#anyone who says it’s only for the summer is lying to themselves

[little-miss-biatch]

Repeat after me:

Ice cream doesn’t have a season.

I will be taking no questions at this time.

[steddieas-shegoes]

oh love, i'm terrified

for @steddielovemonth prompt 'love is terrifying'

rated t | 1,585 words | cw: negative self views | tags: falling in love, getting together, love confessions, sappy and fluffy

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

He thought he was being obvious.

He doesn't do this stuff for everyone else. He doesn't show up after work to hang out for no reason other than just wanting to be around the other person. He doesn't talk on the phone for three hours in the middle of the night to comfort the other person after nightmares. He doesn't fucking stargaze with anyone.

But with Eddie he does. Steve always goes out of his way for Eddie.

He knows why, and he feels like everyone can see it too: he loves him.

But somehow, Eddie doesn't see it, or chooses not to.

Even Dustin, oblivious to human emotion as anyone else Steve's ever met, pulled him aside after Hellfire one night --yes, he even attends Hellfire now-- to ask if he knew he was flirting with Eddie so much.

Robin and Nancy had called him out on two different occasions for touching him too much in public, but he hadn't even realized his hand had gone to his waist!

And Eddie still seemed clueless.

Or at least, most of the time he seemed clueless.

Sometimes, though, Steve could swear he looked at him in a specific way, a way that Steve would think is understanding and maybe even returned feelings. But he never said anything, never did anything out of the ordinary for Eddie.

Months of wondering what the hell he could do differently, months of being less and less subtle every day, months of showing how much he loved him without actually saying it.

All for Eddie to still be oblivious.

But not tonight,

Tonight, he was going to Eddie's to have dinner and watch a movie. Wayne was on a fishing trip with his buddies from work, and all the kids were at the same summer camp, probably torturing underpaid teenage counselors.

No interruptions were possible.

He could bring out all his moves, and if Eddie still didn't get it by the end of the night, maybe he could even use his words.

"Dinner's almost ready!" Eddie yelled from the kitchen as Steve let himself in. "I didn't burn anything!"

Steve rolled his eyes fondly. "Sounds like something someone who burnt dinner would say."

"I didn't! I mean one edge is a little crispy on the lasagna, but I think that's because our oven is older than Wayne. You think the government could've given us a better oven for my troubles, but apparently not," Eddie turned to Steve standing in the doorway. "You look...nice."

Steve always liked to look nice, but he'd decided to dress up a little bit tonight, try to make his intentions clear right from the start. His hair was done as usual, but he was wearing his khaki slacks instead of jeans and his nicest navy polo instead of the t-shirts he'd mostly been wearing outside of work. He even sprung for his watch that his dad gave him as a graduation gift. He hated to know how much money was wasted on it, but it did look nice.

"Thanks. You do too," Steve replied.

Eddie looked down at his own clothes and back up at Steve. "Dude, I'm wearing sweats and a t-shirt that has more holes than cloth. You don't have to lie."

"I'm not lying. You always look best when you're comfy," Steve shrugged. "Need help with anything?"

Eddie shook his head. "Not unless you wanna grab beers from the fridge. I forgot to get some this afternoon so they're just Wayne's PBRs, but a cold beer's a good beer, right?"

"Right," Steve agreed, walking to the fridge to grab the beers.

Dinner went as dinner usually does, except they actually sat at the table this time instead of the couch. Eddie seemed surprised when Steve set his things down in front of the chair he only sat in to keep Eddie company while he planned for campaigns, but just silently joined him.

They talked and joked, they made themselves laugh so hard beer almost came out of Eddie's nose. It was perfect.

After, Steve started working on the dishes, Eddie standing by the counter watching.

He was quiet, which was unusual, especially when no one else was around to fill the silence.

"Everything okay, Eds?" Steve asked as he scrubbed a particularly difficult area on a fork.

"What? Oh. Yeah."

Steve turned to look at him, suddenly worried when he saw Eddie's face turned down to the floor. This wasn't them. They'd just had a nice dinner, and now Eddie was being...shy?

Now was his chance. He could say it. Robin would be proud of him for finally just doing it.

Hell, he'd be proud of himself for doing it.

But something seemed wrong, and the last thing Steve wanted was to turn a good night bad because he couldn't reign in his feelings for a bit.

He wiped his hands on the towel by the sink and turned fully towards Eddie.

"What's wrong?"

Eddie shook his head once, then sighed. "I kind of feel like I've been wined and dined tonight. And that's ridiculous because you're just one of my best friends, and you're straight, and it's all been in my head for months, but-"

"Woah. Wait." Steve interrupted. "You've been noticing that for months? And you didn't say anything?"

"Well, no. I didn't wanna ruin our friendship because I can't handle my own hopes getting up." Eddie leaned away from Steve further. "I know you don't mean it that way. I don't want you to change anything."

"Eds-"

"And if you do want to, that's fine! Whatever would make you comfortable. I just have to say it's feeling very 'I have romantic feelings' for you territory and I know you don't so."

"Eddie."

"I'm also not good at that though. No one's ever shown interest in me other than one girl in high school who ended up moving away a week later so I didn't even have to break her heart."

Steve crashed his lips to Eddie's, half hoping it would shut him up, and half hoping he would somehow keep rambling. He kind of loved watching him ramble.

It did shut him up. Even when Steve pulled away, Eddie's silence was deafening.

"Sorry. I should've asked if I could first, but I don't think you would have even heard me. Was that okay?" Steve asked.

"Why did you do that?" Eddie sounded heartbroken.

That's not what Steve wanted at all.

"I wanted to. I have wanted to."

"No you don't."

This was not going the way Steve had hoped for. "How would you know I don't?"

"Because I'm me! I'm just the dude who gets the good weed, and says funny shit, and cooks dinner sometimes. I'm not a girl Steve Harrington falls in love with, or even takes on a date. I'm not the type you build a relationship and future with. I'm just the guy who gets to watch everyone else do that. I'm not good for that."

"What the hell do you mean?" Steve was angry now. Who had convinced Eddie he couldn't have good things, couldn't be loved or love someone, couldn't be important? "You're Eddie Munson. You saved us all from an evil wizard dude and nearly died doing it. You're the guy who makes me a sandwich when I come over for Hellfire even though there's strict no eating during the campaign rules because you know I've been working all day and need to eat. You turn all my bad days good, and make my life better just because you're you."

"Steve-"

"My turn." Steve crowded him against the counter, hands cupping his cheeks and eyes boring into Eddie's. "I need you to understand something. I've been trying to show how much I care about you, how much I love you, for months, and I've been thinking I've just been terrible at it. I thought I truly did lose all my charm. I've been pulling all my moves out for you. I was starting to think maybe you just were trying to ignore it all to let me down easy, but it isn't that. It's because you don't see how fucking amazing you are, isn't it?"

Eddie's eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"Because you are. You're incredible. Maybe the best person I've ever known other than Robin. I find excuses to be near you. I find reasons to talk to you. I didn't even have a nightmare the other night, I just wanted to hear your voice. I'm in love with you. Like, the real stupid, do anything for you even if it hurts me kind. And if you don't feel anything for me besides friendship, I'll leave right now and I'll do my best to get over it so we can be friends."

"And if I do?"

"If you do love me, then you should kiss me."

"I've never kissed anyone."

"That's not true. We kissed two minutes ago," Steve smirked, his heart racing in his chest.

"I'm scared," Eddie's whispered admittance nearly broke Steve's heart.

"Oh love, I'm terrified. Love is like that. But we've faced scarier things, haven't we?"

Eddie's soft lips against his own was the only answer he needed.

Love was terrifying, even for Steve, maybe especially for Steve, who was used to giving a lot more love than he received back. But as they kissed in Eddie's kitchen for seconds that turned to minutes, minutes that turned to hours, they got just a bit less scared.

[eddiebabygirldiaz]

tease tidbit tuesday

tagged by @hoodie-buck @rogerzsteven @giddyupbuck @wikiangela @daffi-990 @tizniz

thanks darlins! it has been a very shitty past few days but hey at least i have been able to channel it into fic and eddie in calls fic is the perfect therapy for me

The closest thing to a laugh that Eddie has been able to manage for months falls out of him, always coaxed out a little easier by Buck. It hurts as much as it feels good, and it makes him think that maybe there truly is something wrong with him that a sound meant to be joyful can’t be when it is coming out of him, the bulk of it too saturated in his hurt and ruin.

The laugh ends as quick as it began and he is so sore and so tired, so he scoots back until he is lying back against the couch, settling into the cushions and wrapping one arm around himself as he says, “Shut up,” with just enough of a teasing lilt to let Buck know that this is okay, this is what Eddie needs, that he is taking what Buck is offering. “I guess I was just bored.” Lie. “And I thought talking to you might make it better.” Truth.

“Oh,” Buck says again but it sounds different this time. His voice, though deeper and almost crackling over the phone, is very clearly tinted with something that makes Eddie think of summer sunsets and the meadow of bluebonnets he and Shannon often ran away to in Texas and the warmth and sweetness of fresh honey he ate by the spoonful as a kid. It is coated in a sort of pleased joy, almost bashful and happy like the slow smile Buck always does when someone has pointed out he has done something good.

It feels good to be able to be the reason someone sounds like that. Eddie doesn’t really know what he did to earn it, but he will take it, he will grab it in his hands as quietly as he can and hold it close to his chest.

“Well, you’re in luck then,” Buck says cheerily. Some more shuffling filters through the phone and Eddie can picture Buck’s limbs all caught up and tangled in his sheets as he tries to sit upright.

The image makes him smile.

“And why is that?”

“Because I just finished watching this documentary about silkmoths, in particular the bombyx mori which is the only species of insect to have been entirely domesticated by humans.” Buck says that like it’s a revelation, like it’s astounding, like it’s a true wonder that needs to be held delicately within his palms and gazed at until he can memorize every single shining facet.

His voice carries that sheen it gets when he is excited about something, all warm and throaty and rapid, the information in his head whirring with immeasurable speed, facts tripping over themselves to get out of his mouth and be handed to someone else who Buck hopes will treasure them just as he does.

tagging @elvensorceress @spaceprincessem @chronicowboy @911onabc @diazass @shitouttabuck @malewifediaz @jeeyuns @spagheddiediaz @messyhairdiaz @sibylsleaves @rewritetheending @transboybuckley @try-set-me-on-fire @vampbuckley @bvckandeddie @devirnis @gayedmundodiaz @lemonzestywrites @butchdiaz @buddierights @heartshapedvows @loserdiaz @monsterrae1 @bucks118 @spotsandsocks and anyone else who wants to share!

[comics-and-fanworks]

ML/DC Bio Mom (Starfire Part 2)

