#big mac will lead up to the promised land!

[thats-h0w-th3-light-g3ts-in]

International

Women‘s Day 2024

— To my favorite girls in rock —

This international women’s day is for these two incredible ladies. Immensely talented, candidly beautiful, tremendously underrated. They were trailblazers in their profession. At a time where the rock & pop music scene was dominated by male only bands, such as The Beach Boys or The Beatles, and crowds were bowing to rock-gods such as, Jimmy Page or Roger Daltrey, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks were right up there with them. Women, as anything else than pretty faces and background singers were scarce in 1970s leading bands. Among Grace Slick, Joan Jett, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart and of course ABBA‘s leading gals Agnetha and Frida, they were in good company but still leading ladies in rock bands were a rare breed.

Christine Anne Perfect had been in a band called Chicken Shack over in the old country when she married the bassist of Fleetwood Mac and finally joined his band in 1970. After their founding member and frontman had left the band (and in some ways also this universe), the rest of them, consisting of a rhythm section and two guitar players found themselves somewhat lost and in need of a fresh spark. The spark came in the shape of Christine (now McVie) a very talented keyboard player with a soulful, mellow voice who conveniently, had already been living with them, having spattered her talent all over the last album they’d made as an all male blues band. After a while the music scene in Great Britain had developed in a different direction as the Mac, so they decided to try their luck in the land of dreams — the United States. After initially being promised to be back home by christmas, Christine would stay with the band — abroad — for the next 28 years. She would be a driving force and function as the fierce and headstrong but at the same time caring and peacekeeping den mother of the group, captivating countless souls with her love drunken songs.

In 1975 the somewhat unlucky band that was Fleetwood Mac found themselves in need of personell once again. After all of their lead guitarists had either gone insane, joined a cult, were fired for infidelity or left to do their own thing, in particularly that order, the band anew, was missing a crucial part of their lineup leaving them with an uncertain future. Their luck seemed to have turned as a new guitarist was quickly found, only to discover that he came as a package — with a girl.

Stephanie Lynn Nicks was the grand daughter of an understated country singer who took little Stevie on stage when she was only five years old. Having grown up around music, writing songs since she was a teenager, she was trying to make it big with her boyfriend in the city of angels. Her dreamy lyrics and hoarse, rusty voice was a welcome contrast to Christine‘s neat and upbeat love songs and it was soon clear she would fit right in. Even after splitting with the very boyfriend that brought her into the band, she would stay on as the main focalizer and diligent contributor for decades to come.

Both of those women were in their own way unique and oh so contraire but still stuck together, having each others backs. Neither jealousy nor competition seemed to be able to break them apart. They were co-existing in the sometimes toxic but oh so vital eco-system that was Fleetwood Mac forming a symbioses, as friends, keeping each other sane and most importantly alive and kicking — kicking in the glass ceiling that was the male dominated scene of 70s music and thus paving the way for so many talented young girl-singers, songwriters and musicians to come.

Christine once casually stated in an interview upon being asked if she ever felt the got enough credit, that nobody ever really said, ‘thanks for groundbreaking‘, so here it is: Thank you, ladies. Thank you, Christine McVie, queen of the keys and Stevie Nicks, goddess of the stage, for groundbreaking, for being role models in many more ways than just your talent in music. Thanks for sticking up for each other, for lifting each other up instead of taking each other down, for showing us what true and honest sisterhood is all about. Thank you from the bottom of the heart of just another girl out there trying to make it.

[fallout-drabbles-n-stuff]

abshwvshsh imagine Paladin Danse with Baby Fever.

Got alittle drabble?

*I got like an idea where Paladin Danse and Alex(fallout oc) go on a mission and end up finding an orphan baby and as Alex is taking care of it, Paladin Danse is like 😍😍🤩🤩. So yea lol.*

(I totally deviated from the prompt but I was hoping this would be satisfactory as well? 😅 if not, I'm more than happy to write for the original prompt, just send me another ask)

Perhaps this feeling was simply a product of the desertion he felt after exile.

You were so very kind to him. You were there for him when he had hit the lowest point fathomable, when his life as he knew it was ripped away from him and left him with this deep melancholic emptiness. It took time, of course, but like always- you were patient with him, truly there for him.

If asked, Danse wouldn't know exactly how you did it, but piece after piece you managed to put back together what he once felt was broken beyond repair. Maybe it was the way you valiantly fought to reassure his life's value, maybe it was the long days you spent at his side so he may not feel lonesome, but most likely it was the love you professed that let him know that if someone as wonderful as you could have such profound feelings for something like him...then yes, maybe he was truly worth more than he believed.

Nonetheless, there were still some times that Danse would sit in your cozy little home, a far off look in his eyes as he thought deeply about something you just couldn't quite put your finger on. Once, you would've been able to just look at him and know what troubled him- a trait he didn't care for in the slightest- but lately...he wasn't quite as easy to read.

His identity would forever be something he struggled with no matter how much progress the two of you made, this you knew and understood, but whatever was on his mind as of recent didn't seem to have the same effect. For instance, these moments you'd catch him in..he wouldn't look nearly as tense, which may be a fruitless observation to note- but hey, every little detail meant something with Danse. In addition to this, the proud ex-paladin would usually seek your comfort if his mind raced to such dark places and now he would only sit in silence.

Instead you were left puzzled, watching the man you love sit and continue on with his mental strife- only moving every so often to fidget with the glistening metallic band on his left ring finger.

You never would've guessed that the reason he was so deep in though stemmed from the child sitting on your kitchen counter, eating one of Danse's prized snack cakes with Shaun. The child happened to be one of the settler's kids, a little girl around six years of age- so far too young to help out in the farm, and too young to leave unattended..so naturally, with you being the bleeding heart you are, you agreed to help out the girl's parents and watch her every so often while they worked. Besides, after your marriage to Danse..and Shaun coming home, there wasn't very much adventuring going on anymore. It wasn't a big deal though, Shaun rather liked having company (even if he preferred hanging out with Duncan more) and having a younger child around didn't bother you in the slightest.

Unbeknownst to you, watching the way you cared for the two children really struck a nerve within Danse. It was almost enchanting to watch you fuss after them, leading his mind to wander off to the most fantastical places.

"Okay, Shaun, do you think you can handle taking her back home? Her ma and pa should be finished working out in the field by now. I'll send Dogmeat with you." You spoke, receiving a rather exasperated expression from your little boy as he gracelessly slid off the counter, feet landing with a soft *thud*.

He proceeded to hold a hand out to his much shorter, younger friend to help her down. "No problem mom..." He all but grumbled as he began to lead her out the side door. A blur of brown and black fur at your feet let you know your faithful companion was at attention and ready to escort the two children- a happy bark followed by the closing of the door eased your mind shortly thereafter.

Had it been anywhere else, you probably wouldn't have let Shaun leave without you or Danse..but given that the girl's parents lived two doors down- you didn't really worry. However, you DID worry about the ex-paladin.

With a casual sigh, you sauntered your way into the living room- only a little surprised when you realized your entrance hadn't done much to catch his attention. Regardless, you pushed on and decided to sit right beside him- smiling just the slightest bit whenever his gaze finally shifted away from his wedding band and to you instead.

"Alright." You began, making no qualms about scotching closer over to him until he instinctively wrapped an arm around your shoulder. "What's eating at you?" You simply prodded, head resting on his chest.

Danse visibly stiffened, as though under the impression that his silence went unnoticed. He couldn't have been more wrong- he knew better than to think anything would get passed you. Even if it had, the thrumming of his synthetic heart against your ear surely gave him away.

Before he dignified your question with a response, he shifted around so that he could properly face you- still holding you yet able to move his head in such a way that he might be able to see the way you'd react completely to what his next words were going to be. And…maybe to get your attention away from the heavy beating in his chest.

That's really when you noticed it. The fleeting look in his eyes, the unsteadiness of his breath, the slight pink shade decorating his nose and cheeks..Danse was nervous.

"This..I apologize but this going to seem completely out of the blue.." He finally spoke, sighing as he closed his eyes just for a brief moment- trying to collect himself so that his nerves might not get the best of him. This is a matter that he had been wrestling with for some time now, the last thing he wanted was to get so anxious that he couldn't speak.

Alas, calming down seemed to only get harder for him. True, it had only been a few seconds since he spoke but the way you looked at him, so concerned and so..sweet, made time slow down and his damned heart incomprehensibly race.

"Whatever it is Danse, I've got you.." Great- now that concern he picked up on was lacing your voice as well.

Was it truly necessary for him to complicate things to such extremes? It's not like the topic was completely alien to either one of you..and damnit, you're the one person he felt he could speak his mind freely to..so why wasn't this any easier?

Then came the words you never, ever, ever, would've expected to hear from his mouth.

With his eyes soft, and his voice even more so, Danse spoke. "I know we have Shaun, and don't get me wrong- I truly do love the boy as a son, my son...but have you ever considered what having a child of our own would be like?" It was in that instant that Danse realized how abrupt his words may have came out, that tender gaze of his slowly retreating to look anywhere but you. "Forgive me, it's um..it's selfish of me to anticipate you being ready for such a thing, especially considering what we have both went through this past year.."

Unable to focus on much else but the drumming noise inside your head from the profound beat of your heart, your trembling hands grabbed at his and squeezed.

"You know..you have a bad habit of cutting me off before I can tell you what I think, sir." You laughed, trying to distract from the tears threatening to well up. Sure, it may have been a slight over reaction but..with Danse wanting a family..it was one hell of a step in a good direction. "What happened in the past..well, it should stay there. The two of us have something most people never get, we have the ability to start anew and leave our troubles behind us, Danse. So...god, I don't think much else would make me happier than having a baby with you.."

Once the ex-Paladin got over the initial shock of your words, he all but mauled you in a breath-stealing kiss- his arms wrapping tightly around you to the point of making the promise of breath a distant memory. Nonetheless, you couldn't help but enthusiastically kiss the man back...at least until-

"MOM! Gross!!" Shaun shrieked, having opened the door at quite possibly the least opportune time. Great.

Danse pulled back with a shameful blush on his face, averting his eyes from the young boy who was now fake gagging as he walked off to his room.

“Guess we oughta see if Mac is up for letting Shaun stay over with Duncan..hm? You know, just to get a head start..” to this, the ex-paladin’s adorable blush deepened tenfold.

Fantastic....or rather...outstanding.

[allykakamatsu]

Danganronpa V3 Smash Bros Tournament!

•Monokuma decides a good way to get everyone to kill each other is a Smash Bros Tournament, I mean, with all the salt someone’s bound to snap.

•No one kills each other, aside from Maki attempting to kill Kokichi, but it does become a weekly tradition despite the rage.

Kaede Akamatsu

• Get’s into a heated debate over who gets to main Rosalina with Kaito, but after a bit she caved and agreed to pick someone else.

•She end’s up picking Peach after Tsumugi makes a comment that they kinda look alike.

•Little did anyone know that Kaede is actually kinda a monster with Peach and frequently does really well in the tournaments.

•Favourite stage is New Donk city, and every time she gets to play on it she sings Jump up Superstar the entire match.

•Nobody is sure if they love or hate it.

•When not singing, she’ll make the stage music anything that has a dominant Piano.

•Favourite item is the Star Rod

Shuichi Saihara

• Acts like he’s never played before and decides to main Chrom due to him seeing easy enough to play and liking his personality.

•In actuality has played on and off for years and is a proud Dedede main but is too embarrassed to admit it.

•Also plays Pikachu but cause it’s Miu’s main he doesn’t usually use the electric mouse.

•Usually middle of the road in the tournaments.

•Prefers to fight on Battlefield but so long as the stage doesn’t move he can live with anything.

•Likes to keep items off.

Rantaro Amami:

•Good with all three Link forms, but has a bias for Toon Link.

•Can’t remember when he started playing, but given how he’s the only one who doesn’t panic by tripping they assume it’s Brawl.

•They also assume this because whenever someone picks Meta Knight he gets visibly distressed.

•Tournament wise he Can either do really well or really s**t depending on the day.

•Doesn’t have a favourite stage but tends to pick the Zelda stages cause he likes them the best.

•The only one who’s happy when a warp star shows up.

Ryoma Hoshi:

•At first played Incineroar cause its the only cat.

•After realising how bad his recovery was though, he kinda just tried anything to see what would work.

•Found a few semi-mains, namely Snake, Link and Villager

•Usually doesn‘t try to hard in tournaments so comes in last, or will even sit out, but when he wants to win, he will.

•Moral of the story, if he picks Villager, panic.

•No stage or item preference, but when it’s his turn to pick he tends to go with Shadow Moses island cause he likes the look.

Kirumi Tojo

•Mains everyone and is good with all of them.

•Like, can beat Mario with Little Mac good.

•Does have a slight preference towards Shiek though due to her admiring the ninja’s loyalty.

•Due to her skills, she tends to sit out with Ryoma to give everyone a chance.

•When she does play though, well, try not to loose too fast.

•Also usually the one who has to stop Maki killing Kokichi if he beats her.

•Always goes random when stage picking time comes, but also puts all the stages in battlefield mode in case it lands on something BS.

•For similar reasons tries to ignore items

Angie Yonaga

•Everyone expected her to pick Palutena, and while she does have her as a sub main, Angie usually plays Sephiroth. •Why? Angel (kinda), kick ass theme, and loves watching the others panic when they see him. Plus, Atua told her to pick someone unexpected.

•Also tried Pit and Dark Pit, and while she likes their personalities she isn’t big on their gameplay.

•To this day the only one who’s beat Kirumi in a match, and outside of that time she’s still good in tournaments.

•Atua told Angie to pick Big Blue one day, and ever since everyone dreads her turn on stage select.

Tenko Chabishira

• Always plays as a girl no matter what.

•Plays Min Min more often than not, but occasionally surprises everyone by whipping out villager.

•Why? “She’s Himiko cute!!”

•Pretty good at the game, but super competitive. Unless you’re Himiko, be prepared to get yelled at at least once if she looses.

•One day while everyone was playing random, she got Ken and kinda hated that she likes it so she occasionally plays him in private. •Shuichi caught her doing this while he was playing Dedede, and they both promised to never tell a soul.

•Punch Out stage or bust!

•Doesn’t have an opinion on items, but when she plays villager she hopes for the bunny hood cause she thinks it’s adorable.

Korekiyo Shinguji

•Lucario or bust (he likes the aura theme) though he’s also kinda a monster with Lucina

•Strangely though, whenever he uses Lucina he acts... different? (the class is convinced he’s possessed when this happens.)

•Outside of that though, tends to be one of the worse players.

•Second to none at recovery though.

•Hyrule castle has been his favourite stage since day one And that’s never gonna change.

•Always has items on, he likes the surprise factor (he and Shuichi are never allowed have a one on one fight)

Miu Iruma

•Has probably been playing the longest aside from Kirumi.

•Has played all the games, and cause Of this is decent with all of the OG 8, but will always pick Pikachu.

•Will only ever pick someone else if it’s a random match or someone makes her give Shuichi a turn, and in that case she picks Pichu as a backup.

•Despite her boasting, is usually in the lower end of the group.

•Doesn’t stop her from rubbing it in when she wins though.

•Tends to go for Wily’s castle for her stage, if for no other reason than she’s the only one who can handle the yellow devil.

•Super Hammer or bust!

Gonta Gokuhara

•Likes Donkey Kong the best, but also tries to learn how to play Joker from Kokichi cause he looks like a gentleman.

•Also likes all the Pokémon even if he isn’t the best with them.

•Honestly, aside from Olimar he likes everyone, and he only really dislikes Olimar cause he’s bullying the bugs!

•Everyone agrees to never touch the pikmin rep when he’s in the room.

•Tends to come in last with the only one he can beat kinda consistently is Ryoma without villager, but he still has a lot of fun.

•Tends to pick whatever stage everyone likes best, and has no clue how to use items.

Kokichi Ouma

•Always plays Joker because who else is a phantom thief going to pick.

•Actually he plays Villager in his spare time but Kaito is the only that knows and that was a mistake so shh.....

•Begrudgingly teaches Gonta how to play, if only from the horror on someone’s face when they get cocky only to loose to the guy who didn’t even know what a Smash Bros was a few weeks ago.

•Peak troll. Camps with gun, let’s people *cough* Kaito and Miu *cough* Hit fake smash balls, always picks the auto scrolling stages, he just loves making everyone groan.

•Only thing that makes him visibly salty is Miu on stage select cause f**k yellow devil.

Kaito Momota

•A proud Rosalina main. A badass space princess that protects the stars, what’s not to love?

•First time they all play, they all expect him to suck..... so you can imagine their surprise he‘a one of the best players in the class, especially at edge guard

•Despite that, is the most susceptible to stage hazards and bad items, especially fake smash balls. He has gotten better at recovering from them though.

•Never asks anyone to turn them off though, cause it’s worth it for the black hole and the assist trophies.

•Whenever Kiyo plays Lucina, he makes sure to sit at the other end of the couch.

•Always tries to give people pointers, though since he really only plays one character he’s not the best at it.

•Will ALWAYS pick either the Mario Galaxy stage or the Star Fox stages

Tsumugi Shirogane

•Tends to pick Kirby for A, the cute hats, and B, it gives her an excuse to rant about the lore. You know those Kirby fans who obnoxiously push how the series is super deep? That’s Tsumugi.

•Rants the whole match, leading to people preferring Kokichi obnoxiously joining in on Kaede’s singing to it. •Knowing they’re not safe when she’s not playing either, they all agree that unless it’s random’s to never pick a Kirby stage or character (another reason for Shuichi to hide being a Dedede main)

•She’ll occasionally rant about other series too, but Kirby is the biggest example.

•Despite this, she’s actually a pretty good player, even if she can be a bit to sadistic with down special sometimes.

Kiibo

•Refuses to touch ROB or MegaMan to avoid falling into the stereotype of the robot playing the robots.

•Instead picks Pyra and Mythra cause they’re great characters with a bit of computer theme that only Tsumugi knows about mercifully hasn’t ranted on yet.

•Plays very predictably, but just because you know a Lightning Buster- Prominence Revolt is coming doesn't mean blocking it is easier.

•As such is usually in the middle of the pack tournament wise. •Refuses to use side B as Pyra because one time he did and Kokichi did a stupid combo which took him from 30% to death so he’s not taking any chances again.

•Tends to put The stage on random, which he occasionally regrets if he rolls a side scroller.

