#and the kicker is ALL SHE WANTED TO KNOW WAS IF I WOULD FEED THE HEDGEHOG AND WATER HER PLANTS WHILE SHE IS GONE

[fingertipsmp3]

I swear to god everything from the weather to my equipment to my neighbours to my own fucking body is conspiring to make sure I don’t get a good run this week

[gguk-n]

Chapter 3- The Reveal

Unravelling Max's Mystery (Max Verstappen x Online Friend!Reader)

Series Masterlist

Summary- Y/N gets rejected for the sixth time. Max win's the Monaco grand prix 2023. Y/N decides she needs time for herself.

No hate to anyone, it's for the story

{Reader's POV}

I fell asleep crying, a faint buzzing from my phone was heard from the other room. I woke up after a few hours at 3 am when I found my phone which was burning up. The messages hadn't stop coming. They had gotten quite frantic as I scrolled through my notifications. I decided to reply to Max's messages.

He was still the guy I liked, I couldn't not reply. But I was hurt and in no shape to be talking to him. I don't know what Max said after my message because my phone shut down. I pushed myself to clean myself up and my surrounding. I was a stress cleaner and I'm so grateful to having 2 jobs right now. It meant my mind would be preoccupied. I cleaned my whole house before leaving for school in the morning. My eyes were red and puffy; I was on coffee. I had yet to switch my phone on. I wasn't ready to face Max yet.

Today was the worst day, not only because of last night's revelation but I had the least amount of classes today. None of the kids needed help after class either. That meant I was left to my own devices. When I switched the phone on, I could see missed calls and texts from Max and a couple voice messages; from the night before and today morning I guess. I opened up Google to check his schedule; he was in Monaco, which was also his home currently. I found out a lot about him, you think you know someone but then Google tells you otherwise. His dad was as shitty as he described. His records and feats were astonishing and if I wasn't this angry at him for hiding it from me, I would've been so proud and told him so. His Instagram feed was pretty and polished and he posted so much racing content. I found his streaming account with a team, he was exactly like the Max that called me everyday with occasional appearances from the cats on stream. People spoke so rudely about Max, it angered me to no end. He was a kind man, a liar but a sweet man.

The real kicker was Max's girlfriend's account where I found so many pictures of them together with her daughter, from what I found out. He looked happy, he had a family like he always said he wanted. I couldn't help but smile bitterly, a part of me wished that it was me who was the woman beside him with our kid. Life is cruel in some ways, mine is satire at best. Here, I can't date a man because I'm hung up on a guy I've never met before while said man has a family. I felt tears streaming down my face which I quickly wiped them off. I had enough of pity and sympathy stares since the morning to last a lifetime, I can't deal with any more of them.

I knew I wanted to talk to Max, the only guy who has ever understood me, however, I also knew that if we spoke I wouldn't be listening to him. I was scared I would lose the one true friend I have. Would Max understand where I was coming from? Why did he hide this from me? Did he not trust me enough? I get it, but you are a public figure. I don't know how to feel about all of this. It was the weekend tomorrow. I would be left with my thoughts and I probably shouldn't confront Max before his race on Sunday, right?

I spent the next two days planning how I would talk to Max. How I would ask him why he hid everything from me? I didn't want to fight him; my parents always said I was rude and difficult to work with, that my anger consumed me, that my words were harsh. I wasn't supposed to show such negative emotions they said. I didn't want to lose him; but was I allowed to hold on to him when he never let me have him?

Max called and texted me every day but I was very scared, scared of becoming the monster my parents said I was, sacred of hurting the one I love. There I said it, said Max and love in the same sentence. I had threaded that line so carefully but after all of this, I realised that I've loved him for years and watching him be happy with some else hurt as much as knowing that I never truly knew Max. It was Sunday night, I checked the news and saw that Max won. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to rejoice watching the man I love win at what he was best at or be hurt watching him live a life I knew nothing about.

I texted him at night on Sunday, maybe he would be busy celebrating his win, I didn't know. I didn't know a lot of things. As I waited for the text back, I logged on to my emails that I had forgotten about to find a reply from the publication I had sent my work to; to be met with dismay. Another rejection, I'm not sure how many more rejections I could take. My hands shook, making the laptop fall from my lap onto the bed. I got up and got myself a glass of water.

I laid on my bed for god knows how long before the familiar ring of my phone pulled me out of my trance. I had taken the day off tomorrow. I knew I didn't have the mental or emotional capacity to deal with anything. I answered the call to a worried Max.

Max- Schat, how have you been? Haven't heard a word from you in days. Y/N- I've been busy, school year ending and stuff. Why didn't you sleep yet? Max- You know my sleep schedule is non existent. Y/N- Yeah, I guess I do. Max looked at me confused. Y/N- You know how I do freelance editing Max- You've told me about it Y/N- The latest author I'm working with is a sports author. I was hoping you could help me since you are a walking encycylopedia. Max- sure schat, but what's up with you? You know I'm always there for you Y/N- Yeah it nothing, just stressed. Max- Take off, you deserve it Y/N- The summer break is here soon, I'll be fine. So about that author... Max-Yeah, what sport does she write for? Y/N- Formula One. I don't really like reading lengthy articles and I'm sure one article wouldn't do a sport any justice. I could see the colour leave Max's face. He licked his lips before speaking. Max- You did not go through google yet, right? Y/N- Oh no, what do you take me for? I got excited to learn about something new. Do you know who the reigning champion is? Max was quite, a sort of uncomfortable silence had enveloped us, for the first time in 10 years. Y/N- Some dude named Max Verstappen. You guys share the same first name. He has 2 cats too; named Jimmy and Sassy, who look exactly like your bengals. I mean he even looks like you, with horrible sleep schedule just like you. He even sounds like you. I felt my voice begin to crack while I spoke, the lump in my throat unbearably big, my breathing was uneven. Max- Schatje, I can explain. Y/N- You don't have to Max. I never asked you what you did. You don't have to explain anything. (I smiled with only my lips) Max- I wanted to tell you, it just never came up in conversation. Y/N- I get it, it's difficult to tell your friend who has amounted to nothing that you are the World Driver's Champion, best of the best in Formula One. Max- Y/N, it's nothing like that. You're great, you're kind, you're funny. I laughed bitterly. Y/N- Those are character traits I possess, they don't describe my career goals or achievements. I know I work 2 jobs to stay afloat while you make millions, I know I wish I was an author and not their editor, I know you probably thought I was too stupid to understand your rich and fancy world. Max- No, no, you're so talented. I've read your work and I'm sure the right publication will pick your work up. Y/N- I got rejected for the sixth time today. All of this is fine except that you lied to me about being single while having a girlfriend for years and having the happy family you dreamt off. You didn't have to introduce me to her; not like my boyfriends met you. But it would've been nice if I knew. Max- It just never came up. Y/N- I...we joked about setting you up with someone all the time. Please don't. I get it, we didn't tell each other about work goals or what we did as a job but personal life; I literally told you about every guy I've ever been with. I felt bad telling you thinking you were single. I feel stupid right now. I had tears streaming down my face at this point. Max- I'm sorry,Y/N. I promise I won't hide anything anymore. Please, don't cry. Y/N- My name is Y/N Y/L/N. I majored in literature in Uni and now work as a primary school teacher and freelance editor. I'm trying to get my book published soon. I broke up with my boyfriend 2 months ago. Max- Please don't do this. Y/N- I believe at least one of us should be honest. Max- Let me fix this. Y/N- Don't worry. There's nothing to fix. (I wiped away my tears) Max- Please don't say that. You mean a lot me. Y/N- Me too. That's why, I need time. I'll talk to you when I'm ready. Max- Please, I can't lose you. Y/N- You won't. I'll always be there for you. I just need time. Take care Max I saw tears streaming down Max's face. Max- Bye, take care Y/N. I'll always be here. And then the screen went black.

[Max spent the whole week worrying about Y/N. He couldn't think straight. This was weird, she was never this busy before. It was stressing him out, he couldn't eat or sleep. He never even thought about the fact that maybe his lie had been exposed. When Y/N texted him, he was at a club in Monaco with the other drivers to celebrate his win. He only saw it after he got back home and immediately called her. She looked different, there was this sadness in her eyes. The smile didn't reach her eyes. And then she started talking, his heart was beating very fast. The moment she said Formula One, his whole world came crashing down. The more she spoke the more he felt like he was falling deeper, in a pit of his own making. He wanted to tell her, he wanted to explain himself but no words left his mouth. Then she started talking about his girlfriend. He felt like this was the last time he would get to talk to her, the last time he would hear her voice. This felt like the last time he would have her]

[midnightsnyx]

girl at home | mat barzal | part 10

pairing: mat barzal x fem!reader

warnings: swearing, angst, mentions of alcohol and vomit & fluff and not edited!! word count: 2.6k

a/n: so obviously this is fiction and we don't actually know what Mat or Liana or his parents personalities are actually like but I took some liberty with Liana's personality. see end for more notes cause I don't want to spoil anything :) also sorry this is so late!! i went back to work and then had trouble with this chapter. i hope you all enjoy! likes, reblogs and comments feed my writing soul so let me know what you think <3

masterlist masterpost ask box

Liana texts you the day after your meet-up with Mat at the park, apologizing for getting angry with you and asking to go out for drinks. You don’t have it in you to still be upset with her for yelling at you because she was always the little sister you never had and just because you and Mat are having problems, doesn’t mean it should affect your relationship with her. Sometimes you wonder if you’re too quick to forgive and forget but you know that this is an exception. 

“It’s just weird, y’know?” Liana mutters, laying her head on the dirty bar table. She’s on her third drink and you’re close to cutting her off. “I’m going to be an aunt again, but I have this odd feeling about Calista. Like she’s not telling the entire truth.” 

You startle when she suddenly bolts upright and looks at you with wide eyes. 

“What if Mat’s not the father? That would make so much sense!” 

“How so?” you ask carefully. So far, you have successfully kept the fact that Calista is not pregnant a secret. It’s a secret you will have to take to your grave because you can’t let Marlee get in trouble when all she was doing was trying to help you. The truth might come out some day, but it’s something you will deal with then. 

“Mat is just being weird about the whole thing, like he’s hiding something,” she says. “Well, besides the fact that he hasn’t told mom or dad… but there’s something else.” She picks up her glass and drinks the last of her martini before signinally the bartender for a refill. 

“I think it’s time we switch you to Shirley Temples,” you say gently, asking the bartender for a couple glasses of water. 

She tries to wave you off when you push the water towards her but you give her the all too familiar look that you used to give her when you were both younger. 

“Fine, but if I’m getting cut off, so–” she stops talking abruptly, suddenly focused on something across the room. You turn and see a familiar face that makes your heart drop into your stomach because there’s no way she’s that stupid and you’re about to say something but Liana hops off her barstool and before you can stop her, she’s marching across the room to where Calista is sitting. She’s surrounded by a few other people, one of them being a guy you can’t quite place but definitely isn’t Mat, but the real kicker is the drink in her hand. 

You’re not in the business of accusing people but the way she’s laughing loudly and swaying a little in her seat makes you think that it’s not a non-alcoholic drink. You stare a little too long because when you snap out of your stupor, it’s to a loud shriek and shouting. Nearly tripping over your own feet, you rush over to find both Calista and Liana being held back by people and shouting at each other. You manage to drag Liana out of the hands of the person holding her back but you can’t help but stare at Calista in shock. You know she’s not pregnant but you didn’t think she was stupid enough to test her luck by getting drunk at a bar and possibly being seen by people who think she is.  

“I knew something was off about you,” Liana shouts at Calista who only now seems to realize that you are also in the room. Her face, which was red, pales considerably and her eyes widen when she looks at you.

“You are pregnant!” Liana shrieks and when you hear people gasping and the whispers start, you know you need to get Liana out of here now. 

With strength you didn’t realize you have, you drag her outside. She shakes you off as soon as you’re out the doors and promptly throws up all over your shoes. You don’t give yourself time to be grossed out, pulling your phone out of your pocket and calling the first person you think of.

“Hello?” Jax mumbles and you’re panicking enough that you can’t feel sorry that you woke him up. 

“I need you to pick us up,” you gasp and suddenly you’re sixteen again, calling him to pick you up from a party that you snuck out to. 

Jax doesn’t hesitate before agreeing and asking where you are. You rattle off the name of the bar and he says he’ll be there in ten minutes even though you know his apartment is at least twenty minutes away. You’ve never been so grateful to have him as a friend. 

“You didn’t call Mat, right?” Liana asks quietly and you look to see her sitting on the curb, looking absolutely miserable. Her eyes are filled with unspilled tears and you can only imagine what’s going on in her head. 

“No,” you tell her, sitting down next to her and wrapping an arm around her. “I called Jax.”

She nods and leans her head on your shoulder. You sit in silence for a few minutes before she speaks and her voice is quiet and shaky. 

“She was never pregnant, was she?”

Maybe it’s the natural motherly instinct in you, but you realize you can’t lie to her when she’s so upset.

“No,” you tell her and then she’s crying. You know that she’s drunk which makes her more emotionally vulnerable but you also know how sensitive she’s always been and it’s not a weakness. She wears her emotions on her sleeve and it’s only ever made her kinder and wiser than she should be for her age. 

“I’m sorry,” she sobs. “I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you when Mat told me but I was so confused and upset that he was keeping it from us.” 

Then she’s crying even harder. “Oh god, what are we going to tell Mat?”

Truthfully, in the chaos of all this, you haven’t had the chance to think about what you’ll do about Mat. You know Liana won’t keep the truth from him and even if she did, word travels fast and he would eventually find out. You’re not certain he can mentally handle this, not with everything that’s going on between the two of you and his fragile relationship with Nora. He was just getting used to the fact that he has a daughter when Calista dropped the baby bomb on him and now to find out that it’s been a lie? You’ve no idea what he will do. 

“I don’t know,” you tell her honestly and sigh in relief when you see Jax’s car come into view. You stand up, helping her back to her feet just as Jax parks and gets out to help you. 

He looks worried but doesn’t say anything about yours or Liana’s appearance. Once you’re both settled in his car, he tells you he’s going to bring you both to his apartment for the night, obviously not feeling comfortable dropping you home when you’re upset and intoxicated. You know he’s right but all you want to do is curl up in your own bed. 

“Alright,” you agree eventually and he nods, starting the drive back to his place. You must nod off because the next thing you know, Jax is gently shaking your arm, waking you up. 

“I can’t carry you both in,” he jokes and you look back to see Liana completely knocked out. She grumbles when you wake her but she’s coherent enough to walk.

Jax’s boyfriend, Eli, already has their guestroom set up so you get Liana in the bed and then situate yourself on the air mattress. Jax leaves with a promise to check on you both throughout the night and if you weren’t so worried about Liana, you would tell him not to worry but you’re not taking any chances with her.

You lay awake for a while, not able to get the image of Calista drunk and with another guy out of your head. You don’t know how to tell Mat about it and Liana probably won’t either but eventually you drift off to sleep.

. . .

The next morning, you wake before Liana. Jax came in and checked on you both a few times before deciding that it was okay to leave you so you’re surprised to find him awake when you make your way out to the kitchen. It’s just past 8 o’clock but he’s cooking breakfast, singing off tune to Taylor Swift.

“Hey,” you say softly, sitting at the breakfast bar. You know he’s going to want an explanation because even though he let you off the hook last night, he’s going to want to know why Liana was crying and you had vomit on your shoes when he picked you up. 

“Morning,” he replies, placing a coffee in front of you and a piece of plain toast. You can feel his eyes watching you eat and once you’re done, he looks at you expectantly. 

“We saw Calista at the bar last night,” you explain. “Drunk and with some random guy.”

“Huh,” he says, so you look at him. His face is neutral, not showing if he’s surprised. 

“What does huh mean?”

“I mean, you did say something was off about her.” 

That was putting it lightly because although you couldn’t tell him the full story in fear that Marlee would lose her job, you did express your concerns about her without telling him that you knew she wasn’t pregnant. 

“Yeah,” you sigh. 

You hear shuffling from the guest room and look to see Liana walking into the kitchen. She plops down next to you and groans.

“I’m never drinking again,” she says and you can’t help but chuckle despite the circumstances. 

“Said every hungover person ever,” you say and a small smile crosses her face before she frowns, clearly remembering last night's events.

“I have to tell Mat,” she says. “It’s not fair to him that she lied.”

You sigh but nod in agreement. 

“I have to pick Nora up from my moms,” you tell her. “Are you okay to tell him yourself?” 

You really don’t want to be there when Mat finds out, not when you’re dealing with your own feelings towards him. 

“Yeah,” she says, eating the toast Jax offers her. 

You both finish your coffee and then Jax drives you to your apartment and you drop Liana home before picking Nora up. 

She’s ecstatic to see you, telling you everything she did with grandma from the moment you dropped her off until now picking her up. 

“And then, Millie hissed at me but Gizmo barked and scared her away,” she takes a deep breath before continuing her ramblings. “Can we get a kitten?” 

“You’re allergic, remember?” You remind her, and then a thought pops into your mind. Where did she see your mother’s neighbor's cat? “Where did you see Millie?” 

“Mrs. Turner invited us over for tea,” she tells you and then offhandedly adds: “she asked about you and Mat.” 

This doesn’t surprise you because Mrs. Edna Turner is quite the gossiper. You have trust in your mother that she didn’t tell Edna anything private but you’re still curious what exactly they talked about and you know that your child can be sneaky when she wants to be. 

“What did Mrs.Turner ask?” you ask, rolling your eyes when she sighs dramatically and puts her tablet away. 

“Well, first she asked if Mat was really my daddy and when Grandma said yes, she said ‘that poor child’,” she says, face scrunching up in confusion. “What does that mean?”

You make a mental note to talk to your mom about bringing Nora to any future tea parties at Mrs. Turner’s. 

“Nothing,” you assure her. “What else did she say?”

“She told grandma that if she were you, she wouldn’t move me to New York.” Her eyes narrow and she frowns. “I thought you said we weren’t moving to New York.”

“We’re not.”

“Then how come Mrs.Turner said that?” she demands.

“‘Cause Mrs. Turner doesn’t know how to mind her own business,” you mumble and then sigh, looking at Nora so she’s listening. “We’re not moving to New York, okay?” 

She nods and then smiles. “Can we go get ice cream?” 

“Yeah, we can go get ice cream,” you tell her even though it’s nearly dinner. 

Every once in awhile, ice cream for dinner is in order.

. . .

It’s past midnight when there’s a quiet knock on your door, and the only reason you’re awake to hear it is because Liana let you know she told Mat the truth about Calista. She told you that he had left the house as soon as she told him that morning and hadn’t returned home all day. You were expecting a text from him but your phone was silent and that worried you even more.

So, when you open the door to find Mat standing in front of you, red rimmed eyes and looking about two seconds away from crying, you don’t hesitate to let him inside. He slips past you and toes his shoes off before going straight for the couch and sitting down on it. You hesitate, but eventually settle down next to him. 

He’s resting his elbows on his knees, hiding his face in his hands and it takes you a minute to realize he’s crying silently. 

“Mat…” 

“I just - fuck, I thought that this was my second chance, you know? It wasn’t ideal but I would get to do all the things I missed with Nora,” he says, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I was such an idiot.”

It’s not a dig towards you but you still can’t shake the guilt you always feel when he talks about everything he didn’t get to see. Her first steps, first words, first day of kindergarten. All the things you can never get back. 

“It’s not your fault,” you say gently. “You couldn’t have known.”

“I should’ve,” he mumbles and before you can say anything, you hear soft footsteps coming down the hallway. You look to see Nora, rubbing her eyes sleepily and frowning when she sees Mat. 