TW for swearing, mentions of suicide, bullying, minor violence

~~~~~~

Marinette’s soon-to-be former class watched in horror as she left with her bio parents. She wanted to leave Paris?? Why?! She was their Everyday Ladybug, they needed her! Who would plan their trips, run their fundraisers, help with their events, and so much more? They began talking amongst themselves, why did she want to leave, and what could they do to convince her to stay? The only two who didn’t look surprised about this development were Kim and Nino, Marinette’s only two allies left in the class. They new Lila was a liar, Marinette didn’t have a mean bone in her body, and they decided to stick by their childhood friend’s side even when it cost Nino his relationship with Alya and Kim his friendship with Alix and Max. They were currently texting Mari a play by play of their classmates’ plans, and soon their lack of shock was picked up on.

“What’s with you two? I thought you’d be more disappointed since Dupain-Cheng is your childhood friend,” Chloe snapped. Nino and Kim looked up from their phones, “Seriously? Why wouldn’t Marinette wanna leave? Our city is currently being held hostage by an emotional terrorist, and with all the shit you all have been putting her through-” “We haven’t done anything! MARINETTE is the one putting Lila through shit and you two took her side!” Alix shouted, cutting Kim off. Adrien could sense things were going south and tried to step in, “Guys come on now isn’t the time! I’m sure Mari-” “No dude, now’s the perfect time since we’re all here. Let’s start with the most recent examples shall we? Lila you said that Marinette’s parents never wanted to see her and that they gave her up because they hated her, then how do you explain the reunion we just saw? You also said she spent the summer doing sketchy things well why do Kim and I have texts from her all summer showing off the complete new wardrobe she had to make? How could she be doing illegal stuff when she was barricaded in her room making clothes?” Nino snapped. He had hit his limit, and so had Kim. Before Marinette asked them not to say anything, because she didn’t want their standing in the class to suffer any more, but they figured that since she was leaving, it was time. Marinette had also informed them about Adrien an his High Road advice, and Nino was almost akumatized. How could his best friend claim to care about Mari when he was fine watching her suffer? As Lila was attempting to think of a response, Juleka beat her to the punch.

“I just texted Luka... He told me that the time she wasn’t spending designing, she was hanging out with him, Kagami, Kim, and Nino. There’s no way she could’ve been doing anything illegal, she has an alibi.” Lila could tell her hold on the class was slipping, “But, but she sent me such awful texts! See! I have them here!” Lila showed her phone conversations between herself and a number, the class, save Nino and Kim, voiced their rage at Marinette. “She told me to kill myself,” Lila wailed, “And that the world would be a better place without me!” Alya shot Nino a nasty glare while going to comfort Lila, the turtle and monkey miraculous wielders were about to respond, when Sabrina piped up, “That’s not Marinette’s number Lila. Her number’s in the class group chat and it doesn’t match,” Lila froze, and so did her fake tears, “Oh... well maybe she has a second phone! That has to be it cause I can’t think of anyone else who’d say that stuff to me!” “We’ll find out,” Sabrina said as she hit the dial button on her phone. The whole table went quite as a phone in Lila’s bag started ringing, and before she could act, Kim swiped it and pulled out the backup phone. He declared triumphantly, “Looks like Marinette isn’t the one with two phones! The numbers match, which proves Marinette didn’t send those texts, you sent them to yourself and tried to frame her! You’re lying!” Finally it clicked for their classmates, if Lila had lied about Marinette’s parents, her summer activities, and her supposedly sending Lila awful texts, what else could she have been lying about? Adrien felt the need to step in, “Guys I’m sure it’s all just a big misunderstanding, there’s no need for any of this!”

“Really dude? We just proved Lila was lying about Marinette, and we have proof she was lying about other things Marinette supposedly did as well! Stealing an answer sheet? It went missing AFTER the test, and we had all seen her studying for weeks! Stealing the pendent? Her locker has no lock on it, and Alya has proven that it’s super easy to break into the lockers at school. Not to mention it was on top of all her things, if she really took it don’t you think Marinette would have hidden it better? And pushing Lila down the stairs? Well check this out,” At Nino’s cue Kim played the video on his phone, it clearly showed Lila walking down the stairs, sitting down, and wailing. “It’s amazing what a request for information can get you these days huh?” Kim laughed, before returning to a serious demeanor, “And that’s not even the worst of it. Adrien knew Lila was lying the whole time. He knew she was manipulating you all and hurting Marinette but instead of supporting Mari, he decided to try and gaslight her into staying quiet,” Adrien’s voice saying, “As long as you and I both know,” echoed around the now silent table. “And here I thought you were a decent person Adrien, if not a little sheltered and naïve,” Nino sighed, the lack of ‘dude’ drove home just how disappointed he was. 

As the class sat in shock processing everything they had just learned, Nino and Kim stood up to leave. Looking back Kim said, “I’m glad Mari’s getting the hell out of here. With all the shit you all have put her through, bullying her, destroying her things, and trying to ruin her reputation it’s amazing she hasn’t been akumatized yet! Come on Nino, let’s go help her pack,” With that the two boys left their classmates, who watched as they walked away, “We should give our evidence to Mari’s parents so they can go after the school,” was the last thing they heard from Nino as the two exited the cafe and headed towards the best bakery in Paris.

When they had arrived, Marinette, Tom, and Sabine had just finished explaining everything to Mari’s bio parents, including Hawkmoth and that their daughter was a superhero. While Koriand’r and Dick were both incredibly proud that their daughter was following in their footsteps, it pained them to hear what their baby had to go through. It pained Koriand’r the most to learn just how much Marinette had to repress her emotions. Tamaraneans were naturally in tune with their emotions, since that was the source of their power, and while they were very expressive in those emotions, they still learned to control them. To hear that her daughter had to repress her emotions to the point of barely feeling anything practically put her over the edge. The only thing keeping her grounded was the knowledge that if she lost control, she would be akumatized and would have to fight her daughter and husband. As they pulled their daughter into a hug, the bell over the door rang, and in walked two of her classmates. Dick remembered Marinette telling them about the two boys standing in the doorway, and that they were her only allies in the class. The taller one, Kim if he was remembering correctly, spoke first, “Hey Mari you may wanna put your phone on silent for a good while... Or change your number! We told them about Lila and Adrien, and well, Chloe never hid her bullying so they already knew about that! Our guess is in about five minutes once the shock wears off and they’re done yelling at Lila, Chloe, and Adrien they’re gonna try and message you to convince you to stay.” The two helped themselves to pastries Tom offered, and the boy with the red baseball cap, which Dick assumed was Nino, continued, “Anyways don’t let them effect your decision dudette, you’ve suffered enough, besides you won’t have to worry about Hawkmoth if you’re not in Paris! That doesn’t mean we want you gone dudette, we’re just worried what’ll happen if you stay.”

Marinette smiled, she was surrounded by people who loved her, and wouldn’t judge her for whatever decision she made, and while she’d love to stay with her adoptive parents and her friends, she knew that she needed to go with her bio parents for her own wellbeing. “I, I think it would be best if I went to Bludhaven. I’m really scared of what would happen if I stayed.” The group around her nodded, in complete understanding. “I still wanna come back and visit Maman and Papa though, and Nino, Kim, Kagami, and Luka too,” Marinette said. Starfire and Nightwing nodded, “Of course Baby Bird! You can visit whenever you want, and if you can’t make it to Paris, we’ll make sure they can make it to Bludhaven. We’ll cover flights and all that stuff, don’t you worry!” Dick hugged his daughter, even though he never wanted to leave his Baby Bird again, he would never keep her from Tom and Sabine. Sabine lit up with an idea, “Why don’t you have a sleepover with Luka, Kagami, Nino, and Kim? That way you could spend time with your friends before you head to America, and that would give the adults time to take care of things with the school. We need to beat some sense into that nasty woman who calls herself a teacher and your useless principal,” The other adults nodded in agreement, while the kids in the room cheered.  

Kagami and Luka arrived shortly after with their parents. Sabine and Tom had called and explained the situation. Much to their surprise, all of Marinette’s friends’ parents had agreed to let their children stay until she had to leave, their only request was to meet Mari’s bio parents so they would know who would be watching their kids when they went to visit Mari in America. As Mari and her friends ran upstairs to begin their sleepover, the parents got to talking. “So my name is Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne’s son, and this is my wife Koriand’r! It’s nice to meet you all!” “Hello! It’s nice to meet you! Your kids have been amazing friends to our daughter, and words cannot describe how much we appreciate it.” As the gathered parents were sharing similar sentiments, Anarka said what they all were thinking, “You two sound exactly like, and look like the heroes Starfire and Nightwing, ” The two in question paused, glanced at each other, and sighed, “Yeah. We are. The reason we asked Tom and Sabine to raise Mar’i is because my wife’s sister is not necessarily a good person, and threatened to kill Mar’i. We wanted to keep her safe, and we knew that she was safer with them than with us. After dealing with that, we had a few more threats we had to deal with, and by the time that was done Mar’i was already seven. We thought it would be cruel to take her away from everything she’s ever known, so we contacted Tom and Sabine and told them that we were ready whenever Mar’i decided she wanted to meet us. We were surprised to learn everything that’s been going on in Paris, with Hawkmoth, Lila, and her class bullying her.” The gathered parents nodded in understanding, and decided to focus on how to go after Principal Damocles and Miss Bustier. 

Meanwhile, up in her room, Marinette and her friends were discussing what to do about Hawkmoth. “We could take him out now, before I leave,” Marinette suggested. The heroes gathered in her room looked at each other and shook their heads. “No. You’re still in a vulnerable state. You need time to rest and allow your mental, physical, and emotional health to recover before we go after Hawkmoth. With your wounds still fresh we can’t risk you being akumatized,” Kagami said, much to the agreement of the others. They looked over at where they had buried Marinette’s phone under a pile of pillows. It was blowing up with her soon-to-be former classmates trying to apologize and demanding she talked to them. “What if you all kept your Miraculous, so that way if there’s an akuma, you all can stall for time until I can get to the fight,” Marinette suggested. The four heroes agreed, and their respective Kwamii shared the sentiment. “Now all that’s left to do is figure out what to do with Chat Noir. If he finds out Ladybug is leaving the same time I am, he might put two and two together.” The group thought about it for a minute before Luka perked up, “What if we tell him that Ladybug’s family is moving just outside of Paris? That way we can account for you not being here to patrol for a while, and why it’d take you longer to get to akumas. We could tell him that your family was tired of dealing with Hawkmoth and decided to get out of his range, but you convinced them to stay close enough for ‘work,’” The group glanced at Marinette’s door. They half expected the cat hero to show up at that moment. After settling on a plan and making sure everyone had their respective Miraculous, the group settled in to watch movies.

Two massive bowls of popcorn and one romcom later, the group was debating on whether to watch Howl’s Moving Castle or Spirited Away when they heard it: A knocking on Marinette’s balcony door. They froze, there was only one person that could be, and it would be no use claiming Marinette wasn’t home, you could hear noise coming from the room. Before she could react Mari found herself stuffed into her bathroom, “We’ll confront him,” Luka whispered, “You hide here.” From the bathroom, she could hear what was going on, “Why did you expose Lila? She could’ve gotten akumatized!” “And let her lie about our best friend? No way dude. What Lila was doing was wrong! She could’ve gotten Marinette akumatized!” “Marinette’s tough she would have been fine!” The conversation was interrupted by what sounded like a popcorn bowl hitting someone’s head. “Ow! Why did you-” “Just because Marinette is though doesn’t mean she has to suffer so someone else won’t face consequences!” Yep, a brilliant throw from Kagami and rock-solid logic as well. “Well, she- Anyways where is she? She said she was leaving, er, Adrien told me she was leaving and I need to show her that’s a bad idea.” “Why do you care anyways alley cat? Marinette’s just a civilian.” “Cause! She needs to fix the mess she made!” “The mess LILA made!” “Well now the class isn’t talking to Lila or Chloe or Adrien and she needs to come back and say everything’s fine so things can go back to normal! So get out of my way!” It sounded like Chat had pushed his way through her friends, and the next thing she knew, her bathroom door was gone. 

“Marinette! You can’t leave Paris! You have to apologize and fix everything!”  Before her stood a very angry Chat Noir, his belt-tail was swishing back and forth, just like an angry cat. Marinette looked around, she was trapped. The only way out of this would be if any of her friends got the jump on Chat, or she transformed, and she was not about to risk her identity being exposed. “NO! It’s not my fall Lila decided to lie! It’s not my fault Adrien decided to let my class treat me like shit! It’s-” “Adrien did nothing wrong!” “Why are you even taking his side in this?” “Cause he’s my friend and he’s right-” “So you think I should be akumatized? You think my stuff should be destroyed? You think I should be shoved, tripped, have things thrown at my head?” “IT WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HAD JUST TAKEN THE HIGH ROAD! YOU’RE COMING WITH ME AND FIXING THIS!” At that Chat grabbed her wrist and began to drag her towards the trap door. Luka, Kim, Kagami, and Nino tried to stop him, but there was little they could do without revealing their identities. Marinette struggled and tried to break free, wondering why the hell his timer wasn’t done yet. Chat threw open the balcony door and was about to pick Marinette up and leap away... but was met with a readied starbolt right in front of his face. Looking up Marinette saw her bio parents in all their glory. Her mother’s powers were activated, and she was floating just above the balcony. Her hair was literal fire, and she was glowing. Behind her on the railing was her father, batons ready, and looking like he was about to break Batman’s no killing rule. They were not in costume, since they rushed up as soon as they heard their daughter screaming and someone else yelling at her, and quickly put two and two together. Starfire spoke, her voice icy and cold despite the roaring wildfire of rage she felt, “Let go of our daughter. NOW!” Chat quickly dropped Marinette and leapt away, too afraid to fight two adult, trained heroes, and too afraid they’d take his ring. Marinette collapsed into her bio parent’s arms sobbing, while her friends gathered around. They kept watch, waiting to see if Chat would return. The other adults quickly ran upstairs, and Nino, Luka, Kagami, and Kim filled them in one what happened.

“If Chat Noir is bold enough to try and kidnap Marinette, then it’s not safe for her here,” Tom practically growled. What he wouldn’t give to be Weredad right now and pummel that mangy alley cat, but that was not what Marinette needed. Sabine nodded, “We’ll have to speed things up. If her classmates somehow convinced that cat to join them, then Marinette isn’t safe anywhere in Paris. We can’t afford to wait, if he comes back we might not be able to get to Marinette in time, there’s also a high chance she’ll be akumatized in the next few weeks. Her classmates will be hounding her, and now we have Chat Noir harassing her as well.” Dick picked up his phone and sent a few quick texts, “We can have the Wayne jet ready in thirty minutes, and we can leave for Gotham tonight. Bruce is taking care of everything, we’ll stay in Gotham for a bit, and then head to Bludhaven, If that’s alright with you, Tom, and Mar’i.” Sabine and Tom looked at each other and nodded. They hated to see their little girl go, but they knew it wasn’t safe for her in Paris. Marinette’s friends hugged her, and promised they’d come and visit. She also promised her friends and adoptive parents that once things were safe she’d come back and visit, and until then they could video call. She packed her things including the Miraculous box, and then tucked in her bio parent’s arms, she made her way onto the Wayne’s jet. Looking back at her family and friends waving to her (Noting each of her friends had their Miraculous) she waved back. Her bio parents assured her everything would be okay, and that they’d do everything they could to make sure she was comfortable in America. She would be going to a new school, a fresh start. All anyone would know is that she’s from Paris, it was a chance to recover and make new friends. For once she felt hopeful about where her future was headed, and as she thought about all the possibilities, she drifted off to sleep wrapped in her father’s jacket, with her mother stroking her hair.

[richincolor]

New Releases

A nice mix of genres in this week's new releases which gives something for everyone. 

Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber Wednesday Books

After a mysterious attack claims the lives of her parents, all Estela has left is her determination to solve the case. Suffering from survivor’s guilt so intense that she might be losing her grip on reality, she accepts an invitation to live overseas with an estranged aunt at their ancestral Spanish castle, la Sombra.

Beneath its gothic façade, la Sombra harbors a trove of family secrets, and Estela begins to suspect her parents’ deaths may be linked to their past. Her investigation takes a supernatural turn when she crosses paths with a silver-eyed boy only she can see. Estela worries Sebastián is a hallucination, but he claims he’s been trapped in the castle. They grudgingly team up to find answers and as their investigation ignites, so does a romance, mistrust twined with every caress.

As the mysteries pile up, it feels to Estela like everyone in the tiny town of Oscuro is lying and that whoever was behind the attack has followed her to Spain. The deeper she ventures into la Sombra’s secrets, the more certain she becomes that the suspect she’s chasing has already found her . . . and they’re closer than she ever realized.

Finding Famous by Candice Jalili

Disney Hyperion

The Princess Diaries meets reality television in a story about fame (the kind you definitely didn’t ask for), first love (the kind you didn’t even know you wanted), and most importantly, family (the kind you can’t live without).

Ever since her mom died, Josie Lawrence has been content with her safe, predictable life. She hangs out with exactly two people: her best (and only) friend, Louise, and her stepdad, Matt. She has exactly one (unrequited) crush on resident high school himbo, Isaac. And she’s fully prepared to spend the end senior year preparing for Stanford and actively avoiding anything that reminds her of her mother.

But when Josie discovers that her biological father is the recently deceased Ali Mashad—patriarch of America’s original reality TV family, dripping with wealth, fame, and Vogue magazine covers—Josie’s “predictable” life is gone quicker than you can say “you’re doing amazing, sweetie.”

Being a Mashad means that the entire world is now at Josie’s feet—desperate to dress her, to photograph her, to know her—opening a door to a world that Josie never expected to find: one with a cute guy who just might be her soulmate, three ridiculous but wonderful sisters, and answers to all the questions she wishes she could ask her mom. But the biggest question of all is: If being a Mashad is the chance of a lifetime, will Josie be brave enough to take it?

The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

