#always chasing that TAZ

[theelusivepoetalien]

I logged on to let you guys know that I uninstalled mobile and am finishing mastodon migration TODAY after getting a bonus mini panik from autoplay audio ads.... I haven't been on desktop in a few weeks... Want to guess how long it took me to find my own blog on this nightmare desktop UI? Too long. Too. fucking. Long. It's called "unintuitive ui" if it's not downright hostile (ie: stay longer for ads!). Feel free to reply "why don't you just remember to turn your sound down every single time you stop listening to music like any of us have that kind of time and attention" to be autoblocked. Stay tuned. I'll probably drop the new location in the next few hours as I tweak things. I am moving ALL the sub-blogs, so we can understand that takes a little time, yes? Yah, you can drop useful Mastodon related asks in my box.

[alexablissmark]

I love your writing and I was wondering if you could write a Hook fic where reader comforts him after the betrayal from Jack?

comforting hook <3 (and thank you for the compliment!)

*g/n reader but an explicit mention of Hook outweighing reader

it was a rough night for Hook. not only did he get back stabbed by one of his closest friends, he was sitting on a backstage storage crate looking like a total loser. after Jack's betrayal, Hook didn't really have any friends, at least not the way he used too. Team Taz ended long ago, Dan got injured, dad was always busy, y/n had other friends, and Jack... well, you know. Hook had nobody anymore, not that he minded, but god was it nice to have a friend, someone who you could really trust. someone who could empathize with him, and goddammit, someone who could give him a ride back to the damn hotel!

as countless backstage staff and talent walked by, no one even looked in his direction, almost as if they were actively avoiding him. wow, how pathetic.

Hook zoned out for bit while a few tears formed. but then he was pulled back into reality.

"hello? earth to Hook?" a soft voice said.

Hook snapped out of his small trance and looked at you. you looked in his eyes and noticed the tears starting to well-up. you sat next to him on the crate.

"you doing okay?" you asked.

"yea," he said while sniffling the tears so you couldn't see them.

you touched him on the arm.

"Hook...listen," you started, "i know how it feels, and i understand you probably don't even want to be around people right now, but i can't just let you go through what i did..."

you too, had been turned on by your former tag partner. god, what an awful night that was. you couldn't bear to see a friend go through that too! especially not one you had been chasing for the better part of a year!

he didn't say anything.

"look, how about we go back to my hotel room? didn't you guys share a room?" you asked.

"yea," he said.

"and your dad isn't here tonight, is he?

"nah," Hook replied.

"okay. get your stuff," you said.

"k."

when you were driving back, it really started to dawn on you how little Hook actually talks. maybe that's what made you two such good friends, he prefers to listen to you ramble, while occasionally looking at you where he probably shouldn't, and you talk about the latest drama or cute thing your cat did. but once you got into the hotel room, the narrative flipped.

you listened to Hook for what seemed like hours, talking about how much Jack had hurt him. how lonely he felt on those crates. how he felt like nothing but a burden to those around him in those moments.

but he also said how much he appreciates you, and how much your friendship means to him. that's when you swear you saw some tears falling down his cheeks, but he was quick to wipe them away. he said he's glad to have you as a friend, and if you were to be his only friend, he wouldn't particularly mind that. it's a risk to trust people after all.

and then Hook did something completely out of character.

he hugged you.

you were kinda shocked at first, but quickly embraced him in your arms as he buried his head into your shoulder, and you moved your hand up to his head to comb through his hair.

"thank you," he whispered. "thank you for being here for me."

"anytime," you said. "let's go to bed."

"like this?" he asked.

"yeah, like this."

it was a pain to move him off you the next morning. Hook's arms were around you tight and him outweighing you did not help. eventually, you did wake up early to surprise him with some Doritos. when you gave it to him, he smiled a wide, genuine smile.

he thought about kissing you, but he didn't. and you'd be lying if you said you weren't thinking the same thing.

"next time for sure though," Hook thought.

hope u liked! felt like taking a more angsty route idk

[writingsfromhome]

The Ex-Text

Epilogue: what’s next

A/N: this isn’t so much an epilogue than a part two but it just fit better to call it one lol. But it’s the final instalment in the Ex-Text so make sure you read the first two. As always, ty for reading this far <3

Prologue (text) / Main (ex) / Epilogue (what’s next)

—————————

It was a bit of a wet morning but I was determined to have a good day. And it’s like the world listened because by the time I got my morning coffee the sun had decided to kiss my skin hello. It was a Friday, I had a weekend of bachelorette festivities—our last girls weekend before Taz officially married next weekend. And I was going to a job I loved after changing roles last year, and getting promoted to the position I’d been chasing after.

It had been a year and 7 months since the night I decided to change. It wasn’t linear by any means but I had a better sense of who I was and what I wanted nowadays. I stuck up for myself, and felt less end-of-the-world if someone didn’t like me. I wasn’t perfect all the time, but things were better.

I’m so excited for tomorrow, I read Taz’s text in the lift up. I’d set up a spa day for the bridesmaids, and then a potentially rowdy evening across a few bars with a scavenger hunt. As the maid of honour I took my duties very seriously. I was friends with most of the invitees either from childhood or through Taz—there were a handful of girls from high school that Taz and I were friends with who I hadn’t seen in a while. It was going to be an interesting weekend.

***

“So YN,” Taz’s cousin slides in beside me wiggling her phone. This was our second pub on the list and she had the lead for the scavenger hunt by two. The group had enough drinks that everyone was loud and comfortable even though not everyone knew each other well. “How far along are you?”

“I’m not playing,” I made the game. I tell her that.

“Oh c’mon!” She looks at the girls sitting near us. “You’re just trying to get out of some of these! Like kiss a stranger, or find a way to write your number on someone’s arm? You’re cheeky with these—find someone to do a musical number with—“

“That’s how I know I’m not winning the hunt,” Felicity says. “I’m shite at dancing.”

“No you was so good back in school,” Taz giggles as she catches up. “Dots was even better, remember when she went with that wanker to the year 11 dance and oh what was his name-“

“I heard my name,” Dots pokes her head through. “You lot are loud.”

“Have you heard them?” Taz’s cousin points to the other end of the table. Someone’s getting a shot poured directly into their mouth.

“Taz are you participating in the hunt?” Felicity waves her phone that has the app pulled up.

“I’m getting married in a week so…only the PG ones.”

“No one’s going to say anything if you do number 7,” Dots winks. I smile uncomfortably, remembering the grip the peer pressure these girls had in high school that lead me to some pretty bad decisions.

“Taz is too much of an angel to do anything like that,” I try to swoop in for her.

“Then you should do it for her.” Dots says, her eyes alight with mischief. “Since you’re not playing. That way the bride-to-be has a chance to win.”

“Yeah!” Felicity jumps right into the plan eagerly. “It’s not like you’re dating someone right?”

“I…”

“I don’t need to win that bad,” Taz tries to come to my rescue but the plan is too enticing for these girls.

“Oh yeah YN you never got back on the horse after…Ethan?” Taz’s cousin mouths the word like he was going to appear if she said it too loud.

“No it’s…” I’m tempted to lie. To look good. Everyone leans in to hear the end of my sentence and I blurt out. “It’s complicated.”

“Ooh what’s that mean?” They move in closer and I feel crushed. I avoid Taz’s eye, she knew I hadn’t dated in forever. Not for lack of wanting, but I found opening myself up to new people was more exhausting than it used to be. Being in one long term relationship after the other, then taking a huge break, now dating felt like learning to walk again.

“Um,” I try to backtrack on the lie. “It’s just complicated but technically I’m not dating someone right now!”

“Wait so you’re not bringing a plus one to the wedding?” Someone asks.

“Well I-“

“You should invite the guy! If he comes you know he’s serious and if he doesn’t…”

“Yeah!” Felicity grabs my arm. “Invite him! I want to see Ethan’s rebound that manwhore.”

“It’s not really a rebound when it’s been years,” Taz says. I agree, but I’m also touched by the vehemence in Fel’s voice when she talks about Ethan.

“Well screw the guy. If he’s complicated, you can kiss anyone you want at any bar you want. So?”

“YN,” Taz’s murmur catches my attention. She shoots me a warning, I had to put my foot down. Not give in because I wanted to please. I should but with this many eyes on me I chicken out.

“Fine. But maybe pick number 7 at the next bar, this group looks uni aged.” I feel Taz’s disappointment beside me.

“So? I had a thing with a 21 year old last summer,” Fels shrugs.

“Ew. Didn’t you feel like his mother?” Taz asks and I laugh, a bit of the pent up energy releasing with it.

“No, he was a big boy. He knew how to take care of himself.” She grins. The topic shifts to her and I think I’m forgotten until the hour hits and we decide to move places.

“Okay YN I know you’ve mapped this all out but if we’re trying to get you a good number 7 I know a better place where I used to live. Last summer actually.” Felicity links her arm through mine as we walk out.

“We know how well that went,” Taz’s cousin teases.

“Exactly! May I? Girls! Change of location on the third cuz Taz has to win tonight-“

“I really don’t want the gift card that badly.” Taz says but it’s drowned out by everyone cheering. God we were all well on our way to drunk.

***

“That one,” someone whispers to me. She points to a tall blonde with a cardigan on.

“Mmm too bookish,” someone else says. Somehow the whole group was debriefed on the way over that I was to have the most epic kiss with a stranger for Taz’s sake. Because even though she had three other missing items on her list, doing this would make her win.

“Well that creep over there just bought me shots,” Taz slurs. We look to where she points, it’s a guy who had been a potential kisser. The group crosses him out as well as the line item on her list. Now she was down to 2 to win.

Felicity had led us to her old local area, one I hadn’t spent much time in but sounded familiar. Even though I’d planned the pub crawl to the detail I had to let go of the control and go with the crowd.

“Okay YN you have to do this now,” Dot says. “You can kill two birds, then Taz is free to win.”

“Doesn’t anyone else want to win?” I ask pathetically.

“No!” The group encourages me. “You need this too YN!”