When he realizes she’s there, he wipes his eyes hastily but it’s not fast enough because Nora walks over to him and deepens her frown.

“Are you okay?” she asks quietly, reaching out and touching his cheek that’s still damp. 

Mat looks like he’s going to say that he’s fine but seems to change his mind last minute. He smiles sadly and shakes his head.

“Not really, peanut,” he tells her and the frown on her face deepens even more than you thought possible. 

“Mama says hugs make things better when you’re sad,” she says, sounding much wiser than a six-year-old should sound. Then, without asking, she climbs up onto his lap and wraps her tiny arms around his neck and hugs him. You can see the moment Mat breaks, hugging her back gently and it’s like all the tension drains from his body. 

You call it the “Nora Effect”, because her little hugs always seem to make you feel better.

“I’m so sorry, Nora,” you hear Mat whisper and you know he’s going to beat himself up over everything that’s happened with Calista - and Nora deserves his apologies, but your kid is one of a kind and you know that she will forgive him.

With time, if he proves himself, he’ll have a place in her life and you can’t wait to see what the future holds for them. 

authors notes: so calista is goneeeee FINALLY. she wasn't supposed to be here as long as she was but I got too carried away with that storyline and i'm glad it's over lol also, I had mixed thoughts about having mama be the one who told Mat that Calista was lying but I just couldn't get it right so I figured next best thing would be Liana! ps: millie is named after my own cat who i will put a pic of in the comments below

tag list: @literatureluster @dasiysthings @diary-of-jj @heatherawoowoo @fallinallincurls @lovinbarzal @whatthepuckisgoingon @teapartydreams @alilstressyandlotdepressy @keiva1000 @hischiershoe @bellstwd

@alwaysclassyeagle @brrbrina @nonsensical-nonsence @love-like-woaah @swift-sos @barzygirl13 @ilyrafe

if you want to be added or taken off the list, please let me know :)

[lunajay33]

The Only One🩵Part.5

Summary: Y/n is from the forest but when she was a teenager she felt too much pressure and left her tribe and found shelter with the Metkayina where she meets Tonowari, the future chief! What will happen between them?

Pairing: Young Tonowari x Omitacaya f! Reader

Part.4

•Masterlist•

It was any day now and I'll have my baby, Tonowari has been helping me feel more confident about become a mom, it's been helping and I've felt more connected to the baby

It's been kicking a lot more lately telling me it's gonna be soon, it's a lot more active

"Tonowari im feeling a bit stif, im gonna go for a walk" I said as I kissed him

"I'll come with you"

"No my love it okay, you have things to do plus I'll stay close to the others"

"Okay but if something happens call out to me okay"

"Okay I promise!" I walked down the beach on the shore so the water could cool me down

"Hey! Y/n!" I heard as I turn around and saw Tonowari's father near the fishing nets

"Hello sir is there something you need?!" I asked as I held my belly walking up to him

"Just wanted to know how you were doing, after all you are carrying my grandchild" he said excited he was just like Tonowari

"I'm doing well, they're a little kicker that's for sure, they've been moving like crazy"

"I can't wait, I'm glad you came here, you've really turned my son into a great man"

Those words just warmed my heart

"Thank you sir, you don't know how much that means to me" I said tearing up

"Oh don't cry sweetie, you know you're family now, you're one of the people" he said as he leaned down and gave me a gentle hug

"Now where is my son at, has he left you all alone?"

"Oh no I was just wanting to stretch my legs so I told him to go about his day!"

"I see, we'll if you need anything please don't hesitate come to me"

"Okay thank you" I said as I continued on with my walk

It was calm on the beach today, peaceful, I couldn't help feel better, knowing that I have a family now

I looked out on the water seeing some Tulkun swimming around, they were so incredible to me, like nothing I've ever seen before

I got in the cool water and stayed afloat on my back, watching the clouds float by, I don't know how long I stayed like this, hours maybe but that all stopped when I felt a huge pressure release

I quickly made my way back to the beach looking for someone I knew when I got another huge pain in my belly and I knew this was it, my baby was coming

I leaned against a near by rock for support as I tried to breathe through the pain

"TONOWARI!" I screamed hoping he would hear me and sure enough when I looked up I could see him frantically running to me

"What is it baby, what's wrong?" He asked panicked

"The baby.....it's coming"

He softly picked me up and ran me to his mother

"Mother its time" he said as he laid me down on a mat

I tried to clear my head and just breathe

"Here eat some of these they will help with the pain" she said as she fed me some kind of berries

"Tonowari please sit behind me" i said and he quickly sat behind me pulling my back against his chest and placed both his legs on the side of me

"Everything will be okay my love, remember you are strong" he whispered to me

"Are you ready?" His mother asked

"As ready as I'll ever be"

It was so painful but thanks to the berries Tonowari kept feeding me it subsided and after about an hour I finally heard a cry

"A baby boy" she said as she placed him on my chest

"He's beautiful, he looks like a perfect mix of us Angel" Tonowari said as he looked over my shoulder

"My beautiful boy, Ao'nung, I think that's what we should name him" i said mesmerized

"It's perfect"

It's been about a month since I gave birth to my beautiful Ao'nung, he was the most adorable baby I've ever seen and I couldn't bare to be away from him for a long time

I was resting up against the wall of our pod, cradling Ao'nung on my arms as he fed, it was hard adjusting to and it was painful at times but I'd go through anything to make sure he was happy and healthy

"My Angel are you here?" I heard Tonowari whisper

"I'm in here"

He walked in and smiled instantly at the scene infront of him

"He is a hungry boy, didn't you just fed him?" He asked ad he came and sat next to me

"Ya he's just like you, your mother told me you wanted to drink all the time and that's how you grew so big" I said smiling weakly up at him

"You need to make sure you're getting enough food too especially if he is drinking more or else you're going to grow weaker, I'll make sure you're well taken care of" he said as he placed a kiss against cheek

"I know it's just, I can't even think of anything when I'm with him let alone food, I'm scared that if I take my eyes off of him for even a second something might happen"

"Mother said that's only because you're a new mom, it's healthy to get some alone time to recharge" he said as he brushed his hand over Ao'nung

"How? you have duties to fulfill and I can't leave him with just any clan member, I don't think I'm ready to do that yet, he's still so fragile" I said as I laid him on the little bed beside me since he had fallen asleep

"That's okay my love, I'll just take care of you myself in the mean time, now since he's asleep how about you get some rest too and when you wake I'll have dinner ready"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes my love now sleep I'll be here when you wake"

Ao'nung was growing so much and it honestly upset me, so I made sure to spend as much time with him, especially since he was growing so fast

"Come here baby" I said excited as Ao'nung wobbled on his feet trying to walk over to me

"Mama!" He babbled as he finally made it to me, squealing in excitement

I swooped him up and rocked him in my arms

"Such a good boy, awe my little sunshine"

"Angel! I'm back!" Tonowari said as he walked through the entrance spotting me and my bundle of joy

"Hi my love!" I said as I leaned up and placed a kiss to his cheek

"How's my boy!"

"He's great, he's been babbling and waddling  around all morning, he's getting big and strong just like his dad"

"I was talking to my mother and father and they said they would love to watch over Ao'nung tonight so we can spend some more time together"

"But I want him here with us" I whined

"Ya me too but, I barely get alone time with you anymore, I miss you" he said as he got quieter

"awe baby I'm sorry, I'll go drop him off and then I'll be all yours" I said giving him one last kiss before dropping my little boy off

"I'm so happy to have a little sleepover with my grandson, thank you for allowing him over!" Tonowari's dad said

"Of course! Even though I hate letting him go I love that he has grandparents who want to spend time with him!"

Once I knew he was settled in and safe I quickly made my way back to our home

"Baby! I'm all yours!" I called out

Next thing I knew I was being lifted off my feet and laid down on our bed, Tonowari hovering over me

"I missed being with you my Angel" he said as he placed a million kisses all over my face

"I'm sorry I made you jealous"

"What? Jealous? Of my own son, preposterous"  he exclaimed dramatically

"I can tell you are but you know I still love you dearly right?" I said as I dragged my hands through his hair

"I know, and maybe you're right I may get jealous but only because I'm used to you giving all you love to me"

"I know but I have enough for both of my boys, trust me"

Timeskip~

Today is aonungs first birthday, I couldn't believe my little boy was already 1 year old, the village was having a celebration for him and he was so excited as he stumbled around with the other kids

It made me tear up seeing how fast he was growing

I felt arms wrap around my stomach and he rested his chin on the top of my head

"How're you feeling my Angel?" He asked as he rubbed my growing belly bump

"I'm alright, I just hate seeing him grow so fast, he's my baby boy, why can't he just stay like it" I said as tears fell down my cheeks

"Oh my love, I know it's hard but he will always be our boy, we still have so much time left with him, plus we'll have a new little baby soon and it'll feel like a new start again" he said placing a bunch of kissing on my cheeks

I couldn't stay sad when he was with me

"I love you so much"

"I love you to beautiful"

"Mommy mommy, I want up" Ao'nung said as he pulled on my leg

"Don't you wanna play with your friends?" I asked as I kneeled down

"Not right now I wanna be with you" he said pouting

"Okay sweetie hop on" I said as I turned around so he could climb on my back

He climbed on and wrapped his little arms around my shoulders and Tonowari helped me stand back up

"How are you liking your birthday son?" Tonowari asked as we all walked further down the beach for privacy

"It's fun all the other kids wished me happy birthday and grandma and grandpa gave me a new necklace" he said as he showed off his blue beaded seashell necklace around his neck

"Awe its so pretty, I'm glad you're enjoying your birthday my sweet boy, my and your dad actually have a gift for you too!" I said as Tonowari took him and placed him on the ground

We all sat down, Ao'nung in Tonowari's lap

"What did you get me mama?" He asked super excited

I went into my little side pouch and pulled out the beaded hair piece I made for him

"Wow, where do I put it?"

Tonowari took it and wrapped it around Aonungs bun, it was adorable

"There you go!"

He got up and ran over to see it through the reflection of the water

"Mama I love it thank you!" He said hugging me close

"You're welcome baby, you're the sweetest you're gonna be the best big brother!" I said kissing his cheek

"I can't wait to meet them, is it a boy or girl?" He asked kneeling down as he rubbed my belly

"We won't know until they are born son"

"I'll be the best brother I can, I'll protect them with my life, I'll be like a warrior just like you dad!"

He was just the cutest little boy ever and I couldn't wait to see him with a little sibling

Tonowari was out fishing and helping his father with the people today and me and my little boy, Ao'nung were in our pod today relaxing

I knew my baby was coming soon, my belly was feeling tighter and I felt more pressure on my belly and my lower back

And Ao'nung was being the best son, he decided to stay in with me today instead of going out and playing with his friend Rotxo

"Baby don't you wanna go out and play today?" I asked as he took out his little paints

"No mama, I wanna be with you, to help and what if you're alone and the baby comes, I'll be here to help and be a strong big brother"

"I love you my boy, you're so kind, thank you"

He grabbed a cup of water and sat back infront of me, Tonowari brought home rocks for Ao'nung where he could scratch the rock, add a bit of water and have natural paint, and since this discovery, Ao'nung loves to paint my belly

He started finger paint little flowers along my belly, smiling as he did so

"I want to meet them mama! I wanna show you and dad how good I'll be with them"

"Baby you know me and dad already think you're an amazing son, that's why we know you're going to be a great big brother, don't worry your little head" I said placing a kiss to the top of his head

"Okay, I believe you, and there you belly is done, can I paint your arms too?"

"Of course"

The day continued and I was fully painted in cute little flowers, Ao'nung was very proud, we were down by the water, dipping our toes in, i held his hand and he loved jumping around

"I wanna see papa! I want him here with us!" He giggled

"Okay let's go find him, maybe he's down the beach with grandpa" we continued walking and noticed their tall figures

"Look there they are, go see them!" I said knowing he wanted to run ahead

I saw him scurry off and it filled me with joy

"Papa!!" He yells out

Tonowari perks up and his tall starts swaying when he sees me and Ao'nung, he leans down and swoops him up

I finally reached them and they were all smiling

"Look papa, mama let me paint her all over, doesn't she look pretty!" Ao'nung says as he curls into Tonowari's chest

"She looks beautiful! Did you and mama have fun today?"

"Oh ya I helped her make food and made sure she ate a bunch so the baby grows strong too!"

"I'm very proud of you son"

After finding Tonowari on the beach we all made our way back home with Ao'nung on his shoulders pulling on his hair

As we were walking I felt that pressure release and water starts running down my legs

"Aaahhh, Tonowari!" I gasp

"What is it love?" He asks frantic when he sees my expression

"The babies coming"

He sets down Ao'nung and picks me up, I look down and see him holding onto his papas tail and Tonowari quickly made his way to his mother, the Tsahik

"The baby is coming please sooth her" he said as he laid me down in his parents pod

He sat behind me while Ao'nung quickly sat neck to me holding my hand

"Mama are you okay?" He asked scared

"I'm gonna be fine my son, your little sibling is coming!" I said trying not to scare him

"How about grandpa take you to the back of the pod and you guys can play while me and mama wait for the baby" Tonowari said

"But I don't wanna leave her, I'm her strong soldier, and I promised to protect the baby" he said scrunching his face trying to look tough but it was so adorable

"Okay you can stay, how about you help grandma get things ready!" He quickly hopped up and went to help

"Are you ready my love? We're gonna have a new little baby" he said excited

"I'm scared" I whispered

"Why Angel? You're so strong and last time you did amazing!" He said rubbing my hair back

"What if it's too much this time" I said trying to breathe through the pain

"Don't say such things, we are all here with you, Eywa is with you, I know you can do this!"

"Okay, you're right, I can do this" I encouraged myself

Hours later~

After hours of excruciating pain it was finally over, and now I was holding my beautiful little girl, see had the same skin color as Tonowari and Ao'nung but had my yellow eyes

"She's beautiful, thank you my love" Tonowari said as he was still sat behind me, rubbing his fingers over her

That's when Ao'nung came out and raced over to our side

"Mama! Are you okay now?" He asked pushing my hair out of my eyes

"I'm okay love, meet your new baby sister!" I said leaning over on my side so he could see her

He was beyond shocked, he leaned close running his little hand over her face, down until he was holding her hand

"She's so cute mama!"

"Do you wanna name her?" I asked smiling at the scene

"Really! How about baby Tsireya!"

"It's perfect son!" Tonowari said proud

This was perfect, everything I've always wanted right here with me

Taglist: @hvroldtime @zoexme

[idkfitememate]

Alright listen Mora!Reader is nearly done but I just had a truly awful idea and I’m listening to Extreme/Brazilian Funk rn so I’m on a mind high okay so here’s the tea (never saying that again):

So we know that Obey Me doesn’t follow the Bible in anyway whatsoever really, so why not make the entire game angsty because I’m tried? Bet, making shit angsty is my specialty.

So anyway, that’s where new character/reader comes in: Adam/Eve! And when I put their names together like that, I mean they are the same person. They were made in a way that allows them to flip flop between both genders and sex’s so like they have the best of both worlds. Good a cooking and cleaning and sewing and child stuff as well as hunting and war and providing and so on and so forth.

Now here’s the kicker, they’re the human Lilith meets.

And *poof* love blossoms. She’s like “Awe cute little human~” and they’re like “Wow a being beyond my mortal comprehension! Neat!” Love.

So all the “God doesn’t want me here” shit goes down and instead of being like “aw don’t listen to him baby stay down here with us humans” they’re like “Then??? Stop visiting me??? If The Father doesn’t want that????”

So anyway war starts and she dies-

And their like “OH NO MY LOVE” so they chase after her falling body and try to catch her but end up slipping off a cliff and being forced to watch as Lucifer does the deal thingy with Dia and then they also get reincarnated with her.

But not for good reason oh no, they’re immortal now and forced to watch as she lives her life and watch her descendants live their lives as well.

Also they’ve been instilled with the 7 deadly sins, but the 7 heavenly virtues are still stuck in em as another punishment so they can go “Imma gonna rob this bank😏” “you could use this to feed the poor😇” “NOOOOO-“

They start off being okay with the brothers and still praying but soon (and by soon I mean over the course of thousands of years) it turns into them owing a shrine in their house for the soul purpose of of praying to God to shit on him.

“So today I learned that Lilith’s 243rd descendent is a world leader. That’s cool. Bet you didn’t see that coming huh you fucking bitch? Bet you weren’t counting on that were you whore? Hope your ass sits on an angel with a shockingly sharp halo.”

Yeah they’re pissy which is fair.

And then, the cherry on top?

They get invited to R.A.D. as a human participant.

Now, last they checked this did seem like something Dia would do (they never had bad blood with him) but DAMNIT why them???

They are so fucking tired dude, when they get down there the demon brothers try to scare them and they probably say at some point “Oooooo Beel’s gonna eat you oooooo!!!1!1!11” And they just… rip their leg off and throw it at him before using an ancient magic to rapid fire heal their leg back to perfect health and walk away, leaving them in shock.

I’m sorry it’s late and like I said Mora!Reader is nearly done but this idea (that I know FULL WELL I didn’t articulate right) hasn’t left my mind as well as another that I might dump in a while lmao. Mmm just asshole Adam/Eve!Reader(??? Would anyone read that??-) who is tired of the brothers bullshit and ready to throw Belphie through a wall for coddling them hehe ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა

Also I’m open to questions if anyone has any (I doubt it lol) hehe got to many ideas ૮꒰ ˶꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ˶꒱ა♡

Anyway bye-

[cyborg-franky]

I want to hear about you growing up in haunted house. How did you know it was haunted? Was it scary or where you so young you just didn't know to be scared? Why do you think it was haunted?

Oh lord. Story time.

So the house was victorian in era and in the middle of nowhere. I was.. I think like no more then 10-11 years old? When I say middle of nowhere I mean it. We didn't get buses. We had a FARM and like 3-4 other houses then just miles of country.

This was some of the views [HOUSE WAS EMPTY DURING THESE IMAGES/HAS NO SIGNS OF WHERE ITS LOCATED, I THINK ACODRING TO THE HOUSE SELLING SITE THERE IS STILL NO ONE THERE ATM]

So, the house was always cold anyway because it's made of thick bricks and no real instalation or at least when we lived there. It had 2 liveable floors and then an atic.

The atic scared my mother so she never went there and there was a wasps nest up in the top and my step dad was deadly alergric to bees/wasps.

Him and my uncle went up like ONCE ever to check it out and make sure everything was okay, later the wasps were sorted out but anyway. The windows were brand new, double glazing and heavy because England needs double glazing for the weather. So the windows, brand new, heavy, plastic and thick. Not orginal creaky ass windows. Now, no one goes into the attack but sometimes late at night when we drove back home the window would be open. My step dad would run up and close it but wouldn't hang around there, so I dont class that as 'going into the atttic' it was just to fix the window, I remember mood feeding on them both about anxiety for it.

Some backstory about my family. My mother and step father were NO MESS people. Don't believe in ghosts, luck, aliens, God. Nothing. And I didn't know about ghosts.

Everynight I heard scarping in the attic and was told it was rats [Yes we did have rats but now as a rat owner, no way was that rats] and the floors creaking downstairs at night.

Old house, old houses move and shift, thats fine.

I had my own room [it was a 3 bedroom] and I remember everynight laying there in bed as a young kid and I always thought it was my step dad peering around the corner to watch me, make sure I'd settled down to bed. He was always just a black shape but my room was dark save for a little nightlight and a hall light on so I didn't think it was creepy. Just thought my step dad didn't trust me to go to bed. This happened the entire like.. 4 years we lived there? [LATER: when talking to my mother as an adult about it I was like 'Why did STEPDAD do that?' mother looks at me confused and tells me 'he never did that'] Now the real kicker for me is something I overheard YEARS after we moved. I'm what 15-16 when I overhead my step dad and uncle talking. They were talking about the house.

