My mother.

My dad stopped the truck and put it in park. I practically ripped the seatbelt off of me and slammed the door open. I hopped out and ran into the house, being met with my mother.

My mother stopped cutting the vegetables she had just gotten from the store and looked at me with concern. “Shelly? Are you okay? You’re out of breath,” she said, walking over to me. She got down to my level and placed her soft hands on my cheeks.

“I was running from dad…” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Which… I’m starting… to think… was… a bad… idea,” i said, wheezing.

“Running from dad? Why were you running from dad?” My mother asked.

“Because in order to graduate, I have to participate in P.E. And to make it worse, dad told Coach Wilkins to treat me as a regular student.”

“But you’re so small, they shouldn’t have you in a physical class,” my mom said with a mixed feeling of concern and anger.

“Exactly! And the first sport is football!” My mother gasped. Now, she’s livid. I could see the familiar vein popping out of her forehead.

It wasn’t long after after that when my father and Georgie walked through the door. My mother stared my father down with her momma bear glare.

"George Cooper Sr!" My mother yelled, startling my brother and father. "Why did you tell Wayne to treat our son like an ordinary student? Shelly is not an ordinary student. He shouldn't be involved in physical activity with those other kids. He's a child! What if something happened to him today?" My mother asked sternly.

My father looked at my mother, flabbergasted by her immediate outburst. He honestly should have known she would react like that. That's why she's my go-to when I need something done.

"I'm sorry, Mary," My father apologized.

"Seriously. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that you're right. Sheldon is not an ordinary student. He's quite the opposite. He's the highest in the class, not because of his age or size. It's because he tries and actually puts in the work. I just thought that maybe, Sheldon would do the same with P.E. No matter what he does in that class, me nor Coach Wilkins are gonna give him a free pass. He's too smart for that," My father told my mother sincerely.

I listened to my father's words, and I felt something uneasy. I thought back to my Professor Proton episodes that I watch every day after school. Professor Proton didn't get a free pass to where he is today. Now, I don't know if he was forced into P.E., or else all his achievements would be ruined, but I do know that he put in the work, and he got stuff done.

"George-"

"I'll do it!" I said out loud, cutting my mother off.

"You'll do what, Shelly?" My mother asked me, looking at me with her confused face rather than the angry face she's had on her face for the last 5 minutes.

"I'll do P.E. on dad's terms. But I have no clue how to do anything in that class," I said, slightly nervous.

"Are you sure, Shelly?" My mother asked me with a slight frown.

"Is Professor Proton named as a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of every atom?" I asked with a delighted smile. I looked between my mother, brother, and father, and they all looked at me with blank stares. My smile dropped as I said, "Yes. Yes, he is." After explaining myself, the 3 of them looked at each other with their mouths open in realization.

Georgie raises his hand and suggests to help me. My mother and father looked at Georgie like he was crazy. "I second that. Georgie is the athletic one in the family... besides Missy. But I'll save her for baseball week. Anyways, this week is football, so Georgie would be the perfect tutor," I say.

"Well, since that's sorted out, I'm gonna get ready for the game," my dad says, leaving the room.

Later that night, Georgie and I went outside so he could tutor me in P.E. It was hard to think of the day that Georgie would be the one tutoring me in something.

“Now, in playing football, you’ll probably gonna be a running back. You’re gonna try your best to run down the field, and get the ball to the end zone. But even if you’re not, you might have to pass the ball off, so that’s what we’ll start with.”

We started off by passing the ball back and forth. They weren't hard or long passes. They were short and soft passes. But that didn't stop me from the ball slipping out of my hands and end up dropping it.

After about an hour, I finally got the hang of it. Georgie smiled as he passed me the ball, once more, "There you go! You're getting it." I smiled excitedly. "I'm really doing it! I'm really doing it!" I exclaimed as I jumped up and down, before passing the ball back to Georgie.

"Okay. Now I'm gonna move around, and I want you to watch my moves before passing the ball. Got it?" Georgie explained. I nodded my head up and down, catching the ball Georgie threw at me.

Georgie ran around the backyard. Following his orders, I watched him and waited for him to get into position to catch the ball. When he turned to face me, I through the ball. Sadly, the ball landed about 5 inches from his feet.

I looked down in disappointment. "It's okay," Georgie tried reassuring me. "You threw the ball a little low, but it was still a good throw. You just need to throw the ball a little higher, next time. That's all. You're doing great," Georgie said, passing the ball back.

Hearing Georgie say those words to me really meant something. My brother had never told me he was proud of me. He always taunted me, but never did he say he was proud. I felt accomplished in the fact that maybe I can play football with high schoolers. It wasn't like it was the real thing.

After passes, Georgie began to start teaching me about tackles. When Georgie told me this, I almost crapped my pants. I thought this was one of Georgie’s sick jokes, so he could tackle me, and take out. But I was wrong. I was going to do the tackling.

“Alright. Now, when you tackle, your goal is to get your player on the ground. The best way to do that is by the legs,” Georgie informed me.

“Now, I wanna see you try.”

I took a deep breath and ran at Georgie. Right before hitting him, I tried to pounce on him. Sure I hit my target, but I guess that was the wrong way.

“Try aiming for the knees,” Georgie said.

Taking another deep breath, we got back into position. Georgie and I had a friendly stand off before I ran at him. I slightly bent my knees and pushed Georgie off his feet. Georgie let out a small cry of pain, consisting of ooh’s and ahh’s.

“Are you okay?” I asked my brother in concern. Georgie got back up on his feet, wiping himself off. “Yeah, I’m good,” he responded back, easing my concern.

Georgie stood up and began to wipe himself off. “That was great,” Georgie said, giving me a smile, which made me smile. “Now, let’s run that back a couple more times.”

The next day I was ready. Georgie taught me different ways to pass the ball, and he even showed me some of his plays. He gave me basic instructions on how to score points, tackle, and what fouls were. Georgie ended our tutoring session by saying, "Remember. This is only P.E. football, not real football. Most of the kids know the sport, but they don't know how to play it on their own. Some probably know as much as you before this. But just remember to have fun. It's not for competition."

But sadly, I wasn't ready. Sure, I now knew how to play, but I wasn't prepared for the height and strength of the boys in my P.E. class. I tried to tackle one of them, and they ran over me like roadkill. I now sat in the nurse's office with an icepack on my eye. I could feel my eye bruising, meaning I was getting a black eye.

My father ran into the nurse's office, demanding to see me. When he saw me sitting on the small bed, he stopped in his tracks, appalled at the look on my face. "How'd you get that, Sheldon?" He asked, almost immediately.

I gave my father a blank face, "Playing football."

"You don't seem too upset about that," My dad said with a raised brow. I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "I'm not. I was prepared to play. And yes, I'm sad that my brand new skill went to waste, but that skill didn’t prepare me for the pain that I felt when Ralph Terrence tackled me.”

My dad grimaced at the thought of the abnormally ripped freshman tackling me. “We’ll, I think you’r mother was right. You shouldn’t be in P.E.”

“No!” I yelled out, scaring the school nurse before turning towards us. My dad turns to her and gives her a small smile and wave. She gives me one more look and goes back to her computer. My father places his index finger against his lips as a sign to lower my volume. I take the hint and begin to whisper, “No. I want to do P.E. I mean, I go to church with mom, and yet, I don’t believe in her faith. I don’t like P.E. But why should that stop me. I’ve recently began bonding with Georgie, and I have to say, it felt good. Not the sports part, but the sense of accomplishment.”

“We’ll I’m proud of you. I’ll talk to Wilkins. No physical sports, but you can do warm ups and testing. And you can do homework or whatever while everyone plays. Okay?” My dad asked.

“Okay,” I said with a smile. The feeling of two people that hardly recognize me, being proud of me, was sensational. I was over the moon. Both my father and brother had told me that they were proud of me, in less than one day.

“I don’t have many memories of me and my father bonding over something, or even my brother and I. But, I have to say, it felt good.”

Taglist: @idontknowwhat2type @ietss @natalia12700 @siriusstwelveyears @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @countrymusiclover @bellarkeselection @alexxavicry @xivilivix

(If your user is in red, it means I can’t find you. Let me know so I can fix it.)

#fanfic #fanfiction #request #requested #young sheldon oneshot #young sheldon #football #sheldon cooper #big bang theory fandom #big bang theory #missy cooper #mary cooper #georgie cooper #george cooper #georgie cooper oneshot #sheldon cooper oneshot

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poisoned-peppermint · 3 years

Text

Part 4 of incorrect quotes because i feel obligated to make more due to the sheer number of people who liked it

Dream: My dearest beloved fuckos, is a fun, gender-neutral way to begin a speech

George: See also, esteemed bastards

Bad: Gentlefolk, Ferals, and Domesticated cryptids.

Sapnap: My fellow yees and haws

~~~~~~~

Techno:Hey I know skyrim is revered as a classic but are we just going to ignore the fact that the entire game only had like 3 voice actors

Wilbur:Stop right there criminal cum

Techno:My ancestors are smiling at me, bastard, can you say the same

~~~~~~~

Foolish:When's your bedtime :)

Purpled: Whenever I next collapse in purely up to the gods

~~~~~~

Ranboo:Human skin is a fursuit for skeletons

Tubbo: i’m going to debone you like a fucking trout

~~~~~~

Bad:You’re enough

Bad: love yourself!!!!!!! or suffer my wrath!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream:And by wrath I mean love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bad:no I mean wrath!!!!! You reading this, if you don't love yourself I’ll beat you with a stick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~~~~~~~

Bad:I hope everyone is today well! And tomorrow!!!! After that you’re on your own.

~~~~~~

Bad:what am I supposed to do all day while you’re at work

Skeppy:I don’t know, what do you normally do while I’m gone

Bad: wait for you to get back

~~~~~~

Velvet:For my next stunt, I’ll wake up at 5am on the day I can sleep in

Ant:Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Velvet:Early to bed and early to rise makes me a massive bitch

~~~~~~

Tubbo: 3:23 AM make a wish

Ranboo: I wish that you would go to sleep

Tuddo: Yeah well I wish I grew an inch taller every day as you get an inch shorter until you’re as flat as as a piece of paper and I’m 11 feet tall

Ranboo: You’re going to die of a mixture of skeletal instability and heart disease.

Tubbo: Yeah but I’ll look good while doing it.

~~~~~~

Bad:Disrespect me again and I’ll determine your bodies resonant frequency and play a jaunty horn solo that boils your miserable organs inside out

~~~~~~

Quackity: If I were dating you? Well, heh. Let’s just say horses wouldn't be called horses anymore

Karl: hey what the honk does this mean…..I’m shaking what does this mean!

~~~~~~

Skeppy: Are you ok?

Bad wrapped in a burrito blanket drinking his 6th cup of coffee: Yes, this is exactly what mental stability looks like

~~~~~~

Sam: My hands are cold

Ponk: *holds their hands*

Ponk: better?

Sam: My lips are cold too

~~~~~~

George at dream’s funeral: can I have a moment alone with them?

Sapnap: of course *leaves*

George leaning over dream’s casket: Now listen, I know you’re not dead.

Dream: yeah no shit

~~~~~~

Skeppy, jokingly: I should have Bad kill you for that.

Bad, peering around the corner: Who do I need to kill?

Skeppy: Wh- no, I was just kidding around.

Bad, pulling out a switchblade: No, who’s bothering you

~~~~~~

Bad *watching the news*: Some idiot tried to fight a squid at the aquarium.

Skeppy *covered in ink*: Maybe the squirt was being a dick.

~~~~~~

Peacock: *spreads feathers at Bad*

Skeppy: It’s trying to attract a mate

Bad, extremely confused: *shyly lifts top*

Skeppy: No!

~~~~~~

Sapnap: Karl, do you eat olives? My dad wants to know

Karl: No, I hate olives. Olives are the spawn of satan. I hate olives so much my mom forced me to live in Mount olive for the rest of my childhood as a curse from the olive gods. Do you understand how much olives have ruined my life? I'm so offended that you asked me that have some consideration for people who have been abused by olives please!

Sapnap: K A R L ……….they’re just olives!!?

Karl: JUST OLIVES EXCUSE!

~~~~~~

Tommy: If you’re bored you can simply close your eyes and rotate a cow in your mind. It’s free and the cops can’t stop you

~~~~~~

Wilbur: is there anyone even named sheldon irl?

Tubbo: my class turtle from 6th grade :)

Wilbur: that’s a turtle

Tubbo: When god sings with his creations, will a turtle not be part of the choir?

~~~~~~

Ranboo: No bcuz why do ppl like salad?? What’s so good about it

Tubbo: chew leaf like god intended

Ranboo: No

Tubbo: Abandon god and see what he does next time you lift your hands in prayer

~~~~~~~

Tommy: Guys, there’s a monster under my bed and it’s really ugly.

Wilbur, on the bottom bunk: Honestly, fuck you.

~~~~~~

Quackity: So according to the cease and desist order I got, apparently you can’t ‘legally’ be a lawyer if your license is ‘cut out of a cereal box’.

~~~~~~

Puffy: If you had too, what would you give up food or sex?

Bad: Sex.

Skeppy: Seriously, answer faster.

Bad: I’m sorry honey, when they said sex I wasn’t thinking about sex with you.

Skeppy: It’s like a giant hug.

Puffy: Ant, what about you? What would you give up sex or food?

Ant: Food.

Puffy: Okay, how about sex or dinosaurs?

Ant: ……...Oh my God it’s like the movie Sophie’s Choice.

Gumi: What about you Velvet? What would you give up sex or food?

Velvet: Oh… um… I don’t know, it’s too hard.

Gumi: No, you gotta pick one.