“Him,” Fels points to a guy sitting at the bar. He’s talking with the bartender who’s laughing at whatever he’s saying. “Look, he’s funny and nice enough to talk to the bartender. He’ll give you a nice smooch.” She kisses my cheek with this statement.

“Oh he’s cute,” Taz says and I glare at her.

“You can’t even see his face.” I tell her.

“Yeah but his hair is nice,” she rubs my cheek where Felicity kissed me. “And his shirt stretches nicely over-“

“Okay bride-to-be,” she was such a traitor.

“What? A girl can’t look?” Taz asks. She wraps an arm around my shoulder and leans in. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I know,” but with all these girls waiting on me to I didn’t have another choice. I just had to get over it. Plus I hadn’t kissed someone in over a year so I wasn’t complaining if he was cute. And Taz was right, from the back he was cute. “Fine.”

I step away from the crowd and they all gasp. They get ready for the show and so do I. I clear my throat, push my shoulders back—my cleavage looked great in this dress so I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt, and head over. My stomach drops with nerves but I take a deep breath and tap the bloke on the shoulder.

My lungs deflate like a released balloon when the face looking back at me is Harry. Harry the ex-texter.

He blinks, then blinks some more. Meanwhile I stand there staring.

“YN!?” Harry turns the barstool to face me. His neck must’ve started cramping.

“I-uh,” I glance back at the girls and they’re all pretending not to stare but it’s a bad attempt. They’re staring.

“It’s you-I-“ Harry stands up, it seems like he was going in for a hug but he thinks better of it almost immediately. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi,” I say lamely. I feel the shame of the last time we spoke. That YN feels like someone else. Someone people manipulated easily. Like him.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he laughs nervously and his eyes roam up and down my body. He runs his fingers through his hair and looks back. “I think there’s a massive group of women there staring at us? Have you rounded up a gang to kick my-“

“Ignore them,” I quickly take a seat beside where he was sitting. He takes one last glance at them and sits back down.

“Can I get you a drink?”

“No no,” my mind is occupied. I couldn’t kiss him. This was the worst person in the world to have picked, why was he here damnit?

Then I remember why this area was familiar to me. His address was only a street or so over, this is close to where I’d picked him up that day.

“Actually, I’ll do a a vodka soda.”

He orders for me while I try to sort out my thoughts.

“So are you in a cult? Am I some sort of blood sacrifice?” Harry throws another glance over his shoulder.

I finally look at him. He looked good, of course he did. He’d decided to do something about those razor blades—he’d thrown them out; he sports a mustache and stubble. His hair is styled, nicer than it was when I met him. His eyes are murky waters and I don’t look at them too long. I spot the gym bag by his feet, so that’s why his shirt fit so well…

Omg.

“Actually,” I consider what he’d just said. “You’re not too far off.”

“Wait really?” His eyes bug out. “You’re joking.”

“Well the cult is actually a bridal party,” I say. “And the blood sacrifice is a number on our scavenger hunt.”

“Oh,” it dawns on him. “I’m fresh blood. You already have my number, wait is that why you came up to me?”

“No I actually didn’t even know it was you,” I say honestly. “They picked you out from the crowd.”

“Really?” Harry looks back, now intrigued that this group of women found him fit enough to pick out.

“Don’t let it get to your head,” I roll my eyes. My drink had landed in front of me so I take a sip.

“Well? You have my number right?” When I just nod he laughs. “Wait. You need something more.”

“Well obviously I’m going to lose this scavenger hunt,” I scowl. “Don’t worry.”

He chuckles and looks to the front, meanwhile I try not to squirm. Being around him wasn’t the best feeling, especially on my way to drunk. I felt hot with embarrassment and yet the intrigue of who he really was still stayed with me. And it stays because even now, despite not trusting him or liking him very much I felt like I had room to just be myself. He was an easy presence despite his baggage. Or maybe because of it.

It seems we were good at silences because we drink without saying a word. It’s like our brains are catching up to our sudden run-in.

“How have you been?” Harry asks quietly.

Fine, I’m going to say automatically. But I answer truthfully. “Alright. Life’s been better but also nobody’s tricked me into going to a cheating ex’s wedding so life’s been a lot worse!”

He laughs awkwardly and clinks his bottle against my glass. “Yeah. I deserve that.”

“Yeah. How about you?”

“Better. A lot better.”

“Good to hear,” I say genuinely. Despite my grievances it was nice to hear he was past whatever he’d been in when we first met.

“I think about you often,” he says while still looking forward. Oh god this felt like being in a car with him. I turn my body towards him and tap my knee against his. He looks at me, like we’re having an actual conversation. “I do. About what I did to you…I’m sorry.”

“Yeah you’ve said.”

“Yeah,” he grimaces. I wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily. Being manipulated and lied to like that still stung. It was rock bottom for me in a way. “I was a dick. I’m deeply sorry and I’ve thought about how to make it up to you but I thought I should just stop texting you ever. Trust me that was rock bottom for me and you didn’t deserve to be dragged down with me.”

I try not to look surprised when he says it was his rock bottom, like I was thinking seconds earlier.

“You got one thing right,” I tap at his phone. I wasn’t going to tell him I forgave him, or that I understood even though I did. I didn’t like him very much, I didn’t trust him, but I knew he was sorry when he said it.

I remember the wedding—there was something I wanted to apologize for, “Well now that we’re unloading apologies, I am actually sorry for uhm, slapping you that night? That’s not me. And I don’t know where it came from! I feel bad about that.”

His laugh is quiet, to himself. “You shouldn’t be apologizing for anything. Anything at all YN.”

God, the way he says my name is addictive. He said it like everyone else, but in his voice…

“I know. But that crossed a line…”

“Nah don’t worry. Plus I don’t mind when a woman slaps me around a little,” his face splits into a grin when I give him the reaction he was looking for.

“Harry,” I scold. “You’re teaching children with that mouth?”

“That’s why I’m quitting.”

“You’re quitting!?”

“Yep. Phase 3 of my plan, to live the life I want. I’m finishing the school year and looking for a job in my field over the summer.”

“Wow,” I was impressed. “Wow Harry. Good luck with that.”

“Yeah I’ll need it thanks.” The way he looks at me makes me nervous. I think I’ve been single a bit too long. And right on cue he asks: “So YN how about you? Are you still doing your single thing?”

“I feel like you’re still talking about it like you don’t believe in it,” I tell myself to calm down every time he says my name.

“No I-“ he plays with his bottle. “I believe you. I’ve tried it, it’s been good for me. But I started dating again this year and I found I really love that too.”

“Yeah?” I ask him more about it. He tells me he’s dating knowing what he wants now. What kind of woman he’s looking for.

I felt like focusing on myself has helped me with that too. The only issue is I was finding it hard to open myself up to men again.

“I haven’t been dating much,” at all. “But I’m open to it now.”

“Show anyone your mean side lately?” He jokes but in there is a serious question.

“That’s only reserved for you,” I say, then realize how flirty it sounds and clamp down on my tongue. Maybe I should stop drinking. I didn’t even know Harry very well. But when I peek a glance he looks flushed.

I liked this version of Harry better. I wonder if he was like this before, before he had his heart broken, or even before he started dating Vanessa. But I don’t tell him that, I didn’t want him to think we were friends or anything.

We fall into silence again, not an uncomfortable one though. I look at him, he looked the same but different. Like a change had taken place underneath the surface. I imagine he’s studying me the same way. He smiles and I return it.

A body pushing into the side of me interrupts us. Dots is there with Taz and they wave the bartender down for a drink even though they could’ve ordered from the table. I roll my eyes and turn to them.

“Hi,” I look between them. Dots looks mischievous as usual and Taz seems curious.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us YN?” Dots asks.

“Oh, this is Harry,” I eye Taz when I say it. She’s a bit slow but when I introduce them to Harry it dawns on her. Her face darkens as she pinpoints who he is.

“Harry is it?” Taz asks. “I’ve never met a Harry I liked.”

Dots looks over at her like she’s grown another head, clued out and assuming I was still here to kiss him.

“Oh well…” Harry looks just as confused at her sudden intensity. “I hope I can change your mind about that?”

“Too late for that,” she nearly spits out. I watch his eyes widen and then go to me. I’m biting back a smile.

“Taz, right you’re Taz.” He sounds like he remembers her.

“And I’m Dots,” Dots repeats. Poor girl was clueless. “We’re just doing a bachelorette thing and YN seemed to think you were cute enough to ditch us right?”

“Really?” Harry takes pleasure in playing along.

“Well no I—ow!” Dots interrupts me by smashing her elbow into me. I sigh. “Right. Yeah. You were irresistible, I had to ditch my friends for a man like you.”

“Sarcasm,” Harry says just low enough for me to hear. He’s smiling.

“YN you should come back,” Taz tries to grab my arm but Dots is like a pro as she cuts that off.

“No we’re just doing the same thing back there. Talking and drinking. You two enjoy. You should give him your number here.” She drops a sharpie in my hand. “Let’s go Taz.”

I try to warn Taz with my expression, please don’t tell anyone I know him. None of these girls knew I went to Ethan’s wedding, it was an embarrassing story on my timeline I didn’t need to share. I didn’t want them to know the story of how I knew Harry.

“Your friends are scary.”

“I guess,” I turn back to him. My drink was nearly empty and I did think it was time to go back. “I should go back to them.”

“Oh,” he looks disappointed.

“What?”

“I thought we were having a nice time.”

“Yeah well we were catching up. And now my drink’s finished and I’m-“

“I can buy you another?”

“I think I’ve had enough. This is our third place on our night crawl so…”

“Fair.” Harry looks at me like he has something to say. I stand there and wait but in the end he just sighs and sits back down.

“Oh yeah I’m going to write my number,” I grab his arm and pull his sleeve up. Holy muscles. “on your arm. If that’s alright?”

“Sure,” he smiles and his dimples make an appearance. It’s boyish, like we’re teenagers exchanging numbers.

I write it down even though he had it, cap the marker, and look up. We’re so close; his eyes flit to my mouth and away so quickly I almost miss it.

“I’ll get this tattooed,” Harry jokes.

