#and I don't have a family to visit this year sooooo

[solitarelee]

BEAR WITNESS TO THE UNDERWHELMING FRUITS OF MY JEWISH LABORS

THIS TOOK ME ALMOST TWO HOURS. WHY YOU ASK. Because I made everything from scratch. It was my first time making unleavened bread (easier than I thought) and baba ghanouj (exactly as difficult as I thought). It wasn't my first time cutting up a massive side of salmon, though. If you're wondering if I overcooked it; yeah sorry. ;-; I was cooking so many things simultaneously.

ANYWAY CHAG FUCKING SAMEACH THIS IS THE PASSOVER I DON'T STARVE!!!! THIS IS THE PASSOVER I HAVE MONEY FOR FOOD I CAN EAT!

[six-of-ravens]

anyway the current mental argument I'm having is that I "should have" spent probably $100+ and dozens of hours fixing my old quilt instead of buying a new $20 blanket from walmart.

listen, there are holes in this thing so big I can fit my foot through them (and on multiple occasions have woken up like that). it's a secondhand, mass manufactured quilt and it did die before its time because my old washing machine was an absolute menace and wore holes in it immediately, but also it's not like some family heirloom that I should feel awful about replacing!! brain, stop beating yourself up for being a normal human!!

[mickyschumacher]

Can we have a part two of baby fever?

𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 𝐅𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐓. 𝟐 .ೃ࿐

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: pregnant with charles' baby, in a surprise turn of events, he's been able to keep his hands off of you. but just how long does that restraint last when he's faced with a problem: the tenderness of pregnancy? or in which, charles is struck yet again with the case of baby fever. 𝐏𝐓. 𝟏 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄!

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: established relationship, 18+ (minors DNI), unprotected sex (wrap it if u don't want dem babies), breeding kink (although atp idk), lactation kink, mutual orgasms, pussy eating, again pussy rubbing(?), cumming inside, reader is sensitive as shit again, poor interpretation of pregnancy terminology, fluff at the start and towards the end, minimal use of french endearments, a criminal minds reference from yours truly <3

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: charles leclerc x fem!reader

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 3k+

𝐀/𝐍: everyone wanted another one! sooooo here it is! i wasn't sure whether to do this during or after pregnancy but i ended up choosing the former. hope you like it ♡︎ see you lot next year :)

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

⋆  •°.  。  .°•  ⋆

You knew the exact day, hour, minute, and second the two lines on that test appeared and confirmed the wish you and Charles had been waiting for. But what got you there... now that was a mystery. It was like finding that one specific good needle in a stack of needles.

Ever since your boyfriend had mentioned children to you, you and Charles have spent more time acting like animals in heat. It was lewd, obscene, sometimes immoral given the places it happened, but God was it hot.

You were currently coming towards the end of your second trimester. Your baby bump wasn't visible to the naked eye when you wore clothes but no one would also deny that you were pregnant. Apparently, your baby girl (yes a girl, the already doting Charles couldn't be more thrilled) was the size of a banana.

Besides feeling sick, having odd cravings, and being unusually hormonal, you were heavily preparing for your due date. Honestly, you didn't need to prepare that much. Charles had been working on it himself with both of your families so you didn't feel stress. And as sweet as it was, you couldn't help it. You were having a baby for Christ's sake. This wasn't a paper you thought you could wing the night before.

Your eyes strained at the pile of pregnancy books Mama Leclerc had brought you, all new and updated with the times... her words not yours.

You liked to read. It was your favourite pastime. But this... this wasn't particularly enjoyable. Scary, if anything. How on earth did people get anything done with this much information? You have to have enough iron to prevent defects to the baby but not too much otherwise you could still harm the baby?

Huh?

You blinked and shook your head. Your eyes reverted to the also busy (reading) bee sat on the couch. You smiled softly at the sight of Charles. It was winter. The sun was still making it's visits but it was cold enough to put on the heater in the early evening. Charles wrapped up in that one cream knit sweater you brought him with his glasses and book five on parenting tips made you all warm on the inside.

You quietly walked over to him, pulling the book gently from his hands. "What are you thinking of, amour?" You queried, slowly removing his glasses from his face and resting them with the book on the coffee table.

Charles smiled at your presence, opening his arms so you could sit on his lap. His one hand automatically came to your stomach, rubbing your bump like he had been ever since he saw those two lines. The other held your waist, knowing very well your back had been getting sore without doing anything but walking.

He hummed in thought. "I was thinking about when exactly I got you pregnant. Was it the morning in the hotel room in the end of year party in Abu Dhabi? Or in the bathroom on the ride from Qatar to Texas? Italy, maybe? The wine was really good that night."

You gasped at his words, smacking him lightly on his arm. "You animal... and here I was thinking you were being all sweet, reading about parenting."

Charles grinned, blues eyes twinkling at you. "Hey, I have to tell our princess one day where she came from. And it won't be a stork. Maybe I'll say in my driving room in Japan."

Your mouth dropped in shock at the nonchalant shrug you received from Charles. You pushed yourself out of his arms. "Charles!" You practically screeched in horror, making a wave of laughter fall from his lips.

His arms quickly reached towards you, pulling you closer as your warmth was just beginning to disappear. "I'm kidding... mostly," Charles mumbled, smiling at your small glare.

You rolled your eyes, looking at Charles with sarcastic gaze before you narrowed it. "Also 'princess?' What about me?" You pouted.

Charles chuckled softly, holding you tighter. "You're still my princess, amour. But when our little girl comes, you'll be my queen."

You blinked, trying to suppress the cringe and embarrassment. "I'm going to go pretend to throw up because I'm pregnant and not because of you. But I'll find it endearing some other day... in the far, far future.

Charles sighed, shaking his head. "You're a menace."

You gaped at him. "I'm a menace. That's rich coming from you. Weren't you the one who was just thinking about which place we screwed each other to have this child?"

Charles winced, putting his forehead on your shoulder. "Well, when you say it like that..." He grimaced. Sucking in a sharp breath, he decided to change subjects. "How does brunch sound?"

Your ears perked up and your eyes squinted with a sudden happiness. "I'm cooking," Charles told you. You dropped your smile. "It sounds awful..."

━━━━━━━━━━━

After teasing Charles for his cooking, you did end up having lunch. Charles, who was initially terrible at making any morsel of food, had found his talent in making pregnancy food.

Even though Charles lacked knowledge about food, ever since you found out you were pregnant, he had made sure every single thing you ate was edible for you and your little girl.

It was amusing to be honest.

You had joined Lorenzo and the others for dinner at a restaurant and the moment a wine bottle landed on the table, Charles pushed the bottle away from you as far as he could, fearing even the mere particles of wine you could breathe in would affect you.

As entertaining as it was, it was sweet. You knew that Charles naturally had a fear of being a bad father. His own father was the kindest soul he had ever met, his role model. Living up to that was going to be difficult. Furthermore, he still wanted to maintain a high standard while racing. Similar to that of Sebastian. But even Seb had ended up taking some time off to spend with his kids.

"What's with the face?" Charles queried, eyeing from the kitchen as he finished drying the last plate.

You blinked out of your trance. A tired sigh fell from your lips. "My boobs."

The plate in Charles' hands almost fell. Charles' head snapped towards you. "I... your... what?" He spluttered, putting down the plate gently before walking over to you.

You smiled softly at his confusion. You were about to speak up but Charles suddenly jutted out his hands. "No, wait! Don't tell me. I've got this. I read now."

The comment elicited a small laugh from your chest. Nodding, you waited patiently as he pondered around you.

"Okay... boobs... uh, this is great. I actually can't stop picturing your boobs now." Charles gave you a pointed look. You raised your hands in your defence, signalling him that this wasn't your problem. Your boyfriend fell into thought again, trying to think back to all the books he had been reading. Was it chapter three or six? It wasn't exactly breastfeeding...

"Ah!" Charles clapped his hand, dragging a seat from the table to sit in front of you. "Lactation! Tender breasts. While the tenderness tends to be less during the second trimester... uh, what was it? The... the lactation, yes, the lactation may cause more discomfort instead."

You watched Charles delve into an explanation about the biology behind it as if he was Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. Another side of him you were discovering through this pregnancy. Charles didn't retain much information unless it was about you or racing, but if it was related to pregnancy, little did you know, he would eventually become a wikipedia.

You blinked slowly. "So are you going to help?" You asked, cutting him off abruptly.

Charles paused at your words. He raised his brows. "Help you?" He enunciated each word clearly.

You nodded, leaning back into your chair. "I thought you were going clean me up," You whispered in a way that had Charles' cock jumping again. "Something about massaging my breasts."

Charles' mouth felt dry. "I did say that..." He trailed off before letting out a groan. "Ah, ma chérie, why would you say that? I–fuck. You know how I feel about this."

You leaned over, putting a hand over his knee. "Charles, the doctor said it's fine."

Charles felt strongly about your breasts during your pregnancy. They were bigger, heavier and fuller. It turned him on more than he imagined it to. But as much as he was waiting for you to lactate, Charles also felt strongly about not hurting you. 'Cleaning' you up would only make him want to have sex and he was terrified about hurting you or the baby.

"I know..." Charles murmured, sucking in a sharp breath. Your doctor who remained professional to the end when you asked whether you could have sex (much to Charles' embarrassment and joy) cleared you for it. Actually, they encouraged it, saying it was good and healthy for the both of you.

Yet, Charles couldn't help be worried. So much to the point where you hadn't had sex for well over fifteen weeks.

"I mean if you seriously don't want to," You told him, retracting your hand. "It's okay."

Charles quickly took your hand back with his own. "No, I want to. Seriously, you have no idea how much I want to," He said with his voice thick, sending a familiar tingle between your thighs. "I just..." He sighed, "You'd tell me if I hurt you, right?"

Your eyes softened. Squeezing his hand gently, you used the other to caress his face. You gave a firm nod. "In a heartbeat," You promised.

Charles smiled lightly. With your hand in his, he stood up. "Let's go to the bedroom, hmm?"

━━━━━━━━━━━

After taking off your underwear, Charles let out a low breath as he peeled off your shirt to see your bare breasts in front of him. He'd seen them when you got ready in the morning, it drove him crazy, but his fear always got to him first.

Looking at them like this, so close to him, it reminded him of the first time you had sex. Except, your breasts weren't showing such obvious signs of pregnancy: so full, almost two cup sizes bigger.

Charles pressed his lips together tightly, eyes glued to your breasts before flickering down to your stomach. He could see the bump a lot more clearly now that it was bare. The sight of it made him happy in far too many ways. It was like he was a teenager all over again. He wasn't sure what to do first.

Slowly, you encouraged him, silently bringing his hand over to your breasts.