Velvet: Um, food… no, sex… no, food…sex… food. Ugh! I don’t know! I want both! I- I want Antfrost on bread!

~~~~~~~

Tommy, holding a gun: If the conspiracies about life being a simulation are true WHOEVERS CONTROLLING MY SIM I JUST WANNA TALK.

~~~~~~~

Bad: Why are you guys acting like this?

Boomer: Oh, we’re not acting. We really are like this.

~~~~~~

Techno: Dream has only knocked me out three times this week. Our friendship is really developing.

~~~~~~

Tommy: You’re pathetic!

Wilbur: You’re pathetic-er!

Techno: You’re both losers.

~~~~~~

Bad: I wish I could help you, but I shorn’t.

Skeppy: Bad, please!

Bad: What part of shorn’t don’t you understand?

~~~~~~

Tubbo: Why did you leave Wrestlemania on for Michal?

Ranboo: They need to learn how to protect us.

~~~~~~

Antfrost: I regret getting dragged into your heterosexual tomfoolery.

~~~~~~

Bad: Strawberry milk doesn’t taste like strawberry OR milk.

Skeppy: Go the fuck to sleep Bad!

Bad: LANGUAGE!!

~~~~~~

Ranboo: Tubbo, please calm down.

Tubbo: I asked for two large fries!

Tubbo: *dumps fries onto table*

Tubbo: But all they did was give me a MILLION FUCKING LITTLE ONES!

~~~~~~

Bad: That was the worst throw ever. Of all time.

Skeppy: Not my fault. Somebody put a wall in the way.

~~~~~~

Wilbur: When you’ve been on the internet for as long as I have, you develop thick skin.

Tommy: Navy blue isn’t your color.

Wilbur: Navy blue brings out my eyes you prick! *Chases after Tommy*

~~~~~~

Bad: *Pulls a glass a water from out of nowhere*

Puffy: Where did you get that?.

Bad: My pocket.

Puffy: How do you keep a glass of water in your pocket?

Bad: Skills.

~~~~~~

Tubbo: I will come to your house after work and knock on your window at 11 AM. You will not open the curtains, knowing full well what awaits you, but the knocking only grows louder, more demanding. Finally it stops, your ears ringing. You nervously let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. You're safe now. Minutes pass by and you start to relax. And then you hear a knock at the front door. Like before, you stay still and clutch the blankets around you. You try to tell your self that it's just your imagination. Maybe the milk man? But why would he come so late? Everyone else was asleep, save for Naomi who was playing video games down stairs. To your relief, the knocking stops after a few. Minutes and you breath easy once more. Until you hear a knock on your bedroom door. You don't move. It's just your imagination. She isn't here. She can't be here. You tell yourself, shutting your eyes and willing yourself to sleep. The knock comes again, but with horror you realize that it came from the closet inside your room. You know that you have no choice. You get up, climbing out of bed with shaking limbs. You walk to the closest, trembling, and holding back the tears threatening to spill over your porcelain cheeks. You hesitate with your hand over the closet handle. Maybe it's just your imagination? She's not really there. You can go to sleep and laugh it off in the morning. Your naive thoughts are cut off by another, more demanding knock on the closet door, inches from your face. You know what you have to do. You open the closet door, and there she stands. Chuck e cheese, the mouse looms over you in the dim light. It's soulless eyes boor into you. It raises its arms, and you flinch as it begins to floss at lightning speed. Tears spill over your cheeks. This is the last thing you'll ever see.

Ranboo: Wait, Chuck e cheese’s pronouns are she/her? Trans Chuck e cheese? Good for her.

~~~~~~~~

Bad: Would you like something to drink? *They opened the fridge* We have water, milk, juice, spiders, Dr. Pepper-

Quackity: Spiders?

Bad: Spiders it is then.

Quackity: No, that wasn’t-

*But they were already pouring him a brimming glass of spiders…

~~~~~~

Puffy : Make her pussy wet not her eyes.

Velvet : Make his dick hard not his life.

Punz : Break her bed not her heart.

Skeppy : Play with his boobs not his feelings.

Ant : Get on his dick not his nerves.

Bad : Always salt your pasta while boiling it.

~~~~~~~

Wilbur: Bet you can’t eat 15 crayons!

Tommy: Bet you I can!

Phil: *sips coffee, checks to make sure 911 is still on speed dial, and goes back to reading the paper*

~~~~~~~

Ant: We need a way to lure in new customers?

Ponk: Maybe we could have some fun, interactive events!

Skeppy: Badboyhalo bath water.

Bad: ABSOLUTELY NOT!

~~~~~~~~

Fundy: GET BACK HERE YOU DUMB FUCK!

Wilbur: LET ME RUN FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY ACTIONS!

~~~~~~~~

Bad: Mint is just cold spicy.

Pummel party Squad: …

Gumi: What the actual fuck is wrong with you.

~~~~~~~~

Quackity: Isn’t it amazing how I can feel so bad and still look so good?

~~~~~~~

Tommy: Why does my arm shake and turn bright red when I’m eating dirt?

Phil:

Phil: Why are you eating dirt?

Tommy: Did I ask you if I should eat dirt? No, so answer my question.

~~~~~~~

Tubbo: I wish I could control wasps and bees to sting my enemies.

Quackity: You’re too young to have enemies.

Tubbo: You don’t even know.

~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: Is there a cactus where your heart should be?

Puffy: What’s up your ass this morning!

Bad: *walks in* …Hi!!

Puffy: Hmm… nevermind.

Skeppy: WAIT NO!

~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: Ha! Don’t you know the trappers trap can trap the trapper?

Skeppy: I must be losing it, I’m quoting Bad.

~~~~~~~

Skeppy: Bad, I sense hostility.

Bad: Good, because I hate you

~~~~~~~

Bad: Are you a painting?

Skeppy: What-?

Bad: Because I want to pin you to a wall.

Skeppy: OH GOD I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY YOU WANTED TO HANG ME OR SOMETHING-

~~~~~~

Tommy: You’re giving me a sticker?

Phil: Not just a sticker. That is a sticker of a kitty saying “me-wow!”

Tommy: I’m not a preschooler.

Phil: Fine, I’ll take it back-

Tommy: I earned this, back off!

~~~~~~

Dream, sweating: George, there’s something I need to ask you-

George: Finally! You’re proposing!

Dream: How’d you know?

George: Dream, you’ve dropped the ring five times during dinner.

George: I even picked it up once

~~~~~~~~

*Bad and Skeppy looking at a locked gate into a park*

Bad: Aw. :(

Skeppy: You know what they say.

Bad: Please don’t-

Skeppy: BE GAY DO CRIME! *hops gate*

Bad: Frick-

~~~~~~~~

let me know if ya’ll want more <3

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kaimelia · 4 years

Note

I would love a second part❤️

A/N: A second part was highly requested, so here it is! I’ll post a final part in a few days, where Charlotte and maybe some others come up to Seattle to visit Amelia and Link. I hope you enjoy it!

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She found herself standing outside the doors of the practice once again, trying to find the motivation to walk inside and see the people in the building. Over the past hour, Amelia had poured her heart out to Charlotte about her struggles during pregnancy; both those concerning her grief and the drama over the paternity of her son. She’d told her friend about all the small moments between her boyfriend and their son when she just knew that Link was the one and that it truly was different this time. Eventually, Charlotte had convinced her to come back to the practice and tell all of their other friends about her son. Amelia had no doubts that her friends would be more than happy for her, but she was still terrified to do it. She knew that it was for the good and it would only expand the circle of people that cared about her son and would do anything to make sure he was okay. Still, as she walked into the elevator with Charlotte at her side, she took some breathes and prepared herself. The walk down the hallway towards Addison’s office felt treacherous but before she knew it, she was knocking on the door and felt Charlotte’s hand on her shoulder. The door opened.

“Amelia! Hey, come in!” The brunette walked into the room, seeing Violet sitting on the armchair, eating a salad. Addison sat back down and patted the space next to her for Amelia to sit down. “How was lunch?”

“Oh, it was good. We mostly just talked the whole time.” Amelia looked down at her hands and paused. She knew that her friends could tell she was nervous about something, especially Violet who set down her container onto the table and leaned forward.

“Is everything okay, Amelia?” The brunette cursed her friend who was using her ‘therapist voice’, something she had always despised. She looked up at her friends.

“I have something to tell you. Uh, I had a baby.” Addison cocked her head to the side, waiting for Amelia to continue. “Almost two months ago. His name is Scout,” she pulled up her favorite picture of him, from one of their first days at home when they spent most of their time laying in bed and staring at the amazing human they had created. In the picture, Scout was curled up on top of her, his blue eyes wide and his blonde hair almost golden with the sunlight coming in from the window. “And, he’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And I didn’t tell you because I was nervous and I knew that it would be really difficult and I was dealing with enough of my own grief during my pregnancy so I just kind of put off telling you until now. That’s also why I came down to visit Christopher’s grave this year.” Addison pulled Amelia into a hug, embracing her tightly.

“Oh, I’m so happy for you.” She pulled away to look at her younger sister, her smile wide. “He’s so adorable, Amelia.” Violet came over and hugged Amelia quickly, part of her relieved that the young girl they had known was so grown up and mature.

“I’m not sure when, yet, but I’d love for you guys to come up and meet him sometime. And my boyfriend, Link.” They raised their eyebrows before Violet spoke up.

“Um, pictures please.” The neurosurgeon laughed softly, opening her phone again and showing them various photos of her boyfriend.

“He’s hot,” Addison exclaimed, looking through photos, “and he’s a good guy?” Amelia nodded.

“He’s amazing. He’s the one.”

“And when’s the wedding?” Violet asked, clearly already invested in the new information.

“Not yet. We’re waiting until Scout’s a little older and our lives calm down a bit.” Her phone buzzed with a text from Link. She smiled as she opened the picture of her son with wide eyes, clutching his stuffed dinosaur. Her attention turned back to her friends. “I’m going to go find Sheldon, but I’ll see you later?” They waved goodbye as Amelia left the room with a grin on her face. She found him sitting in his office and she knocked on the empty doorframe.

“Hey! I was waiting for you to come find me.” Amelia quickly sat down in the chair across from him and smiled.

“I had to make my rounds. It’s a lot.” She laughed nervously. “So, I wanted to tell you something. It’s why I came.”

“I thought you came for Christopher’s birthday?” Amelia shook her head.

“Well, partly. But I also had a son and I figured I should come and visit Christopher this year.”

“You had a baby? When?”

“About a month and a half ago, so he’s still little and also kind of freaking out because his mom just up and left. Here,” she handed the phone over and watched as Sheldon smiled at the various photos of her son.

“What’s his name?”

“Scout, Scout Lincoln.” Sheldon scoffed.

“You know, I’m a little offended that ‘Sheldon’ wasn’t chosen, but I’ll get passed it.” She laughed. “And how are you doing? I mean, it’s a lot to handle.”

“I’m good. I’m still learning how to deal with things like my grief but it’s getting easier. And I’m really happy.” Amelia took her phone back and looked up at him. “And you? How are you doing?”

“I’m okay. It’s been a few years since Miranda passed and I really do miss her, but I’m glad to be working again. I missed you, you should come and visit more.”

“I will, especially when Scout gets older. You should come up to Seattle, too. You’ve yet to come and visit me.” She smiled before standing up. “I have to go, I have to tell Nai and Sam and Cooper. And Jake. Although I’m sure they’ve already heard. But for the record,” she said while moving towards the door, “I missed you too, Sheldon.”

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Amelia grabbed her bag, hopping out of the car and shutting the door behind her. Addison rounded the car and quickly pulled her sister into a hug. “I’m gonna miss you, Amelia. You promise to stay in touch?”

“Of course. And when I get home, I’ll call you and we can figure out when you’re coming up to visit me. It’s about time, anyways.” She checked her watch before pouting. “I have to go, my flight leaves soon.” The redhead grinned before quickly hugging her friend again.

“Bye, Amelia. I love you.”

“I love you too Addie.” Amelia walked away, waving goodbye as she headed into the airport, content with the reconnections she had made with old friends. Her phone buzzed with another picture, a selfie of her boyfriend and their son. She paused for a moment to smile before rushing towards security, eager to get back home to her family.

#amelia shepherd #amelink #amelink fanfiction #amelia x link #baby amelink #atticus lincoln #private practice #grey's anatomy #charlotte king #addison montgomery #sheldon wallace #my fics

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alluringoneirataxia · 4 years

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Long Winding Road Stay Strapped My Dude

By: Astoria Cathryn Andromeda

Alrighty, this is a long one boys. So I touched briefly on this in my Welcome to Literally Everything post. No worries I'll recap you, so you don't have to switch back and forth. I just diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and then ADHD when I was 18 years old, and even then I had to fight for it after countless hours of research. See, there seems to be a wee bit of misogyny in the neurodiverse diagnoses. When I say a wee bit, I mean that scientists used to think that only boy could be autistic or ADHD. They only studied autism in males. Fortunately, nowadays we know that girls can be autistic and/or ADHD, but we present the traits differently than boys, and a lot of our traits are played off due to gender roles in society. For example, being overly talkative in girls is called chatty, whereas boys who can't sit still are sent off for testing immediately. This also causes problems for the boys, because little Johnny gets put on Adderall at the ripe age of 6 years old, just because he can't sit still for 8 hours straight, which by the way should not be expected of any elementary school kid, By the time, he's 25 he's 1) completely dependent on amphetamines 2) his body will stop producing dopamine due to being on the medication for so long. Nicht Gut. Generally, boys who are on the spectrum get picked out earlier due to late speaking, or lack of social skills. This is the one thing that girls happen to do better than boys. Girls are good at masking, which is basically taking social traits, phrases, personalities, demeanor, and copying them. In public, they put on a mask and at home, they have a meltdown. Girls are still not picked up as being on the spectrum, because shyness is called being 'ladylike' and 'dainty', and having a meltdown is just because :( girls are oh-so emotional, boohoo. Anyways tons of women do not get diagnosed with autism until they are well into their adulthood, I actually can be considered lucky to have technically still been a teenager when we finally got all the pieces together.