A group of friends fight to choose their own fates in this trope-savvy, self-referential young adult thriller from the acclaimed author of Their Vicious Games , about a demonic force that acts according to horror movie rules in the spirit of the Scream movies.

Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. At this point, it’s a fact of life. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early—The Best Summer Ever. After committing to the bit a little too much, the twins and their chaotic circle of friends learn why you don’t ever mess with a Ouija board if you want to actually survive the Best Summer Ever, and soon find themselves being hunted down by…a demon?

But while there’s no mistaking the creeping, venomous figure is not from around here, their method doesn’t feel very demonic at all. In fact, it’s downright human—going after them in typical slasher movie kill order. And that means Devon, the blonde, is up first and her decade-long crush, Yaya, is the Final Girl who must kill or be killed to end the cycle.

Devon has never liked playing by anyone else’s rules though, not even a demon’s, and the longer this goes on, the more she feels Drew and Yaya slipping away from her even as she tries to help them all survive. Can they use their horror movie knowledge to flip the script and become the hunters instead of the hunted? Or will their best summer ever be their last?

Eighteen Roses by Shannon C.F. Rogers

Feiwel & Friends

Lucia Cruz may be turning eighteen this year, but she is not the debutante type. Everything about a traditional Filipino debut feels all wrong for her. Besides, custom dictates that eighteen friends attend her for a special ceremony on her birthday, and Lucia only has one friend– Esmé Mares. They’ve stuck to each other’s side all throughout high school, content to be friends with only each other. At least, Lucia thought they were content.

As it turns out, Esmé wants something different out of her senior year. And, on top of that, Lucia’s mom has planned a debutante ball for her birthday behind her back. She’ll be forced to cobble together a court of eighteen “friends” before her beloved lola arrives from the Philippines for this blessed occasion.

How far will Lucia stray from her comfort zone in order to play the role of dutiful daughter and granddaughter? Will she do the unthinkable– participating in a school sponsored activity? Will she discover that her sense of humor can be a way to connect with people, not just push them away?

Firebird Caged by Maya Chhabra Jolly Fish Press

Ashley didn’t mean to get pregnant her senior year in high school. She didn’t mean to scare her hardworking and financially struggling mom, or to hide the truth from her awkward ex, Danny. She also didn’t mean to illegally take her well-off friend Madi’s prescription Xanax to cope with the stress—and she definitely didn’t mean to do it more than once.

When a doctor reports Ashley to the State of Wisconsin as a drug-addicted threat to her own unborn child, she is forcibly detained under the obscure and secretive Act 292 civil detention system for pregnant women, stranded in the county juvenile shelter home, and stigmatized by authorities who assign her fetus a lawyer but not her. It’s a struggle for Ashley just to get medical care for the pregnancy supposedly being protected—never mind fighting for her own freedom and making sure her baby isn’t taken away by social services after birth. Who’s going to protect Ashley herself?

But Ashley is stronger than anyone knows, and she has allies on the outside who believe in her. This is a fight Ashley can win—but only if she stops drifting passively, starts believing in herself, and chooses not to give in to despair.

Characterized by exciting, fast-paced plots and themes that are relevant for high school students, Horizon’s Hi-Lo books are both engaging and easy to read. Short chapters, simple sentence structures, and an accessible format make these books perfect for teen reluctant readers. Horizon books are written at a 2nd- to 3rd-grade reading level with an interest level of ages 14 and up.

[lovebillyhargrove]

Wake me up when July is around

Harringrove slow burn. S1 Steve x Billy

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 feat. Tommy

*** Steve's pov

"Tell me once again what you saw in the photo lab, Nicole."

Steve can't fucking believe it. That weird Byers kid, he doesn't even know his first name, John or .. Nathan? Doesn't matter. Developing pictures of him, his girlfriend and his best friends partying in Steve's backyard?

Holy hell, they must be.. can they be from that unfortunate night in June when Steve finally got lucky with Nancy but then this whole terrible thing happened, and Barb went missing, and cops came to talk to him and his parents, questioned Tommy and Carol, Nancy too? It ruined his whole summer. His relationship with Nancy lost that sweet something that Steve's still trying to chase.

He is certain they never had any more parties like that, not at Steve's place, at least, not the five .. four of them, so it must definitely be from that night.

Steve's heart is racing. He tells Tommy to meet him after classes in the parking lot, before the game because they've got some business to deal with. Byers never visits the games, so he'll just be going home or wherever he's gonna go after school. He'll catch the freak there, have a couple of words with him. Maybe tell him it's wrong to spy on people, take their fucking pictures without them even knowing about it?? Maybe he's been doing it all fucking summer, not just that one time?

Okay, there's been this crazy story about his little brother who went missing last spring for .. several weeks. They found him in the end. What was it, June? Or July? Just right after Barb disappeared?

Fuck.

Anyways that fucked up story didn't give him any right to be taking pictures of them in the middle of the night. They were fucking naked in his bedroom, what kind of sick shit is that?

After the last class is finished Steve and Tommy go to the beamer with Carol and Nicole, as the main witness. Steve sees Byers walking towards his old rusty ford galaxie, head down, as usual and not looking at anyone. A true creep's behavior.

"Hey, man."

Byers stops in his tracks, a spooked expression on his face. Steve gets off the beamer and comes closer to him.

"Nicole here was, uh .. telling us about your work."

The guy clearly doesn't understand what Steve's talking about. Time to explain.

"And we'd just love to take a look. You know .. as connoisseurs of art."

Steve rips the backpack out of the weirdo's hands. Byers looks sick. Tommy and the girls are circling around like vultures.

"Man, he's totally trembling. He must really have something to hide."

Harrington opens the backpack, and holy fuck, Nicole wasn't lying. There are pictures of .. all of them in his backyard that night. Byers isn't even trying to snatch those from Steve's hands. He's caught red-handed and knows it.

"Here we go."

The picture of Harrington's room window, with his and Nancy's silhouettes?? Tommy's going through the photos muttering "Fucking shit" under his breath

"Yeah this isn't creepy at all."

Wait, this is Nancy's naked back, what the fuck.

"No, this is called stalking. Mmm-hmm."

Byers is just standing there, like a loser that he is, not saying a word.

Suddenly there's an interruption.

"What's going on?" Nancy is walking towards them, looking concerned. Carol pipes in

"And here's the starring lady." Steve bets Carol is enjoying the whole scene immensely

"The creep was spying on us last June. And we only find out about it now."

"Yeah, he was probably gonna save this one for later." Carol sing-songs pointing at the nude picture. Nancy is still looking at Steve with raised eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

Steve's feeling disgusted. There's a nasty itch in his hands, the one you get when you want to squish a cockroach

He's also slightly surprised, and not in a pleasant way, with the fact that Nance didn't immediately take their side.

"Man, that's the thing about perverts. You know they just can't help themselves."

Oh, he knows what he has to do.

"We'll just have to take away his toy."

Steve takes Byers' camera from the backpack, and the freak lunges forward cause he knows what's gonna happen. Tommy stands between the two of them

"No no, wait, wait ... Tommy, Tommy."

Steve holds the camera in his outstretched hand and drops it, theatrically. There's a sound of a shattered lense. Carol and Nicole let out a gasp. Nancy covers her mouth with her tiny hand.

Let the pervert learn his lesson.

Byers still hasn't said anything, like at all. He drops to his knees, looking at the broken camera as if he's trying really hard not to burst out sobbing.

"Come on, let's go. The game is about to start." Harrington motions for the gang to follow him, which they do. The show is finished.

Wait, where's his girlfriend?

Steve turns around to see her kneeling beside Byers picking up the torn pieces of the photos. What the fuck?

"Hey, Nance!" Steve raises his voice in irritation. She gets up reluctantly and goes after her boyfriend, leaving the weirdo weeping over the loss of his possession.

The wind comes, swishing the remaining photo shreds away.

Seriously, what the hell.

***

Steve knows he has to focus on the game. It's Hawkins Tigers vs Greenwood Eagles. It's nothing big, just a friendly match, their school always holds a game at the beginning of each year inviting a team from nearby towns, just to mark the opening of a new season. The whole school is here, and Steve has to fucking concentrate.

He can't.

That freak Byers with his camera, fucking stalking them?? Maybe the police should take a closer look at him. He was the last one to see that girl, Barb. Steve didn't even know her so well, she was Nancy's friend. Should he go to the police? Or should he just drop it? This whole thing is so unsettling, but you know what bugs him the most? The way Nancy stayed behind, picking up those photo shreds, looking like she's on the freak's side. Was she not bothered by the whole thing?

Steve could see that Nancy changed after the mysterious disappearance of her friend in his backyard. He isn't blind, and yeah, that shit's heavy but he also can't understand where his fault is in all of that and what he can do to make everything better. And yeah, he would really like to enjoy his senior year at school, is that a crime? He wants to get wild at parties and .. and do something stupid cause that's officially his last chance to be just a teenager. And he wants that. He's used to getting what he wants. He wanted a new toy? Mommy got him one. He wanted to kiss Laurie? He did, and got his first girlfriend. He then saw Amy and fell in love again? Laurie cried for weeks. It was time for the Harrington heir to get his own car? Dad bought a brand new BMW 733i which drove all the guys insane with jealousy. Amy told him he broke her heart when he started going out with Katie. Katie doesn't talk to him any more when he dumped her and went after the smart girl, Nancy Wheeler. That one required effort, but here they are. Together.

Nancy never does anything stupid.

There she is, sitting in the stands, looking all preoccupied and shit. She's not even interested whether they are gonna win or lose

Things used to be so good last spring. The thrill of the chase, of getting the girl no-one even believed would pay attention to him? One of the smartest students at Hawkins High and the king of parties, in love?

Honestly, the game is the last thing Steve's thinking about right now, too. He's playing outrageously bad, and this moron Hargrove, of course, is pleased as punch. Fucking asshole.

Nancy leaves the match early, and Steve feels like it's all his fault, everything, just fucking all of it.

A hard shove to the shoulder brings him back to the court. Sorta.

"Why the fuck do they even call you king, huh?"

*** Billy's pov

Why even bother inviting another team for a fucking "friendly match" if you aren't able to fucking score? Billy should sign off the basketball team, it's a fucking waste of his time.

This whole gathering of losers moves around the court like a bunch of sleepy snails. Guess who the worst of them all is? The captain, Steve fucking Harrington. How was he even appointed captain is beyond understanding. Did he just suck the coach off at some point, and was that his most outstanding achievement, and that's why he was given the title?

Billy is disappointed to the point of bursting out with hysterical laughter. More than half of all scored points are his. He moves around the court like a flash of lightning. The guys from the Eagles stare at Hargrove with open mouths, clearly not having expected to come across him in the lamest town of all. The stands are going crazy, sensing the victory "Come on, Tigers!"

Billy misses his team back at home so much. He wants to fucking cry. He wants a challenge, he needs some adrenaline. Playing basketball has always been a pleasure for him, but now it's a fucking heartbreak.

Harrington is the worst.

Billy can see that Steve's mind is elsewhere. Like he's trying to pretend to get focused on the game, but he's failing spectacularly. Maybe it all has to do with the scene Billy witnessed in the parking lot today while he was having a smoke before the match. That was some kind of fucked up school drama, right there. Harrington broke some guy's photo camera. Shit must've been expensive, and the guy didn't look like he could easily afford to buy a new one. Billy's gut tells him it's about that girl. Uh-oh.

He doesn't give a fuck if Harrington has girlfriend problems. If you're playing you need to leave everything you've got on the court, and fuck the rest of the world, especially your ninny quarrels.

Billy has a strange feeling like .. there's something hidden in that pouty asshole. Something deep like embers of fire, like he could actually be interesting.

Let me piss him off, properly, right the fuck now.

He sees Andy passing the ball to Harrington, and in a second the ball's already in Billy's hands. It's like taking candy from a child.

Hargrove sends the ball right into the basket, and the crowd cheers.

Captain Loser is standing there like a complete idiot.

Billy gets close to Harrington's sweaty face and whispers

"Why the fuck do they even call you king, huh?"

Steve's hissing

"Leave me the fuck alone, asshole."

"I would but we're sadly on the same team here, dumbass. Your game is pathetic."

He'd gladly push him, bring the piece of shit down, but unfortunately he can't do it to his own teammate.

Hargrove prefers it when Harrington's on the other team. At least then he can get on the guy's nerves as much as he wants to.

After the game Coach Nelson congratulates the Tigers on the victory. He kinda looks proud. Of fucking what?? Everyone is off to the showers but the coach tells Harrington to stay behind and Billy overhears him say:" Pick up your game, Harrington, will ya? Recruiters be coming, what kind of captaincy is this?"

Let the bitch get what he deserves.

Billy has won, again. He has carried the whole game, from the beginning to end, on his back.

It's only the third week of the school year, and Billy's patience is wearing thin. He's gonna go off the tracks and straight into the asylum, soon. How is he supposed to stay sane here till fucking June?

In the showers Billy makes the water colder than usual. Just to cool himself off. Yeah, he still needs to survive till June here somehow. July even, depending on how much money he'll be able to save up. One day at a time. One fucking day at a time.

Guys from the team are fucking happy the Tigers have actually won the game. In the last hundred years, probably. They are all idiots. They should hate Billy for being the absolute best, but their minds are clouded with the excitement of victory.

Freckles is again getting into his space even in the shower, for fucks sake.

"Hey, man? Great game! Wanna go drink a couple of beers with us? We're celebrating!"

Fuck, Billy almost forgot. He really needs to hurry cause Max is gonna be out after her shitty club or something. The little rat can tell her mommy that Billy was late to pick her up and if Neil gets a whiff?? Guess who's gonna get lectured on the importance of being a good brother? Sometimes after listening to his dad Billy just wants to run into a wall, head on, so that his skull gets broken and all the bullshit that Neil's been telling him, spills out, leaving his head blissfully empty.

"Can't. Gotta drive my stepsister home. The little leprechaun is probably already waiting near the car."

There's a disappointed look on Hagan's face, which even seems sincere.

"Another time, yeah?"

"Sure."

He turns off the water and walks away, bumping into Harrington on his way out. The coach must've had a long talk with him. Their bare shoulders touch unexpectedly and there's a jolt of hot hatred running down Billy's spine. He doesn't have time for that now though.

"Look where you're going, asshole."

Harrington just glares at him silently, a flame of fire in those deep brown eyes appearing for a second, and goes to wash the shame of this game off.

***

On Friday Tommy, who's sitting behind him in Spanish, whispers "Hey Hargrove.."

"What?"

"Got a minute after school? Need to talk to you about something."

"Like what?"

"Just meet me under the bleachers, man."

"Mr. Hagan and Mr. Hargrove, please stop talking in class?"

"Lo siento, señorita Delgado, pero ya hemos terminado nuestras tareas y ahora estamos practicando el habla. Le estaba diciendo a mi amigo que me encantaría escuchar su propuesta de lecciones conjuntas adicionales de español."

(I am sorry, Miss Delgado, we have already finished our assignment, and we're practising speaking. I was just telling my friend here that I'd be happy to have extra lessons of Spanish with him.)

The teacher looks at Hargrove with an astonished expression, trying to hide a smile

"Bien. Trata de no molestar a los demás."

(Alright. Try not to disturb others.)

Tommy is whispering in Billy's ear again

"Dude .. what the fuck did you say to her?"

"I told her I'd like to make love to her tonight and she told my to come by her place at nine."

Hagan is snickering but shuts up quickly when the teacher's is throwing him a strict glance.

Hargrove goes to the bleachers after classes. What does Freckles have to say to him?

Turns out, Tommy's got a plan for a prank.

Apparently, the school's gonna be without security this weekend. Old Mr. Wiggins is going to be out of town due to a family emergency, and the second guard, Mr. Crawley was just taken to hospital, and Tommy has overheard a super confidential conversation between the principal and Mr. Clark, that the principal can't find anyone to fill in for the weekend on such short notice, and school grounds will be defenseless during the whole of Saturday and Sunday.

"We cannot pass up such an opportunity. It never happens, it'll never happen. Let's do it. It's a perfect time to strike."

Hargrove wants to ask Tommy why the hell he's asking him of all people but, judging by the look on Tommy's face, he's probably in love with Billy, so he doesn't ask anything.

The "strike" means taking a fucking tractor from a shed that Tommy's father owns to drive it to the school football field and plow something scandalous on it for the whole school to see on Monday.

"Noone plays football in this school anyways. The guys won't care, principal Foster won't care. Well, not too much. The main thing, we don't run into fucking cops. But the shed is just a five-minute drive from school grounds, and there's a dirt road, leading to the gate in the back. We won't even be driving on the road across town."

Billy kinda wants to say no since the whole "I don't give a fuck about this place" thing, but he's also only seventeen, and desperate for some kind of an outlet of his pent up energy. He's been diligently doing homework and writing application letters to universities for the past month. He needs to do something different.

He's probably crazy and this is an unwise thing to do. What if something goes wrong, and the whole prank ends with him getting expelled from school?

Billy loves the idea. He can see it, so clearly in his head, the nightmare that's gonna follow? Neil's rage? Dad's definitely gonna kill him. Skin him alive.

The most important thing is to have enough time to jump in the car and drive the hell away. Then, everything can just explode and never come back to normal.

Maybe that's what he needs. The explosion, and he'll come out of the fire, cleansed of all the burdens and free.

Billy knows this about himself. He's generally a very rational person. But sometimes something gives.

"Okay."

"Really? Oohh it's gonna be epic, dude! Harrington's gonna come, too. I hope you two will .."

Tommy is clearing his throat.

"What do you mean?" Billy doesn't want it to sound menacing, yet it still does.

"Nothing. I mean .. I don't know, you always seem to be at each other's throats like .. ready to fight like two bitches."

Tommy is afraid he's said too much too harsh.

Billy is chuckling

"Yeah .. maybe."

He's in good mood today, letting a conversation like this happen.

Billy looks at the watch and Max should still be at the AV club she's been going to. He's got plenty of time to kill. So he asks Hagan for more details. He wonders if Harrington is on board with him taking part in it, but Tommy must've built the necessary bridges.

They agree to meet at midnight on Saturday near the shed Tommy has mentioned. He explains how to get there from Cherry Lane.

***

On Saturday evening Billy parks down the street cause he doesn't want Neil to hear how he's sneaking off in the middle of the night.