A shaky breath fell from his mouth as a sudden surge of warmth came in contact with his hand. He moved his eyes to you, testing the waters by moving his thumb over your nipple. By your hitched breath and your suddenly dazed eyes, Charles could tell you were sensitive and completely fine. But he needed your words.

Bringing his other hand to your face, his thumb trailed of your lips. "Are you okay?" He softly asked, still grazing over your nipple.

"Charles," You let out a strained sigh, "If you don't move your fucking hand or do something, I will move it for you."

Yup, you were okay.

Charles chuckled quietly. His teeth sunk into his lips upon feeling a slight wetness at the pad of his thumb. He gulped at the white milk falling out of your nipple.

You eagerly watched Charles' head duck closer towards your breasts, mouth opening to wrap his lips around your milk covered nipple. A long whine fell from your mouth, head digging into your mattress. Your hand travelled up his neck and into his hair, eliciting a grunt from Charles as you pushed yourself further into his touch.

The taste on Charles' tongue was unlike anything he had ever tasted (well that he remembered of). It was sweet and creamy, coating his mouth ever so smoothly. It was a strange yet satisfying thought to think that while your body had made the milk, a part of him had participated in it. Technically, he had also made it. "Fuck," He hissed against your breast, realising your milk was far too addictive.

You let out another moan, tightening your grip on Charles' hair, feeling the grasp of his other hand on your other breast, twisting your pebbled nipple as he sucked on the other.

Your pussy was fully drenched, sensitive to any touch you received from Charles. You squeezed your thighs together, trying to relieve the creeping arousal that was intoxicating you.

Charles grunted, short breaths falling from his lips as he parted from your nipples. You whimpered at the sight of him licking the white liquid from his lips. The look in his blue eyes was surreal; crazed like a monster that wouldn't be satiated until he had entirely devoured you.

He brought his lips to yours, bringing you into a heated sloppy kiss. Your mouth moved against his, the taste of your own milk entering your tastebuds while your skin burned at his touch. Charles' breaths were heavy, chest rising up and down rapidly. "You taste that, princess?" He queried, lips lazily falling down your jaw. "You taste so fucking good," He rasped.

"Charles," You moaned out, hips jerking up at every tug on your nipple against a race of desperation.

"I know, baby, I know," Charles murmured with slight disbelief. He couldn't wrap his head around how sensitive you were. You were squirming and aching for his touch just by the touch of your nipples. His cock throbbed as his mind wandered just how you'd react to his cock or his tongue against your drenched folds.

Reluctantly, Charles moved his mouth away from your breasts, still keeping his hands on them, groping and teasing you with no mercy. Arriving to your pussy, he bit down on his swollen lips, uttering out a string of curses under his breath. He knew you were wet but not this wet. You had made a mess... the bed sheets were sported damp spots while your inner thighs were glazed with your arousal, ready to be eaten.

An apology quickly flew from his lips, making you furrow your brows. "For leaving you untouched," He murmured, hot breath dancing across your thighs yet cool to your burning folds. "Amour, I'm going to make up for it. Every fucking day," He promised.

Your stomach churned at his words while you drew in a deep breath. Christ. "I'm holding you to that promise, Cha," You whispered lightly, growing antsy with every passing second.

Charles grinned shamelessly against your thigh. "I should start now then, hmm?" He baited you by leaving soft kisses against your ample flesh, nose just skimming your pussy. He couldn't help but smile at the sudden gasp fallen from your reddened lips and jerk of your hips. You were clenching around nothing.

Your head dug into the mattress of your bed as Charles placed his mouth against your pussy, flattening his tongue and taking a long stripe of your warm folds. He sucked on every part of your pussy, darting his tongue on every crevice so naturally as if he had committed it to memory.

Your mewls that had turned into pure blubbers. You were sure you weren't making any sense. All that you knew was that Charles was eating you like he was tasting you for the first time, barely coming out for a breath while his nose rubbed against your clit, lapping at you like some sort of animal and it felt fucking phenomenal.

Charles' cock was uncomfortably and impossibly tight against his pants. He was struggling between continuing to eat you out because you tasted so good and prepping you for his cock. He was desperate to feel your walls again.

Your blubbers were now high pitched gasps upon feeling Charles' tongue drag to your clit, nibbling and sucking the sensitive bundle of nerves as he propped one finger into your walls. You could feel the coil in your stomach tighten. "Fuck, Charles," You moaned, hips jerking up to get even more stimulation while your eyes were clamped shut.

Charles grunted against your pussy, feeling your toes curl while he thrusted his finger out of you. God, you were even tight around his single finger. He couldn't help but wonder how you were going to give birth. His eyes darted up to your face, watching your back arch, exposing your leaking breasts to more air while your breath quivered. He could tell you were close.

Charles promised he'd be gentle. But he never promised he'd be kind.

Your eyes snapped open at the sudden loss of Charles' touch and the quickly distancing euphoria. You whined in annoyance. Even now, Charles was a menace.

"I know, princess. I'm sorry. Fuck, I just need to be in you, hmm?" Charles mumbled in a hurry, moving his body up and scrambling to remove his boxers. If he kept lapping at you like the animal he was, he was sure he was going to cum just like that.

If this was any other circumstance, you were sure you would be cursing at Charles in French. But taking a look at his throbbing cock, standing strong and hard in all it's glory... it took the words right of your mouth and had sent all the feelings straight to your pussy. In fact, you were even patient in the mere seconds it took Charles to adjust himself over you, revelling in his dazed hooded eyes, the blown pupils and his sweat-glittered skin.

Charles place the finger he had put inside you on your lips, gesturing for you to suck your arousal off. Without any objection, you parted your swollen lips and took a slow and long stripe of his finger, tasting yourself on your tongue. A guttural groan came from his mouth. Any second longer...

You sucked in a sharp breath when Charles let his bubbling saliva slowly fall from his mouth and onto the aching tip of his cock, rubbing the natural lube up and down his shaft. Shifting his hips a bit, the both of you let out a low blow upon the feeling of his flushed cock on your puffy folds.

Charles hovered over your body, placing his swollen lips on your leaking breast, savouring the sweet taste of your milk while letting his cock rub against your engorged pussy. He could hear your soft whimpers, loud enough for the entire room to reverberate off its walls. A rippling tremble surged through his body as he rocked his cock against your folds, feeling your wetness soak mix with his saliva and coat him entirely.

"Charles," You mewled, "Keep teasing and you won't feel this pussy again I promise."

The threat you made was empty and weak. The both of you knew it. Yet, the mere possibility or even the thought made Charles quickly but carefully push his cock into your pussy. He grunted at the feeling of your walls around his cock slowly welcoming you. Shit... You were tighter around his cock than his finger, already clenching around him.

"Merde," Charles swore. "You feel so good, princess."

Your hands fell around his neck, loosely holding him to you as his cock stretch you out. You could tell he wasn't as deep as he usually was with the baby taking up more space but when combined with your pregnant sensitivity, it left you more flustered and blazing than ever.

"Are you okay?" Charles managed to grit out.

You gave him a rushed nod. "Move... please," You begged, struggling to keep your eyes open.

Charles' hips began to move faster at your command, rutting at such as speed that pushed his aching cock against your walls, lost in the pleasure your brought by gripping him like a vice. His eyes fell to your mouth. Your moans and whines looked as though they were going to burst out of you. Bringing his puffy lips to yours, he swallowed all your angelic and sinful sounds into his body like he was consuming your very essence.

His hand travelled to your hips before trailing to your bump. The things this baby had done to him before even confirming those two lines was beyond Charles. Pulling away from your lips, he almost faltered when he saw your face.

God, you were just so... beautiful. Your flushed face, lust-ridden eyes, sweat-ridden hair moving in all sorts of directions, skin even stained with his marks of love he had made unknowingly... all with that pregnancy glow... beautiful.

"I love you, ma chérie," He whispered out. "You're going to be the most wonderful and gorgeous mother in the entire universe. Our baby is going to be the luckiest child."

Tears pricked at your eyes as the pleasure still coursed through you. The coil in your stomach was coming to a breaking point while broken sobs came out of your mouth. Fuck, you couldn't even tell what you wanted anymore. Your hand reached out to Charles' face, feeling the small hairs on his face as you caressed him. "And you're the only person I would ever want with me... the only person who could be the father of my... our children."

Charles let out a faint high pitched moan. His hand moved to your abandoned clit, starting his abuse on the sensitive bundle of nerves. You let out a silent gasp while he chased both of your climaxes, his twitching cock snapping into you. Everything around you began to blur while your orgasm hit you in big waves as his hips stuttered against you, spilling ropes and ropes of his warm, white cum into your walls.

Your body convulsed as Charles continued to rub your clit, taking advantage of your sensitive state almost selfishly just so he could see you completely space it out in the ecstasy of it all. You let out a soft cry, pussy clenching around him to take every last drop of his cum you could get as the last few waves of his orgasm shot through him.

Charles sighed, wincing softly while taking his cock out of you, making sure to fall down next to you instead of over you like he usually did. His sweaty arm brought you in closer to him, baby bump grazing his cock. Pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead he smiled down at your tired state. "I should clean you up more often, hmm, princess?"

You managed to roll your eyes, hitting him weakly in his arm. "You are awful."

Charles grinned, popping his dimples out at you. He nodded casually. "Yeah... but you love me," He teased.

You suppressed another eye roll and simply smiled, slowly succumbing to the heavy weight on your eyes. A yawn fell from your lips. "I do. I love you... a lot."

© 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐘𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑

[becauseheartsgetbroken-hs]

yes baby it's this time of the year (I need a good start that's why it's so early on the year lol) that I need your fic recommendations 😊 I'm here to take it babeee!

P.S Happy New Year my love ❤️

OHH LOVED THAT ENERGY 🥰 Happy New Year to you too hon! ❤️

Sooooo where to start from?? First of all I'm a little distracted the last few days because one of my favorite people on the planet visited me for the holidays and we're spending quality family time! So I may have miss some updates around here. Anyway let's start!

It's not a proper recommendation post if I'm not recommending @freedomfireflieseflies ' work! I feel like I'm repeating myself when I say that EVERYTHING she writes is PURE GOLD but that's the truth so I'm gonna say it again! Her new work "Infinite You" is amazing and believe me when you read it you will need more immedietely!😍 (her whole masterlist is a gift actually so you know what you have to do 😍)

Also please go check @adorebeaa 's Hawthorn Series! It's amazing! It plays like a movie in your head! The dynamic between the two characters is so fascinating! Oh and "Little Freak" is so good! I loved this story so much! And of course her one shots are crazy ("please you", "merry christmas, i couldn't care less" are 🥵)

@gurugirl 's "Just For Tonight", "A Good Boy" and "The Unicorn" are *chef's kiss*. Her writing is unmatched and she always comes up with creative concepts.

