#but that he's the most human rick ? like. the fact that he was attached to his humanity and to the worth he found within it is what

[ambreiiigns]

btw rick and morty makes me insane bc no one Gets it people who don't wanna watch it (like me! before my brother made me watch it in exchange of him watching sk8 the infinity w me!) are like ugh problematique bad #edgy dark humor adult cartoon for reddit bros 🙄 but then the reddit bros who watch it & became the main representatives for its audience are like haha pickle rick wooo you need high iq I Relate To Rick Sanchez Deeply and he's like the joker to them and he's a king and an icon of alpha males somehow???? but like. neither of those people understand that rick and morty is actually about Nobody Exists On Purpose. Nobody Belongs Anywhere. Everybody's Gonna Die. Come Watch TV?

[bluegekk0]

If anything I think you should speak more, because I love everything you write (and draw.) You've been one of my biggest inspirations to go back and give all of my ocs actual stories instead of just designs.

In fact, ever since you mentioned having non-fpk family ocs before, I have been incredibly curious.

Please feed me all of the information like a bird feeding its young, except its letters going into my eyes instead of food going into my mouth

you have no idea how much that warms my heart, i'm really flattered that you see me as an inspiration. it's all i could really ask for

i do have some ocs, yeah. though i will say, the fpk au characters are definitely outliers when it comes to the amount of personality and lore they have. most of my ocs have very basic backstories, and many of them only do because i used to roleplay as them with my friends. a lot of my original designs that i'm attached to don't even have names, let alone personalities

since i'll be posting a lot of pictures, i'll throw this under a read more so it's not too long

i guess i'll start with my oldest oc, a lion king character who used to be my "fursona" (well not exactly, since i've never considered myself a furry. but persona wouldn't fit here) years ago, back in 2012 i believe. she went through a lot of changes over the years, but i've settled on a design that i really like

her name is swahibu (used to be swahili, i wasn't particularly creative, and i changed it recently since it was a bit awkward for her to be named after the entire language hahaha), and she has a little brother named kobe. their lore isn't anything too elaborate, they're essentially scar's grandchildren who used to be outlanders, but after the events of the second movie joined the pridelands. swahibu is bitter and a bit mean, but cares very much about her little brother. she got her scars in a fight with rogue lions which unfortunately ended with their mother's death, so they're now on their own. kobe is a smart cub, and brings a bit of joy and innocence to his big sister's life. as they both resemble their grandfather more than they'd like, they're often the object of nasty comments from those who lived under his tyrannical rule, though they do eventually earn the pridelanders' respect. not much else to say about them, except that i like to hc swahibu as gay. also, they have a very simple family tree that i made to show what their parents looked like, here (might not work if you don't have a deviantart account, but i'm not sure)

--

next up, there's a character i've considered my persona for quite some time, and one i used to put in many funny scenarios with my friends' ocs. he also changed the most out of all of them throughout the years, and recently i gave him a more furry like design as i hate drawing human faces haha

his name is rick, and he's a hybrid of all kinds of different animals. he's very laid back and lazy, though the fact that he's a hybrid gives him some animal-like traits and behaviors. he used to have a backstory but it's kind of stupid so i'm considering changing it, but he was basically created in a lab and then released after it was shut down. now he lives on his own with his cat, jon. he's one of those characters who are very flexible, so if i wanted to, i could modify him to fit into any scenario (for example, he used to have an assassins creed universe version which i used for roleplay years ago hahaha). not much else to say since i'm still in the (slow) process of changing him

--

i also have a lot of dragon characters, most of them were made for the purpose of a larger roleplay story with my friends. in general i take 'dragon' as a very vague term, since to me a dragon can look however you want and all those classification rules are kinda stupid. but you'll still a bit of, idk, i guess a paleoart like direction for their designs, since i like speculative biology and such. also, some of these originated as heavily based on some of my favorite characters at the time, you'll see that with the first one especially

his name is stark and he's probably the dragon that has the most lore behind him. i won't go into too many details regarding the backstory since it's long and very connected to the roleplay (you know, bit of a "you just had to be there" moment haha). but tl;dr he was taken in by a village and raised from hatchling, so he's very docile and a little bit confused. the village was attacked and he was able to survive, but one of his legs was scarred pretty badly, so he noticeably limps while walking. he's a semi-aquatic dragon, so he's an excellent swimmer. funnily enough, he went through a complete "reboot" a few years ago. in the original rp, he was a massive asshole, he'd hurt others for his own amusement and was generally very aggressive and not pleasant to be around. also, he had a prosthetic leg, though i scrapped that as it was far too advanced for the setting i envisioned him in. i much prefer this direction, i love my giant himbo gator-dragon. and i wonder how many of you can guess what character was the inspiration for his appearance (it used to be a lot more obvious in his first design iterations)

(and no, his wing isn't missing. this is just to show his back haha)

these next three don't really have too much backstory to them. well, except for the first one, his name is ithaar, and he was one of my first ocs ever. he went through a massive redesign quite recently, so he has close to nothing in common with his first iterations. the other two characters, eurus and ash, were made for rp purposes quite recently, and so don't have too much lore behind them

ith is a bit of a coward, he struggles with his self-confidence and believes everyone sees him as insignificant due to his small size and inability to fly. he can camouflage, though, so he's a lot cooler than he thinks. also, he moves by hopping around like a little kangaroo. his design is very dromaeosaur-like, with short stubby arms and yi-qi inspired wings

eurus is very pterosaur-like, though much larger than even the largest azhdarchids. he doesn't like the company of others, he's a bit of a loner (with trauma!). he may seem mean on the surface, but his past experiences make him unable to walk past someone who's in need. not quite a gentle giant, though. i think it's easy to see which pterosaurs in particular were the inspiration for his design, though his crests are very dilophosaurus-like

the last one is ash, and she's the newest addition to the roster. her rp session was very short and didn't really add much to her lore, but she's generally a huge jerk who likes annoying others and stealing from them. but of course, it wouldn't be an oc of mine if there wasn't some trauma involved, and she's no exception. she believes she doesn't fit anywhere, she felt rejected by her own kind for her unnatural abilities (she can move things with her mind), and so she copes with it by being a prick. her design was inspired by junker queen from overwatch haha

---

i also have four night fury characters i made during my httyd phase, and i redesigned them about a year ago to be a lot more "natural" in their appearance. they used to be quite a bit more colorful back in the day, and not in the good way haha

their names are vel'ri, sherok, atis and marivo. no real backstory, just vibes. the first one used to be my "main" character during the httyd phase. vel'ri and atis are female, sherok and marivo are male

--

and lastly, some non-dragon characters. these don't really have any backstory that i think is worth sharing, but i still love them very much

this one is named rugat and they're a genderless, shapeshifting magma alien thing. i don't know what they are. i just really like their design. they're aggressive, but they have a soft spot for small, weak creatures. god knows what their reasoning is, but i thought it was a cute personality trait

and these two are named lox and bagel. they're a ragarox, an original species i made years ago when it was cool and hip to have a closed species. they're eyeless cave dwelling lizard things. very chubby. these two guys are not related but they hang out all the time. 🏳️‍🌈 perhaps?

lox, on the left, is the more active and territorial of the two. but he's also super affectionate towards bagel

bagel, on the other hand, is the couch potato. very round and chubby, 10/10

as a fun fact i like to think their long tongues have very distinct smells. lox's smells like lime, while bagel's smells a bit like blueberry

--

and lastly, here are two unnamed characters. i like their designs but i haven't had the chance or inspiration to think of any details about them

the first one is an okapi-like thing. with a kitty face. the second is like a weird mix between a ceratopsid and some kind of mammal

oh and, here's some redesigns of old dragon characters that i forgot to mention earlier. they used to be very different (all but one were inspired by other characters, but you can't see it on their current designs), and i don't have any backstories for them yet. their names are also going to be changed, so consider them nameless for now

(fun fact: the top left one was one of the first iterations of eurus' design, but i decided to turn it into a different character cause i still like it)

[littlealeta]

I really hope season 7 lives up to its promise that it will be a more darker, bleaker season for Rick because I feel like Rick, the main protagonist himself hasn’t gotten much drama as of late. I love season 1 Rick but he has evolved past this seemingly simple, happy go lucky guy who says “Wubba Lubba Dub Dub” for no reason. The series has evolved past being this simple generic adult cartoon with raunchy and lowbrow humor. It is now a gritty series about story, drama, and character development and the fact that the main character isn’t getting much emotional conflict himself is very strange after getting more depth on him in seasons 2 and 4. I think Rick has a lot of potential and he had a lot of potential for emotional conflict and drama concerning his character development but it was done very shallowly and poorly. It’s very strange how Morty is getting a lot more emotional scenes and depth than Rick has these past two seasons and even minor characters like Planetina, Pissmaster, and Rickbot are getting more drama and emotional complexity than the main character is. MORTY WAS LITERALLY THE ONE TO SPIRAL DURING THE TWO CROW SHIT INSTEAD OF RICK LIKE IT SHOULD HAVE!

We haven’t seen Rick depressed since the season 4 finale, very little, very brief scenes of Rick feeling sad like the very beginning of Mort Dinner Rick Andre which nobody remembers and wasn’t even really played for drama in the first place. I did like seeing him talk with Diane’s AI but again, it was fairly short and didn’t come with any emotional consequences. It was just him accepting that he had to move on, it wasn’t like he got hit hard with something like the Tony, Wedding, Unity, and Space Beth episodes.

We missed out on an opportunity of seeing Rick’s internal emotional conflict/guilt of replacing his family with crows. Even though the premise itself was shitty and had no chance of being good, at least it would’ve been a bit better if we they had focused less on Rick being a psychopath with no attachment or empathy and more on Rick having humanity and emotion. Rick missing his family and feeling guilt at what he’s done rather than brief expressions of wistfulness and fucking around with crows and such like he doesn’t care about his family. We could’ve had a serious conversation between Rick and Morty regarding the last two season 5 episodes and more emotion from Rick after showing Morty his backstory.

Hell, with Rick growing as much as he did, I was hoping to see an actual scene of him breaking down in remorse over everything he’s done. At least it would be fitting for his entire character unlike the sudden burst of growth he had. It also would’ve been interesting to see him experience cabin fever after losing the portal gun. Somebody else pointed this out and I didn’t think about it before but now I think it would’ve made all the more sense if Rick hadn’t grown as much as he did. Without portal gun and adventures and constantly stressing out over fixing it, it would’ve made more sense to have Rick a bit more moody, depressed, and easily irritated with people than usual but not outright cruel like in seasons 3 and 4. I also wish they explored Rick Prime a bit more. It felt a bit sudden that Rick decided to put off thinking about Prime this much in the season after being closer to finding him. That also would’ve added to the stress that would’ve made all the character development in season 6 even more moot... not that it made sense anyway but yeah.

Like I said this kinda goes with my disappointment on how light season 6 was on the stakes and how they’ve been doing Rick’s character these past two seasons. Turning him from one of the most emotionally complex characters to a shell of his former self. Seeing him regress to being at his worst is very intriguing and I do hope they actually do him right this time, give him more emotional stakes, have him struggle with growing and not pull another “Two Crows” shit. This is why I think the Pissmaster episode is the closest thing to a decent episode in season 6. Even though Rick wasn’t given as much depth or emotion as I would’ve liked and still had the ongoing growth that was hard to take seriously, at least they still tried to develop Rick. They tried to give him a bit more humanity. They actually TRIED growing him in a more proper way by giving him actual consequences, having him go to therapy after getting burdened by bad guys instead of being like “Hey, these two crows taught me empathy” for no reason and taking note of the lessons he learned in the Old Man and the Seat.

Also how about give Rick more consequences. I feel like he’s been too light on the consequences lately. There is no way you can get away with Rick having no tragic stakes with him being at his lowest point and pursuing revenge.

[in-tua-deep]

Ok I totally want to hear more about this survivors au/Delores is real! How do the siblings handle having this different version of Five? Five may be better adjusted but he still has to heard his family around like a bunch of stray cats. What happens when Hazel and Cha Cha show up? How do they find out that Vanya causes the apocalypse and how does Five handle that revelation?!

here is the thing, i think the survivors au has the potential to be HILARIOUS

no one knows how to handle a well-adjusted five, and this absolutely includes the commission

So you mentioned Hazel and Cha-Cha?? Five in this au was not nearly as absolutely feral as he is in the show bc he knows how to interact with people - he was raised by a competent adult and a weird best friend and they occasionally saw other survivors as well

please picture old Five hanging around the water cooler and chatting with Hazel

the other funny thing is that Five is competent passing - he is well adjusted emotionally but functionally?? Hazel is out there complaining about dental being cut and office parties and budgets and Five is there sipping his drink having never filed taxes in his life. Five doesn't know what the fuck a dental plan is, he was a child soldier and then lived in an apocalypse.