“I’ll change my number if you do,” I warn him. He just shrugs like he didn’t believe me and I shake my head, turning back to my friends.

I get back to a group of disappointed women. They give me a hard time and tell me how upset they are that I don’t care about Taz winning. They try to tell me how good we looked together, how I looked with him.

“We’re not leaving until you kiss him,” Felicity says.

“Leave her alone! He smelled like bad news,” Taz says. She was well past drunk now so no one listens to her.

“Ethan was bad news,” Fels states. “This guy is just a random man you can kiss and invite as a plus one. Have some fun with him. Get back into the pool where all the fish are. C’mon YN we know your dating life is shite!”

“Remind me to never get drunk with you lot,” I stare at them. They were scary. “I gave him my number, at least Taz can cross that out!”

“Wait! Harry!” Everyone begins to shout his name as they spot him leaving behind me.

I catch him turning with a wary expression. He points to himself. The girls shout “Yes!” and earn some dirty looks from the other patrons.

He walks up to our table like a sacrifice to an ancient ritual. “You ladies need something?”

“Yes,” a few voices say but Felicity is the loudest. She points to Taz who has her head down on the table. I should check on her.

“See this beautiful creature here? She’s getting married! Married! And we have a scavenger hunt. And she can almost win! But she needs to kiss someone at the bar. But she’s getting married! And you look decent enough to help this bride-to-be! So YN her wonderful friend is helping out. And she chickened out up there. So she wants to kiss you. Does she have your permission?”

“Does she?” He turns to me. God I was helpless with the pressure around me. My eyes lock onto Harry and I hope he can read the help etched into them.

“This is silly,” I tell him. “We don’t need to do this. I don’t think Taz even cares.”

“I don’t!” I guess she was conscious because she lifts her head to answer me. But everyone crowds her out, her cousin actually guides her head back down.

“You owe her a kiss,” Dots says proudly.

“I owe her a lot actually,” Harry says to me. My heart races as we look at each other.

I would be lying if I said the idea of kissing him doesn’t intrigue me. He was attractive! And his facial hair made him more so. But I didn’t want to complicate anything.

What’s there to complicate? I ask myself. It’s not like he’s in your life. Plus maybe this will be the push to start dating again. Kisses are nice right?

“Okay whatever,” I take a step towards him. “It’s not like this means anything. It’s just a kiss.”

A cheer goes up with the group.

Harry drops his bag to the floor and takes the other step to me. “It doesn’t mean anything?”

“No,” I say more to myself. “It’s just a kiss with a guy.”

“Just a kiss with a guy,” Harry repeats. “If you say so.”

His hand reaches up to my neck and he pulls me gently to him, with his height I crane my face up and his warm lips come down on mine exactly how I imagined it would feel. That’s when I realize I had imagined how he would feel. But it’s too late by then.

It feels like hearing music live for the first time, I can suddenly hear every atom of the song. I can feel it, taste it, even smell the soundwaves pounding through the room. That’s what the kiss feels like. Ultrasonic and consuming as hell.

He’s gentle but I can tell he’s holding back with the way his hand grips the back of my head tight. And that sends my senses into overdrive. Even though his moustache is a bit tickly, he was a really good kisser.

When we part, I laugh because I’m nervous but also he has lipstick on his face.

“That was hot,” someone in the group says but we can’t take our eyes off of each other. I’m trying to remember how to breathe and it seems like Harry is doing the same.

“You have-“ I laugh nervously again and reach up to wipe the lipstick from the side of his mouth. This close his pupils are blown out and it only confirms to me that he was holding back. Because he looks like a man who can barely contain himself.

“Uhm,” he finally breaks his gaze to look at all the women staring. “I hope that was satisfactory enough.”

“That was movie worthy,” everyone begins shouting scores out. Some of then fan themselves with the menu. Harry clears his throat, picks up his bag, does an awkward half-bow, and stiffly nods to me.

“G’night YN.”

“Yeah…thanks.” I didn’t know what to say after having the most intense kiss of my life. To Harry. The ex-texter.

“I need some water after that,” Felicity climbs over me out of the booth and I slide in by Taz.

“I’m sorry,” she wraps her arms around my shoulder. “We have really shitty friends.”

“You have amazing friends,” Dots says. “We just broke YN’s dry spell. Did you see that? That was chemistry YN. That was wow. I hope you got his number.”

“I have it,” I sigh.

I decide I was going to drink more. I didn’t want to remember this night anymore.

***

It’s the Friday after and I’m at work, it’s a slow day so I’m scrolling through my phone when a notification pops up.

Hi

It was Harry.

Hi. I text back. I’d been thinking about him a lot this week, about the kiss, and about dating again. I wouldn’t admit it to my friends but it was a reminder that chemistry existed somewhere out there.

I don’t want our whole relationship to be wedding crashing so I want to run something past you.

???

Your friend Felicity invited me to Taz’s wedding. Tomorrow. She said you knew but you haven’t texted me all week so I think she’s setting you up?

I couldn’t believe it. I text Felicity and she responds immediately with a kissy emoji and a tongue sticking out.

I’m sorry I didn’t know, Fels just confirmed. You don’t need to come she’s just on this mission to get me a date.

She said you have a flaky boyfriend?

Oh my god the lie had spread. So embarassing, I was going to strangle Fels.

Really I’m alright. Sorry about that.

I would like to see you again. Even if it’s at a wedding. But I’ll only go if you invite me.

Wow. I read the message another time then put my phone away. What was I supposed to do?

I take my phone into the toilets and call Taz. She picks up, it sounds like she’s in a car.

“Hi you free?”

“Yeah I’m just getting back from the salon, what’s going on?”

I tell her. I tell her it all, the conversation Harry and I had and how I was feeling and what Felicity did.

“That one does not know how to keep her nose out of people’s businesses.”

“I know,” I groan. “I could not invite him and get a million questions from everyone who knows Fels invited him. And I keep him out of my life. Which is fine because I barely know him (even though that kiss felt like I’ve known him for all of eternity). But if I invite him, I’m telling him I’m okay with what he did to me. That we’re okay.”

“YN listen,” she sighs. She says something to someone on her end and I hear a car door close. “Look—sorry just getting in. You’re not that person anymore. I don’t trust him more than you do but just tell him that. So he knows you’re only taking him to get everyone to shut up. Like…use him as a date like he used you.”

“Hm,” that was a good point. “Yeah. That could actually work?”

“Really? I thought I was just saying shite,” Taz laughs. “Okay I really have to go my in-laws are here. Are you alright?”

“Yeah yeah you focus on your stuff. I’ll be by this evening.”

“Love you, bye!”

I call Harry immediately after. He doesn’t pick up so I go back to my desk and consider what to text him when he calls back.

“YN I was still in class sorry.”

“Oh god sorry I forgot!” I look at the time. “Sorry I just assumed you were free.”

“No it’s alright,” he answers. “Are you calling about tomorrow?”

“Yeah…” my mouth is suddenly parched. I get up and walk away from where people could hear me. “So, the thing is my friends are giving me a hard time because I don’t have a date and all that. So sort of the way you used me as a date at that wedding, I could use you at this one. Like if would be doing me a favour?” I cringe as the words come out.

“Oh. Sure…yeah if you want.” He sounds…offended?

“Like if we’re being honest we’ve not really spoken since that night. And I have no reason to trust you and whatever. So this is just…”

“Returning the favour.” He puts it simply.

“Yeah? Yeah! Right. Exactly.” Why was this coming out so horribly.

“I get it,” he says. “I’m glad we talked. I’d be happy to be your plus one tomorrow.”

“Perfect,” I find myself smiling.

***

Taz’s wedding is a dream. An absolute dream. I tell her a million times after the ceremony and I gush to her how much I love her and am proud of her during speeches. Her bridesmaids give their toast, and every person who was at the bachelorette makes sure to tease me about bringing Harry who had been nothing but supportive tonight. He stuck to himself when I was doing maid-of-honour duties, and squeezed my hand encouragingly before my speech because public speaking was not my favourite thing. I had to admit it was nice to have someone here just for me. It had been a while.

When Taz told me she got engaged a couple years ago I always thought it would be Ethan by my side. It was weird that Harry was here, because of Ethan, but also the way he came to be here.

“Hi!!” I shout at Harry after doing shots with the bridesmaids. I was officially tipsy but most of the major wedding traditions were over. We were waiting for the cake cutting and bouquet toss and the first dance. And then it was all fun.

“Hi,” he holds out an arm to guide me to my seat.

“I hate these heels,” I unstrap my feet and groan when I put my feet on the bare floor. “That feels sooo good.”

“Hi!” A chirpy voice says to my right. I peek an eye open and groan again, Felicity has joined the table.

“Hi, Felicity right?” Harry says.

“Fels,” she nudges me. “You glad he came?”

“Whatever,” I shrug.

“She’s happy you came,” Fels tries to make up for my rudeness. “She’s not usually this rude.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Harry says. I cut him a look.

“Oh no she’s very nice. She’s just a bit grumpy probably all the maid of honour duties,” she tries to convince a Harry that’s just sharing an inside joke with me. It does something to me.

“It’s okay,” I put a hand on Fels’. “He’s teasing. I’m allowed to be rude to him.”

Harry laughs and Felicity realizes too late she was sitting in on two people that didn’t need her help to get along.

“Well I’m going to find my date, play nice!”

“Nice suit,” I tug at Harry’s lapels once she’s gone. It was nicer than what he wore the last time we met.

“I borrowed it from a friend. I only have one suit and…well you’ve seen it.”

“Teachers don’t wear suits to work?” I tease.

“Thank god no.” His eyes roam over my bridesmaid dress, an off the shoulder sage dress that honestly reminded me of a folky tinkerbell. “You look beautiful.”

“Flattery won’t get you extra points.” I say whilst flattered. The dress had also reminded me of the colour of his eyes when he greeted me today. Now his eyes stay on me all evening.

The announcement for cake cutting goes off so I walk with Harry to watch. Taz looked beautiful in her embroidered dress and she glows even while narrowly missing cake all over her face. Everyone toasts and she readies for a bouquet toss.