Also @cupid-styles is a gem! Her "grumpy!h" series is so freaking cute. The way she built their relationship was so beautiful. Oh also I had a great time reading "you're my last shot".

Of course I need to mention @lukesaprince because she is amazing! "The Rich" is so well written 😍

Also recently I discovered @justlemmeadoreyou and I'm so glad I did 😭 Her headcanons are so addictive 😱

Go check @harrys-titties ' "Harry's a dick, and Y/N hates him for it" as well because it was very beautiful and if you love a good enemies to lovers story, that's it! It has everything you wish for in a story like this.

"Love, heard, seen" from @fkinavocado is amazing too and I totally recommend it! I loved it!

Every time I get an ask like this, it's so hard for me to stop talking because I fucking love reading all these incredible stories but I need to stop myself now because if I don't, I won't ever lol I tried to recommend new stories and not the same ones I have recommend in the past (if you want you can check my other fic recs posts) and I hope you will find this helpful.

xoxo

Nancy

[royalfriday]

Boothill thought again 😃

About the sibling thing if you don't know what i mean go here first and read.

What if his siblings was still at the planet and they were around thir teenage years but almost an adult (around 16-18)

What if the asrta express was there? You know welt and his friend ( i think void was his name I don't quite know sorry of you are his fun)

And they knew what the ipc was going to do. So since they were talking to them. The ipc attached there and they got injured. So welt and void?

(Pls tell me if i am wrong so i can correct it)

Take them with them to the express and heal them .

And when they wake up they realise what hase hapen and they just want to cry but they don't want to do it Infront of people they don't know. But they ended up crying because himeko come up to comfort them telling them is ok and everything os going to be alright and they couldn't hold up it anymore. And so welt bring them pompom to hut them

( like a stuff animal) which pompom didn't stay made since they knew what happened and wanted to comfort the young person.

Sooooo they invited them to join the express so they have a place to stay. They agreed and the age there . Even after void left. With the time passing dan heng joint the express and later march 7 .

They haven't yet meet with the trailblazer since they are in a mission now but when theybdo met up the trailblazer will notice the familiar outfit since they would want to dress up like their big brother they were soooo much close to. ( Yes boothill..so you can see they are also a cowboy looking)

But the trailblazer don't think of it.

Until it happens for them to be at the express the same time as boothill who wanting to pay a visit and with him to not understand if he is seeing things or it's real that he sees a family members and then it's the sibling who doesn't recognise boothill at first even though they feel familiar around him.

But once boothill found out that they are the person he thought is he is STUCK to them to know about their life. Also trying to spend some quality time like back then

But they are uncomfortable with yhe unexpected turn of the things soo the don't know what to do soo they give a few nervous laughs and a few looks to the other members of the express for help. But none of them knows what to do . While there is march 7 who is taking pictures.

[y010isaghost]

something is happening and i don't have anyone to talk to about it sooooo hi tumblr :D i'll delete this if i see this again and think it's too dramatic

(cw: heavy topic, death (kind of? like not really but almost there))

i've just been summoned to visit a family member who's gonna pass away in probably a month, but we all kinda know it's just courtesy because i don't think i've properly interacted with them in like. 6 years? and it's really bad we've seen each other at least 3 times a year during that time smth smth i'd been emotionally distancing myself from the family bc mental health stuff until recently smth smth not important rn

so now im nervous about visiting because i kinda doubt they want me to be one of the last visions they see before they die (ik it sounds dramatic since there's still a month from now but it's not definite yknow). like they're probably proud of me the least out of everyone else who could be visiting them. i don't want them to be reminded that they're related to someone so unaccomplished in their life when everyone else they're related to are so successful in comparison.

idk. i didn't plan on crying over this. i don't really deserve to since i kinda brought this upon myself.

[dreaming-hibi]

*slides into your inbox*

Sooooo you mentioned KHR ocs?

*puts on my best cute puppy dog eye expression*

Any chance that you could tell me about them? (<- huge sucker for OCs)

(btw I have not done a deep dive in your blog so I don't know if you already have info of them posted lol I'm a complete blank slate)

No worries, I actually haven't posted anything on my KHR OCs (yes, the s is very much needed considering the veritable horde of little gremlins I keep behind a cage!)

On the one hand, I would love to gush about my OCs, but... On the other hand, there are many details I haven't ironed out yet (even though it's been 12 years already...), and I don't want to put out any information I might later change. I can talk about the details I do know are written in stone at this point, if that's okay?

(uses character as divider...)

My KHR OCs are from the Mare Famiglia, a mafia family as old as the Vongola Famiglia, but with less influence as their history is not quite as bloody as the Vongola's. The Mare Famiglia has its own traditions and customs, and one of them is the appointment of an heir / heiress from the De Santis family, from which all bosses of the family are from.

At this point in time, I can only introduce my (un)beloved main OC: Adelina Angelina Luciana De Santis (Mare Heiress and future Mare Decimo), commonly known as Lucia. She is a self-confident and open-minded girl, though she tends to be cautious of others given her status. She's a Sky Flames user and dreams of visiting as many places as she can, however her position as heiress prevents her from living this dream.

(yes, she's the divider)

Annnnd that's it, I SWEAR I will be back later with the rest of Lucia's guardians, all of her De Santis and non-De Santis relatives, and the rest of the Mare Famiglia's lore (cause I have a whole family tree worth of OCs)!

P.S. If it's within my power, I think I can answer some questions on Lucia.

[turtlebros4u]

TMNT Bayverse Boys x Reader: Hands on their weapons (4\4)

SFW FLUFF

This is it. This is my man. My beloved Donnie. My knowledge of engineering was able to add a twinge of realism to his cool gadgets, some of this is based on many years of conversations between engineers of different backgrounds. This one turned out sooooo long but also terribly proud of the drawing, though I might edit it with better color balancing. Enjoy!

Prompt: What would each of the brothers do if you picked up their weapons out of curiosity?

Donnie

It was a quiet observance of a federal holiday.

You were up at the crack of dawn due to some angry horn honking drivers on the corner below your apartment. Unable to go back to sleep you begrudgingly started your day earlier than expected.

Now you find yourself in the early afternoon with your chores and errands finished. You had expected to work this weekend but your boss mustered up some holiday spirit and closed the shop and granted the staff some early bonuses.

Unfortunately he only told you yesterday at the end of your shift so you didn't have much time to make any plans with friends or family.

But you did happen to know some folks who weren't going to be upset with a surprise visit from you; and they happen to be name after some wonderfully talented Renaissance artists.

You check the time and hesitate.

They are mostly nocturnal, so would anyone even be awake? You stood there, backpack on, scarf at the ready, one hand holding a half-turned doorknob, just contemplating if it was worth it to make the trip if you'd be alone for a few hours before anyone awoke.

After a few long minutes you rationalize that at the very least Splinter's insomnia might offer you a chance to hear some childhood stories about the guys.

Yeah, that was reason enough for you to at least try. Worst comes to worst you could probably just hang out at a nearby bagel shop and watch the news.

You grab your sewer parka and head to the far end of Manhattan to the only underpass with sewer access that wasn't also a homeless camp. You used this entrance on the few occasions when you'd visit the turtles during the day, otherwise most alleyway entrances would suffice in the dark.

You sipped on your second latte of the day as the flurry of faces and people piled onto the subway then off again at each stop. You stared at the illuminated ads above the heads of strangers while waiting for your stop.

The train slows and you see your stop printed in tiles along the station walls.

Those tiles must be from the 90s, you think, you just don't see that shade of torquise and purple anymore.

You exit through the turnstile and up the stairs. The cool winter air hits your cheeks and you brace as the gust aims to fuddle your already messy bun.

It's a few blocks to the underpass you're aiming for and along the way you stop to grab a couple of hot bagels and shove the foil wrapped lunch into your pockets.

You descend unnoticed into the sewer entrance, noticing it's significantly tidier than the last time you used it some months ago. A smile creeps onto your face just thinking about the guys spending the better half of a day just to keep this little part of the sewer, a place specifically design to be gross, clean just for potential visitors.

You knew they had a few friends between you and April and Casey, but you wondered which of you they really cleaned for, secretly you hoped that it was you. Though, unless you asked you couldn't be sure.

The next 20 minutes was a comfortable walk down a manageably lit path towards the lair. You didn't mind as much, the rumbling of trains echoed deeply, the cars muffled in the distance, and the occasional exhaust pipe whistled from some boiler tucked away in the basement of a nearby building.

A soft colorful glow appeared around the bend.

That was it, the lair.

You step through the draped plastic sheeting that formed the threshold of the cozy terrapin abode and separated it from the rest of the unkempt sewers.

You look around. The massive signature couch, empty. Donnie's control center with 30-some screens quietly humming and continually running programs or streaming news, empty. Kitchen where many mugs of tea were shared, empty.

You release a tense breath you didn't realize you were holding in.

Not an unusual noise to be heard. You sigh, slightly disappointed, but remove your sewer parka, scarf and gloves and hang them in the usual place.

You take the bagels and toss one on the kitchen counter, someone will eventually eat it. The other you keep in your hand to enjoy soon.

You feel odd. It's the middle of the day for you, maybe 2pm? But here it's like the middle of the night. It's almost liminal.

You stroll towards the dojo where you've seen many spars and meditations; empty again. You were sure you'd be able to hear any action from the half pipes had someone been there and decide not to get your hopes up. Aside from the bedrooms there's one last place to check.

The lab.

You walk around a corner into a short hall, at the end of it was another wall of draped plastic intended to isolate the lab. Although Donnie basically built it, it wasn't necessarily only his lab. Leo has his corner with a whet stone for sharpening his katana. Mikey and Raph had a makeshift sound booth and studio built at one end for their music production. And Raph even stored his less used knitting supplies in a locked cabinet there. Donnie just happened to occupy a great deal of the rest with all sorts of benches, mechanisms and scientific gadgets.

You reach to push the plastic out of the way and pause.

You shouldn't be surprised to find it empty, but still, you feel nervous. Like you want someone to be there. Was it to make it feel like your visit was intentional? Or did you want to not be alone? Did you care who was there?

Instead of facing those questions you push your way through the heavy plastic drapes.

Empty.

Damn.

Most of the lamps above each workbench are shut off. But small LEDs on various equipment offered enough illumination to see that there had been very little activity here in the last few hours.

A distinct shape caught your eye on one of the soldering benches. You walk over, setting your bagel down on the only bench Donnie allowed food to be at, and made your way to the silhouette of interest.

Upon reaching it you flip the switch for the bench overhead lights. Before you lies what appears to be a newly crafted staff.

You know better than to touch it. You duck and bob your head taking in the details from what you could see without disturbing it.