At 11.45 he quietly climbs out of his window, gets in the car trying to make as less noises as possible, and drives to their agreed meeting spot. He sees Tommy's car parked nearby.

The night is dark and quiet, and there are myriads of stars in the black skies above them. The thin crescent moon is hanging high, white and sparkly. Billy takes a deep breath of the fresh and chilly night air. There are black voids of sinister woods all around him.

Tommy's already waiting.

"Hey, man."

"Hey. Where's King Steve? He coming?"

"Nah. The dude wanted to but bailed last minute."

Billy's what? A bit disappointed?

Give me a fucking break.

"Miss Wheeler is staying overnight at his place so.. he's probably getting his dick wet right this second."

Tommy is smiling gleefully but

There's an unpleasant pang of .. something in Billy's heart.

He doesn't understand why, but the thought of it makes him uncomfortable. Just for a second like.. He doesn't want to hear this information.

Anyway, why the fuck does he care.

"Okay, are we doing it or what?"

"Damn right we are."

Tommy unlocks the shed door, and holy shit, the tractor's huge.

"Do you know how to drive that thing?"

"Of course, since childhood. My dad sells farm machinery, so he's been teaching me how to drive all kinds of stuff."

They walk inside the shed and climb into the tractor's cabin.

"You have the key?"

Tommy fishes it out of his pocket and looks at Hargrove expectantly.

Billy, in his turn, takes out a couple of joints he's made at home. Tommy leaves the key in the ignition, his smile wide and merry.

"Ohhh man, hell yeah! Is that from California?" He smacks Billy's shoulder

"Yeah." Hargrove clicks the lighter.

"One now, one later?"

"Fucking yes, man."

Billy's putting his butt on the huge dashboard while Tommy's climbing in the seat. Billy doesn't know how to drive a fucking tractor, so Hagan is the designated one here.

He takes a long drag of the joint, letting the hot heavy smoke roll on his tongue, like viscous glue, before inhaling it.

Californian weed, immediately bringing memories.

He misses home.

Tommy takes the joint from his fingers, but starts coughing after the first drag

"That shit's strong. Fuuck."

"Yeah. Go easy."

Hagan's second drag is a success. They sit for some minutes in silence, just passing the joint to each other.

A question slips off Hargrove's tongue, although he doesn't even know why he's asking it

"What's Harrington's deal?"

"He's alright."

Tommy inhales the smoke again

"We've been best friends since primary school. Like .. always hanging out and stuff. But then he decides to go after that Wheeler princess, and .. fuck knows what.. I mean we're still friends and shit, and I've got his back but .. he's not the same since he got together with Wheeler. Carol hates her guts."

Billy can swear, Tommy's voice got sadder, but like .. there's an undertone to it. The hell .. ? Freckles has a crush on his pretty best friend? Hagan grunts, moving in the seat to make himself more comfortable

"I'm telling ya, this prissy bitch is gonna be the death of King Steve."

Billy isn't sure why, maybe it's the weed, maybe he just really missed having at least some sort of fun, but he kinda likes this. Smoke floating inside the cabin, the darkness and the wild exhilaration of a teenager who's about to do something really stupid and meaningless and potentially definitely dangerous.

"How do you play basketball so well?"

"Man, come to San Diego and give me a couple of months with you on the street courts. You'll score every goddamn time."

Tommy nods in understanding and Hargrove's putting out the stub.

Hagan rubs his hands excitedly and grins at Billy.

"You ready for some Indiana fun, Hargrove?"

Billy gets his ass off the dashboard and stands near the seat. His eyelids are a bit heavy but he wipes his hand on his face

"Start the fucking thing."

The sound of the engine pierces the silence and out of the shed and onto the road they go.

Holy shit, that's an enormous fucking tractor Tommy's driving.

Billy has no fucking clue how to drive a tractor.

"Watch the cars!"

Tommy's laughing

"Relax, dude. I know what I'm doing. Let's go baby!"

It's really just a five-minute drive through the dark field. The tractor is loud and shaking, or maybe it's the weed pulling tricks on him already.

"Hey, Hagan, lemme, lemme .."

Billy's pushing Tommy off the seat and grabbing the steering wheel cause he wants to drive the fucking monster too. Shouldn't be so hard.

"Okay, just .. fucking drive yeah?" Tommy is shouting cause it's LOUD.

"Sure thing!" Billy's shouting back, both of them high as kites.

The whole town is asleep.

School's not that far away.

They smash the lock on the gate to the football pitch with a crowbar.

Drive into the fucking field.

Billy is fucked if Neil finds out.

"What the fuck are we gonna write?" Tommy's still shouting cause the engine's running

"Dunno! A dick?"

"What the fuck, are you a plough artist or something? You can't draw a dick with a fucking plough. It's complicated!"

Billy's shrugging his shoulders

"I'd just write ASS!"

"Yeah! Foster is gonna be mad though!"

"Who's Foster??"

"The principal! There's a fine line!"

"What?"

"There's a fine line!!"

They both think for a second. Tommy yells

"Let's draw a crown!"

"A what??"

"Yeah yeah yeah let's do it man! A tribute to king Steve? A crown??"

"I don't care!! Won't they trace it back to Harrington?"

"Even if they bother, he's fine! He's got an alibi!"

Tommy's sticking his tongue out and imitating french kissing

"Dude, stop! It looks disgusting!"

So it's a crown.

Tommy shows him the stick to bring the plough down. He's holding his hands on the steering wheel, just in case Hargrove loses control.

"Let's go, fucker!"

They make a line at the bottom of the field, and uuuuup! A little bit down .. uuup. A little bit down .. uuup! One more time, aaaand dowwwn.

Job done. Easy-peasy.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

***

When they get the tractor back safe and sound and smoke the second joint sitting on some straw on the shed floor they mostly giggle dumbly. However, at some point Billy asks Tommy about the jobs here, and Hagan tells him about the huge super-duper construction. Starcourt, he thinks. His uncle Joe knows the contractor. Small town. Tommy promises to find out if they offer jobs. He's not sure though cause they have like professional crews working there and stuff, but it doesn't hurt to ask. His uncle asked earlier in the summer if Tommy was interested. Tommy said no cause last year of school. He's applying to a couple of colleges but most likely there's no college for him, he'll just end up working for his dad probably. Which isn't so bad.

***

On Monday morning the school is fucking buzzing.

The crown looks a bit crooked.

Like king, like crown.

Principal gathers all of seniors in the assembly hall during lunch break and calls for discipline.

"A bit too early for a senior prank? We understand Hawkins school is the best, hence the crown, but. Do not make me cancel prom."

Everyone falls silent.

Billy doesn't care about prom.

He and Tommy look as innocent as ever.

Harrington? Billy can bet a hundred bucks, Harrington looks jealous. Like he missed all the fun.

They get under the bleachers later, all three of them and Carol. Tommy does most of the laughing and talking. No-one's gonna know, just keep your mouths shut, boys. We did good. The principal is also an idiot, like Hawkins school is the best, haha.

Harrington is mostly silent, just like Billy is.

When Billy lays in his bed that night and lets the memories of his prior life bring him to sleep, he thinks that

He didn't hate Saturday night.

He's definitely not going soft on this town, but he didn't hate the night.

Tommy's okay.

Harrington is a pathetic pussy-whipped loser.

Billy would never.

***

Thank you @dragonflylady77 ❤️, as always)

Chapter 4

[yunessa]

Six-Song Soundtrack

tagged by @dujour13 Thank you! This was a lot of fun! I listen to a lot of EDM due to hearing loss so a lot of these can be put as 'interpret as you will'. Tagging: @jean-dieu @spyridonya

Rules: If you're tagged, make a new post with links to music and/or lyrics describing the following:

An event that defines your character's past

How your character sees themselves

How others view them

Their closest relationship (platonic or romantic)

A major fight scene

End credits song

For Yunessa: 1.) Equillus- "Darkness" "Lost again in a bitter heart of darkness. How far this time...? How far?" 2.) Stupendium- "A Pizza the Action" This is a ways into their story. But Yunessa has always been about choices and the freedom to pick them.

So come pick your destiny off of the menu (fate won't wait 'til the Sun comes up) Or be laid to rest in your favourite venue (arcade to arcade, crust to crust) In this amusement park, you are the Superstar We know that you'll go far, but you must choose your path Those neon tubes cast shadows on a truth so dark It's up to you to battle to its putrid heart So savour the taste of your last pepperoni (you've got a party pass to a backstage tour) 'Cause you're taking the stage for one night only (but will dawn chorus be your encore?)

3.) Psylla- "Furor"

4.) Dion Trimmer "Internet boy"

Are you only passing through or are you gonna love me? Are you only passing through or are you gonna love me?

Are you only passing through or (incoming message)

I feel the love I've never felt before I'm fired up now Conceal the words I've never said before I'll say them out loud

Everyone loves everyone You can't turn it off, no Anyone under the gun We close our eyes and let it go

Are you only passing through or are you gonna love me? We close our eyes and let it go Are you only passing through or are you gonna love me? We close our eyes and let it go

I don't wanna be Anywhere but here with you Future memories We can carry on the truth (I found you)

5.) David Hasselhoff- "True Survivor"

Dominoes falling Riot in the streets Baby this time There's no retreat There's no surrender A devil is rising A shadow from the past Feeding the flames with fire On the edge of fury

Out of time Running in and out of time Hear the ticking of the Countdown clocks tonight

Girl, we need some Girl, we need some Action! If we re gonna make it like a true survivor We need some

6.) Wojciech Golczewski- "Summer 1992" Alternative songs below

#1.) Celldweller- "Unshakeable"

Beyond the reaches of our galaxy Three figures watch over us all As suns are rising on a distant planet's shores They are watching and waiting, always orchestrating Celestial covering of humankind Perfectly hovering in space and time A world that turns when they're in control Means we're bound to stand on ground that's unshakeable! Unshakeable! (I am beyond) Unshakeable! They are watching and waiting, always orchestrating Beyond the reaches of mortality Three figures watch over us all As suns are setting on a distant planet's shores They are watching and waiting, always orchestrating

#2.) alternative: SWARM- "The Oncoming storm"

Do you remember who I was before? You wouldn’t even recognize me anymore This constant wave of anxiety inside me Won’t leave me be and it’s screaming That everybody is lying to me Let it rain Open the floodgates Let the waves crash down carry me away Let it rain Let it flood Let it pour Swallowed by the oncoming storm

#3.) Mazare- " "Battlecry"

We're braver than a lion We're steady in our state of mind Keeping our composure Another one breaks the silence Another one shuts the door We're never gonna be the same as we've been before A city burned down to ashes Memories lost in vain It's only gonna make us stronger, as we heal the pain

#4) Alternative, but Lann's point of view,lol. Flight Faculties "Crave you EDM Remix."

Why can't you want me like the other boys do? They stare at me while I stare at you Why can't I keep you safe as my own? One moment I have you the next you are gone Rehearsed steps on an empty stage That boy's got my heart in a silver cage Why can't you want me like the other boys do? They stare at me while I crave you It's true I crave you Crave you It's true I crave you

#5) Toccata- "Overwerk"

#6) Saint Punk "Empty Bed" For an alternative 'bad' story ending for Yunessa.

Your footsteps On the stairs If I listen hard enough They're still there You think I'd Know better by now But I still drink until you're next to me again, baby Yeah, yeah, yeah And I still think that in the morning, I might wake up next to you

[kitkatopinions]

Watched the rwby season 9 finale and I gotta say

Rwby criticism and spoilers beneath the keep reading as well as discussions of attempted suicide

First let's talk about Ruby's 'ascension.' We see Ruby see a memory of Summer sneaking off on her last mission with Raven, a mission that she lied to Tai about saying it was just a run of the mill Ozpin mission. Ruby is distraught by this, taking issue with her lying and sneaking around with Raven, and expresses anger and then when the blacksmith is like "maybe she had a lot of weight on her shoulders" Ruby is like "so does that mean I should just give up" and then she remembers the words of the mom she seems to barely remember saying "I love you just the way you are" And that drives her to pick herself and she comes back as herself, with her memories somehow completely intact and taking on no physical change at all. Is it explained why she's the only person who ascends who doesn't lose her memories or take on a physical change? No, not really. When she appears as herself again, Jaune says "she knew what she needed to be all along" which isn't true because she actually just spent an entire wanting to not be her, which just makes it seem like Jaune is ignoring all of the problems Ruby had in favor of pretending she's perfect. Then the Cat calls Ruby incomplete, broken, weak, and confused, and Weiss is like "You're wrong," but doesn't elaborate so it feels kind of empty tbh, then Yang says "she's never been any of those things," and I've just gotta say that after Ruby spent the entire volume in a depressed spiral being confused it feels really hero-worshippy putting Ruby on a pedestal of unhealthy standards and not noticing her feelings or turmoil or struggles for Yang to just be just be like 'my sister has never experienced confusion a day in her life.' And Blake says that Ruby's lack of weakness, confusion, brokenness, and incompleteness is the reason why they follow her, and call me crazy but that also seems to put crazy high expectations of perfection on Ruby that her team refuses to believe she's ever weak or confused and therefore rely on her as a leader when she just went off about not wanting to be a leader and not being able to meet their expectations.

Like, did they learn absolutely nothing? Also everyone and their brother was talking about how Ruby was going to shed the markers of Summer Rose and come into her own, but actually, no, if the close up on Ruby's emblem is any indication, they're just leaning into her having seemingly built herself on the example of Summer. Which... I feel like it's bad, I feel like if this arc was supposed to be about Ruby's growth and we're meant to think that she took a lot of inspiration from Summer in her life, that she should've grown more into her own person. Also I'm just gonna say that I think it was such a big mistake to make 'Ascension' so reliant on themes of death and suicide. I get that they were trying to do a heart-warming message about how you should choose yourself because you're enough, but first off, the messaging is so messed up when you consider how it frames 'trying to destroy yourself' as something that is either a generally good thing in the end or not permanent and something that you can come back from. Either the writers should have gone out of their way to make the purpose of Ascension clear prior to seeing anyone we know ascend and have it be something Ruby (and Little, Neo, etc) choose on their own fully aware of what it means and not through means outside of things like getting murdered, being manipulated into drinking poison, or jumping off a high thing Javert style.... Or they should've had it be something that nobody really knew about and still have Ruby and Neo not essentially try to kill themselves to get there. I literally do not care that we're 'meant to see the tree/tea like therapy uwu' because it was so badly done that the actual result is that if I'd seen this when I was fourteen or fifteen it would've hurt me pretty badly.

Next complaint! Ohhh my girl Neo. I am so so sorry. In case anyone's playing catch-up, Neo has existed since volume 2 and ever since, people have been clamoring for more from her and have wanted to see some focus put on her, especially after her return in volume 6 where fans (like me) were disappointed to see her playing sidekick to Cinder (especially since the only reason she wasn't targeting Cinder anymore was because the writers were making her act stupid for their plot) and kept talking about how much the writers could do with her. She kept playing second fiddle to Cinder with no focus from her return to all through V8, but then she was dropped into the ninth season which was supposedly character-growth focused! Although dropping anyone away from the main plot was a bad idea imo, I was still excited because I was sure it meant that Neo would get focus and be the main threat for the volume and we could see her come into her own and get fleshed out outside of 'wanting revenge' and 'Roman.' Aaaaaaand what did MKEK do??? They benched her for the better part of the season, had her the central focus of one scene that was written to highlight other characters being dead - proven by the fact that the characters said things Neo could have no idea about which meant the writers weren't focused on Neo and were instead focused on what would get emotional responses from Ruby/the audience. And then they had her get taken over by the Cat! And the Cat became the main antagonist for the season! Using Neo's body and speaking through her mouth (Neo is one of many disabled villains and the only mute character,) but leaving Neo completely absent again! And then Neo basically Javerts herself into tree-land with a vague idea that possibly she could eventually come back (if the authors were desperate for views) but is essentially dead to the plot now. As a fan of Neo, that's literally the dumbest most useless bad thing they could've done!

As for the Cat, the existence of it was gone into in the last second lore dump, and bro. They kind of imply that the Cat had no choice but to be evil, after Alyx's betrayal, and that it was not only good before then, but had spent like ages lovingly taking care of everyone in the Ever After, and so..... Am I supposed to feel happy that the Cat died? Am I supposed to dislike the Cat? Frankly, that's yet another life that just got fucked up by the Brother gods, and still no one in the cast of main rwby characters has talked about how horrible they are, and even the show itself seems to not fully acknowledge that they're responsible for so many problems. Anyway, despite their desire to make the Cat the big villain of the volume, I just wound up being upset that it got killed off just like that and nobody even questioned the morality of the situation.

Also just as a side note, who the fuck decided that what Rwby really needed was a backstory for the backstory for Remnant's existence? Who wanted that? What are they gonna do now, find out that the Tree was actually created by an even older god who came from an even weirder place?

Also about Jaune, I hate it. What was the point of making Jaune an old man? What was done that couldn't have been done through other better means that didn't put him in central focus? He's just back to how he was, just with Extra Special angst and as an Extra Special person who now has more experience than the rest of Team RWBY somehow and got to experience Weiss lusting after him. He is such an author's pet, I honestly wish he was dead. I'm gonna have to see him for several more volumes, aren't I?

My last complaint for this post (I have more to say, I just know this post is getting long so I'm saving two big complaints for later,) is that Little (now known as Somewhat or something) is someone I did not care about AT ALL and in fact I hated them, so the very forced Ascended Little running in and talking to Ruby and now being a giant rat that calls Ruby a Huntress for some reason (because she needs her position as a badge-carrying law enforcement officer to be affirmed and who better than the thing that has no clue what the fuck they're talking about)... It just served to make me annoyed. The entire volume would be improved by Little not being there at all.

Anyway, that volume was a fantastic waste of my time and the only good things that came out of it were ruined. We've now left the Land of the Hand of the Author and forced 'growth' that doesn't actually get the characters anywhere, and we've now entered the Hiatus heading to the next volume in a potential time skip.

[siderealxmelody]

The Forever War Verse

Now revamped and in one full post.

@sankta-alina-s - hopefully there's a lot of stuff here for you to pick where Alina grows up in. Perhaps within the Valg stuff??

@luxmaeastra - Look at all the stuff for Ella and Emmie

@starlsssankt - Fandomeless ;)

Inspired by: ACOTAR, FBAA, Book of Azrael, What Lies Beyond The Veil, The King of Battle & Blood, The Court of Blood & Bindings

@musings-of-an-antari - some of this is kinda outdated, but the general vibe of "constant war, conflicts breedings others conflicts" holds! Unir was the Emperor of the Daglan