Himiko Yumeno:

•Mains ALL the magic users. •Robin, Zelda, Hero, Sephiroth, so long as they have a big focus on magic she’s all in.

•Tends to use Hero the most, specifically Eight, because she likes the MP gauge.

•Despite seemingly never practicing and only doing okay with most moves, is the fastest thing in the freaking world at picking the right spell. If she gets magic burst or Kamikaze, prepare to die.

•Everyone assumes she’s probably played Dragon Quest cause of this, but she hasn’t confirmed and just chalks her skill up to magic.

•The only one who can make Tenko stop raging.

•Keeping with the theme, will usually pick the World Tree stage.

Maki Harukawa

•Messed around with everyone a bit but was only super good as Zero Suit Samus.

•Even then she’s mostly middle of the pack, but she doesn’t mind too much.

•Unless she looses to Kokichi, then it’s a struggle for Kaito and Kirumi to stop her from killing him.

•Tends to handle snacks cause Kirumi has to be in the room to keep order and she usually gets knocked out early. •The most frequent subject of Kaito’s tips, which range from helpful to ”Kaito I don’t have a f**king Luma”

•Tends to pick Shadow Moses island cause she likes the look, and though she won’t tell anyone she loves the music

[fanfalc-616]

((( 2/? )))

Time for Amnesia AU!!

Kai tenses when, hours later, the door opens. Shit. Do they know he’s in here?

There’s a sigh, and someone sits in the chair beside the bed. From where he’s laying, Kai can just make out some green pants.

So it’s probably the blond from before. Well, unless there’s more people wearing green. But something tells him that this is the same guy- though he’s not sure what.

“Kai, if you’re in here, could you please come out? I promise that we just want to help.” The green-clad guy promises.

Kai doesn’t budge. He’s not going to let himself be lured out that easily. He’s not stupid.

“From what Jay tells me, you have amnesia. I know you can’t remember us, but we’re your friends.”

With an eye roll, Kai silently urges the guy to leave. He’s not buying this garbage.

The blond sighs. “I know you're in here, Kai. I know you too well to not know that. Please come out.”

Kai doesn’t move from his spot under the bed. There’s no way that they’re going to talk him into whatever they have planned.

A few minutes pass in silence, but then he hears the guy getting up.

Kai breathes a quiet sigh of relief.

But then the guy gets down next to the bed, peeking his head under it. He gives Kai a gentle smile that’s probably supposed to be reassuring, but all Kai can think about is how he needs to get out of there.

Scrambling back, Kai tries to roll out to the other side of the bed, but the blond grabs his wrist. With strength that seems almost obnoxious for a guy his size, he drags Kai out.

He does everything he can think of to try to get away, but the guy seems to be able to predict his every move. He pulls Kai against his chest, the brunet facing away. He can see the door, its right in front of him, but he can’t break free of the blond’s grasp.

“Kai, take a deep breath, okay? I promise that I’m not going to hurt you.”

Kai tries not to listen, but he eventually runs out of energy. Panting, he sags against the weirdo kidnapper, silently cursing himself. He needs to get out of here!

“Good.” The blond loosens his grip some- but not nearly enough for him to get away. “My name is Lloyd. I’m a friend of yours. Can you tell me the last thing you can remember?”

Clamping his mouth shut, Kai decides that he’s going to make this as difficult as possible. There’s no way that they’re going to convince him that he knows them- why would he be living on a flying boat? He’s got a shop to run!

Lloyd sighs. “Kai. I just want to help. You were talking about Four Weapons, Jay says? Have you met Wu yet?”

Kai grits his teeth. “I don’t know a ‘Wu’. Now let me go! I need to go back home-”

“You are home.” Lloyd tells him firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument. “You live here with us, on the Destiny’s Bounty. I-” He then pauses a moment, considering something. “Do you want to talk to Nya? She’s here.”

Kai sucks in a deep breath. He doesn’t believe anything that they’re saying, but if Nya’s here… he’s going to have to play along long enough to rescue her.

“Yeah, okay. I think I’m getting this.” He lies. “You’re Lloyd, and, uh…” He tries to come up with something that seems to fit the blond. “... green is important to you.”

He mentally facepalms. ‘Green is important’ where did he get that?! Why did he just-

Much to his surprise, Lloyd releases him. “Yeah.” He nods with a small smile. “I’m the green ninja.”

Kai resists the urge to roll his eyes. Ninja? Seriously? Now he’s just being ridiculous.

But instead of arguing, he just plays along. “That sounds… vaguely familiar. But, uh… you said you’d take me to Nya.”

Lloyd nods, walking over to the door. “Follow me.” He instructs.

So Kai lets the blond lead him through the ship, silently urging him to walk faster. Eventually, he walks into a room that looks like it's the bridge of the ship.

Looking around, he lights up when he sees Nya. She looks somewhat different, but it's definitely her.

She looks over at them. “Kai!” She grins, running up to him and wrapping him in a hug.

Kai feels his own grin form. “Nya!” He hugs her back, relieved. She seems uninjured, so thats a good sign. But still, something seems… off.

The thought hits him suddenly. Of course! She’s playing along with the whole amnesia thing so that she can gain their trust and escape!

He lets go and looks over at Lloyd. “Could I talk to her for a minute? Alone?”

Lloyd seems surprised by that, but he nods. “Of course.” He agrees. With one last concerned expression, he heads off, leaving the two by themselves.

Kai breathes a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He smiles. Then he pauses a moment, looking around warily. “Can they hear us in here?” He whispers.

Nya frowns. “No, the bridge isn’t bugged.” She confirms. “Why do you ask?”

“So we can talk in private. Do you have a plan, or were you waiting for me to wake up?” Nya looks really confused, but he keeps talking. “They trust you enough to leave you unsupervised on the bridge, which seems like a big deal. But-”

“Kai, what are you talking about?”

Kai arches an eyebrow. “Uh, escaping? Did they teach you how to land this thing, or should we just try to figure it out?”

“What do you mean ‘escaping’?” Her brows furrow. “We’re not hostages or anything.”

Kai gives her a suspicious glance. “So… we can leave?”

“I mean, yeah, but why would we want to?” Once she speaks, realization dawns in her eyes. “Your amnesia. Kai, what's the last thing you can remember?’

The brunet stares at her in shock. “Wha- not you too! Nya, I don’t have amnesia. These people kidnapped us…. Right?” He’s starting to grow uneasy.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” She insists. “This is important.”

Kai frowns, thinking back. “I, uh… I closed up the shop for the day. We had mac and cheese for dinner, it was your turn to cook. I told you that I was going to take another crack at sword making tomorrow, and you laughed and made a joke about how bad I was at it. Then we went to bed, and… and I woke up here.”

Nya’s expression shifts to shock. “Is that really the last thing you remember?” She breathes.

He feels nervousness start to settle in his gut. “Y- yeah. Why?”

“Kai…” Her somber expression puts him on edge as she speaks in a low tone. Looking him dead in the eyes, she continues.

“... that was almost four years ago.”

[melyaliz]

Past loves and future babies pt. 2

Masterlist 

Fandom: Marvel / MCU 

Summary: Steve and Dixie meet and talk their future children and marriage and other awkward things you talk about when you meet your future baby mama/daddy

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OC 

Notes: This was originally going to be all when they trying to have sex but I thought it was cuter if it was more domestic. The next chapter SHOULD be them trying to have sex for the first time. But we will see how that goes. I can already tell these two are going to be awkward AF   

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive​

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

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“So this is it, Tony decided to move us to the two-bedroom apartment,” Steve said leading Dixie into the small apartment that was part of the compound. It had a very open floor plan with a wide bay window overlooking a lake that was behind the compound opposite the landing bay. 

Letting out a soft sigh Dixie looked around taking in the beautiful view. At least she could pretend she was on some sort of retreat.

A baby-making retreat. 

“I am loving all the light” she said smiling up at Steve. She had NO idea how to act around this man. When she had first got the information she needed to get impregnated by one of the hottest men who ever lived she was… causally optimistic but now that this was a very real possibility it was MUCH more awkward and stiff. 

Or that could have just been Steve Rogers. He was being just so formal, making sure to hold every door open for her. She felt like she was being led around by a butler. 

A very muscular hot butler, but a butler none the less. 

“This is our bedroom” 

Dixie peaked in looking around. A large king-size bed was in the middle of it with two dressers and what looked like a walk-in closet. Almost nothing else for decorations. Even the bed frame and dressers were a super plane. Much like the personality of the man showing it to her. 

“I didn’t want to decorate until you got here” Steve mumbled looking down at her trying to gauge her reaction as she walked in. For the first time showing SOME sort of reaction. It was like opening a window in a dusty room. For for the first time Dixie felt like she could breathe. 

Maybe he was just as nervous as she was. 

“You didn’t have to wait for me.” she said spinning around for a moment, “I’m pretty shit at decorating… Last place I was in I covered in pictures of cats dressed up in costumes just to annoy Mac” 

“Mac?” 

“My brother,” jumping onto the edge of the bed Dixie swung her legs back and forth for a moment. She hoped it made her look relaxed and perky and not a bundle of nerves. “Don’t worry I wasn’t seeing anyone before this.” 

“Oh,” 

“Were you?” 

Steve looked up, his deep blue eyes were a little sad. Reminding Dixie of a puppy had just been kicked. There was an unspoken store there. One Dixie wasn’t sure she wanted to poke. It looked like it was maybe filled with heartache. 

“No”

She laid her back on the fluffy white blanket looking up at the ceiling, “kind of hard to have a social life while saving the world from purple aliens?” 

“Something like that” the sound of his heavy boots walking across the room made her smile slightly. Her heart beating so fast in her chest she felt like it would rip right out of her chest. Her whole body thudding along with it as if the blood was rushing so fast through her vanes she made her whole body shake. 

Trying to shake off the anxiety that kept swelling up inside her, Dixie sat up studied him for a moment. Trying to make this beautiful man in front of her seem more… human. “Thanks for that by the way. You gave a million people back their whole lives.” 

He flashed her a weak smile. And in that moment Dixie realized something. Whatever it was that he was hurting from it was obviously not cured by bringing everyone back. That maybe he had lost something more from the battles. Something he couldn’t bring back. 

The thought made her heart hurt. 

“What about you? During the years…”

“It was just my brother and I. Before, during and after.” Dixie shrugged looking down at her chipped red nail polish. “It’s always just been Mac and me” For a moment she felt sick at the memory of packing up and saying goodbye to him. She had never felt that way before. Homesick. There had never been a home to miss, never had been a family she had to leave. 

Until now anyway. 

But she wasn’t about to dwell on it. He was only a phone call away. He wasn’t gone, just a bit further away. 

Jumping off the bed she walked toward the door ready to leave this sterile room and the weight it held. Steve beat her there opening it for her. Once again going back to his overly proper attitude. She paused in the doorway turning to him. Her dark brown eyes locking on his beautiful blue ones.

“You don’t have to do that you know.” 

“What?” 

“Be so formal, we’re going to have to see a lot of each other so you can… you know… let your hair down.” 

Turning she dashed toward the next bedroom quickly opening the door by herself before turning around to look at him. He looked back totally perplexed but when their eyes met he broke into a genuine smile. 

Finally. 

“So we have a big old baby-making bed and another bed in here… for what? Fights?” 

“I figured if you felt uncomfortable you had a place to sleep.”

“Yeah..” turning Dixie sighed biting her lip trying not to laugh, her heart still pounding nerves on edge, “I’m not going to lie, this is awkward AF.” 

“AF?” 

“Sorry As Fuck.” 

He chuckled nodding scratching the back of his head, “There is a lot we need to talk about like marriage and…”

“Woah! Woah, slow down” Dixie held up her hands her voice hitting an octave higher than intended. “I was thinking more knock me up we co-parent and then when it’s 18 we tell the kid they are basically the plot for every Anime ever and then go separate ways as good friends” 

Taking a slow step she took a deep breath trying to calm herself. Try to pull her composure. “Did you think this was going to be like a forever thing?” 

“Well we’re going to be making a life.” he said looking down at her, “That is a forever thing.” 

“Steve,” her voice trailed off for a moment, “we don’t owe each other anything really. Just need to need to make a baby and that’s it.” 

He studied her face, looking down at her with those deep blue eyes. Processing what she was trying to explain. His face was unreadable but so calm. There was something about it, about that moment. About that reality that suddenly made Dixie feel so cold. 

They really didn’t need to have any feelings for each other. 

He could go off after this and live his beautiful Steve Rogers life, find true love. Find that woman (or man) who could make him truly happy. Find true love. 

And she would go back to her life of being alone. 

The prospect of never finding love wasn’t any different than it had been the day before and the day before that but… for some reason. At that moment she felt like she might cry.  

But Dixie doesn’t cry. She doesn’t feel sorry for herself. She knew a long time ago that she was unlovable so it wasn’t new information. No reason to get choked up about it now. 

“You’ve... Had sex before right?” she asked, better get it out now. Know what she was getting in the bedroom. 

“Yes.” 

“Recently?”

“I don’t know…” he obviously didn’t want to admit to his future hook up about his past hookups.  

“Ohhh Cap getting down, man or woman?” 

“What!!? No, It’s been a while.” 

“Like a few months, a while or like since the 50’s a while?” There was that possibility, one she wasn’t about to disregard. No matter how hard it was to believe. 

“Does it matter?” 

Dixie shrugged, “Not really I guess as long as your clean. I got tested a few weeks back but then again the only guy I was sleeping with was married before the snap.” Slowly she walked back into the living room him following her. 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah,” she paused a mysterious smile spreading across her face, “in fact, you basically are the reason we had to break up. When she came back I became the other woman. And have you seen me? I’m no one’s dirty secret.” motioning to her curvy body she shook her hips to emphasize the point. 

Steve chuckled sitting down next to her on the couch she followed him. The tension slowly melting around them. Both feeling much more relaxed, “I’m sorry?” 

“You’re forgiven.” 

It wasn’t supposed to work out anyway. 

“Are you, really ok with this?” Steve asked, mood shifting looking her over, “This is really a lot to ask someone.” Dixie shrugged thinking back to her life before this. Stealing tech with her brother from big companies. Robbing the rich to feed the poor. Thieves for hire looking our for themselves and only those they deemed worthy.

“I mean it’s weird but…” she paused looking away for a moment before flashing him a smile, “It’s not like I was doing anything before.” 

He gave her a soft smile studying her, “I just want you to know. There isn’t anyone else…” 

“There could be you know” Dixie mumbled there it was again. That cold hand over her heart, clenching tightly making it hurt in a way she didn’t want to dwell on, “You are totally free to date, see other people. I mean maybe after this” she motioned to her stomach, “But when they are born and stuff you are free to chase after love.”

At the word love Steve winced. Memories of Peggy kissing that dark-haired man. Standing in their beautiful white picket fence home. A picture-perfect life. The one he had wanted. The one he had been running toward without even realizing it until he was standing there realizing it could never be. 

“Hey” her voice was soft pulling him away from his musings. Her hand gently brushing over his before pulling away, hesitant unsure of her boundaries yet. “I’m serious. I’m under no assumptions that we will be anything… well maybe friends?” at her last words she held up her hand flashing him a smile. He looked down at her hand and took it. 

It was large and warm over hers. “I would love to be your friend” 

It was a start. It was a promise. It was a rule. 

Pulling him forward Dixie wrapped her arms his neck giving him a large warm hug. As she felt his own arms wrap themselves around her Dixie chanted it in her head as a mantra.

“Friends” 

Building a wall around her heart. Using the word like barbed wire to keep all those little butterflies that were trying to squeeze their way through away. Ripping at their delicate wings until she was numb to it. Protected from any sign of hurt. 

Pulling away they both looked at each other. Studying the other’s reaction. Then slowly, hesitantly Steve placed those warm large hands on the back of her head slowly pulling her slightly toward him, “Can I kiss you?” 

“Yes,” she muttered her eyes fluttering slightly as he closed the gap between them. Pushing at those walls she was trying to build to thickly around herself. He didn’t mean it. He wasn’t trying to, it was her own girlish tendencies. Her flaws she needed to work on. 

She was trying too hard and it showed. Their kiss stiff, awkward, and uncomfortable. Steve pulled away looking just how she felt and she knew she had messed up. They still needed to have sex at some point and what were they supposed to do if they couldn’t even kiss. 

This was her fault and she needed to fix it. 

“That was awful” she giggled her nerves bubbling up and spilling. “Kiss me again” 

“Ok” his smile lopsided as he leaned forward again. 

This time she was ready, wrapping her arms around his neck deepening it. Enjoying him, focusing on how he tasted and felt. Focusing on the carnal feelings around the intimate gesture and not her own emotions. 

He tasted clean, warm. In a way, he remained her of milky tea. Comforting and soothing. Something she would cuddle up with on a cold day. Wrap herself in like her favorite blanket. 

His arms around her waist gripped her slightly tighter, hesitantly as she pressed a little further. Her tounge flicking over his lip wanting to taste more. Wanting to know just how Captain America tasted.  

And then his phone dinged. It was like an arrow through them both. Pulling them back to reality. Swallowing thickly he turned slightly as she pulled away. 

“Anything important?” 

“No” he mumbled, “Just Bucky wanting to see if we wanted to join the rest of them for dinner. I guess Tony was going to order Chinese.” 

“UHG” Dixie’s eyes rolled back in her head as if she was having an orgasm, “Food sounds so amazing.” 

Steve chuckled, he was starting to really like this woman. She was so open and silly. Confident in who she was and what was going on. Her attitude was infectious and put him at ease. “I’ll let them know to add two more.” 

Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad he had thought. 

-GET TAGGED!- 

Masterlist 

Forever tag:  @the-shadow-of-atlantis​​ @coffee-randomness​​ @0hmydeku @xx3fsxx @daisyboobear​​  @jason-redhood​ @hello-i-lovespiderman-blr  @pinkwitch21 @tomhncharliep  @cdwmtjb8

@itsmeeluciie

[blackkudos]

Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq (born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group career, he has also produced songs for such artists as Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend.

He and D'Angelo were occasional members of The Ummah, a music production collective, composed of members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, and J Dilla of the Detroit-based group Slum Village. He is a co-founder of independent video game developer IllFonic, which developed Friday the 13th: The Game.