It hasn't had the edges sanded down yet, and some of the soldering is still messy, but you can already identify some new features that weren't in the previous model but you recall Donnie excitedly raving about adding them to the next.

"So what do you think?"

You nearly leap out of your skin. You spin on your heels into a low defensive stance by instinct.

The tall nearsighted turtle had silently moved through the plastic curtains and had been standing in the archway. His curious expression doesn't change after your reflexes spun you around.

Recognizing that it's only him, you relax. You relax so much you feel a tension in your chest that was there since you arrived fade away as well.

"Why are you awake so early?" You ask.

"Occasionally I'll get up earlier than the others just to get some peace and quiet for a few hours." You knew how much of a ruckus the others made once they were awake.

"Ah, so should I leave?" You ask sheepishly.

"No," he answered quickly, "please stay."

You were both awkwardly quiet for a moment.

So what do you think? The question echoes in your head.

You glance back to the staff, then back to Donnie, who is walking towards you and you notice the second bagel in his hand. He motioned you over to have breakfast with him at the "food bench".

"Oh, I mean it's still got some work to do," you say sitting beside him and unwrapping your bagel, "but if you mean from a fellow engineers perspective, it looks like you've got the accelerometer upgrade in it that you've been wanting for months, the sleek tracking device ejector integrated with pneumatics, and quite possibly some degaussing wiring running along it, presumably to negate any magnetic fields you encounter. Did I miss anything? It looks like you've been working on the fabrication for a week or two now. "

As you had been talking Donnie finished his meal in just a few bites. You get to work on yours, expecting his response to be long winded, and you're excited to hear him ramble about his creation.

"No, you didn't miss anything at all. I'm glad you remembered that I'd been wanting to add all those features to my next staff. The planning was pretty easy, but finding all the specific materials I needed was the hard part. Getting just the right grade of steel and brass tubing of the exact sizes took me a month alone. The pneumatics are actually hypercompressed air into single use microcannisters... " He continued to ramble and you smiled through your meal.

Once finished you shoot back some questions. He answers and provides exquisite detail about his process.

"So how's the weight? It's not going to be too unwieldy is it? Sounds like the material change might throw it off."

He jumps up and retrieves the staff, "no actually I designed it to have the same weighted properties, and kept the weight nearly the same by changing the springs to lighter zinc but stronger push power."

He stands there, demonstrating the ease of use, shifting the staff between his hands and spinning it, "Here give it a try."

You set your bagel down, stand, and grab the staff carefully.

You'd given Donnie's old staff some tests before when you had first asked him about his design process for engineering it. This new one was indeed well balanced, it spun easily despite it being more than your own height and only felt slightly heavier than the previous model.

You nod, studying closely some of the fine craftsmanship near the springs.

He chuckles softly, "I'm really glad you understand the work I do. It's really a relief to talk to you and feel like you really understand what I'm saying when I go off about things. Sometimes my brothers try, I mean I know sometimes they want to support me, but I just know they haven't got more than a dial-up tone between their ears when I try to tell them what I do."

You look up with a grin of awe tugging at the edges of your lips. "Donnie, what you do is so cool. I couldn't do this, I know just enough to appreciate how incredible all of it is, though. The electrical engineering for the lair, the coding for security protocols, the design and MacGuyvering to make tools and weapons and tracking devices. It's nothing short of genius."

He looks startled at your response, "Y-you really think so?" He glanced down, bit his lip and fiddled with his thumbs.

"I know so." You say. You knew he had always been self conscious of himself. His brothers didn't understand his skill very well. He was scrawny when beside them, he just didn't have nearly the raw brawn to fight the same.

A smile grew on his face and his eyes met yours. Your heart skipped. You didn't have time to savor it because Donatello dashed away towards the back of the lab. "You know, uh, as a sort of, I guess, thank you," he was either excited or nervous, he didn't usually stutter this badly otherwise, your eyebrows furled in confusion watching him shuffle and tumble around bins of equipment.

"I would like, uhm, to ask if you'd like, uh, well, a staff of your own?" He appeared from behind a bench holding a mostly rudimentary staff with some very old electronic modifications to it.

Still not sure why he's suddenly offering, you answer honestly nonetheless, "Yeah I think that would be pretty amazing if it was decked out with some stuff I'd use regularly."

His smile beamed brighter. "Uh, well, this is the second model of my staves. I made it when I was 13, and, uh, I've reclaimed the few gadgets it used to function with, but," he swallowed, "I'd really like to refurbish it into something you'd like."

You, obviously flattered and jittery with joy at the possibility of getting a hand crafted gadget by one of the best engineering prodigies you knew, nearly fell out of your chair. "Seriously?!"

Mirroring your energy and feeding off the positive reinforcement, Donnie gained confidence, "Absolutely, just tell me what you want and it'll be yours. I can have it ready by your birthday easily. And I couldn't be happier handing it off to you because I trust you'd treat it with the respect it deserves, unlike some people..." He trailed off.

Still in your hands, you lift the large staff above your head and with a small leap swing it over Donnie's head and onto his shoulders, and with your hands still gripped you swing your weight back pulling the lanky turtles shoulders down to your level.

He dropped the small light staff and grasped at the large one suddenly dragging him down in elevation.

Frozen there, inches from you face, he looks into your eyes and sees a chaotic look only other mad scientists could recognize. He blinks, dumbfounded.

You smirk, "I want it to fold into the coolest walking cane you've ever seen when not in use, I want an emergency button that alerts you if I'm ever in trouble, I want pollutant and air quality sensors integrated, I want it to whistle a beautiful woodwind pitch depending on how fast I spin it and lastly, I want you and your brothers to sign it. Can you do that O' Masterful Donatello?" You question him smugly.

He licks his lips and nods. "Uh...yeah, yeah, yes certainly," he begins. You release your grip allowing him to once again tower over you.

"Great, I expect the full benefit of Donatello quality genius." Your heart again skips a beat.

Donnie looks to the side, his grin unable to melt away.

"May I watch and talk to you while you work on it sometimes? You know, just to make sure you are getting everything right..." You add.

He looks back to you, he seems almost out of breath, "Uh, y-yeah," he squeaks out, "I'll get started right away. Y-you want to stay a while and watch?"

"I suppose I could make room in my schedule for that."

For the next few hours the lab is aglow with more than just LEDs and overhead lamps.

[accidentalslayer]

Word Count: 1,952

Warnings: N/A for this chapter. Future chapters will explore darker elements, though

Author's Notes: New project, who dis?? Recently fandom-switched to Vampire Diaries/Originals & was inspired to write a little piece about two OCs interacting at the Mystic Grill.

From there on, the plot took hold of my soul, and now I'm writing a fic. Again. Lol.

Pairing: Yandere!Elijah & Klaus Mikaelson x Fem!Reader (eventually)

Summary: Vincent Webb returns to Mystic Falls, Virginia after many years of avoiding his hometown. He decides to catch up with an old flame at the Grill only to be interrupted by his high school arch-nemesis: Richard Lockwood. How awkward for Vince! 🤣

Recommended Song: "Half of my Hometown" by: Kelsea Ballerini

Chapter One: The Prodigal Son

[October 1st, 1991

Mystic Falls, Virginia]

It hadn't changed. Not one bit. More than 5 years had passed without Vincent Webb, yet Mystic Falls was the same shit hole as it'd been on the day he'd skipped town. 'Like a mosquito caught in amber', he mused to himself, a grimace on his face, 'Or something else that refuses to change despite the march of time'. God was not without his keen sense of irony when he made this place, it seemed, and Vincent was glad that he had left right after graduating from MFHS. Glad that he'd gotten out of Virginia to explore the world. Away from any monster that went bump in the night...

But now, fate had brought him back to Mystic Falls.

The first thing Vincent did when he'd crossed the town line was visit the cemetery where his father laid and took a piss on the old man's tombstone. The second thing he did (immediately afterward) was shoot off a text: 'Hey, you free tonight? Meet you at our usual spot, be there in 30 minutes,' to his ex-girlfriend, Grace. The only woman to have ever stolen his heart or gotten him to consider a future in driving a family minivan around. That's how he'd ended up here at the Grill, tucked away within its backmost lobby, nursing a scotch past twelve. Observing his high-school nemesis, Richard Lockwood, as he flirted shamelessly in front of Carol Lockwood with their young, pretty waitress two booths over. No, some things never changed in Mystic Falls.

Footsteps approached his table. A pair of heels judging from the sound of their clacking on the polished wood floor. His eyes flicked downward to spy an all-too-familiar toe ring that he'd once bought for the girl that he'd loved as a teenager. Grace had arrived. And with her arrival, the ache of nostalgia in his chest. Vincent took a gulp of his drink to steady his nerves as she slid into the seat opposite of him.

"You know," he said, tone casual, "I thought Rich was always gonna end up with that Forbes chick. Not Carol. Remember how annoying they were in sophomore year making out during gym? Blech!! But, I guess he still likes blondes. Carol, though? Awful."

Grace rolled her sapphire eyes, "It's been YEARS, Vince, and /this/ is what you wanna lead with??? Not: 'Gee golly, Grace! I'm sorry for disappearing on you when you needed me, let me clarify what happened the night I literally vanished without a trace so I can take the years of STRESS I caused you off your shoulders! Forgive me, I'm a stupid fucking piece of shit, Grace'-"

"Grace-"

His ex's voice rose above his own, "-Grace, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness or your understanding. I'm so, so, so, sooooo very lucky that you're even talking to me right now! Grace, I'm going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you, Grace-"

"Gracey-"

"-'Gracey', WHAT, Vincent?!"

Vincent looked pained when he answered her, regret etched in every wrinkle, and crease on his brow:

"You're right. I'm a piece of shit, Grace. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you the way I did back then. It's just...some family stuff happened after the accident. And I couldn't talk about it to anyone at the time. I didn't mean to hurt you. Honest truth, that wasn't my intention."

Deep, oceanic blues narrowed upon him. Grace stared at Vincent for a few breathless moments (skeptically, silently) as if attempting to bore a hole through his soul by sheer force of will.

"UGH, I can't stay mad at you!" she relented in a sudden huff, "I'm just glad you're alive. You have no clue how worried I was about you! We were all worried about you! There was a rumor that you'd died, Vince. That some kind of animal had gotten you out in the woods!"

A shadow fell over Vincent's face. He mumbled another apology to his ex, "Grace, I mean it. I'm sorry. I really truly am..."

"That's alright, Vince. It's water under the bridge now," she replied, grabbing the Grill's menu that lay on the table between them and browsing the selections, "Besides, you're going to buy me ALL the expensive booze I want tonight, anyways."

"Wait, I'm gonna WHAT??"

Grace snickered mischievously, then imitated his casual tone from before, "Payback, ya know? It's a thirsty bitch, Vince."