So please picture for me Hazel being like "okay I know corporate wants us to keep what we're being paid to ourselves but fuck that, workers unite, what do you get paid as a legend old timer?"

and five is like "you're getting paid? i get to not get tossed back into the apocalypse, I think"

"but what about expense forms? what about medical care?"

"I'm like 80% sure i'm being experimented on, actually." Five says nonchalantly, "Don't get me wrong, my idea of medical care is fucked by being a child soldier but I'm pretty sure regular people don't have electrodes attached to their heads every time they get a checkup. Could be wrong though! My ex-dad used to monitor my brainwaves while I slept so like, my idea of appropriate shit is fucked, you know?"

This is a Five who was raised by Rick, he is polite to his coworkers. If Dot asked him if he wanted to grab lunch, Five would have gone and grabbed lunch with her or politely said that he couldn't.

Cha Cha only ever talks to Five when she wants to talk shop, so they've had a couple of conversations about weapons but not much else tbh, Hazel just tends to be more personable

So when they're sent after Five, Hazel is much more hesitant to kill who he perceives as a "work friend" and also is definitely thinking about all the times Five casually revealed a way the commission was being highkey shady about him, such as the potential experimentation, no pay, working under duress etc. He's much more easily turned against the commission because he's even more primed to say "fuck the commission" than he is in canon

Hazel out here like "how did Five break his contract when Five wasn't even being paid? I kind of want to read it."

Hazel out here like "I would unionize if I didn't think the commission was anti-union enough to send literal assassins after me if I suggested it :/"

meanwhile with the siblings

Five just. talks over them a lot and makes so much sense that it's actually really hard to argue with him, and he's weirdly considerate of his family's obligations

Like Diego is like "i have to go see Patch" then Five is like "that's great I'm proud of you buddy, it would actually be really handy to have some law enforcement read into the situation if you think she's up to the task. that goes for everyone by the way! If y'all have people you trust, more bodies would be super helpful I think"

the entire family, collectively, who have like zero trusted social links: uhhhhhhhh

Diego, with this weird permission, probably?? Does? Awkwardly attempt to read Patch into the situation? Patch is, obviously, like "what the fuck, Diego" but probably goes with him to the mansion (????????) because she's concerned and then meets his fucking whacko family with their superpowers and suddenly everything is 100% more realistic

Five is just like "yes hello I'm aware I look like a child, i'm actually in my late 50s or early 60s (apocalypse time amiright) because of time travel stuff. Yes I am Five Hargreeves who went missing in like 2002 or whatever. anyway it's lovely to meet you, i'm so glad diego has someone he trusts, and considering my sibling's shifty looks when i told them to invite anyone they trusted this genuinely makes me concerned that Diego is the most socially well-adjusted of them."

"That cannot be possible." Patch says, like someone who has met Diego Hargreeves.

"You haven't met the rest." Five says sympathetically, "In our defense we were raised in isolation as child soldiers."

"That... explains so much." Is all Patch can say to that, "But you seem..."

"I'm adopted." Five waves away.

"We're ALL adopted." Diego grits out, very aggrieved by this and also not sure if he likes the fact that Patch seems friendly with Five, or at least is listening to him?

"I'm double adopted."

However! With the recruitment of Patch, herding Diego becomes like 90% easier.

Honestly the worst to herd are probably Luther and Allison? Luther because he's Number One and resents Five taking charge and also resents Five's casual dismissal of Reginald and also suspects that Five (or at least the commission) has something to do with Reginald's death?

Allison because she is torn between following Luther and helping him and helping Five but also calling Patrick and Claire at every possible moment while ALSO trying to repair her relationship with Vanya. She's flighty - she'd bail on a Five-apocalypse-assignment if Vanya mentioned being hungry or if Luther called or anything like that

Vanya likes to be included and, if asked, would probably drop as many current obligations as she can. Like she would probably cancel her teaching if Five genuinely and sincerely asked her for her help, which he does because he's 100% sure Dolores would manifest in front of him and smack him if he dared even imply someone without powers wouldn't be helpful

Vanya is like "I'm not sure if i'll be helpful - I don't have powers ):" and Patch is like "wtf are you talking about - my superpowers are Gun, Backup, and Reading Comprehension and i am like the most useful member of this team right now"

Vanya gets a confidence boost just from hanging out with Patch honestly, I think they should be friends

Klaus is thrilled to be included are you kidding?? He says he does it for money but he's just happy to be there and also as one of the most emotionally intelligent siblings he is mildly concerned about the fact that Five looks like he's about to cry and also emotes

Five also gives Klaus positive reinforcement, hugs, and Five absolutely weaponizes the I'm not mad, but I believe that you can do better and I'm going to give you more chances because I love you and fully believe that next time you'll be amazing way that Rick used on him.

I feel like Five ends up saying something along the lines of "I understand that x is really important, and we're definitely going to look into it. Is it something that needs to be addressed right now, or is it something that can wait until after April 1st? If it can wait, I can write it down here on this list so we don't forget. If it can't wait then we can figure out a time to address it and help you" a lot

Like Grace malfunctioning and potentially killing Reginald?

"We don't have to make this decision right now." Five says patiently, "Because Grace is a robot, we have some options. Living with a robot who is potentially malfunctioning and homicidal is dangerous, but Luther saying that means admitting that Reginald might have made a mistake or error with Grace's programming or upkeep. I haven't been here for a long time, but I remember Reginald being very precise. Regardless, this isn't a choice between permanently shutting her off or not. We can shut her down temporarily until we can fully address the issue. We can ask and see if there is a 'system reboot' option or some sort of system check that Grace can undergo. We can try find and hire an expert to take a look at her programming to find the issue."

Five gives this speech while like, organizing the weaponry in the house on a table very nonchalantly

Five out here making buzzer noises at his siblings arguments like "yeah no that's a false dichotomy and a strawman's argument, want to try again?"

(Look apocalypse nights were long and they had games that were literally about arguing pointless shit like ranking types of chairs or the best way to break out of a prison without powers and things could get heated)

"Who died and made you boss?" Luther demands.

"Uh, the world? Were you not listening?" Five asks, looking very purposefully confused.

It gets even MORE delightful when Five reads Rick into the situation because a) he promised and b) his siblings really have like, no connections jeeze

Rick fully believes that this is his son from the future, like Five introduced himself, but Five skipped out on a few key details. Such as being adopted.

So Rick spends a solid chunk of time just staring at Five, who looks basically nothing like him, trying to think like, who is his mother ???? if we save the world will Five stop existing? why would I name my child 'Five'? Does everyone have powers in the future? was there like... a radioactive apocalypse? would radiation give future humans superpowers? when did my life turn into a comic book? am i even allowed to ask these questions? will knowledge of the future fuck things up?

and then when Five comes back and is like "what is up everyone this is my dad Rick who will be joining us, he doesn't have any memories of me thanks to time travel but if anyone is mean to him i WILL kneecap them"

"Your DAD?"

Five does kidney punch Klaus for saying that Rick is a DILF but otherwise everyone just is like, warily looking at this Normal Dad Man in confusion because?? This is the dude who raised Five, who they watched take out like an entire commission team by himself yesterday? He looks so. Normal.

Rick is very confused and like, wonders if he's supposed to be the team mascot? But Five keeps involving him and asking his opinion and in return Rick enforces snack breaks and makes everyone sandwiches and has gentle talks with everyone

Every time Five notices someone about to blow he just lovingly makes sure that that person is alone in a room with Rick

Luther ends up crying on the sofa with Rick gently patting his back as Rick calmly states that Luther seems like he's put a lot of time and effort into his family and making his father proud and that since Reginald isn't here to say it, Rick will have to be the one to say that he's proud and that they've been dropped into a difficult and stressful situation - so soon after Reginald's death when they're still grieving! - and he's doing so well

Luther, experiencing unconditional positive paternal regard for the first time in his life: i don't know why i'm crying so much

honestly this is just a comedy of juggling the gang, having impromptu therapy sessions and discussions, investigating the apocalypse and the eye, leonard trying to meet vanya continuously and failing because she's constantly surrounding by family or rick/patch, the commission trying their best to bust up the dream team/isolate Vanya/kill or remove Five, while Hazel lives out his romcom dreams with Agnes and also says "fuck the commission"

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - We’re Coming Back Home

A Drifting Stars AU one-shot, the last one I plan to do, in collaboration with @clownwry.