Saadiq's critically acclaimed album The Way I See It, released on September 16, 2008, featuring artists Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, and Jay-Z, received three Grammy Award nominations. His fourth studio album, Stone Rollin', was released on March 25, 2011. For the album, Saadiq worked with steel guitarist Robert Randolph; former Earth, Wind & Fire keyboardist Larry Dunn; Swedish-Japanese indie rock singer Yukimi Nagano (of Little Dragon fame); funk artist Larry Graham (on the bonus song "Perfect Storm") and Taura 'Aura Jackson' Stinson.

Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the "preeminent R&B artist of the '90s".

Early life

Saadiq was born in Oakland, California, the second-youngest of 14 siblings. His early life was marked by tragedy; he experienced the deaths of several of his siblings as a young child. When Saadiq was seven years old, one brother was murdered. One of his brothers overdosed on heroin and another committed suicide because he was unable to deal with his addiction to the drug. His sister died as a result of a car crash during a police chase in a residential neighborhood. Saadiq states that he does not want his music to be reflective of the tragedies he experienced, saying that "And through all of that I was makin' records, but it wasn't comin' out in the music. I did it to kinda show people you can have some real tough things happen in your life, but you don't have to wear it on your sleeve."

He has been playing the bass guitar since the age of six, and first began singing at age nine in a local gospel group. At the age of 12, he joined a group called "The Gospel Humminbirds". In 1984, shortly before his 18th birthday, Saadiq heard about tryouts in San Francisco for Sheila E.'s backing band on Prince's Parade Tour. At the audition, he chose the name "Raphael", and had difficulty remembering to respond to the name when he heard that he got the part to play bass in the band. He says of the experience, "Next thing I was in Tokyo, in a stadium, singin' Erotic City. We were in huge venues with the biggest sound systems in the world; all these roadies throwin' me basses, and a bunch of models hangin' round Prince to party. For almost two years. That was my university."

Career

1987–1999: Tony! Toni! Toné! and The Ummah

After returning to Oakland from touring with Prince, Saadiq began his professional career as the lead vocalist and bassist in the rhythm and blues and dance trio Tony! Toni! Toné! He used the name Raphael Wiggins while in Tony! Toni! Toné!, along with his brother Dwayne Wiggins, and his cousin Timothy Christian. In the mid-1990s, he adopted the last name Saadiq, which means "man of his word" in Arabic. His change of surname led many to speculate that he had converted to Islam at that point; in reality, Saadiq is not a Muslim, but rather just liked the way "Saadiq" sounded and changed his last name simply to distinguish himself from and avoid potential confusion with his brother, Dwayne Wiggins. As he confirmed by telling noted R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning 'Blues & Soul' in May 2009, "I just wanted to have my own identity!"

In 1995, Saadiq had his biggest solo hit to date, when "Ask of You", featured on the Higher Learning Soundtrack peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart. In 1995, Saadiq produced and performed on Otis & Shug's debut album, We Can Do Whatever.

Tony! Toni! Toné! would become major R&B superstars throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. However, after the 1996 album entitled House of Music failed to duplicate the group's previous success, Tony! Toni! Toné! went their separate ways in 1997.

1999–2004: Lucy Pearl and first string of solo albums

In 1999, Saadiq's next big project became the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl. He recorded the self-titled album with Dawn Robinson (En Vogue) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest). The group only lasted for one album.

Also in 1999, he collaborated with rapper Q-Tip on the single "Get Involved", from the animated television series The PJs. It samples The Intruders' 1973 song "I'll Always Love My Mama" and charted at number 21 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.

His 2000 song collaboration "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" won D'Angelo a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance; it was also nominated for Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. The song was ranked #4 on Rolling Stone's "End of Year Critics & Readers Poll" of the top singles of 2000. D'Angelo's album Voodoo won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards.

In 2002, Saadiq founded his own record label, Pookie Entertainment. Among the artists on the label are Joi and Truth Hurts. In 2002, he released his first solo album Instant Vintage, which earned him three Grammy Award nominations in addition to another two Grammy nominations for his writing work on “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” the following year. He released a two-disc live album All the Hits at the House of Blues in 2003, and his second studio album Ray Ray in 2004, both on Pookie Entertainment.

2004–2010: Expanded output and second string of albums

In 2004, Saadiq produced a remix of the song "Crooked Nigga Too" by Tupac Shakur which is featured on the album Loyal to the Game. Other artists he has collaborated with include Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, The Isley Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Teedra Moses, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Macy Gray, Angie Stone, Snoop Dogg, Mac Dre, Devin the Dude, DJ Quik, Kelis, Q-Tip, Lil' Skeeter, Ludacris, The Bee Gees, Musiq Soulchild, Jaguar Wright, Chanté Moore, Lionel Richie, Marcus Miller, Noel Gourdin, Nappy Roots, Calvin Richardson, T-Boz from TLC, Jody Watley, Floetry, Leela James, Amp Fiddler, John Legend, Joss Stone, Young Bellz, Anthony Hamilton, Babyface, Ledisi, Goapele, Ghostface Killah, —Ginuwine, The Grouch Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bilal, Chali 2na, Larry Graham, Luniz as well as many others. In 2007, Saadiq produced Introducing Joss Stone, the third album of British soul singer Joss Stone. According to J. Gabriel Boylan of The New York Observer, "he's produced artists including Macy Gray, the Roots, D'Angelo, John Legend, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, and more. With all of them he's pushed a classic aesthetic, heavy on organic sounds and light on studio magic, deeply indebted to the past and distrustful of easy formulas."

Saadiq's third solo album, The Way I See It, released on Columbia Records on September 16, 2008, available in a collector's edition box set of 7" 45 rpm singles as well as on traditional CD, was critically well-received, made several critics' 2008 best albums lists, and garnered three Grammy nominations including Best R&B Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocals (for "Never Give You Up", featuring Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton); Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (for "Love That Girl") and Best R&B Album for The Way I See It. Music from The Way I See It was featured in the following motion pictures: Madea Goes To Jail, Bride Wars, Cadillac Records, Secret Life of Bees, In Fighting (Rogue), and It's Complicated.

Touring with a nine piece band, Saadiq hit the 2009 summer music festival circuit with performances at Bonnaroo, Hollywood Bowl, Outside Lands, Pori Jazz, Stockholm Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz, Essence Music Festival, Summer Spirit Festival, and Nice Jazz Festival, Bumbershoot Music Festival and Austin City Limits. Saadiq has been touring Europe extensively, and held a five-night residency at the House of Blues in Tokyo, Japan, in June 2009. In 2008, Saadiq formed a new label called Velma Records, a place where he promises "people can express themselves like I did with The Way I See It... where they can dream something up and just go with it".

He produced songs for LeToya Luckett's forthcoming second album Lady Love, released August 2009. In 2009, Saadiq produced "Please Stay" and "Love Never Changes" for Ledisi's August 2009 release "Turn Me Loose". Saadiq also was the executive producer for an emerging group called Tha Boogie. Tha Boogie's first EP was released on iTunes and is titled Love Tha Boogie, Vol. 1 (Steal This Sh*t).

In 2009, Saadiq announced his video game development company called IllFonic. The first video game in development by IllFonic is titled Ghetto Golf, with an expected release late in 2010. In 2009, Saadiq teamed up Bentley Kyle Evans, Jeff Franklin, Martin Lawrence, and Trenten Gumbs to create a new sitcom called Love That Girl! starring Tatyana Ali. Raphael is an executive producer and composer for Love That Girl!. The show airs on TV One and debuted on January 19, 2010. That same year, Saadiq performed The Spinners hit "It's A Shame" in a legendary Levi's commercial and sang as part of the chorus in the 2010 remake of "We Are the World" for Haiti.

2011–present: Stone Rollin'

In 2011, Saadiq was the guitarist/bandleader for the group backing Mick Jagger for Jagger's tribute performance of the Solomon Burke R&B classic, "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" at the 53rd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles and on CBS. The band that accompanied the performance was Saadiq's touring band called Stone Rollin. In 2011 he and his band performed as the ESPY's house band for the night, where he performed his latest compositions.

Saadiq's 2011 album Stone Rollin' was released to great critical acclaim. "He's always had a boyish enthusiasm for performing, and a flexible, naturally joyous voice that suggests a young Stevie Wonder," wrote Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, "but with his latest album, Saadiq finds a new gear. The album and his current tour demonstrate that there's a big difference between retro and classic, and the artist consistently finds himself on the right side of that divide." Kot ranked the album number seven in his year-end list, in which he dubbed it Saadiq's "finest achievement" and stated, "He's always written songs steeped in soul and R&B, but now he gives them a progressive edge with roaming bass lines and haunted keyboard textures. He's no longer a retro stylist – he's writing new classics." Critic Jim Derogatis called it "a stone cold gas of a party disc."

In fall 2011, he performed on the fourth results show of Dancing with the Stars season 13. In December 2011, he performed a cover compilation of several Neil Diamond songs at the Kennedy Center Honors award ceremony.

In 2012 he signed a deal with Toyota to do a TV commercial for the Toyota Prius. In 2013 Raphael partnered with Bay Area/ Atlanta Production company EL Seven Entertainment/ Republic Records and new R&B Superstar Adrian Marcel and released his 1st promotional mixtape "Raphael Saadiq Presents Adrian Marcel 7 Days of Weak".

Saadiq is a featured bass guitar player on Elton John's 2013 album, The Diving Board.

In 2016 he executive produced Solange Knowles album, A Seat At The Table which debuted at #1 on music charts in the United States. He also guest starred in Luke Cage, where he performs his songs "Good Man" and "Angel" at Harlem's Paradise.

In 2017 he appeared in the award-winning documentary film The American Epic Sessions, directed by Bernard MacMahon, where he recorded the Memphis Jug Band’s 1928 song “Stealin’ Stealin’” live on the restored first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. Of recording on the system he said, “it’s amazing to just look at how it’s built, you know just look at the machine itself. It just has this like magical sound the way that it’s built. It’s true. It’s just the truest sound you could ever get.”

In 2017, Saadiq collaborated with Mary J. Blige as a songwriter for the movie Mudbound (2017), for which they both received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song.

In 2018, he produced the John Legend holiday themed album, A Legendary Christmas.

During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic he released a song on his website called Rony! Roni! Roné!”

Discography

Studio albums

Instant Vintage (2002)

Ray Ray (2004)

The Way I See It (2008)

Stone Rollin' (2011)

Jimmy Lee (2019)

with Tony! Toni! Toné!

Who? (1988)

The Revival (1990)

Sons of Soul (1993)

House of Music (1996)

with Lucy Pearl

Lucy Pearl (2000)

[goldenvicious]

Enter + Evolve: A whole lotta Pokemon.

Me: *continues playing Ultra Moon*

*Suddenly remembers I have to post my progress.*

Me: ...*rushes towards phone* OH CRA-

Anyways, here's an update after what I last posted. (Get comfortable and get some snacks, cause this one's a long one)

After talking to Lillie, I head towards route 10 and caught a Pineco, which i named "Great Wall". I also helped an old lady find her 8 Stuffuls. Afterwards, i headed up towards Malie City's Outer Cape and caught a Minccino. Their name? Sweeper. Next was Route 11, and I caught Po the Pancham. With not much else left to do, I progressed through the story as usual.

After reading the book in the library with Lillie, I headed back to route 10 and its bus stop. Some Team Skull Grunts were there, but I took care of 'em with ease. I went up to the observatory, got the Steelium-Z and explored Mount Homulani. There, I found a Beldum. After a bit of fighting, I caught it and called him Robo. I immediately evolved him into a Metang with a Rare Candy, grinded up a bit, and went back into the Observatory.

Before entering, I switched out NES for Robo and Chad for Bugzy. Looking back, that was a dumb move. I realized that when it was time to fight the Totem Pokemon: Totem Togedemaru. My team didn't have many resist to Steel and electric, and the only ones who did were under-leveled. Godzilla is immune to Electric, so I decided to lead with him in the fight. I sent out Godzilla, who held an Eviolite, and Togedemaru boost their defense by 2 stages. Knowing it knew a Steel move (Iron Head), and that Togedemaru has +2 Def, I used a Roto-Boost to raise Godzilla's stats. Godzilla survived the Iron Head with a little more than 1/2 HP. Togedemaru called for help, and in came Skarmory. After the +1 in everything, I used Bulldozer to hit Togedemaru HARD. It did, and it also crit in the process. Then, (after healing) I just spammed Rock Slide to knock out Skarmory. I was scared if the Iron Head, but we won and got the Electrium-Z. I switched Robo back to NES afterwards in the PokeCenter.

I was handed The Masked Royal's mask by the Steelium guy and told to give it to the Professor in Malie Garden. When I arrived, it was Professor vs 2 Skull grunts. They were about to fight, bit then someone arrived: Big bad Guzma. I honestly feared him a little. His Golisopod is nothing to sneeze at, and his Masquerain is also a threat. He challenges me to a fight, and I accept (Not like I had a choice). I lead with Head Honcho, and he leads with Golisopod. He leads with a First Impression. It nearly killed Head Honcho right then and there, but he hanged on with 5 HP. I hit him with a Supersonic Skystrike, but he lives with low yellow. Emergency Exit Activated, and he switches to Masquerain. I switch to Bwark, and they battle it out, with Bwark landing a Critical Hit Icy Wind. I sent out Magneton, and he sent out Golisopod. I'm able to survive a First Impression, and KO him with Thunder Shock. With him out of the way, I return the Mask and I'm given the Primarium-Z.

After all was said and done, I headed to route 12 and went onward. While in Route 12, I caught a Mudbray, and named it Micky (don't question it). I headed up Blush Mountain, and caught Toga the Togedemaru. I also trained up there to level up NES and Bugzy. They both evolved into Magnezone and Vikavolt, respectively.

After looking at my team, I realized something: Both of Head Honcho's typings were going to be replaced. Godzilla will become Rock/Dark, and Draco will be Dragon/Flying. With a heavy heart, I swapped Head Honcho for Boney, the Cubone. (I also swapped Bugzy back to Chad). Thank you Head Honcho, but it's time to retire. You shall look over everyone in the PC, and you shall take care of them.

After some more exploring, I encountered Hau and Gladion. Gladion told both of us to protect Cosmog (aka Nebby) at all cost, because Team Skull was after them. I promised to protect Nebby, and I will. I then moved foward and caught a Wishiwashi (Collective), Crabrawler (Mac), and an Alolan Sandshrew (Igloo). Along the way, Boney evolved into Marowak. Now, we're caught up to here and now.

[quietya]

YA Books You May Have Missed: April-June Edition

I did this for January-March releases (which you can see here) and I’m doing it again! I’m rounding up some YA releases that have come out between April and June. These are all books that are on my personal radar, so it’s not a fully filled out list of ALL the books, but it’s a lot of them. And as usual, I’m avoiding bestsellers and really buzzy books as much as possible.

We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett Release: April 2

Seventeen-year-old Revna is a factory worker, manufacturing war machines for the Union of the North. When she’s caught using illegal magic, she fears being branded a traitor and imprisoned. Meanwhile, on the front lines, Linné defied her father, a Union general, and disguised herself as a boy to join the army. They’re both offered a reprieve from punishment if they use their magic in a special women’s military flight unit and undertake terrifying, deadly missions under cover of darkness. Revna and Linné can hardly stand to be in the same cockpit, but if they can’t fly together, and if they can’t find a way to fly well, the enemy’s superior firepower will destroy them–if they don’t destroy each other first.

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn Release: April 2

Annie Mathers is America’s sweetheart and heir to a country music legacy full of all the things her Gran warned her about. Superstar Clay Coolidge is most definitely going to end up one of those things. But unfortunately for Clay, if he can’t convince Annie to join his summer tour, his music label is going to drop him. That’s what happens when your bad boy image turns into bad boy reality. Annie has been avoiding the spotlight after her parents’ tragic death, except on her skyrocketing YouTube channel. Clay’s label wants to land Annie, and Clay has to make it happen. Swayed by Clay’s undeniable charm and good looks, Annie and her band agree to join the tour. From the start fans want them to be more than just tour mates, and Annie and Clay can’t help but wonder if the fans are right. But if there’s one part of fame Annie wants nothing to do with, it’s a high-profile relationship.

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He Release: April 2

Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death... because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago. Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman Release: April 2

Uprooted from the city, Violet Saunders doesn’t have much hope of fitting in at her new school in Four Paths, a town almost buried in the woodlands of rural New York. The fact that she’s descended from one of the town’s founders doesn’t help much, either—her new neighbors treat her with distant respect, and something very like fear. When she meets Justin, May, Isaac, and Harper, all children of founder families, and sees the otherworldly destruction they can wreak, she starts to wonder if the townsfolk are right to be afraid. When bodies start to appear in the woods, the locals become downright hostile. Can the teenagers solve the mystery of Four Paths, and their own part in it, before another calamity strikes?

The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston Release: April 2

Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: save her favorite character, Princess Amara, from being killed off from her favorite franchise, Starfield. The problem is, Jessica Stone—the actress who plays Princess Amara—wants nothing more than to leave the intense scrutiny of the fandom behind. If this year's ExcelsiCon isn't her last, she'll consider her career derailed. When a case of mistaken identity throws look-a-likes Imogen and Jess together, they quickly become enemies. But when the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, and all signs point to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible. That's easier said than done when the girls step into each other's shoes and discover new romantic possibilities, as well as the other side of intense fandom.

White Rose by Kip Wilson Release: April 2

Disillusioned by the propaganda of Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl, her brother, and his fellow soldiers formed the White Rose, a group that wrote and distributed anonymous letters criticizing the Nazi regime and calling for action from their fellow German citizens. The following year, Sophie and her brother were arrested for treason and interrogated for information about their collaborators.

In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton Release: April 9

After her father’s death, Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta—the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club. But at temple Ruth meets Max, who is serious and intense about the fight for social justice, and now she is caught between two worlds, two religions, and two boys. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth’s life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she’s come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.

In the Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen Release: April 9

Nira Ghani has always dreamed of becoming a musician. Her Guyanese parents, however, have big plans for her to become a scientist or doctor. Nira's grandmother and her best friend, Emily, are the only people who seem to truly understand her desire to establish an identity outside of the one imposed on Nira by her parents. When auditions for jazz band are announced, Nira realizes it's now or never to convince her parents that she deserves a chance to pursue her passion. As if fighting with her parents weren't bad enough, Nira finds herself navigating a new friendship dynamic when her crush, Noah, and notorious mean-girl, McKenzie "Mac," take a sudden interest in her and Emily, inserting themselves into the fold. So, too, does Nira's much cooler (and very competitive) cousin Farah. As Farah and Noah grow closer and Emily begins to pull away, Nira's trusted trumpet "George" remains her constant, offering her an escape from family and school drama. But it isn't until Nira takes a step back that she realizes she's not the only one struggling to find her place in the world.