Why did we leave? it was so cheap for something that big. My step dad with no humour in his voice. 'We had to go, she got too close' 'Everynight she was there, it started at the bottom but every night she got closer and closer and closer, she was right outside the window, we had to leave'

From a mad who wasn't phased by anything that was hard to listen to.

the circle shows where she started and made her way up to the kitchen window. I don't know what she looked like, he only ever said 'all white'

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2022: #25 - #21

25. ARMENIA

Rosa Linn - “Snap”

20th place

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Overall placement: 50/79

[Above The Black Mamba, below James Newman]

Ugh, Fine. 

Time to finish this ranking turbo style! So yeah, I’m not impressed with The Biggest Eurovision Hit, which I suppose is a controversial opinion? Then again, if Rosa was so good, then why did she only make it 20th place, hmmm? 🤔🤔

When Rosa’s song leaked it sounded exactly like the type of song you’d expect  DMGP to commit murder for: a frivolous, cheery pop welterweight (which somehow has the same cadence as I’m Alive by Elhaida Dani) thats easy to listen to and doesn’t get in the way of stanning better things. 

At Eurovision, this was Rosa’s exact journey. She was a cute presence that was vaguely liked, and her staging supported this. (despite the staging mishaps, still pretty neat!) Don’t know what all the references in the lyrics are about, but we can pretend it added some depth and meaning, Into 20th place she went, which was a fair result for what her lovable random self brought to the table. 

Then, she went viral on TikTok, which honestly is more of an  “eww” than a “good on her” i m o. Okay, look, it defo does not surprise me that out of the entire 2022 catalogue this song became the viral one. TikTok viralness is a horrible metric for musical quality though. “Snap” works as a TikTok song specifcally because it doesn’t syphon attention away from whatever brainfart nonsense TikTokkers force on their feeds for a living. If you want a backing track to your “Make mac ‘n’ cheese by dumping the ingredients on a marble countertop” silliness or your indie song-singing 101 Tutorial, might as well pick something like a Snap as the accompanying backing track.

Also, I always felt the record label behind Rosa Linn was a bit too eager to get A Big Kicker on their conto. Remember when Rosa -likely on urging from her mentor Tamar Karpelian- attempted to start a respectful discussion on Twitter (oh dear) about how wonderful NFTs were (oh dear) because they helped establish a base income for fledgling artists,like herself (oh dearrrr) without having to rely on her songs getting streams? (oh dearrrrrrrrr)Twitter gave their usual gaslighting-disguised-as-concern response which in turn forced Rosa issue a semi-confused, half-arsed apology for attempting to profit from her work. Okay that was kinda funny, but by Monika Liu’s  grown-out bob, Zoomer drama is the nuttiest drama, I swear.

Anyway, the aforementioned NFT shizzle, the association with Tamar’s Slytherin Evil, the TikTok viralness and the radio people’s sudden insistence that “Snap” was A Hidden Underrated Gem despite it being an inconspicuous 20th placer at Eurivision THAT NOBODY CARED ABOUT, and also the fact that Snap has five different versions (HER?!) all kinda hints at a certain ambition that just... taints it a bit for me. It just feels like Snap’s popularity didn’t develop itself naturally and but came about due to largely commercial and monetary reasons, after which the sheeple convinced themselves retroactively that it was secretly great and very underrated, since you know, influencers would never twist the truth to us for their own profit. 

Overall the song’s fine in a vaccuum. Underneath its base sheer lie values that my crusty millennial monroe ass doesn’t share. FARE THEE WELL, MISS LINN, YOU GO BYE NOW!!!

 -----------------------

24. CROATIA

Mia Dimsic - “Guilty pleasure”

26th place

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 Decade placement: 47/79

[above The Roop, below Tusse]

Oh look, another vaguely pleasant, mildly likabable, and ultimately not very exciting middle-of-the-road pop melody. The cynic in you might think I’m ranking Mia ahead of Rosa because Mia didn’t go viral, and like always the cynic in you is correct! Hooray! 😁 Yeah sorry, in the ongoing battle of overrated vs underrated, it’s the correctly rated that always win :-) 

Still, like Rosa, Mia had the potential to be green on my ranking if she had cultivated a status as a fun random. TSwift IS a guilty pleasure of mine (except for her Midnights Era self which is unironically great) and while “Willow” is a part of the least exciting wing in Taylor’s musical library (ie: the part that isn’t crazed out through copium and/or severe neurosis), this bootlegged version was just cute enough to charm me.

Now of course, if your song is all about maintaining a certain level of delicate joie-de-vivre, it’s really important to not overdo the act and let the singer’s personal charisma carry it. Cue to the staging which looked like this:

What.

The.

Everlovin’.

Fuck?

There’s good staging and there is whatever the flyin’ fuck that was. Goodbye cutesie lounge vibe, goodbye charming performer, you’re completely overtaken by this overly choreographed, overtly dramatic and abrasive act that your song didn’t need. ONE dancer, NO acrobatics, how difficult is that to grasp, HRT? I’d be tempted to say the act was a cursed decision, but then realize Croatia’s frantic dance gremlins were probably the tipping point that allowed ~Systur~ into the finals, and any Eurovision final graced by those three earth angels has to count as a blessing. So thank you Mia for blessing us. ^_^ 

------------------------------------

23. GERMANY

Malik Harris - “Rockstars”

25th place

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Decade ranking: 45/79

[Above Tusse, below Undisclosed]

It is very common knowledge that nobody likes Rockstars, and fine, I don’t! As insipid as “Rockstars” was though, I don’t think it was completely without redeeming qualities.Malik had a baseline charm and really went for it, I guess. 

The German Selection, which had adopted the very... um... optimistic name “Germany, 12 points” for the occasion, (optimistic even if we believe the conspiracy theory the “12 points” alluded to the total numerical amount ARD were aiming for in Turin <3) was one of the worst in a horrible NF season. I was fucking relieved it produced a winner I could (sadly no more than) vaguely enjoy. Not everyone has the panache of getting distracted by their own soap bubble bonanza. 

Also, the SPOKEN WORD RAP BREAK was exactly what my brain and soul -both high on copium after the Alina Pash withdrawal- needed at the time. It didn’t blow me away or anything, but it at least gave me something tangible to cling onto besides “well this is nice, i guess”. 

For the rest though, ::tumbleweeds::. I think people might have been a bit too bandwagon-y in their Malik Mockery cus like, yeah he’s clearly getting last, don’t make it worse? But then again... he brought very little to the table. Besides the spoken word it’s like... cursive singing (petition to rename this to “Cursed Singing”) and instruments displayed on moth-eaten rugs to get points, you know? It’s like Germany were deliberately telegraphing us to NOT vote for them, again. But that’s less on Malik and more on ARD’s incompetence, which is a discussion for another time. 

-----------------------------------------------

22. NORTH MACEDONIA

Andrea - “Circles”

27th place

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Decade ranking: 44/79

[Above Malik, below Hurricane]

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO GREEN!!! Sadly we’re still in the No Man’s Land of VagueOpinionstan. 😣 

There is *something* about Andrea and “Circles” that resonates well with me? Is it the perfectly mimed frustration with a poorly communicating love interest? Is it the palpable resignation on her face as she helplessly bleats “u don’t wanna test my limits -_-”.

Maybe! What I do know is that I stan the critical amount of pure Sadsack Energy Andrea exhudes from every pore. 😍😍 I think she’s a contender for the most morose, Eeyore-ish person to ever set a foot on a Eurovision stage? Reminder that this person won a selection  <33333 Andrea posseses a sort of theoretical anti-charisma that should render her unvoteable, and yet in practice just has me cling to every word crossing her lips. ALL SHE WANTS IS A HEALTHY CONVERSATION SO SHE CAN GET IT RIGHT AND FIX THE SITUATION, YOU GHOULS!!!

(and yes, the other Bubble favourite of floordrop sorcery making an appearance <3)

But then on top of that, Andrea also became A Highly Controversial Pick for NoMac!!!! Strangely not because she was an out-and-proud lesbian (although, an out-and-proud lesbian representing a toxic homophobe country from the Balkans <3333333) but because..... she dropped a wee plastic flag during the turquoise carpet. 

The toxic nationalists took it as HER DELIBERATELY TRAMPLING OUR MACEDONIAN PRIDE AFTER YEARS OF GREEK BULLYING. MRT even issued an official statement that they were CONSIDERING A WITHDRAWAL (with zero intention to actually quit of course) to appease the smooth-brained cunts until the quiet and expected NQ arrived. <3333333333

(knowing her misery was finally over, Andrea cracked a smile for the first time in her life <3)

This only enhanced Andrea’s Charlie Brown”-esque journey even more!! Just when Andrea looked like the token hapless last placer nobody loved, the results came in, and showed she *almost* made the final.  😍😍😍😍😍😍. If there’s one thing that horrible second semifinal should have done right and didn’t, is causing a NoMac qualification by means of fixed jury voting algorithms. Simply imagine the meltdowns over Andrea slaying Andromache AND Nadir. 😍 If only the EBU had the balls to NQ Azer on the spot, huh? Oh well, there’s always 2023 for that. 😈

----------------------------------

21. UKRAINE

Kalush Orchestra - “Stefania”

1st place

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Decade ranking: 41/79

[Above Fyr og Flamme, below Eden Alene]

ugh i forgot he yelled Mariupol and Azofstal at the end of that and wasn’t DQ’d on the spot! Instantly regretting I didn’t rank Ukraine even LOWER. 😫😫😫 (no, don’t think about how much better Stefania would be without him, don’t do it Bobo, consider your mental health -- inner monologue while writing the rest of this post.)

So yeah, after all this inconspicuous also-ran filler (i’m definitely including Snap in that group), I’m eliminating the winner, the biggest televote winner Eurovision have ever had. “Have you no respect, Boris?”, you might ask and well... would I be me, if I had any, lol? I came into the 2022 season with hot takes and mental fortitude and thanks to Shitvidi I’m all out of fortitude, so~

Cynicism and self-awareness aside, let’s get the big elephant out of the room: The war had virtually no impact on my ranking here. I despise politics at Eurovision, (mostly because politics always affect it, but Eurovision NEVER affects the politics back), so there are two options here: Either downvote Ukraine for bringing politics into the contest, or make an exception and turn a blind eye. I chose option two. Nobody can begrudge Ukraine for attempting to pretend that the worst armed conflict to have hit them since WW2 hadn’t broken them, so I won’t. No points added or deducted.  . 

I do have good reasons to not rank Stefania higher though. I think you already know where this is headed - Sorry (for YOU) if you’re a fan of his, but Oleh suuuuuucks. It started at Vidbir when he led a small mob against that poor envelope lady and it was all sorts of messed up? Entitlement and bullying tinged with toxic nationalism, there ain’t no better first impression to make, am i right?

And very unfortunately my distaste towards Oleh also extends to his on-stage presence which I find really fucking obnoxious. The concept of a “Charismatic Black Hole” was one I didn’t fully understand until I first saw Oleh Psiuk set a foot on stage. Does anyone TRULY like  his presence here? All his verses do is distract from the chorus and instrumental, which is awful because those bits fucking slap! Airlift him and his ugly-ass hat the fuck outta here. 

Okay, so the winning song is actually... pretty good. It is NOT great though. Stefania is a weaker, safer and more cis-het version of “Shum”, which is suboptimal. Counterpoint is that “Shum” was Peak Ukraine (Which is also Peak Eurovision), and remains one of the best entries ever, so a lesser replication of that is still enjoyable overall. It made Ihor Didenchuk (who is also in Go_A) a Eurovision laureate! It kinda sucks the fandom didn’t come through at a time when Ukraine had, you know, an actually charismatic lead, but I suppose the power of love Damiano-induced boners does conquer all.

On the flip side, Ihor’s and Tymofii’s contributions are so good that they almost fully balance Oleh’s deteriorative and hammy rapping. Tymofii carries Stefania with his spot-on chanting and preposterous flute playback shenanigans. 

Ihor meanwhile just has a good time on the stage, disguised as one of the two Cousin It-like entities <3 Add in some tasteful staging and hell, even the fact that this song is in essence an ode to someone’s (You Know Who’s) actual mom, (and not  the forced, cringe, jingoistic metaphor it later became) and you have an entry that definitely makes sense as a jury fourth placer and top fiver overall.

Now obviously, I would have preferred for Ukraine to not win because they were not the best option (not by a mile!), and ofc also because I hate their lead, but I’m not fully broken up that they beat my faves. Sometimes there are powers at work beyond our control and that’s fine. Not everything in life must be catered to our tastes. Ukraine are the best Eurovision country, and it doesn’t matter how or when they catch up to (and pass) Ireland and Sweden, as long as it happens during my lifespan. 🤷‍♀️

Still think Pinkbucket’s a thuggish little punk though. Prayer circle that the next time Ukraine win, it’s with someone actually worth stanning. 🙂

CONGRATULATIONS TOP 20!!!

ALBANIA - AUSTRIA - CZECH REP - ESTONIA - FRANCE -

GEORGIA - ICELAND - IRELAND - LITHUANIA - MALTA -

MOLDOVA - THE NETHERLANDS - PORTUGAL - ROMANIA - SAN MARINO -

SERBIA - SLOVENIA - SPAIN  - SWEDEN - UK

THE RANKING 

21. UKRAINE - Kalush Orchestra - “Stefania”

22. NORTH MACEDONIA - Andrea - “Circles”

23. GERMANY - Malik Harris - “Rockstars”

24. CROATIA - Mia Dimšić - “Guilty pleasure”

25. ARMENIA - Rosa Linn - “Snap”

26. CYPRUS - Andromache - “Ela”

27. LATVIA - Citi Zeni - “Eat your salad”

28. DENMARK - ReDDI - “The show”

29. BULGARIA - Intelligent Music Project - “Intention”

30. GREECE - Amanda Tenjford - “Die together”

31. POLAND - Ochman - “River”

32. MONTENEGRO - Vladana - “Breathe”

33. FINLAND - The Rasmus - "Jezebel"

34. BELGIUM - Jérémie Makiese - “Miss you”

35. NORWAY - Subwoolfer - “Give that wolf a banana”

36. AUSTRALIA - Sheldon Riley - “Not the same”

37. SWITZERLAND - Marius Bear - “Boys do cry”

38. AZERBAIJAN - Nadir Rustamli - “Fade to black”

39. ITALY - Mahmood & Blanco - “Brividi”

40. ISRAEL - Michael Ben David - “I.M”

[somuchbetterthanthat]

Mag 162 - A Cozy Cabin

Again, it's such a lovely episode, and I adore what it shows us about Martin and Jon so much. Jon getting frustrated and angry and still hurting himself by pressing the rewinding button to hear Gertrude say "I don't think so" several times about fixing the world!! Martin JUMPING on Jon deciding to go, showing he was preparing the whole time for this specifically!!!! Jon being utterly endeared and charmed by Martin's pratical travelling pack! And the very small uncertainty of Martin when Jon decides to bring the recorder -- good. The JM food keeps on being very lovely. Jon deciding to let go of Gertrude, Martin ready to fight the world and burn evil to the ground if necessary - all so good.

I really like the Gertrude and Gerry also because: 1) I love Gerry and we needed so much more of him. 2) Shows us Gertrude was a bitch til the end, even to those she did feel affection for. 3) It sets up Gerry as potential archivist too. I had forgotten that, but it's so interesting, since the previous episode set Sasha for it. Gertrude notably says it's a bad idea, but Gerry doesn't seem disinterested. But of course Elias won't consider Gerry's application: Gerry knows too much and has known too much since he was a kid.

So, in my ideal season 5, I would keep the whole Gertrude/Gerry scene and I would most definitely keep the charming JM ending. However. Look at me, i'm starting to change things.

Get rid of the Tim and Sasha scene. Look, to me it brings nothing to the table - it's more deep cutting irony for sasha, I guess, but it's already too late, we've already been mourning Sasha for several seasons. We already established Sasha as potential archivist beforehand, and we already kind of realized they could be a bit mean to JM in the birthday scenes. ALSO IT RUINS TIM AND JON. The whole point was that they WERE friends, they DID trust each other. It ruins the whole tragedy of their downfall relationship. Plus, we've done Jon bashing all S4. Been there, done that. Just take it away.

REPLACE IT WITH A S1 JON AND ELIAS SCENE. That's the kicker! it's not Sasha who was chosen, it's not Gerry. It's Jon. Show us S1 Jon, alone with Elias. Arguing about the state of the archives? Asking about Gertrude? If we want to keep the fire metaphor thing, talking about the extra security for Prentiss? I like that one because it would be an occasion to show early S1 Jon arguing with Elias expecting Elias to act and protect them, which Elias would "agree to" at the end; it would show Jon's ignorance, specifically the thing that Gerry said was too dangerous, but also Jon's stubborness and desire to know more to protect himself and the people "who are his responsability". For extra, extra tastiness, make it a conversation where Elias enquires about Martin, shows Jon's guilt about it, and get a whole genuine intimate relationship that goes beyond boss/employee. Get us the impression that S1 Jon thought Elias was someone he could confide in in private. and then. AND THEN-

Have the tape crackle as the tape!Elias repeats Jon's voice. Differently this time. Stronger. Have a cool sentence that's not coming to me right now like "Jon, Look at it." or whAtever. Or "It's only the beginning, Jon" or SOMETHING. Something that could both be from the discussion in the tape but also not. Keep Jon's little "what?" and then, bam, statement.

I'd go even harder with the statement cabin showing all the Fears Present, although relistening i realize lots of them are here already. But also i'd make it more clear maybe that it's not the "cabin" so much as Jon and Martin being a storm of all their fears feeding from each other, more than "the cabin".. If that makes sense. But that's not HUGELY necessary, the statement is lovely as is, except at the end, makes it "The Eye doesn't want you to stay here" instead of "doesn't want me to stay here". Makes it all crackle up a thousands. Makes it clear Jon's voice is Elias' voice.

It would make even more sense that Jon was getting furious at Elias, hence why suddenly this all popped up, and also have Jon trying to say something about it Martin without being quite able to explain what just happens and since Martin jumps on the "let's go" train, the thought falls through, at the same time.

[blucifer08]

Has your OC ever been in a relationship that they know is emotionally unhealthy for them, but to which they cannot seem to stop themself returning? What are the factors preventing them from ending this relationship fully?

So I feel like the obvious answer in this case might seem to be Naru and Elidibus. Naru is toxically dependent on his presence in her life and they're both seeking something specific from one another. But the kicker there is that a) while it is toxic and unhealthy, I will insist they DO love each other. And b) Naru doesn't realize it's unhealthy. Elidibus might, but it's not really affecting Him unhealthily and I think he's not feeling too guilty about manipulating a sundered person a little.

Relationships with Ascians are always gonna be complicated

So, I'd rather talk about Naru's (non romantic) relationship with my OC Solomon. Solomons part to play in my lore is quite dark, and he is evil..I cannot stress that enough. So here are some tw for the oncoming paragraphs. Sorry if this isn't the answer you wanted, but I think it's a better answer than simply elaborating on narueli being toxic BC Naru doesn't think they're toxic

Tw manipulation, emotional abuse,, and nasty stuff like that. Please proceed with caution !

So, Solomon is part voidsent part man. How this came to be is complicated, but just take it at face value. He has two abilities.

1) he can see into your past lives, even so far as back to the ancient world. He uses this ability to pretend to be a fortune teller, to make gil. He makes predictions 'based on the ebb and flow of your soul.'