When Vincent met Grace Baker, it was freshman year of high school, and he'd just gotten swirlied by Logan Fell. While he was drying his hair with a paper towel in the men's bathroom, Grace had wandered out of its corner stall, gripping a pint of (half-drunk) Jack Daniels. Wearing that same cheeky grin she was wearing now, Grace offered him some, mentioning that: 'nerds like them had to stick together'. Tonight, the two of them were completing an ancient circle. This time around, it was Vincent's turn to buy the drinks.

Grace made his wallet hurt. She chose every ale and IPA off the reserve menu, then moved onto taking shots. Vincent tried to enjoy the moment, knowing full well that he was going to regret it all tomorrow. One way or another.

Their table piled up quickly with empty glasses, cups, and pitchers. As it did, their conversation grew more nostalgic. Both of them blamed it on the quality of the liquor.

"They hired a better fucking bartender since I've been gone! Do you remember the shit that David used to make for us back in the day?"

"Oh yeah!! We called it, uhhhh, "Witch's Brew" or something like that, right? It tasted so nasty but man did it fuck us up! Jodie could NOT hold that stuff down, though. Remember when she puked all over Mrs. Bennett's rug after Prom Party at the Grill?? And then we had to clean it up before she got home?"

"How could I forget?! Hahaha! I'm still scrubbing burger chunks out of my memory to this day!"

"Gross."

Their conversation grew more sentimental. They blamed it on how long it had been since either of them talked...

"You know, you were the only one back then who I could ever really be myself around. You just got me somehow. It was like we were...connected or something. Oh my God, that sounds corny as all fuck now that I say it, hahaha!"

"No, no, no, noooo! Not corny. Not corny for even a minute. Grace, I felt the same way. I didn't have to pretend around you. I could just be myself..."

"Same! We had our own language."

"Pig Latin. We used to make Mr. Brown SO MAD when he couldn't read our notes to the class. He was such a nosey prick back then!"

"Haha, yeah!! Yeah, he fucking was!! Remember when you literally ate your detention slip in front of him and he nearly had an aneurysm?! The little vein in his forehead was popping out, hahaha!!"

"Is Mr. Brown still teaching?"

"Naaahhh. Fired for taking pictures of his female students."

"Ha! Called it. I knew that guy was a creep!"

Their conversation grew more dangerous. They'd both blame it on themselves (and on each other) in the morning. One of them would swear that it had never happened at all.

"Our first date: do you remember where you took me??"

"Oh man, putting me on the spot. Uuuuhh, it was Fell's Church. We went to Fell's Church because I thought I was being edgy and cool. But you. You, uhhh, you said-"

"-I said the place smelt like raw ass so we left. We went to Grove Hill afterward. To that antique Bed and Breakfast for coffee."

"Yeah! Oh jeeze, that wasn't my best moment. It was the first date I'd ever had. I didn't know what girls wanted..."

"Get out!! Really?!"

"Serious as daylight."

"Do you ever...regret it? Even just a tiny bit? Your first date being with me? I-I know how much you loved Mercy-"

"I would've married you. I would've married you right after graduation."

"Oh..."

"Things just got in the way. Please, understand I never wanted to-"

Grace flinched. The warmth and approachability she'd possessed only a moment ago evaporated, replaced by a mask of ice. A practiced smile that didn't quite reach her eyes curved across her red lips. She put down her drink (a little forcefully on the table), feigning indifference while she spoke. But it was obvious that she wasn't happy with his heart-felt confession one bit.

"Look, Vincent," Grace said, shrugging, "We're all grown up now. We've made our own choices. You don't have to justify yourself to me, okay? Really. You don't! It's been YEARS since high school. As much as I miss it, I've moved on from ruminating about what could've been. And this surprise visit has been great, but... I really just want to get this over with so we can go back to our own lives. I'm missing Movie Night with my kids."

It was Vincent's turn to flinch now. Suddenly, he felt old. Like somehow, life had passed him by in the span of a blink.

"K-kids? You have kids??" He croaked, "When did that happen? How many do you...?"

Grace laughed, "Very first year into college! How scandalous, right?? Aaaand I've got two; an older son and a daughter. Alexander and Dawn. Dawn just had her birthday a couple of days ago. It was Beauty and the Beast themed. She was dressed up as Belle. She's been in a "princess everything" phase ever since she watched Sleeping Beauty. My son, though? He just really likes playing Street Fighter."

"Who's the-"

Vincent's mouth seemed to have trouble forming the words despite his best efforts. He pressed on valiantly, though...

"-the, ya know? The uh, father? Is he...?"

Grace flattened instantly. She sighed, rubbing at her forehead as if she had a big headache, "Just tell me why you're here, Vince. Tell me why you'd come back to Mystic Falls after all these years?? You haven't said a word to me since graduation! No, since before the accident! And you decide to appear tonight? Out of the blue? Just...randomly for shits and giggles? No, no. What's really going on, Vin-"

Two voices sliced through Grace's question and stole the moment:

"It's Vincent Webb!!"

"My, my! It IS! And with Grace Baker too!"

Both Vincent and Grace cringed as soon as they heard the sound. Memories flooded back to their previous lives in high school. And the humiliation they'd suffered together at the hands of the ones who'd just interrupted them; Richard Lockwood and his (now) wife, Carol Lockwood. Grace stood up immediately to leave. Vincent tried his best to follow suit but was stopped when Rich sat down in the empty space next to him, blocking off his escape route and locking him into the booth until Rich decided otherwise. Carol did the same with Grace.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Rich exclaimed, flashing a toothy smile at Vincent, "Aren't you a blast from the past?! I haven't seen you around my town in YEARS! And Grace, lovely to see you as always. How are your little ones doing?? What about that rambunctious son of yours?"

Carol laughed and subtly displayed the wedding ring she wore as she did so, "Oh, it's just like high school again! Isn't it, Rich?"

"Indeed," Rich agreed all too readily, "except I'm not giving this ol' boy here a flushie, hahaha! No, I kid, though. This man took his licks like a man! Isn't that right, Vince?".

Grace and Vincent exchanged helpless, annoyed glances between each other...

It was going to be a long night.

[s65ns]

Out of Time - Chapter Three.

Out of Time Masterlist

Previous Part: Six Months / Next Part: Two Months

⚠️ TW: Mentions of Cancer ⚠️

word count: 2.5k words

••••••••••••••

Chapter Three: Four Months

third person's pov.

"Mari, hey!" Evelyn said as she opened the door for her childhood best friend.

"Evelyn! I missed you!" Mari exclaimed. Mari opened her arms wide to engulf Evelyn in a long awaited hug. Evelyn hugged back with every cell in her body.

"My! Look at you!" Mari said as she cradled Evelyn's face in her hands. Evelyn rolled her eyes knowing her friend was being modest and that she definitely looked like complete crap. She had rolled out of bed in her SpongeBob onesie and currently had no makeup, Mari was not fooling her.

"Oh stop." Evelyn said, swatting Mari's hands away. They sat down on the couch and did their best to catch each other up on what was going on in each other's lives.

Mari and Evelyn used to be the best of friends. Their mothers were best friends so it was only right for them to become best friends as well. They were practically joined at the hip everyday. They rode the bus together. Did their homework together. They even got in trouble together.

Mari and Evelyn were an unstoppable duo. That was until Mari's dad had to relocate to Australia for work. At age 14, Mari and her family had to pack up and head to Australia together, leaving the poor girls devastated.

They managed to keep in touch, but things were never quite the same. Mari and Evelyn used to take turns each year visiting each other. Once they were well into their teenage years though, the visits faded out. It wasn't until Mari got news that Evelyn was sick did she start visiting again.

"So...are you seeing anyone?" Mari asked wiggling her eyebrows. Evelyn scoffed, rolling her eyes and took a sip of her homemade pumpkin spice coffee.

"As if. Who would want to be with a woman basically on her deathbed?" Mari smacked Evelyn.

"None of that kind of talk. I don't want to hear it. You know words are powerful. I'm sure there are plenty of guys flocking and throwing themselves at you and you're probably just turning them down with your negative mentality." Mari said. Evelyn rolled her eyes once again, taking another sip.

"You're wrong. There are no-" Evelyn's speech was cut short by her phone buzzing. Both her and Mari's eyes snapped to the phone buzzing on the table. On the screen flashed the name Evelyn had been trying to forget.

Mari slowly turned her back to Evelyn with a smug smile on her face. Evelyn kept her eyes casted down as she felt Mari's gaze fall on her.

"No guys, huh? So who's Harry? Last I checked you don't just put a heart next to any random guy's name. You don't even have a heart next to my name!" Mari said in disbelief.

"Actually I do have a heart by your name."

"Yeah? Show me." Mari said smugly. She knew pretty well Evelyn did in fact not have a heart by her name.

"I have a heart by your name in here." Evelyn said patting her chest. Mari and Evelyn burst out laughing.

"Whatever. Don't try and avoid the question. Who's Harry?" Mari was not letting Evelyn get away that easy. Mari had never seen Evelyn give herself the chance to be loved by someone, so for her to see a guy's name with a heart next to it meant a lot to her.

"He's just a friend." Evelyn mumbled.

"Just a friend? Come on, Eve, I know you better than that. You put a heart by his name!"

"Alright! Alright," Evelyn paused to put her cup down on the table, "he is a friend who is, perhaps, interested in being a bit more than friends." 

"Sooooo?" Mari asked expectantly.

"So...nothing happened. He asked me to be his girlfriend a couple months ago, and I said no."

"Oh." was all Mari could say.

"Yeah." Evelyn said with a sigh.

"Why'd you turn him down?" Mari asked. Evelyn thought about her answer. She knew exactly why she turned him down, but she didn't exactly want to let Mari know about her insecurities.

"Because he doesn't deserve that. He deserves someone who he'll be able to be with for the long run and have children with and perhaps buy a house that's far too big with a white Pickett fence around it. He deserves to get his dream and I can't give him that. I'm nothing more than a sick woman getting worse and worse every day until her demise. He wouldn't be happy with me and I want him to be happy." Evelyn said.

Mari nodded her head solemnly. She placed a reassuring hand on Evelyn's knee, rubbing circles.

"I know you could probably care less about what I have to say with how stubborn you are, but take it with a grain of salt. Don't you think he already knows all of this and is still willing to take the chance? I mean, he's braver than most men, but doesn't that go to show how much he loves you? How much he cares about you?"

"I'm not sure if he loves me in that way. It could very well just be an infatuation with something you know isn't going to last. It's like how some men like to chase things they know they can't have." Evelyn said with a snort. Mari nodded in acknowledgment.

"Well then let me ask you this. How do you feel about him? I know you said you want him to be happy, but do you love him?"