Last Girl Lied To by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn Release: April 16

Fiona claims she doesn’t remember anything about the night her best friend left a party early and walked into the ocean. But the truth is, she wishes she could forget. Trixie’s disappearance is ruled a suicide, but Fiona starts to believe that Trixie isn’t really dead. Piecing together the trail of a girl who doesn't want to be found leads her to Jasper, Trixie’s former friend with benefits, and Beau—the boy who turned Fiona down, who loved someone else, who might be happy Trixie is gone. The closer Fiona gets to finding out what happened, and the closer she gets to Jasper and Beau, the more she realizes that the girl she knew better than anyone may have been a carefully constructed lie—and she might have been waiting to disappear the entire time.

The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala Release: April 23

Esha is a legend, but no one knows. It’s only in the shadows that she moonlights as the Viper, the rebels’ highly skilled assassin. She’s devoted her life to avenging what she lost in the royal coup, and now she’s been tasked with her most important mission to date: taking down the ruthless General Hotha. Kunal has been a soldier since childhood, training morning and night to uphold the power of King Vardaan. His uncle, the general, has ensured that Kunal never strays from the path—even as a part of Kunal longs to join the outside world, which has been growing only more volatile. Then Esha’s and Kunal’s paths cross—and an unimaginable chain of events unfolds. Both the Viper and the soldier think they’re calling the shots, but they’re not the only players moving the pieces. As the bonds that hold their land in order break down and the sins of the past meet the promise of a new future, both rebel and soldier must make unforgivable choices.

Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali Release: April 30

Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry. When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break. Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her. Then her path crosses with Adam’s. Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister. Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father. Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals. Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…

Belly Up by Eva Darrows Release: April 30

I’d planned to spend senior year with my bestie-slash-wifey, Devi Abrams, graduating at the top of my class and getting into an Ivy League college. Instead, Mom and I are moving in with my battle-ax of a grandmother and I’m about to start a new school and a whole new life. Know what’s more fun than being the new girl for your senior year? Being the pregnant new girl. It isn’t awesome. There is one upside, though—a boy named Leaf Leon. He’s cute, an amazing cook and he’s flirting me up, hard-core. Too bad I’m knocked up with a stranger’s baby. I should probably mention that to him at some point.

The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Release: May 7

Kira Bennett’s earliest memories are of living alone and wild in the woods. She remembers the moment that Cady Bennett and one of her search-and-rescue dogs found her perfectly. Adopted into the Bennett family, Kira still struggles with human interaction years later, but she excels at the family business: search-and-rescue. Along with Cady’s son, Jude, and their neighbor, Free, Kira works to train the world’s most elite search-and-rescue dogs. Someday, all three teenagers hope to put their skills to use, finding the lost and bringing them home. But when Cady’s estranged father, the enigmatic Bales Bennett, tracks his daughter down and asks for her help in locating a missing child—one of several visitors who has disappeared in the Sierra Glades National Park in the past twelve months—the teens find themselves on the frontlines sooner than they could have ever expected. As the search through 750,000 acres of unbridled wilderness intensifies, Kira becomes obsessed with finding the missing child. She knows all too well what it’s like to be lost in the wilderness, fighting for survival, alone. But this case isn’t simple. There is more afoot than a single, missing girl, and Kira’s memories threaten to overwhelm her at every turn. As the danger mounts and long-held family secrets come to light, Kira is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her adopted family, her true nature, and her past.

Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen Release: May 7

Teriana is the second mate of the Quincense and heir to the Maarin Triumvirate. Her people are born of the seas and the keepers of its secrets, but when her closest friend is forced into an unwanted betrothal, Teriana breaks her people’s mandate so her friend might escape—a choice with devastating consequences. Marcus is the commander of the Thirty-Seventh, the notorious legion that has led the Celendor Empire to conquer the entire East. The legion is his family, but even they don’t know the truth he’s been hiding since childhood. It’s a secret he’ll do anything to protect, no matter how much it costs him – and the world. When an Empire senator discovers the existence of the Dark Shores, he captures Teriana’s crew and threatens to reveal Marcus’s secret unless they sail in pursuit of conquest, forcing the two into an unlikely—and unwilling—alliance. They unite for the sake of their families, but both must decide how far they are willing to go, and how much they are willing to sacrifice.

Nocturna by Maya Motayne Release: May 7

To Finn Voy, magic is two things: a knife to hold under the chin of anyone who crosses her…and a disguise she shrugs on as easily as others pull on cloaks. As a talented faceshifter, it’s been years since Finn has seen her own face, and that’s exactly how she likes it. But when Finn gets caught by a powerful mobster, she’s forced into an impossible mission: steal a legendary treasure from Castallan’s royal palace or be stripped of her magic forever. After the murder of his older brother, Prince Alfehr is first in line for the Castallan throne. But Alfie can’t help but feel that he will never live up to his brother’s legacy. Riddled with grief, Alfie is obsessed with finding a way to bring his brother back, even if it means dabbling in forbidden magic. But when Finn and Alfie’s fates collide, they accidentally unlock a terrible, ancient power—which, if not contained, will devour the world. And with Castallan’s fate in their hands, Alfie and Finn must race to vanquish what they have unleashed, even if it means facing the deepest darkness in their pasts.

The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad Release: May 14

Fatima lives in the city of Noor, a thriving stop along the Silk Road. There the music of myriad languages fills the air, and people of all faiths weave their lives together. However, the city bears scars of its recent past, when the chaotic tribe of Shayateen djinn slaughtered its entire population -- except for Fatima and two other humans. Now ruled by a new maharajah, Noor is protected from the Shayateen by the Ifrit, djinn of order and reason, and by their commander, Zulfikar. But when one of the most potent of the Ifrit dies, Fatima is changed in ways she cannot fathom, ways that scare even those who love her. Oud in hand, Fatima is drawn into the intrigues of the maharajah and his sister, the affairs of Zulfikar and the djinn, and the dangers of a magical battlefield.

The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta Release: May 14

Danny didn't know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they're ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny. But Danny didn't just find the Grays. They cast a spell that calls her halfway across the country, because she has something they need: she can bring back Imogen, the most powerful of the Grays, missing since the summer night she wandered into the woods alone. But before Danny can find Imogen, she finds a dead boy with a redwood branch through his heart. Something is very wrong amid the trees and fog of the Lost Coast, and whatever it is, it can kill.

The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina Release: May 14

Nothing's been the same for Beth Teller since the day she died. Her dad is drowning in grief. He's also the only one who has been able to see and hear her since the accident. But now she's got a mystery to solve, a mystery that will hopefully remind her detective father that he is still alive, that there is a life after Beth that is still worth living. Who is Isobel Catching, and why is she able to see Beth, too? What is her connection to the crime Beth's father has been sent to investigate--a gruesome fire at a home for troubled youth that left an unidentifiable body behind? What happened to the people who haven't been seen since the fire? As Beth and her father unravel the mystery, they find a shocking and heartbreaking story lurking beneath the surface of a small town, and a friendship that lasts beyond one life and into another...

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno Release: May 14

Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea-at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat. But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about. As her college decision looms, Rosa collides - literally - with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?

Birthday by Meredith Russo Release: May 21

Two kids, Morgan and Eric, are bonded for life after being born on the same day at the same time. We meet them once a year on their shared birthday as they grow and change: as Eric figures out who he is and how he fits into the world, and as Morgan makes the difficult choice to live as her true self. Over the years, they will drift apart, come together, fight, make up, and break up—and ultimately, realize how inextricably they are a part of each other. 

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn Release: May 28

Kimi Nakamura loves a good fashion statement. She's obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals: bold outfits that make her and her friends feel like the Ultimate versions of themselves. But her mother disapproves, and when they get into an explosive fight, Kimi's entire future seems on the verge of falling apart. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi's estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life. When she arrives in Japan, she's met with a culture both familiar and completely foreign to her. She loses herself in the city's outdoor markets, art installations, and cherry blossom festival -- and meets Akira, a cute aspiring med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. And what begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos Release: May 28

Ruby Chernyavsky has been told the stories since she was a child: The women in her family, once possessed of great magical abilities to remake lives and stave off death itself, were forced to flee their Russian home for America in order to escape the fearful men who sought to destroy them. Today, these stories seem no more real to Ruby than folktales, except for the smallest bit of power left in their blood: when each of them comes of age, she will have a vision of who she will be when she dies—a destiny as inescapable as it is inevitable. Ruby is no exception, and neither is her mother, although she ran from her fate years ago, abandoning Ruby and her sisters. It’s a fool’s errand, because they all know the truth: there is no escaping one’s Time. Until Ruby’s great-aunt Polina passes away, and, for the first time, a Chernyavsky’s death does not match her vision. Suddenly, things Ruby never thought she’d be allowed to hope for—life, love, time—seem possible. But as she and her cousin Cece begin to dig into the family’s history to find out whether they, too, can change their fates, they learn that nothing comes without a cost. Especially not hope.

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg Release: May 28

Glimmering like a jewel behind its gateway, The Kingdom is an immersive fantasy theme park where guests soar on virtual dragons, castles loom like giants, and bioengineered species--formerly extinct--roam free. Ana is one of seven Fantasists, beautiful "princesses" engineered to make dreams come true. When she meets park employee Owen, Ana begins to experience emotions beyond her programming including, for the first time... love. But the fairytale becomes a nightmare when Ana is accused of murdering Owen, igniting the trial of the century. Through courtroom testimony, interviews, and Ana's memories of Owen, emerges a tale of love, lies, and cruelty--and what it truly means to be human.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling Release: May 28

Hannah's a witch, but not the kind you're thinking of. She's the real deal, an Elemental with the power to control fire, earth, water, and air. But even though she lives in Salem, Massachusetts, her magic is a secret she has to keep to herself. If she's ever caught using it in front of a Reg, she could lose it. For good. So, Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly by Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans. But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire. Evidence of dark magic begins to appear all over Salem, and Hannah's sure it's the work of a deadly Blood Witch. The issue is, her coven is less than convinced, forcing Hannah to team up with the last person she wants to see: Veronica. While the pair attempt to smoke out the Blood Witch at a house party, Hannah meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina in town. But trying to date amid a supernatural crisis is easier said than done, and Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she's going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem's witches become deadlier by the day.

The Beholder by Anna Bright Release: June 4

Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match, a partner who will help secure the future of her people. Now that day has finally come. But after an excruciatingly public rejection from her closest childhood friend, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic, where a series of potential suitors awaits—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all.

Five Midnights by Ann Davila Cardinal Release: June 4

If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they'll have to step into the shadows to see what's lurking there—murderer, or monster?

If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann Release: June 4

High school finally behind her, Winnie is all set to attend college in the fall. But first she's spending her summer days working at her granny’s diner and begins spending her midnights with Dallas—the boy she loves to hate and hates that she likes. Winnie lives in Misty Haven, a small town where secrets are impossible to keep—like when Winnie allegedly snaps on Dr. Skinner, which results in everyone feeling compelled to give her weight loss advice for her own good. Because they care that’s she’s “too fat.” Winnie dreams of someday inheriting the diner—but it'll go away if they can't make money, and fast. Winnie has a solution—win a televised cooking competition and make bank. But Granny doesn't want her to enter—so Winnie has to find a way around her formidable grandmother. Can she come out on top?

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian Release: June 4

It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance...until she falls for Reza and they start dating. Art is Judy's best friend, their school's only out and proud teen. He'll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs. As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won't break Judy's heart--and destroy the most meaningful friendship he's ever known.

When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn Release: June 4

Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders. But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers. Then a boy goes missing on campus and Adele and Lottie must rely on each other to solve the mystery and maybe learn the true meaning of friendship.

Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan Release: June 11

When a powerful viceroy arrives with a fleet of mechanical dragons and stops an attack on Anlei’s village, the villagers see him as a godsend. They agree to give him their sacred, enchanted River Pearl in exchange for permanent protection—if he’ll marry one of the village girls to solidify the alliance. Anlei is appalled when the viceroy selects her as a bride, but with the fate of her people at stake, she sees no choice but to consent. Anlei’s noble plans are sent into a tailspin, however, when a young thief steals the River Pearl for himself. Knowing the viceroy won’t protect her village without the jewel, she takes matters into her own hands. But once she catches the thief, she discovers he needs the pearl just as much as she does. The two embark on an epic quest across the land and into the Courts of Hell, taking Anlei on a journey that reveals more is at stake than she could have ever imagined.

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante Release: June 11

Seventeen-year-old Marisol has always dreamed of being American, learning what Americans and the US are like from television and Mrs. Rosen, an elderly expat who had employed Marisol's mother as a maid. She never pictured fleeing her home in El Salvador under threat of death and stealing across the US border as "an illegal", but after her brother is murdered and her younger sister, Gabi's, life is also placed in equal jeopardy, she has no choice, especially because she knows everything is her fault. If she had never fallen for the charms of a beautiful girl named Liliana, Pablo might still be alive, her mother wouldn't be in hiding and she and Gabi wouldn't have been caught crossing the border. But they have been caught and their asylum request will most certainly be denied. With truly no options remaining, Marisol jumps at an unusual opportunity to stay in the United States. She's asked to become a grief keeper, taking the grief of another into her own body to save a life. It's a risky, experimental study, but if it means Marisol can keep her sister safe, she will risk anything. She just never imagined one of the risks would be falling in love, a love that may even be powerful enough to finally help her face her own crushing grief.

All of Us with Wings by Michelle Ruiz Kiel Release: June 18

Seventeen-year-old Xochi is alone in San Francisco, running from her painful past: the mother who abandoned her, the man who betrayed her. Then one day, she meets Pallas, a precocious twelve-year-old who lives with her rockstar family in one of the city’s storybook Victorians. Xochi accepts a position as Pallas’s live-in governess and quickly finds her place in their household, which is relaxed and happy despite the band's larger-than-life fame. But on the night of the Vernal Equinox, as a concert afterparty rages in the house below, Xochi and Pallas accidentally summon a pair of ancient creatures devoted to avenging the wrongs of Xochi’s adolescence. She would do anything to preserve her new life, but with the creatures determined to exact vengeance on those who’ve hurt her, no one is safe—not the family she’s chosen, nor the one she left behind.

Patron Saint of Nobody by Randy Ribay Release: June 18

Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story. Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth -- and the part he played in it.

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi Release: June 18

Sana Khan is a cheerleader and a straight A student. She's the classic (somewhat obnoxious) overachiever determined to win. Rachel Recht is a wannabe director who's obsesssed with movies and ready to make her own masterpiece. As she's casting her senior film project, she knows she's found the perfect lead - Sana. There's only one problem. Rachel hates Sana. Rachel was the first girl Sana ever asked out, but Rachel thought it was a cruel prank and has detested Sana ever since.

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho Release: June 25

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret--she's a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt. But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead--her gumiho soul--in the process. Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl--he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He's drawn to her anyway. With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon's.

Technically, You Started It by Lana Wood Johnson Release: June 25

When a guy named Martin Nathaniel Munroe II texts you, it should be obvious who you're talking to. Except there's two of them (it's a long story), and Haley thinks she's talking to the one she doesn't hate. A question about a class project rapidly evolves into an all-consuming conversation. Haley finds that Martin is actually willing to listen to her weird facts and unusual obsessions, and Martin feels like Haley is the first person to really see who he is. Haley and Martin might be too awkward to hang out in real life, but over text, they're becoming addicted to each other. There's just one problem: Haley doesn't know who Martin is. And Martin doesn't know that Haley doesn't know. But they better figure it out fast before their meet-cute becomes an epic meet-disaster . . .

The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren Release: June 25

Miriam lives in New Jerusalem, a haven in the desert far away from the sins and depravity of the outside world. Within the gates of New Jerusalem, and under the eye of its founder and leader, Daniel, Miriam knows she is safe. Cared for. Even if she’s forced, as a girl, to quiet her tongue when she has thoughts she wants to share, Miriam knows that New Jerusalem is a far better life than any alternative. So when God calls for a Matrimony, she’s thrilled; she knows that Caleb, the boy she loves, will choose her to be his wife and they can finally start their life together.  But when the ceremony goes wrong and Miriam winds up with someone else, she can no longer keep quiet. For the first time, Miriam begins to question not only the rules that Daniel has set in place, but also what it is she believes in, and where she truly belongs.

[sprnklersplashes]

not beyond repair (7/?)

AO3

On Friday, Veronica’s last class is Economics, along with Martha. After weeks of painfully enduring Martha’s stony, pitiful silence and wondering if she could honestly sit through it every Friday until graduation, getting to talk with her and compare notes and look at in confusion when she couldn’t get something (which was more often than she liked to admit; Martha was the one who was good at this kind of stuff, sometimes all Veronica could see were just numbers and words with no link to each other). When class finishes, they take their time packing, feeling no rush. While Veronica knows JD is waiting for her at his class, she has a feeling he won’t mind waiting for her.

“You want to come around to my house tonight?” Martha asks, slinging her back onto her shoulder. “My dad’s not working tonight so he can run us down to the video store.”

“Sorry, I have plans,” Veronica answers. “JD and I are hanging out.” Martha smiles gently, her eyes sparkling behind her large glasses.

“Anything exciting?” she asks casually, twirling strands of her brown hair around her finger. Veronica chuckles; Martha, innocent as she is, definitely doesn’t think what most people would think when they ask that question, and she loves her for it.

“I don’t know,” she says, a pang of guilt hitting her chest. She still can’t bring herself to tell Martha exactly what she and JD have planned for tonight and she can’t quite put her finger on why that is; maybe it’s because Martha’s moral compass is as rigid as they come, her heart big enough for every student at Westerberg, and Veronica frankly doesn’t want to deal with her attempting to talk her out of it. Or she might be wanting to avoid Martha’s loyalties being divided between her lifelong friend and her lifelong crush. Or, it occurs to her out of nowhere, maybe she’s not sure she wants Martha to know about this vengeful side of her, or of JD for that matter. “We’ll probably just watch a movie at his place. But we’ll hang soon,” she promises, meaning it this time, feeling a change in her words from the half-hearted, flippant words of her Heathers days. Sometimes she wishes she could burn away those weeks entirely, erase that time from her own memory and of everyone else in the school, hell, the whole town. “Are you doing anything next weekend?”