“You’re standing here,” Taz’s cousin centres me. “Because there’s no way I’m catching that.”

“I don’t even have a boyfriend,” I say but the other girls crowd me so I stay put. The bouquet is tossed high and I don’t make much of an effort but it glances off the hand in front of me and lands on me. I squish it against me to keep it from falling.

“YN!” My friends tease me and I hold it up in mock excitement. Taz laughs from up front and I go up to hug her, I’m handed another flute of champagne and I toss it back with my best friend.

“YN’s next,” one of the bridesmaid says. “Cheers!”

I get another drink and down it with the girls. I can’t stop laughing about it. I try to look out for Harry to see how he feels about the bouquet but he must be in a darker corner. I don’t spot him.

I refuse the next drink pushed my way and move to my seat as the couple gets ready for their first dance. Harry’s not there but he sits down shortly after I do.

“Look!” I show him the bouquet. “I caught it!”

“I saw,” he smells the flowers. “I got a picture of you.”

“Let me see!” I hold my hand out and wait for him to find it.

“Oh my god,” I laugh as I zoom into my face as the flowers hit me. “Look at my face! And look at her! This is a great pic…” the words die on my lips. I’d accidentally swiped to the camera roll zooming out and I see dozens of photos of me.

“Oh,” Harry takes the phone from me. “Is that creepy? Sorry I was taking photos to send you since you’re busy having fun I-“

I feel tears threaten my makeup and I clench my mouth closed. Despite all the drinks I suddenly feel incredibly sobered.

I take his phone back and swipe through, he recorded my speech and took a million photos of me with Taz. My chin trembles.

“Hey I’m sorry,” Harry takes the phone back. “I didn’t mean to upset you I’ll delete-“

“No!” I stop him. “Don’t. I want all of them.”

“Why are you…” his confusion is all over his face. “Are you upset?”

“No,” I blink away any tears. “Sorry. No. I’m okay! I’m alright.”

It was stupid but Ethan never took photos of me. Even on important days like birthdays, Christmas, holidays. I had a million candid photos of him but I had to beg and remind him for photos of me. Harry took so many without even asking, just because he knew I would want to look back on the memories I was making. It was such a basic thing to do but it felt like the world to me in this moment.

“Thank you.” I say when he doesn’t make a move. “Honestly thank you. Sorry, ignore what my face is saying! But make sure you send every single one okay?”

“Yeah I will,” he promises. He swipes a fallen tear with a gentle smile. I draw back from his touch and use a napkin to dab at my eyes instead.

“YN you know I’m really sorry,” he says just as the first song comes on.

“No I’m fine!” I shift my chair to face the dancefloor. I position it slightly ahead of Harry so he leans forward to speak to me.

“I mean about the other wedding we went to.”

“Yeah I-“ he looks serious so I stop what I was saying. I turn slightly so I can look at him. “Can we talk about it later?”

“Yeah,” he shakes his head. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Okay,” I smile and turn back to admire the couple but I can sense the emotional turmoil beside me. I push my chair back enough to be side by side with Harry. I lean my head on his shoulder as I watch the married couple dance the first dances of many. When Harry puts his arm around me, his thumb rubs my shoulder. A finger pokes my arm and Dots face pops in beside me to waggle her eyebrows. Was everyone watching me with Harry tonight?!

When the DJ invites everyone else onto the dancefloor I pull Harry up.

“So what was it you were saying?” I ask as we wrap arms around each other.

“I like you a lot YN. A lot. Even when we first met, I started liking you right when you returned my bullshit with sarcasm. You rolled with all my jokes. It was a breath of fresh air.”

I don’t say anything; he had more to say.

“I wish I didn’t do what I did. I sabotaged everything because I was hung up over the wrong girl. And now I’m just a guy to you. A guy you kissed once, I’m just a favour returned.”

“Why are you telling me this now?” I ask.

“Just in case you felt anything, if you thought we could…”

“Harry you lied to me. Embarrassed me. You weren’t a very nice person.”

“I know-“

“I do like this Harry better.”

“Uhm,” he thinks. “Thanks. It’s old Harry, before my life went to hell. Old Harry mixed with some lessons learned. I’m telling you I was at rock bottom when I did what I did.”

“I believe you.” I did.

He sighs in relief. “Thank you.”

We dance quietly for a bit. Until I speak, “I’m trying not to date losers.”

He flexes his jaw, fixating on a spot behind my shoulder.

“I thought you were one,” I tell him honestly. “But I’m not so sure now. But this feels like asking a lot Harry I…”

“You don’t need to respond now,” he urges. “Just think about it.”

“I can’t,” I was terrified of agreeing to a relationship that would hurt me all over again. “I do like you Harry but I don’t know if I can agree to what you want…”

The truth was that Harry was showing me that the glimpses I’d gotten of him throughout the last week were more telling, more consistent than the guy he was when we first met. I was deathly afraid of getting hurt again, and I’m not sure I was willing to take the risk. If that kiss was any indication, I know Harry was telling the truth on his end but I didn’t want a relationship with a guy who started it off by lying.

“I’m-excuse me,” Harry stops mid-dance and walks away. I feel awful but I let him go, watch him disappear to the lobby, and I sit back in my seat. Dots tries to wave me by but I ignore her. The lump in my throat sits heavily and I feel like shit. Especially when a few dances later Harry returns and announces he was going home early. His face is splotchy and it feels awful.

“Are you sure?” I ask him.

“Yeah,” he holds my arm. “Thank you for tonight, and again I’m really sorry about everything.”

I just pull him into a hug, with no words equivalent to what I should say. He squeezes once and lets go.

“Tell Taz thank you for the invite. I’ll see you around.”

“Okay…bye Harry.”

That’s the last I see of him. I head right to the drinks and drink enough to feel okay. I dance with my friends and get as many pictures as my phone can handle in.

At the end of the night I go home to an empty flat and drunkenly download all the dating apps I swore off of. Swiping through like a catalogue, by the time I wake up the next morning I’m well on my way back to the dating scene.

***

I stare at the man in front of me. His profile on the app was exactly the kind of guy I was looking for. And he’d actually made me laugh a few times tonight which was a bonus. But something feels like it’s missing—they all have this last month as I became a serial dater. I was really putting myself out there but nobody made it past date two.

“So how about heading out?” He asks after the bill.

“Yeah! Sure,” I grab my purse and we walk out. He grabs my hand as we step out.

“Want to share a ride?”

“Are we going to the same place?” I ask.

“If you want,” he pulls my hand and places it on his shoulder. He was cute, I could kiss him.

And I do, but it’s just a kiss. Just two mouths kissing. I don’t feel the spark, or the passion.

“Actually,” I pull away. “I forgot I have an early morning meeting so I think I should behave and head home by myself.”

“Oh,” he looks disappointed. “Well maybe we can do something on Friday?”

“Yeah I’ll text you?”

He pecks my lips, “Sounds good.”

I get a car and as I drive away from the date my hands stray to my lips. I remember another kiss, and then I slam the door shut on it. You can’t keep comparing all your kisses to that one!

Except the thing about telling my mind not to think about something, I do. I think about Harry, and question myself like I have been ever since the wedding if I made the wrong choice. Did I push him away too quickly, out of fear? Am I protecting myself or just scared?

I open the text exchange between us like I do weekly and hover my fingers over the keyboard. What do I say? What could I say?

I scroll to the top of the conversation and find his address and plug it into my phone. I was 18 minutes away.

“Excuse me could I change the drop off?” I ask the taxi driver. “I had a change of plans.”

He asks me where and he knew the area enough to take the left and head in that direction.

That was very impulsive. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that?

Adrenaline courses through my body as I pray that he still lived in the same place. What was I going to say?

My leg bounces up and down as I stare out the window, biting down on my lip. This was stupid, I made him bloody cry the last time I saw him. Then again I cried the time before that. Were we equal? Was I twisted enough to think this could all work?

I nearly jump out of the taxi after paying and walk to the front door. Of course, you needed a key card.

With shaking fingers I call Harry.

“Hello?”

I freeze. He was out, the sounds of people and music give that away.

“YN? Is that you?”

I was so stupid! Why did I do this?

“YN?” Now Harry sounds worried. I take a deep breath.

“Sorry! Wrong number. I meant to call som-“

“YN are you alright? Is everything okay?”

The background noise disappears. He must have stepped out.

“Yes sorry to worry you!” I squeak. “Everything’s fine.”

“Why did you call?” He asks as I ask “What are you doing right now?”

We laugh. Harry tells me, “You first.”

“It was an accident…”

“Oh well…a good accident.” I can hear his smile through the phone. “I was just grading final tests at my local pub.”

His local pub…that meant he was close by. I think. My heart picks up speed. “Oh! Is that something you do often?”

“Yeah some of these papers remind me why I’m quitting this job. So I drink to get through them.”

“Giving up on the youth of tomorrow?” I ask. I spot a bench a little ways away and head to it, next to a bike rack.

“Yes!” Harry laughs. “They’ve given up on me too. They’s all assholes nobody listens to me.”

“I would’ve liked to have you as a teacher,” I go for flirting. “None of my grade school teachers were good looking. I could’ve used a distraction.”

“So you’re admitting that I’m good looking,” Harry says just as I spot him heading to his door.

“Yeah in your grey t-shirt, I think so.”

I watch as he whips his head around and scans the area until he spots me.

“I lied,” I get up and wave at him. “I came by to see you but I was embarrassed when you weren’t home.”

“Why-“ his voice sticks. “Why did you come to see me?”

“Well,” by now we’re close enough that I could shout to him but I still use the phone. “I thought about what I said that night and I think I was too harsh.”

“And?” Harry stares at me as I walk up to him.

“And I want to believe that a second impression can be just as important as a first.”

He’s alight in a second, hope injected into his features. I stop a few feet away from him.

“I’ll take that. I’ll take it.”

“Okay,” I move in closer, lowering my phone. My eyes are on his lips and I don’t care that how badly I want to kiss him is plain as day. Because in the moment he reaches for me I know he wants this just as bad.

My mind is wiped clean when he kisses me—I kind of hate myself of a month ago for denying me of this all this time.