Alright, let's start with I don't know me as a baby. I did not speak until I was 2 years old, and then it was immediately full sentences from then on. I didn't do the babbling thing, which I don't know how impactful that really is to the topic. I was a very shy little girl. I was teeny tiny, we didn't know I if I was going to make it to 5 feet tall until I had a big growth spurt in 7th grade. I am 5'2 now and definitely done growing in case you were wondering, so not that short anymore. I did not like talking to adults, especially strangers, especially men. I did not look anyone in the face, and I will always hide behind my parent's legs when they would try to introduce me to people. I am an only child, and I spent a lot of time entertaining myself. I always had seasonal affective disorder, where my grades would dip in the winter. My parents knew I had a timer, they had 45 minutes from the moment they stepped into a restaurant before I would start breaking down. If I got off schedule as a toddler in any form, it was a catastrophe. Or this is what my parents and family tell me. I didn't really notice. I did not like being out in public a lot, I was a very picky eater, and I was extremely hyper. I was a very eccentric child, I only had 1-2 close friends and they were always a very well-liked outgoing girl who I just followed around. Looking back, I don't know how we missed it. I was shy because I didn't understand how social interactions worked, I was anxious about it because I didn't understand, I had sensory overloads, routines, and a very bland diet with a safe food which was ketchup. I put that shit on literally everything, eas, apples, mac and cheese, pizza, all meat, anything something forced me to eat that I did not like. But because I could sit still in class, and because I could zone out and daydream all day through school and still make A's nobody ever flagged me for anything and how I was supposed to know that not everybody just copied other people, scripted things before they talked, and could never pay attention. My mom always required me to be in a sport, and I was a gymnast and a swimmer for a long time, two very high-intensity sports, to help lower my energy levels, and because my mom has mild depression and she knows that exercise does help. Skip to middle school, my mom tells me I'm being bullied at church. It's not that I wasn't observing my surroundings I knew I was being excluded, but I didn't understand vindictive behavior, I thought it was my fault. I had zero friends in 8th grade until I sat down next to a random acqutaince I had gone to school with since I was 4 and the same gymnastics place. Then we were immediately attached at the hip after that. She is my best friend due this day and definitely got me through high school. Led me through so many social situations without either of us knowing. I had a very close friendgroup in highschool, all of them were on the drumline which I met through my best friend, and my first boyfriend was my best friend's neighbor. I ended up playing bass guitar for my high school's indoor drumline, and it was the best experience ever. I love my friends, but I had really bad depression when I was 15-now:) jk It's better. I didn't really realize I was depressed, I just didn't want to go to school, or swim practice, or do anything so of course, my mom noticed, and then once it was pointed out to me it got worse. My severe anxiety spiraled with my depression. Senior year of high school, my boyfriend and I were like toxic star crossed lovers, hurting each other over and over again without meaning to. My friends and I were self harming, all my close friends gad some demon going on. I finally decided to try therapy again after the disaster of being forced to go when I was 15 and the lady told me I wasn't depressed because I had a boyfriend and good grades. It helped a bit, I was able to get my panic attacks under control. Then I went away to college and stayed dating my senior high school boyfriend, we were just up and down as always, but with slightly better communication. My freshman year of college I joined a fraternity, a research lab, and my first hs boyfriend/ex/best friend and I went to a Christian campus place. By second semester, I had a lot of people who knew me and talked to me, but I didn't have any close friends, and even less close friends who were girls. All my close friends who were girls were at another college. My parents were worried about me, so they made me rush a sorority, which I knew was never my scene, but my parents made me join and I found a few girls I liked. Soon I was going to 6 classes, fraternity chapter, research lab meetings, christain crash group meetings, soriorty pledge meetings all on every Tuesday. I was different person at each of these events and wore a different mask. I was having what I know now were autistic burnout meltdowns every single day on the phone in my crusty dorm's stairwell. It was not cute. His mental health had always been bad too. Finally I decide I need to try a psychatrist and go back to therapy, and then he broke up with me. Then I made my first close friend, a guy who was in 3 of classes, and I took him to my fraternity's formal, and then coronavirus happened. Rona kinda saved my grades, and mental health by sending us home event though it did suck. I got on anti-anxiety meds and things went up, but I was still having what I thought were panic attacks, they were austistic meltdowns. My psychiatrist, he's kinda an asshole, he diagnosed me with Obessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. I'll insert definition here: (OCPD) is a personality disorder that's characterized by extreme perfectionism, order, and neatness. People with OCPD will also feel a severe need to impose their own standards on their outside environment.> Basically hr told me I had rules for everything like how everyone drives on the right side of the road, but nobodythinks about it andwhen I broke one of my rules I got depressed, and when wasn't perfect I got depressed, and when I made an A I was relieved not proud. The diagnosis seemed to fit really well, and my therapist and I started working finding my rules, and getting rid of the bad ones, and making the others less harsh. I had thought every once and in a while in my life when I was really upset, what if I'm on the spectrum, because I just felt so hopeless for social interactions and I didn't understand. I always felt like I was a very specific person, but after the ocpd I started thinking more and more, and I saw a tik tok of a girl with lae diagnosed autism basically describing me and ranting about the misogyny. I did more research and I decide, yea I'mm gonna bring it up to mypsychatrist well he's a dick, so he was like um you don't act like sheldon cooper from the Big Bang theory,and I was like wellI just I have always thought I might have adhd like be neureodiverse, and he was like your grade point average in hs was a 97.8%, you're not adhd. I immediately cried, because I can't handle when anyone says anything in a even a slightest stringent tone. I'm baby, I know lmao. It made me angry though because I felt like he just brushed away all of my struggles I had in my whole life. I spent hours researching and typed up a 47 page document on evidence for why I was on the spectrum, and had my parents help will some of checklists to make sure I was getting outside perspectives. I rally my parents to be my back up and next psychiatrist appointment we actually talk about it and he asked my parents questions about when I was young and such and finally he was okay you're on the spectrum. I felt so validated and like I could start being myself. I slowly got more and more confident, changed my style of clothing, and researched more about adhd pushed to be tested, and oh look at that I also have ADHD. So basically discourse: "I feel like as a child I coded a machine to do life for me so I didn’t get bothered except I didn’t know about the machine I thought i was the machine and now I’ve become self aware and I have to learn how to read the code and rewrite the code because it’s dysfunctional because I’m not functioning well as a human being. I was really shy as a child. I would turn beat red when people talked to me or looked at me so I think I started cookie cutting situations and using them over and over again because they worked until I accidentally hard wired these expansion rules and expectations for myself. I didn’t may attention is class ever I just day dreamed and if I got good grades i wouldn’t be bothered i could just stay in my head and if I did my sport well my parents didn’t bother me. I was never asked if I did my homework I just did it so I wouldn’t be asked and have to deal with that situation. I would cookie cutter situations in class that would draw the least attention to myself.

I feel like i don’t have friends I just fulfill the expectation like a side quest on video games" I wrote this down pre autism confirmation when i just thought I had ocpd. Now I don't directly identify with ocpd, but I definitely think I developed that personality disorder a bit from living with undiagnosed autism. I am linking below the very informative Tik Toks by the lovely Paige on autism in girls. The imposter syndrome one really hit home. I had had so many panic attacks about thinking I tricked people into being my friend, or thinking I was smart.

I highly suggest watching these short tik toks, you'll definitely learn something

https://vm.tiktok.com/wVvcYA/

https://vm.tiktok.com/wqRRUf/

https://vm.tiktok.com/wnqhvX/

https://vm.tiktok.com/wqeyYg/

https://vm.tiktok.com/wnoE7u/

https://vm.tiktok.com/Kas6gB/

https://vm.tiktok.com/owM9hs/

Imposter syndrome

I am also linking an article about Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory and Autism that explains why my psychiatrist was wrong, and also I am a girl and the spectrum is called a spectrum because it's a fucking spectrum no two autistic people are exactly the same it's like a color wheel.

http://www.autismsupportnetwork.com/news/problem-sheldon-cooper-and-cute-autism-387783

Here is a fun comic about the spectrum and how to view it.

https://the-art-of-autism.com/understanding-the-spectrum-a-comic-strip-explanation/

I am still learning about myself, and how to be me, and how to be myself but without breaking bad social rules. It's quite humorous though because I'll learn something is related to autism and I'm like oh shit again, like still, like, we're still discovering things.

"Tu ne me manques pas"

Bis später,

Astoria.

#asd #autisminwomen #autism #actuallyautistic #aspie #aspie memes

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nerdforestgirl · 5 years

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Note: This is for the only person I know who ships Raj and Anu as much as I do. Happy birthday, @platypus-quacks-too

Anu missed Raj. When he broke things off with her because of the long distance thing, she was upset, but it made sense. Raj had roots in Los Angeles. His job was there. His friends were there. Anu hoped he loved her enough to move, but it wasn’t all together that surprising that he didn’t. What did surprise Anu was that she loved Raj enough to still miss him all these months later. Though, she knew exactly why she was feeling this way. It was the headline she saw while scrolling through her newsfeed. The Nobel ceremony included two familiar faces.

Anu’s job brought her into contact with all kinds of celebrities, but she had never known someone as a friend who then went on to do something so noteworthy. She thought about emailing Amy her congratulations. Would that be appropriate? She didn’t see anything wrong with it. It wasn’t like things with Raj had ended badly. They just ended.

“You’ll never guess who emailed me,” Amy told Raj when she ran into him at work a couple days later.

“My dad? I think he’s had a weird crush on you since you hosted Christmas that time. He asks about you a lot. Like, almost weekly,” Raj told Amy.

“Really?” Amy asked, distracted by this news. She would have assumed that he was more into Penny. Anyway, it was not Raj’s dad who got in contact. Amy got back to the point. “No. Anu heard about the win, so she emailed. She said if we ended up in London, we should stop by her hotel. She said she could hook us up. She also asked about you, and I wanted to see what you wanted me to say.”

“Anu?” Raj checked. He suddenly got a little sad. He didn’t think he made the wrong choice to stay in Los Angeles, but he often thought of what might have been if he had gone to be with her. He missed her frequently. He was certain that they would be engaged again by now if she hadn’t left.

“Yeah. Should I tell her about your hot new girlfriend or should I tell her the truth?” Amy joked.

“Tell her I’m doing well, I guess.” He didn’t know what else to say.

Amy nodded and walked away.

Raj wasn’t sure he wanted to just pass messages along through Amy. He felt a little like reaching out to Anu himself. He hadn’t seen her in months other than when he helped arrange for her apartment to be packed up and either put into storage, sold, or shipped to her in London. After that they decided a clean break was best.

Raj checked the time. It wasn’t too late in London yet, so he clicked on Anu’s name on Skype. He figured that she wouldn’t answer anyway. Then he saw her smiling face, and his heart skipped a beat.

“Hey, Raj. Is everything okay?” Anu asked. She didn’t expect a call from him, but maybe Amy mentioned that she asked about him.

“Yeah. I... um... I was talking to Amy, and she said you reached out. I thought that was nice.” Raj realized that he didn’t have a reason to call. He felt so stupid. She probably didn’t even want to hear from him. He did choose all of his friends over her.

“Yeah, it’s incredible that they won!” Anu started. “I mean, I heard all about it at the time, but I’ve never known someone who won a Nobel. I am so glad those other guys didn’t get their feet in the do—“

“I miss you!” Raj cut her off mid sentence.

“Oh,” Anu said in shock. “I need to go.” Anu disconnected the call.

Raj smacked himself in the head. He felt so stupid. Anu was happy in her life, and here he was inserting himself into her life again. He decided to just go home for the day. He felt more heartbroken than the day he told Anu that he wasn’t coming.

Anu didn’t want to hear that Raj missed her. She was glad to hear from him, but she in no way wanted to hear that he missed her. She didn’t want to feel like it was a mistake to take her dream job. She still loved this job. Even more so than when she first got it. Nothing would be changed from when they first broke up. There was no good in missing him.

While Raj sat at home alone, he made a series of questionable decisions. First, he looked at the prices of flights. Then he looked at how many vacation days he had left in addition to the ones he was using for Stockholm. Then he called his brother Ashish who lived in London who seemed more than happy to host him for a couple days. At least Raj would get to see his little brother while he willingly broke his own heart.

Raj planned to call Anu to tell her he was coming, but he never found the words. Instead, he was on an international flight without ever telling Anu he was coming. He wasn’t even sure why he was going or what he was going to say. He just knew that he couldn’t leave things the way he had. He wanted to at least say goodbye in person. He supposed that was all he really had planned.

“Hello, may I speak to your manager?” Raj asked the woman at the front desk at the hotel where Anu worked.

“I’m sorry, sir. Are you a guest of the hotel? Have you had a problem?” the young woman working the desk asked with concern.

“No. No problems. I am a friend of Anu’s and I need to talk to her for a minute.”

“You’ve just missed her. She went home for the day.”

Raj sighed. He knew he had two more days in London, so he still had time to track her down. He would go on to Ashish’s flat and regroup. This wasn’t the end of the world. Raj thanked the girl behind the desk and turned to leave. That’s when he saw her.

“Emma, can you believe I forgot my—Raj?” Anu said as she walked towards them. Her gait slowed when she saw him. She almost thought she was hallucinating. What would Raj be doing here?

“Hi,” Raj said. He was glad he was able to say anything. Anu was the only person to give him enough butterflies to make that selective mutism pop back up.

“What are you doing here?” Anu asked.

“I wanted to see you,” Raj admitted. “I thought it would be harder for you to hang up on me this way,” he added with a weak smile.