“No,” she says with a smile, shaking her head so that her brown ponytail falls over her shoulder.

“Okay, then next Saturday, we can do movie night,” she suggests. “And we can do it at my place. As long as you bring the Jiffy Pop.”

“Perfect,” Martha answers, her smile lighting up her face and the entire hallway. Veronica chuckles, bumping her arm against Martha’s. She pulls her arms tighter around her, clutching her textbooks closer to her chest. “And we don’t have to watch The Princess Bride if you don’t want to.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to?” she asks, her smile dropping.

“Well, because we’ve watched it so many times,” she explains. “And you’re right, maybe I have it memorised. We can watch something older if you want.”

“No,” she says quickly, grabbing Martha’s hand. “Come on, The Princess Bride is awesome. No matter how many times we watch it.”

“Are you sure?” she asks softly. “I mean-did the Heathers ever watch it?” Veronica supresses a groan, painfully ashamed of herself.

“No, they didn’t,” she admits. “That’s why they were so boring to hang out with.”

“The Heathers? Boring?” Martha asks, a hint of a smile on her face.

“Yeah,” she admits, not entirely lying but if she’s honest, not being entirely truthful either, finding a rather unhappy, slightly uncomfortable middle. “We can watch the Princess Bride. And anything else.”

“Okay,” Martha agrees. “Next Saturday.” Not too far off, Veronica sees the familiar long trench coat and curly hair and long legs. He glances up and sees her immediately-not like there’s a crowd to try to find her in. He gives her a smile as she approaches and extends the same to Martha. While the first day they started having lunch together was awkward to say the least, and the one after wasn’t much better, she feels him warming up to Martha. She guesses they must talk when they have English together, because yesterday they were going over their essay assignments, with JD even giving Martha pointers on Moby Dick, with her hastily writing them down on her notepad. Conversation has been becoming easier between the three by the day, the awkward tension slowly but surely fizzling out.

“Hey, you,” he greets. “Hey, Martha.”

“Hi,” she replies, shuffling from one foot to the other awkwardly. Veronica feel that tension may have been fading out slowly but surely, but the hard part is that ‘slowly’ is the operative word there. “Um, I’ll see you guys on Monday.”

“Sure, see you later,” Veronica says, hugging her quickly and lightly, like they have been doing since probably the very beginning of high school, before she scurries off to the main door. Veronica leans back against the wall next to JD, their fingers linking between them. The small grin on his face makes her laugh again. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says. “Just… I don’t know, you two are cute.”

“Cute?” she echoes, scrunching up her nose.

“Maybe not cute,” he admits. “I’m just glad you’re friends with her again.”

“Yeah, me too,” she says. “And the irony is it was all because of that rumour.”

“Speaking of which,” he tugs at her hand and pulls her off the wall, the both of them chuckling. “Come on.”

They leave out one of the side doors, JD telling her it’s easier to get to his house that way. As they walk down the streets, at first hand in hand, then arm in arm, Veronica begins to recognise the neighbourhood.

“I think Heather Mac lives around here,” she remarks.

“She does?” JD asks. “I haven’t seen her, but I guess we don’t exactly traverse the same social circles.”

“Still,” she points out, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “It’s a nice part of town. My mom wanted to live here, but the real estate was too pricey, so she got stuck on my street.” She tells JD about the roses being stolen from her neighbour’s garden, which gets a laugh out of him.

“Maybe that’s why they thought I should live here,” he remarks as they go up the steps to his porch. “Keep me away from ruffians who steal roses from sweet old ladies.” He opens the door and leads her into the lit hallway. “They didn’t count on girls climbing into my bedroom window though.”

“You’re never letting that go, are you?” she asks. He hums and shakes his head, making her laugh her usual too loud, too obnoxious sounding laugh. He kisses her gently, cupping her face with his hand. It’s brief; he pulls away after only a few seconds before going to the kitchen and leaning on the doorframe. Claire is sitting at the table, glasses on, apparently going over some papers. She looks up when JD knocks on the wood.

“Veronica’s here,” he announces.

“Hi Claire,” Veronica says, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Hi honey,” Claire greets softly, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.

“Working hard?” JD asks.

“Yep-too hard,” she replies. “So how was school?”

“Fine, I guess. We’ll be upstairs,” JD tells her, turning to leave, Veronica taking his hand and following him up.

“Door stays open!” Claire calls.

“Oh my god!” JD exclaims. “What does she think we’d even be doing?” he asks Veronica in a pained whisper. Veronica chuckles and sits down on his bed as he takes off his coat, not bothering to close the door.

Veronica looks around his room; she realises she hadn’t really looked at it the last time she was in here. It’s fairly bare; blue walls and a black and white checked bedspread, the shelves above the fireplace and bed lined with books and not much else. His desk is tucked in the corner, papers and books and pens haphazardly placed around it.

“Yeah, it’s um, I don’t really have a lot of stuff,” he admits, sitting on the bed next to her. He picks up a discarded t-shirt and inexpertly tosses it into the laundry basket; it lands half in half out. “I should’ve cleaned up a little.”

“It’s fine,” she says, bumping her knee against his. “I think I made enough of a mess last time I was here.” JD laughs, rubbing his hand over her shoulder before getting up and lifting a cardboard box up from the floor and placing it on the bed. He lifts out a black camera with a leather strap, wiggling it for good measure. Veronica raises her eyebrows and kneels up on the bed. She knows little to nothing about cameras, but she guesses it’s a fairly good brand, and it’s in good condition.

“A little going-away present from the kids in my old home,” he tells her. “And a crucial part of her plan.”

“So… we’re going to photograph them naked or something?” she asks, holding up the camera and looking at JD through the lens. He pokes his tongue out at her. She feels her finger press down on something and jumps as she hears a shutter click and a picture being printed. JD laughs and gently lifts it off the camera before shaking it around a little and pressing it into his palm.

“Exactly.”

“Pretty sure that’s illegal, J,” she points out. “And morally reprehensible.”

“Only if we distribute the photos,” he replies. “Which we are not. And we don’t even have to get them naked. That’s juvenile. Just looking stupid.”

“Is that really that hard?” she replies, wrinkling her nose, making him laugh.

“No,” he answers, still smiling. “All we need is them looking dumb enough to get them to listen to us.”

“So… how do we do that?” she asks.

“I… don’t know,” he confesses. “I was kind of hoping we could think of something.”

“Aw, you’re so romantic,” she teases, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her, pondering. “I might have an idea….”

“What is it?” he asks.

“What if we got them-Okay this is kind of terrible,” she laughs, hiding her mouth behind her hand. “And maybe impossible. But what if we like, got them in the woods behind the park?”

“I’m listening,” he says, kneeling down in front of her, resting his chin on the bed. She lies down on her stomach so that their faces are level.

“Okay, well what if we got them like, I don’t know, stuck up a tree or something?” she suggests. “All dangling and helpless.”

“Now there’s an idea,” he says, poking her cheek gently, pressing the tip of his finger into the dimple in her cheek, frowning just slightly as she sees an idea coming together behind his eyes. “And building on that….”

“What is it?” she asks, a tingle running up her spine despite herself.

“What if instead of being stuck up a tree, they dangled from a tree?”

“Seriously?” she asks, and he nods at her with an excited, wolfish grin. Veronica herself is unsure if she should grin back or let her mouth hang open. “JD, can we even do that?”

“All we need to do is get our hands on some rope,” he explains. “And…” He gets up and her eyes follow him to his bookshelf, watching him silently mutter under his breath until he finds what he was looking for. He brings a red, hard backed book back to Veronica, holding it between them.

“Every Boy’s Guide To The Wilderness,” she reads aloud, raising an eyebrow at him, noticing its remarkable difference from the volumes of classic novels and poetry sitting on his bookshelf and hiding in the corners of his bookbag and cardboard boxes. “Did you pick this one yourself?”

“I saw it in some old bookstore a few years ago. I thought it might come in handy,” he tells her. “It’s actually not a bad read. It’s got a lot of handy tips in case you ever want to take a trip to the great outdoors. Including…” He flips through the pages and turns it towards Veronica. She sits up on her knees and grabs the book to get a better look at the page, which details how to tie a rope perfect for trapping woodland animals.

“How far back does this book date exactly?” she asks. “1874?”

“It’s traditional,” he admits, shrugging. “But what do you think?”

“I think,” she says, running her fingers gently through his hair. “That you’re something of an evil genius.” He laughs and closes the gap between them for a kiss. They sit up together, her cupping his cheeks with her hands while he places his hands on her waist, tilting his head just slightly to deepen the kiss. She hears him make a small, contented noise against her lips and it makes her smile and shift her position. They have to break apart for a moment as she moves, sitting on the bed and wrapping her legs around his waist, her head tilted up to him as they resume kissing.

“Shit!” JD exclaims, pushing Veronica away from him and stumbling backwards. Leaning up on her hands, Veronica barely as time to ask him what’s wrong-or why he felt the need to push her violently back onto the bed-before the door is pushed open.

“Hey kids,” Claire says cheerfully. “Are you guys hungry?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” JD answers, rubbing the back of his neck. “Veronica?”

“Oh, I’m okay thanks,” she says, offering Claire a grateful smile.

“Well okay,” she replies delicately. “Well if you change your minds I’m downstairs.”

“I won’t, thanks,” JD says flatly. Veronica watches as Claire nods and heads downstairs, leaving the door open more than a crack. She turns to JD, biting her lip in a failed attempt to stop herself from giggling as he leans against the wall, looking at his boots.

“Cut her some slack,” she tells him, reaching her hand out to him, which he takes and pulls her up. “She’s just taking care of you.”

“I know,” he sighs, still avoiding her eyes. “I know. Just… Kind of wish I had my own space.” Veronica isn’t convinced that’s all there is to it, but she doesn’t push it, instead pressing her lips to his gently. She hopes she’s letting him know that she can be his safe space if that’s what he wants. He rubs their noses together, letting out a short breath.

“Why don’t I call Ram?” she asks, her fingers curling into his jacket. “Let him know what I want to do tomorrow morning?”

“Sounds amazing,” he replies, following her over to his bedside phone. Her heart hammers against her ribs and she’s unsure if it’s the thrill of the act or the worry she and JD might get caught, but she finds herself liking it either way. JD giggles as she makes the call and she has to hit him with the pillow to shut him up, which only makes her laugh herself.

“See you there,” she says after Kurt and Ram enthusiastically agree, their stunned silence followed a stammering “yes we’d love that”. Veronica takes the receiver and holds it between her and JD, pressing her finger to her lips as they wait for just one word from them.

“Dude, free pussy!” Kurt says.

“And we don’t even have to buy it a pizza!” Ram replies. Veronica pulls a face and hangs up the receiver.

“Gross,” she says, making an exaggerated shudder. She wasn’t wholly joking; Kurt and Ram had been getting under her skin for pretty much all of high school, even more so when she had been hanging out with them via the Heathers.

“Indeed,” JD agrees, but she still giggles, leaning into his shoulder. She feels herself falling backwards as JD pulls her down onto her bed, only making her laugh harder. She shouldn’t think it, but she knows her revenge on Ram and Kurt will be sweet. And maybe it’s about time someone gave them a taste of their own medicine; why not her?

                                                                                   ******

Veronica meets JD in the woods early enough in the morning, still rubbing sleep out of her eye, suddenly wishing she had planned their prank to happen around mid-afternoon. JD seems perfectly fine, playfully hitting Veronica with the rope he had bought from a hardware store on the way here.

“What did you tell Claire you were doing?” she asks as she holds his book upright for him so he can tie the ropes properly. “Somehow I doubt ‘revenge plan against the school’s resident assholes’ was met with a lot of approval.”

“I told her that me and you were taking a morning stroll through the woods,” he tells her, frowning at the knot and untying it again. Veronica looks around her, taking in the pink hue to the sky, the falling golden leaves scattered along the green grass, dirt paths made by trampling feet twisting and winding through it. She hadn’t come into the woods much, not since her Girl Scout days anyway.

“It’s a nice place,” she remarks. “Maybe it would be nice taking a walk in here.”

“The woods?” JD answers, looking up from his task, silently considering it. “Yeah, I guess it is.” She sighs deeply in frustration and almost immediately sees his mind beginning to work, a smile spreading across his face. “Maybe we can go on walks here. It’ll be romantic. People do that in books.”

“Go on walks in woods?” she asks, trying to remember any romance novels she had read and if walks through the woods were part of it.

“Yeah,” he says, tugging on the rope, nodding in satisfaction. “You know, the man and the woman go on a springtime stroll in the forest. The birds sing, the little squirrels dance at their feet-”

“Oh, come on,” she replies. “That’s Snow White, not a romance novel.”

“Never saw that movie,” he says, standing up. “I have read a lot of books, and that’s how they courted women back in the old days. Holding hands was basically third base.” Veronica laughs, but the first part of what he said sticks out to her.

“You haven’t seen Snow White?” she asks.

“Never got the chance, I guess,” he says. “A lot of places I lived weren’t really for movie-watching.”

“Oh that’s it,” she decides. “Sometime I’m taking you to my place and we’re watching every Disney movie you haven’t seen.”

“A movie date?” he asks, grinning. “I like the sound of that.” Veronica promises to herself it won’t be a meaningless promise; she swears to make it a reality in the near future, her and JD curled up on her bed, popcorn between them and a stack of videos at her side. Maybe not in her room, her parents would never allow her being alone in her room with a boy, even if she told a tiny white lie about them being ‘just friends’.

“JD,” she begins carefully. “Does Claire know that we’re…” She gestures in between them, the words dancing on her tongue but too timid to slip out. “Together?”

“Together?” he echoes, chuckling. “No, I haven’t really told her yet. I kind of want to keep this…” He gestures to the two of them, just as she had done. “Private a little while longer. Plus I’m still sort of… testing the water with her, I guess.”

“Testing the water?” she asks, worry turning her stomach.

“Yeah,” he admits with a slightly regretful tone. “It’s not that bad. Sometimes it just takes a while to get to know a foster parent. To trust them.” She feels her face drop slightly and he must notice it, because he takes her face in his hand and uses his thumb to poke the corner of her mouth, trying to make her smile. “It’s fine, Veronica. It happens with so many foster kids.” She nods, letting the smile he put on her face stay there.

“Claire seems great though,” she tries, feeling stupid. He nods, his face uncertain.

When she spies two people approaching, Veronica realises the irony of her being glad to see Ram and Kurt. JD squeezes her hand and runs behind the tree, tossing leaves over the rope. JD had (after a few failed attempts that made Veronica laugh so hard her stomach had begun to hurt) tossed the rope over a high enough branch for it to become invisible, he had instructed her to get Kurt and Ram to stand right at that spot where the rope was concealed while he stood behind, one hand on the rest of the rope, the other holding his camera.

“Hi… Veronica,” Kurt says, puffing his chest out. Veronica’s tongue pokes out the corner of her mouth, her eyes darting to the concealed circle of rope in front of her. They’re just a few feet away from where they need to be.

“So…” Ram continues, flipping his hair out of his face in a way she supposes she is meant to find attractive. “You want us to just take it all off?” Apparently it wasn’t a question, because he’s already taking off his track jacket, slipping it over his shoulders slowly, licking his lips in an exaggerated motion. Kurt suddenly clocks onto what he’s doing and does the same, unbuttoning his shirt.

“Won’t you leave me a little fun?” she says, her voice higher than normal, emulating the voice she had seen Heather MacNamara used when she tries to get boys to do what she wants, mostly giving her the answers to quizzes. She bats her eyes for the full effect.

“Fun?” Ram echoes, his jacket falling to the ground without a word. “What fun?”

“Let… me… strip… you,” she tells him. At her request, they exchange open mouthed looks of glee before turning their heads back to her.

“Really?” Kurt asks, beginning to bounce on his feet.

“Really,” she says. “Just step a little further for me?” They do as she asks, pushing each other side to be one fraction of an inch closer to her. She looks behind the tree, taking a few seconds to find JD in the shadows. “Little bit more…. And perfect.”

The next thing Veronica sees is Kurt and Ram being hoisted in the air, flipping upside down so quickly it makes her dizzy. They must have bumped their heads together as the sound of their pained yells echoes up and down the road, bouncing off of trees. She sees them ending up against each other, their hair falling towards the ground, and their shirts riding up and exposing their midriffs and then their stomachs. Veronica can’t even feel bad for laughing. Maybe she will later, but now all she can do is laugh and feel some form of victory at how pathetic they look.

“JD?” she calls out, looking over to where he was hiding.

“Right here, baby,” he assures her, whipping out his camera, ignoring Kurt and Ram’s pleas to put it down. The flash goes off, then two more for good measure. He hands Veronica two of the printed out pictures and keeps one for himself. She notices him shaking it in his hand and copies him.

“Now,” he says. “You two idiots have something to say to Veronica?”

“You weren’t inviting us here for a threesome?” Ram states, offended.

“No, I wasn’t,” she confirms with a shake of her head.

“Aw!” he replies. Veronica rolls her eyes.

“Anything else you want to say to her?” JD says.

“You’re rude!” Kurt says. “Lying about threesomes isn’t cool!”

“Well neither is spreading rumours about her,” JD points out. “Or lying about your sex life! Or getting the school to call her a whore.” He marches up to them, Veronica a little behind him. “So I ask again… do you have something you want to say to her?”

“Not really,” Ram mumbles. “Only when people find out about this at school, you two are toast.”

“Okay,” JD says. “You two do that and we can distribute these photos to the rest of the school.”

“No way!” Kurt says. “You wouldn’t do that!”

“Maybe I wouldn’t,” JD says. “Unless you tell Veronica three little words.”

“What? What? We’ll say it just get us down from here,” Ram begs. “It hurts!”

“Dear God, this is teetering on hopeless,” he whispers to Veronica. “Apologise!”

“Fine! We’re sorry, Veronica!” Ram exclaims as his face turns red.

“Yeah, we are,” Kurt agrees. “Really, really sorry!”

“And,” Veronica speaks up, stepping around and in front of JD. “You’re going to tell everyone at school that rumour was fake, right?”

“Oh come on, we can’t,” Kurt pleads. “We’d be a laughingstock!”

“If that’s what you want,” JD says. “Then we can distribute these around the school. This one here is particularly charming.” Veronica leans on his shoulder to see what he means; the photo is of Ram’s mouth open in either a scream of a gasp while Kurt’s face is scrunched up. She giggles behind her hand; he’s not wrong, it is quite charming.