1st, 2nd, 3rd.

~~~~~~~~~~

Somehow, miraculously, through all of Ford’s traveling, through countless dimensions, his Quantum Destabilizer remained on his back and fully intact.

Okay, well, mostly intact. Partially intact. 

When he was finally ready to attack Bill and put an end to his reign of terror, his plans had been put on hold when a crack in space-time opened. He didn’t dare hope that it was a way home, but maybe if he aimed correctly, the shot would not only kill Bill, but fly him home. But no, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a young girl fly out of the hole, and with reflexes he developed over thirty years of staying alive in the worst circumstances, he hooked his Quantum Destabilizer onto his back, caught the girl, and swam through the gravity-less air for safety, hiding behind an asteroid, putting a hand over the girl’s mouth and hissing for her silence, swearing she would be okay, and they barely made it out as Bill’s words echoed through the Nightmare Realm.

“Sixer’s caught a Shooting Star, boys!”

Ford had no idea what that was supposed to mean at the time, but now a month later, he thinks he finally understood. His niece, Shermie’s granddaughter, Mabel, loved stars, and was very much like one herself. Always shining. Always so bright and full of hope. Many times in history, and even today in other dimensions, runaway slaves used the stars as maps to guide them to a better place. Ford often wondered if Mabel was his star, maybe not guiding him physically to a safe haven, but guiding him to a happier mindset. Guiding him to a life that isn’t completely isolated. Guiding him to a life that included love.

The last few weeks have been challenging, sure, but not that much more challenging than traveling alone; Mabel was a fast learner, and while she refused to use a knife or gun (“Cuz those hurt, Grunkle Ford!”), she was perfectly comfortable with pop-rocks and making foes lose their footing and fall down so they couldn’t attack. And she was very good at hunting for food and water and other reliable resources. 

In fact, Ford would easily say the last few weeks have been the happiest of his life. Maybe only tying with when Fiddleford joined him in Gravity Falls, before work on the portal became dangerous, but after he realized that maybe the woods had been too quiet the last six years.

After just a day and a half, Ford was fully-aware of his attachment to his niece and how much it would ruin him if he lost her. Mabel was everything a good person strives to be: kind, sweet, a pleasure to be around, but not a pushover, either; Mabel Pines knew how to stand her ground.

And so the last month was littered with so many happy memories. Ford was a little hurt when she “borrowed” two broken fishing poles and fixed them up so they could fish, but he very quickly enjoyed sitting on a log by a river and fishing with Mabel. Ford found it brought her much comfort to brush her hair, and he also discovered he enjoyed a calm brush himself. Ford found he didn’t mind the extra weight of his niece on his shoulders; quite the contrary, he found it comforting, and he was always swallowed with peace when she was so relaxed with him that she fell asleep, using his fluffy gray hair as a pillow.

No longer was Ford met with suspicious looks when he walked down the street of a market alone, face hidden. Quite the opposite. He was always met with smiles and warm greetings, and sometimes a little extra food was thrown into a purchase for free. Be it because people saw him as a parent with an adorable child, or because of Mabel’s charm. Or both.

The dimensions they came across were random and different, just like it was when Ford traveled alone. Some dimensions were like an alien sci-fi movie, completely different with no humans. Some dimensions were scaringly like home, with a small difference here and there. Ironically, the alien-like dimensions were typically safer, because they were used to travelers and weird-looking creatures. 

But Ford guessed it would be okay if he and Mabel stepped into a normal grocery store to buy some food.

They had come across a “normal” dimension, and while Ford’s first thought was to retreat for the woods, he heard Mabel’s stomach growl, and he decided her health was more important. So they stepped in and kept to themselves.

Ford and Mabel were picking up crackers when the little girl grinned at rows of cereals behind them. “Grunkle Ford, can I please pick a cereal?” She asked politely.

The old scientist thought about it for a moment. Cereal would definitely cover a few meals and be light and easy to carry, and it wouldn’t get hold too quickly, and he had wanted to get her at least one nice thing while in the store, so he nodded and said, “Yes, dear, you may pick one box. Any flavor you want.”

“Thank you!” And Mabel took the time to hug him before skipping over to the cereals to look.

Ford chuckled and picked some crackers, then decided to browse the fruit snacks, debating if it would be wise. Probably not, because if they get stuck in another desert climate the gummies could melt and make a mess, but they could make a good snack for Mabel. He held his chin, debating the idea, while a couple was also looking over the cereals.

“Which do you think Dad would want?” The yellow-haired woman asked.

“Honey, who cares what Rick wants? Just get a cereal you’ll like.” The husband said with an eye roll.

Ford froze at that name. No no, that was most definitely a different Rick. It was a common enough name, and there were billions of dimensions. There was no way Ford and Mabel somehow managed to stumble into C-137. He ultimately decided against gummies and he then looked at the trail mixes and granola bars. Both were always a good option.

“I know, but I want him to feel welcome, you know?” The wife said as she picked a box. “He’s been travelling in space alone for years…”

Oh no. No, no, no. Ford quickly chose some packets of trail mix and several granola bars and hurried back to his niece. He was not going to do this today. Nope.

Mabel grinned at him, a box of cereal in hand, and she held it out to him. “Look, Grunkle Ford, do you like this flavor? I can pick a different one if you want.”

“Oh, thank you, my dear, but I like the one you picked.” Ford did a decent job masking his uneasiness and he took her hand and smiled. “Why don’t we pick up some fruit for today, and then we’ll go fishing for dinner?”

“Yay! Sounds great!”

Ford didn’t miss the yellow-haired woman smiling at them as they left the aisle. If that was who he thought it was… She really didn’t look anything like him. She might have just favored her mother. Who else would have spent years traveling space? Bastard.

Ford may have hated him for many reasons, but choosing to abandon his girls was at the top of the list.

At the checkout line, Ford nervously watched the total of their purchase go up with each beep. He recounted their cash and made a small list of items in his mind for them to go down if they couldn’t afford everything. A few granola bars can go. And, maybe they could find band-aids elsewhere and “borrow” them.

The worker rang up the last item and Ford smiled when he saw the total was 29.89. He had thirty. But then the worker pressed the total button and taxes were added. Shit, right. That made their total 35.45. Ford winced. Mabel looked up at him worriedly, but she smiled and stood on her tippy-toes to see the worker better.

“Hi, I’m Mabel! Can you please put the cereal back? We don’t really need it.”

Ford looked down at her, surprised and also a little disheartened. He had really wanted to get her at least one nice thing, but truth be told the cereal was the most expensive item, so it made sense to get rid of it first. Still, it sucked.

“Total’s now 32.14.”

Ford bit his lip. “Very well, may we please put the band-aids back, too?”

The worker nodded, seeming tired and annoyed, but they didn’t say a word. Blissfully, the total went down to 29.99.

With hands full of bags, Mabel and Ford paused at the beginning of the parking lot to move their groceries into their backpacks. While they worked, the old scientist said, “I’m sorry I could afford your cereal, Mabel.”

“Oh, it’s okay!” The girl said instantly. “I’ve got something even sweeter.” And she grinned at her grunkle and gave him a warm smile.

Ford smiled back at her tiredly. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes you do.” Mabel insisted and hugged him around the neck, nuzzling her face into his shoulder and determined to sink as much comfort as she could into his skin. “I love you Grunkle Ford. Please don’t beat yourself up, m’k?”

Ford hugged her back and petted her short brown hair. It was certainly easier to feel better with a ball of sunshine in his arms.

They both heard rustling behind them as a buggy rolled from the door to the parking lot. They both looked behind Mabel and saw a bag with the cereal and the band-aids in it. They looked around and saw no one, except for the yellow-haired woman and her husband going to their car.

Mabel grinned and hollered to them, “Thank you!”

They didn’t respond, but the woman did smile and wave before putting groceries into her car. As appreciated as Ford was for her kindness, he wanted to get as far away from her as possible. No offense to her. She seemed like a very lovely lady.

But then it hit Ford like a pile of rocks. What was it he had said before he had pulled out his gun and left Ford to travel alone? “And hey, if you ever wanna travel without customs or waiting for wormholes to open, don’t come looking for me.” And then he winked and fell backwards into a pool of green, leaving Ford to curse his name.

If this was like before, when Ford was alone, he wouldn’t dare. But if he could help get Mabel home…

Ford took Mabel’s hand and muttered, “Come with me.” And she followed without question.

Beth felt good helping the old man and the little girl, and she didn’t expect anything more. Really, it was only five dollars worth of stuff. But she was happy when they started to walk towards her, so she trusted Jerry to finish loading up the car and she smiled at them.

“Excuse me, miss, I just want to thank you for what you did.” The old man said.

“Oh, you’re welcome, it was no trouble at all.”

“I… I hope I’m not being too invasive, but… but I believe you know someone I know.”

Beth smiled. Small world! “Really? That’s great! Oh, are you a relative of Dave’s? Or, you know, I do know a lot of people indirectly from the horse-track.”

“Er, no.” The old man gave her a more serious look, and then asked quietly, “Do you know Rick Sanchez?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Beth was so excited to give Stanford Pines and his niece, Mabel, a ride, and to invite them to dinner, not only because she thought seeing an old friend might make her dad smile, but maybe she’ll learn more about what he’s been up to all these years. The man was very polite and the girl was as sweet as can be, both of whom looked rough and in need of a cozy bed and maybe a soothing bath. Jerry was a little unsure, not wanting “more Ricks” into his house, but after a huf from the girl and a cheerful greeting, Jerry couldn’t help but tell the girl she was more than welcome, so now he was roped in.

Mabel noticed that her uncle looked distracted. He was looking out his window, but his eyes were elsewhere. He was thinking. So she decided to try to help him with his thoughts. “Grunkle Ford, who’s Rick Sanchez?” She asked quietly.

Ford looked at her, sighed quietly, and muttered, “He’s an intergalactic scientist. He’s ridiculously intelligent and clever, and… a bit…” Ford pursed his lips. All the words that came to mind he didn’t want Mabel hearing, so he settled on. “... mad.”

“Oh. Is he like a real mad-scientist?” Mabel asked, eyes sparkling with interest.

“Yes, but with less laughter, more slurs and sluggish demeanor, and even less consideration of other living things.”

Mabel noticed his cold tone and grew concerned. “You don’t like him, do you?”

Ford bit his lip. No, he didn’t. But there was a more important reason why he didn’t want to see Rick today. 

Mabel leaned in closer and whispered, “Is he mean?”

Trust Mabel to sum it up perfectly for her uncle. “Yes.” Ford said just as quietly. “And I don’t want him meeting you.”

“Why?”

Ford hesitated. But being blunt and honest seemed to be working, and it was best for Mabel to prepare herself for the lion’s den they were walking into. “I don’t want him to hurt your feelings.” a bit elementary, but it was the best way to explain it to a child without scaring her too much.

Mabel, however, grinned. “Grunkle Ford, no one can resist the Power of Mabel.”

Ford smiled and ruffled her hair softly. “We’ll see…”

“So, if you don’t like Mr. Sanchez, then why are we going to go see him?”

“He’s an expert on interdimensional-travel.” Ford informed her. “He might know how to get us home.”

Mabel’s eyes widened and she “oh”ed as she realized what was going on. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The garage door was open to let in good lighting and fresh air. But that wasn’t an invitation to come in whenever people feel like it; Rick will have to work on a security system to keep nosy neighbors away. He was opening a box and getting organized when he heard his daughter’s car roll into the driveway. He didn’t bother to look up, instead waited for the sounds of car doors opening to say something.

“Hey sweetie, welcome back.”

“Dad,” Beth said, sounding giddy. Rick hated giddy. But he had only been here for a week and he didn’t feel like making his daughter hate him just yet, so he settled for rolling his eyes and continuing what he was doing. “I have a surprise for you!”

“Wow! You have a nice house! Cool garage, too!” A young voice said.

Rick was halted. He turned in his chair and raised an eyebrow to find a young girl with short brown hair and braces holding hands with an old nerd with fluffy charcoal hair, glasses, and six fingers.

“Oh my God!” Rick laughed. “Holy-...” A dark look from the old traveler made Rick stop; he can piss him off later. First he needs to figure out why the hell he is here and what the hell he wants. “Jeez, you look terrible, Fordsie.” The mad scientist snorted as he leaned against his desk with his hands in his pockets.

Ford rolled his eyes and said, “And you still look like a soft breeze will blow you away, Sanchez.”

Mabel bit her lip and quietly, “Oooooh”ed, like she was listening to a rap battle.

“So,” Beth stretched, clearly hoping for more information or a more satisfying reunion, but she wasn’t getting it naturally, so she decided to push a little. “How do you two know each other?”

“The Multiverse is a pretty big place, sweetie.” Rick answered. “Don’t worry, I’ll have this nerd gone before you finish unloading the car. Don’t want to risk another mass genocide.” He sneered.

Ford’s face turned red and he yelled, “I didn’t know it was a planet! It looked too similar to a sandwich for it to be a planet!”

Rick laughed and looked at the little girl. She looked maybe a little younger than Morty. “Who’s that you got with you?”

Ford closed his eyes, debating if he should tell Rick it wasn’t any of his business, or get the introduction over with. But before he could make a decision, Mabel beat him to the punch.