Anu returned the smile. She put up a finger and went into the back to get the binder she had come back for. When she was alone in the office, she had a little panic attack now that she was alone in her office where she could give herself freedom to do so. Then she collected herself and went back out.

“Hi, Raj. Let’s go,” Anu said with none of the anxiety she felt coming through.

Raj nodded, grabbed his bag, and followed.

Anu walked fast, but Raj stayed right with her. Though he spent too much time looking at her to pay any attention to where he was going. When they stopped fifteen minutes later, he had no idea where he was. Anu opened the door to a pub and pushed him in.

“This isn’t funny,” Anu told him when they got to a table.

“I never thought it was. Like I said when I called you, I miss you. I thought it would be helpful to see you and get some real closure.”

“Oh. So, this isn’t some desperate attempt to get me back?” Anu asked.

“No. Well, maybe. I’m not sure what it is. It felt right.”

Anu didn’t know what to say about that. Instead she got up and ordered a drink. It was a lot to take in.

“I am not coming back to Los Angeles for you,” told him when she returned with two pints.

“I know, and I don’t want to move to London right now. I’m not ruling it out ever, but I’m not moving across the world for someone who keeps breaking up with me.”

Anu laughed. “You broke up with me this last time.”

“True enough.”

“So, we aren’t getting back together again? No Love Actually signs in your pocket?”

Raj shrugged. He asked about Anu’s new job to change the subject and because he was actually curious. Then they talked about everything other than their situation until far too late into the night. Even though they stayed out late, they didn’t drink all that much. They both had pretty clear heads as they left the pub.

“Do you have a place to stay?” Anu asked as they walked out.

“My brother has a flat a few kilometers from here. No need for you to put me up in your hotel,” Raj told her.

“I wasn’t thinking about my hotel,” Anu said as she ran her hand down Raj’s arm. She logically knew that it was a bad idea, but she hadn’t been on a single date since Raj. She was trying to focus on herself. Still, Raj was here. He was cute. She wanted to take him home.

“What—oh! You mean your place. Yeah. I can blow off my brother tonight. Let me just text him so he doesn’t worry,” Raj said while Anu started to get them a taxi back to her place.

The next morning, Raj woke up to Anu telling him to get up and get out. She needed to get to work.

“We need to talk more,” Raj said.

“We don’t. I need to get to work. Go see your brother,” Anu said.

Raj was crushed as he made his way to Ashish’s flat. It wasn’t that he just felt used for sex by Anu, but he felt like they had really connected again last night. Now he was out on his ear again. And he still didn’t get his closure.

Still, Raj enjoyed seeing his little brother for the day. They went to the Harry Potter studio tour and The London Eye and a bunch of silly tourist stuff that Ashish never did on his own. As they headed to dinner, Raj got a text. It was from Anu. He hoped that meant that he would get to see her again.

“Long Distance? I’ll be in LA in a month. You can come visit me too. We could try it?”

“You want to do this over text?” Raj asked Anu.

“No, but I can’t stop thinking about you. Maybe we can make this work. I don’t want to give up yet. Last night reminded me of a lot of things I’ve been missing.”

“How about I take you to dinner, and we’ll talk about it in person,” Raj offered.

“This is going to take a lot of rules and planning. It’s going to be hard.”

“How about a written document laying it all out?” Raj was getting an idea. He messaged Sheldon asking for his help. It took less than ten seconds before Sheldon wrote back agreeing.

“That sounds ridiculous, but it’s not the worst idea,” Anu agreed.

Then Raj got another text from Anu before he could respond to the last one.

“Why am I getting emails from a Nobel laureate asking me about our sex life?”

Raj checked his email, and there were three surveys about plans and sex and love languages. Knowing Sheldon, this was just the beginning.

“He’s a little thorough, but you can’t argue with his results. He and Amy have been together for eight years, and Leonard and Penny’s relationship improved a lot when he wrote one for them.”

“Fine. Pick me up in 45 minutes for dinner.”

Raj agreed and canceled dinner with his brother. Then he opened one of the surveys that Sheldon sent. Raj had no idea this was why he flew to London on a whim, but the smile making his cheeks hurt told him it was definitely the right choice.

#NFG fan fiction #ranu fanfic

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pinoyscientists · 4 years

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Meet Rey Donne Papa, freshwater ecologist

1) What do you do?

I am a freshwater ecologist and I lead the Zooplankton Ecology, Systematics and Limnology (ZESL) research group at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). I established this research group in 2011, immediately after I finished my doctoral degree.

We conduct research on freshwater microcrustacean zooplankton ecology and systematics and look various aspects of lake ecology, including studies on the biology and ecology of invasive copepods, physical limnology, food web studies, and biodiversity.

Our studies have brought us to different freshwater ecosystems throughout the Philippines. We also collaborate with other local and foreign freshwater scientists to conduct studies in other freshwater ecosystems such as lotic environments (streams and rivers) and groundwater habitats.

So far, I had been able to help mentor three Ph.D.’s, 18 M.Sc.’s and I think almost (if not more than) a hundred undergraduates since I started advising thesis students.

2) Where do you work?

I am currently a Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences in UST. Since January of this year (2020), I am also the Dean of the UST College of Science (at 38, I am the youngest to be appointed to that position so far). I had previously served as chair of the UST Department of Biological Sciences for 2.5 academic years before I assumed the deanship. My first teaching appointment in UST was as a Teaching Assistant right after I finished my college degree in 2002 and rose through the ranks since then. I teach zoology and ecology courses in the undergraduate and graduate levels.

3) Tell us about the photos!

[Left:] Collecting zooplankton in Lake Calibato using a 102 um mesh size plankton net. This is the largest (and most expensive) net we have in our inventory. Since assuming administrative posts, I relish the few times that I can join my students on field work, usually wearing my Panama hat or my flat tweed cap (see photo in Lake Taal), depending on the weather!

[Right:] I am well-known in the college for my research on zooplankton, thus, it is not surprising that for my birthdays (I was born October 17, 1981), I usually receive plankton-themed gifts or food. Here is a cupcake with Sheldon Plankton, the infamous villain of SpongeBob SquarePants.

4) Tell us about your academic career path so far.

Elementary and High School – Marist School, Marikina

B.Sc. Biology – University of Santo Tomas (College of Science)

M.Sc. in Biological Sciences – UST (cum Laude)

Ph.D. in Biological Sciences – UST (cum Laude) (with a 6-month DAAD Sandwich Research Fellowship in the Limnological Institute, University of Konstanz, Germany)

Expert-in-Training – Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland (April - May 2012)

Visiting Researcher – Invertebrate Zoology, California Academy of Sciences, USA (June - July 2016)

A loyal Tomasino, I have been affiliated with the Department of Biological Sciences of the College of Science, University of Santo Tomas since June 2002 (from Teaching Assistant to Professor). I received my tenure in UST in 2007. I am also affiliated with the UST Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences (since 2006) and the UST Graduate School (since 2013).

5) Anything else you’d like to share?

I hope that more young Filipinos would consider a career in science. We need a critical mass of scientists to cover many uncharted disciplines or sub-disciplines in the sciences. Given the growing number of available government scholarships to pursue science graduate (and undergraduate) degrees, we hope that more individuals get interested in pursuing science careers. As science and national development go together, a scientifically literate society would also be a sure indicator of future economic prosperity for our country.

I would also like to emphasize that ALL sciences are important. As such, those who work on the fundamental sciences (such as my field) should be supported in the same way that those working on the applied sciences are supported.

Lastly, all good science should be published. I encourage all our undergraduate science students to aim for quality research outputs, which may end up being considered for publication in the future. With proper mentorship from more established scientists, this is not impossible to achieve! Publications are an effective means of checking on the quality of science one has conducted, so good science should always find their way into quality publications.

#biology #freshwater ecology #zooplankton ecology #lake ecology #zoology

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bloodandpaintchips · 4 years

Text

Home

Tagging→ Andrea Sheldon, Johnny Arcos Time Frame→ October 30th, 2020 Location→ Sangren, Colorado General Notes→ Some things to rely on.

Andrea sat outside of her father’s house for a while. Her entire mindset about coming home had surrounded him and again, in such a short time since meeting her mom, she had to rethink her moves entirely. She was getting sick of the rollercoaster, but something in her brain told her it was her own fault for avoiding things for so long. She could have been over this hump, continuing to think Audra was dead and having hobbies. Shaking her head, she put the car in drive and took off, her blue van bouncing down the residential street.

She went to Johnny’s without even thinking about it. She hadn’t planned to show up unannounced on his doorstep asking for a place to live, but her options weren’t vast. Grabbing her duffle bag from behind the seat, Andy stopped the car and got out. She didn’t sit and think about it, she was tired of that and needed a best friend. When she got up to his door, she knocked three times and exhaled.

At the knocks, Johnny lifted his head from where he let it drop to the back of the couch so he could eye the door. Sprawled out in his living room in nothing but boxers and covered with the inked lines of tomorrow's spells, he had been feeling restless for the past few hours - something in his blood that he was not quite able to recognize, not quite anxiety, not quite the moon tugging up the tides...

"Coming," he said to no one as he pushed himself to his feet. Once at the door, he cracked it opened and, with one eye, took in the sad sight of Andy, long-absent, very-missed, tired-eyed and still wearing those shoes. "My Raggedy One." He let the door fall open completely and beckoned her in with a wave of his hand. "How was your trip?"

Unable to stop her smile, Andy walked in at his invitation and set her bag down by the door. After what felt like a barrage of rejections it felt great to feel the familiarity of his energy and to be let in with no questions asked. That’s what she expected with him, but it was nice to have those expectations met. At his question she sighed and closed the space between them to hug, despite the marks all over him. “Kinda sucked, actually,” she replied, pulling away and shrugging. “I met a lot of assholes, pretended to be different people, was hungry a lot and also I met my mom. How was...home?”

The cool press of her against him was already familiar, he didn't miss any warmth at all, so he just hugged her back just as tightly and let her go when she was ready. "Assholes... Your mother... Have you eaten?" He walked to his forgotten bowl and box of cereal on the coffee table and beckoned at her again, the cat jumping up suddenly into the empty seat meant for Andy. "Home was nice. I did not see my grandmother. The forest misses her."

Andrea took that as a cue to greet the cat, wrapping the black mass into her arms and sitting down once she was holding her. She stroked her head and scratched her ears while she listened to him speak. “I ate enough,” she answered, letting the cat reposition in her lap. “That’s...good, right? I don’t miss the forest. I missed you. Missed Sangren in the fall. Missed my dad, which actually kinda brings me to something I wanted to ask. My dad doesn’t, um, want me home anymore. Well it’s not my home anymore I guess.” She rolled her eyes at herself and let the cat slip out of her lap. “I’m asking if I can move in?” A pleading smile was added for good measure.

Watching on fondly as the cat was coddled and cuddled, Johnny tried not to be too surprised by Andy's words. After all, he missed her, too, though she wasn't gone too long. Still... It took a moment still for her words to catch up to him and he frowned thoughtfully at her. "Of course. The second bedroom is yours - what happened to your father? He has not died, has he?"

Andy relaxed a little more in the seat, smiling at him and leaning on her knees. “Cool. Thanks. And no, he’s not dead. He looked at me like I was dead though,” she told him, followed by a hollow laugh. “Since I came home I thought I’d better just rip the band-aid off and tell him what I am. It was the only way we could move forward. At first he thought I needed psychological help by the look of his face, and then when I proved it to him, he…” She ran a hand through her hair and made eye-contact with Johnny, mustering a kind of pathetic smile. “He said I wasn’t Andy anymore. Asked me to leave.”

"Ah, păpuşă," he sighed, folding his hands together in his lap. She looked as young as she ever looked, as lost as she was ever lost and Johnny felt regret that he could offer her no more than his home and simple words. "This town... many are still in so much doubt about this town." He shook his head. Simple words. "But here, you are with me; we will fix things together. Now, tell me of your mother. What about her made you want to reveal so much to your father?"

Kicking her shoes off, she brought her legs up to cross them under her. “Yeah. He went from not believing me to knowing I wasn’t me anymore. Funny.” She shrugged, a smile creeping onto her face again at his words. “Okay. We’ll fix things together.” When he mentioned her mom, she huffed and let herself fall against the back of the couch, silent for a few moments while she figured out where to start. “I feel like there’s so much to say about her and yet not much at all. I don’t know. It took almost five years to find her and I don’t know what I was expecting but I wish I could take all that time back. She’s alive. Didn’t want to be found. She uh...kinda called me pathetic to my face. She called my dad boring and said she never wanted to have me.” Andrea felt her eyes welling and then a bit of anger at how the disappointment still affected her. “She’s a witch. She had enchanted windows and mirrors and the sun shone in this mansion and I could feel it on my skin. It was so magical to be such a symbol of her negligence. And she was so beautiful too. I could see myself in her features and I hated it.”

It made sense that her mother was a witch; if not dead, then yes, a witch sounds correct. His brethren were often flighty. He couldn't help but think of his own mother, but dashed the thought from his mind. He reached a hand out and twirled his fingers over and over, pulling neon strings of sugar from nothing until he could hand over a fluff of cotton candy to her, a reminder of a lighter time. "She sounds clever. And selfish. Did you talk long?"

“Yeah, she’s both those things I guess.” She fiddled with one of her bracelets and shook her head. “That night she went missing, she turned. She saw it as an out, so she let us believe she was dead. Those childhood memories I have of her that were so sweet...they’re just buried under the narrative that she was merely ‘trying out’ motherhood. When she got tired of it, she didn’t even hesitate because of me. With my dad I get it, romantic love can be fleeting I guess. But nothing kept her here. If anything I made her want to leave more.” She smirked at the cotton candy, bringing it to her lips and letting some of the sugar melt on her tongue. “We talked long enough. My questions were answered. It sucked but they were answered.”