Like most wars, this one starts because of a female.

Sotoria was a Princess of Autumn, by all accounts kind as she was beautiful. The life of her and her family was relatively peaceful, not without the occasional bit of violence - the fae were not known for being peaceful after all.

Her older brothers , Kaden and Isaiah frequently came to the Daglan Emperor's Eternal Palace as guests. Rare moments of peace between races who had once been bitter enemies.

She came to visit them one day with her father. Catching the eye of a young noble her age named Kolis.

They spoke, she didn't think much of it. Till he announced he dreamed of her at the ball the next night. He wasn't lying, she felt the snap of their bond that night as well.

But she didn't wish to be mated so quickly. Kolis said he understood, that he'd wait.

Her family went home to Autumn where they stayed. Things were peaceful for a few months before Kolis came to take her with him.

His patience had run out.

She protested and Kaden and Isaiah heard, launching themselves at the Daglan male to free their sister.

They'd beaten him within an inch of his life before they were pulled off of him.

They were all sent to Unir for punishment.

Kaden didn't think too much of it. He had other concerns at that age. Like the festival he was going to take his best friend Elianna to in a few weeks. He'd been dancing around his feels for her for years and had finally told her the previous day when they'd been in her home in Dawn.

They'd kissed, he'd never felt happier.

Then Unir had used them to make a point - throwing them into Ilyzath, the prison that everyone knew no one escaped from.

There he and Isaiah remained for the next 20 years.

------

Nismera watched her family slowly fall apart, her younger brothers locked away, her sister Sotoria taken to live in Eternal Court.

She only had her baby sister Zefera and her parents. But even she knew her parents days were numbered - they'd never survive this.

So let them pass in each other's arms, belladonna on their tongues. A merciful death, a peaceful way to save them from the war she was going to wage.

Why did anyon think the Daglan different? Unir hadn't done anything revolutionary beyond mate a Valg and weren't they tools to the Daglan just like the Fae were?

She bid her time, trained Zefera and kept an eye on Sotoria. Despite her rage she hoped Sotoria was happy, she hoped her sister got everything they whispered Mates were. And for a time it looked like she had.

Kolis doted on her, worshipped the ground she walked on. He probably would have crawled like a dog behind her if she asked him to.

And then they'd gone to the Elysian Cliffs for a picnic. And then, he'd come back without her - saying she slipped and fell from the cliffs.

Nismera's patience had snapped - she'd asked the help of others Zefera and her mate Beron, and an orange eyed male for a way into Ilyzath.

She freed her brothers, all the prisoners of that accursed place and prepared to war.

-----

Kaden should have been relaxing, should have not gotten back involved with Elianna. But he'd wanted to check in on her. And the rage he felt at her predicament was a good outlet for his growing bloodlust.

She'd married the Crown Prince of the Summer court Rhaegar. Kaden wouldn't have cared about that if he'd treated her like the queen she was.

Only Rhaegar didn't, he ostensibly kept her to have her kingdom in Dawn under his thumb. But then he also mated Lyanna and had Elianna raise the children he and Lyanna had.

Kaden told himself not to get involved, Elianna wasn't his, whatever they had was 20 years too late. Whoever he'd been before then had withered and died in Ilyzath. She hadn't asked him to intervene.

But other forces outside of his control circled. Achlys, Rhaegar's younger sister seized his throne and Rhaegar fled, taking Lyanna and their eldest Thysandra to Winter.

Kaden used the distraction for what it was - revenge. He and Isaiah chased the small family, tearing them apart. But their girl, their daughter was innocent. Besides Achlys wanted her alive. So in fae tradition he and Isaiah gave Thysandra the hearts of her parents.

Kaden took the girl to Summer, finding Elianna with the other two.

Fae didn't let the weak live, and the children behind her were weak. They weren't her blood, and Achlys wanted them dead.

Kaden was happy to kill them for her.

He told Elianna as much, that he couldn't be the male he had been. That whatever was here - whatever she hoped for would not happen.

Elianna countered that she didn't want that male, that one had not killed Kolis, as he should be. That one would not have destroyed Rhaegar as thoroughly as he had.

That one was dead, as the version of her was. But she'd thought of Kaden on her wedding night, she thought of him everytime Rhaegar touched her. All those nights when he couldn't have Lyanna and needed to be serviced.

She wanted one night with Kaden, one night where they could just be and give the dead versions of themselves one last chance to breathe and then die.

Kaden agreed.

Taking her finally home to Dawn the next morning.

------

The fae were a wild people, there were may old bloodlines stretching back to the days of the Old Gods of Phos, Nyx, Deia and Thana.

One of them was Sammael's, a scion of Thana's and who mated the Valg Priestess Lilith. She'd left her coven to be with him, to stay in the Alfeihm, the land of the Fae to be with him.

Their sons - Haldnunen, Aphaeleon

Gewynrnon, and Ittshare had been the first to unite the fae into courts.

Haldnunen had made Dusk, Aphaeleon Night, Gewynrnon Day & and Dawn, Ittshare - Winter.

Ittshare chose not to exact revenge for his youngest, Lyanna was young - foolish. Besides he didn't have time to process all of it as a power struggle erupted in his home.

He and his son Boreas was thrown out, Twyla his middle daughter took the reigns, helping her mother Tehome finally go home to the Seas Ittshare had kept her from.

Ittshare buried the grief and betrayal, Haldnunen was right - they had worse monsters to fight, the Daglan.

Gewynrnon told Kaden of his other daughters, of the plight his family had been plagued with. Elianna wasn't the first dragged into a unhappy union. His other daughter Deanna had too, by a Daglan much like Kolis. Mala, his eldest had taken it on herself to bring her home.

Kaden vowed to help however he could.

------

He ended up finding Mala only a few short weeks later, alive but deeply hurt. She'd gone directly to the Eternal Palace, and in a move that he found brave had seduced one of Unir's sons. Thurr was idealistic, a romantic, an optimist. He had watched Mala's cover be blown, her dragged before his father and set to die. Samkiel would have brought the blade down had Thurr not thrown himself at his brother saving her life and exiling the both of them.

Thurr was everything Samkiel hadn't been, devoted to Mala, to help her. Kaden had never thought he'd see the day a Daglan was halfway decent.

He left them to find Deanna, sending Isaiah with them.

He launched himself into the real war, growing his reputation and fear.

As the children from the other courts came of age, he had them trained in war camps. Aphaeleon's son Rhydand held promise and he payed special attention to the boy.

The war dragged on, decades of it.

Deanna had been found early on but war was war.

Rhysand's full potential didn't come to fruition against the Daglan but against his own.

Tamlin a prince of Spring and Rhysand's sister Aelirenn had been friends for years. Rhysand saw the writing on the wall long before those two did.

She was beautiful by all accounts, Tamlin was fond of giving her white roses before she would lead her battalions.

But as they grew in their prowess, in their power - rumors swirled. Both children came from powerful families. Spring was allied with Achlys and she despised Night. Night was one of the courts allied against her. They did not recognize her claim to Summer. For she did not marry one of their own, but installed her mate Korok, a Daglan on the throne.

No Fae would ever bow to such a male.

And as the war dragged on, Tamlin's and Aelirenn's eventual union would tip the scales in Night's favor, in Unseelie's favor. For it was the Unseelie that ruled all the Celestial courts, as it was the Seelie who ruled the Seasons, Achlys was queen of the Summer and the Seelie.

Airmed, an old friend of Kaden's was set to inherit the Unseelie and Dusk thrones. And then his mate Emeia died and he abdicated.

As the fae reeled from this internal blow Rhydand and his father learned of Aelirenn's death at the hands of Tamlin's family. Many whispered it was done on Achlys orders.

But neither cared, they went to Spring, killing everyone that came in their way. Anaxia, stopped them from taking Tamlin's life - he was her baby brother and she forced Aphaeleon to his knees, her blade at his neck.

He would live but the blow landed. Anaxia and Rhysand knew this war was not over.

------

Kaden noted all these small wars in passing, it was beneath him to care - to give a damn.

But it seemed even as the Daglan grew more tired the Fae splintered more and more.

Mab had been forced into a marriage with a noble Sephtis from Dusk. Her sister Achlys hadn't cared what her opinion was. She didn't want Sephtis to be with his mate Twyla, Twyla already held too much power being a granddaughter of Sammael and Lilith. She didn't need that female gaining anymore.

Rhysand who had had no interest in politics renewed it now. He told Kaden of what was happening, of the cracks forming.

But things were heating within the war. The Valg were beginning to cave - to switch sides as the Daglan wrung them dry of their magic of their covens powers.

As Samkiel broke the world apart, the war was paused but no over. The realms were locked away but they would one day open. Till then, everyone just needed to prepare.

Rhysand turned to Airmed's brothers, hoping one of them would understand the importance of what Achlys was trying to do - rule all of Alfeihm through her sister.

It was Fal, one of Airmed's younger brothers. He helped Mab free herself mating her and claiming the Unseelie and Dusk thrones. Twyla was free to have her mate and for a brief moment there was peace.

But Summer was still in Achlys clutches and her family could not escape it. Creon had always been Rhysand's friend first, but he knew there was something about Anaxia that drew him in. Still, he had to be focused, he needed to get rid of Achlys and Korok, they'd sold his brother Orion and Shahar to the Daglan as soldiers - as weapons. He needed to be in Summer - he needed to find a way to bring them home.

Even if that meant Rhysand and Anaxia would think him a traitor.

------

Rigelus and Bryce had been no ones in the Grand scheme of things. They'd grown up in the Academic citadels, picking up swords as their library burned to the ground under Theia one of the Fae Queens. They didn't know which court or kingdom she hailed from - and frankly it didn't matter. They were all the same, monsters.

Mindless, horrible monsters.

Rigelus was just a boy when the fae had burned his manor down and slaughtered his parents. He'd been sent to Parthos to be taught and raised as royal advisor one day.

Bryce's parents worked at Parthos and the two lonely children had found kinship among tomes of history and past wars.

It grew as most things did into something more.

Bryce was vaulted into high society when her older sister Cameron joined Samkiel's personal gaurd.

Soon both she and Rigelus was becoming friendly with Samkiel's younger brother Thurr.

A friendship that crashed and burned when Bryce figured out what Mala was and told Unir.

As the war dragged on, it was Bryce who came home to Parthos on fire, to her parents bodies torn apart. It was her who begged Thurr to help her save them - save the books.

Thurr left her there, telling her this was price for making his Mala bleed all those years ago. He didn't set the fire, but he didn't tell anyone inside not was going to happen.

Rigelus and Bryce smuggled what books they could. Remaking their home in White City close to Summer in Alfeihm. Many Daglan followed them, Korok offering the young Daglan couple protection and allies. As the war closed he even gifted them warriors - Orion and Shahar for their personal protection.

Rigelus and Bryce wanted to forget, to stop feeling the grief that chased them.

Rigelus had lost most of his siblings expect three Eosphorous, Austrus and Hesperus. The three were overbearing but the parties Bryce and he threw him into helped. The way they threw themselves as each other, into drinking, into numbing that pain helped.

------

As the war ended Isaiah watched Samkiel's Hand step back, closing ranks to protect him.

He wondered of Imogen, of the moments they'd shared so many years ago before war, before imprisonment and death had broken it. He wondered if she thought of him as he did of her. If she worried for his safety like he did for her.

He didn't have much time to contemplate this anyway - with the Realms locked down after what Samkiel did, the real work could begin.

He worked with Vincent and the other Valg to hunt down and burn the corrupt Matrons of the Valg Covens. The Valg had been under Daglan's thumbs in no small part because their Matrons coveted and hoared the crumbs of power Daglan gave them.

------

Vincent watched the burnings, thousands of witches who had refused to bend to the new order dying for their beliefs. But it wasn't just those guilty in the crossfire, innocents were too.

Camilla lost her sisters to it - Rhiannon and Hestia were targeted for their power and in the frenzy burned alive.

Her childhood best friend Yesenia had nearly died with them.

Vincent watched Camilla slip from his fingers, not that she probably knew who he was. It didn't matter, Samkiel had abandoned them and he would make himself a kingdom if he had to carve it from the dead.

He didn't want Camilla to see that - no matter how ruthless she appeared to be.

He didn't like how out of control being around her made him.

He and Adrien, and Yesenia remade the Valg Covens. Even if he was a Prince he would not become a Patron without a Matron at his side - and there was only one he wanted for that role.

But she'd joined Kaden's armies, had worked with him now to keep what remained of her shattered family together.

With Adrien's second's help Gavriel and his mate Sandriel they even wrestled control of the wild fae in their lands.

------

Sebastian, the son of Thurr and Mala had grown in the shadow of this war with his sisters Sarai and Silba. It was Kaden and Isaiah who honed their magic.

He grew with Natalia and Noelle, daughters of his father's bodyguards Fion and Sive. Camilla trained the girls, ruthless and deadly.

Sebastian didn't understand what was coming till the realms opened again. And the Mating Marks appeared on their eldest children.

The Wild Hunt took them, Xaden from Natalia and him, Emelin and Estrella from Sarai and Marizleh, they were dragged to Alfeihm.

Into a war that was centuries in the making. A war none of them had any allies or understanding of.

Kaden told them to follow, Nismeda and Samkiel's war would reignite and then the realms would be impossible to traverse.

He advised them to keep their heads down and survive before making enemies.

Marizleh being a Primal like Kaden had some inisights but he like Sarai and the others had been far from Alfeihm and the court politics.

The Hand was being Called, Kaden's former protoge was free of him turning against all of them.

Would Ayla kill everyone who coluded or was complicit in her sister's death? Would she rise against the last of her blood remaining in Camilla?

Kaden may be indifferent to war but these kids were ones he'd raised, they were ones who had made him a actually free of Ilyzath even a millennia on. Ayla was a means to an end - but war did not make kind people.

And he wanted what shred of his family remained to survive.

Sarai, Natalia and the others were fine soldiers, exceedingly prepared to survive whatever Ayla threw at them. They'd survive just as well in the crossfire of Nismera and Samkiel's brutality.

But did it make him weak and selfish if he wanted them to be safe for just a little bit longer? Did it make it a monster to sheild them from the carnage he'd orchestred?

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

7 Snippets 7 People Tag

Thanks for tagging me, @tabswrites! :D

Here are seven snippets from Silver Glass (contains spoilers, obviously. Also contains homophobia, someone being forced into marrying someone they hate, murder, and descriptions of horribly-mutilated corpses):

1.

If Reverend and Mrs. Grantley knew what was happening under their noses they would probably die of shock.

Lennox — Alexander — is only in Cambridge for three days. (Five, if you count the night he arrived and the morning he leaves.) Then he's going to visit some relatives in Scotland. David tells himself it's for the best, that he is just as infatuated as Louis and in a few weeks he'll have forgotten about Alexander. He can't quite make himself believe it.

Alexander spends two days mostly with Reverend Grantley and other ministers, discussing dates and places that go over David's head. He can't find an excuse to hang around the house for long after breakfast, so he reluctantly leaves. He goes to the library and the cinema, but spends most of the time daydreaming about following Alexander to Scotland.

On the second day he also learns Alexander's age. He spends that night using all the maths he knows to try to reduce the difference between being born in September 1894 and being born in December 1897.

On the third day he volunteers to show Alexander around Cambridge.

"Of course, of course," Reverend Grantley says. He beams at David. "It's good to see you're making friends, Eames."

David's face heats up as his mind conjures up images of exactly how friendly he'd like to become with Alexander.

2.

In hindsight they were far too careless. They assumed that because no one had discovered them yet, that meant no one would discover them ever.

David can't remember what they were talking about. He remembers sitting on Alec's coat spread as an improvised blanket, next to Alec with his head on Alec's shoulder. He remembers really wanting to kiss him. And he remembers Alec kissing him back.

They end up lying on the ground. David is half on top of Alec. They're still kissing. Alec wraps his arms around David's waist and pulls him completely on top of himself. David can't wait any longer. He starts to unbutton Alec's shirt. Alec reaches for David's belt.

"Jesus H. Christ!"

They disentangle themselves and leap to their feet at the first word. David's vain hope that the newcomer hadn't got a good look at what they were doing dies when he sees who it is.

Gwladys Whare has just appeared at the side of the summer-house. From where she's standing she had a perfect view of them. And there was really no way to mistake what they'd been doing.

She stares at them both as if they're something she's scraped off her shoe. Alec rebuttons his shirt. David tries to smooth his hair down into something approaching respectability. A profoundly awkward silence descends.

Alec breaks it. "Miss Whare, I apologise for— We had no idea you were nearby. I beg you not to speak of this to anyone."

Miss Whare begins to smile. Her smile widens into something truly sadistic. "Oh, I bet you do. But what if I go right back to the house and tell them all? Maybe you can buy your way outta trouble, but your little tart will go right to jail."

David has never seen Alec so furious. He advances on her with a downright murderous expression. Her eyes widen and she clearly begins to regret the chance that brought her here. David wraps his arms around Alec's chest and holds him back.

Alec stops, but he doesn't relax. "What do you want?" he practically spits at her. "Money?"

Miss Whare recovers. Her cruel grin returns. "'Course. But more than that. My pa wants me to marry one of you lords with your fancy titles. Problem is, you lot don't seem so eager to marry me."

"I can't imagine why," David says under his breath.

"Now here you are. A lord with a title, and a secret that could send you to prison. Even if you bribe the police, I can go to the papers and ruin you in a day. So how about it? I get a title, you get money, I keep your secret, and you can keep him around to warm your bed. Lord knows I won't do it any more than I have to."

There's a stunned silence. David can't believe what he's hearing. Alec is shaking.

"Are you blackmailing me into marrying you?"

Miss Whare nods as if there's nothing unusual about the situation. David would like to punch her in her smug face.

"Think about it," she says. "Answer me tomorrow. If it's no, I'll phone the police."

3.

The clock chimes six. It's still dark outside. The room is cold and Alec is warm, but Davit forces himself to get up anyway. The servants will be along soon to light the fires. It won't matter if they find his own bed empty, but it most certainly will matter if they find him in Alec's.

Alec gets up too. He buttons Davit's shirt for him. They hold each other's gaze. It feels like they have an entire conversation in silence. Alec smooths the wrinkles out of Davit's shirt. He's wearing only his dressing gown, and it leaves a v-shaped portion of his chest exposed. Davit pulls it closed, then brushes a strand of hair away from Alec's eyes.

He takes the ring out of his pocket and puts it on.

"When are you going to tell her?" he asks.