It’s indecent, the way we kiss out there. When my mind returns to my body I push him away, flushed and nervous.

“Should we take this up to your place?”

“Why? Are you getting shy?” He teases.

“Your neighbours are getting free entertainment,” I’m out of breath as I talk and this seems to make Harry smile even harder. He presses a hard kiss to me and then leads me by the hand up to his flat. We’re on each other with every pause we take, it’s gross and unlike me but I’m just too happy to stop. The spark, the passion, everything I’d been looking for is here.

“Can I uh,” Harry closes the door behind us as I continue kissing him, my lips finding any part of him. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Sure,” I watch him unbutton my cardigan. “I’ll take a tall glass of whatever you’re serving.”

He smirks and pulls me back in. I jump when he tells me to and he carries me to wherever his bedroom is. I’m barely in the right state of mind to notice anything as I get lost in us. In the way his hands hold me, and the way his moustache feels on my skin. Maybe it’s been a while or maybe it was him but having this after so long makes it taste sweeter than it ever had.

***

“Happy six months,” Harry wraps his arms around me from behind. I’m making us coffee, we were up especially early because we were making the trip to see Harry’s family for the holidays. Usually this is when I went to Taz’s but this year she’d urged me to spend the time with my boyfriend’s family.

She’d been suspicious when I first told her about Harry. But when she saw how happy I was she’d given it her blessings (and I’m pretty sure threatened Harry with some dismemberment). I hadn’t had a big Christmas in a while, and Harry said he had more family coming into town. I was nervous to meet so many new people, people that meant a lot to Harry. But he assured me everyone would love me.

“Happy six month,” I reach up to peck his lips and settle against him. He hums as he tightens his arms around me. I couldn’t believe this was my life now, I was happier than I ever dared to think I could be. I never knew a relationship could be so complementing, so grounding.

Despite our rocky start, that Harry and I had discussed in depth when we first started dating, we were mostly smooth sailing. The way I saw it we met as two damaged people. Somehow we parted from there and ran like parallel lines until we were straightened out enough to meet again. And now we ran together as a pair of lines.

“I’m so lucky,” Harry presses a kiss to my temple, thinking the same thing I had been. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world YN. You make me the luckiest guy in the world.”

“Then that would make me Mrs. Luckiest-Guy-in-the-World,” I joke as I turn in his embrace.

“I’d like that,” he strokes my cheek. “I’m excited to introduce you to everyone tonight.”

“That makes one of us.”

“YN I promise there’s nothing to be nervous about. They already love you because they know you’re the reason I’ve been so…me.”

I swallow the ball of emotion in my chest. We were both just us around each other. No fuss, no pretending. Just us. It wasn’t something I could share with my own family, they barely knew what I was really like. Harry had met my parents separately when they were in town a couple months ago. They’d liked him, but they also liked Ethan so it wasn’t saying much.

“I trust you,” I hold his face in my hands. “Fine.”

“Good,” his hand rubs my back. He pulls me into his chest, crushing me against him until the coffee goes off.

“Thanks love,” Harry says as I hand him a mug.

We chat about nothing as we take our coffees to the couch where we sit snuggled. I feel safe here, it’s a good feeling, a feeling that felt so overwhelmingly new sometimes that it made me want to cry. Which always made Harry laugh.

“I can’t wait to spend this new year together,” I tell him.

“Me too,” his lips press softly onto my temple. “I’m finally excited about the future. I’m doing a job I like and dating a woman I love.”

“I’m happy for us.” I smile up at him.

We sit snuggled on the couch as we sip our morning coffee. I savour everything about this moment.

With Harry life was stable, it was good. I knew I would never pick up my phone and find a text so life-shattering like the ex-text had done to me; I know it was impossible to predict the future but somehow I could tell you that I had a good feeling about it.

———————————

TAGLIST: @tiaamberxx @cherryshouse

[milolunde]

can u list all the main guys and their roles in the tunes bc i only know daffy and bugs and lola kinda rly but no one else😞😞also is roger rabbit relevant at all to them

YES I CAN.

Bugs Bunny- THE Main Character. Young upstart that’s been the “clever funny snarky guy who always gets the upper hand and makes sure the other person feels like an idiot while he does” since the start. Has a gay charm about him that pisses people off when immediately when they enter proximity.

Daffy Duck- THE The Main Character… before Bugs. Was the one to get the upper hand with some hijinks and shenanigans and always win in the end, just without the “cool” edge. Until, of course, Bugs had to be the one to Always Win. This shifted him from a Silly Duck to a generally greedy jealous and spiteful person, especially when paired with Bugs. He’s recently returned to his role as The Silly Guy.

Lola Bunny- originally appearing in the first Space Jam as sex appeal I mean Bugs’ love interest. She could play basketball and didn’t like being called “doll” and that was it. I counted and she had about 10 lines and 3 scenes

In The Looney Tunes Show and Rabbit Run, she’s portrayed as a complete ditz. She’s stupid, airheaded, and lowkey a stalker to Bugs because she’s so unaware of things outside of herself. In Rabbit Run they toned down the stupid and stalker and just made her a ditz who wants to sell her perfume and I LOVE her.

In the second Space Jam she is a Strong Independent Woman… I truly can’t remember if she plays a role other than being a member of the team, but that’s because Space Jam 2 didn’t utilize their characters correctly. Though she’s not much more than a Strong Independent Woman, I super love her. She’s capable and strong… like, become an Amazonian Warrior capable and strong. Anointed by Wonder Woman herself. She also cares for her friends and cares for family and the love others share as she virtually throws away her life’s work to become a Warrior because she hears a dad pleading for her to help his kid… she’s also sporty. Like the first Space Jam, its core that she’s Sporty and Likes Basketball

Then she appears in one episode of Looniversity, the Tiny Toons spinoff Spinoff as a chef. And a surfer. And skate boarder. She’s the Everything-Woman and she makes it look incredibly easy because, for her, it is. She has a Dude Bro Chick voice which I lowkey don’t like, but she’s fun.

Over all, Lola was made to be Bugs Bunny’s Girlfriend, then got her own Thing in The Looney Tunes Show which developed further (and into a better character) in Rabbit Run… then they lost it because god forbid a woman be a ditz. Hey this became more about my opinion on Lola than about Lola but that’s because, in their attempts to make her not a shallow woman character they made her a shallow woman character

OKAY. Okay <3

Yosemite Sam- Rootin’ Tootin’ souther cowboy with anger issues and guns

Elmer Fudd- THE hunter and THE adversary of Bugs Bunny… though I always thought adversary wasn’t the right word, as it seems more like Bugs messes with Elmer for fun, not because he HAS to outsmart him to survive being hunted

Tasmanian “Taz” Devil- I’ve seen him majorly in Bugs Bunny cartoons and he doesn’t interest me that much so I’m not sure if he’s bigger in a different set of cartoons. He’s a tornado-spinning rampaging beast that can destroy anything in his path but isn’t very smart. Always outsmarted by Bugs but that’s usually solved with Taz eating whatever tomfoolery is set in front of him

Porky Pig- before Bugs Bunny and Elmer there was Daffy Duck and Porky. Typically the victim of Silly Duck Daffy’s silliness. Sometimes his partner in crime. In The Looney Tunes Show Porky is A Loser by trade and usually victim to Daffy being a bag of dicks, I was pleasantly surprised that is different from their other portrayals as a duo

Sylvester the Cat- sometimes a domestic cat, sometimes and alley cat, always chases tweety bird

Tweety Bird- yellow canary of suspicious gender. Has to outsmart Sylvester as a means of survival… but they have a Tom and Jerry relationship half the time where they’re super trying to kill each other but would be devastated if the other was actually gone

Granny- the sweet old lady who either owns Sylvester or Tweety or Both depending on the cartoon. Also the “sweet but tough” grandmother trope. In The Looney Tunes Show she and tweety fought the Germans at war in France

Wile E. Coyote- silent coyote who uses ACME products to try and catch the Road Runner on Route 66

Was also in some Bugs Bunny cartoons where he did speak. Was a self proclaimed genius (“Wile E. Coyote. Geeeenius.”) and inventor. I haven’t seen media outside of Bugs Bunny cartoons where he speaks other than using signs

Road Runner- says meep meep, is fast and blue, and doesn’t even have to outsmart Wile E. It’s in their unwritten-written rules that Wile E. is thwarted by his own incompetence

Marvin the Martian- funny little guy who wants to take over earth for mars

Foghorn Leghorn- so like he’s The Rooster on this farm and he wants to fuck all the chickens and has some crazy Hero Syndrome about it, putting the farm in danger to prop himself up what a virgin

Pepe Le Pew- he’s a skunk that harasses Penelope because he thinks she’s also a skunk. He smells bad and is also French. His whole thing is he’s a diehard swoon French romance man but Penelope Does Not Like Him also he fucking stinks; I haven’t seen media where this is different

Penelope Pussycat- gets harassed by Pepé Le Pew because she’s a black and white cat and he thinks she’s a skunk. Sometimes she gets to beat the shit out of him <3

There was a short they used to show in theaters before movies called Carrotblanca, a parody of Casa Blanca, where Penelope is Bugs’ ex-lover who finds him again by pure chance. Their relationship left Bugs an actual alcoholic and disturbed to the point of he heard a single note of the piano of a certain song he’ll flip out- the song is Penelope’s favorite… worth mentioning as we’ll that Daffy is there with him as he RELAPSES INTO ALCOHOLISM BECAUSE PENELOPE IS THERE and threatens to kick he out when she comes pleading to Bugs for help. She kicks his ass, so… Anyway, she and Bugs end up together again at the end of the short, kissing beneath a parachute and dancing in an empty airport … lot…

As for Rodger Rabbit.

No

That guy means nothing to the Looney Tunes, BUT the Looney Tunes DO mean something to Rodger. Who Framed Rodger Rabbit is (almost) entirely stand alone, referencing and parodying both WB and Disney cartoons and characters.