She let go of Rick’s hand, hopped to him, and looked up at his bean-pole stature and smiled and waved. “Hi! I’m Mabel! You’re a scientist, too? Cool! I like your hair! How old are you? Have you ever met a dinosaur? What’s your favorite food?” 

Rick blinked like a startled lizard at the girl, glanced up at Ford, and then looked back down at Mabel. Rick smiled and sat in his chair to be closer to her level, and held out a hand to shake, which she happily accepted and shook a little rough. “Hey there, I’m Rick. Yes, I’m a scientist. Thank you, I like your hair, too. Yes, I’ve met a dinosaur, several in different dimensions. And, pancakes.”

Mabel’s eyes sparkled. “I love pancakes, too! Maybe we can make some together!”

“Maybe, but I’ve got the feeling that’s not why you’re here.” Rick suggested kindly. And no, Ford wasn’t at all suspicious that he was being kind to Mabel.

“Oh! Yeah! Grunkle Ford thinks you can help us get home.”

“Huh. You’re great-uncle, huh? Sure, okay, let’s get started.” Rick rolled over to a cabinet and took out an odd machine. It came with a tiny needle and was attached to the machine by a small black wire, and the boxed machine had a screen of some sort on the side. “Mind if I prick your finger?”

“Sure!” Mabel held out her finger to him and Rick carefully held her wrist and pricked her finger, so small she hardly noticed it. “What for?”

“I need a blood sample to find your home dimension. Gotta send you to the right dimension.” Rick explained. “Fordsie, lemme get yours, too. How’d you two find each other, anyways?”

“I was in the Nightmare Realm when some idiot opened a portal and this little starshine fell into my arms.” Ford explained, stepping forward and giving Rick his finger.

“Okay, got it.” Rick said. “Well, there’s a possibility that you two come from different dimensions. Nothing too different about your homes, but there’s millions of dimensions. The probability that you two came from the same timeline and reality… there we go. It’s a match. That makes things easier.”

The small heart attack Ford was having went away. The idea of his starshine not being his was a nightmare. His life was complicated enough; he didn’t need his girl to not actually be his.

“Dimension 41’\. Huh, okay, gimme two seconds…” Rick pulled out his trusty portal gun and plugged it into the machine. A long list of dimensions popped up, and Ford prayed 41’\ would be on the list. “You two are lucky. I can go as far as 42’\, but the other 40s are out of range. Huh, i’ll have to work on that.”

“So,” Mabel grinned. “You can get us home?”

Rick smiled smugly and shrugged as he stood. “Yeah, sure.”

“Grunkle Ford!” Mabel cheered and hurled herself into his arms. “I can’t believe it! I’m gonna see Dipper again! I can’t wait for you to meet him!”

Ford smiled softly. He couldn’t believe it. It was all happening so fast and effortlessly. He was going to get Mabel home. They were both going home. Suddenly the idea of seeing Stanley again, meeting his grandnephew and all of Mabel’s friends and her pet pig sounded… a lot. He didn’t realize it, but he was becoming anxious and spacing out. But Mabel noticed, and she kissed his stubbly cheek and brought him back to reality.

Rick shot at the wall with his gun and an oozing green portal appeared. “There we go, 41’\. Wait, sh-oot, gimme a location.”

“618 Gopher Road.” Ford stated as he let go of Mabel. “Gravity Falls, Oregon. USA.”

“Got it.” Rick made the last portal disappear and shot a new one. “There. Now get-... Go on home.”

Mabel stepped up to Rick and said sincerely, “Mr. Sanchez, thank you for helping us.” And she hugged him around his tall skinny legs.

Rick pursed his lips awkwardly, unsure of how to respond to such positive energy and kindness. The old scientists looked at each other, Ford giving Rick a warning look, but something hidden in his face or eyes told the drunk that the nomad was actually grateful for his illegal device.

“Uh…” Rick settled on patting Mabel’s head and said, “Y-Y-You’re welcome.”

Mabel let go of Rick and held out a hand to Ford. “Ready?”

“Nope.” Ford took her hand and squeezed it. “Let’s do this.”

And without another word, the Pines walked through the green portal.

[walkerwords]

“The Savior Sessions” Part 23 of 33 - Negan x GN!Reader

IMAGE CREDIT: AMC

SERIES MASTERLIST

Summary: You were right in Alpha seeking revenge for crossing into their lands and now swarms of Walkers are arriving at the gates of Alexandria. Still trying to deal with the emotions in your own mind, you are tasked with supervising Aaron and Negan who are to work together. What happens when the three of you get stuck over night in a cabin together and what is Carol thinking?

Word Count: 6061

Warning: Swearing

Song I Wrote To: “My Blood” by twenty one pilots

Note: This one takes place in ep 3 of season 10 called “Ghosts”. In this chapter, we get a better look at the reader’s life before the end of the Savior war and especially what they knew about Carl and the letter he left for Negan.

-------

A cataclysmic event.

That was what you witnessed when they dropped fire on Atlanta. Everything was burning and the air was thick with the smell of hot metal and melting tar. You could still remember the way your skin felt as you ran through the street, trying to flee from the destruction. 

That was the first night you finally saw a Walker up close. You had seen them on the TV and images that flashed on public monitors in the heart of the city, but never had one been mere feet away. It moved towards you as if you were the only thing in the world that mattered. You wanted to run, to scream, but you just stood there, watching. 

You could hear the commotion behind you as people ran for their lives, but nothing could distract you from the Dead man in front of you. Fresh blood dripped from its mouth as it reached for you. Stumbling back, you couldn’t think to do anything else but examine how something as beautiful as a human being had become...this. 

A shot came from a nearby convoy as the military tore through the rubble-filled streets, ending the Walker once and for all. They didn’t stop to ask if you were okay and they didn’t yell at you to run, they just kept going and you were alone again. 

As you stared down at the man that once was, you couldn’t stop the thoughts that ran through your head that said, “Perhaps this is next for all of us. Perhaps this is what is meant to happen.” 

That thought followed you all the way from the city and into the hills where you eventually met Carl Grimes and it had never truly left you. 

Even now as you watched Walkers approach your home in waves, those two little sentences were buzzing in the back of your mind, trying to make themselves known. However, just as you had for about a decade now, you shoved them away and picked up your weapon. 

The number of Walkers that fell upon Alexandria was something that you hadn’t seen in years. Being so far from the cities, it was rare to find massive hordes right near the communities or even groups of more than ten or fifteen. However, now there were groups of ten or twenty every time you turned around and you knew why. 

Alpha was pissed. 

You had tried to warn them when they went over her borders, but of course, nobody batted an eye when you spoke up. 

You couldn’t understand how one day your thoughts mattered and the next, they went clear over everyone’s heads. You knew you weren’t in charge, that didn’t both you. What did bother you was that your people had begun to question you, rather than relying on your council. You started to notice it after the blizzard and then even more so as your relationship with Negan furthered. 

While you still held a position of respect within Alexandria, you knew that you were looked at differently because of Negan, but you didn’t hold an ounce of resentment towards the man that you loved. Negan was the most important part of your life now and if that meant that nobody looked to you anymore, that was something that would have to get used to. 

Especially in moments when you were the only one dealing with the Dead. 

Aaron and the others had arrived home in the early hours of the morning, desperate to get their children home safely and when they saw you on watch, they had avoided your eyes immediately. You knew why they crossed over, but if you had had it your way, you would have been glad to watch the world burn. 

There had been a discussion, well rather an argument, earlier as more waves of Walkers approached. Lydia had been present in the meeting hall when Daryl had begun questioning her.

You had stayed in the back, ready to jump in to defend her if necessary, but she was handling it well. Lydia had explained that she didn’t think the Walkers were from her mother and that Alpha would have sent a horde. You weren’t so sure about that.

You knew fear tactics and this was textbook. 

Then there was the fact that Alpha now wanted to speak to Michonne and Daryl. You hadn’t even volunteered to go with them to the South border because you knew they would shut you down. However, you didn’t mention that bringing Carol was just as much of a risk. While you were pissed and wanting blood, Carol’s vendetta was even more personal.

Once some of the Highwaymen began throwing insults at Lydia, you took her out of the room and let Daryl deal with them. The last thing she needed was more venom thrown at her and you weren’t going to have her stand by and be spit on. 

Instead, you began to help clear out the Walkers again while you thought about what to do about her mother. While you didn’t agree with accepting Alpha’s terms and her borders, antagonizing her was the last thing you wanted to do.

If you were going to take her out, you wanted to do it when she didn’t expect it. You didn’t want a firefight or a clashing of swords, you just wanted her and Beta dead. It was that simple. Though, like most things in the fucked up world known as the apocalypse, nothing was ever truly simple. 

Negan was not too far away from you, helping to load the corpses into the wagons. You were keeping an eye on him as he worked, but you kept finding yourself distracted as the day wore on. Especially by one memory in particular…

--------

Months Earlier…

“This is either a trick or you pulled some huge strings on the puppet masters of Alexandria,” Negan said as he closed the door to your house behind you. Lydia who was sitting on the couch glanced up from the art book in her hands, something you had found in the garage a few days before and gave to her. 

“If you keep questioning Michonne’s decision, she’s gonna send your ass back out into the cold to sleep in the snow,” you warned, taking off your heavy coat.

“I’m not complaining,” Negan said with a grin and a wink. With a sigh, you gestured for him to make himself at home. 

“Lydia, did you eat?” you asked as you entered the living room to turn on your newly fixed fireplace. 

“Siddiq brought me something,” she said quietly as she stared at Negan who looking at her with curiosity. You gestured between them.

“Lydia, this is Negan. Negan, meet Lydia,” you introduced. 

“Nice to meet ya, kid,” he said with a neutral face, trying to gauge her reaction. 

“Hi,” she said shyly, folding her legs underneath her on the couch. 

“Jailbird here is gonna be staying with us when it’s below zero,” you explained as Negan leaned against the wall near the fire. “So just watch where you step so you don’t step in his ego while he’s here.” Negan scoffed. 

“Wow, (Y/N), that hurts,” he said. 

“Yeah? Well, so does this,” you said, as you gestured to the fresh wound on your side. “I’m gonna go change the dressing, try not to corrupt her, yeah?”

“I would never!” he called as you climbed the stairs towards your room. However, instead of searching for gauze, you remained on the landing and listened in on Negan and Lydia. “What are you reading?” Negan asked after a moment and you could hear the flipping of pages in the quiet of the room. 

“(Y/N) found it in the garage,” Lydia said. 

“Ah, Dalí,” Negan said. “I like his stuff.”

“The clocks are cool,” Lydia admitted and you smiled to yourself. 

“That they are,” Negan agreed. “How are you doing? I heard life is sort of kicking you in the teeth at the moment.” 

“I’m better than I was yesterday,” Lydia said. “At least a little bit.”

“And tomorrow you’ll be a bit better than you were today. Takes time,” he said.

“Nobody wants me here,” she whispered, almost too quiet for you to hear. 

“(Y/N) does,” Negan said, “and trust me, coming from them, that means a lot.”

“Why are you locked up?” Lydia suddenly asked and Negan remained quiet. It was only after about a minute that he sighed. 

“Do you really want to know? It’s not a pretty story,” he said. 

“Neither is mine,” Lydia admitted and then you heard her shifting on the couch, settling in to listen to him. 

“Alright,” Negan said, almost reluctantly. “It all started when a man named Rick visited Hilltop for the first time…” 

-------

You were knocked out of your memory as arguing reached your ears.

Still reeling from your thoughts, you searched for the cause only to see Gabriel stepping in between Aaron and Negan. Aaron’s morning star prosthetic was already attached and you could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears as you rushed over to find out what the damn issue was. 

“You need fighters,” Gabriel was saying. “He can fight, you’re taking him.” 

“What now?” you asked, already regretting the question. 

“Your buddy doesn’t trust me to help him take out Walkers,” Negan explained. “Though, I’ve already expressed my desire to stay here and bury corpses instead of hanging out with Captain Hook here.” Aaron glared at Negan and you were already getting a migraine. 

“Seriously?” you asked Gabriel who was already on the verge of giving up. “Fine, I guess I will play babysitter.”

“Fucking perfect,” Aaron swore. 

“Hey,” you said, pointing at him, “don’t break the asshole pact,” you said, reminding him of the conversation the two of you had on his porch before you left for the fair. You had finally repaired your relationship with Aaron and you weren’t going to blow it now. 

“I know, I know,” Aaron said, getting where you were coming from, “but it doesn’t extend to him.” 

“I never said it did,” you defended. 

“You want to referee these two?” Gabriel asked, throwing his hands up in defeat. “Fine, be my guest!” Gabriel stormed away and you turned to both of the men before you with your arms crossed. 

“Great, now you’ve pissed off the Priest.”

————

The three of you walked through the thick forest in silence. 

Normally, you would have been chatting or joking with Negan about being outside the walls for the first time together, but your romantic getaway was nowhere near as special as you thought it would be. 

Aaron dragged his feet alongside both of you. You could hear his feet digging in the mud and you knew he was doing it on purpose to annoy Negan. Jesus had taught him how to move through the woods in silence just as Lydia was teaching you. 

This only made you even more annoyed.

“You’re quiet today,” Negan observed, poking at your side. You looked over at him and took his hand, squeezing it a few times before letting go. 

“Sorry,” you said, returning your hand to rest on your sword.

“What’s gotten into you?” Aaron asked. 

“I’m pissed off, Aaron,” you explained with a huff. 

“Well, I can see that,” Aaron said. 