Alec flinches. "It'll have to be early. Before she has time to tell anyone." He turns abruptly and goes over to his desk. He rummages through it until he finds his cheque book. "There's a house in London. Belonging to my father, but I use it when I'm in town and my father never leaves home any more. I'm giving it to you. Here's two thousand pounds— No, I won't take any argument. You should have much more; everything I own is yours now." He finds a writing pad and begins to scribble a letter. "This is to the housekeeper telling her that you have my full permission to live there."

"You'd better give a reason," Davit says, moving over to lean against the back of Alec's chair. "Tell her I'm your research assistant and gathering information on Orthodox Christianity."

Alec addresses the envelope and seals it. "I'll post this today. We... We can't spend too much time together. Nothing to give her more against us."

Davit sits down beside Alec — difficult when the chair was only meant for one. He ends up in Alec's lap. Neither of them is complaining.

He buries his face in the crook of Alec's neck. Alec pulls him close and holds onto him like a drowning man clinging to a rope.

4.

He and Alec have only one short meeting in private before Alec leaves too. They meet in the garden again and make their own arrangements: Davit will live in London until Alec divorces Gwladys. Alec is optimistic it shouldn't take too long. This shows every indication of being the shortest marriage in history.

"I know she's already writing to another man," Alec says. "As long as we stay apart she'll have no evidence against me."

Davit is slightly less optimistic. Once Gwladys has her claws in Alec, he can't imagine her letting go easily. "What if you have a child?"

Alec makes a disgusted face. "There's no chance of that. I have no intention of ever consummating this marriage."

"If you don't she'll use that against you." Davit pulls leaves off a stem of ivy clinging to the old summer house. "Consummate the marriage, play the loving husband when others are around, make sure she has nothing she can use against you."

Alec looks at him in surprise. Davit can guess what he's thinking. That this is odd advice for him to give. But Davit knows Gwladys is a genuine threat to both of them. The best way to deal with threats is with deceit.

"What do you want to do as soon as I get the divorce?" Alec asks.

Davit knows it won't be nearly as easy as that. But for once he allows himself to dream. "I'd like to travel. Visit Armenia. I've never been there."

"You're not from Armenia?"

He shakes his head. As he answers he can almost smell the blood and death and fire. "I was born in Adana."

From Alec's lack of reaction he can tell he doesn't recognise the name.

"We could go there too," Alec suggests.

Davit forces a laugh. "No. I wouldn't like that at all."

He doesn't look at Alec, but he knows Alec is staring at him.

"Davit? Davit, what's wrong?"

Ever since that night Alec has called him Davit. Sometimes he forgets how to pronounce it and says it like David with a T.

Davit rubs his eyes. He isn't crying, but his eyes sting. Alec puts his arm around him and pulls him close. He doesn't say anything. Davit takes a deep breath. He rests his chin on Alec's shoulder so he can't see his face.

"Have you heard of the Adana massacre?" he asks. His voice is flat. His chest feels like it's going to cave in.

Alec inhales sharply. "I remember now." He tightens his arms around Davit. "You were there?"

Davit nods. "I can't talk about it."

They say nothing for a while. Alec simply holds Davit, and Davit tries to piece himself back together.

5.

Yo-han had witnessed some grisly spectacles in his career. The man whose chest had been sawn open and all his internal organs removed held the title for the most grisly. He had fierce competition, though, including the woman who had lost half of her face in a bear attack, the man who had spilled acid on his arms, and Rachael Patton-Langdale with a chunk blown out of her skull.

His history gave him an advantage. He could examine the murder victims relatively impassively while the police constable was trying not to be sick.

Both victims were hung by the neck from different branches of the tree. Both ropes had been cut from the same length of rope, which was unusually thick and had probably been taken from a boat. The bodies had been dragged over to the tree from somewhere across the lawn.

Victim one: Mrs. Lennox. She was fully dressed in a plain white frock, not an evening dress. Her hair had been pinned up. Now most of it hung loose and was matted with blood. Her expression was mildly surprised but not frightened. She hadn't seen her death coming.

She had been struck in the back of the head with a heavy, blunt object. The murderer had hit her with such force that part of her skull had caved in.

Victim two: Çelik Bey. He was shirtless. His face was contorted into a ghastly silent scream. He had certainly seen his death coming.

It was a cliché of crime novels to say someone's throat had been cut from ear to ear. Yet that was the only way to describe it. The murderer had slashed so deeply into his neck that they had almost decapitated him. The rope holding him up was looped around his chest under his arms, because his head would have been pulled off if the murderer tried to hang him by what remained of his neck. His chest and arms were sliced all over with shallow cuts.

Yo-han leaned in to get a closer look. All of them had been inflicted with a long, sharp blade. The cut throat had probably been inflicted with the same weapon.

He was used to gory sights. All the same, he was glad the news had arrived before he had time to have breakfast.

6.

Yo-han turned away from the safe, and almost tripped over those damn slippers again. He kicked them out of the way in annoyance. Then he stopped.

"Mrs. Lennox was wearing outdoor shoes when she died," he said slowly. "So she took off her slippers herself. But the more natural place to leave them would be near the top of the bed."

He looked at the bedside cabinet. It had a cupboard at the bottom. He placed the slippers in front of the cupboard door and tried to open it. They were in the way.

"The thief also went through Mrs. Lennox's cupboard," he said. "Why? No one keeps valuables where they can be discovered so easily."

Until now Constable Martin had been hovering awkwardly by the window, looking like he felt there was nothing for him to do but couldn't think of how to leave. Now he came over to investigate too. Eames moved to the side of the cupboard to get a better view.

Yo-han moved the slippers out of the way and opened the cupboard. It had one shelf, which had small dividers splitting it into three squares. One of the squares contained a notebook. The other two were empty.

He lifted out the notebook and flipped through it. Some pages were torn out. The rest were blank.

"Do you have a pencil?" he asked the constable.

Martin hunted through his pockets, then produced a pencil. Yo-han scribbled over the first page. Faint outlines showed through.

"I thought so! She leant heavily on the previous page and the impression came through."

"But what does it mean?" Eames asked. "Half grim? Baron nine thirds? That's not a proper fraction!"

7. 

Most women would have been alarmed to hear their neighbour had been murdered and their guest had been called in to investigate. Phil, who had accidentally caused one death and discovered a murder, was only mildly upset.

"I suppose her husband did it," she said when Mr. Seo returned for lunch.

"No, I think I can say with certainty that he's the only person I can rule out," he said, to her surprise.

The dining room windows faced over the lough. Mr. Seo looked out at the other bank as if he expected to find the answer there. "Miss Patton, do you have a boat?"

Phil sensed where this was going. "Yes, over at the jetty. You think the empty house has something to do with the case?"

Mr. Seo nodded grimly. "From there the murderer could see everything happening at the house. If I search it I'm sure I'll find proof someone was hiding there."

Phil finished her sandwich. She got up. Her brown-and-white day dress was too good for a boating expedition, but she had an old grey dress which she normally used for gardening. "Give me five minutes to change, then I'll row you across."

Tagging @violets-in-her-arms-writes, @authortango​, @saltysupercomputer, @writingat-night, @kaiusvnoir, @autumnalwalker, @cosmiccoincidence, and anyone else who wants to do this! :D

Also adding Glass’s taglist: @writingpotato07, @oh-no-another-idea, @sarahlizziewrites, @lightgriffinsect, @kittensartswriting, @acertainmoshke, @author-a-holmes, @sam-glade, @late-to-the-fandom (Let me know if you want to be added to/removed from the taglist!)

[mariacallous]

One of the many glitteringly clever quotes circulated in the wake of Hilary Mantel’s death last week was something she said about history. The longer version is wonderful (what did she ever say that wasn’t?), but we’ll clip this bit: “Facts are not truth, though they are part of it … And history is not the past – it is the method we have evolved of organising our ignorance of the past. It’s the record of what’s left on the record.” Yet using these fragments – “a few stones, scraps of writing, scraps of cloth” – Mantel could transport you so completely that you felt you were breathing the air of another century, feeling the emotions of other people, moving through other times.

This has an intense value. And yet, there is a certain type of historian who concerns themself – or himself, let’s face it – very little with emotion, even though that is all anyone ordinary who was forced to live through events was feeling at the time. Anger, shock, hope, bewilderment, laughter, exhaustion, betrayal – these are the trifling human offcuts of some loftier story, largely unmentionable byproducts of the grand machinations of greater men than them.

I’m glad this isn’t an affliction suffered by the documentary maker Adam Curtis, perhaps the BBC’s last great maverick, whose landmark series on Russia between 1985 and 1999 arrives on iPlayer in two weeks. Last year, Curtis was handed a treasure trove: every piece of raw footage shot by the BBC in Russia since the 1960s. Tens of thousands of hours, only the tiniest fraction of which had ever made it to air. Out of this hoard and other material lying in the BBC archive, he has created seven brilliant and deeply empathetic films that cover what happened to Russia between 1985 and 1999 (the year Vladimir Putin took power). It’s called TraumaZone: What It Felt Like to Live Through the Collapse of Communism and Democracy.

The films bring that world right up against your eyeballs, and prove themselves essential to our understanding of the Russia we have now, of the Russia from which Putin emerged, and of the staggering human cost of it all. And, perhaps, of what it feels like on the ground when ideologues with a plan decide to jolt the people towards a new utopia. Anyway, more on the UK’s week in economic shock therapy in a minute.

We already know the historical facts of the Russia story: the hideous iniquities of communism, its tumultuous collapse, the grotesque corruption and betrayal that followed, the vast scale – both ideological and geographical – of the various cataclysms. These films take us from the Kremlin to the Siberian mining villages, from the Chechen frontline to people’s apartments, immersing us in every layer of Russian society. I showed Curtis the Mantel quote this week and he loved it. “I found this extraordinary material – tens of thousands of fragments of experience,” he explained. “What I’m doing is taking these fragments and I’m trying to create a world for you to get lost in, a sense of what it was like to live through that world. At the end of it, I hope you think and feel differently about what Russians went through – and understand how Putin could emerge from that strange cataclysm.”

This I can definitely confirm. I watched the films in early summer, yet seeing last weekend’s mostly female protest against Putin’s Ukraine mobilisation in Moscow, I was immediately transported back to Curtis’s agonising footage of the mothers whose sons are conscripted into the Chechen war. The women in TraumaZone are what will stay longest with me – the struggling babushkas, the sex workers in Moscow’s Cosmos hotel, the state toothbrush factory employees, the reformatory teens, the idealistic first Avon ladies, the extraordinarily charismatic young girl who begs at car windows in the Moscow traffic … the women break your heart.

TraumaZone is a definite departure from Curtis’s previous style. There is no “Adam Curtis voiceover”, no music unless it’s part of the original footage itself, no provocative central thesis. He feels the hot-take industry has swallowed up everything since 2016 – “and I’m one of the worst offenders!” – and what the series offers instead is much more compelling and unusual. You can hear the flies buzzing on the steppes. You are in the middle of riots brutally suppressed by state police. You are watching as gangsters loot cars straight off the production lines. You are in the queue to be told there are still no potatoes in all of Moscow. It’s difficult not to conclude that the hardline free marketeers had about as much empathy for the ordinary people as the Marxist intellectuals.

Which I accept might be starting to sound familiar closer to home. Don’t worry, this isn’t some glib bollocks about how we’re all the same underneath. Russians are not similar to us, because they have been through a totally different experience. In the 90s, they had the accelerated and frequently catastrophic collapse of not one but two of the dominant ideologies of the 20th century. We had Britpop.

Not that that stops some pointed jokes. A Russian journalist who recently fled Putin’s regime reflected sardonically to Curtis: “You in Britain are Moscow in about 1988. Everyone knows the system isn’t working. Everyone knows that the managers are completely looting it. They know that you know that they know, but no one has any concept of a possible alternative. The only difference is you’ve already tried democracy. You’ve got nothing else left.”

Ouch. It has certainly felt like a rather idiosyncratic form of democracy this week, watching a government without a mandate pursue radical economic shock policies on the basis of pure dogma, no matter the forecast human fallout. Over the course of TraumaZone we get to know Yegor Gaidar, the ultra-free marketeer architect of the shock therapy designed to radically remake Russia’s economy, who became despised by the Russians who bore the brunt of his malfunctioning ideals even as the oligarchs used them as cover to steal an entire country. There is an arresting closeup of Gaidar’s face at the funeral of Galina Starovoitova, the democratic reformer assassinated in her apartment building in 1998. What is his expression? Is it a flicker of an epic personal reckoning?

I kept wondering if I saw a flash of it on Kwasi Kwarteng’s face this week, when the cameras followed the chancellor on some no-comment walk out of the Treasury as the financial crisis he caused was playing out in real time. Or whether we’ll see it when Kwarteng or Liz Truss is forced to encounter an ordinary victim who experiences their ideology as a repossessed house or hungry child, rather than something that sounds good in a pamphlet.

But perhaps these are the fleeting emotions we wish ideologues to feel, and not the ones they do. The one thing we can say with a general election possibly more than two years away is that no one but a tiny selectorate of 81,000 voted for this radical experiment. Is that democracy? Is that what keeps people believing in politics? Or are we entering a trauma zone of our own?

[gamerbearmira]

Too Far AU

During dinner, Mirabel sat at the very end of the table, farthest away from her sister and Abuela. Isabela ate quietly, her head low, while Abuela had a face of anger and annoyance, there was an air of tension around the table. Abuela sighed and cleared her throat before standing up, ready to address the table. "Earlier today, I had the displeasure of being told that someone had pulled a prank on the Gonzalez daughters. This occurred at the fountain." Just as everyone expected, Abueal turned her attention to her youngest granddaughter who returned the same uninterested and irritated stare back at her, which only angered her further. "Mirabel, how can you do such a thing? Those girls had done nothing to you. I will not have you cause trouble for the good people of the Ecanto."

Mirabel's face did not change she continued to give her Abuela that same interested glare. "I'm going to ask you a question, Abuela, answer it truthfully please: When those girl's parents came to you, did you even bother to ask me or anyone with me what happened, or were you perfectly fine with coming straight to me, telling me that I'm wrong for doing nothing. You only half of the story, but that's fine with you because you don't care."

Abuela sputtered in shock, "I don't need your side, I already know who whole thing, and I know you would lie about it." "Oh since I'm such a liar, I guess I'm lying about mama being there and seeing the whole thing. I guess I'm lying about it happening in the middle of the square by the foutain?" Abuela opened and closed her mouth, looking for the right way to approach this. She looked over at Juliet, who stood up next to her daughter. "She's right mama, I was there. I saw those two girls carry the bucket to her and had I not been there they would have dumped it all over her. And they knew they were wrong, because one of them came to me and tried to distract me, and had she come to you, you would not have cared. They fell, and embarrassed themselves. Ask anyone who was in the square earlier. And if she did not come to you, and you noticed the smell you would have chatised her about it."

"They are Isabela's friends. Whatever, happened it more than likely a harmless prank." Isabela visibly recoiled in on herself. "We know they were Isabelas friends, because she was in on it." Abuela turned towards Isabela, who couldn't bare to look up. "It was just a joke", she said meekly. "Yes, it was such a joke that she came and screamed at Mirabel when it backfired on them. And guess what, those plants weren't even flowers, they were poison ivy, and they didn't even want to add in poison ivy, it was you idea."

"Mama, you have always been too hard on Mirabel for no reason. You always treat her differently. There is absolutely no reason for you to be so mean to her." "She is constantly in the way!"

"How?"

All eyes, turned to Mirabel. She stood tall, her face still hadn't changed, it was scary. "How am I in the way. How am I causing so many problems for th family and bringing us down. Give me one reason and I'll give two for why that is complete rubbish." She stared down Abuela who felt a shudde run down her spine. Swallowing the lump her throat "You don't help in any way." The table laughed in disbelief. "Mama, you know that isn't true," said Pepa as she stood up along with her sister, daughter and niece. "All summer I've seen Mirabel help people, some who don't even deserve it. She's cleaned Casita top to bottom. Like she said earlier, she helps the farmers with their crops. She helps in the schools, when she's not in school and even when she is, she still helps out more than she should. The children adore her, parents say that they sometimes belive she watches them too much. I've heard kids call HER mama, rather than their own mothers. Hell, Antonio once called dher mama when he was younger and to this day I still think she watches him too much, but I can't do anything because with you if we aren't helping community to your starts then we aren't helping at all."

"Did you know that she basically works at seamstresses shop? She basically runs it. Everything you see in there is done by her own hand. You say she doesn't do anything, but you have once even looked closer to see what she actually does? Ever since her ceremony, you have willingly turned a blind eye to her and have always been too hard on. At this point, what will you do next."

"I can tell you now that she's denied me my Quinceañera."

.

.

.

.

"Alma."

The air had turned ice cold. Julieta was beyond furious. To hell with her composure, she stormed right up to her mother and screamed in her face, yelling about how she was terrible Abuela and how she should be ashamed of herself. Mirabel watched as everyone at the table, excluding Isabela, came to her defense, calling her out on her blatant lack of care towards her, that she was wrong, that Mirabel, recardess of what some girls thought of her, that she was family and that no matter what. That having a Quinceañera was a rigth, that she was down right wrong for denying her that. By the time everyone was done, no one wanted to eat or talk to other Isabela or Abuela. Dolores had offered her to sleep in her room and have a sleepover, which she gladly accepted. Before she went to her bed, Julieta had come to her with a plate of cookies, milk and a slice of tres leche and a few arepa's. She assured her that no matter what, she would have a Quince even of she had to fight for it to happen herself and if they has to do all by scratch, she'd have it.

Mirabel was happy. She went to bed full and happy. She was glad her family was making a change. As she closed her eyes, she couldn't help her smile.

Here’s the link to AO3

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_JayJay/pseuds/Blue_JayJay

TELL THEM‼️‼️ TEELLLLL THEMMMM…