In the crazy ass Meta Verse Actor World of Looney Tunes, the closet relationship Rodger has to any of the Looney Tunes is that he might work on the same set sometimes, Jessica Rabbit might be a performer, and whatever the movie e Who Framed Rodger Rabbit means to the characters depending on if you view it as a movie where the characters played roles or as events that happened to the characters that is only a movie in real life…

[barry-j-blupjeans]

TAZ NC Day 3: Three!

Magnus was never good at sleeping. He was too— too restless for that. His legs could never quite stay still, his mind would never shut up. And he got overwhelmingly hot far too quickly. And then overwhelmingly cold after he threw all the blankets off. His ma used to tell him that he slept like a puppy, thrashin' around and chasing things in his sleep. When he told Julia that, she had laughed and said that just about summed it up.

His sleep had gotten worse since he lost Julia. A lot of things had gotten worse since then.

Magnus sighed, turning over. The tarp he had laid over the ground didn't do much to soften the various rocks and sticks, and his sleeping bag wasn't any help either. Next to him, Merle snoozed away. He had lost his pants somewhere since he had laid down and Magnus didn't even want to think about that. On his other side, Taako was propped up near a tree, snug in his sleeping bag. Magnus knew he was fucked when Taako fell asleep before him. Taako wasn't even supposed to sleep, he was pretty sure.

He turned over onto his back this time, looking up at the starry sky. It had been… Gods, had it been six years already? Nearly six years, at least, since he lost Julia. Since he lost Steven and Raven's Roost and the little budding hope he had in his future. He felt like it had barely been half that time and, at the same time, it had been twice as much. Time didn't mean much to him after that. Nothing really did.

He had wandered aimlessly for a while, brushing off housing offers by those who survived the bombings. They still saw him as a hero back there. How could he be a hero if he hadn't even properly got rid of their villain? How could he be a hero at all? He supposed it was that kind of thinking that got him into the advertising business. At the very least, he was helping someone. And if he got Got while trying to fight some stupid thing? Well, that was no one's fault but his own.

In the adventuring business, there were very few places to mess up. And Magnus had made his fair share of mistakes, but he always got the job done. No one really cared until Merle.

Here's the thing about Merle: He just kept popping up every time Magnus thought he was gone. That man was a disaster in a way that even Magnus wasn't, but gods-damn, he had great timing. His shitty healing had gotten Magnus out of a few of his worse spots, even as Magnus had begged him to leave. After one particularly nasty wound (turns out taking on a pack of hellhounds— hellpuppies, really— wasn't the smartest thing to do alone), Merle had practically glued himself to his side.

"You don't get to die on my watch," he had said. As if saving people who would much rather just deal with the consequences of their actions was an everyday occurrence for him. When it became obvious that Merle wasn't leaving, Magnus stopped complaining.

And they roped Taako in eventually. Well, Magnus saved him from some kind of demon bear— it's— it's a whole story by itself, but the point remained: Taako got roped into sticking with them and suddenly Magnus was very aware of what his actions looked like from the outside.

They weren't— they weren't exactly your standard adventuring group. Hell, more often than not they got more injured on the way to the monster than they did actually fighting the thing. But for once, it was okay. For once, Magnus felt… a part of something. In a way that mattered. It wasn't just him anymore. He had two people on his side once more.

Three was a pretty good number.

Hammer and Tongs had three bedrooms attached to it. Two upstairs and one downstairs near the shop. Magnus used to have the downstairs room until it became obvious he and Julia weren't going to be spending the night in their own rooms anymore. Steven had not so much traded as he just decided to move all of Magnus's things into Julia's room and all of his own things downstairs. That left an empty bedroom of course, and they had plans to— for—

"Mags."

Merle's voice startled him. Magnus jumped, reaching for his ax, but Merle sat up very quickly, hushing him.

"You're gonna wake up Taako," he hissed.

"Taako isn't asleep, homie," Taako said from the depths of his sleeping bag.

Magnus exhaled, trying to get his heart rate back down. Merle reached over to take his hand, squeezing tightly.

"You okay?" he asked.

Magnus had to squint to see him in the dark— Merle was squinting too, but that was probably because his glasses were off. Taako's eyes just about poked out of his sleeping back, looking at them both with what could either be disdain or worry. It was hard to tell with Taako sometimes, but Magnus got the message anyway.

"I…" Magnus glanced between them. He swallowed back some tears. "I will be, I think."

[dailyadventureprompts]

More idle curiosity than a serious question but- do you have other systems that you’re interested in? Most of your articles feels very DnD-ish, if that makes any sense.

To be honest, I'm not really sure?

I've been chasing the ideal d&d campaign since I was 12, when I lost my first chance to play, and ever since then the game has had a dedicated place in my mind.

In many ways, 5e is my perfect game system: A simple but robust mechanical chassis that you can slot new rules modules into like expansion packs, edit when needed, and supplement with a near infinite amount of community created material when you want a new monster/class option/item (which I ALWAYS do).  D&D’s heroic tone is likewise paired with the stories I want to tell, of flawed but good characters taking on the problems of the world and making a brighter future as they grow into a found family. It's also the easiest version of d&d for new people to pick up and get invested in, which is a godsend when you're a weirdo like me who gets to know people best/show off my best self when you're together around a gaming table.

That said, there’s a couple systems that I’ve seen here and there over the years that I’ve been interested in trying out:

Powered by the Apocalypse: If I had to pick up a new game system, it’d probably be this one. I was intrigued by TaZ’s dip into it in their second season, and I liked how modular it sounded, but given the game’s focus on player motivated action, I’m worried I’d be deeply out of my comfort zone. That said, if someone offered me a spot in a short campaign, I’d be hardpressed to say no

Lancer: I know next to nothing about this system other than it’s surrealist post apocalyptic mecha which is a combination I’m INTO.  I’m also a tremendous fan of the creator’s webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons, which you should be too. No Seriously, Read it.

SW5e: I know it’s technically cheating to have a 5e derived system on this list but deep diving into this fan hack and watching all the fun the Dimension20 cast had with it during their Starstruck campaign made me REALLY want to do a starwars game.

Blades in the Dark: I’ve got numerous campaigns in my backlog entirely based around heisting, which I suppose could be ported to blades well enough. 

This recent clusterfuck with the OGL has me in a bit of a state, I have to admit. D&D has always been my happy place, and the part of me that wanted to be a great DM was one of the core pillars that the rest of me solidified around. This era of the game ending feels personal, and considering other systems at this time feels a bit..... existential?

[foxydivaxx]

More Idol Sanji headcanons

- Sanji speaks French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Arabic and Japanese

- He is of mixed heritage because his mum is quarter Lebanese (Taz inspired this part)

- He often curses in multiple languages all at once much to everyone’s amusement

- He speaks with his ATL accent as his default but every once in a while his old Brooklyn accent comes to play, usually when he is pissed

- He actually did plastic surgery on his face because his label forced him which added more to his self esteem issues and caused complications that landed him in the hospital. He got rid of everything and is back to his good old natural looks

- He loves cats and always plays with Street cats especially when he is in Turkey

- He once almost got killed by a fan at an award show. Thankfully no one got hurt but that traumatised him

- He and Niji have the same body measurements and often borrow each other’s clothes

- He and his brothers play games together and often place bets during soccer matches. Who ever loses the bet has to pay the winner 100 bucks. Yonji won majority of their bets and once Sanji stole Yonji’s cash and ran off with Yonji chasing him

- Sanji does not like food with a sour taste

- He loves seafood and sweet stuff

-For someone with a sexy image, he had low self esteem no thanks to his past trauma and constant media scrutiny. Certainly did not help matters that his record label forced him not to speak up dring the Aogiri case. That all changed during the court case with his dad where he finally spoke up about his past trauma for the first time.

-When One Piece began, Sanji actually quit being a popstar for a brief period. It was thanks to Luffy that he started recording music again.

[yourbelgianthings]

taz november celebration fic 5: prompt soft

it was pretty obvious to me what i had to do with this one, so enjoy your beef, everybody! ~650 words, tw car crash mention, steeplechase ep 10/11 spoilers @taznovembercelebration

The heist of the Clean and the explosive car chase through Gutter City left every member of Poppy's Pals traumatized. Emerich was haunted by what he had done to a hardlight construct, Montrose got a taste for danger and became reckless, and Beef started second guessing what they were doing after truly ending up in harm's way, developing a soft side. Once Sticky Fingers Paul Pantry paid the crew, Montrose pulled Emerich into the back to try and pull him out of his depressed state, leaving Beef on his own. He sank to the floor in front of one of the brightly colored and flashing arcade machines, crossing his muscular arms on top of his knees and laying his head down on them. The sound of footsteps approached, but without even looking up, he said, "Fuck off, Poppy," sounding more tired than mad, and they retreated again. God, what happened here? He was Beef Punchley, sure, past his prime, but still Beef Punchley nonetheless. Why was he scared all of a sudden? How did this get to be too much so fast? Somehow, it now seemed like Montrose was the strong one, thriving off of danger and being in high-adrenaline situations. Beef's physical strength was no longer going to cut it. He ran his fingers across the sleeve of tattoos on each of his arms. Their familiar designs and colors somehow seemed strange now. The heist had been a success, they got the prism of the Clean back to Sticky Fingers Paul Pantry and out of being blackmailed, but he personally still felt like a failure. In his career, he had never second guessed himself. He had always wanted to be a professional arm wrestler, and of course working for Dentonic in Ustaben wasn't his first choice after the scandal, but it never felt wrong. Until now, that was, but the problem was the heists. If he could stop being a criminal and just go back to the regular old routine at Poppy's Place, that would be fine by him, but he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that it was too late for that. He inhaled deeply, clenched all his muscles, exhaled, and relaxed them. That was enough spiraling, he trusted Emerich and Montrose and they'd find a way forward somehow. Beef got up, stretched, and headed for the Buttercream; he had something in mind he'd love to win somehow and share with the other two. Later that evening, he knocked on the door of the back room. "Go away, Poppy!" Montrose called. Beef laughed and replied, "Don't worry, it's me." The door opened and he saw Montrose standing there, still not changed out of his coat that got burned in the car chase, and Emerich dozing on one of the chairs. He revealed the bottle of bourbon (that he had won, and at a game he never played before, too!) from behind his back. "I figured we could all use a drink after everything that went down earlier." Hearing another voice, Emerich awoke with a start, but relaxed seeing it was just Beef. After talking with Montrose and getting a chance to rest, he looked a little bit less like a ghost. Montrose was still focused on the bottle, his mask displaying a mildly surprised expression. "Beef, where did you find this? It looks like part of the commemorative park anniversary batch from five years ago." "I didn't think we were in the habit of asking each other questions, Montrose. Unless you want to start answering them?" he replied teasingly. "Touché." They all laughed and sat down to share a well earned drink together. There wasn't exactly a lot of time in the lives of professional thieves to process trauma, but a couple shots with their friends? That they could do, no matter how haunted, reckless, or soft.