“Not helping,” Negan shot back. Aaron just rolled his eyes at Negan’s comment. You pushed on, ignoring both of them. It had only been a couple of days since the satellite fell and while Eugene felt that harvesting the tech from the machine was necessary, you still thought it was foolish. 

Your mood wasn’t getting any better no matter what Lydia or Negan tried. If you were being honest with yourself, you just needed a break. All you wanted to do was go away for a while and not think about communities arguing or masked menaces tracking your every mood. 

You just needed a moment. 

Now with the meeting happening at the Southern border, you didn’t know what to expect. Just as long as Daryl came back in one piece, you would be okay.  

For now. 

The three of you ended up in a clearing not too far from Alexandria, but far enough to see where the Walkers would be crossing towards the main road that led home.

Aaron gave Negan an old broomstick to handle the Walkers and he wouldn’t give in to your request of giving Negan your knife. It was ridiculous, but you figured it was better than Aaron yelling and Negan making ridiculous comments. 

“You have that look on your face,” Aaron observed as he took a swig of his water after taking out another Walker. 

“What look?” you asked, unbothered by the blood stuck to your blade. Negan was nearby, always twirling his stick around to amuse himself. 

“It’s the same look you had the day Rick and Daryl brought Jesus to Alexandria,” he explained. 

“Annoyed?” you asked, staring off into the trees. 

“More suspicious,” he said. “Though, I would throw in just a dash of pessimism, too.”

“Is that so?” you asked.

“You know, when I met you, I really didn’t like you,” Aaron said and you scoffed.

“Ouch,” Negan muttered. 

“There was just something about you that I didn’t get,” he went on. “Rick acted as if you were some kind of boogeyman.”

“This isn’t sounding any better, Aaron,” you said, leaning on your sword. 

“What I’m trying to say is that you always seemed like the black sheep of the family and I think we need that kind of thinking right about now,” he said, surprising you. 

“I thought you would be on team, ‘cross the border’,” you said.

“So did I,” Aaron said. 

“But?” you prompted. 

“I don’t know anything at this point. At least, I feel as if I don’t,” he admitted. “All I do know is that we can’t treat these...people like we have in the past with other enemies,” Aaron said and you didn’t miss the glance he threw at Negan. Negan ignored him, but he was still listening.

“Right, and now with Daryl agreeing to meet with these psychos...” you sighed.

“Daryl knows what he’s doing,” Aaron tried.

“Well, out of the three of us here, I’ve known him the longest. I know how blind he can be when it comes to his family and with Carol hurting the way she is, he ain’t gonna stop until Alpha is dead,” you said. 

“I remember how he used to be,” Aaron said, but you shook your head.

“You didn’t know him before Alexandria, before the Prison,” you said. “Daryl used to be loud and sharp. After his brother went missing he became standoffish and reckless. Nobody could work with him, not even Rick. The crazy son of a bitch once impaled himself on his crossbow bolt when his horse threw him off. Then, he got shot in the same afternoon on Maggie’s farm cause Andrea thought he was damn Walker. The man doesn’t know when to slow down.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Aaron asked. 

“It was when nobody knew him. Nobody knew what to expect. The only people he was even decent to were Carol and Carl.” 

“Not you?” Negan asked, hauling another body over to the pile. 

“Definitely not,” you said, thinking about all the arguments the two of you would get into. “We were civil, but I think we saw too much of each other in another. I remember Merle, Daryl’s big brother seeing us work together against the Governor. He used to make some really ridiculous comments, but one always stuck with me. Merle would say that we were ‘just two screwed up kids who ended up at the end of the world,’ and hell, he was right.”

------

The three of you worked into the late afternoon, early evening as sweat bloomed on your brows and blood stuck to your boots. 

Negan did his best to take out the Walkers with his stick, but he was itching for a blade. If Aaron wasn’t around then he knew that you would give him one without question. 

As he watched you, he could see how anxious you were getting. You had mentioned that Daryl never slowed down, but you never did either. You became distant and restless when you didn’t have a target in your sights. It was one of the many things he loved about you. 

After taking down another three Walkers, you wicked the blood from the sword that had become a part of you. 

“I’m going to get some more water,” you announced. “Try not to kill each other.”

“I’ll do my best,” Negan said with a wink. You ignored him as you grabbed the canteens and headed into the trees. 

Negan and Aaron were silent as they continued to kill the Walkers that broke off from the main horde that the others were handling. Without you to be there as a buffer, Aaron began to bite his tongue so he didn’t blow up at the man next to him.

Negan however, could feel the heat coming off him. 

“Are you just gonna keep staring at me or are you going to man up and tell me what’s on your mind?” Negan said, turning to face his adversary. 

“I have nothing to say to you,” Aaron said. 

“Ah, we both know that’s not true,” Negan said. “You’ve been just dying to give me a piece of that mind buried under all those curls. So, come on, lay it on me.” Aaron was quiet for a moment before he let his anger win over his decision to remain somewhat civil.

“You’re not good enough for them,” Aaron said and Negan raised his brows, taking in the words.

“If you think that pisses me off,” Negan began, “then I hate to break it to you, but you’re not the first to disapprove.”

“I won’t be the last either,” Aaron threatened and Negan caught onto what he was saying. 

“If this is about Maggie,” said Negan, “then I think you need to take a step back. She can want me dead all she damn well pleases, but the fact is, she had her chance to kill me and she didn’t take it.”

“She’d do it now,” Aaron said. 

“Why, because I’m in love with one of her friends? Are they friends? Because last time I checked, (Y/N) never talks about her.”

“You don’t get to dissect every relationship they’ve had. You are the reason that (Y/N) lost two people they really cared about, three if you count Sasha,” Aaron said. 

“I had nothing to do with Sasha’s death,” Negan said. “I didn’t kill her.” 

“No, you didn’t,” Aaron agreed, “but you are the reason she’s dead.” Negan glared at Aaron, trying to control his breathing. 

“It was war, Aaron, or are you forgetting your merry bunch of survivors killed my men as they fucking slept? You pulled the trigger first. You can be pissed at me all you want, but do not look at me and see a monster when you’ve shed just as much blood.”

“You wanna know what I see?” Aaron asked. “I see someone that's pretending.”

“Come on, man, just let it go,” Negan said as he moved past Aaron, going to follow you. However, Aaron was faster, throwing out his leg and blocking Negan’s step, sending him to the ground. “Jesus!” Negan swore. “Did you just trip me? What, are you? Twelve?” Aaron sneered at him, but Negan wasn’t having it. Getting to his feet, he towered over Aaron. “What the hell is wrong with you? I've been puttin' my neck on a block for you people all goddamn day!” 

“You don't give a damn about us,” Aaron said, not believing it for a second.  “If you gave a shit, you'd leave. That's what everyone needs.”

“I can’t do that and you know it,” Negan said. 

“Because you love them?” Aaron asked with a scoff.

“Is that so hard to believe?”

“Coming from you? Absolutely! They may have forgiven you for all the death and torture, but the rest of us haven’t!” 

“Nobody has forgiven anyone!” Negan said. “You think (Y/N) forgives me for murdering their friends right in front of them? They don’t and I haven’t asked them to! Look, I did what I had to do back then.” Aaron was silent then as Negan’s words cascaded over him. 

Aaron then tilted his head just as a predator would when watching its prey. “What did you say?” he asked, but Negan remained silent. “No, no, no. Open that up. Tell me why the love of my life had to die,” he ordered. 

Negan shook his head, but he took the bait. “Okay. One simple fact. One truth kept my people going... if you don't protect what belongs to you, then sooner or later, it belongs to someone else. That goes for your land, your wallet, your home, your country... everything. It is your job as a man to protect it. That's the story of America, the story of the whole goddamn world. And ain't nothing changing it... not you, not me, nobody,” Negan said, getting into Aaron’s face, but the latter wasn’t backing down. 

“Are you saying that Eric's death was my fault?” he asked but Negan remained still. Aaron then shook his head, stepping into Negan’s space even more. “Well, if I failed Eric,” he whispered. “Then you failed your wife.” Negan went still, looking down at Aaron with fury in his eyes.

“Careful,” Negan warned, trying to remain calm, but Aaron wasn’t done.

“Yeah. She died hating you, right? Gabriel told us the story and I know that (Y/N) has heard it, too. Hate to break it to you, but you will never see her again.” Negan’s mouth turned into a smirk as light entered his eyes. 

“What? You wanna say something?” Aaron challenged. 

“Yeah,” Negan said and then with a quirked brow pointed over Aaron’s shoulder. “Behind you,” he whispered as Walkers converged on Aaron. Aaron took out one in a hurry as another, which was covered in vegetation, fell on Aaron, taking him to the ground. Aaron yelled as the Walker reached for his face, but he was able to hit it over the head with his morning star, killing it easily.

However, something was wrong. Negan was gone and Aaron couldn’t see.

------

By the time you got back to the clearing, it was night. 

Of course, this was the time for you to get turned around and have to double back. You pushed into the clearing, ready to get the boys back on track when you were met with an empty space. 

“Seriously!” you yelled, throwing your hands up. “I say not to kill each other and they leave me,” you muttered. “No, no, (Y/N) they’ll be just fine, just two people who hate each other. Why should it matter if they both care about you? It’s not like that fucking matters.”

You continued to talk to yourself as you shone your light on the ground and managed to find Negan’s footprints. “It’s a good thing you’re practically bigfoot,” you whispered as you headed into the trees. You were then very happy that Daryl had taken all that time to teach you how to track or you’d be out there stumbling over Walkers and roots.

The tracks were accompanied by another set. You figured they were Aaron’s considering how precise they were. Walker tracks were more random and uneven. They led away from Alexandria which only made you even more annoyed. “Right, let’s go away from the walls and the warm food. Assholes,” you swore as you climbed over a fallen tree and kept moving. 

Eventually, you saw a flickering light in the distance. Stepping over what was either a dead Walker or a half-eaten deer, you arrived at a cabin. Noises of alarm echoed from the cabin and you ran towards it, kicking open the door. You slid into the main room just as Negan finished killing the last Walker with a crowbar. You would have to ask where he got that later. 

“What the hell?” you asked, alarming Negan. 

“(Y/N)?” Aaron’s voice came in the dark. “Negan?” 

Negan looked at you and in the dark of the room with only the moon to illuminate his features, he looked incredibly intimidating. “You alright?” Negan asked Aaron who was looking around the room rapidly. You took a step closer to him, confused. 

“Yeah,” Aaron said. “How did you…?”

“Your light switched on,” Negan explained, reaching down to turn off the flashlight that was on Aaron’s belt. 

“What’s wrong, Aaron?” you asked. 

“I can’t see,” he said, looking around the room, trying to focus on anything, but couldn’t. Negan kneeled in front of Aaron who stiffened as Negan got close. 

“Flowers growin’ out of the Walkers is hogweed,” Negan explained, looking at Aaron’s eyes. 

“Hogweed?” 

“Nasty shit,” Negan said with a glance over at you. “Causes rashes, blindness…”

“Is it permanent?” Aaron asked as you leaned against the wall. 

“Sometimes,” Negan admitted. “You wash your eyes out?” 

“Yeah, in a stream, but I… I didn’t have,” Aaron tried and then you realized you still had the water. 

“Here,” you said tossing the full canteen to Negan who gave it to Aaron. Aaron drank half of it in one go, desperate to quench his thirst. 

“Alright, come on,”  Negan said as he helped Aaron off the floor and you were surprised to see that Aaron let him. Negan got him settled in the old chair before joining you next to the window. 

“What are you doing?” Aaron asked. 

“We’ll take watch and leave first thing in the morning. That good with you?”

“Yeah,” Aaron said softly. “Yeah, that’s good.”

“You two are both idiots,” you said, crossing your arms. 

“We know,” Negan and Aaron said at once and you couldn’t help but smirk at that. Aaron settled into the chair, the reaction to the hogweed taking its hold, but he didn’t sleep.

Instead, he listened. 

“Maybe don’t run off in the middle of the night when a lot of Walkers are around, okay?” you said.

“Sorry,” Negan said sheepishly. You nodded to him, peering out the windows, letting your mind wander. “What are you thinking?” he asked. 

“What?”

“You look lost in thought, have all day,” he said with a shrug. 

“Uh, I was thinking about Rick,” you said. 

“Anything in particular?” he asked. You were quiet for a moment before turning to fully face him. 

“I lied to you before,” you said. 

“When?”

“When you asked me what the vote was on what to do with you. I told you that Rick just decided. He and Michonne had the final say, but that wasn’t the whole truth,” you admitted. “Rick asked me what I thought he should do.” Negan was quiet for a moment.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing at first,” you said. “I didn’t have an opinion right away. I was angry with you and I wanted you to pay for what you did, but I… I didn’t know if death was the answer. I was conflicted.” 

“Why?” he asked and you looked at him with glossy eyes. 

“Because of Carl,” you admitted and you saw something shift behind his eyes at the mention of the late teen. “I read the letter that he wrote to you. Michonne let me after she had given me the one Carl left to me. I knew what Carl wanted. He wanted the fighting to stop, he wanted the hate to stop, and he wanted you to be a better man. How was I supposed to deny him that?”

“Did you tell Rick this?”

“Sort of,” you said with a sigh. “I told him that Carl had written to me asking me to take care of him and Judith. Carl trusted me to be the protector of his family because he couldn’t anymore, but he never needed to ask. I would have died for Rick and I will die for RJ and Judith if it came down to it.”

“I know,” Negan whispered. 

“I thought about it for hours, the question Rick asked me, and then I told him that it wasn’t up to me and it wasn’t really up to him either. Carl had already made the decision. Rick had already made promises to the people he loved. He promised his best friend, Shane, that he would protect his family because Shane did it first; He promised Lori that he would protect Carl and he did.