Johnny furrowed his brow in confusion, stuck on one part of her statements. "Turned? One cannot be turned into a witch."

Andrea laughed, throwing her head back and turning to Johnny with a smile. “My bad, she is also a vampire. She’s both. Can you imagine?”

"Ah." He deliberately smoothed his features and leaned back. He tried to wrap his mind around it - he hadn't met many like Andy's mother, the first coming to mind was the owner of Tartarus, Helena... Old and frightening as she was, he still couldn't fully imagine. "I cannot speak on children nor will I give excuses for the way she has treated you, but none of this is surprising, given the nature of my kind. It pains me that it pains you." He held his hand out to her.

She finished off the cotton candy, pursing her lips as he spoke. “Yeah, I don’t know. I truly thought pushing a kid out of your vaginal opening would mean you have some love for them but people have killed their kids so I guess I should have known that doesn’t automatically come with it.” She gladly took his hand in both of hers, focusing on its skin while she gathered her thoughts again. “I know it’s my fault. I built her up. I thought she was a missing ingredient in my life for so long and I had no idea she was any kind other than human. It was blindsiding. But also I kind of think she was just rude. Maybe she couldn’t understand me, but she didn’t have to be a bitch about it,” she said, laughing a little. Her laughter about all this was so dry and a little sad. It was all funny to re-tell, but in a self-depreciating and ironic way. A waste of five years for a rude conversation.

"I do not understand how you're at fault for loving your mother, Andy. Everyone grows up with heroes, everyone idolizes their good memories. You did nothing but be her daughter and she was nothing but a failure," Johnny reasoned, stroking his thumb back and forth across her fingers. "But yes, I agree that the rudeness is a step too much."

Andrea simply looked at him, smile still in place. “You know, I think I really needed to hear that. I think I just really need to be here right now.” She finally let go of his hand, slapping her own on her thighs and looking around. “Your place looks gorgeous. Can you show me my room?”

He looked back at her, mirroring her smile with a slight curling of his lips. "Of course. I forget when I changed things around, but you'll like it." He stood and padded into the open space between the kitchen and the dining table. He didn't wait for her to follow, merely moved through a doorway that led to a small office space. "For what ever reason, the room decided to curve, so I let it. We'll need blackout curtains or..." He lifted a hand and the wide window over the desk thinned some. "And around this corner, the bed." He led her along the curving wall until they stood in the middle of the bedroom.

The luxurious floorplan was nothing like she was used to, her and her father’s cluttered Victorian flashing in her mind. It really felt different, in an exciting way. She was hurt, but as Johnny fussed about the room and updates he would make, this felt like a new chapter that she was curious about. “I like the curve. A lot,” she responded, taking in the bedroom once they were completely in it. “Your space is so beautiful. This is like the Ritz-Carlton to me right now. Should be interesting for it to become home.”

He glanced at her carefully, wanting her reaction to the space. She looked interested and said as much, but he couldn't help but want to give her - promise her more. "Do whatever you like with it, my Raggedy One. There's always a place for you here."

#p #para: home #ch: johnny arcos #thebrokenarc

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clairebear1298 · 5 years

Text

Hey look, it only took about a year this time to get anything written. I think I’m improving. And naturally, I chose Mother’s Day to publish a story primarily about fatherhood. What can ya do.

Story is also available here on FFN. Hope this was worth the wait.

“I think that some of these stories adult Sheldon is telling us through young Sheldon are reflections on ‘now that I have my own children, maybe I’m seeing that world through my dad’s eyes more clearly than I had.’ Those thoughts had been on my mind for awhile.”

-Steve Molaro, TV Guide

Three paces to the left. Turn. Three paces to the right. Turn. Repeat. And repeat, and repeat, and repeat, like the regimented ticks of the clock before it predictably strikes the hour.

He had promised Amy he would talk to him, and Sheldon Cooper never broke a promise. He wasn’t scared. Why on earth would he be, of someone a fifth his age and nearly two feet shorter than him? No, he simply wanted to be sure he handled this with… precision. Considerate but firm, generous but fair, yet still stealthy enough to get what he wanted in the end. Like Batman. Yes, exactly. Now he just had to put himself in the shoes of the greatest detective on earth to figure out just how to get this child to see things his way and then-

“Dad, just come in already. I can hear you thinking from in here.”

So much for being stealthy.

With a trepidation he could literally feel in his old, deteriorating bones (he was now over fifty, for goodness’ sake), Sheldon pushed the door open to find his son in the same position he always did, sprawled across his bed and scribbling furiously away in his notebook. Sometimes it was a story, other times a drawing, occasionally even a few lines of music. Not once, however, has it been an equation.

“Um, hi Matthew.” Swallowing hard, Sheldon scanned the room for a place to sit, but there was hardly a patch of a surface that wasn’t covered in books or loose sheets of paper. He remained in the doorway. “Do you think we could talk about what happened downstairs?”

Matthew sighed, but obediently closed his notebook and sat up to face his father. “I’m sorry for getting upset.”

Sheldon blinked. While true that Matthew had always been the sweetest, most agreeable of all his children, even this quick of an acquiescence was unexpected to say the least. Especially considering the subject of his son’s earlier blowup.

“Oh.” Sheldon stepped fully into the room and began to dig through the small mountain on Matthew’s desk chair, methodically organizing the papers by size, type, and date as he went. “Well, thank you. That’s very mature of you.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m changing my mind.”

Spoke too soon. Honestly, what kind of eleven-year-old was this uncompromising and stubborn?

Finally reaching his goal, Sheldon sat himself down on what felt like solid gold after all that pacing but was actually cheap, Target-bought plastic. His knees were practically level with his chin, but still he turned with the pride of a king to stare at his subject from across the bedroom. Matthew gazed resolutely back with large blue eyes just like his own, but that was where the resemblances stopped. Be it physically, with his cherubic gold curls and small stature, or personally, with his natural people skills, father and son could not be more different. If anything Matthew took after his mother- so much kindness and patience with just a hint of that headstrong spunk- but even between them there were some key differences. Most notably, their interests.

“Look, you’re still young,” Sheldon said, though even as he spoke the words tasted flat in his mouth. “I may have discovered my calling at an early age, but you can take as much time as you need to explore which branch of science will best suit you.”

“But I have decided,” Matthew protested. “Psychology.”

Sheldon couldn’t help but scoff. “Psychology doesn’t count. It’s just the humanities disguised as science.”

“Dr. Hofstadter is a psychiatrist,” Matthew pointed out.

“Yes, but she’s also a reputable neuroscientist, like your mother.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Maybe you can visit the lab with your mom and see the day-to-day life of a biologist.” It was no physics, but at this point Sheldon would take what he could get.

But Matthew shook his head, turning away. “I don’t want to experiment on animals or slice up human brains for science. I want to help people.”

“But science does help people, Matthew,” Sheldon argued. “It advances our understanding of the world so that-“

“I know, I know, you probably rocked me to sleep with that line when I was a baby,” said Matthew, still not looking at his father. “But I don’t want to be holed up in an office or a lab by myself. I like talking to people, helping them at a personal level. Not through some published paper that most of them won’t read, anyway.”

“But don’t you want to do something that impacts the whole world?” Sheldon asked. “Going into therapy might help a handful of people at best, but with the hard sciences you could make discoveries that help everyone. Those odds are much better, don’t you think?”

“You just don’t get it…” Matthew trailed off, then released a hard sigh and folded his legs into his body. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’m not smart enough to by a physicist, anyway.”

That one sentence felt like a stab to Sheldon’s heart. No child of his was ever allowed to be stupid.

“That’s not true,” he said, a tad more harsh than he’d intended. “I know you’ve been struggling with math and science this year, but I could tutor you after dinner every night to get your grades back up.”

“I really don’t think that’ll help-“

“Clearly the American public school system has been failing you. I knew we should’ve gone private, if only your mother had listened-“

“Dad, you just need to give it up-“

“No!” Sheldon shot to his feet, scattering papers as he went. “You are my son, and you will not be a disappointment to me.”

The words seemed to suspend and permeate the air between them, slowly edging out the oxygen until Sheldon thought he would suffocate. Matthew didn’t look much better, going white as a ghost and staring back at his father with wide, frightened eyes. Then little by little his face began to crumble, and his eyes began to well up, until he finally collapsed fully into tears.

Sheldon had been wrong. This was what a stab to the heart felt like.

“No. No, no, no, no, no,” Sheldon chanted, crossing the room to his son. “I didn’t mean it. Please don’t cry.”

But cry he did, and without a second thought Sheldon sat on the bed and pulled Matthew into his arms. The boy clung to him and soaked his father’s shirt with his tears, but Sheldon didn't mind. Well, he did mind, but that wasn’t what mattered just then. Though Sheldon had never been a cuddler- even with Amy those times were few and far between- ever since he was a baby nothing soothed Matthew more than being held by his mother or father.

Sheldon waited until Matthew’s sobs settled into the occasional hiccup before bracing himself for the thing he hated most doing, and always would.

“I’m sorry, Matthew. I was wrong.”

“No, you weren’t,” Matthew said with a sniffle. “You and Mom are world famous Nobel winners, and no matter how hard I try I’ll never live up to that. Jane will, and maybe Laurie, but I won’t. I’ll always be the idiot black sheep of the family.”

Sheldon swallowed hard. He might have little to nothing in common with his son, but feeling like an outsider in your own family was certainly something he could understand.

“Listen to me.” Sheldon pulled away enough so he could look Matthew straight in the eye. “You’re not stupid. You’re not an idiot. You’re intelligent in ways I can never dream of.”

“Like what?” Matthew asked, timid but with the barest hint of hope in those blue eyes.

Sheldon hesitated. Not because he couldn’t think of anything, not even close, but he knew that saying them would be waving the white flag. By telling Matthew where his talents truly lay, he would be forced to admit that his own offspring, his eldest child and only son, would never follow in his own footsteps.

An image flashed through his head of a man with kind eyes and a warm smile, nodding along as his child prattled on about Aristotle and the science behind thunderstorms. It was a look that nine-year-old Sheldon wouldn’t have recognized, but fifty-one-year-old Sheldon certainly did. It was the same look Amy would give when one of the kids went on about nothing, or explained in vivid detail something she knew better than they did. That look of playing dumb that on Sheldon would look simply condescending, but on his wife the love would always shine through. Maybe that’s what his father used to do for him.

Sheldon felt a sudden new set to his shoulders. If his father could encourage his son to pursue something he himself had no interest in, let the child chase his dreams while putting his own aside, then so could he.

“You’re creative,” Sheldon began. “I could never begin to write or draw the way you do. I think that might be why I love comics and movies and shows so much. It’s something I could never do myself, but I can still admire the work of a genius in any form.”

For the first time since entering the room Matthew genuinely smiled, spurring Sheldon onward. “And you have academic intelligence, too. You’re a fifth grader who reads better than most high schoolers, and no one knows history like you do.”

Sheldon reached over to brush Matthew’s wild blond hair out of his face, never tearing his gaze from those vibrant blue eyes. “But most of all, you have emotional intelligence. More than anyone else I know. You can always tell when Laurie’s upset about something, or just how to get Jane out of her shell to have some fun. You’re a great kid, a fantastic older brother, and the best son I could ever ask for. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Least of all me. But Sheldon swallowed back that moment of guilt and self-pity and kept the attention on his son. It’s what his father would have done.

Matthew’s smile had widened to a full-on grin, and he launched himself back into their embrace. “Thanks, Dad. I love you.”

Sheldon felt a sudden lump come to his throat, but he fought through it as he laid his head against his boy’s hair. “I love you, too.”

They spent a few more moments holding each other before Sheldon decided that was about as much sentimentality as he could take. As they broke apart, Sheldon reached over to grab one of the papers on Matthew’s desk. Maybe he could give this whole ‘playing dumb’ thing a try. “Now, this story you’ve been working on. When the Martians invade the pizza planet and gorge themselves to death, is that meant to be humorous or a social commentary on dietary consumerism?”

Close enough.

#tbbt #shamy #well not strictly shamy but close enough #shamy fanfiction #shamy fanfic #the big bang theory #my fic #otp: what we have is extremely intimate

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raging-violets · 6 years

Note

‘what keeps you up at night?’ for whoever you want!

Chicago PD: ‘what keeps you up at night?’ / Soft AngstStarters

#11. “what keeps you up at night?”

Everyone in the office wondered why Greg Gerwitz went by thenickname “Mouse” – accepted as ridiculous by the man himself – and why Jaywould always just smile whenever asked about it. It was obvious no one wouldget anything out of him. There was some sort of agreement between them: Jaydidn’t explain where “Mouse’s” nickname came from, and in return, Mouse didn’ttell any stories about his friend that anyone in the bullpen could use againsthim.

Still, everyone was curious. Rhuben most of all.

She hadn’t been in the Intelligence Unit that long - almost twoyears - but had everyone down pat.

Antonio, she knew best. Once she joined the unit, she wasimmediately assigned to be his partner. Their big age gap wasn’t an issue. Hewas a good cop, and a great teacher to learn from. They had each other’s backson duty and off. He was the one she went to when she needed life advice andinformation on how to navigate the district’s personnel (more specificallySargeant Platt), and he came to her when he was having some problems connectingwith his kids and whenever needed a second opinion on how to go about stressfulcases.

You never, under any circumstances, crossed Sargeant Voight,whether you accepted his actions or not. He was the boss and you did what hesaid, exactly as he said. Even if it meant bending the rules here and there.And the use of violence.