[ignitesthestxrs]

coffee shop au ☕ 

D: Not my favorite. I avoid it if I can, but it won’t necessarily put me off reading something.

look if someone said Read This Coffee Shop AU It's Fucking Great then will i refuse to read it? i will not, i will read it and i will probably enjoy it

but jess, i fucking hate this trope. the concept is literally, take your ship from whatever heightened reality setting they exist in, and put them in the most normcore situation you could imagine.

like sure i enjoy seeing my local starbucks baristas, it's always fun when i step in and someone goes 'hi hannah!' and i go 'wow i really spent a couple of years having a frappucino for breakfast every day', they are lovely people! i do not want to read fiction about this interaction. i especially don't want to read fiction about this interaction when it involves characters who like, usually are fighting monsters or dealing with political intrigue or are in Space.

--unless you're Taz Muir and you know what you're doing (using the concept of an AU to show the connection between two characters and the coffeeshop AU is not the only thing you show, just one way in which these two people will end up together across the vast spectrum of reality). then space coffee shop AU is acceptable.

but overall. Over All. i never really want to write or read anything that is like, Lowering the stakes, you know? i realise i am saying this off the back of writing a million 500 word shorts over the years that had coffee shop AUs and highschool AUs and Wedding AUs but that a) was partly because you feed the people what they're hungry for and b) i do in general enjoy the puzzle of AUing things and 500 words is not a commitment, it's just a little bite of easy creativity to spin off because someone prompted you and you can. the junk food of AUing.

general note: obvs it's fine if this is your jam, read and write what you want!! chase your bliss! my bliss is simply not Here

[arijensineink]

Incorrect Quotes Tag

Thank you @primroseprime2019 for the other tag which is my FAVEEE incorrect quotes. Here's the generator.

I'm working on developing OCs for The Candy King since the first draft is an Ateez fic/OC mashup I'll be posting on AO3. Meet Taz + Pearl!

For context, Taz is a pirate captain and Pearl is his longtime lover/first mate.

_

Pearl: Can you please be serious for five minutes? Taz: My record is four, but I think I can do it.

_

Pearl, addressing the crew: And if you have any suggestions feel free to put them in the suggestion box. Taz: But – that’s just a trash can. Pearl: It sure is!

_

Pearl: Okay, truth or dare? Taz: Truth Pearl: How many hours have you slept this week? Taz: Taz: ...Dare Pearl: Go to bed. Taz: I don’t like this game.

-

Pearl: What is your biggest weakness? Taz: I can be uncooperative. Pearl: Okay, can you give me an example? Taz: No.

_

(bonus with Zebrin who is just a crew member who inevitably always ends up having to deal with their shit)

Pearl: Taz and I were crossing the street, and this dude drove by and honked at us Zebrin: *Sighing* What did Taz do? Pearl: They chased him to the next red light, then reached into his window and... Taz: Who wants a steering wheel?

~

I'm gonna do an open tag on this one, if you see this and want to do it go for it!

[tazzstrickland]

    ★ spotted !! TAZ STRICKLAND on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid ! i heard he’s the most fucked up DIRECTOR in town . triggering content ! 

PINTEREST. CONNECTIONS. PHOTO ALBUM.

NAME   :   taz strickland  .   NICKNAMES   :   t  .   BIRTHDAY  /  AGE   :   september 29th  ,  1991   &   thirty - one  .   GENDER  /  PRONOUNS   :   cismale  & he / him  .  POSITIVE  TRAITS   :   creative  ,  entertaining  ,  interesting  ,  talented  ,  imaginative  ,  open  .   NEGATIVE  TRAITS   :   cold  ,  careless  ,  reckless  ,  bad omen  ,  shocking  .

* SPARK NOTES

your  favourite  tormented  artist  ,  a  writer  and  screenplay  director  that  follows  in  the  footsteps  of  the  most  famous  horror  /  thriller  writers  of  centuries  gone  by  .  harolded  for  his  nightmareish  imagination  and  chased  by  tmz  for  his  reckless  behaviour  .  often  found  in  the  back  of  a  police  car  ,  being  kicked  out  of  hollywoods  hottest  spots  or  surrounded  by  fans  as  his  odd  behaviour  is  branded  a  ‘  modern  art  piece  .  ‘  this  man  has  a  warning  sign  on  his  said  that  do  not  touch  me  but  it  doesn’t  stop  anyone  .  little  is  known  in  the  public  arena  about  his  history  because  he  has  a  way  of  making  people  obsess  over  the  present  .    

* HISTORY

beyond this point there will be triggering content in relation to childhood abuse , intricate family relationships , cps removal , overdose , drug / alcohol abuse , suicidal instances , criminal activity , violence in varying degrees . 

taz strickland was born on september 29th , 1991 . 12 months before this his sister tala strickland had been born on september 1st , 1992 . raised in chaos , it’s all you know . raised in chaos , it’s how you grow . the two children would spend the formative years of their life watching their mother and father(?) in a non-functional relationship which seemed to crash and burn at every opportunity . they were too young to understand but it left a lasting imprint on them . by the time taz turned five then his father was gone and he would never remember his face . 

1997 , tarron strickland is born and tala and taz probably should have felt the urge to protect their baby sister but they were too busy being 6 and 7 . having a baby sister was a lot of responsibility . they move into their grandpas house that year . grandpa doesn’t speak , he just sits in his chair and stares vacantly into the distance ; taz and tala take care of tarron until one day the police arrive and take the children away . their mother has been arrested for grand theft auto , the man who’s house they’re living in isn’t their granfather at all , he’s a non verbal patient of her home care service . they stay with an aunt for one year and seven months and life is good . 

2000 , trinity strickland is born and she wasn’t like the other children , she had a boundless energy and resilience that they had never been blessed with . their mother is out and they move into a two bedroom apartment , their mother loves trini , she is animated when she holds her . taz things , she’s never looked so happy . six months later she disappears for a week and returns with a new boyfriend , this is your father . they’re scared when they sit at the dinner table , they learn not to make eye contact . 

2001 . tobias stickland is born and he isn’t like the other children , not even trini ... when tobe is sad then he cries and cries and cries and nobody can calm him down . taz and tala don’t want any more siblings , they are fatherless again . 2003 . their mother comes home and she’s pregnant again , she says she’s going to name the baby tigger .  taz and tala lock themselves in the closet and barricade it even though they are heading into being teenagers . tarron takes up the role as family matriarch from the youngest of ages , she bosses them around , screams , shouts & stomps her feet . where’s mom ? stop crying tobe , she’s coming home ! she always does .

2005 . their mother hadn’t came home , the children are taken into care again after their landlord goes to check on the rent arrears . tala , taz and tarron are in one home and tobe and trini are in another . taz and tala can’t stand the sound of tarron crying , there’s not a sympathetic bone in their bodies . tala tells stories full of lies , taz just wants to be the centre of attention , the three of them become close as they head into teenage years or through them . taz thinks it’s us against the world and if it’s not us , it’s me against the world . 

2007 . their mother wins back custody from the state , she never gave them up , she says . she was just getting clean , she says , she still has custody of tig who was born while she disappeared . they go through family time , contact , get to the finish line and move into a new house ... this one has four bedrooms . that’s good because their mother locks them all inside one when her friends come over . trini tries to play games , tala tells her stories , tobe cries and tarron holds their new baby brother and tells him that one day , this is all going to be just fine . six months later , she announces proudly that she’s pregnant again . have another fucking baby and i’ll push you down the stairs ! i’ll kill it ! taz tells her ... the rest of the children remember this forever . six months later , tasha is born . 

2008 . cps threatens to take the children away and their mother insists they run away , they leave their house to move into one of her new boyfriends . she makes the children hide in an attic upstairs any time there are people around , tala and tash are 16 and 17 now so they’re responsible for looking after the babies but they do a terrible job ... for once taz almost feels like he should probably try and do something useful . endless arguments within the family ensue . 

2009 . the year that tala runs away from home with a boyband member and pretends she doesn’t remember she has a whole family , the year that taz gets arrest because his mother accuses him of assaulting her when they get in an argument , the year that tarron finally gets sick of being a mother to the family , the year trini almost gives up home , the year tobe almost drowns and everyone says it was an accident ... tobe and tasha just exist . when he gets bailed out by a distant relative , taz goes home and sets his step fathers car on fire as a final good bye ... the other children never forget .

2010 . taz , at 19 years old begins a community college creative writing course where he barely turns up to class without stinking of booze . he sells prescription pills from his doctor on campus but never gets busted , he doesn’t do a hard days work in his life ... he’s alive but barely breathing . by the time he finishes in 2012 then he has one solid piece of work which gets printed , a chance encounter leading to him receiving what he assumes will be five minutes of fame but turns out to be much more ... 

2014 . an offer of interest from someone from a famous writing room , taz comes on board to offer creative input in a new thriller series based on the original scream movies . as a consultant , he thrives even though he doesn’t really care . 

2016 . the year that tobe crashes his car into a tree after multiple suicide attempts in his late teens . taz doesn’t come home . he ignores tarrons calls . tala is still touring with that band she ran away with but there’s something off about her pictures , taz knows ... she’s following in her mothers footsteps . 