“What happened to Carl wasn’t Rick’s fault no matter what he thought. Most of all, Rick promised Michonne that he would build a good life for their daughter, and I had to remind him that he wasn’t allowed to break that promise. Carl had an idea, and if we had killed you, we would have been dishonoring him and everything he wanted to fight for but couldn’t. I had to make a choice and for once it wasn’t for my survival, but for securing Carl’s legacy. You once asked me why I stayed in Alexandria when I felt as if I never quite fit.”

“And you said it was because Carl was buried there,” he remembered. 

“Alexandria is strong and still standing because of Carl. It’s not just because his grave is there. It’s because everywhere I turn, I see that kid’s influence. I made a promise when I read the letter he wrote to me. I can’t break it now and I never will.”

“Where is all this coming from?” Negan asked. You wiped at the tears that formed in the corner of your eyes. 

“I feel as if I’m starting to lose sight of him, Negan,” you said. “I look around and I don’t see Carl, I see Alpha’s face or Jesus’ blood on my hands. I can’t see the good anymore.” 

“There is still good in this world, (Y/N),” Negan promised. “You just gotta search a little harder.”

“I’m tired of searching,” you said. “I try to be there for Lydia, but most days I have no idea what I’m doing. What the hell does she see when she looks at me? I don’t even know what I see when I look at her.”

“Do you wanna know what I see when I look at Lydia?” he asked. 

“What?”

“I see a scared kid who’s had a shit life and who needs you to look out for her,” Negan said. 

“Right,” you said, but Negan wasn’t convinced you were getting it. You then looked up at him. “What do you see when you look at me?” Negan didn’t even hesitate.

“Possibilities,” he said and it threw you for a loop. Looking at him in the dark of the cabin, you could only see the truth pouring from him. 

“What do you see when you look at yourself?” you whispered.

“Not much,” he answered.

“Negan…” 

“It’s alright,” he said. “I’ve accepted it. You know, when I went back to the Sanctuary and saw what everything had become, I finally got it.”

“Got what?” you asked. Negan reached out and dragged his knuckles along the back of your arm, savoring the feeling as if you were going to fade away. 

“That my number was up the second Rick told me he was going to kill me in that clearing,” Negan said, avoiding your eyes. “I just didn’t know this would be how he’d do it, condemning me to a life of self-hatred,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh. 

“Why are you saying this to me?” you asked.

“I’m just trying to let you know that it’s okay if I don’t get the happy ending. I was more of a fan of horror films than fairytales anyway,” he admitted. 

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Just…” Negan trailed off and then pulled you towards him, wrapping his arms around you. “Just be still with me right now. Just, be still.”

-------

Negan eventually fell asleep after you convinced him to get some rest. 

You were too wired to even think about sleeping. You sat on the floor between Negan and Aaron, your sword reflecting moonlight across the dark room. The next time you heard a voice, it was Aaron’s and not Negan’s. 

“I’m sorry,” Aaron whispered. “I didn’t mean to run off.”

“It’s okay,” you said, reaching up to squeeze his hand. Aaron went to say something else then when Negan began talking in his sleep. You were used to it from all the times you spent by his side in bed, but Aaron froze as he listened to the nonsense. 

It wasn’t until actual words were formed that Aaron sat up. “Simon,” Negan muttered. “Si…,” he said again and then went back to mumbling before growing silent again. It had been a while since he dreamed about Simon, you realized. 

“What the hell was that?” Aaron whispered. 

“Negan, he talks in his sleep. He says the names of his victims sometimes.”

“Simon?” Aaron asked, surprised. 

“Negan strangled him when he tried to overthrow him. Simon was the one who ordered all the men and boys to be killed at Oceanside. He killed the boy at Hilltop and was the one who massacred Jadis’ people. Negan never knew any of it,” you whispered. 

“Makes sense,” Aaron said and you furrowed your brow.

“How so?”

“Negan doesn’t hurt kids,” Aaron said simply. 

“No, no he doesn’t,” you said, glad that Aaron understood that. 

“He still grinds my gears,” Aaron said. 

“I know.”

“And since when is he a fucking botanist? Hogweed, really?” Aaron scoffed. 

“He’s been out in the world for a long time,” you said. 

“Yeah, I know,” he said and then, “I never knew about Rick.” You sighed, but you figured he had been listening. 

“Nobody knew, that was the point.”

“I guess I never realized just how much he put on you,” Aaron said. 

“I didn’t mind,” you said, leaning your head against the chair. 

“Maybe you should’ve.”

-------

The next morning, Aaron was still struggling with his eyesight, but it was getting better. 

Negan slung one of Aaron’s arms around his shoulders to help him walk as you carried the weapons. Rosita pulled open the gate when you got home and yelled for Siddiq as you explained what happened. The doctor came running down the street with worry. Once he saw that Aaron was in one piece more or less, he took him from Negan.

You knew that Siddiq and the new doctor, Dante, would get him fixed up in no time. After making sure Aaron was okay, you began to lead Negan back to his cell. As you approached the Grimes’ house, you noticed Michonne, Daryl, and a very pissed of Carol standing on the stoop. 

“Uh oh,” Negan said as he stuck close to you. As you got closer, Carol shoved past both of them and into the house. The look on Daryl’s face made you incredibly nervous considering he had just returned from the meeting with Alpha. 

You and Negan stopped next to them and Michonne seemed to relax at the sight of you, knowing that at least you were okay. 

“What happened?” you asked. 

“Carol shot at Alpha,” Michonne divulged and you sighed, trying to contain your anger. 

“Fucking fantastic,” you swore. “How much shit are we in now?” 

“She knew we crossed,” Daryl said. “She knew about all of it. The fire, the blizzard, and even when Michonne and Aaron crossed by the river. She’s got people everywhere.” 

“So Carol felt the need to light the fire further?” 

“You’re telling me you wouldn’t have?” Daryl challenged but you remained quiet. Daryl shook his head as he walked away. “I need to find Lydia,” he said before heading across the street. 

“This is only going to get worse now,” you said to Michonne who nodded. 

“I know,” she said. “Get ready for a fight.” Michonne turned and followed Carol back into the house, still rigid from the night before. You sighed, gripping the sides of your head as every fear was coming back.

“Are you actually pissed Carol tried to kill Alpha?” Negan asked. 

“No,” you said, removing the keys from your belt, “I’m pissed that she missed.”

AN: Next Chapter is going to be an important one. Hint: Carol becomes desperate and turns to an unlikely ally. 

TAGS: 

@lucillethings @cameronsails @stark-dreams @amaroho @thanossexual @yes-sir-hotchner @boom-bunny @delusionalteenagewhispers @scootankle @ritajammer21 @writteriguess​ @tea-atfive @jennydehavilland @waspyyy @yespleasejayhalstead @hoemadegrace @writingdeadangel @huffledor-able541 @pulplorrd @felicisimor​ 

[theolympusfiles]

rereading the PJO and HoO - part one: the lightning thief

before i start, all italicized parts are from the lightning thief by rick riordan. they're not my words and these are not my characters. my thoughts are the only thing that are mine :)

• "mom, you're coming too." her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. "no!" i shouted, you are coming with me. help me carry grover". - the first(ish) appearance of percy's fatal flaw! i love the early establisment, especially because it helps foreshadow to the sea of monsters when fatal flaws are formally introduced.

• "that's -" "pasiphae's son," my mother said. "i wish i'd known how badly they wanted to kill you." - sally is underappreciated. she's smart as hell and clearly took the time to research demigods. yes, she was a little bit selfish with keeping percy out of the loop and not sending him to camp. but can you blame her? she lost all of her family and if she sent percy to CHB at an early age, that most nearly means she won't see him often (he'll attract monsters because he's aware of his status as a demigod and will most likely be at camp full-time). but sally ensured that she knew enough about the demigod world to protect percy because she knew that her selfishness would come with consequences. best mom.

• i was crying, calling for my mother, but i held on to grover - i wasn't going to let him go. - percy's first loss as a demigod and i am broken. honestly, so sad to think of, especially knowing all the losses he'll face in the future books. this line is also his fatal flaw showing once again (refer to first bulletpoint)

• "it (america) is the great power of the west. and so olympus is here. and we are here." - if olympus follows the west, where would the next location be? obviously, america is still a big powerhouse in terms of western civilization but that's not going to last. my bet is south korea but who knows? would love a fanfic on this tbh

• "the truth is, i can't be dead. you see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. i could continue the work i loved. i could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. i gained so much from that wish... and i gave up so much. but i'm still here, so i can only assume i'm still needed." - how will it be decided that he's not needed? honestly, can't imagine CHB without him but chiron also deserves retirement

• i started to understand luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, hermes so okay, maybe gods had important things to do. but couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder or something? - percy has always showed some hesitance when accepting the demigod world, so i wasn't really surprised to see doubts like this pop up, especially with luke's influence. i'd think most demigods feel this way, luke and percy are just the ones who exhibit it the most in the series. i'm really interested in the parallels between the two and i'm looking forward to reading more and examining them

• "during the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, zeus and poseidon had an argument. the usual nonsense: 'mother rhea always liked you best', 'air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters', etc. - despite the fact that the gods are all-powerful beings, i appreciate the petty sibling spats that are mentioned briefly

• "so let me get this straight," i said. "i'm supposed to go to the underworld and confront the world of the dead." "check," chiron said. "find the most powerful weapon in the universe." "check." "and get it back to olympus before the summer solstice in ten days." "that's about right." i looked at grover, who gulped down the ace of heaers. "did i mention that maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly. - this would be perfect for those 30 second trailers

• "gee," i said feigning surprise. "who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a q uest like this?" the air shimmered behind chiron. annabeth became visible, stuffing her yankees cap into her back pocket. - the way he knows her pretty well already, i-

• the truth was, i didn't care about retrieving zeus' lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble. - early on, we see from the get go that percy has a dislike for the gods. it's small mentions like this that really gets me thinking. he never really showed any dislike of the gods when he first arrived at camp (understandable) but he was hopeful for his father. it wasn't until luke planted the seed into his head that these thoughts came to light. i love this little detail, especially as we know that towards the end, luke does seem to think he can turn percy against the gods. his plan backfired a little bit on him in the end but like i said before, the parallels between luke and percy are so glaring. riordan definitely thought it out extensively

• do not be a pawn of the olympians, my dear. you would be better off as a statue - this is said to percy by medusa and again, feeds into his dislike of the gods. i wonder if monsters have some opinion on this. most would probably hate the gods but i wonder what their stance is on demigods. we know that they work with them (see kronos' army). the real enemy for monsters are the gods, the demigods killing them are just pawns to the gods so maybe that's how some monsters see them

• "so, what's your status?" luke asked me. "chiron will be sorry he missed you." i told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. it felt so good to see him, to feel like i was back at camp even for a few minutes, that i didn't even realize how long i had talked to him until the beeper went off on the spray machine. - there's no doubt that percy really considered luke a friend. he wasn't hesitant to tell luke about his dreams, something that he didn't share with annabeth or grover until later on the book. luke was a sort of mentor to percy and it was conveyed pretty well through their interactions, which makes his betrayal even more heartbreaking

• "you think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" she wouldn't meet my eyes. "please. i'm not into self-inflicted pain." - my heart breaks for annabeth and her relationship with her father. i've read most of the riordanverse books and the growth in annabeth's relationship with her family is definitely something i'm looking forward to watch grow as i make my way through the books again

• i looked over at the desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket - so i never paid the dreams any mind but now that i think about it, they're really good for analysis. for example, the straitjacket could mean something like the gods are keeping them restrained. maybe i'm overthinking it or have been analyzing text too much in AP english but i think that the dreams are worth some deeper thinking

• i pretended not to see annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening of cerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend - i need to see annabeth play with cerberus again D:

• i turned and faced my mother. i desperately wanted to sacrifice myself and the last pearl on her, but i knew what she would say. she would never allow it. i had to get the bolt back to olympus and tell zeus the truth. i had to stop the war. - percy's growth as a character really shines through here. the lightning thief is a pretty short book and the journey they took was less than 2 weeks but despite that percy's grown immensely as a character. his goal was always to save his mother but in the end, he sacrificed her because he knew it was his duty to save olympus and i respect that