2) he can slip into your dreams and manipulate them. He doesn't do this nonconsentually often, though. Instead, he offers it as a service to clients. Very hush hush. You give him Gil, he will give you that pleasant sleep youve been hoping for, show you visions of your deceased loved ones, show you the ending you want. (He also feeds on your aether during this process. He is also afforded some of your memories depending on how your subconscious reacts etc, but he cannot go through your thoughts and memories freely.)

I should also mention, he's in a very toxic relationship with Fandaniel himself. He is mesmerized by Fandaniel's nihilism and as a thrill seeker himself, he wants to view the spectacle of his downfall. (Fun fact, this means Solomon knows about endsinger because he was able to access those memories in Fandaniel's past as Hermes)

ANYWAYS.

In early ARR, Naru and Levi stumble across Solomon and he does readings for them. He can see into Naru's past and sees Erasmia and Elidibus. He's quite intrigued and this is actually the catalyst for Naru and Elidibus meeting the first time-- Solomon intervenes and tells Naru she will meet her moon, but it will be both everything she wanted and not what she wanted. He then gets in touch with Fandaniel and there's some fuckery behind the scenes to get Elidibus to meet Naru.

And so Solomon appears throughout my story as an evil fucker who has some.. stuff to do with Levi(another story) and who wants to see wtf happens with Naru and Elidibus.

After shb and 5.3, Naru is a sin eater so she's full of lots of aether! And he's a voidsent. So he offers her dreams of her locked away lover. And what ensues is Naru essentially using all of her money to get dreams from Solomon. She dreams of Elidibus, dreams he is okay, dreams they still are happy together. She becomes addicted to this. She doesn't want to face her grief. She threatens to kill Solomon but he reminds her that she'll never see Elidibus again and she loses her resolve.

Naru really struggles. She keeps going back to him, over and over. While Solomon feeds on that massive resovoir of aether she holds.

Solomon starts to get cockier and begins manipulating Naru a lot more from without the dreams. She runs out of money? Do some errands for him. He, for a while, keeps her very close. He weaponizes her guilt, saying things like, "I suppose none of this would matter if you hadnt locked him away in that tower. But don't you worry, I'm here to soothe your pain." He assures her that he's just trying to help

(fun fact, Solomon even goes so far as to be on the moon when Fandaniel pilots Zodiark and taunts Naru a lot about Zodiark being related to Elidibus and stuff..)

She knows it's bad. Levi tries to stop her. It doesnt stop until another OC of mine steps in, names Riot, who kills Solomon.

So yea! I know you might have wanted me to talk about narueli but this seemed a lot more fitting, sorry for the long post 👉👈 its not a romantic relationship but there's a lot of manipulation going on and Solomon definitely thinks of Naru as his possession at some point

[whiskeyswifty]

Is cate blanchett the favorite to win best actress

that is probably the most up in the air, ripping hair out of my head race we have right now. It's virtually impossible to know how that one will go at this stage. couple of things at play here in Oscar Voting Dynamics.

the PUBLIC favorite to win is Michelle Yeoh who is running is what you can call a predominately Good Will campaign. It's the same narrative you see all the time with other longtime actors who have had long but unrecognized careers, especially ones as accomplished as Yeoh. That's not to say her performance wasn't magnificent in EEAAO, which I think it was, but it's not exactly conventional for the academy, especially with the level of silliness the movie has. So, smartly, the awards campaign managers are running a fantastic Good Will campaign, trotting her out at all the appropriate outlets and podcasts and screenings. Her GG speech was emblematic of that idea that the award should go to her because it would be more of a feather in her cap lifetime achievement honor. Again, this is not a value judgement of whether she deserves the award or not, but just the strategy of the campaign, which is usually a very successful narrative, has worked countless times in the past, and is a smart move imho. HOWEVER the academy FAMOUSLY has this weird tick where they truly loathe to be told they must do something because it is morally right. they love to sit on their high horse and do what they think is the meritorious thing and treat every oscars as if nobody has ever won one before and all nominees are being judged on their work in that one film alone. which is bullshit, of course they're not doing that. it's an awards show, a popularity contest, art is subjective blah blah, but they positively bristle at even the slightest suggestion they should vote for anyone they don't choose to based off of their impeccable taste in cinema!! 🙄 and anyway, their idea of deserving is the actor that is humble and "it's an honor to even be nominated" kind of actor. so a good will campaign can backfire, especially when it turns less into a gracious actor wishing for the approval of the almighty academy whom they worship and instead becomes the general public loudly demanding that it's morally WRONG if _____ doesn't win. It's a tricky line to tread, and so far Michelle seems to be in the safe zone, but unfortunately her confidence can be taken by the misogynist and racist and frankly elitsit all around academy as arrogance. she's not a shoe in, but currently, she's the "favorite." It's very hard for the "favorite" to hold onto that position though for a long time, because.....

Cate Blanchett is not the favorite now, but as the current critically acclaimed but likely loser, that puts her in a verrrrry favorable position for voting week in a month's time. A big part of voting psychology is that sometimes, people vote thinking that nobody else is going to vote like them. So with Michelle already believed by most voters to be the winner, many during voting week may opt for the whole "well I'm gonna vote for Cate even tho she won't win, but I think that performance was also good!" the kicker is..... a LARGE portion of people are very likely to think this and do this. She's currently running what you might call the Humble campaign, although she barely shows up to anything so it's EXTREMELY humble by those standards lol. Her narrative is she already has a few, so she's just flattered to be nominated again, and she's not expecting to win. that feeds deliciously into the academy's desire to give it to someone who's disposition they view as "deserving." Also, many view her past wins as a detriment but absolutely not. they're evidence that the academy is enamored with her, and has awarded her for less lol. And with the film Tar also not expected to collect anything, and the BP just so happening to go to EEAAO (which at this stage would be shocking if it lost), voters might want to honor what they think is a more classic, traditional capital C cinema movie in at least one small way. It doesn't help that the other candidate is the antithesis of Cate, for better or for worse, for both of them. She very well could get the award!

As convoluted as this sounds, and is, you can see how complicated the current standings are. It's very much a snake eating it's tail situation. Michelle is the favorite but because she's the favorite, voters might not actually vote for her and instead vote for the underdog Cate, but if Cate's growing popularity gets prognosticated, then that makes Cate the favorite with means voters might turn back around and vote for Michelle instead, now the underdog, and so on and so forth. Chiefly, it depends on what happens in the next month. There are dozens of luncheons, guild awards, festivals, and private events the studios will throw to get their actors out there to shake hands and kiss babies, and it depends on how these two women play their part. Sometimes, unfortunately, it comes down to timing which can't be planned in advance.

there are other factors as well that make this Oscar year a bit more unpredictable, such as how it's voting body is far more international than every before (as evidenced by the BP international record they broke today). Despite EEAAO not being an international film, or even taking place outside of America, Michelle is a champion and avatar (lol) for international filmmaking on the Hollywood stage. On her campaign trail, she's consistently gushed about her love of her time in the Hong Kong film industry, and the international voting body might gravitate towards her as someone who represents non-Hollywood film industries getting Hollywood recognition at the highest level. Especially infamously underrepresented industries at the oscars such as Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe. Cate, while australian yeah, is also a white woman predominately in Hollywood movies. The irony is her movie does have more of an international pedigree, as it is about, takes place in (mostly), and was prepped, filmed, and completed post in Europe and employed an almost entirely European crew, especially major roles like the composer and the cinematographer. It's an endless loop of possibilities for what will sway the voters!

Ultimately, those running the campaigns will want their actor to be in the perfect position (favored but underdog but deserving but humble and unassuming) on the seven days voting opens. Tricky! Coda pulled it off last year against pretty low odds though (with a less.... artistic film than these two women are promoting, let's say) so it CAN be done, it just is very difficult for anyone to predict, imo.

[summernightslulibabee]

Summer Nights - (Solangelo Fanfiction) - Chapter One: afterparty

NICO

Okay. This is fine. This is all fine. Things happen. Suppression often brings upon impulsive explosions of our inner conscious when mixed with alcohol, so I'm not insane! I'm just suppressed. That's what happens when you go 18 years without sexual activities.

At least, I was suppressed.

I knew I was a fucking idiot to go to that party. I knew exactly what I would find—drunk Neanderthals desperately humping each other, primal instinct on full display as if their lives were dependent on it, and a musty cloud of axe body spray. And that's exactly what I encountered.

But, my step-sister Hazel...let's just say she's not new to it. Plus, it was graduation night for her and she just got dumped by her newest addition to our lives(what an exciting 2 months those were). She was on a weirdly sad high, and would rather be on a chemically-induced one.

I didn't want to go. I told her I didn't want to go! But then she rambled about how when she leaves for college, I'll regret this bonding experience, and also that if I keep on going like this, I'll have wild 20s...blah, blah, blah. I was backed into a corner.

So, she made me take my first ever shot from whatever disease-ridden bottle she pulled from under her bed, and...

And now I'm doing the walk of shame at 6 AM, eyeliner smudged down my face, and my shirt completely unbuttoned. My pores have never felt so clogged(thanks to Hazel's pre-gaming followed with the words, 'plleeeaasee let me do your makeup!').

I shudder thinking about the events leading up to 2 hours ago. I can't believe I could have been so stupid.

I may have...sort of...hooked up with the quarterback, Will Solace. Remember those Neanderthals I was talking about? Yeah.

He's practically hopeless and everyone feeds off of it. Every girl is practically in love with him. He's like a fucking golden retriever, there seems to be nothing in his head. The only time I've ever really talked to him before is when he paid me $50 to write his essay—only because my best friend, Reyna, who usually does it for him, was out for two weeks with the flu.

He has never had to work for anything in life. His family is rich and powerful, he's got a natural talent when it comes to throwing footballs I guess, and he's okay-looking. Okay, maybe he's alright. Or Gorgeous. Sculpted by the Gods.

So what if he's attractive? His personality is as complex as a nerd rope, and that's all that really matters.

But the biggest kicker—he's straight. Of course I know that people stay in the closet for ages, and I didn't expect me to be the only raging homosexual in a school of 700, but Will Solace? It just seemed...hard to believe.

   Oh Christ. My first kiss was Will fucking Solace. The first guy I've ever...

   Shit, shit, shit. I feel like I should wash my mouth out with soap. And take several baths. At least I didn't go all the way with Will, but I still definitely went to a certain extent. And it wasn't until we were about to go all the way when I realized exactly what I was doing—so I screamed and ran out of the room.

   I want to slam my head into a wall.

   I had it all planned out since I was little! I would go on a crazy romantic date with a guy I liked, and I would have my first kiss under the stars, and we would hold hands ,and talk about philosophy, and make a joke about how they all speak of marriage as some cursed thing but we could probably make it work—

   That's besides the point. My life has been planned out for ages, and it was supposed to be nice. Now my first kiss is a drunken make-out session with a douche-y jock who will probably threaten my life if I ever mention he's the tiniest bit fruity. And not only was it a make-out sesh, but he saw me. Things only a husband should see.

   I'm never drinking again. I'm never going to a party again. I'm definitely never speaking to Will, and I'm going to spend the rest of my Summer trying to forget that moment. And how it felt. How it felt like how the angels sing.

   Gah! I can't be thinking of this right now.

   As soon as I open the front door, I'm bombarded by my parents.

   My dad stands with his arms crossed, his glasses on the tip of nose. My step-mom, Marie, stares disapprovingly, her eyes practically red with anger.

   "Where have you been all night?" He asks.

   I blink. "Study group." My voice is way more hoarse than expected. My heart's also pounding. I've never lied to my parents before.

   "A study group? Until 6 in the morning?" He raises an eyebrow and takes a step towards me. Then, his faces scrunches up in confusion as he brings up a finger and wipes the skin under my eye, a black stain remaining on his fingertip as he draws it away. "I-is this eyeliner?"

   I instinctively take a step back, putting my hand between the two of us. My breath probably smelt like alcohol and...does that certain thing have a smell? Oh God. I'm hopeless. "U-uh, yes. We ended up playing dungeons and dragons once we finished reviewing," I force a smile. "I was in character."

   "Studying? School just ended," Marie frowns.

   "They were helping me study for...The R.T. Internship."

   "Oh," Dad straightens his back. "It's just odd. Considering Hazel went to the end of the year party last night."

   "Oh...was that last night?" I nervously laugh.

   Footsteps bang down the stairs, and Hazel turns into the main room wearing her pajamas. She seemed to have gotten home just a bit earlier. "Wassup," she winks on her way to the kitchen, clearly trying not to be involved.

   "Hazel," Marie calls out. "Was Nico at the party?"

   "No mom!" She yells from the kitchen. "He was probably studying."

   I keep a fake smile on as Marie lets out a breath and puts her hands in the air in surrender. "Fine! Fine," she crosses her arms. "I believe you."

   I slightly bow. "Thank you, thank you," I say, immediately heading up towards the stairs. At this point, I just want to take a shower and brush my teeth.

   However, Hazel exits the kitchen at the same exact time, holding a bowl of cereal. In effort to save the ground from milk, I jump back, accidentally causing my jacket to fall off my shoulders a slight bit, creating a perfect angle for anything in my pockets to slip out. And almost immediately, a slap hits the ground.

   Staring at the object, I wish a hole would open up in the earth and swallow me. Marie instinctively bends down to grab it, until she realizes.

   "Is that...a condom?" Dad asks, tilting his head to the side.

   "Put it on me," he hands it over.

   "What's this for?" I examined the package. "I can't get pregnant."

   "Do you think you're the only person I've done this with? I'm just being cautious," he bends over. "Don't tell me you don't know what a condom is for?"

And then I immediately scrambled out of the room. I suppose, in my hurry, I had just stuffed the thing in my jacket pocket.

   My mouth's hanging open like an idiot as Hazel snickers, eating her cereal as she walks up the stairs.

   This day couldn't get worse.

   —

   "You're grounded," dad rants off. "You will only go from here and to the internship."

   I bow my head in shame, hoping the red would disappear. "Fine!"

   "We're happy you were at least being...protective," Marie utters uncomfortably.

   "You're a good kid, Nico," dad sighs, sitting down in front of me. "The last thing we want is you wasting away your life on parties. You have a good thing going with this program. The school could only choose two people and they chose you! Do you really want to go down this path of recklessness? You aren't like everyone else in your grade, you know. And just because you're 18 now doesn't mean squat. You still have another year left in school."

   I really do feel bad. My parents worked hard to get me into the private school I'm in. The deal is that I can do whatever I want—as soon as school is over. Like with Hazel.

   Due to Goode Private School and its many connections, the school issued a writing internship for a magazine's, named R.T., Political-Teen section—all that was required was a resume along with 3 written pieces over different prompts. The program would choose 2 of the best entries.

   Here I am.

   "It was one party! And it was boring and not fun," I admit. "I completely understand, okay? I'm focused on R.T. from here on out."

   "And you can't focus on R.T. if you get a girl pregnant," Marie shakes her head. "So cut off whatever is going on."

   "Trust me," I let out a sigh. "It's cut off."

   "It's not Reyna, is it?"

   "She's just a friend, dad," I groan. "And she's a lesbian."

   Marie awkwardly brushes her hair back behind her ear. "Well, whoever it was..."

   "Nothing happened!"

   "I'm just saying that—"

   "I don't need the sex talk," I frown.

   "Fine! Fine," Marie nods. "But you can talk to your father anytime...you know...if you get—"

   "Stop, stop, stop!" I put my hands over my ears, standing suddenly. "I can come to you guys. I'm grounded. I understand. Is that all?"

   They share an awkward look, and turn back to me. By their relaxed positions, I assume I'm good to go and squeeze past them.

I'm honestly just looking forward to sleeping—they can give me any punishment they want as long as it means I can close my eyes. I fantasize about sleep my entire jog up the stairs and into my bedroom, and as soon as my head hits the pillow, I shut my eyes and try to sink into my own private dreamland.

Key word: tried.

The events of last night play vividly like I'm watching them in a movie theatre.

"You're actually pretty cute when you aren't hiding your face," his voice echoes, his veiny hands stroking my hair behind my ear.

My eyes immediately open.

"Seriously?" I can't help but express. I try one more time.

After a few seconds, a thought pops back into my mind.

His lips are on my neck as I bite my lip. It's almost like I can still feel the goosebumps and his hand gripping my thigh. I accidentally let out a moan, to which he responds, "not so quiet now, are you?"

I fly up, hitting my head with a pillow. Fuck Will Solace and fuck that party. Now he's fucking with my sleep. That's an entire new level of irritation. I swiftly grab my phone, press a contact, and smash it to my ear.

"Hi, Nico," says a voice.

"Reyna, I have something to tell you."

"We'll be there in two secs."

"We'll?"

"Thalia's over!"

"Well, you guys can't come over here."

"W-why?"

"Grounded."

There's a ruffle on the other end of the call. "Grounded? You?" I heart Thalia snort. "Did Hell freeze over? What'd you do?"

"That's included in the 'I have something to tell you' package."

Thalia and Reyna have been dating for a year. Considering last night was graduation for them, I'm not surprised they spent it together. To be honest, I was kind of sad last night. I'm just now a senior, and the fact that I have to be without them the next year sounds exhausting. I don't have many friends. I'll practically be alone.

Reyna and I have been best friends ever since she moved in next door when I was in 6th and she was in 7th, and we bonded over a mutual love for D&D. We even dated the next year, but it ended in the both of us coming out to each other. Reyna was always shy like me. At least, until Thalia joined our group. Reyna's...changed. She even got a tattoo. Wears leather.

The next thing I know, a thud hits the window. I scramble off the bed and to the source of the sound, looking down below to Thalia in her pajamas trying to balance a ladder. Reyna stands behind her, her eyes wide in shock at her girlfriend.

I guess now she evens sneaks into houses.

To be fair, yes, I was upset my best friend graduated high school, and yes, I'm slightly upset that she's having a rebellious phase. Maybe that's one of the dominos that fell that made me eventually end up at the party.

I slide open my window, a panic falling over me. I literally just got grounded from partying and now I'm sneaking in two lesbians into my bedroom. This was the weirdest day ever.

They eventually make it up all the way to my room, Thalia jumping in like it's nothing, and assisting Reyna in also coming in. Reyna swiftly grabs my chin and stares down at me.

"Why are you wearing eyeliner?" She observes.

"You know, it kinda fits," Thalia nods.

"I went to Zhang's party last night," I rub my temples. "Hazel dragged me."

"Y-you went to a party?" Reyna's eyes widen. "You hate the idea of parties. You think they're just full of Neanderthals—"

"Hazel's been trying to get me to go to a party since freshman year," I try to explain. "She's leaving for college any day now. I felt bad!"

"I'll go get makeup wipes from her," Thalia stands with a sigh, heading out the bedroom door. She's back within a few minutes.

Reyna pulls one from the package and presses it onto my face. "Okay, so you're grounded. What gave it away?"

"Well, for starters, I just got home," I frown. "And also..."

"Also?" Thalia waits.

I cringe and pull away from Reyna's hand, burying my face into my pillow. "A condom fell out of my pocket."

The girls go silent, only giving me way more anxiety than I originally had. Slowly, I raise my head to peek at them. They're both equally as shocked, eyes wide.

   "So that's why your voice sounds like that," Thalia snorts.

   "W-was it used?"

   "No! But...almost," I chew on my bottom lip.

   Thalia tries to hide her smile. "So much for waiting for marriage."

   "You almost had sex?" Reyna's voice lowers to a whisper. "Nico, just a few days ago you were talking about an underground city you built in Minecraft, now you're getting laid?"

   "You sound like my parents," Thalia lightly nudges her.