“Okay fine!” Kurt says. “Deal.”

“Thanks,” Veronica says, pushing her hair away from her face with a triumphant smile. “JD, cut them down.”

“We don’t have to,” he points out, shrugging.

“Cute,” she laughs. “Seriously though, let’s just let them go.”

“Yeah, let us go, man,” Ram adds. “We promise we’ll tell everyone what really happened.” For a moment, JD doesn’t move, looking darkly at Ram and Kurt, and Veronica feels something clench in her stomach as she looks at his unreadable, conflicted eyes.

“JD?” she asks, tugging on the sleeves of her jacket, an unsettling feeling forming in her stomach. “JD?”

“Yeah,” he says, firstly to himself, and then more to her. “Yeah, I’ll get them down.” She watches as he runs behind the tree and begins untying the rope. “You two might want to brace yourselves.” They fall to the ground with an audible thump that makes Veronica wince. Despite the cool air, she feels far too warm. They scramble to untie the rope and jump to their feet.

“You two are crazy,” Kurt says, glaring at them both before running away, Ram hot on his heels.

Rather than coming over to her, JD stands behind the tree, pressing his fists into it and leaning on it. Veronica goes over to him instead, the warmth prickling at her back.

“JD?” she asks again.

“I’m okay,” he breathes. “Yeah, just… let’s just get this stuff packed up.” He yanks on the rope twice, then one more as it falls from the tree onto the ground. He puts it back into the backpack he had brought with him, along with his book. Veronica falls into step beside him, her hand brushing against his again and again until she decides to take his hand herself, being comforted by the smile that spreads across his face as she does so and the way he squeezes her hand gently.

“You were going to let them down, right?” she asks, wincing as she says it.

“Yeah,” he says. “I mean… I wanted to, yeah.” She wonders who he’s talking to, himself or her. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” she says, the half-truth sitting heavily between them. On the one hand, she was happy to see them hanging helplessly, finally switching up the roles even if it was just for one day, and happy to know her reputation might be slightly less awful than it is now. And knowing their pride will be non-existent come Monday. On the other hand… “I just kind of feel bad after that.” But not as bad as she should, either.

“You too?” he asks shakily. When she turns to look at him, Veronica almost thinks she sees fear in his eyes. Or at the very least, he’s shaken up about something. The boy she thought was somehow unbreakable was cracking at the edges.

“Yeah,” she answers delicately. “Maybe our vigilante days are over?”

“Sure,” he says, offering her a weak smile. They finish the walk together in silence, the occasional swing of their linked hands the only movement besides walking, a gesture that she hopes means he’s still with her, and it’s an attempt to clear the air between them despite the haunted look in JD’s eyes. She isn’t sure if she wants him to hold her closer or not and that to her is the worst part of all this.

By the time they make if back to his house, her mood is slightly better and her worries lessened by the gentle swing of their hands, but her eyes still trained on his face. His jaw is still clenched, his breathing far too calculated and steady, but the darkness in his eyes is gone and his thumb strokes the back of her hand affectionately. Despite the uneasy feeling that still hangs in her gut, she doesn’t want to leave when they reach his place. She turns around so that their linked hands hang between them.

“Thank you,” she says honestly. “For protecting me.”

“Always,” he says, smiling at her, even though it doesn’t meet his eyes. She takes his face with her free hand, stroking her thumb under his eye.

“Are you okay?” she asks quietly.

“Are you?”

“I asked you first,” she jokes. She knows a deflection when she sees it.

“I’m fine,” he says. “Just a little…” He seems to catch himself in the middle of his sentence and groans slightly, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about me. That’s not your job.”

“Whose job is it then?” she asks teasingly. “Claire’s?” Call her crazy, but maybe she wants it to be her job too. It’s not like she can help it anyways. He huffs a laugh, looking down at the ground. “You sure you’re all right?”

“I’m always all right,” he tells her. He pushes her hair away from her face. “Are you?”

“Of course,” she says, half truthful. He frowns, his fingertips trailing down her cheek and jaw as if he could coax what was really on her mind out of her simply with his gentle touch and soft yet stern eyes. Her mouth runs dry as the question lies on her tongue. “JD… you were going to let Kurt and Ram go, right?”

To her surprise, he isn’t angry with her. He lets out a long, steady breath, the hand that’s holding hers tightening on it and rubbing circles on the back of it.

“Of course I was,” he says. “I just… I’m sorry, Ronnie.”

“No, don’t be sorry,” she says, wishing she had never brought it up. “Just forget I-”

“Hey,” he croons softly, tugging on her hand and pulling her closer. “It’s okay. I am sorry if I freaked you out. I just…” His mouth opens and closes as he fumbles for the right words. She puts her hand on his chest, over his heart, hopefully telling him he can let her in whenever he wants. He smiles and places his own hand over hers. “I have someone to talk to about it.”

“And it’s not my job?” she asks, trying not to sound jealous.

“No,” he tells her, shaking his head slightly. “It’s not.”

What if I want it to be? She thinks but doesn’t ask.

“I should probably go inside,” he sighs. “Claire will be wondering where I got off to.”

“Sure,” she says. “I’ll see you on Monday.” A playful smile begins playing on her lips and she pulls him closer, even as his eyes flicker to the front door. “I can’t wait to see their faces.” He giggles, a welcome sight for her sore eyes, and nods.

“Me neither,” he replies. He hesitates for a moment before pulling her in by her chin and planting a sweet kiss on her lips. She leans into it, allowing herself to smile against him even as one of his hands tightens onto her waist and the other tangles in her hair. She should be concerned at the feeling of desperation in his lips, and she is, but she lets herself get lost just for a few seconds.

“Okay, now I really should go,” he whispers after pulling away, his breath mingling with hers.

“See you later,” she replies. He squeezes her shoulders before he disappears around the gatepost. She watches him through the edge as he half-runs up the path and knocks on the door. She looks away as it opens and he slips inside.

Not for the first time, Veronica finds herself wishing she knew what was going on inside her boyfriend’s head.

She feels her fingers itch for a pen and she curls it into a fist before heading home, her eyes flitting up to JD’s window as she passes his house. So many unsaid words bounce around in her head and build up in her chest. She picks up her pace, in a sudden hurry to get home and unload her soul the only way she’s ever known how to.

Dear Diary, she writes that night, her back up against her bed, her diary balancing on her knees and a steaming mug of tea beside her. Today was… weird. I don’t even know how to feel.

At the beginning, it was awesome. Maybe I liked getting revenge on Kurt and Ram-is that bad? Would it be something a Heather would do? I probably shouldn’t like it, but I did anyway. And that’s where it starts. I do feel bad, a little bit. No a lot, and that kind of makes me feel worse. I guess I should be glad that I feel bad at all, because God knows they never felt bad about telling everyone in the school about our imaginary threesome. Bottom line; I feel bad, but I also kind of don’t, and I don’t know what to think about that exactly.

And then there’s JD…

It’s complicated. He’s complicated.

He told me that he would have let Kurt and Ram down, and he did. And it’s not that I don’t trust him or I don’t believe him, I do. But there was something in his eyes… I guess if I had to use a word, I’d say looked scared. He was freaked out by something. The worst part is that I don’t know what he could have been scared of. It can’t have been Kurt and Ram. Was he scared of me? I want to say he has no reason to be scared of me but how would I know that? Or maybe he’s scared of himself, and that’s what freaks me out more.

I just want to be there for him. God knows he’s done it enough times for me. Keeping me safe. Sometimes keeping me sane. I know he said he has someone (a someone I don’t think is Claire) and that it’s not my job, but I kind of want it to be. A part time job at least.

And….

She pauses, her pen hovering above the page as her heart suddenly creeps up to her throat, and the absurd image of her vomiting it onto the page comes into her mind. She looks over her shoulder, feeling silly, like Heather Chandler would be sitting behind her reading all her secrets (although back when she was a Heather, a part of her thought she could do exactly that). Or maybe she was worried JD would be reading what she’s writing. What would he think of her then? A rush of guilt comes over her and she drags her legs closer to her body, but she doesn’t stop writing, the words flowing out onto the page making her brain feel far less crowded.

I just hope that he’s really fighting for me. Because my offer still stands; I’ll fight the world for him if he fights for me first.

She looks up at her ceiling, thinking back over everything. She dwells on the negative, on the tense walk home and JD’s fearful, conflicted eyes, for longer than she cares to admit, but she finds her way to the positives soon enough. Remembers kissing JD in his bedroom, the sound of his laugh and the flustered way he tried to clean up after himself, him telling her about the ways people in romance novels court each other. Remembers him pulling her in for a goodbye kiss, the sound of his giggle and the way he squeezing her hand, how despite it all, she felt like his touch was calming her down, how safe and right she feels around him. She remembers it all, remembers the clarity and happiness and spark in his eyes then, and smiles despite herself.

I have a feeling he is though.

[tendercuriiosity]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.  freya lillian mackenzie. NICKNAME.  mac. GENDER.  cisfemale. HEIGHT.  5′7″ AGE.  verse dependent but normally written between 16 and 24 ZODIAC.   scorpio. SPOKEN LANGUAGES.  english. after the curse was placed on her freya withdrew on herself and stopped speaking so she started to learn british sign language.

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR STYLE.  hair that doesn’t curl even when she tries, the colour tends to range from a mousey brown or sandy brown but it gets lighter in the summer. EYE COLOUR.  a bluey-grey. SKIN TONE.   despite the fact she tans quite well she rarely does so and is in fact naturally quite pale. BODY TYPE.   slim but without toned muscles. DOMINANT HAND.  left. POSTURE.  raised in an upper-class family and having taken ballet from an early age she has very upright posture. SCARS.   she has a couple small scars that aren’t easy to notice and one large one on her torso from the demon she summoned when she was 15. TATTOOS.  none. BIRTHMARKS.  she has a couple freckles on her back that her grandmother told her were in the shape of a wolf paw. CLOTHING STYLE.   her wardrobe is mostly filled with t-shirts, flannel button-downs, hoodies and jeans. she has a leather jacket that used to belong to Rex, she isn’t sure how she feels about keeping it but it’s comfortable to wear and sometimes it makes her feel like she has power over the trauma she went through.

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.  salcombe, devon, england. HOMETOWN.  salcombe, near the water edge. SIBLINGS.  dirk and anton. PARENTS. nicholas mackenzie and claudia mackenzie neé green. PETS.  medusa, the knucker dragon.

𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬 !

SLEEPING.   it is not rare for her to wake from nightmares or not sleep during the night in order to avoid the dreams. during college she lived off coffee and friends often had to swap it for decaf without her realising so she actually slept. EXERCISE.   during her later years of college, she got into the habit of running every morning with a couple of her housemates. now working at a school she doesn’t have as much time in the morning but does run on the weekend. EATING.  freya is not the best when left to her own devices surviving off easy to make meals that only really need heating or boiling. Plus she has a big sweet tooth that leads to unhealthy snacking   SOCIABILITY.  she used to be unwilling to talk to most people often retreating in on herself but throughout college, she became more outgoing. ADDICTION.   addicted to chewing gum. recovering drug and magic addict. throughout her last three years of college, she attended narcotics anonymous meetings.

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.  pansexual . PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE. submissive | dominant | switch PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE.  submissive | dominant | switch LIBIDO.  extremely variable. TURN ON’S.  people who light up when they talk about what their interests, confidence, neck kisses, hands in her hair and light touches to her shoulders or thighs. TURN OFF’S.  boring conversationalists, bad hygiene and being rude to others. LOVE LANGUAGE.  freya is better at expressing her emotions through acts of service, more often than not if she cares about you she will do whatever you want but she only tends to understand other people’s feelings about her if they use explicit words. RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.  due to the isolation, she went through early on in her life she has limited relationship experience, only having her first kiss in her second year of college and not having a long term relationship until over a year later.

𝐛𝐢𝐨 !

In a world where magic is possible, the old traditions are starting to die. The change can’t be traced back to any one person or government but in the present magic is forbidden. Those that are descended from magical creatures or have been born with magic are hunted.

The few humans born with magic either ignore their abilities entirely or only explore their birthright under the cover of night. While creatures of magic live on the fringes of society, buying charms and potions from the black market in order to help them pass for human.

But the black market is a dangerous game, those supplying the products either have very little knowledge or struggle to find the right ingredients so have to settle for poor replacements. And the prices will always run high because even with all the faults it’s the only way to survive in the changing world. However, there are still cities that hold more magic than its citizens or those in charge could ever imagine. 

Claudia Green’s family have a secret; there’s magic in their blood. Years ago, they were forced to choose between their status in society or their magic and the matriarch of their family chose the first. However, while she was growing up Claudia’s mother decided to bring back some of the old traditions, teaching her children magic in the night, until she was 25 and Claudia fell in love with a man who believed it was safer for everyone if magic continued to die.

Four years later Nicholas proposed and Claudia gladly accepted before admitting her heritage and how her mother had brought her up. While he was shocked, he ensured her that he would not hold it against her and their engagement went on, having their first child Dirk a year later.

While Freya was young her mother died and her father quickly began to grow paranoid about his children’s magic. While Dirk and Anton didn’t show any innate talent, Freya proved to be powerful and her close relationship with her grandmother only strengthened her abilities as she learnt to use them. Nicholas attempted to stop Ethel’s visitation rights but since he was unwilling to reveal her as a witch as it would damage his children’s future it was deemed he had no basis.

When she was ten, she fell under a curse that caused a gold coin to fall from her mouth with every word she spoke. She later learned the curse was an irrational last attempt by her father to deter her from magic, but she continued to learn about non-spoken magic under her grandmother’s guidance. However, the curse did cause her to retreat in on herself, unwilling to talk to those her own age and afraid of showing the symptom of the curse to the wrong person. Two months after the curse was placed on her, Freya was pulled out of school and began taking BSL as her modern foreign language instead of French.

She lost her grandmother when she was 15, at which point she went through a rebellious period of lying to her father and staying out all night. During this time, she was found by a dark magic dealer, Rex, when she went to the magic underground looking for the ingredients to a spell to resurrect her grandmother. Rex befriended her with the promise of breaking her curse and although he ultimately kept his promise, their relationship eventually culminated in Freya attempting a summoning. She lost control during the casting and the demon turned on her. It was close to killing her, when her eldest brother, Dirk, appeared and saved her. He had spent the past couple months attempting to track her down after she stopped returning home at night.

Once her wounds were healed and her condition stable, Dirk broached the topic with her about returning home ensuring her that their father wouldn’t care about anything that had happened, only that she was safe, but Dirk was wrong. Their father was furious and proclaimed that he was going to disown her, so instead she moved in with Dirk and he put her back into mainstream schooling, with the agreement that she would stop practising magic. It was a hard two years but she managed to complete her A-Levels and even got into Edinburgh University.

Lost by herself for the first time, Freya tried her best to focus on the task at hand: getting her degree. She managed to land herself a job near campus and an apartment with four other students. But it wasn’t long before her addiction to magic was replaced with an addiction to smoking and drugs encouraged by her roommates. By the end of her first year, she remembered very little of it and was only just passing her courses.

Once again she found herself in need of a change, she started seeing the university’s counsellor, who recommended a house near the edge of the city that had been run by students for years and was registered as substance-free housing. It took time to adapt to her newest lifestyle, returning to the house outrageously drunk within two months, but by the beginning of 2013 she had been sober for a year and her time spent in the house was the happiest in her life.

After graduation, where she achieved a 2:1 in Chemistry she completed an education qualification and began teaching Primary school students. Slowly she brought magic back into her life, with a couple of location spells and health potions, eventually working towards exploring the magical Underground that existed in Edinburgh.

When she was 24, Freya found Medusa, the dragon was barely a few weeks old and had been attacked by a fox, with no sign of her mother Freya took her to her apartment and healed the wounds. The pair formed a bond and Medusa chose to stay, spending a lot of time in the apartment’s sofa collecting coins and other shiny things that people dropped. When people who aren’t on the side of magic visit Freya places a glamour on Medusa to make her look like a Great Dane.

tagged by :  stole it . tagging :  steal it .

[mousedetective]

For the song lyric fic, would this be alright?- "I know your heart been broke again/ I know your prayers ain’t been answered yet /I know you’re feeling like you got nothing left /Well, lift your head, it ain’t over yet, ain’t over yet" (Move by Toby Mac) ship-Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers Thanks! You rock! I reblogged it to see if any of my followers might join in.

So...this might be a multichapter fic that’s the start of a new series where I, like, pretty much rewrite the entire MCU post-Agent Carter? ::innocent look:: Hope you enjoy!

Rebuilding SHIELD (A “Rebuilding SHIELD” Story - Part 1) - Fifty years ago, HYDRA attempted to kill Peggy Carter by poisoning her and her husband Daniel. While Daniel died quickly, Peggy survived long enough to be put into a beta version of a cryofreeze machine built by Howard Stark, the location of which he supposedly took to the grave. When Steve is fished out of the Arctic it becomes apparent that to save SHIELD once and for all, they need to find Peggy, revive her, cure her and stage a coup to get rid of the HYDRA infiltration and HYDRA's leader, Alexander Pierce. Only then will the world truly be safe. But there are many surprises in store for everyone involved...

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I know your heart been broke again I know your prayers ain’t been answered yet I know you’re feeling like you got nothing left Well, lift your head, it ain’t over yet, ain’t over yet from "Move" by Toby Mac

“Are you sure this will work?” she asked, her tone clipped to keep the worry out of her voice.

“Peg, I’m not sure, because this is technology that no one else has messed with, but if there’s a chance there will be a cure in the future...” Howard shook his head. “I’m sure.”

She knew he had been trying to give it to her straight, to not give her false hope, but she appreciated the lie nonetheless. “Very well, Howard. Put me under.”

“I’ll be here when you wake up, I promise.”

And those were the last words she heard for nearly fifty years.

---

“What do you mean no one knows where she is?” Steve asked, looking at the file Fury handed him.

“Howard Stark took the locations of Peggy Carter’s cryogenic stasis unit to his death,” Fury said. “She’s MIA as far as SHIELD is concerned.”

Steve sank into the chair and then rubbed a hand over his face. “What happened?”

“I think I should let my associate fill you in. He’s the history buff.” Fury nodded to a small, nondescript man to his side. “This is Phil Coulson. He’s been a big fan of yours, and hers, for ages.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Captain,” Coulson said with a small smile, offering his hand. Even with the ache in his heart, his manners hadn’t abandoned him, and Steve shook the man’s hand. “There’s someone else I thought should be invited to this meeting. Howard Stark’s son, Tony.”