Before Evelyn could answer Mari's question, there was a rap at the door. Evelyn's brows furrowed as she wasn't expecting anyone.

"I'll get it." Mari said leaving her spot on the couch. She glanced through the peephole to see a man with curls up to his shoulder standing at the door impatiently. The man was gorgeous to say the least. 

Mari took a step back to open the door. There stood Harry in all his glory. His head snapped in the direction of the door opening to see a woman that wasn't Evelyn.

"Can I help you?" Mari asked. Harry furrowed his brows, but smiled nonetheless.

"Hello, I'm Harry. Is Evelyn here?" he asked. 

From the couch, Evelyn shouted, "Who's at the door?" A wave of relief washed over Harry as he heard the familiar voice. Mari glanced back at Evelyn to see she had emeresed herself back into her show.

Mari placed a finger on her lips in a shush motion and quietly ushered Harry in. Harry stepped in taking off his shoes. The thumping of his shoes hitting the ground caught Evelyn's attention. 

She turned around from her place on the couch and released an audible gasp. Mari stood behind Harry with an evil grin on her face.

"Hello, Evie." Harry said with a small smile. Inside Harry was somewhat angry with his girl for not answering his texts or calls. The only saving grace he had to know she was safe were her poetic story posts on Instagram.

But Harry was also relieved to see she was okay. He could immediately tell she had gotten thinner, but nonetheless she looked beautiful in his eyes.

Harry walked over to the couch tentatively. Evelyn's eyes followed him as he came closer.

"May I?" he asked pointing to the spot next to her on the couch. Evelyn nodded her head while making a mental note to kill Mari later for letting him in.

"Oh my! Would you look at the time. I've got to get going, yeah? I've gotta feed my cats and do some of Tony's laundry. You kids have fun. But not too much fun, yeah?" Mari said slipping her coat and shoes on.

Evelyn was sending Mari daggers with her eyes while Harry sat there amused.

"No clearing any cobwebs." Mari said with a wink. Evelyn picked up the pillow nearest to her and chucked it at Mari just as she was closing the door.

Harry let out a small chuckle at their antics. They both turned back around and focused on the TV show in front of them.

The atmosphere was tense. Evelyn could tell Harry wanted to say something, but was holding back for her to make the first move.

After sitting there in silence for another minute, Evelyn grabbed the remote and put the show on mute. She turned her body to face him.

She let out a sigh before asking, "Why are you here, Harry?"

Harry cocked his eyebrow as he turned to face Evelyn.

"Why am I here?" he asked rhetorically. Evelyn nodded waiting for him to proceed.

"I'm here because I wanted to talk to you." he said.

"Why?"

"Because you ghosted me and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Why?" Evelyn asked again.

"Because I asked you an important question two months ago and you randomly vanished." Evelyn couldn't hold Harry's gaze. She casted her eyes to ground out of embarrassment.

A moment went by before Harry spoke up again.

"Did I do something wrong?" Evelyn shook her head no.

"Not particularly."

"Then what is it?" he asked. Harry was beginning to get impatient. He had been waiting for a response for two months. He thought maybe Evelyn needed time to think about an answer for his question. But when she suddenly stopped returning his text and calls, he knew something was up.

He didn't want to show up to her house uninvited. He never really planned to. He just happened to be in the area and his feet led him to her front door.

Evelyn mumbled something Harry couldn't quite hear.

"I'm sorry?"

She mumbled again. Harry subconsciously leaned closer to hear her better.

"I'm sorry, love. You're going to need to speak up." Harry's eyes never left Evelyn. They were like a hawk watching their prey. He'd never seen Evelyn seem so small before. He wondered if maybe he had done this.

"It was because of your question." Evelyn said clearly. She finally let her gaze trail back up to Harry's.

Harry's face contorted in bewilderment.

"You stopped talking to me for two months, because I asked you to be my girlfriend?" Harry asked incredulously.

Evelyn sighed. She was speechless. She had no other excuse for her actions except for fear. The fear of losing him.

"Yes." was all she could say.

"Why? I thought we were finally getting somewhere in our relationship?" Confusion was written all over Harry's face. He didn't understand where he went wrong or what he may have misunderstood.

"Our relationship is only going to end in heartbreak, Harry. You know that." Evelyn said holding back the tears welling in her eyes.

"Loving you is a losing game that I am not prepared to play."

"Then don't. Don't play with me, Evelyn, because I'm not playing with you," Harry pauses to take a deep breath before continuing, "I love you."

A neutral silence falls over them as Evelyn lets Harry's words sink in. As Evelyn thinks, Harry continues to speak, "I have loved you for a while now, and trust me, I wanted to respect your wishes. I wanted to keep everything platonic between us, but I can't deny my feelings for you."

"I was reading a poem by Courtney Peppernell the other day. It said 'one day someone walks into your life, a total stranger, and they become so important to you. And while you've known them such a short time, you feel you have loved them for a lifetime' and that is the exact way I feel about you, Evie. I felt that way back then meeting you in that car park and getting to know you and how amazing you are, and I feel that way about you now even after you ghosted me. And believe it or not I'm going to feel that way about you forever."

Evelyn's face flushed at his confession.

No one had ever said such sweet things to her. She almost let herself enjoy the moment before remembering her impending doom.

"But Harry-"

"And I know you're going to try to detour me with the whole 'Harry, I'm dying' thing as if I don't already know that," Harry cradles Evelyn's face in his hands, "but I'm going to love you through this. Even if you don't feel the same way about me. I'm going to love you. I already do. And there's nothing you can do to try to stop me from it."

Tears begin to well up in Evelyn's eyes as a smile appears on her face. Harry's thumbs wipe the tears away as they fall.

Evelyn moves closer to Harry to hug him. Oh how she had missed his warmth. His sweet smell suffocating and intoxicating her at the same time. She let herself fall apart in his arms as she always had before and Harry soaked up every minute of it. He sat holding her one arm wrapped around her back and the other holding her head to his chest.

After a moment of simply existing with each other, Evelyn sat up. She placed her hands on Harry's thighs as a means to stabilize herself. Her eyes flickered back and forth between Harry's eyes.

Harry watched her intently with a soft smile on his face. He used his thumb to wipe more of her tears away and fix the beanie atop her head. Evelyn let out a small laugh at how pathetic she must look.

She was the one to ghost him and yet he's here comforting her. How ironic.

"We're going to be okay, Evie. I promise." Harry said reassuringly. He held the side of Evelyn's face and brought their foreheads together. She smiled nodding against him. They both closed their eyes and relaxed into each other's comfort.

"I love you." Evelyn said. Harry's eyes snapped open at this. He moved his head back as he grabbed Evelyn's chin with his two fingers to make her meet his gaze.

"You what?" Harry asked. He wanted to make sure he hadn't misheard. 

Evelyn giggled before repeating herself, "I love you." Harry felt tears of his own well up in his eyes.

"So does that mean..." Evelyn nodded her head 'yes' before Harry could even finish his sentence.

A wide grin spread across Harry's face as he slowly leaned in. His eyes went back and forth between Evelyn's eyes and her lips.

He waited patiently for Evelyn to give him the go ahead before he could kiss his girl.

Evelyn nodded her head as she leaned in as well and their lips locked in a passionate kiss.

The new couple felt nothing but butterflies and fireworks in their chest as they finally let themselves feel what they have always felt...

Love.

[bielobog-kun]

i haven't talked to my dad in ten years and he's in a nursing home stubbornly refusing to die and it feels so bad. they say there will eventually be a time when it feels like it was worth it to cut someone out of your life but here's the thing. there was nothing unsaid between my mom and i as she died, she told me she loved me sooooo much and i told her i knew she'd had to fight so hard all her life and i was grateful for what she did right and forgave her for her mistakes. and that is so intoxicating, the idea of having that with my fucked up dad too. but i don't even actually know who he was because he was always lying to make himself sound more impressive--not even better, just cooler and scarier and more wild. i don't know the source of his pain, and he must have had it because he was crazy. kids shouldn't have to shoulder their parents' pain but i would've done it as an adult if i could have ever believed he was telling me the truth about anything he confessed to me.

and then i have to think about the way things were instead of the way they Could Be. he cheated on my mom when we were small and yelled at her and threatened us with his belt and brought his nazi friends around who were actively trafficking drugs. and yet. and yet i go on a hike in the woods, a place that he taught me to appreciate, and i think it's so unfair that i can't share this with him at the end of his life, that i found gold in the fucking midden heap he left me. i can't go to him and tell him You Did This One Good Thing because i know him and he will want to know why i abandoned him. and i would have to say because, dad, you did it first. and then he might attack me physically lol like he did to my brother the last time he visited him in the hospital and didnt even say anything mean. my patrilineal family line highest quality

[ageofpiracyrp]

PLOT DROP 32: DIFFUSION

When The Prosperity enters the area around Kor'sel'Koo where communications transmissions are most accessible, Muffy and Hero find themselves met with a wave of messages to sift through and sort.

To Skylar and Ali from Karmel: Happy belated anniversary in Earth years. Enjoy a round of drinks at Yggld Drinks on me. [Enclosed is a gift certificate for a round of ten shots from the Water Bar and Alcohol Bar chain Yggld Bars, which is ubiquitous in every major settlement on Kor'Sel'Koo.]

To Beck from "K": If you've made it safely and find yourself with a spot of free time, I'd love if you visited.

To Ali from Zuytri: Hi, Friend! Here's the contact information for that person we were talking about that I think you might want to meet. Medri in room 806 Jallik in the Ulsgian Moon Retirement Community.

To Laurie from Viola Dessamer of Revvly Capsule Hotels: Thank you for signing up for the Revvly Capsule Hotels communications list. If you are in need of a safe space, we are always here for you. Read between the lines, and always feel free to reach out if you need a place to stay or cruelty-free, sustainably sourced, and practical meals.

To Theo from someone in the music business in Different City [the equivalent of about $200 in gixys are included]: Hello, Theo. Enclosed are some royalties from the sales of your music. It isn't that many gixys, but I'm pleased to let you know that some of your songs have been gaining a few fans. We anticipate being able to send you some more in six months.

To HJ from Junyi: Hey, bae!! It's really starting to be a long time since we've seen each other but I don't think I'll ever miss you any less. Work is going so good that I think I might be getting quasi-semi-kind of famous. I got some AH MAY ZING new tsum tsums and I stacked all of the ones I could find into a giant pyramid. Sometimes I think 'hey, Junyi, maybe you have a problem with collecting' but then I make a giant pyramid and everything is okay. I'm sending you a collection of my favorite memes that I've found over the last week and I hope that you cherish at least one of them because they made me smile and think of how nice it would be to look at memes with you. Did you know that "meme" rhymes with "steam"? I didn't know that until yesterday. Anyway anyway anyway I love you soooo much and you're sooooo pretty and sooooo good at communicating, HJ. I think about how happy I was to get to meet you all the time and how lucky I am to get to continue to talk to you.