Glad the family came to her immediate defense. Cause Idc WHAT kinda demons you fighting, that’s gives you no right to straight up treat someone like they’re not family. Get your life together before you start lashing out in people who are only doing their best. And no Quince??? Ngl Alma got her priorities all messed up, and so does Isabela 😭😭 like??? Who tf does that???

ANYWAY. You guys should go check out the full fic on AO3 <333 it’s so good, I’ve already caught up‼️‼️ will def be checking for updates <3

[twilightguardian]

Didn't take long for Lilith's new review of Fixing RWBY's latest episode. She still lies, but guys

She's getting better.

I know, no one is more shocked than we that Lilith is somewhat starting to understand the concept of criticism and critique. Slow but steady, she is making progress. Everyone, let's cheer her on. Maybe someday she can achieve decent human being status. I was actually getting bored and thinking of stopping after this one with nothing to really respond to other than 'she's outright lying about what happens' but she's actually engaging again. You know, saving up whatever little scraps of points she makes and make a big master post of whatever she had to talk about.

It's honestly refreshed me a little, because there's stuff to actually bite into with this that can be talked about and discussed. Of course, we all know that Lilith doesn't want a conversation. She takes the first opportunity possible to block someone for disagreeing with her to the point where I wonder why she bothers engaging with anything at all.

Imagine thinking that RWBY: Fairy Tales' framing device was unique.

Actually, I'd say that last week's episode and Fairy Tales isn't really anything alike because apart from Taiyang fixing the story he reads to Ruby up like he's talking about himself and Summer, there's little connection. As far as I'm aware, there's no deeper thematic reasons why the characters are chosen the way they are, nor are the stories being read to them meant to be connected. It's implied Ozpin modifies a story that already exists in order to cater to his needs to warn about Salem.

Either way, I don't understand how this is a criticism. Why is it a bad thing that he used a rather common visual aide when regarding fairy tales? Even if he did just 'steal' it from the side story episodes, why is it a bad thing? Taking inspiration does not make you a bad writer. Lilith herself writes Glints Saga with inspiration from proper magical girl anime in mind. Should anyone be considered legitimate to call her a hack writer because she's taken inspiration from these stories to the point that her writing feels generic?

I wouldn't think so, and I'd defend Lilith if anyone tried that. But Lilith doesn't

An Asian character who has aspects of different Asian real world cultures given to her fictional culture is cultural appropriation. You know what, guys? She's right. We should just tell all the book publishers and script writers out there to just stop trying to write other cultures. Anyone, even people who belong to that culture, needs to just stop. They can only write vague modern Euro-American cultures and appropriate them into fictional settings otherwise it's bad.

I shouldn't have to explain much further why this is stupid. Also, you gotta love how she claims that Vernal is Raymond's "daughteru" despite saying once that she hates anime tropes, yet will not hesitate to use words that come from anime culture at the drop of a hat as long as it shits on a person she hates. Plus ignoring or erasing the women who designed Vernal all by themselves who are more attached to Vernal than Raymond is. Like Mupa.

A lot of Fixing's Vernal was created by Mupa. She's much more Mupa's daughteru than she is Raymond's. But, you know, it's par for the course with Lilith to ignore anything a woman does as long as she can complain about a man. She claims she doesn't hate men, but man, when you ignore a woman's contribution to a project just so you can focus your hatred on a man, that's something special right there.

But the SH barely get any note from Lilith at all. They're treated like they're slaves under Raymond when they practically take over the project from him. So much work and personal touches go into everything the artists do that Raymond has not a whole lot of say in other than final approvals, and even then, I believe it's more a group approval.

Beside that, she said that last week's episode Vernal got more focus than the titular heroines. Since when? Vernal got two scenes, one of which she was a gravestone in the background. I suppose it makes sense that things that are in the background are focused on with Lilith. I mean, she likes canon Team RWBY and they're in the background a lot so she's trained to look here lol

What does what other critics say have anything to do with what Raymond and the SH say? Why bring up Volumes 7&8 at all when this season of Fixing is about Volume 6?

Besides, Lilith is the one that dismisses anything that Team RWBY does that's remotely bad and scream misogyny. That's her whole schtick as a one-trick pony.

But I do commend her in that she does bring up something that she thinks is a problem with the "critics" community, even if it has no place here. After all, we had entire episodes dedicated to the girls of Team RWBY being the central focus of the story and Lilith dismisses that and ignores it and claims that because Roman had three minutes of screentime in a 20 minute story that he was the main character. So her criticism here isn't valid, and only highlights that she's desperately grasping at straws due to her incessant need to 'criticize the critics' as though she's giving us a taste of our own medicine.

But for her to do that she actually has to understand what criticism is in the first place. By her behaviour and the people she interacts with, it's not that illogical to say that she genuinely believes that criticism is being mean for the sake of being mean. So she's being some sort of hero to the RWBY community by being mean back to the meanies. Like she's on a playground for toddlers beating on some schoolyard bullies. She paints everyone she disagrees with as a hivemind, which is why she brings up unrelated criticisms by unrelated people for unrelated slights.

The easiest way to debunk a claim that someone has is to point out the flaws of their logic with actual examples of the show. Most people don't do this whenever I see people talk in opposition to it. Or they just point out the characters having existed in the same space at the same time as something happening as evidence that they are important. But Lilith doesn't do this. She just says 'nuh-uh' and moves on. Because that's what criticism is, a back and forth with (hopefully) points being brought up using examples from the show to prove the point one is trying to make.

What makes Lilith's criticisms invalid is that she has to purposefully lie in order to actually criticize anything about Fixing RWBY. If she actually stopped being such a cringy child and laid out her points properly they can be addressed. But the only thing she ever does is scream and capslock and cry buzzwords thinking that baseless accusations are the same as criticism.

JNR still got an episode in canon that did the exact same thing that this episode of Fixing does. A lot of people criticized that episode for focusing on Jaune when it should have focused on Oscar. People criticized the show for being mysterious about the redheaded woman as though it was one big mystery and the show treated her like she was a ghost, disappearing out of sight after looking away for only a moment. The writers wanted you to leave it up to your interpretation and Raymond thought that was stupid when it is so clearly Pyrrha's mother.

Personally I joke if RT is gonna jerk people around like that and say 'I'll leave it up to your interpretation' that the redheaded woman is a Buffalo Bill-style superfan who got plastic surgery to look like the object of her obsession lol

Because if you're gonna be cute with something that unnecessary I might as well have fun with the challenge. I'm sure RT approves because they're like that.

It's only been 8 episodes, girl needs to chill. But she's been saying that she doesn't think we'll be going to Brunswick Farms since last volume because she desperately wants it to be true.

Honestly, I have heard a couple of other people say this point, so I think it's a fair 'fear' to have. But I'm not sure where people get the idea that just because we saw the flashback of Remus on Brunswick Farms that means Brunswick has already been done. Did Lilith and the like forget that when RWBY got there that the people were already long dead and gone? Fixing just establishes how long ago that was. We're heading to Brunswick in the next few episodes and considering V6 is going to have 20-22 episodes like the other volumes of Fixing, we're probably going to spend a fair few of them at Brunswick. I don't know, I thought that was obvious.

Also another reference to Roman being the main character because Lilith desperately wants that to actually be the case. Roman is secretly her favourite character, she is just too stubborn to admit it so she has to give off this mask that she actually hates him. Like she brings it up so much.

I think this is a fair thing to raise up. It could be answered with a simple: People are still scared, and just because they're out of danger doesn't change that. They could have died, and half their train got derailed. Based on the drawings, some of the passengers look to be in shock, one is clearly injured, one is an old woman. Plus it's kind of Cardin's job. He's paid to look after the passengers until after they get off the train. The rest of the passengers are getting off the train fine, so it's assumed they're helping who needs to be helped.

Focus goes to Cardin, who is employed by the train, for like two seconds. But Lilith never misses an opportunity to focus on men existing in any capacity for any amount of time. Especially if it's her beloved Roman or Cardinposting. Jaune asks about the Atlas base, which Cardin answers, but Lilith forgot that or something. Who cares it's two men talking. Ignore the women, complain about men. That's what Lilith does.

Lilith says Cardin shouldn't care about his teammate.

I gotta ask why Lilith even cares. She ignores anything the heroines do in Fixing. Even if it were true that Fixing outright ignores the heroines. But typical Lilith fashion, it's not.

Cardin says he requested a scouting party to look for the missing train, then he's going to search for Russell. Nora asks about Team RWBY and Jaune tells Nora, not Cardin, to not worry because he trusts Team RWBY's strength as huntresses. The same can't be said for Lilith, I guess. Does she think the girls need to be rescued? It's not like canon JNR sent a search party either. They got zero focus until RWBY+OQM got to Argus and canon JNR were nonplussed about them. So canon JNR knew RWBY would be okay, whether they cared much or not. It's fine for Fixing to not only do the same but for JNR to actually acknowledge it. It's a non-issue.

Also, I thought Roman was the self-insert, not Cardin. Make up your mind, Lilyboo.

"Roman's faithful servant". Look at how Lilith treats female characters. She ignores anything the main female cast do and she belittles Neo by saying something as derogatory as that. She calls Vernal 'Raymond's daughteru' and ignores the female contribution to Fixing. For someone who claims to be all about female characters and women, she sure does not treat women very well at all.

I also find it very fascinating how much we get into Lilith's insight into what she really thinks about RWBY by reacting to Fixing. She thought Cinder's interactions with Lil' Miss was boring in canon because she calls it 'prattling'. Methinks she's upset that Neo doesn't fight Cinder in this scene because she doesn't want to admit it's the only thing she liked about it. It's okay to only like RWBY for the fight scenes. The writing doesn't help make it interesting otherwise.

She didn't complain about anything else about the scene, so I assume she liked it.

She's complaining about the fact that Jaune, Nora and Ren aren't following Saphron into the grocery store to grab a single box of nuggets.

No one said they couldn't go into the store, but there's no reason to. She told them about a coffee shop, hinting that because of the incident at Beacon that prices are going up. What would they do at the grocery store, follow her around as she rushes to get nuggies and then take up space in line? They aren't customers, so they'd be loitering.

You mean now she's not the only focus like she's the only one who died. Remember, in Fixing a lot of people died during the Fall of Beacon. It was a real event. And the memorial got changed from a rather tasteless statue of one girl meant to manipulatively tug at the viewer's heartstrings into a memorial honouring everyone who died equally. Like in real life. Because this mural was based on one that exists in real life in Australia. JayJay and I actually talked about it earlier. It's based on the Australian war memorial in Canberra. So Lilith effectively is shitting on the concept of memorializing people who died who aren't just a main character, acting as if one person is important isn't stupid. If Pyrrha was the only one that died, fine. But it's never established in canon, from my recollection that Pyrrha is the only one who died. But Fixing is not canon and it changes to reflect previous changes that were set up.

She's "just" a name on a wall. How disrespectful to actual memorials around the world who honour more than one person this way.

Bad form, Peter.

She admits it. She admits it's not actually a trainwreck! Pack it up people she outed herself! Fun's over the troll exposed herself with a better twist ending than Hogwarts School of Prayer and Miracles!

I kid, of course, but I already discussed this.

It's all about Jaune. Iiiinteresting. There's no issue with Nora or Ren being in pain of their teammate having died. No, Pyrrha's death is all about Jaune, and Nora and Ren's only part in the story should be about how they should cater to Jaune and his feelings and Lilith is surprisingly okay with that. No, Lilith doesn't care about Nora, either, I suppose. If she doesn't think that Nora's guilt over how their fight didn't end before Pyrrha's death didn't get resolved means she gets focus, too. Lilith doesn't want that, though. How dare Nora or Ren grieve over Pyrrha, she only existed for Jaune.

Also, like, she thinks that one episode should encompass Jaune's entire grieving process related to Pyrrha and suddenly he should be okay with everything. After episode 8. Remember, there's at least 12 episodes left, and Helen made it clear we're going to be seeing her again. Lilith is really itching but she keeps getting blueballed because it doesn't resolve quickly enough. Maybe that's why she dislikes Fixing.

Lilith thinks that scenes have to start something, and then end it or else it's bad. It's a very childish way of looking at story writing, but I'm sure she'll have a very successful career writing shows for Treehouse TV or something. Toddlers will probably enjoy her work.

Plugging your ears and closing your eyes means that nothing happens.

Also, Lilith, be a dear and tell us when Cardin has abused anyone in the last 4 volumes of Fixing. Otherwise, he's not an abuser. Because he, like many of the other characters in Fixing, have gone through character arcs to become better people. I know, I know, it's the worst when characters actually have depth to them, but that's the price you pay for good writing.

You know, for as much as Lilith thinks that she's mimicking RWDE and other 'critics' of RWBY, she doesn't comprehend how to actually do it. I get there's probably people in the fandom who have said bad takes, or don't know how to argue their points well, but Lilith really feels the need to mimic those people and act like she's mocking those that actually make good, well thought out arguments from a place of knowledge.

She doesn't say how anything that happened in this episode invalidates plotlines and character growth that can happen. She's just preemptively blowing her proverbial load as usual, and all that's coming out is hot air. Lilith is bloated with hot air bigger than Violet Beauregarde when she was at full blueberry. Sadly, there's no method outside of fiction to juice her.

Now, before I go I actually wanted to say one final thing for those who are interested in my talking about critique and writing. Critique, criticism and especially 'fixing' things is not new, nor is it unique to the RWBY fandom. It's something that is common in writing circles, and becoming more common in other areas as well.

To show how very much not unique to RWBY this is, here's a bunch of videos I liked for various reasons pertaining to critique and to fixing stories. Highly recommend Unresolved Textual Tension, they're a favourite. And of course Krimsonrogue.

[fifteenleads]

where happiness lies

Bungou Stray Dogs | Miyazawa Kenji | Pre-canon | Character Study

-

No one in the Armed Detective Agency knows about Kenji’s coconut plantation.

Its existence is a puzzlement to the few who’ve heard of it in passing, shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders at the nigh-impossible endeavor of growing tropical plants in temperate, volcanic soil— out in the nowhere of Ihatovo, no less. Yet it still grows and thrives, a couple dozen tall trees with long palm branches that bow to the weight of the sweet, white fruit.

To the even fewer who know of it, it’s a miracle that stands the test of time and a memento of a friendship that lives forever.

Kenji had never presumed himself more than an applauding audience to this brotherhood of old, yet bore witness to it he has, and the sacred duty of honoring its legacy has fallen on his young shoulders. It is a task he willingly undertakes with delight and reverence, every minute in the sun and every bead of trickling sweat a testament to this undying labor of love.

When night falls, he rests under the shade of the biggest tree, losing himself in pleasant musings not unlike the gentle swaying of the low-lying branches. The golden yellow flowers will be bearing fruit soon, and there will again be a plentiful harvest. This humble patch of sloped land has seen its fair share of disasters since its soil was first tilled, yet the trees grow back again the next spring, resilient as the Mother Nature that had warmly accepted them.

A fond smile crosses Kenji’s lips at the thought. “It’s just as you said, Mister Juan.”

.

They had met four summers ago, when the rice paddies were still young and green and everything was still right with the world. During those days, every able-bodied villager would rise at dawn, share breakfast over tea, and pray together for a good harvest before setting off to the fields. Sometimes the women would bake bread, and everyone would savor the soft, chewy treat with fresh milk and boiled eggs, or pack it in their lunches instead so they wouldn't be late for the sunrise.

Kenji also helped out however he could, a mere youth of ten years already a powerhouse with his uncanny strength of ten men. Back then, he had no concept of the wide world beyond the borders of his small village, where the only truths were the circle of life, the changing of seasons, and the sense of common identity and belonging to which everyone ascribed.

He had been guiding a small herd of cattle across the shallow riverbank, staying with the youngest calf that had lagged behind due to a prior hind leg injury it sustained at birth. “Just a little more,” he coaxed the animal, taking a few steps forward before motioning it to do the same. Patience is a good thing, Mother says, so no one ever gets left behind.

They were almost at the other side when a worn, bloodied scarf got caught in his leg. Kenji regarded it with concern, wondering if anyone from upstream had gotten hurt while crossing the river themselves. He untangled the wet cloth and wrung it dry, then left his herd to go check the situation for himself, just for a little while.

From far away, he spied an old man beside an overturned cart of fruit, nursing what seemed to be an injured ankle by the riverside. Immediately he made his way through the rocky path, climbing over some of the larger boulders as he did. “Hello, Sir! Do you need help?”

The old man grunted in response, slowly craning his neck in Kenji’s direction. “Never mind me! Can ya fix my cart an’ put back the coconuts innit? There should be thirty of ‘em.” He then pointed with his nose and lips towards the mess of plywood and round green fruit, some of which had begun to roll downstream towards the river. 

“Got it!” Kenji grinned, then quickly caught up to the couple of runaway fruit, scooping them up one at a time with his free arm before they got swept away by the current. He then set them down by the old man’s feet before working on the wooden cart. It wasn’t too badly damaged, all things considered, save for a side wheel that had come loose after the impact. Most of the fruit that had been trapped underneath were likewise still fine, sustaining only light scratches on the outside thanks to their sturdy wooden husks.

“... Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!” Kenji triumphantly called out as he returned the last of the coconuts into the cart. Beside him, the old man sighed in relief, hobbling towards his restored fruit cart on his injured leg before falling forward into Kenji’s arms. “Please don’t force yourself, Sir!”