Olinsky was like Voight; he knew when to toe the line, whento step over it, and how to bring himself, and everyone around him back overit. But he was quieter force. Whenever he spoke you listened. He was a masterat undercover work, and knew how to read people, so Rhuben often wondered ifshe was really getting to know him. Maybe she never would, he was Voight’sright hand after all.

Erin was a bit harder to figure out. She clearly was greatpolice; how could she not be with Voight to guide her through life? Barelyanything they faced fazed her, but she was known to show a softer side to herwhenever kids were in trouble or young girls were in over their heads. It washarder to figure out which side of her you were going to get. They weren’t bestfriends (that role was reserved for Sheldon Jin, may he rest in peace), workedtogether, and had a civil understanding with each other that due to theirpasts, they knew that life couldn’t be fair. And it could be hard unless youknew how to traverse it.

Jay wasn’t afraid to ask Voight the questions others weretoo afraid to ask (Rhuben knew she was terrified to do so), and he was greatwith a gun. With a past in the military, how could you not be? It had to be whyhe had such a confidence in himself and his work and was often the one ininterrogation rooms. And he was undoubtedly physically fit, and proficient inclose combat. All attractive qualities, if Rhuben were being honest, and thingsshe instantly noticed about him. While unaware of her unrequited crush (or hewas just being polite), a snarky barb here, and a teasing comment there betweenthem wasn’t unheard of. Nor was a friendly bet regarding the status of the lovelives of a certain officer and patrolwoman.

She and Adam were the youngest in the Intelligence Unit, sothey clicked instantly. And he instantly got on her nerves in a little brotherkind of way, always knowing how to push her buttons just so far. Adam was moreimpulsive, often needing Kevin – who was recently pulled up into Intelligence –to pull him back and explain to him why what he did was wrong. While his impulsivenesswas also what impressed everyone, his naiveté and bravado aren’t a greatcombination on the other hand.

Kevin was the calm, cool, and collected one. He barely everraised his voice, but you knew whenever he was pissed off. Known for awesomeparties, Kevin was a real people person, knowing how to talk to anybody andeverybody. He took pride in his work, wanting to be a good role model to hislittle brother and sister. He had a big heart, and he used his big heart everyday in his job, wanting to give all the youths in the area the chance to growup and chase their dreams unscathed.

Watch anyone enough and you got a general idea of how theywere as a person, or their tell when something was bothering them, or how badthey were at keeping their feelings for other workers a secret. Mouse wasdifferent. He didn’t bring any attention to himself, mostly sticking to hisoffice, and waiting for people to come to him for updates in a case. Yet, hecould, and would, always chime in whenever Jay brought up a solution he hadexperienced overseas while in the military, backing him up on whatever idea hehad.

Rhuben knew he and Jay were in the same unit together, andthat he had been medically discharged, but not much else. But the man she hadmet in the back of Jay’s car while working on a case, Mouse the C.I. wasdifferent than the man working with the CPD, Mouse the IT guy, now. One guy hadstolen her French fries out of the carton, and the other had “given them back”by way of somehow hacking her phone to actually place a picture on her SD card.

His skills were equally impressive, yet terrifying if theywere being used against you.

But why the heck was he called Mouse? Was it because he wasso timid? That he was so shy, he barely looked you in the eye without some sortof apologetic smile? That he was so stealthy, you wouldn’t realize he was thereuntil he started talking, often being tripped up over his own words? Eventuallyshe would figure it out.

She had even told him as such. He just looked his bemusedself, but there was a hint of a challenge in there somewhere. His eyebrows shotup, the corners of his mouth lifted, and he gave a slight lift of his shouldersbefore going back to work.

Still, there was something about him that drew her attentionto him Something else. He wasn’t hard tolook at. The scruffy look was good for him. But, when he started putting someeffort into his appearance, he looked even better. Blue and green were twocolors that complimented him well.

You’re a detective,Rhuben reminded herself, noticing thingsabout people is in her job description, general appearance and clothingincluded. So were routines, andMouse, she recognized, had an affinity to spending time watching video feeds oftraffic. So much so, in fact, that she was unsurprised to find that imageprojected on his screens when she went into his office in search of a C.I.file.

Rhuben stepped past his desk and over to the shelves filledwith boxes upon boxes of paper. She scanned over the labels on the front of theboxes, glancing out of the side of her eye to the man lounged in his chair. Hisgaze was transfixed to the multiple-monitor set up he had. Unblinking. Finallylocating the file she was looking for, she stepped back over to his desk.Still, he didn’t realize that she was there.

“Can I ask you a question, mate?” Rhuben asked to Mouse’sback.

For a moment he didn’t react. Then he started, and swiveledhis chair around to face her, blue eyes wide in their usual startled look.“Huh?” he asked. Then he lifted a hand and adjusted his shirt collar,scratching at the back of his neck. “Me? Oh. Oh! Yeah, of course you mean me.”If possible, his eyes widened a little further. “What’s, uh, what’s up?”

“Why do you watch that?” she asked.

Mouse indicated the monitors behind him with his thumb. Heglanced back over his shoulder as if checking to se if it was still there. “This?”His hands went to the beanie on his head and he adjusted it to cover more ofhis hair. “It, uh, relaxes me, I guess.” His lips parted in a soft laugh.“Safer than, uh, doing so while driving.”

“I’ll bet,” Averey replied. Using her free hand, she tuckedher black hair back behind her ear. “What about it is relaxing?”

Mouse turned back towards the computers. His chest swelledas he took in a deep breath of air, nostrils flaring when he released itthrough his nose. Then, he turned his chair back towards her. “There’s just,too much silence.” He said it as more of a question. “You know? Too many, uh,it’s just too much time.” His eyes suddenly turned downwards. “A lot can, uh,happen in…” His fingers started twitching in his lap. “The sounds…”

Rhuben watched as his eyes became unfocused, staring througheverything and anything in front of him. His right knee started bouncing,sending vibrations through the floor. Mouse rolled his head on his neck,lifting his hands up to adjust and readjust the maroon beanie on his head. “It—it’s…”

Silence stretched between the two of them until Rhuben saidquietly, “Mouse?”

“Hm?” Mouse blinked, his eyes flickering back up towardsher. Slowly, very slowly, he settled back in his seat. “Sorry?”

“No worries, yeah?” Averey waved her hand in the air. “Youdon’t have to explain anything to me.” Mouse’s eyebrows angled towards each other.“I didn’t mean to…” Trigger you? Make youuncomfortable? “Yeah, sorry.” Mouse’s face turned a bright red. Maybe sheshould have just stayed silent, acted like nothing happened.

“No, it’s,” Mouse said quietly, “you’re fine.” For afraction of a second, he made a face at what he said. “I mean, you’re…it’s ok. Ican talk about it, um, sometimes.” A fleeting smile crossed his face and heslowly nodded. “I’ve been getting help. It’s, uh, thank you, I guess, for beingpatient, I guess?”

Rhuben blinked in surprise. “Ah, no problems, mate.”

“When I do that,” he let out a short, embarrassed laugh, “alot of people, kind of, just leave.” He started twisting his fingers together.He ran one over each finger nail before pressing down on the knuckle of hisring finger, splaying his other fingers. “So, um, thanks.” He gave Rhuben a doublethumbs up and a bright smile, earning a laugh from her.

“You’re such a goober,” she said. Mouse was stuck somewherebetween laughing with her and confused. “Don’t worry, yeah, it’s a good thing.”

“Oh, ok.” He settledback in his seat. “Cool.”

“You said you’ve been getting help?”

Mouse pulled his mouth to one side. “Therapy,” he admitted.He waited for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly. Almost as if he was daring herto make a comment about it. Little did he know that she understood. Therapy wasa regularly scheduled appearance for her since she was about eighteen yearsold. When he didn’t get the answer he was expecting, he continued on. “Yeah, Iwasn’t into it at first but…” He swallowed. “What keeps you up at night?”

“Sorry?” Rhuben asked, startled by the sudden topic change.

“That’s what I have to answer for homework. ‘What keeps youup at night?’”

Cheeks puffing as she expelled a breath of air, Rhuben setthe files in her hands down, leaning her weight on the counter. “Right,” shesaid, “that’s a loaded question. Reckon, I can’t just say ‘everything’?” Mouseshook his head back and forth, pulling the corners of his lips down. “Failing.”Mouse’s eyebrows lifted, but he didn’t say a word. “You?”

Making a pbbbt soundwith his mouth, Mouse smiled and said, “Everything.” Rhuben chuckled. Thevacant look started appearing in his eyes again. Not so distant, but stillthere in the corner as his mind drifted. “You know I thank God every day thatboth Jay and I made it back. That we made it out of that humvee.” His voicelowered, a gravelly tone coming to his voice, his word started blendingtogether. “And I was so glad to know that, because I don’t know how I wouldhave started my life over without him. I mean, I wasn’t doing so hot before,but he always helped me out when I needed it, you know?”

“But I wonder about the others. I’ve never stopped wonderingwhat happened to my friends. How did they fair? What are they doing now? Where are they now? Once I was discharged,that was it. I was cut off from everything I knew, and they expect me to justgo back to my normal life?” Mouse got up from his seat and started to pace.Rhuben watched him, pulling her lower lip into her mouth. “They expect me toact like I never went through, what I went through with them? I just, I had toknow, you know? I needed to know what happened with them. No one would tell me.”He kicked at his chair, sending it into the wall.

Mouse didn’t know what to do with his hands. His fingerswere twitching. He shoved his hands into his pockets. Removed them. Shook his hands.Placed them on his hips. Paced. Bit down on a thumbnail.

“That’s why you got busted for hacking into DoD satellite,”Rhuben said with a gasp. “You just wanted to know what happened to yourfriends.” Mouse continued to pace. “Oh, mate.”

“Maybe I could hear some news,” Mouse was more talking tohimself, yet was still answering her question, “maybe they would say somethingabout them. I just had to check. I ha-I had to. I just needed to know. I neverexpected I could actually do it. I was always good with computers. One day Iwas just tired. I was just, so tired of it. I managed to get in, and I did itagain, and I did it again, and the next thing I know, my door was busted down, andI was being charged as a felon.”

“I don’t…” Rhuben wetted her lips, and tried again, “I don’tknow what to say.” She made a face. “Other than, ‘that sucks’, I mean.”

Mouse let out an odd laugh. “Yeah, it does,” he agreed. Hecleared his throat, nodding his head towards the files in her hands. “I shouldlet you get that back upstairs.”

“Yeah, reckon I should go,” Rhuben said. “I told Antonio Iwouldn’t be long.” She tapped the folder in her hands against the counter andturned to leave.

“Hey.”

Rhuben turned back towards Mouse. “Yeah?”

“Just, um,” the embarrassed flush returned to Mouse’s face,making his blue eyes stand out even more, “thanks for listening.”

“Yeah, mate, for sure.” Giving Mouse one las smile, Rhubenturned on her heels and headed out of his office.

Maybe it’s short for Mighty Mouse, she thought to herself.

He may not have flight, but hedid have some semblance of invulnerability, and he was certainly showing a lotof strength. Two out of three wasn’t bad.

A/N: I’ve been talking for a long time about writing a CPD fic that would crossover with Riley’s CF fic. Figured I’d take this chance to do something with it. I always wondered what it was that would prompt Mouse to hack the Department of Defense satellite and mayyyybe this makes sense?

Plus, I’ve been binge re-watching both shows and I just love Mouse so much!

-Rhuben

[ Soft Angst Starters ]

#whindsor #prompt #chicago pd #greg gerwitz #rhuben jackson #cpd #mouse #authored by: rhuben #answered ask #thanks for sending this in

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princessplantasaurus · 7 years

Note

The coffee shop au!

Bobby had noticed it all right away. The awkward glances, the way she was constantly playing with her hair, how often he turned to say something and then backed out at the last minute…

…and of course, the way he was staring at her from across the room for the hour following their drinks being ready was a big give away.

The next day, they came in at the same time for the second day in a row. The shop was a lot more crowded then it had been yesterday. Karen’s drink had been finished first, so Sheldon’s was the one he decided to write on. Just an extra little note on the cup, reading “ask her if you can share her table”

“I have a tall blonde red eye for Sheldon!” Bobby beamed, sliding the drink towards him.

The shorter picked up his cup, eyes falling on the note. He looked at Bobby in total bewilderment. The redhead only raised his eyebrows suggestively in Karen’s direction before turning to make the next drink. Sheldon’s face flushed, and he walked away in a hurry.

Bobby did notice while calling out the next drink that Sheldon had, in fact, sat down at her table. It didn’t look like the two were talking, but it was a start.

They both came in at the same time the next day. Bobby kept an eye on them in the line. The awkward tension was still there, but it had also dissipated some. By the time they got down to the end where Bobby was making and calling drinks, they were engaging in some light chit chat. Bobby took his marker out again, this time leaving a note for Karen.

“Karen, I have a tall mocha!”

Karen eyed the scrawl written under her name ‘He knows your name know. Ask for his! :)’

“I am, Karen, by the way,” she introduced awkwardly.

“It’s nice to put a name to the face.” He smiled, nodding “I’m Sheldon.”

“Well, it’s been nice getting to chat, Sheldon, but I have to get to class.” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear “I’ll, um, probably see you here tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah!” he nodded enthusiastically. “I’m here at just about the same time every day.”

“Cool.” she smiled “I’ll, um, see you then.”

Bobby smiled knowingly as he worked on the next guest’s flat white. Ah yes. Sometimes young love just needed a little push. And he knew just how to push them tomorrow.

Same time, same place, but the conversation they made in line was brighter. He overheard Karen tell Sheldon that she was a computer science major, and that Sheldon seemed very impressed by that. He overheard Sheldon joke about something that made her laugh a lot harder than it probably should have, and he saw Sheldon’s face light up when she did.

“Sheldon!” he called “I have your tall blonde red eye!”