   "I stopped it, didn't I?" I respond defensively.

   "I don't judge you but...who? You hate every guy in this town," Reyna tilts her head to the side. "Besides Percy."

   "That's the predicament," I hang my head in shame.

   Reyna breaks out into a grin. "My god, you hooked up with Percy?"

   Percy Jackson. The guy I've been hopelessly in love with since middle school. Captain of the swimming team, and ruler of my dreams—he's got shaggy black hair and sea-green eyes. The hottest, most respectful guy you'd ever meet. His house is just down the street.

   It happened summer of 8th grade. I was reading at the park before a bunch of guys came over and started messing with me. Just as douchey mcshitpants threw me to the ground, a loud thud smacked the air, and for once it wasn't me. Standing like a superhero, his hair flowing in the wind, there he was. He was a freshman at the time, and hit the growth spurt before any other high schoolers.

   "Fuck off!" He yelled as the delinquents scrambled off. "Do you think this is funny? I'll fucking show you what's funny!"

   However, they were all running off, scared shitless. As soon as he turned to face me, his face softened and he offered a hand. "Nico, right?" His voice says softly. I slid my hand into his as he helped me up to my feet. "Those guys are jerks. Oh shit, your book!"

   I stared in awe as he bent down to pick up the dirty book, dusting it off with his letterman. "Yo! I love Harry Potter!" He exclaims when he sees the cover.

   I nervously laugh.

   "Well, I gotta go," he runs his fingers through his hair and hands me back the book with his other hand. "I'll see you around, Nico!"

   And ever since then, sparks fly in my stomach whenever I'm around him. Last night was his graduation too. And I did see him at the party.

   "No," I sigh, in present-time. "Not Percy."

   Reyna blinks and looks at Thalia. Thalia looks from her to me. "Give up the dets," she pushes me lightly. "Who was it?"

   "Before I tell you, please remember that we didn't go all the way; it was just some making out and well, other stuff, but there was no pene—"

   "Shut the fuck up and tell us already!"

   "Will Solace," I admit and shrink into my bed. "I hooked up with Will Solace."

   They go quiet again. Reyna's face is horrified but Thalia is gaping with a smile twitching at the end of her lips.

   "You hate Will Solace," Reyna says slowly. "You've hated him since forever. He's flirted with every girl under the sun. He cheats on all of his assignments. His family is the richest...most powerful people in the town. He's...Percy's best friend."

   My face goes red. "I know, okay? I know."

   "Is he a good kisser?" Thalia asks with genuine interest.

   My minds fall back to his tongue, my moans against his lips, and the sheer feeling that I could collapse in his arms in any second. Touching his skin was like touching something holy and greater, and being kissed by him was like having a spiritual awakening of bliss and realizing everything you've been missing out on in the world.

   "He's okay," I shrug.

   Reyna picks up on the fact that I'm lying but protest. "Well, you can't turn back now," she says. "I just hope his dad doesn't find out, y'know."

   Allistair Solace basically ran a monopoly inside the town of Goode. He owned half of the important businesses and was a regular attendant of church. He's powerful and religious. Not exactly a warm example of a loving dad.

   "I'm not even out at school. I think he'll trust me not to tell anyone," I nervously say. "Hopefully. I just can't sleep knowing what I did. I feel so dirty."

   "Our little whore," Thalia throws an arm around my neck and rubs my head with her fist.

   I sneak out from under her. "I've been up for 24 straight hours," I swat her hand. "I need to sleep. Without thinking about it."

"I've got melatonin!" Thalia spends around to grab her small carry-on bag, digging a small bottle from her backpack. She hands it over. "When's your internship thing start?"

I rub my eyes and fight the child's lock. "Tomorrow. 8 am."

"Do you know who the other kid is?" Thalia asks curiously.

"Hopefully not an idiot," I sigh. "Considering I have to write pieces with them."

Reyna snorts. "You hate working with people."

"I don't have a choice. This internship is important," I say. "Not only does it help with scholarships, but I could start out as soon as I'm out of college. It's practically the internship of my future."

"Make sure to set extra alarms," Thalia cringes. "Hopefully you don't sleep all day."

I lower my head darkly. "I'm such an idiot."

"Imagine partying before the first day of the most important program of your life," Reyna nudges me.

"I didn't plan to get drunk! Or to make-out with Will," I cringe again.

"Get your sleep little one," Thalia pats my head, pushing off the ground and offering a hand to her girlfriend.

I sigh, watching them sneak out of my window. After waiting a while for them to wave at me from the window next door, I collapse onto my bed, popping the pill into my mouth and gulping down water after.

When my eyes close, my mind immediately travels back to Will. Back to the bedroom.

"Since when do you go to parties?"

I stared at my reflection, my eyeliner already running down my cheeks. "My sister dragged me here."

"You don't seem to be having a good time," he looked at his nails in disinterest.

"Well, you're hiding in a bedroom at a graduation party when this should be your natural habitat," I turned, leaning my back onto the dresser. "So obviously you're not doing too well either."

He raised an eyebrow. "At least I'm not crying."

I roll my eyes and turn back around. "Can you leave? I'm kind of trying to be alone and regroup here."

"I was here first."

"There's no other rooms open," I mumble.

"Well, I'm not leaving," he leans back, placing his weight on his arms. I glare at his reflection in the mirror. "Why are you crying?"

"Do you know how to mind your business?"

"I know. I just don't want to."

"Is Percy dating that girl?" I blurt, spinning around.

Will seems taken off guard. "What girl?"

"The blonde one," I cross my arms. "Whom he was kissing. In the living room."

He scrunches up his nose in confusion. "Annabeth? I don't think they're official," he shrugs. "Just hooking up. Why? Do you like her?"

I narrowed my eyes at him and don't respond to that part. "He hooks up with people?"

"Everyone hooks up with everyone," Will shrugged. "Don't you?"

I felt weird, and slightly insecure. We're all teenagers, and I know sex runs rapid, but imagining any of the people I've gone to school with my entire life would actually...do that...

"Totally," I lied.

He smirked. "You're a virgin."

"I'm...not."

"I kinda already assumed," Will closes his eyes and leans back. He's always been arrogant. "I don't think the quadratic formula gets you girls."

   "Who says I want girls?" I bite. It was probably a mix of the alcohol, seeing Percy with someone else, and the fact that I just couldn't stand his ass. "Besides, sex isn't everything. I have better things to focus on."

   Will shrugged and opened an eye. "Don't we all? It's just a nice distraction." I'm thankful he doesn't bring up the girls part.

   "Maybe I don't want distractions," I fold my arms.

   He sighs and slouches on the bed. "Good for you, Nick."

   "I—" I rubbed my temples. "You did not just call me Nick. We've gone to school with each other for years. It's Nico."

   "I know," he snorts. "You get riled so easily, you know. First with sex, now with your name."

I couldn't help my face going red. "Maybe because you're a jerk," I sighed.

His eyes flickered up to meet mine. "Is that what you think of me?"

My eyes focused in on the twitching of the corner of his lips, and the alcohol made intrusive thoughts wonder in. And then they met his, which were still staring at me adamantly. I felt my heart thump, and I was too drunk to care.

"I don't think about you at all," I said.

Those stupidly beautiful eyes.

"Nico," he whispers.

Except, he didn't do that in my memory.

"NICO!"

I jolt awake, flying up in my bed. Outside it's completely darkness—and I felt like I've been sleeping for days.

Hazel stands over me, her hands on her hips. "Nico," she says slowly.

I rub my eyes. "Hm, what?"

"I need your opinion," she whispers.

I sigh as she straightens up. She's wearing a short, red dress. She spins around, her arms outstretched. "Thoughts?" She asks as she twirls.

"It's fine," I shrug. "I don't know."

"Do you think red fits my skin tone?" She asks. "I have a gold dress, it's got a wonky string, but it puts the girls on display like no other. Which is what I want."

I rub the back of my neck. "Then do gold. Where are you even going?"

She sighs, running to my mirror to put hoops in. "College party," she says. "I want to make friends so when I go I'm not a total loner. They're still having their end of the school year bonfires."

"If you can't drive home, call me," I sigh. "It's not like I'm not going to be able to sleep anymore anyway."

   She tilts her head. "I didn't mean to leave with you last night. I couldn't find you anywhere. I assumed you just walked home. Where did you go?"

   I blush. Hazel has no idea that I'm gay—or, if she does, she hasn't tried to pressure me into admitting anything. Plus, she hung around Will and his friends sometimes. I didn't want to out him to someone he actively knew.  "Hid upstairs, drank, and played Genshin Impact. Duh."

"Duh," she mocks with a grin. She pokes my head. "Explains the condom, doesn't it? Well, anyway, I'm off. Thanks for going last night, by the way. Even if you got grounded. You enjoyed it at least a little bit, right?"

"It was...interesting," I nervously laugh.

   "Sorry bubs," she bumps me with her hip and throws the door open. "I'll make it up to you some time, yeah?"

   I force a smile and nod as she leaves. Now, I'm wide awake at 8 PM. Fucking great. I'm still pissed at myself for agreeing. I spend the next few hours playing video games, but I catch my mind drifting elsewhere.

    "See? This isn't so bad is it?" Hazel asked, her arm hooked into mine as she bounced up and down excitedly. I've never seen someone so glad to enter a party, but I guess she was still excited over graduation. I'm sure what she saw were her friends gathered together into one, hot space all waiting for her to join them in their usual nightly shenanigans, but all I saw was animals in the a jungle. On fire.

   "I...want to go home," I said. I already had a headache from the pregaming.

   "Just give it a chance?" Hazel begged. "Just two hours and I'll try and find you, okay? And then after that you can decide if you want to go home."

   I swayed. "Ugh."

   "Just take a few drinks. Liquid courage. It'll make you feel better," she wiggled her eyebrows. "Don't take any drink from anyone, understand?"

   I rolled my eyes. She squealed.

   "Hazel!" A voice yelled from over at the ping pong table where red solo cups were lined into triangles on either side.

   She bumps my shoulder. "Just play video games if you get bored. I'll be just over there, okay?"

   "Okay."

   "Enjoy yourself! Mingle!" She threw her hands up as she disappeared into a crowd of people.

   I sighed and turned, heading straight towards the couch and slumping into the layers, hoping the cushions would turn into a monster and swallow me hole. At least it would have been a more thought-invoking event.

   Thinking I could actually get some sort of peace in this wet forest of creatures, I'm immediately proven wrong by two people conjoined like reproducing phasmids rolling onto my couch, climbing and pawing at each other like they were each other's oxygen. They squeeze and roll straight into my bubble. Grimacing, I try and squeeze out from under them, stumbling out.

   I almost went straight towards the floor before something catches me mid-fall. My vision goes slightly blurry as I rub my forehead. My eyes flicker up, meeting a pair of sea-green ones.

   "Woah, Nico, are you okay?"

   My throat closes off as I wheeze. All I do is gesture towards the couch breathlessly. Percy stretches out his neck to see behind me and cringes, but my eyes are focused on his Adam's apple. I'm practically sweating.

   "Yikes," his eyes blink quickly. "Sorry. Thirsty?"

   My mind replays Hazel's voice in my head. But that voice doesn't account for the guy I've been in love with for years. I let out a nervous laugh, instantly regretting it and containing my composure. "I could drink."

   "What do you want?" Percy tilts his head.

   There goes my cool facade. "Whatever...you have."

   He smirks. "Sure about that?"

   His smile. His smile. His smile. "U-uh, yes...?"

   "I'll get you something a bit lighter," he winks. "I don't think I've ever seen you at a party before."

   I relax my shoulders. "Y-yeah. Okay."

   He smiles again before leaving me nervously standing in the middle of the living room. Is he actually getting me a drink? What could this mean? Is it just drunk chivalry or is it more or...

   "Here you go!" He returns, placing a red solo cup straight into my palm. I fumble with it, but none of the liquid outside of the cup spills out, so I take this as a win. He peels away his index finger from the cup and points behind me. "Hazel drag you here?"

   I turn, following the direction of his finger, to see Hazel absolutely destroying the team with two guys on it as they remove another cup from the table. She sees I'm staring and a wide grin breaks out across her face as she waves happily before returning back to her game. I turn back. "She...did. I'm not much of a party person, I suppose."

   "That's fine," he laughs softly. "We all have our own things, right?"

    "Right," I brushed a piece of hair behind my ear.

    "I think everyone here likes you, if that helps your nerves," he reassured me, hitting my shoulder lightly. I try to pretend that it didn't cause a thousand butterflies to erupt in my stomach. "You are the reason most people here passed their classes. Hell, you've saved me more time than I can count. Thanks for never charging me. I'm gonna miss you when I head to college."

    I chewed on my bottom lip. For a second, I had forgotten he's leaving this school behind. Leaving me behind. Who else am I going to hopelessly stare at during lunch or study hall? "I can still help," I blurt. "You have my number."

   He looked at me, his eyebrows raised in an impressed expression. "You're so fucking cool, man. Seriously."

   Being around him makes my palms sweat. Christ.

   Then, his eyes falls to something behind me. A twinkle passes through his green eyes, and lips tremble slightly, like all of his confidence has slipped out of his body. I think that's probably how I stare at him. How you stare at someone you love. I think, at least, it's love.

   I swallow hard, following his gaze onto a blonde girl with tan skin. She walks in, wearing baggy, cuffed jeans and a grandpa-style vest over a white t-shirt. She scratches her arm nervously, her long hair falling in curls around her.

   I had seen her around briefly in the halls but never thought much of her. She's always been a grade ahead of me.

   I turn back to Percy, who's practically foaming at the mouth.

   "Would you excuse me for a second?"

   No. Don't go. Please. "Of course," I force a smile.

   He feels slightly guilty, I can tell. He leans in and pulls his attention away from her for a mere second and says, "You're a fun guy, okay? Don't be afraid to talk to people."

   And then he's gone. I watch him as he approaches the girl, nervously rubbing his neck as he speaks to her. The blush across her cheeks indicates she likes him. The fidgeting of his hands indicates he likes her back.

   And if anyone were to notice, the blank expression on my face indicated that my heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces. I shrink away into the corner, drinking out of the cup, and keeping my eyes on Percy and the girl the entire time. I watch as they both pull closer together and try to force themselves away. They're drawn to each other like magnets.

    I'm begging for something to go wrong. Maybe she says something he doesn't like. Maybe she's a lesbian. Anything to leave a sliver of hope.

   But I'm a boy. Even if something went wrong, who's to say Percy would even like me? What if he's totally straight?

    I hate this fucking party, and I hate it even more when I see him finally make his move. I had been waiting for it all night, the moment his lips would touch hers.

   Pull away, I think. Realize you feel nothing and pull away.

   But her cup slips from her fingertips, and neither of them care, because his arms are wrapped around his waist and her hands on his cheeks. Like a goddamn movie.

    I feel my face go hot as my head begins to throb. I couldn't stand and watch all night. I stormed off, slamming doors open to find two horny teenagers on top of each other, until finally I open a door to a beige bedroom with a boy laying on the bed, his hands on his forehead like he's stressed out. I don't have time to care as the water works begin, tears slipping out uncontrollably. I slammed the door closed and marched to the vanity, watching as my tears took my eyeliner with it.

    "This room is occupied," growls the guy.

    I don't respond to him. My mind is racing. Why do I feel like I was betrayed? Percy and I only talk when he asks me to do his homework for him. He owes me nothing.

    "Hey, did you hear me? Get out!" He sat up.

    I turned angrily, to see that I recognized the frustrated boy—Will Solace. The most irritating guy I've had the pain to go to school with. He seems slightly surprised it's me; I guess the makeup is a new look.

    "Dude, are you okay?" He asked, but his expression and voice are soaked in judgment.

    "I'm just fucking peachy," I sighed. That seemed to shut him up. I turned back to my reflection, and after a while, he finally speaks.

    "Since when do you go to parties?"

I slowly peel my eyes open, only to be blinded by the sun beaming down on me through my window. I shield my face with my hands and wince.  You know those quiet moments of ignorance before complete panic?

    Yeah.

   As I'm in the middle of a yawn, a thought hits me like a ton of bricks.

   The sun doesn't rise until 7:30, and I'm supposed to be at my internship by 8.

   My fucking internship. Frantically, I roll over and check my phone.

   7:52 AM.

"No, no, no!" I ramble, throwing my blanket to my feet and scrambling out of bed. The blanket ties around my feet and sends me plummeting straight to the hardwood floor, making me hit my knees. I try to ignore the exploding pain and scramble out from the blanket, slipping as I make my way to my dresser, throwing out clothes and trying to find anything than could work. I can't believe I forgot to do this yesterday—I always have everything planned out. My sleep schedule's gone to Hell. I'm so fucked.

   I rip off my clothes in an urgency, throwing on a black-fitting shirt and skinny jeans. It shows my arms, my pale, white arms. I don't have any time to reflect on how scrawny I think I look, though, so I calmly make my way towards the bathroom (if calmly meant destroying and hopping over anything in my path so I wouldn't waste any more time only to stumble over things). I brush through my hair with my fingers and decide to skip out on brushing my teeth. I have spearmint in the car. That's all that matters, right?

   I sprint through my house, almost sliding past the front door. I fumble the doorknob before throwing it opening, almost forgetting to close it as I run out to the driveway. Tripping down the pavement, I slide into my car and stick in the keys. I twist it, only for it make a loud purring sound before dying out.

   "Not today!" I plead. My car's an on old one, my dad's car from where I was born. It had stains in the seats, but I love her (her name is Gerda Wegener) regardless. Sometimes, however, she can be a pain. "Please!"

   I start her up a few more hours before she eventually kicks to a start. My mind's twisting as I back out of the driveway and began speeding down the neighborhood. I can't believe I fell asleep, I can't believe I partied, I can't believe I forgot to set my alarms, I can't believe I'm going to be late on my first day, and I can't believe my first kiss was Will Solace and—fuck all of this. I'm never being irresponsible ever again.

   I'm almost 30 minutes late when I make it to the big, gray building. My hands are shaking as I walk into an open lobby with marble tile. All around are young adults, writing on white boards, pulling out their hair, eating, or looking closely at documents. A true workplace of people with original ideas. I was already feeling at home.

   I walk all the way to the front desk, standing in front of a receptionist who's staring at his phone. His hair is brown and he has a nicely trimmed beard. He takes a bite out of his apple, his eyes completely glued onto his phone. I hope that maybe his peripherals will notice me, but he remains absolutely clueless. I hate trying to get people's attention. I never know what to say.

   "Ahem," I scratch the back of my neck.

   He looks up, asking no questions. Instead, he raises an eyebrow.

   "I'm here for the senior internship?" I ask.

   He looks down at his desk, then back at me. He lets out a loud sigh, as if he's so bothered to do his job, and sets the apple down. Slowly, he looks to his computer monitor, clicking like a sloth. I feel my foot began to tap.

    "Hm," he nods, mumbling to himself. "Yeah. Interesting. Okay. You're late."

   I want to facepalm. "Yes. I accidentally slept—"

   "Don't need your life story, kid," he rolls his eyes. "Take this pass. Nico di Angelo?"

   I nod.

   "You have a meeting with his assistant in 10 minutes. Down the hall, first room on the right. You can scan or insert your card depending on the door. The blonde boy is already in there," his monotone voice reads out. "His assistant will take your picture and lay out the rules."

   Blonde boy? The other guy who won the internship? I take the card attached to a lanyard and slide it over my head. Whoever he is, I hope he's smart. I give a smile to the receptionist who rolls his eyes and looks back to his phone. Millennials are so stuck-up sometimes.

   I don't waste any time and began on my way. My nerves are completely fucked, my head's pounding, I'm exhausted.