• "you have made an enemy, godling," he told me. "you have sealed your fate. every time you raise your blade in battle, everytime you hope for success, you will feel my curse. beware, perseus jackson. beware." - ares cursed percy to be unsuccesful in battle but does his curse ever take effect? i don't recall any mention of this curse later on the series. obviously, percy is the main character and a really good swordfighter but the curse might have affected some battles right? but then again riordan has a lot of plotholes so i wouldn't put too much thought in it

• i knew dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong. - i've always accepted the fact that dionysus called the demigods by their wrong name for humor. but what if it's deeper? what if it's a way to put some space between him and the demigods, just as an extra precaution so he won't get attached. or it could be a ploy to showcase that he's more powerful than them and that they are beneath him, which is why he doesn't need to know their name. i like the former headcanon more though :P

• i opened my eyes. i was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the big house, my right hand bandaged like a club. argus stood guard in the corner. annabeth sat next to me, holding my nectar glass and dabbing a washcloth on my forehead. "here we are again," i said. - the parallel

well, that's everything i had notes on. overall, i liked rereading it. i really do miss this series and i'm finding my love for it be rekindled by rereading. i miss the humor of the early books (i could literally make a whole post of underrated lines). the last time i read the series in its whole was when i was 7 and now that i'm 16, i have more thoughts and can analyze the story better. also loved seeing baby percabeth as they're my OTP. i'm excited to continue with the series. to the sea of monsters!

[whumpering-heights]

Immortal drowning

A/N: I found a prompt of tying a weight to an immortal whumpee’s feet and drowning them, but I couldn’t find it. So, while I can’t take full credit for this idea, I do like how it turned out. CWs for drowning and some gore/light body horror near the end (after the caretakers are introduced) ___________________

“Kill it!” Screamed the crowd. “Kill the witch!” Johnathan would’ve liked to see them try.   “I’m not a witch!” He yelled. “I’ve never hurt any of you!” This only riled the crowd up more. A rock flew from the mob, hitting Johnathan square in the temple. A loud crack sounded and lights danced in front of his eyes. He staggered, only the guards holding him keeping him on his feet. But after a moment, the wound healed itself and he could see clearly again. The guards who weren’t occupied with dragging him, had to keep the crowd from tearing into him right then and there.   Johnathan wondered what they were going to do. Most likely they’ll try multiple things, once they realised no execution would stick. He felt sick to his stomach. This was going to hurt. But he should be able to escape. Human attention spans were imperfect, and he had all the time in the world. They were bound to slip up sometime. With some bewilderment, he suddenly realised they weren’t headed for the town square. Not the prison, either. Instead, his captors were dragging him outside of town. For a second, Johnathan was puzzled. Then, he saw the shore. It was noon, but the dark clouds made it look like dusk. A small boat lay ready for take-off, next to it an anvil and many chains and rope. When Johnathan realized what was about to happen, his legs gave out. The guards grunted in surprise, but kept him upright. All sound around Johnathan faded, as the only thing left in his awareness became the anvil. Once he regained control of his legs, he struggled like a feral animal.   “No, please!” He begged. “Y-you can’t, please, I beg you!” The crowd only jeered. As they dragged him ever closer to his imminent doom, his struggling feet finding no purchase in the sand, his pleading became less comprehensible.   “No, no, please, good people, I-I swear onto God, I’ll do anything, just, please-” His pleas were cut off when one of the guards shoved a rag in his mouth and tied a gag around his face. Johnathan could only whimper as two of the guards held him down in the sand, while the rest started binding the anvil to his legs. Some ropes and chains were looped though his handcuffs in front of him, ensuring a proper bond. Johnathan was crying openly now. The crowd cheered as he was dumped in the boat and two men came with to dispose of him.  

The clouds opened up and rain fell down. The men rowing the boat didn’t seem to notice. Johnathan lay in between them, shaking with terror. This terror intensified when the men stopped rowing. They had arrived. Johnathan tried to plead with his eyes. I have never hurt a soul, he tried to say. Please, have mercy. But his pleading went unheard. The men raised the anvil and dropped it down the side of the boat. As it hit the water, Johnathan was scraped over the wooden planks. He tried dig his nails into the wood, leaving long scratches along the bottom and side. With a last, desperate cry, he disappeared into the sea.  

The cold water shocked him, the salt stinging his eyes. He felt the water rush around him as he sank. He knew it was futile, but he instinctively held his breath. Soon enough, the anvil hit the bottom. He continued sinking a bit more due to momentum but bounced back until the line was taut. His lungs felt like they were burning. A small part of his brain thought he might as well get it over with, but he was still too scared to open his mouth and face the pain. He squirmed and struggled, as his throat spasmed for the need of air. Involuntarily, he opened his mouth to gasp. Salt water rushed in his mouth and throat, and he tried to cough it up. This only made him take on more water. His chest spasmed, trying to expel the liquid. His muscles cramped and twitched as his body tried to swim despite the chains. Finally, a darkness creeped in from the corners of his eyes. His struggling slowed down. He stopped trying to breathe, a strange kind of comfort tugging at his conscience. He slipped under.

He awoke with a sharp pain in his chest. He screamed, pushing the water out that settled in his lungs and letting new water in. It made him go unconscious faster, but that was a mercy. It didn’t make his frantic struggeling any less terrified, though.

He didn’t know how long it had been. Despite the proof to the contrary, his brain was still convinced he was dying, and didn’t allow any other thoughts. Plants had started growing on the anvil, the chains, and on him, yet his instinctive struggles stayed just as desperate. Sometimes, if he had the presence of mind to hold his breath when he woke up, he could be shortly aware of the light dancing so high above him, shining though the surface. But those moments of conscience thought never lasted long, soon replaced by the desperate panic that had become his existence.  

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

Lisa stared into the sea. She had never gone big game fishing before. Her safety vest made her feel a bit better, but being on the small boat in the middle of the sea still made her a bit nervous. Her uncle threw a bucket of dead fish overboard. “Bait.” He explained. Lisa went a bit pale around her nose. If the bait was the size of salmons, how big were the fish they were going to catch? Her uncle laughed. “Now, don’t you look so worried, Lisa. I’ve been doing this since I could walk, so I should know what I’m doin’. You’re in safe hands.” Lisa smiled. “Thanks, uncle Rick.” She walked away from the edge of the boat and sat down on the deck. Her uncle took his place near the fishing rod. It was attached to the boat and motorized.   “Now, remember,” said her uncle. “It might take a while for something to bite, but that’s just what’s fun-” His eyebrows raised as the rod bent down. “Oh, I’ve caught somethin’ already! Lisa, a hand!” Lisa ran over and helped reel in the catch. It was a little exciting, she thought. She wondered what kind of fish they would see. Her uncle laughed. “My, that feels like a big one! 800 pounds, at least! I should bring you for trips more often, you bring luck!” Lisa chuckled and peered into the water. As the catch slowly came into view, her blood ran cold. “Uncle Rick?” Her voice trembled. He looked up in concern. “What is it, girl?” “I... I think that’s a body.” Shaking, she pointed to the silhouette in the water. Her uncle put the reel on brake and followed her finger. He turned white as a sheet. “Oh... Oh my god.”   Below them, a vague outline of a person hang on the hook. It had caught on the many chains and ropes binding it. They couldn’t see the details of it, yet. Lisa’s eyes teared up. Her uncle threw an arm around her. He was shaking, too. “You can wait in the cabin, love.” He said softly. “You don’t need to see this.” Lisa looked up at him. “You’re reeling it in?”   “Well, I can hardly leave it here.”   “But what if it was... Y’know. What if it’s a crime scene?” Her uncle stared at the barely visible figure. “I reckon it might be. But if I leave it, I won’t be able to find it again.” Lisa nodded. “Okay. I’m staying. I want to help.” “Are you sure? Who knows how long it’s been in there. I really don’t think you should see it.”   “Well, someone has to. I’m helping.” Lisa insisted. Her uncle sighed, and they solemnly reeled in the corpse.

Lisa felt bile rising up in her stomach as the body was lifted from the water. The body seemed to be of a young man with long, tangled hair. His clothes were barely recognisable as such, and barely covered his skeletal body. After soaking in the water for god knew how long, his deathly pale skin had become bloated and blotchy. It was even peeling off in places. It took Lisa and her uncle some effort to lift the anvil into the boat. Lisa caught sight of the ropes and chains around the body’s leg. They had been embedded into his swollen skin. The blood supply had been cut off, and his feet had turned black. She gagged. “Well,” her uncle said. “It’s actually not that bad.” “Not that bad?” She cried. “He looks awful!” “Yeah, but you’d think he’d be rotting and stuff. Must not be dead that long. Poor soul. I’ll contact the shore, let them know what we found.” He went into the cabin. Lisa studied the corpse’s face. He did look terrible, but he still had his eyes and nose and such. He almost looked like he was just unconsious. In fact... she rubbed her eyes. Did she just see his eyebrow twitch? Before she could mention it to her uncle, the corpse’s eyes flew open and it gasped. She screamed and fell back. The corpse turned on his side and started vomiting up water. The heaves and wet coughs sounded like no sound a human should make.   “Uncle Rick! It’s alive!” Her uncle came outside. “That impossible, there’s-” He stopped as he took in the man, who was wracked with raspy coughing fits. A small fish leapt out of his mouth. Her uncle’s eyes showed white all around them. “That’s... that’s impossible.” He grabbed a mop lying around and brandished it like a weapon.   “What’s wrong?” asked Lisa. “We saved him just in time! We should help-” “Dearie, that thing has been underwater so long, it has barnacles.” Snapped her uncle. “Whatever it is, it should be dead.” The former corpse had finished coughing up the contents of his lungs. It lay gasping and trembling on the deck, still wrapped in those ropes and chains.   “What are you?!” Yelled her uncle. He stepped in between Lisa and the man defensively. At the question, the man flinched in on himself. With effort, he raised his shaking hands.   “Nh-please, good sir.” His voice sounded wet and raspy, and he became overtook with another coughing fit. “I-I mean no harm, I swear-” He gagged and curled in on himself, shuddering and dry heaving. “Uncle,” Lisa said carefully. “I don’t think he can hurt us.” Her uncle looked uncomfortable and lowered his mop a bit.   “Uhm, you’re right, but... what the hell is it?” he called over to the man   “Are you a ghost or somethin’?” The man looked up at them through his tangled hair. He shook his head. “N-no, sir. I swear.”   “What the devil are you, then?” The man flinched. He tried to scramble back, but he was so weakened, he didn’t get far. He took a breath to answer, but it caught in his throat and triggered another coughing fit. Though the gasps for breath, he tried to answer. “I-I don’t- I’m not sure, but-” Some more water sprayed from his lips. He looked about to faint. “I-I-I'm no devil, good sir, miss, I-” Any further attempts at speech were too wet to understand. Lisa pushed past her uncle, despite his protests, and knelt down next to the man. She wanted to slap his back to help him with coughing, but when he looked at her, his eyes were filled with abject terror. She leaned back from the intensity.   “Nh-please, miss, don’t put me back. I-I couldn’t, please, no more-” Another cough cut off his pleas.   “Don’t worry.” Lisa said.  “We’re not putting you back. I promise.”

[ordinaryschmuck]

Marvel Facts That You Probably Know, But Also Probably Don’t #2

Hey, are you a casual Marvel fan who gets most of their information about Marvel characters from movies and TV? Well, here are some facts about some classic characters that you probably know, but also probably don’t. Facts involving their history and a few odd stories you might not have heard of.

Today, we’re going to be talking about facts connected to the following characters/groups:

Hulk

Iron Man

Spider-Man

The Avengers

Thor

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Doctor Strange

And one quick fact about Cyclops

Here are the facts:

What's technically the first big Marvel crossover is when the Fantastic Four went up against the Hulk in issue #12 of their 1961 run.

The Hulk's first solo run in 1962 only lasted for six issues.

And you know Hulk's sidekick Rick Jones? HE formed a team of teenagers called the Teen Brigade, who send messages around the world. And it's them who inadvertently brought the Avengers together when calling for help against the Hulk...I'm not kidding.

Like Thor and Ant-Man, Iron Man made his debut in an anthology comic, with his stories often taking place in Tales of Suspense.

Iron Man didn't get captured by the Nine Rings. He got captured by a Wong-Chu, an evil Vietnamese general...it was a different time.

Tony Stark used to need to wear an entire iron chest plate to keep himself alive, rather than just a small arc reactor.

He then painted his MK I suit gold after his lady friend Marien suggested it.

And if you think his suit in Avengers: Infinity War was OP, wait until you see his MK I suit from 1963. It was basically Batman's utility belt as it just so happens to have a dozen tools and attachments that allow him to do anything. It's kind of cool but also insanely lazy.

Did you know Steven Strange wasn't the first Doctor Strange? Because he wasn't. There was actually another character called Dr. Strange, who actually came close to killing Iron Man if not for his daughter ruining things.

Spider-Man was initially a one-off character in Amazing Fantasy #15. It wasn't until many fans demanded more did Stan Lee and Steve Ditko give him his own series in 1963.

In the very first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker is referred to as Peter Palmer.

J. Jonah Jameson published both The Daily Bugle and Now Magazine.

Odin explicitly states that Thor is his favorite son...what a dick.

If Thor lets go of his hammer for sixty seconds, he'll revert back to Donald Blake. But if he's in Asgard, which is beyond Earth's time, Thor can stay as Thor indefinitely.