He looked at Bobby, then looked at the cup ‘tell her you like her hair’ written under his name. He gave the barista genuine “Thank you.” before turning to Karen and doing just as the cup suggested “I like your hair.”

Karen’s hand immediately flew up to touch it “Oh? Um, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem. It’s uh, it’s really pretty. Just um, you know, like the rest of your face.”

Karen could feel how hot her face was getting. “Yeah? Um, I mean, thanks.”

“Mocha for Karen!” Bobby grinned, sliding the cup so that his hand scrawled note of ‘ask him if he’s free later’ could only be seen by her, not Sheldon.

“Are you doing anything later?” she questioned.

Sheldon’s eye widened “M-me? Um, no, not really. Class is already done for the day.”

She nodded, before asking “Did you want to, I don’t know, maybe, do something? With me?”

Bobby saw them again the next day, their fingers intertwined as they walked into the store. Ah yes. He was good at this. Another two lives saved by the mysterious coffee cupid! Now to figure out how to get Perch to say something to Edward.

#drabble #tsbm college au #kinda??#tsbm coffee shop au #is a better tag for it

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merdershewrote · 8 years

Text

The Other Side Episode 3: I Could Breathe Again (Part 1)

The Other Side Episode 3: I Could Breathe Again

Scene 1

On the roof of SGH

Owen is dressed in one of the blue jumpsuits with the hospital logo. He pulls on a helmet and steps into the helicopter, carrying an empty blue organ box ironically labeled “Heart.” His duty was to bring a heart back to Seattle today, just none but Bailey knew this was not in the literal sense.

ALEX Hunt! Wait!

Owen looks around, panicked.

OWEN Karev?

ALEX Look, I know what you’re doing and…you shouldn’t be alone.

OWEN This isn’t your thing, okay?!…It’s my thing and it’s my issue to sort out. I did this.

ALEX Dude, do you even know where you’re gonna land that thing?

OWEN Not exactly…

ALEX Well…I stole this from H.R. (he holds up a blue file) and I think I might know.

Owen shoots him a concerned look

Yes, I know it’s illegal but to be honest I’m most likely gonna get put away for GBH…so theft’s not even gonna make a dent on my sentence. And you really want this right?

OWEN (without hesitation) Yes.

ALEX Right then…get in the chopper

Owen hears his own voice in his head, repeating the phrase: Get in the chopper. Did he say it out loud? But his lips didn’t move. Not now anyway. He stands dead still.

FEMALE VOICE

 Why should I? What do you mean it’s over?

A hand taps him on the shoulder. A pale figure appears, dressed head to toe in Khaki, crimson waves cascading down her neck.

MEGAN 

Oh hello again, brother. Feeling guilty again are we?

Owen hits the hand off his shoulder and turns around to face her presence.

MEGAN What’s gotten into you? You never used to be violent? But then again…there’s only so many times a man can take being torn apart, right?

OWEN You have no idea what you’re talking about.

MEGAN Ohhh I see everything, Owen, so actually I think I do. Besides, this whole up and down thing has been going on for a while… it’s only a matter of time before. you. two. crash. Anyway…I hope you find her…enjoy your ride!

Megan appears to jump off the edge of the roof. Owen follows her, peering over only to see she has dematerialized into thin air.

A second voice is now heard, although this time muffled as if underwater.

ALEX Hunt? Owen? What the hell man?! Get away from the edge!

Owen is thrust back and feels a shockwave throughout his entire body when he hits the tarmac…hard. Laying on his back, he sweats and shakes violently, mumbling incoherently.

OWEN (mumbling to himself but occasionally yelling) No, don’t go!…It’s an airstrike out there!…Please…I’m not guilty. I didn’t mean to…

ALEX (Leaning over Owen and pressing down onto his chest) Hunt? Can you hear me?

OWEN (distressed) It’s got to be me…I’ve got to go.

ALEX 

You know, I think this was a bad idea. You’re under a lot of stress and…

OWEN No! I need to go…

ALEX Hunt, listen! You are not getting on that helicopter. (He pulls his chest up by the collar of his uniform) I don’t trust you to fly in this state. It’s too great a risk.

AMELIA (flashback to Season 11) I appreciate you keeping me on…I know I’m a risk

OWEN (within flashback) We’re all a risk…we all have something.

A montage of flashbacks play out in his mind.

AMELIA (12x06)

 I mean why the rush? Why not just enjoy us and feel what it's like to be two people in a marriage, newlyweds, before we add to it, right?

AMELIA (12x07) I don’t want to have a baby!

AMELIA (12x04) 

And there’s things you don’t know about me. What if it’s too scary?

OWEN (12x05) Are you..? Amelia, are you pregnant?

AMELIA (12x05) I might be…I think I might be…

AMELIA (11x13) My baby lived for 43 minutes.

Scene 2

An AA meeting, somewhere in L.A.

AMELIA Um…hey. I’m Amelia. I have stopped counting my sober days because it’s been a while.

(There is an interlude of clapping)

(Feeling awkward and guilty for lying - it hasn’t been a year yet since her most recent relapse)

Haha…um thank you! I live in Seattle so you’re probably wondering why I’m here…

ED No, wait, Amelia! I was sure I recognized that face from somewhere. You were here a few years ago, right? The group has changed a lot but there’s also a lot of old-timers like myself, still ticking along.

AMELIA That’s great, ED, really great.

SAM (group leader) You two know each other?

AMELIA Yeah, really well. ED is an old friend of mine: we met in this group actually! I haven’t been in three/four years? But I go to AA meetings in Seattle of course. I’m just here to visit some friends at the moment, but since unlike people, sobriety doesn’t take a holiday, I thought I’d come to a meeting here on the day I usually would back home. I wasn’t even sure if there was still a meeting going on in here, but fortunately, it’s the same time, same blue door, same walls….and even though there’s (gesturing to ED) mostly different people, the same unity. These groups saved me during my rock bottom and I will be forever grateful for that. It’s not that there’s anything major I want to talk about today, if I’m honest. It’s just that if I didn’t come…I didn’t want to risk a slip you know?

SAM That was a very brave and wise decision you made, Amelia. (There are nods of solidarity around the room). This group is here for anyone who is willing to make the commitment to recovery. No one has to speak at all if they don’t wish to, however, this is a safe and confidential place to talk about difficult things. Are you sure there’s nothing you would like to discuss?

AMELIA (looking down at her wedding ring, feeling ashamed) No. Not really.

SAM Alright then! Thank you for sharing, Amelia.

Scene 3

Addison walks into work, holding her son’s hand in the elevator. Charlotte King is doing some paperwork at the desk.

ADDISON Hey!

CHARLOTTE 

Oh..hey! You realize Cooper’s not in til this afternoon?

ADDISON Yeah I know, I was just gonna leave him to play in my office for a while, do you mind just checking on him every now and again? Henry, why don’t you get yourself set up with the iPad and mommy will be there in just a sec?

Henry skips off with his little rucksack and Addison watches through the blinds as he sinks proudly into the adult-size desk chair.

Okay, I did something stupid.

CHARLOTTE 

Wouldn’t be the first time…

ADDISON No, but like…I think I hurt someone, a friend.

CHARLOTTE

 And this is relevant to me how?

ADDISON It’s Amelia.

CHARLOTTE (Looking up fully from her paperwork) Oh. What did you do?

ADDISON Well you know Henry’s nanny hasn’t been very reliable lately and his school has broken up for winter break so he’s been spending a lot of time with Amelia.

CHARLOTTE 

And that’s a problem because…?

ADDISON (ultra fast) No! It’s not a problem, it’s great in fact. She’s great with Henry but…because it was so many days - almost a whole week, in fact, all day every day, I felt really guilty because I’m supposed to be his mom and I wasn’t there. So I couldn’t think of anything else to do and so I handed her some money and she got really mad about it.

CHARLOTTE So…let me get this straight….you paid Henry’s godmother to look after Henry?

ADDISON I know! Really dumb?

CHARLOTTE Yeah. I would say so.

ADDISON

 Urggh I was super tired after surgery and I wasn’t thinking straight.

CHARLOTTE 

Well have you told Amelia that?

ADDISON No! I can’t find her, she won’t answer any of my calls…what if?

CHARLOTTE What if what?

ADDISON What if this is like…you know…before, when she went missing?

CHARLOTTE Wow Addison! You really think you’re that much the center of Amelia’s universe that once you make a stupid mistake she’s gonna immediately reach for pills again? Wow. I didn’t know you were that self-absorbed.

ADDISON Well, I don’t know!

CHARLOTTE

 Trust me, Addison, she’s way more resilient and she’s survived way worse than you think. We do talk, you know.

ADDISON Great! That’s great! So…could you just call her to make sure she’s okay?

CHARLOTTE As soon as you leave me alone, absolutely. But because I want to and not just because you’re feeling guilty and want peace of mind.

Scene 4

A cute little independent coffee shop, Los Angeles

Sheldon sits on a bench in a small booth at the back of the cafe, clasping his hands together and twiddling his thumbs. It is not long before Amelia strolls through the door, wearing dark gray jeans, a white strappy top and a black leather jacket, large gray bucket bag over her shoulder. With no surgeries scheduled or Henrys to look after, she has had time for a haircut and it is still voluminous and well-shaped, freshly styled from the salon.

She smiles and saunters over to Sheldon, perching opposite him at the table.

  AMELIA

 Hey!

SHELDON (looking at his watch) You’re right on time!

AMELIA This may not be an appointment Sheldon, but I take punctuality very seriously. I’m never late. Never.

SHELDON I’m glad you could make it. I like the place you chose. Is this where all the young hipsters hang out these days?

AMELIA (laughing at his father-like naivety)

 I think 80% of the inhabitants are probably millennials so yes, I guess so! But I used to come here every day between my shifts at the practice and going to meetings. I loved it because, it used to be small, cozy and quiet, but not silent, so I was never alone with my thoughts. I would hate that. You learn to people watch, in places like this, and watch a thousand untold stories play out, every day…and I filled up a few stamp cards! In fact, I might still have a couple…

(she digs into her bag and between two fingers holds up a very bent and scuffed card which reads ‘Boyden’s Pantry’ in typewriter font on one side and has 6 red stamps on the other, and places it on the table.)

That’s a full one so you can get a free coffee sometime! Come on, take it!

SHELDON Oh…that’s very kind of you but won’t you like to use it? I wouldn’t want to…

AMELIA 

No, honestly, keep it! Next one’s on me! Besides, I won’t use it because, well I should be going home soon…wherever that is.

SHELDON Right…thank you! (There is an awkward silence). Well, first of all, I’d just like to apologise…for that night on the pier…for putting you on the spot like that…with Brian. It wasn’t fair for you to find out in that way…

AMELIA Sheldon, you were two men holding hands. It wasn’t a statement. It wasn’t a 2 fingers in the air, “fuck you” moment. You love each other. And the fact that you feel the need to apologise for that makes me so mad…at the world. Don’t apologise. You love him. He loves you. I’m happy for you both.

SHELDON We are happy. And thank you. You really mean it?

AMELIA (smiling) 

Of course I do.

SHELDON And what about you…have you…uh…found someone?

AMELIA I did, yeah. I met someone in Seattle. A trauma surgeon. Kind, grounded…the opposite of me.

SHELDON And do you think he’s the one, or is it just another sort of informal fling? Do you think this will surmount to anything serious?

AMELIA (fumbling with her wedding ring) Yeah…Kinda… 

SHELDON (grabbing Amelia’s arm) Amelia…are you married?!

AMELIA (Exhaling deeply. It is a relief to have the cat out of the bag, finally) 

Yes! I am.

SHELDON Wow! Congratulations!

AMELIA

 Thank you!

SHELDON How-how long ago was this?

AMELIA 

Ohh a few months ago now…May…but it all came and went super fast. It was like I blinked and it was gone.

SHELDON Gone?

AMELIA Yeah. Oh! Not that he’s gone! No….we’re still together…technically, legally, but…I guess things are rough. But we’ll get through this right?

SHELDON I’m sorry to hear that.

AMELIA I’m sure you’ve heard worse

SHELDON But in answer to your question…without sounding overly cryptic and shrinky…I think the only person who can say whether you will get through it or not is you. Do you want to get through it…together?

AMELIA 

Yes! I mean, I think so. He’s perfect. It’s my thing. I’m the problem. I come with a lot of ‘terms and conditions’ you see.

SHELDON Haha I can understand that!

AMELIA And…he doesn’t know about the baby.

SHELDON Not at all? 

Amelia shakes her head.

AMELIA Not enough to listen anyway… He wants a family so bad…. I would hate to deny him what he wants most in this world. He doesn’t deserve a blow like that…not twice. I might just not be what he needs. He could be so so happy…even if it were with someone else…he would make it and he’d be okay. If I’m not enough…(choking up) if our marriage is really gonna come down to this…I don’t know if I can survive that again…

SHELDON You don’t know. You don’t know if it would be the same. Amelia…The chances of that happening again are less than one in a million…the same as anyone else's.

AMELIA

 Forgive me, Sheldon. But my father was shot in the head, before my eyes. My brother died in a car crash. A brain surgeon…from a subdural haemorrage. Yeah, just let that sink in. And after I had almost a decade of sobriety under my belt I relapsed into the deepest, darkest rock bottom ever and woke up to find my boyfriend dead in bed next to me. And after that I had to carry a baby for nine months, knowing at the end of it I would have to bury him. Forgive me, Sheldon, if I fail to see that my odds are not the same as ‘everyone else's'.

A waitress/barista approaches the pair

WAITRESS

 I’m really sorry sir, ma’am, but I’m afraid we’re very busy today and if you haven’t ordered anything then we are going to have to give up the table to paying customers.

SHELDON I’m so sorry, we got distracted. May I have an Americano, please? 2 sugars.