Scanning the pass, I feel a small sense of relief. At least I'm finally here, right? That's gotta count for something.

   I let the door fall open and to my horror, a blonde boy sat in the waiting room as well. My mouth falls open as his eyes flicker up to mine.

   "'Sup," Will Solace nods.

   And then, everything went black.

[captaincoffeegirl515]

What the hell was that last act???

So first of all I want to say that I did enjoy most of the movie. It was okay. The sex scenes didn’t do anything for me though since I’m just not interested in sex at all. But while I more-or-less liked the movie, I felt that the big plot twists in the last act and the ending were badly done because… how the fuck did ANY of them manage to get away with ANY OF THAT??? Like from a legal standpoint it’s just ???

This got so much longer than I anticipated, so the rest is under the read more. And yes, there are so many spoilers. So if you haven't seen The Voyeurs yet and don't want spoilers, please avoid this.

Seb and Julia literally confess to selling their old apartment in order to spy on the people who live there and use them for their art show. Like, yes, they put that clause in the Terms of Agreement for the apartment (which literally no one ever reads) but there is still the matter of Informed Consent. Informed Consent is usually in the form of a contract Pippa and Thomas both need to read and sign, or via verbal questions and answers which is filmed so Seb and Julia would have physical proof of an agreement. This is basically telling them what footage was taken, how it will be used, and if Seb and Julia have permission to share the footage publicly. In Thomas’ case, since he’s dead, his next-of-kin will be asked. Only then are Seb and Julia legally allowed to publicly share and showcase the Pippa and Thomas’ pictures. And Seb is a professional photographer! He should know that!

Have you ever seen prank shows? Like even the ones on YouTube. Have you noticed at the end of some videos, there would be a part where the filmers would approach the person who was pranked and ask if they could use their footage in the video. That’s Informed Consent. They need to ask permission to use a person’s footage in a video or if they need to blur out the person’s face for privacy. Seb and Julia even showed a picture of a dead man for chrissakes! Remember the outcry when that YouTuber posted a video of a suicide victim in Japan???

The Japanese interviewer was right to disapprove of their methods because even though there was a clause in the Terms of Agreement, the prank (because isn’t that what that whole show they did was?) or experiment still resulted with someone killing themself (yes I know it was murder, but the world doesn't know it). They can possibly still be held liable for causing Thomas to kill himself the same way a prankster can be held liable if their victim dies from a prank because of this thing in Law called the Eggshell Rule or Eggshell Plaintiff.

What this means is that a defendant is liable for any injuries caused by the defendant’s actions, regardless of how unforeseeable or uncommon the plaintiff’s reactions to the defendant’s actions are. So for example, there is a scary prank where the prankster jumps out of the bushes and terrifies people. One of them turns out to have a heart condition, suffers a heart attack, and dies. Regardless of the victim’s frailty, the prankster can be held liable for exacerbating the condition and causing the victim’s death. Likewise in the movie, they can say that Seb and Julia, by orchestrating the whole thing and making Thomas see his girlfriend cheating on him, could have caused him to become broken-hearted and kill himself. Therefore, Seb and Julia can be liable for Thomas’ death.

And then here’s the kicker! The famous photographer and his wife, a famous model, both suddenly end up blind AFTER their big art show where they displayed Pippa’s scandal. And not by accident. No. This was obviously surgically done. And NOBODY suspected foul play?? Nobody thought about revenge?? Nobody thought it strange how their blindness was clearly done with a surgical/medical precision nor suspected the couple’s subject, Pippa, who they thoroughly humiliated, who also worked as an optometrist technician at a lab that has the machines that could cause that kind of blindness??? And they're both still alive! They can easily tell the police who did it!

It should have been way too easy for the police to know that it was foul play. Blood tests can tell that Seb and Julia had been drugged. How they were blinded can be traced to the optometry lab. Pippa would be the easiest main suspect due to her connection to them with revenge as the main motivation after they humiliated her in that art show.

And yes, I agree that what Seb and Julia did was wrong. They used Pippa and Thomas, and then murdered Thomas so they can have some juicy story to tell!

Even so, what happened to Ethical Codes in the medical field? What happened to the Hippocratic Oath? Non-maleficience rule? “Do No Harm”? Pippa should have been slammed with, idk, medical malpractice or something, after using her knowledge of the LASIK machine and using it to permanently blind people (which is an actual fear real people have about LASIK surgery), have her license revoked, be fired from her job, and possibly serve jail time. Why is she walking free all willy-nilly and still being allowed to continue stalking Seb and Julia?

I’ll admit though that maybe I’m being more harsh towards Pippa because I myself used to be a Board Certified medical professional (my license expired last year because I hadn't been working in that field for a while) and because of that, her actions angered and horrified me more.

Normally, we as an audience are made to root for the main character or hero, but I found it difficult to do so because Pippa herself is a terrible person. She's a pervert and a creep. She was obsessed with the lives of other people, stalked them, and even went as far as committing crimes in order to fuel her obsession - trespassing, breaking and entering, destruction of private property.

And my goodness this actually makes me think of a few Ben Hardy stans who are like this. Well, idk if going to Ben's school so that she can get a copy of a school film he was in can be considered a crime, but it's still fucking creepy.

Pippa’s got that Savior Complex where she tries to rescue this poor neglected wife from her horrible cheating husband (the same one she herself wants to fuck because she’s obsessed with him). And then when it all goes south, she immediately turns around and blames THOMAS of all people because “he started it”. Like, so what if he did?? He still had enough maturity to realize when they were taking it too far, and decided to stop with the stalking. He told her to stop multiple times but she was too blinded by her obsession and lust for a man that she doesn’t even know.

AND THEN!! She stalked a grieving husband (I know we know that was a lie but Pippa didn't know that) and proceeded to cheat on her boyfriend with said grieving husband. And frankly, I don’t understand why she’s so vengeful about Thomas’ death considering how easily she forgot him so that she could cheat on him. Like. Who knows, maybe he still would’ve killed himself regardless of the poisoned drink because the last thing he saw was his girlfriend cheating on him with the man she’d been obsessed with for the past idk how long. Even in the scene after Thomas died, there was a momentary grief where Pippa was all “it’s my fault Thomas died” but it was all too brief and immediately after she went back to obsessing and asking about Seb. And they want me to believe that she’d want to avenge Thomas’ death? No. I think she blinded Seb and Julia because she was angry at being called out for her obsession. For being told that she was wrong to go that far. It wasn’t about her “love” for Thomas. It was about how humiliated she was about being wrong.

Can you believe that Pippa gave this whole speech with the fable about being content with what you have and not to try to be greedy by wanting more and then she just immediately DOES THE OPPOSITE OF THE MORAL by cheating on her boyfriend because she wanted more aka Seb???

The more that I think about it, I feel like the true villain of the movie is Pippa herself. Her obsession with Seb is what started the whole thing. If she had been able to keep a healthy distance, none of that would’ve happened to begin with. There would be no fights over how far things were going. Seb would have no scandal to tell. She worsened Thomas’ insecurities of not being enough for her, making him go to great lengths just to try to please her. Poor Thomas. He truly deserved better.

Pippa also has awful friends. Instead of stamping down the creepy behavior, they’re giving tips on how to listen in on other people’s private conversations! And then later try to excuse her cheating on Thomas. And then help with her obsession AGAIN.

Acting-wise, I felt that Natasha, Ben, and Justice were incredible and I loved them. I love how conflicted Ben played Seb and how you can see it in his eyes. My favorite scene was the one where Seb and Julia had that confrontation over the wine where Seb asks if she ever felt guilty and Julia just stares right back and stares him down. Natasha was brilliant as Julie pretending to be all friendly and vulnerable with Pippa. Justice was very emotional and I love the scenes where he was horrified at how far Pippa was taking everything. For me, Sydney was the weakest one at acting. While there were some okay parts, her face can be really stiff at some points, like during the sex scenes.

Overall, I thought the movie to be quite thought-provoking especially in this day and age where people can find the most intimate details of another person’s life so easily, be that through Carrd, Instagram stories, Facebook feeds, and other social media sites. It makes you think about parasocial relationships, how people can be so obsessed about people that they’ve never even met, and how that obsession can easily grow into something dangerous that can ruin lives. Good movie, terrible last act. Too much sex for my taste, but then it wouldn’t be called an erotic movie.

Outside of the movie, I really love the chemistry between the four of them. I love watching their interviews and seeing how they interact with each other.

Last but not the least, I know this may be random but my brain likes to zoom in on the weirdest things. How on earth did Pippa manage to get Seb on top of that operating table?? No offense but Pippa is fucking tiny. Seb’s like twice her size and mostly muscle AND unconscious. Like ??? Sorry but that threw me off so much it’s ridiculous.

[dancingthesambaa]

Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 15

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black furred monkey put out a hand towards him

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 15: Plotting Revenge is a Good Bonding Activity

“And then you showed up and, well you know the rest,” Red Son exhaled as the three of them sat down on the swings at the park. It had taken a week before he eventually had the courage, and while making sure his father was rested, to face his friends once more.

“So you're the one who took the skeleton key,” MK said.

“Yeah,” the prince nodded and braced himself for the accusations.

“Oh thank god, I really thought I lost it on accident,” MK sighed in relief as he sagged on the swings.

“Still kinda lost it,” she pointed out.

“But at least it wasn’t through me just forgetting it somewhere!” He pumped his fists in the air, promptly forgetting he was on a swing and was now flailing his arms trying to not fall off.

“…okay you're both taking this a little too easily,” the prince deadpanned as he stopped himself from tugging on his hair, “why aren’t you both mad at me?”

“For?” They both turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“For? For?!? I stole from you and didn’t say a word until everything blew up in all of our faces and had a crisis that almost destroyed the city-AGAIN!” He had to jump off the swing as he paced in front of them. “Why aren’t you both pissed off at me?!”

“Well for one, the key was cool and all, but it didn’t have, like, any real sentimental value,” MK shrugged, “I mean I had it for like a day.”

“Two, it just opens locks, which is pretty bad with certain things like banks and homes, but at least it’s not a weapon of mass destruction,” Mei finger gunned him.

“And three, most importantly, it’s you,” MK finished.

Red Son looked at him with the most dumbfounded look.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well you like to call yourself a villain, but I have never actually seen you do any hardcore villainy stuff,” he pointed out.

“I once saw you make fire animals to a group of children because they complimented you on your flame head,” she grinned.

“They have good taste,” he averted his eyes away from the both of them as a small flush appeared on his cheeks.

“But my point is,” MK stepped off the swing and put a hand on his shoulder, “you have been with us to know long enough that what you say isn’t what you do. You have a very soft and squishy heart underneath all those flames.”

“No! I do not!” He instantly denied, ignoring how his face brightened.

“Yes you do,” both humans said as MK confined, “and I like to think that while it has only been a few months, I know you wouldn’t steal something of ours unless you were forced to.”

Red Son said nothing as he clenched his fists, but that was all the confirmation that the two needed.

“Exactly my point, so I was hurt at first, but it turned out alright in the end, so don’t be too upset about it okay. I have already forgiven you,” he gave a big hug to the demon.

“It’s in the past nightlight, all is already good between us,” Mei joined in on the hug and grinned, “but I wouldn’t mind some ice cream after this.”

The demon Prince froze in their warm embrace as he slowly relaxed and lifted both his arms around his friends. “We’re going to the good one, not the rip off that tries to scam up for a mint chocolate chip, only for it to be vanilla and fucking peppermint candy inside.”

“Agreed,” both humans instantly said, that was the most disappointing I’ve cream joint they have ever been to and they saw ones where they can even mess up vanilla ice cream.

“We so need to catch up,” Mei said as she laid her head on Red shoulder, “there have been so much that you missed, and learning that the Monkey King and pops have a thing for each other is a whole nother ball game that needs to be discussed.”

“I’m sorry WHAT?!” He held them both out as his hair slightly flicker in shock at that abrupt news.

“Ohh boy,” MK sighed as he slumped down. “I need some mind numbing ice cream before we even go into this.”

“Ice cream,” Mei echoed.

“…fucking ice cream,” the demon eye twitched. This was going to be one hell of a conversation.

“They like each other?!” He slammed his spoon down.

“Not so loud,” MK groaned as he put his head to the table.

“But yeah,” Mei continued with a spoon in her mouth, “they have a total thing for each and the real kicker is that both sides are dense enough to not realize that.”

“Your fucking with me,” he deadpans.

“There is no fucks to be seen.”

“Unless they do it with each other.”

“Mei!/Why’d you put that image in my head,” Red yelled as MK groaned.

“What?” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just saying, besides I still don’t like the half priced knock off Monkey god trying to hook up with pops,” she narrowed her eyes.

“Oh,” the prince was a bit surprised by this, “I thought you idolized him, what changed?”

“Well first, never really idolized him, that’s all on MK.”

“I feel no shame,” he crossed his arms.

“Got really disillusioned by him with all of Makkie’s stories. And secondly, I hands down don’t believe that the great almighty Monkey King is good enough for him,” she bluntly stated.

“I mean you're not wrong, but explain,” the bull demon leaned in. He has known the Six Eared Macaque for a very long time, the monkey healer has taught and shown him many things throughout their lives, and has saved it just as many, if not more. So it’s needless to say that he sees the monkey as an uncle for a very long time.

“I mean other than fighting pops and almost trying to kill him over his fuck up-”

“WHAT!/He wasn’t trying to kill him!”

“He can’t just expect to walk in and pretend everything is all fine and good between them after he made pops blind and severed their friendship for five hundred years. Pops had mourned for him and self deprecated himself during his bad days, he feels the guilt and shame that had overcome him and he emotionally understood his wrongdoings but has been trying-no he has turned over a new leaf. He had changed and has learned better from the immature monkey he once was, but the same can’t be said for the Monkey King. Cause instead of talking about it, what does he do? He fucking yells and attacks him!” She slammed her fist on the table. “He attacked him and when MK stepped in between the two, which is still so very fucking stupid by the way.”

“You did what?” Red looked towards the sheepish human.

“I had to stop them somehow!”

“Not with your life!”

“Well, now I know for next time.”

“There better not be a next time!”

“It was still MK who had to stop the dumbass from fighting,” Mei growled out. “And he still had the audacity to question pops about trying to use MK like the fuck?! Who the fuck does he think he is to think that he has any parental right over him other than Pops. None! Zilch! Fucking zero! He has nothing except that pretty little staff that MK somehow is able to lift, which by the way we really need to figure out how that is possible.”

“Oh believe me, I’ve been trying so hard to figure that part out as well,” MK sighed.

“But my point to all of this is, I know he is a good monkey, him saving the city and mentoring MK and all that, but he is absolute garbage when it comes to actually acknowledging the fact that things don’t stay the same, everything has changed.” She let out a huff and proceeded to finish her melting ice cream.

“Wow…you really have thought about this,” the demon said as he watched her.

“Well I had some time to think and I still stand by Monkey King not being good enough for pops.”

“No one is good enough for dad,” MK muttered, making his two friends a bit surprised.

“I’m a bit shocked, I would have thought you would have been all for letting the Monkey King and Macaque court each other,” he tilted his head. “Why the change of heart?”

“No change, it’s just that-well” he began to fiddle with the ends of his violet headband, “I know the Monkey King and I know he is an amazing mentor, always includes me when the tribe comes around, loves to feed me, and he is just a good person. I grew up on the stories about him and what he has accomplished. I can’t help but idolize him and want to stay by his side through thick and thin. It’s just that-that…” he trailed off and hesitated with his next words.

“But not as much as pops,” Mei saw what he was getting at.

“…yeah, not as much as pops. As much as that seems mean, he has been with me for so long that I can’t imagine my life without him…Have I ever told you guys how I met dad?” He suddenly said as both human and demon shook their heads.

“All I know is that he found you in an alley one day and you’ve been with him since then,” the pigtail girl stated. “But I have a feeling there’s a lot more to it than that.”

“Yes and no,” MK pushed away his bowl, “he did find me in an alley and took me in for the night, fed me, treated my injuries, and comforted me, but that was supposed to be my only stay there.”

“So what changed?” Red softly asked.

“My former parents weren’t good people,” he breathed out. It took a long time before he could finally admit to himself that his sperm donors were selfish, good for nothing, assholes that only cared about two things, their nonexistent reputation and money. That night might have set a world record on how long he hugged his pops as he just wouldn’t let go even when the morning came.

Both human and demon knew exactly what he meant without any unneeded details as both their eyes glowed an ominous scarlet and viridian.

“Where are they?” The Bull and Dragon successor echoed as a small burst of energy flickered off them.

‘Should really be glad that today is a Monday and no one is around,’ MK winced as he took a glance around outdoors. “Guys, calm down. I’m fine, it’s been over ten years since I last saw them and I doubt I will ever see them again.”

The two begrudgingly settled down like a petulant child and slouched in their seats.

“Look dork, all I need is an address and I can promise you that I can make their lives a living hell,” Mei leaned in with a malicious smile. “They will regret even wanting to breathe by the time I’m done with them.”

“A name would suffice as well, it’s always prudent to know who the enemy might be in case there are no longer using the same location,” Red added as well.

“I am not giving you a name nor an address,” he sternly told them, “It’s been a long time since I saw them and I haven’t thought about them since,” which may be a teensy lie as they do pop up from time to time in his head during his not so good days, but it’s best not to tell them that.

“Besides, while I don’t exactly remember what happened that night I last saw them, I do know that they were terrified of Dad, whatever he said to them thoroughly shook them to their core.” He let a bit of vicious delight show on his face, he may not be a cruel person, but even he will happily admit that it was a bit cathartic to think back on that night and watch the emotional journey they went through that night as the life drain out their face the longer Dad spoke to them. It’s a bit messed up yes, but can you really blame him, he had to put up with their shit.

“Like he would do anything less for his child,” Mei smirked, “I guess I’ll let them off this time.”

“Good,” MK smiled as he got up to throw away all of their trash.

“We’re so getting it off of Mac,” Mei whispered to Red.

“Undoubtedly,” he subtly nodded, “they will feel pain.”

“When I’m done with them not even the morticians would want to come near them,” both shared a devilish smile, but quickly widened it when MK came back.

“Anyways,” he sat down with a huff, “before I got into all of that, what I was trying to say is that yes I respect the Monkey King, but I will always hold Dad to my heart first before anyone else.”

“Hear hear,” she pointed in the air, “so, does that mean you don’t want the great and powerful Monkey King to date pops.”

“Not really,” he winced at how bad that sounded. “I mean don’t get me wrong, but they just got back to being friends and I don’t think that it would be a good idea to jump into any type of romantic relationship so soon.”

“Sounds like an excuse but I don’t care, preach it!” She laughed and threw a fist in the air.

“It’s not an excuse,” well maybe a little, “it’s just that Dad said that he swore off dating for a long time after his last partner.”

“By the gods, we don’t talk about his previous partners, especially lemur bitch,” Red groaned as he knocked his head on the table, hoping that this would be the blow that would finally free his mind of those atrocious memories.

“Yeah I’ve been hearing that a lot, but what exactly did he do?!” Mei turned to look at the groaning prince.

“You really don’t want to know.”

“Heard that a lot as well and I still say, yes I really do,” the monkey successor added.

“I’m not-”

“Pleassseee!” Both humans begged with a puppy dog look in their eyes.

“All I’m willing to say is do not eat anything that he gives you and don’t show signs of high intelligence,” he pushed their faces back.

“Well I don’t have to worry about the second one,” MK grinned.

“Same!” Mei high fived him.

Red Son just looked at the two humans, one who was trying to earn his doctoral degree in Medicine and the other who almost finished with her bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. He blinked once, then twice, opened his mouth, then promptly closed it and instead pinched his nose.