To Robin from Jayvon: Robin, hello! Just wanted to let you know that I started a new job as a close combat officer on a brand new pirate crew, The Dreamhouse. I love it, and I'm glad that I have someone to tell the good news. If our crews are ever in the same area (I'm on Marloken right now), we should meet up and exchange stories.

To Marshall from her Dads: Marshall! We heard you would be going to Kor'Sel'Koo, so we are sending some of our favorite pictures of you and the family when you were younger and we lived there. Also, enclosed are up-to-date addresses and contact information for your cousins and other family. If you have the time, I'm sure they would love to meet up. All of us send our love!

To Daphne from Muzzain: Coast is clear still. Looking forward to meeting with you. "If you're out on the road Feelin' lonely and so cold All you have to do is call my name". These are poignant lyrics from the Gilmore Girls theme song. My name is Muzzain. Until we meet.

To Samira from Makhaira: How is your life going? We exchanged contact information a while back, but I never wrote. I don't know how much you want to hear this, but I've picked up a new hobby: pickleball. It's the one thing I'm a little better at than most of my family, but they haven't given up on playing. We installed our own court, which sounds completely rich erkuss girl of me, but I'm glad for it. What's been keeping you busy?

To Ian from Marlene: It was very nice to see you, Ian. I'm glad that you seem happy with your new crew, and I hope we can meet up again sometime. I don't like to mean ill will of others, but if I had to pick a different ship to crew on than my own, it would be Prosperity. Safe travels.

To Beck from Julia: Hey, Wanker. I know your birthday's not for a few weeks, but apparently the Three Stooges from the galx got their act together and won't leave us the hell alone. The twins wanted to make sure you got their birthday video messages. While they're starting to be rebellious little buggers (I know I'm getting old when I shake my head and sigh saying teenagers) they do love and miss you. They made me say something nice because I called you wanker but I think you're all right.

To Marshall from Oplo: You fixed our air conditioning, correct? Can you send tips?

To Daniel from Seetha: Hi, Daniel! I've missed talking with you so much, I've come to realize. I wanted to tell SOMEONE that isn't being a big meanie (Leo, he's being a big meanie) that I have a boyfriend now! :) His name is Frodo and he's so darling. I think you'd get along famously if you met. My captain is getting sentimental and sending messages to your ship, so I thought I'd send them too.

To Ryder from Seetha: I heard how Leo treated you from him and I am APPALLED. I know it was a while ago, but he's been so bratty and callous to you and also sweet Daniel and Ian. It sounds like he's cleared the air before, but it still doesn't sound right to me. Let me know if you need me to get a real apology out of that meanie on your terms. I know he'll actually mean it because he's apparently stopping his weird bedroom behavior and slowly but surely coming to terms with that. My goodness. You don't deserve that weird behavior.

To Skylar from Kenna: [It's just a picture of French fries with a digital smiley face drawn over]

--

By the time the crew touches down on Kor'Sel'Koo on 3/22/24, all of the messages have been sorted and provided and we pick up a new crew member: Mari, a quirky mate who is 4'6" of apparently pure enthusiasm.

The crew doesn't immediately settle down, as there are messages to read and Gilmore Gilrs to figure out.

--

Muzzain, the far'ly'dae one who ordered all of that Gilmore Girls merchandise, is staying temporarily in Wuunzek, a smallish city about an hour (by underground tunnel train) from Twarvu.

Wuunzek includes a variety of amenities, including Yggld Bars, the Inspired By Earth Waterpark (it's got a lazy river, a waterslide, and a wave pool), an enormous vitamin store aimed at Ly'Daesun called Yonrur, and more.

Wuunzek Population: 89% Far’Ly’Dae, 9% Erkuss, 1% Vanneer, 1% Carrek.

The process of getting the Gilmore Girls merchandise to the right place now will be... annoying because most of it actually needs to go to Twarvu. While it would normally take an hour and a half, the crew will probably take a full 24 hours to get their surreptiously.

[charlesandmiranda]

Asakusa Adventures part one:

2/1 dinner with friends and 2/2 Senso-ji Temple

After leaving Ochanomizu, Charles and I took the train to Asakusa, our next stop in Tokyo. We had dinner plans to meet with a friend and her family that night, and we planned to explore the area the following day (which is yesterday, at the time of writing!)

Our friend, Penko, her husband As'maria, and two sons took us to Asakusa Ichimon, which is a super traditional restaurant. It was featured in the movie Shin Ultraman which came out in 2022, and Charles really wanted to visit it as a film location, but before we could even mention it to her, she was already suggesting that we should all go together, and so we did!

The interior was amazing, I wish we had taken more photos. Taking photos inside establishments can sometimes be difficult, privacy is much more significant of a cultural consideration than in the US and we don't want to take photos of other patrons. It was a lot of gorgeous, dark wood, short, low to the ground tables, tatami mats, and floor chairs. There was a super zen, indoor water feature too, which was pretty cool, to put it mildly.

I don't even begin to know how to describe how tasty the food was; there was a huge menu of sakes (Japanese style alcohol, think sort of like a "rice wine" even though that's not strictly accurate) and shochu (more like a liquor), almost all, if not all of which, we'd never seen before in the states. The entire meal was a like...5 course experience, starting with a small appetizer of fruit, tofu, fish egg and beans (in honor of the Setsubun holiday, which is today [2/3] at time of writing!) all the way to a hot pot of tuna, leek, mushrooms and more. Genuinely everything was like, beyond delicious, and it was sooooo much food, without ever making us feel like we were totally gonna pop (although it was close). There was also a beef dish mid meal that was the first beef Charles had eaten in close to two decades, and it was worth it.

It was also really really special to get to spend the time getting to know Penko and her family better; I first met her here on tumblr actually, maybe....gosh, I don't know, 8 years ago? give or take a year? through a mutual fandom (we were both fans of a specific pairing in a video game called Danganronpa, where she was a very popular fan-artist at the time). Since then, we've met her in Japan a few times on trips, and we've slowly gotten to know her family over the last few years. After our engagement, Penko actually drew some lovely art for us as a congratulations; if you were at our wedding, we had it displayed near our guestbook :P

The following day, we spent exploring around our Airbnb in Asakusa, as well as visiting Tokyo Skytree. Our stay was on the second floor, above a restaurant, right in the heart of the district.

We started the morning early at Cafe Royal, a super old-school Showa-era coffee shop built in the early 1960s. We had coffees and breakfast there, and their specialty Royal Coffee has to have been one of the best coffees I've ever had. It almost reminded me of dark chocolate in terms of its acidity and smoothness. It was truly awesome.

Afterwards, we spent some time shopping at Uniqlo, a Japanese clothing store (there are some in the states too, if you're curious!) My favorite pair of jeans ripped badly on the plane, and I wanted to replace them, so I bought a new pair at Uniqlo, as well as some of their warm layering clothing, which they're well known for, to stave off the February chill. Charles also got some warm winter wear, so we're both totally topped off for the rest of the trip with trendy heat-tech goodies.

We also wandered around the streets and streets and STREETS of Asakusa's extensive shopping and food district surrounding the massive, gorgeous Senso-ji temple. One thing I love about Japan is that these huge shopping districts often have covered roofs over the streets so even if it's raining or kinda crappy weather, you can still walk freely across blocks without too much trouble. We were mostly window shopping, but we definitely stopped for a few treats.

From there, we headed to Tokyo Skytree, stay tuned for our next post!

[cornertheculprit]

I am also having Maya and Phoenix 7-year gap thoughts. Like Maya is trying to hold it together and put on a brave face for Pearl after all they went through in 3-5. But because of that Maya is not allowing herself to process her emotions! And then Phoenix gets disbarred and he's doing the same thing as Maya but for Trucy. And it's like! I feel like that they get so used to hiding their actual emotions because they're both going through it and they don't want to add to each other's misery. But they also want to talk to each other and have some sense of normalcy and it's just ahhh I wanna write a fic exploring this but idk I can actually finish it so here are some thoughts living rent free in my mind

EXACTLYYYYY phoenix gets disbarred sooooo soon after aa3 it's insane. like off the top of my head i think it's barely even two months later. maya and pearl are STILL GONNA be dealing with the aftermath of 3-5. and maya is so so good at putting on a brave face ESPECIALLY for pearl she's so so good at pretending like nothing's wrong to the point where in those slight cameos phoenix and maya and pearl got in aai1-2 they both seem perfectly happy. and if you want to throw plvsaa into canon (which you honestly can because it doesn't contradict any timeline in the aa universe) she seems perfectly fine there as well. and then phoenix gets disbarred! and starts trying to put on a brave face for trucy as best as he can! and of course maya is gonna run down from kurain the minute she hears about it of course she's going to try to be there for him even if she's barely processed her OWN emotions because she's self-sacrificing and willing to do anything for the people she loves. but phoenix is the same way!!! so it's like you have maya trying to be brave for pearl and phoenix trying to be brave for trucy and them having a self-recognition through the other moment and still having to be so so brave about it because morgan tried to use pearl to kill maya and zak just up and ditched trucy at the courthouse and phoenix is twenty-six and maya is nineteen and they are both too young and have too much baggage of their own to be the primary caretakers of fully grown children with equal amounts of baggage and they still are anyway. and they are so good at hiding things when they want to that it makes them so bad about having actual emotional conversations but maya still worries over phoenix and phoenix still worries over maya because they're family and mia asked them to look after each other and life doesn't stop just because everything goes topsy-turvy all of a sudden. so maya visits him whenever she can with pearl in tow and phoenix visits her whenever he can with trucy in tow and when she can't visit maya sends him those samurai dvds and makes him write reports on them so she can hear back from him because there's still the nagging fear that he'll vanish on her like misty did (because of the news dragging him through the mud) or dying on her like mia did (because of investigations that always seem to inevitably go wrong) and phoenix always opens his door when pearl comes to visit by herself because of course he does and he watches as pearl becomes something akin to a big sister to trucy (like he said in dual destinies) and that despite everything they've all been through they're still standing. every last one of them. and he writes the stupid samurai reports

[roseofdarkness0]

Some Explanations of My au from my incorrect quotes post bc I started writing and it got out of hand but I need those bunnies out of my head and if stuff is repeated but just reworded then it's because I've been writing this on different days whilst working on different stuff at the same time. As office would have said, Parkour!

If anything else in the future needs to be explained about my aus I will link this post.

Married Au: Cali and Gov married each other around 1800's because some congressmen were bothering Gov about him being single (with goal of trapping him with one of their daughters so their family could profit) and Gov was getting tired of it. One day where he was close to murdering someone, he spotted another person being bothered about the same thing, sure maybe not on the scale that he was but if he played his cards right it could work out....