The waitress now turns fully to Amelia, who looks up. After a sharp intake of breathe, she registers her ginger hair, button nose, pale complexion and dark, chocolatey brown eyes. As Amelia stares, the waitess’ face turns shiny, more pallid and her eyes go wild. To Amelia, waitress scratches herself the scene dissolves into a dark room, filled with screams and shaking. Clasped hands form a bridge of solidarity over the gap between their two beds. Next, the exchange of chocolate on a sunny afternoon. Next, the scarred and bruised face of her roomate in the hall, returning to Pacific Serenity after a relapse. Amelia knows this face. She shared her darkest hours with this face. She remembers this face. She lives this face.

AMELIA

 Haley?

*END OF PART 1*

Yes guys it’s official I have lost my mind. For better or for worse? Who knows?!!!

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a-table-of-fics · 3 years

Text

Cull to Adventure, Chapter 7, Draft 1

A drink of tea and a change of clothes later, Cull was standing at the third kettle he had found. This one was on a ledge, and he at least had a fantastic view while he waited. It was strange, with stone tentacles and floating rocks, but that sunset! The way the red sun peeked over that mountain range in the distance was awe-inspiring.

It almost reminded him of some of his best days as a kid, except he was wearing uncomfortably attention-grabbing clothes and listening to muffled commotion between Marie and Sheldon through his headset. Both of those sort of spoiled the mood, but the cool air did help make up for it. He wondered how cold it would be now if he dove into the ink he covered almost the entire outpost with. Thankfully, it seemed this was the last kettle here, so it hopefully had Miffens hidden somewhere on the other side.

There were still more Zapfish to save, of course, but he hoped Marie had an idea of where those could be. Maybe that Launchpad behind the lightbulb fence? It was burning brightly and quite hotly, and it was clear to Agent 4 that someone didn’t want him over there.

“Agent 4, we now have visual on the… looks like a place made for cleaning something, but a Zapfish is definitely hanging around there.”

“I-I got it,” Cull nodded, before diving into the grate.

He landed in another respawner, instinctively changing his color to yellow to match the ink there. He looked up to see that it was sunset underground, too. He could see hexagonal screens on the walls of the enormous cavern, with pinks, oranges, and deep purples giving an illusion of sky that, while convincing, couldn’t hope to match the real deal that he was admiring just a minute ago. Other than that, the floating stones and storage crates weren’t too out of the ordinary at this point, but they still added to the novelty of this place.

He walked forward as normal (that is to say, with excess care), but he needn’t have worried. Other than a few crates, there was nothing to see but a ramp with a conveyor belt in it. Curiously, there were what looked like squid symbols all over the belt, but Cull soon realized that wasn’t it; they were simply arrows.

“Hey,” Marie said, excitedly, “you should step on that Dash Track.”

Agent 4 felt his mouth go a bit dry.

“W-what?” he asked, suddenly realizing just how fast this so-called Dash Track was spinning. It reminded him of some videos he saw, with young Inklings getting flung off of treadmills after trying to stay on.

“Just trust me on this one,” Marie said, her voice barely concealing her anticipation.

He swallowed, shuffling closer to the deathtrap. He inched his shoe closer to the edge, pulling back every so often. Finally, he inched just a little too far, and—Schwuph! – his foot was dragged forward, and Cull barely had time to yelp before he instinctively squidformed. His head bounced harmlessly against the Dash Pad, but he was thrown screaming onto the platform further ahead, landing with a splat sound. After a moment, he kidformed again, holding his head. Even if bouncing against the hard rubber didn’t do much, bouncing against the harder concrete smarted.

“You okay, Agent 4?” Marie asked. “Gotta be careful to land on your feet there…”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m…I’m f-fine.”

Cull shook himself a little, before standing back up. He was hardly the worse for wear anymore; in fact, he gave a laugh in spite of himself!

“Gets your ink pumpin’, huh?” Marie said, her smile clear over the radio.

“Yeah!” Cull said, beaming.

“Cool; you should be able to get the Zapfish in no time, then. Go, go, go!”

With newfound vigor, Agent four ran forward, hopping over the tall steps…and dove behind a large inflatable bumper when he saw a new Octarian. They looked like an upside-down Octotrooper with a propeller cap, and they were firing gobs of ink from a nozzle attached to it.

“That’s an Octocopter,” Marie explained. “Shouldn’t be too bad, let’s be real.”

“Right…”

“May want to look up, though…”

He did, just in time to see the Octocopter fly over him, their body wiggling loosely in the wind. He kept crouching, and he had to bend his back in a weird way, but that was easy for an invertebrate. The hard part was keeping his weapon grip close to his chest while bending that way, like Marie taught him to, but it only took a few shots to take that foe out, as opposed to the barrage it took before. He wasn’t sure if his aim actually improved or if this was a weaker foe, but he couldn’t focus on that right now; even without a spine getting in the way, bending backwards like that was pretty painful.

He stood up, stretching and twisting until the ink inside settled back. He could see another Copter hovering around a good distance away, unaware of his presence. Deciding to practice the better part of valor, Agent 4 crept slowly around behind this Copter’s back. When the Octarian stopped, hovering in place, he panicked, firing at his own feet and squidforming. He waited in his own ink, with bated breath, while the Octocopter flew over him in blissful ignorance. Moving quickly, he made it to a dead end, with a black glassy sphere sitting near the edge.

“So, wh-what’s this, Mar- Agent 2?”

“Oh! A ride rail! Ink it up, and I think you can ride it to that spot over there!”

Once he shot the globe, a powered ink hose emerged from the other side. It twisted and moved in a pre-programmed motion, stretching all the way to the nearby platform before coming to a complete stop. Ink could be seen flowing through, sprinkling out at high pressure at the other end.

Cull wasn’t sure how he could use this. Wouldn’t he just fall off? And how could he even “ride” this rail without wheels? He bent down to get a better feel for this, and found that his hand easily merged with the surface of the globe.

Unfortunately, it also dragged him screaming onto the rail itself. He rode along the top of it, being propelled forward even as he got his hand unstuck. It wasn’t long before he landed on his belly, onto another checkpoint.

He could hear Marie sucking through her beak as he picked himself up.

“Yeah, you can just jump on those next time. It’s a lot less painful.”

He nodded, and was about to run to the next Dash Pad, but stopped. An Octocopter ahead had apparently heard him yelling, to say nothing of the one who was behind him. Of course they’d open fire, and of course he’d get his armor damaged again. That stinging sensation, along with the urgency of his situation, made him not even think about returning fire. Instead he ran straight for the Dash Pad, launching him right at one of the Octocopters. They tried to get out of the way, but it was too late, and the other Copter winced. The helmet was sent flying, and the two of them fell onto the ground with a plap noise.

Cull groaned, rubbing his head, to find the disarmed Octocopter on top of him. They got up, and started to kick him. The little guy had a weak kick, but it was strong for how tiny their legs were. Cull winced in pain before getting up and shoving them back. To say he was feeling unsteady would be an understatement, but he was still able to take out the Octocopter who was still in the air with a few shots.

“Ouch,” was all Marie could manage after that.

The grounded Copter was still at it, kicking Cull’s shins with their little landing-gear-clad feet. They gave him a steely glare, daring him to strike back. Surely an enemy of the Octarians wouldn’t just take this! They were preparing any moment for a good ol’ melee. They were relishing the thought, already taunting in Octo.

Cull, oblivious to this challenge, simply splatted them.

“You okay, kid?”

“I-I’ll be fine…”

He walked over to the Dash Pad again, and was able to stick the landing unimpeded this time. He didn’t see any enemies after him, so he took a moment to rest while his armor recharged. That alone made him feel a little better, though he was still a bit bruised. He looked ahead to find that he’d have to make a few running leaps. That was fine; nothing he didn’t do when tagging hard-to-reach spots of Inkopolis.

“You might wanna try squidfo—” Marie started, before seeing him leap from platform to platform in about ten seconds – something most Inklings couldn’t do without being a squid. “…Oh wow. Not bad, Agent 4!”

“Um, thanks?” Cull said, not understanding. Wasn’t that just what he was supposed to do?

Anyway, he saw another Ride Rail in front of him, this one already activated. Not wanting to have another hard landing, he thought about this. Marie said jumping on this would be better, but keeping his balance on an inky propulsion rail didn’t sound easy.

“Don’t trust those, huh?” Marie asked. “I get that. You can trust me, though. Just hop on and enjoy the ride!”

Cull swallowed. He didn’t make the running leap he was sure Marie was hoping for, but he did hop onto the globe. Much to his surprise, balancing wasn’t an issue at all. Even as he was pulled forward, he remained standing, his boots grinding against the rail like he was a skater. He naturally started to lean into a more balanced position like a skater would, then. He wasn’t clumsily staggering or anything, but it felt more natural. The wind batting against his face, making his two shortened tentacles flow behind him, and the rush of doing this made him feel something he hadn’t felt in a long time. This was cool! He was being cool, if only for a fleeting moment!

And then, just like that, it was over. He had to jump off, and continue pressing forward. At least there was another Dash Pad to give him another quick rush before he saw large pistons of purple ink shoot out from some walls in front of him, before retracting back in regular intervals. It was hard to see the purpose of these, other than as traps, but steam hissing out of the tops of the platforms and the rumbling sound of something below suggested that the hazardous part was more just a happy byproduct of a necessary purpose.

“Best not to touch those ink pistons,” Marie remarked.

What kind of idiot did she think he was? Of course he wasn’t going to touch the purple-inked death cylinders! Then again, he had just learned yesterday about things everyone knew by the time they were 12, so he just sighed in resignation before proceeding. He deserved to be patronized, he well knew.

Neither the pistons nor the Octocopter gave much issue. In fact, Cull found it was pretty easy going for a while. Even when the pistons were blocking some jumps, it caused more panic than pain for him as he took frantic running leaps at any opening he saw. And he had found some more Sardinium to boot, though he had no idea why Marie wanted him to find that stuff.

He smashed past a wall of boxes, and his swift progress came to a halt. A huge wall, regularly being scrubbed by two enormous pistons. He swallowed, not seeing any way around this no matter how hard he looked.

“Y-you wouldn’t know what to do here, would you?” he asked, finally.

There was a pregnant pause. He could hear clicking through his headset, and a few hums.

“Sorry Agent 4,” she finally said, “but this looks like the only way. I don’t see anything else around. You gotta ink and go.”

He stared at the pistons as they kept the wall well-coated in pink. He took a deep breath, and started coating the wall in yellow. He had a quick and dirty trail to the top, but he knew climbing it would be another matter.

He made a slight whimpering noise before he dove into the ink. Marie got a good view of the scene, and the frantic splashes as he tried to make it to the top. Slowly, slowly, he was climbing up. Too slowly; he was halfway there and the pistons were already coming in.

“Agent 4!” she cried out.

He froze, just in time, as the two pistons closed in around him. Marie could hear him hyperventilating, stuck on a scant splatter of his remaining ink. He stayed there while the pistons pulled back again, and stayed there for two more cycles.

“Agent 4!” Marie called out, nearly shouting. “You gotta let go! There’s no way you’ll be able to—”

“AGENT 4!” she shouted, as he started swimming up again at the next opening.

She was privy to every grunt and whimper as he climbed up the pink ink, and she could see the frantic ripples through it. Anything he was saying was getting incoherent, and Marie wondered how he was staying in enemy ink as a squid for so long. Instincts should have kicked in by now.

And there, she could see his armor shatter. Still he insisted on pressing forward; against all odds, he had almost made it to the top before the piston sprang back out again. Marie couldn’t watch.

Miraculously, she didn’t hear the sounds of Agent 4 getting splatted, or the sounds of the respawner. Instead, she heard him panting and gagging. She looked back to see that he was at the top, in his shorts and undershirt, covered from head to toe in pink ink. He shivered, occasionally spitting out more Octarian ink.

“I…I can’t believe you made it!” Marie finally exclaimed. “I… can’t believe you did that! You could’ve just tried again, but… why?”

“A-and be a failure again?” he stammered, between coughs.

“A what?” Marie exclaimed. “You are not – why would you – how are – “

She sighed as she saw Cull crawl over to a respawn, using the green ink there to recover a little faster.

“We’ll talk about this later, okay? For now, just… you’re – you’re fine, all right?”

What else could Marie say to something like that? The middle of enemy territory was not the place to beat yourself up, even if there was such a place.

Finally, Cull recovered enough to start worrying about getting his armor back. He still had purple on him, but it no longer made Marie scared that it had reached him through his inky shell. She wouldn’t have wished that kind of pain on anyone.

“You all right, kid?” she asked, once his suit regenerated.

He nodded, slowly, but something caught his attention. Marie couldn’t see where he ran off to, but he was soon back with another scroll He took a look at it and shook his head before pocketing it. Apparently, it wasn’t as interesting as the other two.

“Onwards, Agent 4!” Marie said, with forced bravado.

There wasn’t much else of note; Cull even ran past his first encounter with a Twintacle Octotrooper, completely ignoring them in favor of a trail of Dash Pads. Those led him to one final gauntlet of ink pistons with Dash Pads in between. Cull sighed. He could see the Zapfish on the other side, but he was not looking forward to more of this.

He watched carefully, wiping sweat from his brow. He took a few false starts, but finally ran onto the first Dash Pad.

“HO-“ Marie started.

He made it to the second Pad, immediately launching again.

“-LY-“ Marie continued.

Last one, and he flew right onto a Ride Rail, feet first.

“CAAAARP!” Marie yelled, watching proudly as he zipped his way over to the Zapfish. A third one down already; she’d find Callie and save Inkopolis in no time!

#cull goes to octo canyon #cull to adventure #Splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 2 fic #chapter 7 #draft 1 #cull to adventure full chapter

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