“Just what we need, his inflatable ego,” Fury said, rolling his visible eye upward.

“He may have just the lead we need,” Coulson replied. “And...they should meet, you know. It’s only fair.”

“Suppose so,” Fury said, letting out a huff of breath.

“While we wait, I can fill you in on what happened to Mrs. Carter.”

“Mrs?” Steve asked, surprised.

“Yes. She was married, briefly. She and her husband were poisoned, you see. A slow acting poison for her, but because of immune deficiencies during his time in the war, her husband died in a matter of months. Mrs. Carter did what she could to establish SHIELD, then left it in the hand of others while Howard had her put into the cryogenic freezer system that he started designing the moment the poison was detected. She’d had a few of the effects, but to be safe, she instructed Howard to never reveal the location. He was tortured to death by the vestiges of HYDRA for the location.”

“Damn,” Steve murmured, shutting his eyes. Another good man lost to the cause.

“There’s thoughts his wife may have known, but if she did, it was a closely held secret among the Starks. She only died recently, but her son has been a large contributor to some SHIELD technology, inheriting his father’s intellect, and we hope--”

“Phil, she’s about six feet underground,” a voice spoke up from the shadows. After a few moments, a well-tailored man walked over to them. “Pleasure to meet you, Cap. My dad talked about you a lot.”

“Not in a bad way, I hope,” he said.

“No. You and Peg were his favorite topics when he’d had a few too many.” There was an edge to his voice, but Steve didn’t think the malice was directed at him, more at Howard. What had happened so drastically for all of this to be the reality he was dealt. “Anyway, Peg is in an underground vault here, in this building.”

“The whole damn time...” Fury said.

“My dad only leased this building to SHIELD. You never guessed why?” Tony smirked at Fury. “So Peggy Carter would stay safe and none of you government types would go poking around in his business.” He nodded his head towards Steve. “Want to fulfill my old man’s dying wish? You and her, back together?”

“Thank you,” Steve said, his voice so full of hope that he was almost scared the hope would be dashed.

---

“Peggy?”

No...no, this wasn’t possible. She felt a shot in her arm and winced. “Damn it all...”

“You could have waited till she was more awake.”

“This is Director Carter. We need to start everything now so we can finally get Pierce’s ass out of SHIELD before it becomes any more infested with HYDRA. You know he’s their bootlicker.”

“Peggy? You okay?”

Her eyes fluttered open. A near spitting image of Howard but no, she knew this wasn’t Howard...two men she didn’t recognize...

And Steve. Was this real?

“Steve?” she asked.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Mrs. Carter.” The short man in the suit stepped forward. “You just need a few more of those shots, one every day for a week, and the poison will be out of your system.”

Steve reached over and took her hand. He didn’t look as though he had aged a day. She turned and looked at the others. “Are you...Howard’s son?” she asked the man with the goatee.

“Yeah,” he said, his tone softer than she had expected but sounding so very much like Howard. “I’m Anthony. But you can call me Tony.” He turned to Steve. “My Tower isn’t finished, but you both can stay there while we get her on her feet. It’ll be safer and we can fill her in. Phil’s a history buff, he’ll be a huge help. Pepper can get it all set up before we even get to Manhattan.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Steve said, squeezing her hand and looking down at her. “We both have a lot of catching up to do.”

[shreyamistry]

XIX. Camping

Dan x MC (If you squint maybe past Noah x MC)

Summary: Dan and Devon decide to go camping in the woods to cope with everything that happened post-Redfield, Dan knew he could use the support and Devon pretending it didn’t bother them as much as they said it didn’t. Devon can’t help but want to set up a memorial for Noah, no matter how much it hurts to be there or how much Noah hurt them. All the while a surprise visitor waits for them.

A/N: Check out my masterlist here! See my specific Choices September Creates mastelist here! Requests are open, find my rules here! Only accepting Halloween prompts currently. Thanks for understanding! Happy Spoopy Spooks y’all!

Tagging: @nuttatulipa

Thanks for reading! I hope you like it!

Dan sits beside Devon on a blanket, his hand raking through his hair as he stares at the stars sprinkled across the sky above them. His heart beating quickly in his chest, as the hair on his arms stand up trying to calm his nerves. Redfield is gone. I am safe. Redfield can’t hurt us. He repeats the mantra over and over again as his therapist told him before when he gets that feeling of his heart beating to face and his face sweating more than usual or at all.

Devon carefully places their hand on top of Dan’s smiling softly at him, falling beside him to stare at the stares as they move Dan’s hand to their heart hold his hand against them, resting their head on his shoulder without saying anything. The way Dan liked it, the reassurance without words. He glances at Devon smiling quickly before directing his attention back to the sky.

The hints of purples and oranges decorating the sky effortlessly, making him feel slightly at ease. There is still beauty in the world, he tells himself before glancing at Devon smiling up at him, and people worth living for. He moves his hand from their heart to brush against the skin of their cheek, brushing his hand absently against their skin losing himself in the moment. Redfield’s grasp on his and his friends' life seeming further and further away by the day, the nightmares less and less, and with Devon staying with him the majority of his nights he finally feels like he can breathe again.

“Sorry, this camping trip must be lame,” Dan whispers shifting to face Devon completely, moving to tuck a strand of Devon’s hair behind their ear, his forehead leaning softly against Devon’s. “Next time we can go all out.”

“Being with you is enough for me.” Devon grins brushing their nose against Dan’s. “I love every moment we spend together.” Devon’s hand moving to his face, running this thumb along the corner of his lip, “You’re everything I need, Danny-Boy.”

Dan smiles brightly, laughing softly at his childhood nickname looking back into Devon’s eyes. “You’re incredible.” He brushes his lips against theirs, pulling them into the kiss, as he tilts his head to the side deepening the friction of their lips. Their hand dragging up and down his arm continues to melt against his lips.

His hand brushing through their hair, letting the moment wash over him. His mind spinning with dizzy circles as he enjoys the feeling, pulling Devon on top of him, not breaking their kiss as their lips continuing to work together in perfect harmony. The feeling of Devon’s bottom lip on Dan’s tongue, savoring the taste of them before they break apart a soft pant from Devon as they steal a final kiss rolling off of him.

“We should do it.” Devon admits, “Go to the path sit outside for a few minutes and accept that he’s gone. Not just Redfield, but Noah. He was our friend, he deserves something we can bring a few flowers and place them on the path.”

“Are you sure?” Dan asks nervously glancing towards the path visible to them from their spot. “I don’t want to wake him up again, I already ruined our lives once I won’t do it again.”

“We should do it, for the both of us. We both need closure.” Devon nods heavily, their hand resting on the healing wound on this stomach, holding it tightly relieving the pain as they think about the night, what going to the ruins will truly mean for them, sucking down a breath before glancing back at Dan’s concerned features. “I can’t do this without you.”

“No one goes in.” Dan nods, “We stand outside and pay our respects.”

“Promise to kiss me if I get nervous?” Devon grins finding Dan’s hands pulling him towards the path walking backwards to face him. “My big strong jock will protect me won’t he?” Devon laughs as Dan rolls his eyes smiling.

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave you there if he breaks out,” Dan smirks, as Devon drops his hand shoving his chest with a laugh, before spinning on their heel. “What are you doing?!” He calls after them.

“Race you there! Maybe it’ll make it less scary if our adrenaline is pumping with life. Last one there is a dumb jock!” They call over their shoulder with a grin, as Dan takes off after them his feet pounding against the floor as he tries to catch up with their head start.

“You’re going to have to call yourself a dumb jock in a few!” Dan shouts, a few paces behind Devon as they glance over their shoulder at his approaching form. Pushing themselves harder seeing the clearing up ahead.

“NEVER!” They call out as they slip on a pile of leaves with a yelp gliding them into the clearing landing with a heavy thud staring at the sky before a few moments Dan in standing above them, looking down at them.

“Let me touch the rock to win and I’ll help you up.” He smirks, before jogging off towards the rock approaching the actual walkway to the ruins slamming his hand down on the rock throwing his arms up with a cheer as he turns to face Devon. “I am the king of kings!” He laughs, opening his eyes, his gaze falling on Devon, who watches the building hesitantly, their hands shaking.

“Dan maybe we shouldn’t do this.” Devon shakes their head, taking a few steps back. “I don’t think I can do this.” Their eyes filling with terror as their stomach burns under their clothes looking back at Dan who pulls them into his embrace.  “I can’t do this.”

“You can. We can.” He nods, taking a heavy breath moving to grab their hands.

“Don’t let go of my hand then.” Devon nods, closing their eyes as Dan leads them towards the rock, “Let’s pick some flowers and place them on the rock for Noah.”

“I’m surprised you wanna,” Dan admits, as he leads Devon towards a patch of flowers, their eyes squeezing open taking in the brightly colored flowers as they move to begin picking them with the football captain. Staring at the floors and thinking of Noah, as much as they wanted to hate Noah’s guts, they couldn’t bring themselves to do it.

Even in his last breath he only cared about his friends and Jane, somewhere in his twisted mind Devon knew he only did it to help. They knew he used them, all of them, and betrayed their trust that ran as thick as blood. Somewhere inside there, was a boy who lost his sister and wanted to bring her to safety and they knew they might have done the same in his position. That was their best friend in the ruins, a person they cared endlessly and only wanted to love. And they couldn’t even protect her, but Noah found a way to find her peace and they fully believed Noah would have sacrificed himself if his mind was clear. If he didn’t- didn’t try to…

“He was one of us, Dan. He deserves a burial.” Devon sniffles, standing up with a handful of flowers as them and Dan combine their flowers into a single bouquet, laying it on the rock together their fingers interlacing as they stare back at the ruins. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a hard liquor.”

Dan laughs despite himself, sniffling softly as he wipes his nose with the back of his head. “Goodbye Noah, I hope you find peace.” Devon chokes out, as Dan wraps his arm around Devon’s shoulder standing a few moments before pulling Devon into his chest as their tears run down their cheeks burying their face in his chest.

They find themselves back out of the deepest part of the woods, looking around to notice a camper sitting where their blanket used to rest looking at each other in confusion before the door flies open.

“Hey lovebirds, get the fuck in here!” Ava yells before disappearing into the camper. Dan and Devon look at each other before shrugging approaching the camper, Devon walking in first taking the large backed TV set up in the corner, Lily’s old VHS player, bowls of their favorite childhood snacks, and mac n cheese and hot dogs the way Stacy’s mom used to make.

“What’s all this?” Devon asks, smiling around at their friends.

“Dan said you wanted to toast to Noah, so we brought the past to the future.” Lucas grins, as he clicks on the TV, the VHS machine making a humming noise before playing their most watched movie as a kid.

Stacy walks up throwing her arm over Devon’s shoulder, “If you want I have a few of our old toys we can play with.” She grins softly.

“Thank you for this.” Devon smiles, wrapping one arm back around Stacy, the other around Dan’s waist. “It means the world to me.”

[dailyaudiobible]

02/21/2019 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 11:1-12:8, Mark 5:21-43, Psalms 38:1-22, Proverbs 10:8-9

Today is the 21st day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It is great to be here with you. It's great to be here with you today. Feeling a little little little tiny tiny bit stronger and that's kinda how it comes on. That's how the jet lag works. We did have a adrenaline filled day yesterday just because we're seeing all of this stuff for the first time and experiencing the wilderness and we'll talk about that in a little while but first we need to take the next step forward as we continue reading through the Scriptures. And today we’ll be able to read the Scriptures here from the southernmost part of Israel city Eilat on the shores of the Red Sea. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Today Leviticus 11 and 12.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the book of Leviticus today and again, you know, the law and the customs and the rituals are being given and so we can consider this to be a portion of Scripture that's kind of like dry reading not particularly riveting reading. It's because of the kind of literature it is, right? So, we read the book of Genesis and we’re reading like a narrative, we’re reading in story form what happens next. And, so, this is how we understand things, right. So, even when we get together and catch up on each other's lives we’re gonna say this is what happened between the time that we last met and catch each other up and tell it in order. Whereas the law, these are statutes and regulations and rules. We can read this kind of literature and in our modern era by getting online or going to the library and getting a law book, but you never really see those on the bestseller list because they aren't the most riveting reading. So, we can go through reading like today in the book of Leviticus and just kinda, you know, zone out or glaze over because we’re talking about clean and unclean animals and, you know, the rights of purification after childbirth. And we can see the logic in kind of outlining what can and can’t be eaten, you know, like what's edible and what has no nutritional value to a human. But that’s when, you know, we might wonder why it's in the Bible. But if we go a little closer and we remember when we started this particular portion of the Bible there are practical reasons for why things were to be done the way that they were, practical in just community perspective, but everything had a spiritual underpinning. What’s being installed into this culture is that they couldn't do almost anything at all without it leading back to a reminder of who they were, who God is, and where they're going. So, if we look a little closer we might each have differing opinions about what kind of animals should or shouldn't be eaten depending on where we are on the planet, might be able to order a Big Mac in the United States but you probably won't be able to order that in India and we could definitely get lost in the weeds on trying to determine why somethings clean or unclean in terms of the food supply. But that would be missing the point. Clean and unclean things still do exist in this world and the principal that God’s weaving into the culture of the children of Israel, the principle of clean and unclean, is no less applicable today because it was always intended to be an outward representation of what was happening inside of someone. So, there are for sure, for sure things that we know are not clean and there are things that we know are and whether it's a behavior or a compulsion or an activity or something that you're thinking about, the fact that our reading in Leviticus represents an ancient custom has no bearing on the reality that there is still clean and unclean and we should not participate in what is unclean. So maybe we don't have to be ritually pure anymore but that does not mean we’re not supposed to be pure. And, as we’re out here in the wilderness and we've experienced one day in the wilderness and we’ll be experiencing most of today in the wilderness as well it doesn't take hardly any time to look around and realize, there is no way to survive out here without God. I mean, it would be so…it would be…even now in modern times with modern logistics, if we took a million people, even a half a million people out into this wilderness and tried to sustain them as they moved around without roads, like, I mean it would…it would be virtually impossible now…absolutely impossible then. So, we see that God leading His people into the wilderness where they have no way out and are having to learn and be reframed and reformed into a new people how important this was and how important this is to our own lives. There is clean. There is unclean. If we’re going to consume what is unclean, whether in spirit or body we are going to become defiled. Maybe we’re not going to become ritually impure, but the effects on our body and spirit are going to be the same. We’re separating ourselves from our intended state, holiness and purity. And there is clean. And inside of us we know when we are wandering into unclean territory and we know when we are walking pure and holy and are living clean lives. And as we can see from the book of Leviticus, it matters.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. Yes, we are in the starkness of the wilderness. And yes, this certainly does put us right in the story that we’re reading. And even from the book of Mark when we’re reading Jesus of You casting demons into the swine, we think ahead because we’re gonna go there too. And, so, we can see that You have a lot to say to us as we journey whether here physically in the land of the Bible or whether as a community experience as we day by day just journey through the Scriptures. There’s a lot for You to speak to us as we’re here and we invite You fully. Nothing is off limits to You. Show us the areas that are unclean, the areas that we need to walk away from, the areas that are doing us no good whatsoever. Come, Holy Spirit we pray, in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

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And obviously, we’re in the land of the Bible right now, just kinda getting going on our pilgrimage where we will experience so, so much. We have already been as far west as you can go in the land. That was yesterday in Ashdod on the Mediterranean Sea. It won’t be the last time we’re on the Mediterranean coast, but that's as far west as you can go. And we’re leaving out from Eilat today. We traveled south all day yesterday through the wilderness and truly got to experience what we’re talking about when we're talking about the wilderness, right? When we talk about the desert and the story of the children of Israel and their formation, we are here, and it is stark and it is barren and it is desolate and there's so much that gets brought up in our hearts because of that. And, so, we’re kind of just sitting with it. We were able to visit Beersheba yesterday. Beersheba is the southernmost city within the borders of ancient Israel, right? So, the borders of ancient Israel were known from Dan to Beersheba. So, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the South. Of course we traveled a lot further south of Beersheba, but visiting there, starting there, looking at how people had to live and how they had to get water in an arid transition zone, understanding that your standing in the book of Genesis, pretty big deal, pretty good place to start. And then we just kind of began to move into the deep desert and we were able to find an outlook and overlook the wilderness of Zin. We haven't got to this story yet in the Old Testament, but these children of Israel who are getting their laws and customs and being formed right now, they will eventually be preparing to go into the Promise Land and before they do that they will send spies into the land and that will happen from the wilderness of Zin. And, so, we took some time to explore that story and its implications to our own lives before grabbing some lunch. And we had some lunch with the Bedouin folk who live in the desert and travel around in the desert. And even though their culture is modernized to a degree, the desert dwelling people dates back thousands and thousands of years. So, even though desert dwellers may have new newer technologies than they had thousands of years ago they still live very simply and very nomadically, and we were able to have a taste of that, literally and figuratively, as we had lunch together out in the desert. And then we continued our journey south toward the Red Sea, which was our destination. We got some ice cream, got a favorite spot down in the desert where there's dairy farmers and fresh ice cream. Got to enjoy that before making our way to Eilat and the shores of the Red Sea. And boy, when you’re standing on the shores of the Red Sea after traveling through the wilderness all day long and you're able to kinda stand there and see into the country of Egypt and see into the country of Saudi Arabia and see into the country of Jordan while standing in the country of Israel, realizing that as you’re looking into the land of Egypt you're looking into the continent of Africa. Like all of a sudden you realize I am a long way from Kansas, like I am a long way from Spring Hill Tennessee or all of the different places that we've come from and it kinda hits us. It hits me every year almost always at the same spot, like…we are…this is really happening…we are really here and yes, I am a long way from home. So, that's kinda what our day looked like. Today we will be spending most of the day in the desert, but a lot to do. And we’ll be coming out of the desert and we'll talk about all of that tomorrow. So, thank you for…thank you for your prayers…your continued prayers over safety, stamina, health, logistics just the whole thing, it's quite a dance to do what we’re doing and keep everything moving in the same direction and on the same page. Thank you for your prayers.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. Didn’t I already say that? I don’t know. I’m still jetlagged. Anyway, there's a link on the homepage. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Kay from West South Georgia. This is my second time calling since I found out about this ministry last year. I am with a heavy heart calling in to ask for prayer for my dear friend Elaine. She is in her 70s, one of the most vivacious, healthiest, godliest women I’ve ever known and out of nowhere she got sick with a virus that went to her heart and she is in ICU right now and it’s just…it’s scary for all of us. We know where she’s going if the Lord decides to take her but I’m real selfish right now and so is her family and I just pray that you would pray God’s will that He will heal her from this myocarditis. And before this happened, she went to her family practitioner and she’s never taken medications in her life and they put her on steroids and antibiotics shot and antibiotics orally and inhalers and it just completely flipped a switch in her brain and then she…she tried to hurt herself…tried to end her life then this happened. And now she’s in ICU with her heart at another hospital. So, again, if you would just lift Elaine in prayer that God’s will will be done and give the family and friends peace, that He will hear her this side of heaven. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible listeners, this is Candace from Oregon and I want to stop and encourage all the musicians among us and pray for all of us including myself. Being a musician for the Lord is a huge, glorious experience and it’s just…it’s usually such a joy, it’s so good. It’s also really, really terrible at times. And all of you, if you’ve spent enough years as one of God’s musicians, you know what I’m talking about, you could give examples of what I’m talking about. But I think if you look across the years…the blessings…if you look across at the details of your experience as God’s musician, the blessings have far outweighed the struggle. So, I would encourage you to do that. Lord, I lift up before you now, along with all the listeners and prayer warriors who are hearing these words now, we lift up the musicians among us Lord and we ask You to bind the enemy from them, to free them into Your service in every way that You desire Lord. Fill their hearts with peace and joy. Encourage them and help them to be disciplined in their efforts and to listen to You Lord and keep their eyes on You. We pray in particular for Lynn __ husband and thank you that she has been there to intercede on his behalf and that her love for him is an undying love that only You can provide. Thank you, Jesus.