“But about that first thing,” Mei turned her attention back to the demon, “is his cooking really that bad or is there a little extra something he puts in there.”

“The second one, I don’t know exactly what happened, and I thank everyone for that, but I do know that Macaque was unconscious for a few days and when he awoke he felt an underlying desire to grovel at Shun’s feet and adore him and only him.”

“He made a love potion?!”

“More like a love poison,” he shuddered. While he had never ingested one before, there have been times where he was sent food laced with these poisons. Luckily he had never taken a bite of it before, but the first time it had happened, he swore that he had never seen both his parents so furious before. “They make the user attracted to the designated target and they will forever obey their every whim and command while under this spell, or at least until the spell wears off. The more potent and permanent ones have either been destroyed or kept under a watchful eye of a higher deity or demon.”

“That sounds fucking horrible,” MK grimaced.

“Yeah, like a 50/10 of no fucking thank you,” Mei scrunched up her nose.

“Exactly, so this is one of the reasons why Macaque decided best to get the fuck out of that and break up with him.”

“One of the reasons?”

“One of the reasons,” Red didn’t exactly know how to tell him that Shun had an unhealthy obsession with the simian, always stalking him, getting overly possessive, and those were just the blatant things. Yeah, it’s best to just let it be and forget that creepy ass fucker, it’s not like he’ll ever show his face again after his beat down courtesy of Macaque.

“And that just further emphasized my point!” The teen said, “he wants nothing to do with a romantic relationship of any kind, so he and Monkey King getting together would just be bad all around.”

“And I totally agree, so if Monkey ass tries to hurt Pops at any time, I already have Operation Sticky Surprise all bundled up and ready to go,” the dragon successor gave an evil looking grin.

“Sticky Surprise?”

“Mei has been making plans on plans on how to make the Monkey King life a living hell aside from outright killing him,” MK deadpanned.

“Killing is boring, humiliation is a lot more fun and it comes with the added bonus of there being so many different ways to do it! I also have Operation Inkblot, Stink Butt, Bug Devastation, Hangman Riot, Gossip Thrill, Paranoia Pandemonium, Faeries Laughters-”

“You got the Faeries involved in this?” Both boys looked horrified. “Why?!”

“I asked and they were more than happy to agree. In fact, I got a lot more creatures to help me out as well, I have an entire file just for the forest!” She eagerly held out her phone and showed them the numerous folders in the file that was labeled ‘Dragon Revenge: Forest Edition.’ “Want to hear about it?”

“…yes,” he leaned in closer. He had to admit that he is morbidly curious on what exactly some of the plans may entail.

“Well, I have Operation Ní Chorus, Qilin Stampede, BaBa Appetite, Macaque Monkeys Mania, Kappa War, and so much more. I even have another file that contains the one Daiyu and the rest of them made.”

“Even Ahmed?”

“Even Ahmed,” MK nodded. He should know as he was there that day when they were coming up with all of these elaborate plans. He felt he shouldn’t have been so surprised when the lion demon came up with some gruesome one, involving a bag of blood and some nasty curses, but that has nothing on Minsheng and their ideas. Who knew glitter can be used that way.

“You're just trying to humiliate him and possibly injure him in the process?” The demon asked.

“He’s an immortal monkey that has been through a lot of shit, he can take whatever we throw at him,” she bluntly stated.

“Have you thought of using a vast amount of flour then igniting it? I know from experience that using the two would make an unexpected explosion,” the first time he cooked he burned down the whole kitchen while holding the bag of flour in his hands.

“No, I did not,” Mei raised her phone and opened a new document, “tell me more.”

“Nail polish is another flammable object, which is why I have never worn it until you forced it upon me, powdered sugar, Ping Pong balls, oranges-”

“Why do you know this,” MK asked with a bit of horror in his tone.

“Well after I set my Pomelo on fire inside a safe house that we don’t use often, I decided it would be best to look up what else in a regular home is fucking flammable and not so surprising, a lot of things are. But on the upside,” he matched Mei’s sinister grin, “it’s not common knowledge and I don’t think the impulsive Monkey King would look up something like this if you know what I mean.”

“Oh I know exactly what you’re getting at,” she grinned even wider, “it would be a damn shame if someone were to perhaps spill some sugar on him, and there just happens to be a flame.”

“Or maybe if someone wanted to try something daring with a Ping Pong ball only to ‘accidentally’ hit it in the wrong direction,” he ominously said.

“Oh that would be bad.”

“Very bad.”

“Annoyingly bad,” Mei leaned in, “Tell me more.”

“With pleasure.”

“I feel like I should stop them,” he pondered to himself as he watched his two friends plot his mentor not-demise. “…nahh, I’m sure it will be fine.”

“We can dump sodium medals in the water to really make an explosion!”

“Yeah I’m good,” MK deadpanned as he leaned back, “Monkey King can handle it himself.”

“What are you bozos doing here,” Mei huffed as she saw Yin and Gin at the arcade.

“We may be elite demons with awesome powers and the everlasting hunger for a worthy fight,” Jin dramatically said.

“But even we can get bored sometimes and MK mentioned this place before,” Yin finished as he concentrated on shooting the zombies. “Speaking of, where is he? I usually see the two of you together.”

“I will mention the creepy stalking if I didn’t do that myself,” she muttered, “but couldn’t make it, he’s currently doing his online courses right now.”

“Oh right he did mention something about wanting to be a…healer I think was the word.”

“No dumbass, he is trying to be a physician. Healer is so Ming Dynasty bro,” Jin corrected his blue twin.

“Hey I’m the social one, you're the one who has their nose all up in the books,” he shrugged then pumped his fist in the air. “Hell yeah, new level!”

“I’m still pissed off at the both of you for the stunt you did at the race track,” she said as she leaned on the racing game next to theirs.

“To be fair, we knew we wouldn’t win,” the orange demon said.

“Yeah, it was mostly for fun.”

“Well that ‘fun’ almost cost me the medal and you really pissed off a lot of racers that day,” she stretched and hopped onto the bike. “Side note, if you ever meet a girl with purple hair, bright green eyes, and utterly jacked, you might want to scram. She was one of the competitors and she’s the least bit happy with either one of you.”

“Is that so?” Jin hummed as he hopped on the bike next to her.

“Yeah she wants to use your corpses as a gaudy rug for her front porch.”

“It be like that sometimes,” both twins said.

“You both seem way too chill about that,” she raised her eyebrow.

“We have seen people, demons, deities, and creatures alike much scarier,” Yin started as he continued to shoot the zombies down.

“We had masters who threaten to crush our bones, people using scrolls to torture our minds, deities making us relieve the worst days of our life over and over, demons stabbing us in the heart over and over, and the sheer presence of Macaque bearing down on the both of us,” Jin casually said.

Mei blinked a few times, “Okay that seems like a lot, but understandable. You met pops before?”

“You know the Six Eared Macaque,” the blue demon turned his head to her, “of course you do, cause why not.”

“We met him a few times after the whole Calabash incident and he is much scarier than the rumors made him out to be.”

“But demon knows how to put on a good play.”

“Yeah, his shadow play is a real banger,” Jin gave a toothy grin.

“So you guys met him at the theater,” she deadpanned.

“Yup,” both said.

“Why am I not surprised,” she sighed and began the game, “well I’m gonna smoke your ass on this.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Jin grinned as he revved his engine.

“Children, both of them,” Yin rolled his eyes, but he gave a loud shout as he noticed he finished the level. “Hell Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!”

“I refuse to believe that you managed to make peaches taste sour,” Wukong scrunched up his nose as he disdainfully eyed the peach dried chips. “This has to be some mockery or imitation, cause ain’t no way in hell are those actual peaches.”

“Hate to break it to ya,” Mac smirked as he took a chip in his mouth, “but they are.”

“You heathen,” he hissed out.

“Payback for the tainted Mango,” he smirked.

“Oh come on! That was centuries ago!”

“And I hated every last bite of that disgusting piece of fruit that dared touch my tongue!” He barked back.

The sage threw up his arms and marched to the kitchen, “I am raiding your kitchen! I need to wash put that nasty taste and hope that it doesn’t taste like a cup of lemon juice has just been freshly squeezed into my mouth.”

“You big baby, it’s not even that sour,” he snorted as he took another handful of chips. He knew that Wukong hated the taste of anything sour, revenge never tasted so good.

“No, no, no, why do you even have this,” he asked as he held up a bottle of Olive juice.

“Blame MK, last time he brought home an Aloe Vera milk which I didn’t realize was even a thing,” and the sad thing was that it didn’t taste bad, just extremely weird.

“Course he did,” was all he said as he continued to scrimmage through the kitchen. “Aha! Here we…go?” He paused as he moved over the soda and spotted a large jug. “What are you?” He opened it up and the familiar smell hit his nose as he never forgets that smell. “You mangy monkey!”

“Hmm?” Mac raised his brow as Wukong leaped over him with a familiar jar in hand, “No, you are not about to drink wine right now. I can’t deal with your alcohol self, you are too fucking clingy and a hundred times more impulsive.”

“I won’t, but how did you manage to sneak this away,” he grinned and swished the half full jug in hand.

“Huh? What are you babbling on about?”

“How did you get the Immortality wine, I know they have it locked up nice and tight after my little fiasco,” he held it up for further emphasis.

“The what wine?!” He stalked over to him and snatched the jug out of his hands, “Is that what this is?!”

“You drank it without even knowing what it is?” He shot the black simian an incredulous look, he knows that he is the one who is the most suspicious of getting anything from anyone, let alone something he doesn’t know.

“Don’t look at me like that!” He barked, “It’s from a friend who stops by once and a while. When-how-what the fuck Shen?”

“You know someone who can just give you immortality wine,” he couldn’t help but find a bit of amusement from his friend's expression.

“Apparently, he comes by every once in a while and that fucker never told me what this shit is,” he growled that last part.

“How do you know him?”

“He was a friend of Ping!” He threw his hands in the air and marched back to the kitchen and put back the jug of very rare and sought after wine…on second thought it would probably be better if he found a better spot to put this.

“Ping? The same Ping who taught you medicine and helped grow the forest Ping,” he stated as his tail swished behind him. He really wanted to just shake him and ask what the human was to him, but (for once) he kept down his impulsive thoughts and gently prodded him.

“Yess,” he rubbed his neck out of a bout of nerves, “but technically I made the forest, he said it would be a good way to plant a seed and take care of it to vent my frustration. Which is weird, but oh well and the next thing I know there is a forest.”

“So you just forgot that seeds grow and made an entire ass forest without you even noticing,” Wukong smirked.

“I’m not that fucking blind that I didn’t see an entire damn forest, it just didn’t…occur to me that I made it,” he winced at how dumb that sounded. He rolled his eyes when he heard the first snort then a full blown laughter coming from the brown furred monkey. “Yeah yeah, laugh it up.

“Don’t worry,” he said in between breaths, “I will! Pffftttt! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

He gave a petulant huff and went back to his warm tea with a laughing monkey following close behind. Eventually, the laughter subsided and all that was left was a smirking monkey leaning on a simian dead set on ignoring him.

“Only you moonshine,” he smirked as he watched his friend turn his face away with a faint red blush. He knows that calling him cutesy nicknames doesn’t get on his nerves no matter how many times he says so, but he secretly likes them. It’s how he got away with some of the things he did, but now he has a new goal in mind as he casually stretched his arms behind Mac and gently let his fingers rest on his long fur.

‘Soft. So soft. I don’t think I ever felt his fur ever be this soft before,’ he eyed the tantalizing fur curled in between his fingers. Just taunting him and begging him to please thread your fingers throughout the fluffy locks. ‘I really want to groom his fur,’ his hands twitched as he watched to see if Macaque would stop him, but he saw his eyes closed and leaning back. He almost let out a purr at the sight of his friend's trust and really wanted to just put his whole body on him for cuddles, but managed to keep it down in time and instead readied himself to put his other hand to his fur, a door slamming open stopped him.

BOOM!

“Guess who's back and is hearing an obnoxious ringing noise in their ears!” A loud voice shouted out which made the two separate from each other, much to the ire of a brown furred simian.

“Who the-” he began to mutter.

“And what have I told you about keeping your voice down inside?” Macaque yelled back.

“Too many times to count,” Bohai sighed.

Minsheng chuckled as they walked in and noticed that his friend wasn’t quite alone. “Well what do we have here?”

“Hey there, you might know me, I’m the-” he was cut off by the lion demon.

“The Monkey King, I have seen images of you before,” Ahmed then gave a slight nod, “I’m Ahmed, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Right back at you.”

“The name is Daiyu chimp,” she gave a very harsh slap on his shoulder and sat on the edge of the couch.

“I mean not really a chimp-”

“I’m Bohai,” the jellyfish demon said with a glow, “we’ve heard many things about you.”

“What kind? I mean there are a lot of stories-” he was cut off once more.

“And I’m Minsheng,” they said as he sat in between the two monkeys, “and I would introduce you to Yanyu, but she’s at work right now.”

“Yanyu?”

“His student,” Bohai commented as he watched the monkey demon sit the vulture down and is currently examining her ears.

“You had a student?”

“What can I say, I have that charm,” he deadpanned then shot Daiyu a glare, “how many times have I told you not to fuck with strange magical plants unless you know what it is!”

“Again, too many times to count,” the jellyfish reiterated.

“She heard the rumors about him and just went to the forest and forced him to teach her. But secretly, we all know Mac attack has a soft spot for the kiddos,” the bunny grinned as he saw that Mac was now purposefully tuning them out.

“Yeah, I can tell,” he gave a sweet smile as he remembered all his interactions with both of his children.

All the demons not preoccupied silently blinked at Wukong’s words and expressions and it was all at once did it click for them. And they all shared a knowing look to one another.

“It’s nothing too bad,” Macaque concluded after he checked both her ears, medians, and body. “You should be fine after some rest and water, which you will do even if I have to strap you down to that damn bed.”

“You got it doc!” She saluted him and walked off.

He rolled her eyes at her antics and didn’t even flinch when Ahmed sat down beside him. “Please don’t tell me you got injured in some way as well.”

“Don’t worry, I did not,” he gave a deep chuckle.

“Thank fuck,” he sighed and felt the lion began to come closer to him and began to nuzzle the top of his head. He knew exactly what was happening, “Going through one of those moods again?”

“Yeah, sorry bout this” he murmured.

“Eh, it’s fine. Just do what you want,” he flippantly said and felt a purr of appreciation as he felt his fur getting licked.

And if the nuzzles didn’t catch Wukong’s attention then the lion demon currently licking his longtime crush did as he had to hold back a screech of displeasure at the sight, but that didn’t stop his whole body from twitching.

“Yeah, Ahmed does that sometimes,” Min smirked as they watched the brown monkey's eyes twitch. “Apparently lions do this for some social bonding and whatnot, but he especially likes to do this with Mac.”

“Oh does he,” Wukong let a small hiss out.

“Mmmhmm, sometimes hours would go by and he would still be at it,” Daiyu added and watched as his fingers dug into the cushion. Ohohoho she knows that look, it is the same look her sister gave to another male when he was trying to court the same chick as her, needless to say he can never land the same again, especially since he’s missing a foot and all.

“Hours then they're rather…close then,” he had to put on a wide grin, but he couldn’t help but bare a few teeth.

“Oh yeah, we might have known Doc and Med first before they met each other, but when the two met, it was like a perfect match.” Bohai drew out. He knows exactly what his friends were trying to do and he finds no shame in joining in. Even without the stories of the two monkeys' relations, it was too easy to see the fondness that was coming off from the both of them.

“Like a puzzle piece fit together,” Sheng emphasized. They know that the Monkey Pleb had quite the temper on him, not even counting his impulsiveness, and they couldn’t help but taunt the ever-loving fuck out of him. Life threatening, perhaps with all the killing he does, but fun, it is starting to look so much fun. Besides they already had their fun teasing Mac about this, now it’s the dumbass monkey's turn for his time in the spotlight.

He said nothing as he watched the two demons curl closer together.

‘A perfect match? Fit together?! Like hell they are! I’ll show you-no calm down and breathe,’ he took a deep breath and relaxed. ‘It’s okay. Moonshine trusts him and is okay with the…grooming the lion is doing. They have known each other for quite some time, so of course he wouldn’t mind.’ He glanced back at the scene, watched Mac's content face and he further relaxed. ‘I’m really glad that he had people watching out for him and besides it’s not like there is any bigger reason behind this than bonding.’

Then Wukong’s eyes caught Ahmed and as the monkey was about to smile wider in his direction the lion gave a little smirk and nuzzled his face a little bit harder into the long black fur and let out a content purr. Ahmed may not have any romantic feelings towards the smaller demon, but that doesn’t mean that he will willingly let go of him that easily. Macaque is a part of his pack and he is known for being…violently protective over each and every member of his small pack.

The Sage Monkey froze and barely stopped the growl coming out of his throat as he gritted his teeth while his eyes glinted a faint golden glow. ‘I’m gonna skin that overgrown cat!’

The rest of the demons subtly gave a thumbs up to the lion as they held back their laughter. Oh yes, they were all going to have so much fun with this.

A pack of fossa laid still in the grass as they quietly stalked their prey from behind. They followed the figure for some time waiting for the opportunity to strike as the prey continued a steady walk. The leader could almost feel the tender meat upon his teeth as he gazed upon their oversized prey. They have been only getting the small rabbits and birds and that wasn’t enough, it’s never enough to fill them so they're quite…hungry.

Then the prey stopped and so did they.

“I know you're there,” they all stilled as a soft voice called out. “I know you’ve been following me for quite some time.”

They all glanced towards the leader for guidance on their next approach, so he hunched down low and began to crawl closer in preparation to pounce on him.

“Ah ah ah,” the voice tutted, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Though I am talking to mindless beasts, so perhaps I should speak in their language.”

Before any even had the chance to feel offended by the words, they all smell a strange odor before-

EYES. THEY WATCH WATCH WATCH WATCH ALL

SEE THEY SEE SEE SEE EVERY LITTLE

STEP

STEP

NO ESCAPE

STEP

STEP

CAN’T RUN

STEP

STEP

CAN'T HIDE

STEP

STEP

FIGHT NEED TO FIGHT FIGHT CANT FIGHT

WIDE WIDE WHY SO WIDE

TEETH TEETH SO MANY TEETH WHY WHY WHYWHYWHYWHYWH

They’re brought back to the field, their back with their bodies, back with their heads with no teeth about to snap it right off-

“I’m in a good mood, so I’ll let you off easy okay,” they all flinched at the soft voice. “Well, what are you waiting for? Run.”

And they did, they ran and ran and ran so far that not even the growl in their stomach bothered them. They just needed to run away fast, it was no wonder they didn’t spot any other prey on the way here, they all must have sensed the predator. The terrifying predator with the teeth, why teeth, why so many teeth.

And they kept running.

“Well that’s enough excitement for one night,” the voice sighed as he continued back on his path and threw out in the distance the illuminating sight of a city. “I am almost there, I’ll see you soon my love.”

While there was a moon high in the sky there was still vast darkness upon the path as not a single critter chirped nor a single rustle of leaves as he walked upon the path. The animals all cowered away from the frightening presence and hoped that the predator wouldn’t look at them. But there were a few that were brave enough to slightly peek out from under their leaf or quietly look a smidge over their hole and get a glance at the predator retreating figure. All that they could see as it got farther and farther away was a black and white striped tail swishing softly behind him.

[klonoadreams]

bet toji is the kind of roommate that devours all the leftovers in the fridge at random. even if he doesn't live with them

sometimes, Toji sticks around to see the aftermath, and watch as everyone tries to figure out actually did it.