2018 . the year that taz co-directs his first award winning movie , the premier is later that year and with something to show , for some reason , he invites his mother ... she doesn’t respond to his letter . on the night of the premier then trini attends in support ... on the sidelines before she leaves she tells taz that the year he left , the rest of the children were taken ... he wants to feel bad but he can’t even summon a response . 

2019 . taz gets in touch with his siblings , tash and tig . tig hates him , you wished i was never born ! you’ve never cared about any of us ! tash was too young to know anything , she’s the only one that made it out half alive . taz burns the letters from his siblings , every photograph of his life before ... cuts off all contact . eat your heart out . i’m alone now . 

2022. taz has directed a few feature films , he’s known in the horror / thriller category and a classic hollywood train wreck but people love him for it . he’s completely indifferent to his life , he doesn’t have any real compassion or pull in any direction nor real sense of passion . 

* WCS .

past flings

casual friends

people who dislike him

anything really

[aldieb]

every time i enjoy a new ttrpg show i must also accept the fact that i will always be chasing the high of starting taz balance. this doesn’t have to do with the relative quality of the shows—it’s just that absolutely nothing is ever going to match knowing like 1 thing abt dnd or podcasts in general and then being whisked away on a totally new adventure in a form i had never conceived of before

[pazodetrasalba]

Girlbossing (and 3)

Dear Caroline:

There's a book I once translated for a friend, who was running a non-profit, small, philosophically-oriented publishing house. I wasn't too keen on the book itself, but it was some food for thought, after you extracted the naiveté, woo mysticism and the weird undertones in sexuality. It was TAZ, by Hakim Bey.

The main gist of it is the creation of autonomous zones, places that elude temporary power structures and controls and allow for an instantiation of anarchist utopias. Said utopias are, perforce, impermanent, as State(s) and Society are always chasing after them and snuffing them out. And yet like a virus, or a persistent fungus, they sprout again, just out of reach, in a place you didn't expect and get to live for another day.

Leftists generally love to wax lyrically about these 'spaces of resistance', but the anarchy can be capitalist as well. From a certain point of view, Hong Kong was this sort of capitalist utopia in a sea of Chinese red, a weird product of refurbished colonialism. I think I mentioned in a previous post my fascination with Kowloon Walled City, a story I came about through the intermediation of the sci-fi writer William Gibson, who is particularly good at painting weird, dirty, lived and fascinating liminal spaces of anarcho-capitalism.

But all things must pass. Since 1997 Hong Kong's share of China's GDP has dropped from 18.4% to 2.1%. You were living, perhaps, through the last stages of that oriental dream that has woken up to find the city subsumed into the PRC's dystopia. Not that the dream didn't have its sharp edges to begin with, though. Such is the nature of the world we inhabit.

Quote:

The book describes the socio-political tactic of creating temporary spaces that elude formal structures of control. The essay uses various examples from history and philosophy, all of which suggest that the best way to create a non-hierarchical system of social relationships is to concentrate on the present and on releasing one's own mind from the controlling mechanisms that have been imposed on it

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

Hi there Peahen mom, can we see another addition to the DI5 incident au? How about T-bone and Maggie this time?

((Hi dear, hope your well this evening. Sure we can add another chapter to this DI5 incident au. But I was always curious to write these two so one moment.))

((And Maggie belongs to my amazing friend @demon-blood-youths ))

Silver butterfly mun/Peahen mom

It seems to be raining this time during the day or early morning. Even with the sun being up, no one was outside unless they were trying to survive. Right now, another was doing just that. T-bone, member of the Shallow butterflies were running away while carrying someone on his back.

He had blood on his forehead but he sees and heard some infected demons chasing him while hissing and snarling at him. "Tch, shit shit shit!" He keeps running but he stomps the ground showing a fire ice spears that goes back towards the infected impaling a few as they were frozen over or screeching in pain.

He keeps on running down the street passing cars on fire or fire hydrants spraying water all over. He was more worried about the one he was carrying. Maggie, a member of the DBT was knocked out and it seems she was like this for a while. He and her were lost together trying to find their friends even the young ones Gerald, Taz, Ping, and Timmy. However, he found out they were alright and in a safe place thanks to a very weak signal from the healers!

However, they lost contact with them where this hoard of infected was trying to kill them. But why was he carrying Maggie? Well, T-bone and her were fighting off the infected together but that's when one attacked and bit Maggie. He knew she got infected even if he blames himself for not doing better. He's been traveling with her still keeping her safe but now she's passed out from this thing.

'Just hold on Maggie, I'm going to get you somewhere safe..' he thought running but didn't hear anymore infected when he keeps on running. Later that morning, he was able to find a safe house and bandaged Maggie up who was resting on the couch. He sighed to see the blood was cleaned up though, he even noticed the red like veins were gone too.

As he remembered from the book, the veins he saw a few days back were gone. Did this mean she was alright now or was it going to get worse? Even so, he still felt worried to touch her hand hoping she was going to be alright. Just resting there like she was in a coma.

Even now, he didn't know how badly the infecting was hitting her. So he stood guard to wait for her to wake up while having some cold water in case she did. For a while, she didn't wake up just resting there but she was breathing slowly as she turns her head to the side.

However, in two hours, T-bone was getting a cold cloth for her when he was going to see something that worried him. "Alright, I got some more. I need to be sure she is alright...." he said walking into the room. But as he did, he stops to see what is in front of him.

Maggie was shaking in her sleep but wincing as well. She was panting heavily like she was sweating or was something wrong? "Maggie!?" he rushes over to her side seeing her gripping her shirt as she was sweating. He can see the extra set of fangs under her lips but he saw her crying.

"Easy Maggie easy!" he said keeping her still but he saw her shaking even more gripping her shirt hard that he takes her hand so she didn't rip it. Her grip was strong but he was worried.

'What is happening to her!? Why is she shaking like this?' he thought trying to calm her down. "Maggie, wake up! Come on damn it wake up!" he said trying to wake her up with the shake of her shoulders.

At first he was worried she wouldn't wake up with the trashing and crying. Just what is happening right now?! "Maggie!!" he shouted for her to suddenly tackle him in her sleep. She hisses at him while almost ready to chock him but he held her wrists to keep her from strangling him.

"Maggie, it's me wake up please! Can you hear me!?" he said struggling in her hold. However, he saw her glaring in her sleep using her strength to try and get down to suddenly bite his shoulder. He winces from the bite while she drew blood but when doing this....

"........." she slowly begins to wake up wondering what is happening. 'Wait, what the hell? Did I pass out again?' she thought. 'And why do I taste something in my..' as she focused her eyes she felt she was holding someone down.

"!?" she quickly sits back up to look down that T-bone was panting from the bite but Maggie's eyes widen to get off to look at him.

"S..Shit! T-bone, are you alright?! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"I..It's fine, it's fine. I was trying to wake you up when you were sweating and looking like you were in pain." he explains to see her cover her mouth then lowers it. She saw some drops of blood on her fingers growing worried of what she did.

"....Maggie?"

"I...I bit you..Oh god T-bone I'm sorry. I..I don't know what came over me. I just..." she looked silent now and yet, T-bone sits up ignoring the bite to look worried to her.

".....What did I....."

"You only bit me and it's fine. I'm just happy your alright and awake. You were shaking like you had a fever or something..but It might be due to that bite from those things.." he said seeing Maggie look at him then down again. That's right; she and him were fighting off a few when one ambushed her and bit her.

Damn those things! Their the reason she behaved differently for the few days. To the weird cravings of not food..but demon blood. Looking worried, she covers her eyes trying to think when T-bone was by her side. "Maggie-"

"Sorry, I'm......this is going so fast. With everyone split up and..Gerald..Taz....." she was more worried about them right now but T-bone was worried about Timmy too.

"Don't worry Maggie, we will find the others. I know they are in safe zones too or trying to find us. You have to stay strong." he said.

".....I..I know. I don't usually let anything get near me like that. But those damn things or at least one did. I let my guard down and I got this infection too..." she sighed.

"Yeah but it's been days since you were bit. I think the other effects are kicking in now. Even when it's craving demon blood." he was worried and yet Maggie hated this. She was going to find those damn infected demons and make them pay. But as she moved she held her head feeling dizzy.

"Easy now.." he said keeping her still and yet, Maggie only sighed to close her eyes.

"Damn it...I hate feeling like this..." she grumbled but T-bone sighed.

"I know but you can fight through that infection Maggie. Your really tough so this is nothing.....however, I'll be here for you even if it gets worse. I will be here to help you." he said but she blinks to hear this then looks at her lap.

"Thanks T." she said.

"Sure but for now you rest up....you been out for a few days..but if you need to, I'll feed you to keep you stable alright?" he said to see her nod slowly. For now, they found a safe place for resting but T-bone will be sure to aid Maggie if she needs it. Even when it comes to giving demon blood.

[fallout-lou-begas]

watched Shida vs Saraya from last night and

hikaru's ring gear is SOOOOO good

i don't want to sound mean but i care so little for saraya's ringwork that it has a poisonous effect on my ability to care for any match she's in even when i love her opponent

the sheer boring repetitiveness of outside interference and spray paint is part of what made the outcasts angle so godawful and it sucked to see them do it again (hopefully for the final time) BUT it was worth it to cement TIMELESS toni storm's face turn by having her chase ruby out with a shoe

the way the commentators constantly call it a conflict between the outcasts and "the AEW originals" or "homegrowns" is just cringe. it's always been cringe. the whole storyline is just irredeemably lame

it was INSANE how hot the crowd was, basically nonstop cheering for shida and booing for saraya, i haven't been watching wrestling much more than a year but i have never seen a crowd so viciously hungry for a specific match outcome. just an entire stadium of people ready for shida to kill this clown. SO fucking validating especially since saraya's got pure Go Away heat

i love a good boo-boo wheel rolltrap finish

shida triple-champ :')

this should've been the main event

excalibur: "that poor guy, all he wanted to see was a remake of dragon force for sega saturn. and now his sign, just torn to shreds." taz: "i'm not into racquetball."

[blitz-and-hearth]

Taz Graduation/general classic fantasy au. Or the one where somehow your nature summer boy healer is a Rogue