“Ah, ‘s fine,” the old man mumbled, waving him off and reaching for the handles to use as a support to right himself. “‘Twas a close one. Thank you, boy.”

“You’re welcome! You’re also headed this way, right?” Kenji then went over to the front side of the cart, lifting it up only ever-so-slightly, enough to help the old man push it along the riverbank. “Us men of the field are always proud to pull our own weight,” his own grandfather had once said, even after already injuring his back multiple times during past harvests.

The old man bared a toothless smile at him in silent gratitude. “Aye, boy. Let’s go there.”

.

“Say, you’re not from around here, are you?” Kenji asked between mouthfuls of coconut meat, watching intently as the old man slurped down the clear juice like he would a bowl of cool water. The fruit was perfectly ripe, with just the right amount of freshness and sweetness that hit the spot for parched throats and sore muscles on a hot summer afternoon.

They had taken up shade under a nearby cherry tree overlooking the rice fields while the small herd of cattle grazed nearby. The green stalks had almost reached their full height, though they had yet to begin to flower. The young farm hands still remain under the sun to tend to them; now is the most crucial time to ensure a good harvest.

“Hmm. I live along the border on the other side of the village, actually,” the old man answered thoughtfully, setting down his emptied coconut husk and wiping the juice that had dribbled down his chin. “I jus’ don’t come down the mountain often. Been busy growin’ these little ‘uns, ya see.” He then gestured towards his cart sitting nearby, the coconuts in it seeming to glow in response as they basked in the afternoon sunlight filtered by the yellow-green leaves.

“—Though, methinks that wasn’t the answer ya were lookin’ for, huh.” He then propped his elbows over his crossed legs and laced his bony fingers while staring intently. The sudden seriousness with which he said this line took Kenji by surprise, and he likewise set down his half-eaten coconut on his lap, rubbing his index finger along the rough edge of the husk along which it had been cut in half.

“Yer called Kenji, right?” He asked gruffly, doing the lip-pointing thing again. “Listen carefully, boy. This probably the first an’ last time you’ll hear it.”

Kenji gulped audibly at this, nodding and leaning in to hear more. “Yes, Sir.”

“Good.” There was that toothless smile again. “Name’s Juan. I grow coconuts. And I wasn’t born here, no.”

.

Ihatovo, he said. And he sent a photograph of him with coconut trees. Can you believe it? Grew ‘em bukos all by himself! There was no mistakin’ it, I would know those bright eyes anywhere, despite everything else of ‘im grown old an’ all wrinkled up. 

“So I packed my bags and moved here— all the way to Japan, to Ihatovo. And we hugged when we met, cried many, many tears ‘til they all be dried an’ gone. I couldn’t believe it. My best friend was alive. My best friend was here. And we were together again.

“Livin’ here was like a different world altogether. Didn’t know no Nippongo an’ all. But I was excited. It was like school all over again, and I was a young boy all over again. Kampanito felt the same. He and I would talk about all sorts o’ things, from our good ol’ school days to grown-up things. He did become a doctor, but only for a while. He didn’t want to talk ‘bout what happened after that, though. It didn’t matter anymore, I said. All that mattered was that I was with my friend again, ya know? And he said yes.

“We split a coconut between us for our first dinner together, a fruit he grew an’ harvested himself. Can you believe it, Juan? He said. This small patch of foreign soil on a sloped hill managed ta bear fruit that reminds us of home. It’s amazing! Still don’t know how it happened. It must be a miracle.

“I agreed with him with tears in my eyes. An’ the North Star shone brightly over us, remindin’ us that no matter where we are, or however long has passed, wherever we are happy is home. ‘Tis true even now, boy. Here— Ihatovo— is home.”

.

Kenji didn’t realize that tears had fallen from his eyes until Mister Juan gently wiped them with his thumb. “Ah, I’m sorry,” he stammered as he pulled back in surprise. He really enjoyed hearing the old man talk about his life, both heartwarming and heartrending at the same time. Moreover, he found himself identifying with him a lot more than he had expected.

“Nah, ‘s all good,” Mister Juan only laughed heartily, grabbing the other coconut he had set aside and cracking it open in one fell swoop. “Here, have some more buko.” Kenji accepted the proffered fruit, appreciating its weight in his hands. He bit off a small part of the thinned-out fruit on the top, before sipping the juice in it. For some reason it tasted a little different now— of youth and friendship. Of life, love, and of home.

“This is really delicious, Sir,” Kenji said after finishing off the rest of the fruit.

“‘Course it is,” Mister Juan bragged. “I grew it myself.”

It was already sunset by the time they finished talking and eating, and it was time to go home. Kenji offered his hand to Juan once more, leading him back to his cart. “Are you sure you don’t need me to carry you back?”

“Bah, us men of the field can pull our own weight ‘round here. I’ll be fine,” Mister Juan waved him off dismissively, despite limping on his good leg. “You go home, boy. Yer mom’s gonna scold ya if the cattle ain’t home by sundown, yeah?”

Kenji chuckled to himself at that; he was absolutely right, of course. “Can we meet again tomorrow afternoon? There’s a lot of things I’d like to ask you.”

Mister Juan only bared a toothless grin in response. “Well, who knows?”

.

No one in the Armed Detective Agency knows about Kenji’s coconut plantation.

It has already been four years since Mister Juan had passed, and apparently eight years since Kampanito had before him. Even the village elders had found Mister Juan’s last will strange, indeed: a single coconut fruit, completely emptied out except for the seed inside it. So Kenji planted it, just as Mister Juan had taught him to, dutifully tended to it, watched it grow alongside the others, and harvested its fruit every year. And just like that, the circle of life continued amidst the change of seasons, and the buko fruits remained to be part of him— of Ihatovo.

He returns to Yokohama today, having tended to the flowering trees on the small patch of sloped land after paying his respects to his friend. Everyone is surprised at the haul of tropical fruit stacked on his desk, with Ranpo begging Mister Fukuzawa to slice one up for him with his blade. Kunikida tries to get everyone to settle down while preparing the kitchen for the surprise afternoon refreshment.

“Mmm, I must say, this goes perfectly well as a cocktail,” Yosano remarks while sipping the juice directly from the fruit with a straw. “Something light for a summer afternoon, perhaps.”

“You drink too much,” Tanizaki grumbles from beside her, while Naomi adds condensed milk to her bowl of shredded coconut. “And that’s way too much sugar already!” As if in response, Kyouka holds out her bowl to Naomi, as well, who gladly drizzles more milk into it.

Kenji watches the daily squabble unfold with much amusement. He has to admit, their motley bunch of misfits work really well together, despite all the odds. It has barely been a year since he has joined the Agency, but he already feels comfortable with everyone. He has always made friends easily, after all, whether within his village or outside of it.

He walks over to the window overlooking the street, and offers Atsushi an opened-up fruit, a small metal spoon in it. “Where’s Dazai?”

“Dazai will be back in the evening, I think,” Atsushi says, gratefully accepting the fruit. “Said he had something to take care of earlier.” His grip on the fruit tightens as he looks downcast. “Truth be told, I can’t help but worry about him sometimes, especially when he takes off so suddenly like that.”

“Hmm.” Kenji sets down his coconut on the desk and leans back on the windowsill, feeling the draft of warm wind blow into his hair. “Dazai will be all right. He probably just needs a little thinking space for himself is all. Don’t we all?”

“... I guess you’re right.” Atsushi carves out a small portion of fruit for himself. “I mean, we all consider this place home, one way or another.”

“Yup, that we do,” Kenji agrees. “No matter where we are, or however long has passed, wherever we are happy is home.”

Just as Mister Juan said.

“Eh, did you say something? I don’t think I caught that,” Atsushi suddenly asks. For some reason, everyone else turns to Kenji, too, probably expecting some form of explanation, as well.

He merely laughs at that. “Oh, it’s all right. Just a long story, if you all want to hear it.”

-

END

-

Some references used in the story: 1. Night on the Galactic Railroad by (IRL) Miyazawa Kenji 2. The legend of Daragang Magayon (Filipino folk story)

Dedicated to my friends at the Buko Stray Dogs Discord server. Miss you all!

[wroteonedad]

Songs for oddly specific occasions

I love listening to music. I love to play the same 10 songs over and over again, each for different walking situations whether that be the I'm running late for the train or I need to go to the shop and buy some more mushrooms, I will always have my headphones on as I complete my silly little daily tasks. I figured I would compile a little list of songs to listen to for those oddly specific occasions. You're welcome.

Songs I listen to rushing to work to pour Doom Bars for Dave

New Bottega - Torren Foot & Azealia Banks. (2023).

This song has a hard fast beat. Kind of the way that drum and bass makes a person feel after taking drugs, but you get the same effect on the way to your minimum wage job.

GOT UR NUMBER - v2 - bugcried. (2020)

A quite frankly poorly produced song that makes me want to run a mile with its harsh elements of hyperpop. Love it.

Buzzkill - Take Van. (2022)

Another song with a harsh hardcore beat. Feels fun in the same way it does when a family member would go 2mph over the speed limit.

Songs I listen to when I'm cooking up my mackerel fillets in sweet chilli sauce

Alien Crime Lord - The Voidz. (2020)

When I'm cooking I love nothing more than fun jumpy genres of sound and this is the one song by The Voidz that makes chopping a spring onion a fun experience

Why - Carly Simon. (1982)

What is so good about this song is that I can still hear it even if my extractor fan is on full.

Unconscious Melody - Preoccupations. (2014)

No thoughts, head quite empty music. A personal favourite.

Songs I listen to walking across the pop up bars on the beach

Do the Astral Plane - TOSHIO MATSUURA GROUP. (2018)

Nearly 10 minutes of jazz and funk bliss. Added bonus, a Flying Lotus cover.

Estrelar - Marcos Valle. (1983)

Heard this playing from the pop up bar last summer and became a favourite straight away.

Summer Madness - Kool & The Gang. (1974)

I think anyone who says they don't like this song are simply lying to themselves actually

Songs I listen to when I'm reading the book I've been trying to finish for a year

Audrey's Dance (Instrumental) - Angelo Badalamenti. (1990)

This song is simply the goated song on the entire Twin Peaks soundtrack and is so soothing

CHANCES (INSTRUMENTAL) - KAYTRANADA. (2018)

KAYTRANDA makes some of the most wonderful beats to grace the nation, any instrumental makes me concentrate.

No - Nicolas Jaar. (2016)

Nicolas Jaar has so many songs I could sit and be quiet to, but this is one of my favourites to simply unwind.

Songs I listen to when I'm getting ready to feel disappointed and whelmed in a club

Two of Hearts - Stacey Q. (1986)

Fun. Girly. Makes me feel like I'm in a time capsule of some form.

NEW MAGIC WAND - Tyler, The Creator. (2019).

If only the clubs around here played this instead of Drake.

Clear Air - Sevdaliza. (2015).

This was recommended to me by a Tumblr mutual over 5 years ago and still continues to be one of my favourite hype songs.

Songs I would listen to cleaning the glass washers at work if I was ever brave enough to play my music out loud

Babooshka - Kate Bush. (1980)

This song makes me feel like the most powerful woman on earth

Perseguido Por El Rayo Mixed - Pegasus & Peggy Gou. (2019)

I feel like I'm a character in a Mario game whenever this comes on

Shambala - Beastie Boys. (1994)

Mike Ehrmantraut I am looking at you

Songs I listen to as I walk by screaming babies in clothing stores

Bruce Lee - Underworld. (1999)

The song is so loud that it'll drown any loud noise out

Hallways - Grimes. (2010)

Grimes squeaks so much in this that the crying would blend in well

Atopos - Bjork. (2022)

Industrial sounding in a fun out of this world way

This is how I feel when I am walking around listening to any of these songs in any of these situations. Hope everyone enjoyed it :)

[onmymasa22]

I am over the moon grateful to have been able to stay with family during the war. To be a jew anywhere is not simple right now, and its easiest to breathe in a home. And with that i am also really grateful to be If i wrote a book about falling in love with someone i cant have, the last lines would go like this:

You dont need to be angry with people. We have this idea that if someone wrongs ou, you are supposed to rave war. But just because i dont react, doesnt mean that what u did wasok. U r an idiot. I have moved on from that. How i react wont make you more or lessthat what i know u r. All it does is wastes my time. But make no mistake, kust be ause i choose not to respond to u,doesnt mean ur good.

And i told him, as chilly november wind blew, as we sat on the bus stop bench. 11am, a lit cigarette in my hand. I told him that i believed with my whole being that we would meet in a different lifetime. The feeling i got from him was that we knew eachother. An instant connection. He felt like a version of home. I knew that in a past life, we were married. We were so extatically happy together. That couple that disgusts you and simultaniously makes you believe in love. That kind of love. We were lying in bed, and you asked me if i thought we'd love eachother forever. And i promised that id love you for a thousand lifetimes. And here we are now. And i love you, im fulfilling a promise i made, but being with you is not going to happen in this lifetime

Im happiest when im there alone

Im in a mood of smoking weed with friends. Drinking vodka cranberry and watching a stupid movie.

Watch indiana johns something something lost ark... can someone explain to me why its known for being about good versus evil... the nazis are evil, but then the ark goes to the americans which is pretty mediocre... cuz indy wanted it to be something and america put it in the closet.

To everyone whos personality is empathetic but quiet. Where you're not going to post or talk about everyone you feel connected to. Those who fall apart from seeing pictures or images of people you dont eben need to know to feel as awful as anyone else. To those who are seasonally depressed anyway and the war doesn't help. To those who knowone will ever know just how many souls you connect to you because all you need is a voice, a picture, a video and you feel like you know them. To those who conside themselves a leg and the person who we lost an arm, who feel the loss, who understand how weird it is to be sorry for your loss,

I want a degree and then to get a job while looking for my dream job. I want a little apartment outside of the city.

Get a job

Live outside the city

Move in the summer

Get a job and work 4 times a week as a student

Live off of my money, start living my life

Work in rishon for the year- make up the classes

13&13 or 12&12

Weddings and funerals both have a special way of polarising people. You either know them or you dont. You were closer friends versus not so close. I always thought it was weird the feeling people get by being closer to an event, theres a justification that always happens where youre allowed to be extra happy or upset the closer you are. It sounds weird, but i always found the energies at celebrations and tragedies a curiosity. But for the empaths who feel it all but dont talk alot, who only need a video, a picture, a voice, to feel "unjustifiably" affected by a loss in our nation. Where you feel it all but noone says "im so sorry for your loss" cuz why should they. Where you find yourself wishing you knew them cuz then it wouldnt be so weird when you cry, people would just understand. Im gonna tell you: you are normal. Whether you knew the person, and whether you didnt know the person, wherever you are on that spectrum, i am so sorry for your loss.

You know as jews we kind of are a part of one body, and i might be a leg, and a lost person is an arm and i feel

Other girls might have been friends with a bunch of guys. Been really gross with guys. Bikinis on the beach, every night partying, friends and cars. India and sinai. Other girls might miss stuff like that. But do u know what i miss? I miss how i met ur mother marathons. I miss ordering pizza and eating way too much. I miss talking through greys anatomy about great scenes or whats medically correct. I miss going out to buy candy in onesies. I miss the one time drinking and watching the stupidest movie known to man. I slept so good that night. I miss the first time i ever smoked weed. I was in a bad mood, and the weed made me forget, and i stayed in a chill mood that whole night. I miss dancing on the kibbutz, we all secretly glt drunk at 10am and spent the day dancing. I miss the birthday party my pants caught on fire. We were under a bridge and it started raining and we were all soaked and just started dancing our butts off in the pouring rain at 3am. I miss the first day i felt pretty. The day i could look at myself and didnt want to hide in ramat gan. I miss the fireworks when the arab guy kissed me. The first guy i liked kissing me. Wjen he asked for my number. I miss my 21st birthday birthday where i felt so much gdly presence i was floating and gave out flowers at the hospital. I miss my first time in israel meeting the israeli soldiers. My life may not have the same amount of pictures as everyone. I dont care what i wore that day. But i had a spectacular life. Mostly i miss the calm of sitting abd eating pizza and watching tv with friends. Thats what i love the most. Ive had loud obnoxious in your face kind of adventure. Not the same adventure as everyone else. And maybe theure jealous of me- i had a crazy adventurous life. I lived in California knowing noone. I never really had an apartment- its too adulty for me. Its ok that their life seems so great. It isnt. I dint want it. I want my life. My life, with its regrets, is incredible. Its a story of a girl who knew it would get better. And then it did. It was spectacular.

A millionaire businessman needs to go to europe for two weeks. He goes to the bank and says id like to take out a loan for 500 dollars, im going to europe for two weeks. They need collateral so he says heres the key to my new jaguar. Ok, he goes to europe. Comes back two weeks later, back to the bank. He says whats the interest i owe they say 13.50. He gives them the 500 dollars back. He pays them the 13.50. He gets his keys back. The bank says mr businessman, if you're rich enough to have a jaguar, why did you need to take out a loan for 500 dollars? The business guy says where else could i have parked my car in Manhattan for 13.50 for two weeks

I want written on a teeshirt:

You can treat me like crap. You probably wont go up in flames or melt. Youll just have to deal with it in your next reincarnation while im in gan eden. But you are totally welcome to make the wrong decision. Thats you free choice.

I bought a perfume from giorgio armani a year and a half ago, my first time in italy. I wore it everyday and enjoyed smelling fresh- shampoo meets counter cleaner. I loved it so much that this past summer i finished the 80 dollar bottle. For me, perfume and mascara are an everyday thing that helps me feel alive and ready to go out. Before going out, i spray it on, and my favorite compliment is man, u smell good. I havent worn perfume for months. Definitely since the war started, its turned life upside down and i really havent thought about perfume. It seemed so vain. But for my birthday, i got a new bottle of the same lemon counter cleaner perfume, and i sprayed it today,and it just makes me so happy. Happy thati have t been in a while. Its like the perfume makes me feel ok. Like im ok. I can start the day. It just made me fall inlove with myself, and remember when life was just going about the day, hanging out with friends, late night car rides, dinners, sweaters, going to school, thrift shopping, beach days. When i felt ok. This is so important. It was a birthday that i wish i could tell myself the last like 4 birthdays- u will hve a birthday that makes up for all of it. Not because its some blow out birthday,but it actually was my favorite birthday since i was 20 and gave out fowers at the hospital. This birthday was just good. I took it gracefully. I wanted cupcakes and perfume. Guy texted me and that made me feel the best. Some friends wrote on my facebook page, some friends texted me. I just was quietly happy. Guy saying when can we meet up really made my day. I just felt loved by people likd i deserve the best. A guy will comd who deserves me. Who loves everything about me. Who will accept my faults and i can be honest with. Someone who sees me for who i am. Maybe i am someone who affects people around me. Im someone people remember.

Why do people have free choice to be an ass.