Like, you'd think they'd point fingers at him (they would if they SAW that he's there, but he's just watching the chaos through a camera feed), but in this house???

IN THIS HOUSE OF CHAOS???

You can never be too fucking sure.

literally that scene in parks and rec, "I'm not mad. I just want to know."

you also have The Office shenanigans happening every once in a while.

Nana somehow fails to point out that it could be Toji, since he shows up unannounced at random...except then she's also "Or maybe it was me?"

"No...no it wasn't." Nanamin knows when it's her (she forgets to put the container in the sink)

Gojo just enables this discussion, even though he would know the actual culprit - it's just funnier to see Nanamin get so serious.

Just once - ONCE- Gojo does it himself. And that's the big kicker to everyone no longer immediately defaulting to Toji. :V

[evilisk]

Part 1 of My Overview on Chapter 3, Act 3

I cannot believe the length of this chapter. Kinda obvious, but don’t click if you don’t want spoilers for this part.

Act 3 Overview

We begin with the aftermath of Act 2 and surprise, Marisa wasn't actually cut down by Master Youmu. After Marisa and Reimu reflect on the situation, the two and Lossy meet up with everyone else. Master Youmu plans to share her knowledge with everyone but Chef Yuyuko (who is still asleep).

Master Youmu pulls out a Seal Crystal (or a Dazzle, as it's known in this AU) and reveals she has it for as long as she's been in this alternate Gensokyo (i.e. she is also not from the current Gensokyo AU). Master Youmu also reveals that her memories are incomplete, and the her earliest one is of her bringing the Crystal with her for recording purposes.

Master Youmu doesn't actually know how she got there, and has actually been in that AU for a ridiculously long time. The extended flashback sequence starts with Youmu mentioning how it was a time before Hell, before Gensokyo, before the Netherworld, before the Calender was invented (the game uses the term "Age of the Gods". If I were to use the Timeline on the Touhou Wiki's page, this might make Master Youmu several millions of years old...)

Master Youmu lives through the creation of Japan and after what must be centuries, potentially milennia, she lives to see the formation of Saigyouji clan. While she eventually sees the birth of Yuyuko's father and then Yuyuko herself, Master Youmu notices that her own Clan, the Konpaku, do not appear.

Things now play out as they do in the original timeline: Yuyuko takes her own life, losing her memoriees in the process. She is then given her position in the Netherworld by the Yama and the Hakugyokurou is moved to the Netherworld. Then things start to diverge. The obvious one is that Master Youmu, who wouldn't have been born to a Clan that currently doesn't exist, becomes Yuyuko's fencing instructor.

Then Master Youmu reveals that Gensokyo was created by the Youkai Sages that everyone is familiar with: Ran, Chen, Nitori, Aya... The heroines then interrupt the flashback to point out that the history is obviously different. We then get to part of the timeline where the events of Touhou 7 begins.

To keep things brief, in this universe the heroines are unable to prevent the Saigyou Ayakashi awakening. Everything goes wrong; the heroines die, Yuyuko dies and the Murder Tree awakens. Even with the power of time travel on Master Youmu's side (yeah, she can just do that, for reasons I'll get into later) she cannot prevent Yuyuko from "succeeding". Youmu's repeated time travel is also starting to leave scars on reality (this is the explanation for why this Yuyuko looks the way she does)

While Master Youmu is praying, trying to find a resolution to this incident, a disembodied voice starts telling Youmu about Lost Words. Since the voice talks about how they have "no image" and manipulating borders it seems like this might be Yukari (the Yukari of this universe has been suspiciously absent).

She starts telling Youmu that rather than trying to change history by preventing the events of Touhou 7, she can change history by transforming the Ayakashi into something else (by force feeding it life force earlier than it's supposed to happen).

The only kicker is that the transformation would require a ridiculous amount of energy (as in, if the Ayakashi consumed every single soul in that world, that STILL wouldn't be enough). Anyway, after some more info is revealed (like how all the stolen life force would be returned if their plan succeeds) Master Youmu and Yukari begin plotting.

The flashback then ends abruptly. According to alter Nitori, the Crystal has run out of magical power but the timing of the cut-out is obviously suspicious. After some speculation about Yukari (Lossy brings up the adult Yukari that she's been seeing while Master Youmu admits to giving Baby Yukari a piece of Lossy's hair) Reimu starts interrogating Ran about Yukari.

Alter Ran does not recall having a Mistress and insists that she is both a Shikigami and Sage, making it seem as if Yukari was spirited away (just like how Alter Reimu was spirited away during the Scarlet Devil Tower chapter). The conversation loops back around to the topic of Baby Yukari. The conversation is interrupted by Chef Yuyuko and the Fairies arriving. As Chef Yuyko goes off to prepare a meal, the Fairies then turn into cherry crystals (which is part of the process of being turned into life force for the Tree). It seems as if time is running out when Master Youmu mentions the Saigyou Ayakashi- right in front of Chef Yuyuko.

We flash forward to after that scene. Alter Aya and Nitori are going to attempt to stall Chef Yuyuko (who has already started showing a dangerous interest in the tree). The heroines reflect on their new information, speculating on the nature of the Ayakashi. Their discussion leads to Youmu revealing that Yuyuko's body is in the lower world. It was the reason she tried to stall everyone in the previous chapter, but with the Time almost at hand, she decides they need to act now.

Then the next team arrives. They are alternate Prismrivers who are from a world that's also being affected by a mysterious incident (specifically, one where all ghosts, vampires, shikaisen and all manner of undead are being spirited away). These Prismrivers seem to be "Wandering Folk" which, I admit, is something I have no context for.

Anyway, with the Prismrivers apparently being the perfect counter to Mai and Satono's ability, and with a bit of help from Ran and Chen, the heroines pass Okina's test. The bad news is that Okina reveals that they are hours away from the Ayakashi's awakening...

Okina, Mai, Satono, Youmu and Lossy then prepare for the descent to the Lower World, though not before Okina casually reveals some stuff (like how alter Aya and Nitori have basically been serving her without knowing). Anyway, the journey to the Lower World begins...

[The Act continues after this, but since this is a monstrously long chapter, I’m dividing this post into parts]

Talking About Yuyuko (Again)

I’ll say it now: this is where I started to have a lower opinion of alter Yuyuko. She’s not an inherently bad character (not like main Yuyuko :P), it’s more a matter of how she’s written. I glossed over it in the synopsis, but in this Act, Master Youmu tries everything to prevent Touhou 7 from happening during the flashback / time travel sequence, including just talking things out with Yuyuko.

Now, I get it. Master Youmu can't just talk Yuyuko out of her plan or there is no story. At the same time, I can't say I like how, no matter what timeline it is, Yuyuko basically becomes a robot that is mechanically determined to awaken the Ayakashi as soon as she's made aware of the tree's true nature. Like, if it was "Yuyuko can only be convinced by someone like Yukari, and she's obviously absent" or "Yuyuko is being influenced by the Tree" I could understand that... but this does not seem to be the case.

Despite the chapter being about her and her actions, we really don’t get to see what’s going through her mind, so she feels more like a plot device (used to flesh out Master Youmu's backstory and push the plot forward) than a proper character in her own right. This wouldn’t be bad in a vacuum but knowing how badly written the main version of Yuyuko is, it does feel like Yuyuko might be a character that the writer doesn’t really “get”. 

To defend the writer here, Touhou has a humongous cast. They are not going to get every character right and they don’t seem to have written Yuyuko badly on purpose. It seems to be a side effect of them focusing on Youmu, as both the original and the Swordmaster version are more well-written, well-rounded as characters. Writing is extremely hard, I don’t envy the writer having to balance such a huge cast of characters.

...I don’t want to absolve the writer too much though. Alter Yuyuko turning out how she did is because Chapter 3 is very much Swordmaster Youmu’s story. I will, however, continue to give them shit for how main Yuyuko turned out, and also for how alter Yuyuko’s defining trait is “I cook food and instead of eating it!” because I know they can do better. 

(Other) Thoughts So Far:

--The fakeout with Marisa is honestly fine. Marisa still gets her character moment, it still shows how desperate the situation is becoming, also lets be honest: no way would mainline Marisa get killed off so it wouldn’t create any tension if that was the scenario.

--From a writing perspective, it's obvious that the story is meant to be "Touhou 7 but if things went horribly wrong" but Master Youmu's backstory is pretty insane? There is no way Youmu wouldn’t have affected the timeline in other ways if she was around for as long as she says.

--I do like that Youmu tries to remove all phantoms from Yuyuko’s Manor in one of her attempts to prevent Touhou 7 from happening, and how this has the side effect of bringing in Eiki who sympathizes and understands the situation but cannot do anything because of afterlife bureaucracy

--Like I said, I really do not understand the "Wandering Folk" stuff with the Prismriver Sisters in this Chapter. Like, I have no clue if this is some obscure Touhou lore or some original concept for Lost Word. 

--On the topic of the Prismriver Sisters, I am 99% sure they were added because “this is a Touhou 7 AU, so we should probably give every Touhou 7 character their own moment”. That’s how I felt on my first play through and Letty does appears later on (completing the Touhou 7 roster). It’s cool they get to fight Okina, though they get written out of the story very quickly (after this Act, Okina tells them to ‘go and distract Yuyuko’ off-screen).

--There's a bunch of stuff that's weird in this chapter but I can't really bring them up since these things DO actually get explained later on (like why Youmu has the ability to time travel, why Yukari thinks it's a good idea to take advantage of the Lost Word incident in this way etc.)

[fuckallthegood0nesweretaken]

New World CH. Fourteen

Title: The Baby

Words: 1986

Warnings: Slight language

Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

New World Masterlist

Daryl Dixon Masterlist

The Walking Dead Masterlist

Masterlist 

~~~~~~~

Glenn walked away from his family, his heart aching. Knowing that Carl needed Rick, he had steeled himself to find him in one piece and bring him back to Carl. When he got into the tunnels, all Glenn had to do was follow the trail of dead walkers. It was pretty obvious which way Rick had gone and after about half an hour, Glenn found him. His axe was covered in blood and so was he.

 “Rick? Everybody’s worried about you. You shouldn’t be in here.” Glenn held his hand out. “Come on out.”

 When Rick didn’t say anything, Glenn approached him.

 “Rick? You don’t have to do this all by yourself. Your kids need you. The cell block’s cleared. Rick, why don’t you just come out with me?” Glenn touched his chest and Rick snapped. He pushed Glenn up against the wall, arm at his throat. Blinking rapidly, Rick was still silent. After a tense moment, he threw Glenn away before picking up his axe and walking away.

 “Shit,” he said. Rubbing his throat, he started walking back to the cell block. What was he going to tell Carl?

 ---

 When he got there, he made eye contact with you and you knew what had happened. Sighing softly, you turned your attention back to your niece and Glenn walked outside.

 “Do you want to hold her?” You asked Carl. He nodded and you gently transferred her over to him.

 “Make sure you keep her head up. Your arms are gonna get tired but it’s very important. She isn’t strong enough to do it herself and she can be hurt if it doesn’t happen. And be sure to use both arms.”

 “Like this?”

 “Perfect,” you said, a smile on your face.

 You passed the hours Daryl had been gone by doing meaningless tasks. You made dinner and sorted the food and once there was nothing else to do, you sat down at the table with Carl who was trying to calm a fussy baby. Adeline and Sophia were still awake, fighting sleep, and Sophia was clinging to you.

 “They should be back by now, shouldn’t they?” Carl asked you quietly.

 “They’ll be back soon, don’t you worry. They’ll have formula and hopefully some clothes for her and they’ll be safe.” Running your hand up and down his back, you jumped when the door slammed open.

 “Beth,” Maggie said. Beth got up and ran over to her sister.

 “Daddy!” Adeline said, climbing off of Dean’s lap and attaching herself to Daryl’s leg.

 “Hey, princess. How’s she doing?” Daryl asked as he shed his poncho and dropped his crossbow.

 “She’s hungry,” you said. “Those are hungry cries.”

 “Good thing we found some formula,” Maggie said. Daryl took her from Carl’s arms, cooing softly to get her to stop crying.

 “Shh, shh,” he said, rocking her. She stopped crying once she saw him and it made him give you a tiny grin. Beth handed him a bottle and the baby immediately took to it. You wrapped your arms around him, face buried in his back. He let out a chuckle as the baby cooed at him and you tightened your grip before letting go.

 “She got a name yet?” Daryl asked.

 “No,” you said.

 “I was thinking maybe Carol,” Carl said. You saw pain flash in Daryl’s eyes and he focused on the baby.

 “Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or- or Lori. I don’t know.”

 “He wanted everyone present for this,” you said, rubbing your nephew’s back.

 “Yeah, you like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker,” Daryl said to your niece. You laughed lightly and he looked at you. “Right? That’s a good name, right?”

 “Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that sweetheart?” He was talking to her all soft, almost like a baby-voice and you felt tears coming up. He looked so good holding the baby. So gentle and just good. You sniffled and Daryl looked at you, concern in his eyes. Waving him off with a smile, you held your nephew close.

 Soon, she had finished the whole bottle and you took her from Daryl. Throwing a spit-up blanket over your shoulder, you gently patted her back until she burped. Luckily, no spit-up got on you and you put her on the table.

 “Maggie, did you find any diapers?”

 “We did. It’s not much, but we’ll go back out later.” She handed you one and you turned back to the baby. She was cooing softly, content from her first meal. You managed to put the diaper on her with no problems and then dressed her in a little onesie, swaddling her tightly. Placing her in the make-shift crib, she fell asleep fast and you sighed softly. Daryl came up behind you and hugged you, your hands covering his.

 “You need to sleep,” he said quietly.

 “Okay.”

 “Will you stay with me?” Carl asked.

 “Of course,” you said. Walking to an unclaimed cell, you brought the crib close to the bottom bunk. Carl took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed, Sophia following him. Daryl came in behind you and sat down on the floor, Adeline climbing onto his lap with a yawn.

 “I’ll stay here. Watch over you,” he said. You nodded and he gave you a kiss. You cuddled against the kids, fingers running soothingly through Carl’s hair, lulling him to sleep. You fell asleep soon after, Daryl watching you, just as he promised.

 ---

 A cry jolted you awake and you panicked for a second before remembering what happened. It didn’t wake the kids or Daryl up and you quickly got up and scooped up the baby. It was a hungry cry and you walked to where Maggie had left the formula. Making a bottle, you shook it gently before placing the nipple near her lips. Eagerly, she began eating.

 “There we go,” you murmured, her cries slowly going away. “Good girl.”

 Sleepily walking around the cell block, you bounced her gently. You had noticed that when Carl was holding her earlier, he was sitting down and she was crying. When Daryl held her, he was standing up and she had stopped. If you tried to sit down she would wake everybody up. You were exhausted but you knew you had to move around so you checked on everyone. Dean was laying on his back, snoring, and Sam was nowhere to be seen. You surmised that he was probably still on watch with Glenn.

 “[Y/n]? Where’d you go?” Carl said, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he approached you.

 “Just feeding little ass-kicker. Go back to sleep.”

 “No.” Carl shook his head. “Not without you.”

 “I’ll be back in a few minutes. She’s almost done eating.” You smiled and gestured to the cells with your head. “Go on.”

 “Promise you’ll be back soon?”

 “Promise.”

 Carl dragged himself back to the cell and you looked down at the baby. Her big eyes were staring up at you and you gave her one of your fingers to hold. After she was done eating and you changed her diaper, you rocked her back to sleep. Sighing softly, you went back to the cell and put her down. Carl was already back asleep next to Sophia, Daryl and Adeline never moved.

 Soft sunlight was peeking through the windows and you knew you wouldn’t be able to sleep. Bringing the crib out to the common area, you started preparing for the day. Perusing through the food, you saw the oatmeal and grabbed it. It would have to do. Yawning, you measured out the water and dry oatmeal. It would be cold, but it was something to eat. No one was particularly picky now.

 “What’re ya doin’ up?” Daryl said, wrapping his arms around you.

 “Little ass-kicker was hungry. Fed her and now I’m getting breakfast ready,” you said quietly.

 “You need ta sleep.”

 “I know I need to, but I can’t.”

 “Don’t wear yourself out.” Kissing your neck, Daryl let go of you.

 “I’m gonna check things out outside. I’ll be back in twenty.”

 “Alright. Breakfast should be ready by then. Tell Sam and Glenn to get in here too.”

 “Alright.” He left and you rubbed your eyes.

 “[Y/n]?” You turned to see Maggie and you smiled.

 “Mornin’,” you said. “How’d you sleep?”

 “Didn’t. Not really, anyways. What about you?” You shook your head.

 “Same for me.”

 “Do you need any help?” Maggie asked.

 “If you could get some bowls for me that would be great. I’m gonna try to find some cinnamon or something. Never liked plain oatmeal,” you said with a quiet laugh. Maggie smiled and got to work. The two of you tried to be as quiet as possible, letting the others sleep as much as they could.

 “What’s for breakfast?” Glenn asked as he walked inside with Sam.

 “Oatmeal and if you want, brown sugar to go on top,” you said. “It’s cold, but should still be good.”

 “It’s perfect.” Glenn gave you a smile and you handed him a bowl.

 “I’m gonna wake up people,” Maggie said.

 “Alright. I’ll get bowls ready.”

 ---

 Everyone was silent as they ate. Daryl was with Adeline, Dean was sitting next to Sophia and you sat next to Carl at the table. You noticed he wasn’t eating but before you got a chance to say anything, Rick showed up.

 “Everybody okay?” He asked.

 “Yeah, we are,” Maggie said. Rick looked around and you avoided eye contact.

 “What about you?” Hershel asked him.

 “I cleared out the boiler block.” He stared at you and Carl, but you ignored him, still eating.

 “How many were there?” Daryl asked.

 “I don’t know. A dozen, maybe two. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl.” He patted your shoulders and you tensed, trying not to rip away.

 “Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies,” Glenn said. “You don’t have to.”

 “No, I do.” With those words, you stood up harshly.

 “No, you don’t,” you spat. Rick ignored you, walking over to Daryl and you clenched your fists.

 “Everyone have a gun and a knife?”

 “Yeah. We’re runnin’ low on ammo, though.”

 “[Y/n] and I were planning on making a run this afternoon,” Glenn said. “Found a phone book with some places we can hit. Look for bullets and formula.”

 “We cleared out the generator room too. Axel’s there, tryin’ ta fix it in case of emergency. We’re gonna sweep the lower levels as well.”

 “Good. Good.” Rick started walking away, slamming the door shut behind him.

 “Rick!” Hershel called, receiving no answer. The door slamming shut startled the baby and she started fussing. Beth tried her best to calm her down, but she was getting frustrated.

 “Let me,” you said gently. Taking her into your arms, you walked around the room. She calmed down almost instantly and Beth looked at you with wonder in her eyes.

 “How did you do that?”

 “Some babies don’t like being held sitting down. This little one seems to be one.”

 “How do you know all this?”

 “Adeline hated being held while I was sitting,” you said. “Always cried whenever I tried.”

 “I cried?” Adeline asked from her place on Daryl’s lap.

 “Yes, baby. You cried,” you said with a small laugh.

 “You’re amazing at it. We’re lucky to have you.” The amazement in Beth’s voice made you smile.

 “I’ll teach you all I know if you want?” You offered.

 “Yes please!”

 “We can start when she takes her nap,” you said. Beth went back to her food and Carl started eating too. You looked over at Daryl and Adeline, a warm smile on your face. You wanted to talk to him about Ada calling him her dad. He didn’t seem to mind, but it was a big step and you didn’t want to get her hopes up. He caught your eye and gave you a shy smile before turning his attention back to Adeline.