Long story short, Gov married that person, "Poppy 'Goldie' McNugget" (strange name but he couldn't exactly complain) by having one of the visiting priests marry them with others as their witnessess. Poppy provided the rings and after few weeks of awkward small talks and getting to know each other a bit better, they parted ways never to see each other again.... until nearly 100 years later when he had to take over a meeting America couldn't attend to and came face to face with Poppy or as he was now known California.

After several rounds of alcohol and long debates, that might as well be considered screaming matches by some states who were unfortunate enough to walk by Gov Office, they came to agreement that every ten or so years they would spend time together as a couple. Mostly to keep up the marriage act and just in case they need to bullshit something on the fly.

Gov was just happy that he wouldn't have to tell Pennsylvania or Virgina about the fact that he is married and didn't invite them. Or his brother.

*as a kind of edit, it's not that gov and Cali haven't seen each other before that but it was rare and only for few apperences. Why the congressmen didn't out gov? Gov is scary mothefucker who then was growing stronger day by day, the choice between death and life was easier to make even if they weren't happy about it.

Which speaking off, in this au I wanted to have countries to exist as well sooooo here is small breakdown of Gov "fam":

Pennsylvania and Virgina as "parents" not exactly but those two helped him out the most when he first came around so they have this relationship of sorts. Mostly it consists of Pennsylvania riling Gov up and Virginia trying to calm them and bring peace but I do imagine that the two are somewhat protective of gov and will beat his ass second they learn he didn't invite them to a wedding.

America as in personification of the country (separate from the states) being older brother of sorts to Gov, think Hetalia or CH hybrid. No I don't have design for his in mind apart from Big boi full of himself who is protective over states but in asshole roundabout way.

Cali on the other hand was human turned into state. His general backstory for this au is that he was human born in Spain meant to marry someone he didn't want as he had fallen in love with someone his family didn't approve off. To rebel they married in secrets torched down the whole town as they ran away on a horseback, got to America and into Oregon trail (which they sometimes left to explore the country before returning) and settled into the new land that promised lots of gold. Few years passed as they settled, drama happened somewhat and Poppy/Cali end up being detained for murder of their husband and hanged. Few days later he crawls out of the grab using skeleton pieces of his husband he had been buried with (hello COD community can u see where I got it from) and it derails into like 1800s where Cali who was still going by Poppy married gov randomly cause might as well get those sweet tax evasion in early and yes the rings he used where his and his late then husband (who is reincarnated soul so he keeps his memories when he dies and reborn, in modern times he had set up bakery in Washington and is flirting with a politician that frequents his bakery.)

Gov and Cali worked out they married each other in 1923 but it was like that umbrella academy meme :

They both were like wait a fucking minute why aren't you dead and then had the whole office screaming match.

I mentioned it earlier but every 10 years they pick some dates where they allow themselves to be like married couple. It started out with them knowing each other better the first few times and it derail into different activities raging from dinner dates to cute murder dates.

They don't try to hide it too much but no one apart from Utah really picked up on it's Why Utah? I thought it be funny. That's it that's the reason.

Both encourage each other to chase after their crushes (Gov has crush on Florida Louisiana and DC but will deny it harder then he denies having emotions and Cali is crushing on NY and Texas (maybe Oklahoma but that's a crackship so ignore that for now Lmao) but will deny it whilst being a simp to gov face) and honestly end goal is some weird poly couple cause I adore poly couples and think there is big potential for fun dynamic. Maybe I will get into it later.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

General rules for most of my aus that I will follow:

Kind of height chart mostly to explain how I see it. So, Countries are bigger then states/regions even the smallest country is taller by an inch or two, like even Alaska whilst the tallest state would be smaller then a country, which yes it means that countries are borderline giants but they can adjust their height to become slightly more human. They have special dimension of sorts to hold their own meeting but if they have to meet up with their human politicians or just humans in general they get to be more 'human' as to not freak anyone out.

Then you have states and regions of a country. Similar rules apply but obviously each country is just slightly different. They are second tallest to reflect their status as a region but obviously their height flu crusted bases on their territory. Nothing much to add here but cities are smaller then states.

With "organisations" such like well Gov, FBI, CDC and so on welllbdbd depends? I imagine Gov as being seoerete from DC and IDC (will explain soon) but general rule of thumbs is that manifestation of government is taller then the country state/region or malleable to what they want in the moment. FBI and CDC are a bit more human like cause they work with humans most often but they sometimes make people feel uncanny bc it's clear they just aren't fully human. Hard to explain but yeah.

DC And IDC! Those two were humans turned immortal cause I think it be funny. They are twins but gained immortality in slightly different ways. IDC was turned immortal bc FBI and CIA took liking to her and the fact that they got some of that hot international gossip that America wouldn't share with them and I imagine as a 'human' she was from either of their agencies or at least worked together with them long enough they decided that yeah she can stay longer. Not sure if that makes any sense.

DC on the other hand was a fed that was supposed to get the states to work together during the meetings in the pandemic which worked. He mostly gained immortality bc either Florida convinced Louisiana to fuck around and find out or Gov saw states devastated that they favourite fed isn't there anymore so he decided to grant DC the immortality to keep states happy but he joined more meetings and ran some of them as well as DC recovered from Jan 6th.

So DC and Gov are separate with Gov having worked mostly near president and doing paperwork from the meetings DC ran but he has been getting involved a bit more with states recently with DC running smaller meetings or hanging out with IDC.

Unless it's specified, most of family relations from Marriage au apply, as in Gov + Ame = kind of brothers, IDC and DC human twins turned immortal through two different means

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Poppy explained:

Essentially I took concept of Surfer Cali being SoCal and normal Cali being NoCal and ran with it by adding Hollywood as a Poppy. And mostly bc I hc Cali as FtM but add more wacky magic shit? Main shit to know is that Poppy = Cali but before officially a state

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Poly:

Just me shipping Gov x Cali x NY x Florida x Louisiana x Texas x DC together bc I am addicted at this point to complicated shipping dynamics lmao

This one will go hand in hand with marriage au as Gov and Cali crush on the established group of NY x Florida x Louisiana x Texas x DC and the group slowly going "Wait a second was that hot or am I just horny"

My favourite stuff from those interactions is Cali teasing Gov about crocodile wrangling out of nowhere with Gov talking about hot and cold meats out of nowhere in turn. Utah was ready to book an exorcism for the two but after being witness to the two bullshiterry he would rather book a cupid or therapist for them.

Crack™Poly:

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Literary same thing like above but with Oklahoma bc I think it be hilarious and I have personal investment in Oklahoma and Texas fighting like usual but both agreeing they need to bag Cali and others before anyone else realises they are good potential partners.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Poly-Nation Au

All States are dating each other. Mostly for either requests or ideas taken from Wtttcord that don't fit in my Aus or I just wanna write something

[azsazz]

Kind of a personal question so feel free to ignore it but have u ever dated anyone? What was ur first relationship like?

Oooh getting deep I see.

Sooooo, this is actually like not a great story...and i basically just word vomited my life on here 😅

TW: mentions of poor mental/physical health, cancer

Yeah, I've only been in one relationship and it lasted for 3 years (too long) lol.

It was great at the start. I'd met him when I went away for college and we were friends which is what I liked the most. We met at a karaoke bar my school had that my friends and I would go to every Thursday night and so would he and his friends so we all kind of became this large group that did that almost every week.

And it was my first relationship ever you know so I was all dumb and head over heels and the whole thing was just a mess looking at it now. My family and friends didn't like him and I became a terrible friend because I would basically spend all of my time with him and not them, so when we broke up I had like no friends of my own because we would only hang out with his friends and that's a whole other mess I won't get into haha.

But basically we were together and things just got worse and worse. He was very jealous and overbearing, had to know where I was and what I was doing all of the time and when we first got together he would tell me what he was doing all of the time and I'd be like okay? I don't need (or care) to know what you're doing all of the time, that was just a natural thing for him I guess. So then he conditioned me to basically be the same way and it was awful and I hated it.

Eventually, things were so stressful. I'd gained so much weight and I was deeply unhappy. All of my relationships were strained and I had no one to turn to. If we fought I'd basically have nowhere to go if I needed time to get away. He chased me down in his car once when all I wanted was some space to think.

Towards the end of our relationship I was literally the most miserable person ever. I hated everything and I started feeling even worse. I got a cold around my 22nd birthday and then that turned into something much worse. I kept getting sicker and sicker and I had no idea why. The doctors I went to thought I had an ear infection, then bronchitis, then that again. They just kept giving me medication for things that weren't helping.

I'd be freezing cold at night but wake up sweatier than ever.

And one day I literally just blurted out during a fight that we should just break up and then we did.

I lost like 30 pounds in a week but was sicker than a dog and I thought it was just because I was sad or whatever and I went to a therapist who literally said to me "Why are you so negative?" I'll never forget that. like lady i'm here to tell you about my problems what fucking part of that is positive?

Like legit I could barely go to class because I was so sick, I had no motivation to do anything. I'd go to class, come home, and go to bed. I barely even did homework because I had no energy.

I visited my brother at his school which was five hours from mine and my parents were there visiting him for a weekend and by the end when it was time for me to drive myself back I started bawling my eyes out and pleading to my parents that i didn't want to because I felt so awful it was the last thing I wanted to do.

Fast forward to thanksgiving break, i went to see another doctor in my hometown because I was still sick (so it started september and it was now november) and she said lets wait a few more weeks, see if this goes away and we'll check again at winter break (december).

So i go back to school and am miserable and finish my classes and I come home at christmas break and am trying my best to tough it out. I was literally the most miserable person on the planet i can't stress this enough how awful i felt. I had no energy to do anything, I'd be so angry at everyone for no reason, and I'd had a terrible cough, nothing was going alright.

At the time my two other siblings were still at school so it was my parents, my little brother, and i. My mom said "if you want to go to the hospital let me know." and i had a friend over at the time so i tried to tough it out but in the end i wanted to go to the hospital.

Basically they told me that I had stage 4 cancer (Non-Hodgkins lymphoma) and man I was in utter shock.

And then I had to leave school to get treatment so I moved back home for that.

So basically long story short I haven't been in a relationship (or even kissed/slept with anyone) since (4 years now, im 26 😳) because now I have this irrational fear that I'll get sick again or something and I just like don't even know how to talk to people or want to talk to them. And I just don't want any of that shit to happen again so idk what im doing with my life in terms of relationships lol.

But I've been in recovery since the middle of 2019 so I am very grateful for that.

sorry for the longest answer in the world that really took a turn. if you read all the way through thank you 💙

And if you should ever need someone to talk to about anything, I am here for you 100% 💙💙