Holy Spirit flowing free please fall down afresh on me inside outside all through me take my life Lord let it be change is all I’m begging please keep me free from all disease free my heart from the sin it sees flesh condemned but spirit frees when I’m week Lord make me strong stay with me and carry long Lord I feel your presence strong lead me Lord where I belong

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Terry the truck driver. Hope you’re still healing up and everything’s going good and Lee from New Jersey like to give you a shout out too. Anyway, thank you once again Brian and the Hardin family for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.

Hi everyone, it’s Christy from Kentucky. I wanted to call tonight and reach out to some of our sisters in Christ. First of all, Hurting, in North Carolina, you called about your brother and I’m glad that your brother is getting the help that he needs but I can still hear your concern and I’m just praying for you. You just love your little brother so much that’s so evident and you both have been on such a hard journey and I’m just praying that the Lord will touch and heal both of your hearts and to restore joy back into your lives and to let you walk out the rest of this journey together being healed and happy and knowing that you both have a hope and a future. Also wanted to pray for my sister Kathy in Kentucky and let you know that I’m praying for your brother and your family member that is dealing with addiction. And also Janet, sister Janet, we are praying for your son Jared and we are asking the Lord just to minister to his heart and to give you peace about the decision that you have made to place him in this program. And I’m just asking for the Lord to give you guidance and direction and what you should do regarding Jared’s request to come out of the program. You know, pray about it and when you find peace in your heart you will know the answer. We love you Janet and we’re praying for both you and Jared. I also wanted to speak to our sister Alyssa. You called in and you were just in such hysterics, it just broke my heart to hear your tears and I want you to know dear sister that we are here for you. Everyone, there is a DAB Friends page and if you ever need immediate prayer, if you go on that Facebook page, the DAB Friends you will have immediate responses from people all over the world who will pray for you right away. And Alyssa you are never alone. God promises He’s always with us.

Hi, it’s Gerda from Germany. I want to say thank you to Brian for __ I listened to the Daily Audio Bible today to Jill’s words and it’s really truly an amazing task what Brian has to do every day, no holidays, nothing without thinking about how to get it set on the Internet. I want to say thank you Brian, thank your family, thank you for supporting Brian, and thank you for having a part of it every day. Thank you for…and God bless you, God keep you safe, God give you and all your team a wonderful, amazed, blessed time. Thank you for everybody who does it in different languages. Thank you for all the tasks you have to do, and God bless you and God keep you safe and God support you in everything and God give you everything to be safe. Thank you for doing it. You’re an awesome community. I listen daily since many years. Thank you for being a part of it. God bless you all and keep you safe. I love you. Bye. Gerda.

[freewheelen]

Harley-Davidson vs. Millennials (from the POV of a Millennial)

As of late, there's been a lot of talk about the scourge of Millennials and how they're ruining everything from bars of soap to lotto scratchers.

"Millennials aren't buying diamonds." 

"They don't eat Big Macs."

"No of them watch cable."

And my favorite: "Millennials are killing Harley-Davidson."

As a Harley rider born between the years of 1981 and 1997, I feel obligated, no entitled, to lavish the internet with my opinion on the topic. Oh, coveted opinion, the most valid of all arguments.

I'm a new rider and when my bike search began, the choice was clear from the beginning: Harley-Davidson. I don't know if that decision is attributed to my obsession with Orange County Cycles when I was 13 or if I watched Terminator 2: Judgement Day one too many times as a kid, but nothing said motorcycle to me like a chopper. Long, relaxed, powerful. You had the perfect DNA for a mile-eater. A highway hauler. You had an American classic. 

It was that image - that mysticism of the open road, that promise of freedom - that pushed me toward my nearest Harley-Davidson dealership. And that's when reality sunk in. For those that don't know, Harley-Davidson is the antithesis of cheap. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing, reliable machines, but when an Ultra Limited costs more than a new Camaro, you need a large quantity of disposable income to justify the purchase. Definitely not a comfort I can claim, so I relegated my options to the smaller models and stayed away from the more 'luxury' cruisers.

And when you come to think of it, every item listed at the beginning of the post is considered just that, a luxury. Diamonds, Big Macs, shit, even cable isn't really considered a necessity for survival - and motorcycles are no exception. 

As a Millennial, I'm a big proponent of minimalism. Belonging to the generation that popularized tiny houses, it's probably no surprise that I live in a 300 sq ft studio apartment with my girlfriend and our dog. For context, that's like fitting your kitchen, closet, bath, living room and bed into a master suite. Far from palatial. Along those same lines, I only own a small selection of consumer goods. You can't own much when you don't have a place to put it. Due to the fact that I'm limited on quantity, I emphasize quality in the things I choose to buy, which are predominately American-made (Wolverine Boots, Gustin Denim, etc.).  

I grew up in a blue-collar family. My grandfather was a baker, my uncles moved furniture, and my grandmother delivered party supplies for a living. While I've only held white collar jobs (film industry), I want to do my part to support that dwindling workforce in this country, to support the communities I came from. I guess my allegiance to the MoCo [1] is based less on nationalism and more on classism. All that to say, when I saw H-D's prices, I figured, "you’re paying for quality labor," but that type of purchasing pattern and reasoning isn't shared among my cost-driven, globally-minded peers. Couple that fact with the influx of urban dwelling in the past decade and you have a perfect storm for Harley sales.

Due to the elevated level of congestion in major cities, Millennials have taken to more nimble, handling-oriented motorcycles that can slither through stagnant streets. In LA traffic, it's practically impossible to squeeze a big bike between lanes. The other day, I knocked a lady's side mirror off with my Sportster, and my bars measure 24 inches in width! If I had a Softail, I would have been the meat in a vehicle sandwich. Because of these close quarters, this environment makes perfect sense for an FZ-09 or KTM Duke 690. They're perfectly suited to the urban landscape with their sleek design, technological controls, and standard ABS, which explains the recent shift toward that streetfighter style.

In the time of the Boomers, the motorcycle field in America was much more limited. Not only were the options minimal, but America was the land of highways, stretching over 2,600 miles, coast-to-coast. With hundreds of miles between cities, choppers were the perfect tool for the job, not to mention the ultimate self-expression on two wheels. 

Nowadays, there are hundreds of brands to choose from and even more classes of motorcycles: Sport, Touring, Electric, Adventure, Scrambler, Literbike, Naked...GROM (just kidding). Back in the day, more people could also afford to live in the suburbs, allowing you to safely store your bike in a covered garage. But in the city, you have to worry about parallel parkers, drunk drivers, and thieves (I've seen 3 Softail theft ads in the past month in LA). You almost don't want to buy anything "too nice", including large $15,000 motorcycles. 

At the end of the day, it all comes down to price. That's something on which Millennials, Boomers, and even Gen-Xers can agree. With the death of the Dyna (RIP), Harley has essentially erased the only Big Twin [2] attainable by blue-collared folk, while the new Softail pricing only appeals to those with six-figure jobs without six-figure student loan debt. 

2018 Softail Fat Bob, courtesy of Harley-Davidson

On top of that, I have numerous friends that are entering the most terrifying and financially taxing stage of lives: parenthood. When all is said and done, motorcycles aren't even the main mode of transport for most people, especially if you have a kid on the way (that’d be something). I know a lot of buddies/peers that expressed wanting a motorcycle after I purchased my Sporty, but unlike me, they don't lead a careless, Peter Pan-esque lifestyles. Some things in life you just don't get to plan, certain stages have to take priority over others, and if that means waiting until your midlife crisis to buy that new Road King Special, then the MoCo will have to wait.

All this to say, Harley-Davidson bikes are luxury items. They are, as Blockhead [3] recently referred to them, the Apple of motorcycles. They utilize classic design, adopt technologies later than most, deliver less capable specs than competitors, and upcharge the consumer. They're a luxury brand selling a lifestyle, a culture, an image. They cram nostalgia into new packages and sell it by the thousands. They charge $40 bucks for a t-shirt, $400 for a quarter fairing, and $600 for a 10K service. They're as boujee as they come, they just happen to dress up in a greasy mechanic's shirt.

But with all that off my chest - and damn, it felt good - as long as Harley's providing blue-collared American jobs, I'm buying. If my peers understood that it's not just the bike you're purchasing, it's the intangibles that come with it, would they do the same? If they realized that there's an entire community that comes with the motorcycle, would they want one? If they could comprehend the fact that every time I've pulled to the side of the road another Harley rider has made sure I don't need any help with repairing the bike, would they throw a leg over?

I guess, only time will tell, and over the next 10 years, H-D plans to release 100 new models. That means a drastic overhaul of their entire lineup, and if the new Softails are any indication of what's to come, they're headed in the right direction. For evidence of that, we need to look no further than the American auto market. In the early 2000s, Chevy, Ford, and Dodge delivered muscle car essence in a modernized package. The fervor around those heritage pieces helped the auto companies recover from the recession and stabilize. 

If the MoCo can cater to the tastes of new riders while developing new technologies, there should be a healthy forecast for their future. With a new electric bike arriving in 2019 and models like the Bronx and Pan-America on the horizon, it feels as if Harley is listening to their fan-base and diversifying their portfolio. 

Project LiveWire, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

America is a large land full of people that buy diamonds or sapphires, that eat Big Macs or arugula, that watch cable or Netflix, and the more Harley branches out, the more people will be able to enjoy it.

[1] Nickname for the Harley-Davidson Motor Company

[2] Nickname for the larger engine bikes in the Harley-Davidson catalog

[3] Motovlogger that owns numerous Harley-Davidsons

[catchypress]

All about the  2021 NFL Time

.

As we think about  league and ahead to the 17 games awaiting each franchise this year, we see QB battles and second chances, recent league rules and records are  to be broken, eras opening and chapters coming to a close.  So multi questions are there ahead the 2021 NFL campaign. .

Almost 15 questions we're asking pre the 2021 NFL league.

1. Could Brady’s Buccaneers run it back?

Back in February, fresh off a dominant victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, a victorious Tom Brady stood atop the winner’s podium to claim his seventh Super Bowl and make clear his intentions for the future.

“Yeah,” he declared. “We’re coming back.”

By “we,” he clearly meant everyone. The Buccaneers are the first franchise in the NFL’s salary cap era (est. 1994) to bring back all 22 starters after winning the Super Bowl.

https://twitter.com/TomBrady

https://twitter.com/Jason_OTC?s=20

2. Might Father Time actually be … defeated?

Brady has got seven Super Bowl rings, five Super Bowl MVP nods, and is football’s undisputed Greatest Of All Time. Fresh off his 44th birthday, he’s just 1,154 yards shy of Drew Brees’s all-time career passing yards record and it would surprise absolutely no one to see him back on the champion’s stage in February. Let’s all keep enjoying this remarkable ride.

3. How will the Chiefs’ overhauled offensive line hold up?

It’s a massive credit to Patrick Mahomes that the weakness of his injury-riddled, patched-together-with-tape offensive line went mostly unnoticed through much of 2020 — the QB does some of his best, most highlight-worthy work under pressure, after all. But on football’s biggest stage, Mahomes was running for his life while dealing with a significant toe injury against Tampa Bay, making Kansas City’s top off-season priority crystal clear: Fix that o-line.

That’s exactly what they did, releasing Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz, landing veterans

Another renovated offensive line we’re watching: The Bengals, who saw first-hand last season what happens when you don’t protect your QB, as franchise face Joe Burrow was carted off the field 10 games into what was a remarkable rookie campaign.

4. Can Josh Allen take the Bills to the promised land?

Speaking of high ceilings … at the top of most AFC East predictions is Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. After winning their first division title since 1995 last year and falling just one game shy of the Super Bowl, all the pieces are in place for a long-awaited championship win.

5. Will a team be forced to forfeit a game due to a COVID-19 outbreak?

It’s clear that being vaccinated gives clubs a real competitive advantage. So far, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons are the only two clubs to reach a vaccinated rate of 100 per cent, while many more teams are getting closer to that mark.

https://twitter.com/TomPelissero?s=20

6. How long must da Bears wait for Fields’s NFL debut?

Trevor Lawrence’s Week 1 fate was never in doubt in Jacksonville; Zach Wilson is the future of the Jets; and we’re all expecting some Shanahan shenanigans on offence with Trey Lance featured heavily in a one-two QB punch. The Patriots are so confident in Mac Jones that they cut Cam Newton.

And then there are the Bears:

https://twitter.com/DickersonESPN?s=20

7. Is Tony Romo right about Zach Wilson?

There will surely be lots of focus on 2021's top pick, Trevor Lawrence, but QB-turned-CBS-clairvoyant Tony Romo is focused on the second player taken in April -- and he sees a really strong future in store:

“It’s rare for me to say someone has the ability to get in the stratosphere of a Mahomes, but I think this kid actually has that ability,” Romo said of Wilson during a recent CBS Sports conference call. “When you have a quarterback like that, I think there’s no telling how good you can be. He can make up for a lot of weaknesses in a lot of areas for a football team.

“I think Zach Wilson is going to be in the discussion as one of the top three to five quarterbacks [in the NFL] very quickly. Within the next couple of years, I think you’re going to see him rise. I think he’s unbelievable. His ceiling is so high.”

8. Is the AFC ready for a new king in the North?

The Big Ben era is nearing its end in Pittsburgh, but can this strong Steelers defence and a refreshed run game propel the club further than Ben Roethlisberger’s arm will allow? The Ravens brought in offensive help for Lamar Jackson, but early injuries show the quick-footed QB might be on his own again.

9. Is this the year Myles Garrett gets DPOY?

Last year, Rams defensive end and all-around superhuman Aaron Donald won the award for the third time, tying fellow DE J.J. Watt and former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor for most DPOY titles in league history. Can he make it four? Browns DE Myles Garrett will surely have something to say about that – he was having his best season in 2020 before being sidelined with COVID, and struggling with the virus’s lingering effects upon his return.

10. Can Dak Prescott stay healthy and lead Dallas back into the playoffs?

The NFC East is just begging for someone to grab hold of it – Washington won the division last year with a 7-9 record (yikes).

After suffering a gruesome ankle injury just five games into 2020, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is back and ready to show what $160 million looks like on the field.

https://twitter.com/CollinsworthPFF?s=20

https://twitter.com/PFF?s=20

11. Danny Dimes or Danny Drops: Who is the real Daniel Jones?

The clock of contention starts ticking as soon as you draft your QB: You’ve basically got five years of his rookie deal to build a winner around him — but just three to really determine whether you’ve got your guy, or if you need to head back to the drawing board. That’s where the Giants and 2019 sixth-overall pick Daniel Jones are this season. Jones has shown promise, but indecision under pressure and too many fumbles through his first two seasons bring doubts about his future in New York. This year should hold the answers.

12. Did Miami miss its window to overtake New England?

The Miami Dolphins are just entering Year Two of Tua Tagovailoa, but face similar questions to those being asked in New York when it comes to whether or not they’ve got the right guy to lead the team into the future. Adding to the Dolphins’ urgency here is — who else? — their longtime foe Bill Belichick.

After two decades living in the shadow of the dynastic New England Patriots, the Dolphins finally saw sunnier skies in the summer of 2020 when Tom Brady took his talents to Tampa Bay. Only, it was the Bills who moved into the top spot. One year later, Belichick’s fresh off a free agency shopping spree and has his Brady-lite in rookie Mac Jones while Miami’s still wondering whether their rebuild can take off with Tua at the helm.

13. Will the Texans trade Deshaun Watson?

Should the Texans trade him is a different question altogether. Let’s be clear: When we talk about Watson, we’re not just talking about football, or his long and public spat with Texans management. Watson is currently under investigation, facing more than 20 civil lawsuits and 10 criminal complaints of sexual misconduct and sexual assault, per reports. These serious allegations haven’t stopped teams from digging around to see about acquiring the QB, however, and until the NFL makes a ruling on his eligibility to play, he’ll likely stay buried on Houston’s depth chart to allow the legal process to play out as it should.

14. How long until we (and the players) get used to the league’s new jersey-number rules?

Last spring, the league introduced a rule change loosening restrictions on which numbers can be worn by which positions, straying from the long-standing structure. This could cause more than just a little confusion on the playing field, with offensive players forced to work much harder to identify opposing defences’ roles. Tom Brady is not a fan of this change, and explained why:

“The number rule is crazy,” Brady told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times earlier this week. “Literally, guys changed their numbers today. I’m playing two guys who had different numbers in the pre-season. So, yeah, you’ve got to watch film and know who you’re studying, but so do running backs. They’ve got to know who to block. So does the offensive line. So do the receivers who are adjusting their routes based on blitzes.

15. Who’s the best in the NFC West?

There are endless combinations here, and none of them feel wrong. We’re gonna need all 17 games to figure out football’s strongest division.

[aalensharp]

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