Also, Thor doesn't like publicity and crowds of photographers. He was too scared people would see through his god-like physique and see him as Donald Blake.

Loki was a blonde once...that is all.

And alongside telling stories of Thor fighting the villain of the week, Journey Into Mystery would have Tales of Asgard, which basically had stories of adventures the Norse gods went before Thor's.

Hank Pym's Ant-Man used to be married to Maria Trovaya before meeting Janet Van Dyme...Maria was murdered by communists for betraying communism...it was a different time.

It was retconned that the main reason why Hank Pym became Ant-Man was because of Maria's death.

It was The Wasp who came up with the name for the Avengers...I bet she doesn't get enough credit for that.

Doctor Strange also started on an anthology comic, but it wasn't in his own like Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man. Instead, he shared a slot on Stange Tales alongside the Human Torch.

Unlike most superheroes, Doctor Strange's first story wasn't an origin. Fans didn't figure out how the good doctor came to be until his third appearance.

Doctor Strange also didn't start with his cloak of levitation. Shocking right? To find out that an iconic piece of a hero's costume didn't even exist when that hero was made.

Scott Summers, Cyclops, was originally called Slim Summers.

[cosplayinamerica]

Summer & Snuffles from Rick & Morty // Cosplayers: eileen.chase & aachase1401

So, how did you come up with Snuffles exo-suit?

SNUFFLES IS MY SLAVE NAME!  YOU MAY CALL ME SNOWBALL BECAUSE MY FUR IS PRETTY AND WHITE!.......It's a pretty awesome character and one of my favorite TV shows.  I always loved Snowball, probably because I love dogs so much. 

Coming up with the logistics of a costume that isn't really proportional to a human person was a challenge. I figured the best way was with a black puppeteer suit and to create the illusion of a non humanoid.  The LION KING Broadway show did this really well with the animal puppets.  So that really helped inspire me to go that route.  

Luckily, cosplayers before me have come up with great builds that served as source material to chose from.  I had lots of cosplays to reference when it came to the over sized hand puppets.  Keegan Sommer and his dad did a Liberty Prime cosplay last year and were kind enough to send me some build photos of the arms.  For the legs I used various Velociraptor costumes as inspiration.  The head was tricky, I got lucky that my idea worked.......barely worked.  I finally got it to work the morning of Con!

That exo suit looks like it took time to put together! Could you talk about it?

I started with a base.  A cardboard box for the torso with arm and leg holes, and jumped off from there.  I did a small mock up of the legs to try out joint movements, and get the positions correct before I put together the PVC skeleton. 

The joints were made of PVC....fun fact, when making a pin for joints...USE A BOLT!  the wire i used initially snapped under the weight 20 min before contest judging.  THANK THE STARS FOR MEGACON COSPITAL! 

They were a godsend and helped me fix the foot joint with a much thicker Pin. The structure around was expandable foam from the hardware store.  I covered the PVC in it and carved the foam down into the foot and calf shapes.The Hands were balsa wood and Insulation foam.  I made a base/grip for the glove that worked the outer fingers. 

The puppet fingers were made in three parts, with balsa wood, fishing line on the inside, and elastic on the outer side.  I put thimbles in the fingertips of the gloves to lessen the "give" of the string as it pulled. 

This part took a lot of tweaking to get the desired result.LEDs:  I had never worked with a soldering iron before, so I was worried about getting the lights to properly work.  So i took shortcuts where possible. lol.  The light in Snowballs Helmet is a twisty Tea light that people use for decor.  

The LEDs in the hands were strip LEDs that are used to decorate bedrooms and even came with a remote so i could change the color and pulse if I wanted too.  But I did end up doing some custom soldering that I'm very proud of.  The lights in both shoulders and collar are ones I put together.SNOWBALL: This was the most fun.  The centerpiece of the costume is what needed to be right.  Everything else could suck, but this had to be good. 

I've never needlefelted before, but I knew it was the best way to create a custom animal.  I really have to say, it's my new favorite hobby!  Seriously, it was an absolute blast creating this piece.   If you're looking to add a cute animal or felted piece to your cosplay, take up needlefelting!

 I've become a huge fan of the medium and was surprised at how easy it was to get used to, especially if you're already a sculptor.   Normally you can't really felt onto a piece of Styrofoam because the wool will just fall out.  But i needed the base to be solid for the puppetry to work, so what i did was glue felt pieces onto the styrafoam base and then felted a base layer of wool onto that felt.  It worked pretty well. 

The fur will never be as solid as if the entire piece was felted, but it worked well for this cosplay.   I build the face up the most, added glass eyes and a nose sculpted from thermoplastics.  The arms and legs were wire with wool wrapped around them. 

The helmet was an upside down bowl I found at Party City.  It was the size and color I needed, so i cut away until it looked like a visor attached to a shorter helmet, painted the non visor parts, added foam and then glued on some Dixie cups.  The light is just a party cup I thought looked cool.It's easier to describe the build process when i have the accompanying photos.  So i'll be creating a step by step guide on Instructables.com like I did with my Power Loader.  Hopefully it will make more sense, and other people who love the character can see my successes and mistakes and improve on the design.

Any interesting or funny response from congoers while walking around Megacon in the exo-suit?

Well, i made a child cry.......so there was that.   It was actually kind of cute.  He was fine until the head moved.  That spooked him.  Another funny thing was when my sister and I were filming a recreation of the "where are my testicals" scene and I accidentally hit her in the face because my vision is limited in the suit.

How has cosplay impacted your life since you’ve started cosplaying?

There's a great line in the book "The subtle art of not giving a f***"  That says we are happiest when we are setting goals for ourself and overcoming obstacles to achieve them.  It's a great feeling and I think if you have the chance to challenge yourself, go for it.  It's a great feeling that lasts well past Con even when all the attention has worn off.

 It's also great to learn new skills.  I learned how to work with electronics this time around, LEDs and many more that I'll continue to use outside cosplay.  The other ways it's affected me is by severely limiting the amount of closet space I have available..  Big cosplays take up big space. I'll probably need to get a storage unit at some point.

https://www.allisonchasemakeup.com/

________________________

Rick & Morty on Amazon https://amzn.to/3s1tsa8

[thejudgingtrash]

@aph-usa-is-my-dad​ Thank you, thank you! 🙇🏽‍♀️

Alright lads, looks like it’s time for hot takes part III!

Here’s Part 1//Here‘s Part 2

Apollo won’t get Zeus position. Why is everyone wishing for that? And why should he? All of you really want to romanticize/project yourself onto him, huh?

Casual Reyna >>> praetor Reyna

Grover has the fattest ass in the Riordanverse, I don’t make the rules

People lack of basic reading skills part III

The fact that adults in New Rome let kids rule the fucking place is still mindblowing

Rick apologists are lame. People calling out shit isn’t an attack on you. Stop defending a product‘s/public figure‘s honor. Defending Rick Riordan is the equivalent of you defending the honor of a snickers bar. Dude doesn’t know you and dude doesn’t give a fuck about you. You are a walking dollar bill at best

Romans are still fucking wacky and despite Camp Jupiter being superior allegedly it’s a whole damn chaotic mess. Where are the supposed civilized Romans because I don’t see them?

Camp Half-Blood >>>> Camp Jupiter, especially when Percy trains in his summer vacations and beats praetor Jason’s goddamn ass who’s been training for 12 years

Why did Riordan even try to make Jason appear to come close to Percy’s level? The imbalance of power is so abundantly clear and makes Jason seem even smaller in that regard. Riordan is truly Percy’s biggest hater

The fact that CHB also glamorizes child soldiers in a more fun and relaxed way. Yikes

Nico is a white™ (again, he is European)

Rachel was annoying but didn’t deserve the blatant hate.

Annabeth should’ve had another possible love interest to spark some pissed Percy. Luke doesn’t count. Percy’s jealously revolves around (the possibility of) her not being around him (e.g. the hunters), not him ”losing“ her to someone else romantically speaking

Silena is the OG Aphrodite kid, fuck the rest

Amazons >> hunters by a slight margin. They’re also an awful bunch

The execution of the hunters is so bad omg, just let me revamp them, Ricardo

If a different take on a headcanon/characters really offends you/paint that much of a different picture of op, then I’m not sorry (only exception if the headcanon is based on discriminatory means. Someone saying they don’t like A and someone using slurs and being a douche are two different things)

The entire Aphrodite cabin is pan FYI

Team demigods who receive periods would probably be extra fucked when it comes to monsters and stuff. Let’s address this

Why exactly couldn’t the gods handle their own shit? Hunting monsters in your area makes sense as a demigod job. But stuff like retrieving Hermes‘ staff (especially when the dude is the speedy traveler guy) makes no goddamn sense

Let’s face it: Annabeth is the only good female character that Riordan pulled off. Also wasn’t she based off his wife? If so, that’s why.

The lack of irl examples for his POC and other women is abundantly clear as he can’t lure everyone from his environment into the stories especially because he has no irl connection to minorities. So he fabricated stuff/did his 5 mins of wiki and got it severely wrong. Clock that tea!

Camp Half-Blood t-shirts belong to the trash. Orange is Yellow‘s cousin and both are ugly to the max. Let’s just switch colors of both camps. Let the Romans deal with the hideous shit

Chiron and Paul are Riordan‘s self-inserts

Tbh giving Hazel super mist powers and tying Frank to Poseidon was stupid

Skater!Percy is pretty much canon but I just can’t envision it? The thought of it is cute and so 2000s but my brain goes fjfldlsöwlwbvd (and tbh gymnast!/dancer!/Parcours!Percy >>>>> skater!basketball!Percy)

People are forgetting that Percy is the unpopular kid both in the mortal realm and at camp and partially chose to be so? Let me remind you of the truth real quick

Beckendorf and Silena are the horny bastards of the Camp Half-Blood. Issa fact

The gods not really immortalizing Chiron and simply saying that he’ll live as long as he’s needed turned him into the cryptic fuck we all know. That’s why he barely helps out (On that note a tiny Chiron essay)

A headcanon, regardless of how popular it is, isn’t factual/reality. So fighting over different takes of the exact same issue is rather pointless but you do you. Some popular blog having an opinion with a large following doesn’t automatically negate your sentiment

Piper being ”unconventional“ as in hating make-up and being dressed up is in itself more than fine but the execution was lacking and her coming off as pretentious and annoying was the result

Piper also has no taste in men if she thinks that amnesia brick boy Grace > Percy. Just no. Lesbians claim haaa

If I see another Amandla or Zendaya or another biracial/lightskinned face claim for Hazel I will lose it

Everyone and their mother having a crush on Percy fuels them Gary Stu feelings, just saying

The fact that Riordan casually drops the abuse that Percy has suffered from like some fucking tic tacs just to never be spoken about should be a reason enough to whoop his ass

Not maturing and darkening HOO (there were good thoughts but also many whacky executions) was the biggest mistake Riordan had made. He should’ve went the Rowling route and transitioned from kids books to YA

The whole fire stick thing that Riordan ripped off from Meleager and slapped onto Frank was terribly executed

A lot of you people should open up more to jokes and not take everything all too seriously

The fact that people seriously ship/ped Reyna x Apollo is proof enough that this fandom should burn

Why do Luke discussions at this point still exist? You’re essentially glossing over the same four things

Hyping up fanfics to the max is a terrible idea. Also don’t shy away from giving writers constructive criticism

Stoner headcanons are here to stay and slay!

On one hand seeing discussions from the science side of PJO talking about the biology, physics etc. is super interesting but on the other hand getting heated over the illogical basis of ”magic“ is pretty much a waste of time

Riordan‘s world building is truly awful

Frazel is a crime against humanity

If you don’t get someone‘s post actually look op up and read the tags? No need to spam the exact question to everything

Fat Frank stays. I get it, Greek gods are hot, they are conceited and choose to fuck people that they perceive as attractive, so their offspring also has some higher levels in the beauty realm. But why not explore the opposite? Why does every character need a makeover or a blessing that gives them enhanced looks?

Clarisse‘s thigh can break ya neck

Also Riordan is Annabeth’s biggest hater. Let’s throw all of her most important possessions away to proof that the smart one can survive without any of it. Sure, but the emotional attachment to the stuff still remains especially when everyone else is walking out of Annabeth’s life

Making Leo another horny bastard was an accurate portrayal of your casual 16 year old boy. Annoying, but realistic

[ambreiiigns]

Yes tell me about "rick's crybaby backstory"! I didn't think this was a backstory type of show, that's exactly what I'm curious about! And what do you mean evil morty?? Tiny rick? Beth clone? Toilet episode? Pissmaster????? What is going on lol

YAYYYYY THANK YOU BUCKLE UP SORRY FOR TAKING A DAY XX HEHE

rick's crybaby backstory. that's what he calls it. he had wife (diane) and kid (beth) for whom he was going to give up science entirely (big deal for a rick, apparently he's the only one who was willing to do that !) enter Rick Prime. remember how the multiple realities and multiple versions of characters is a big plotpoint. yea. this Other Rick shows up and tries to get our rick hooked on interdimensional traveling but he refuses! bc he says it sounds lonely! ARGH so prima kills his wife and kid. oh well. we Later find out he's been killing everyone's diane and in fact invented a device that allows you to kill evert version of someone throughout every dimension. so rip diane forever and ever

so our rick goes on a revenge spree. he invents his own portal gun - apparently every other rick borrows their portal gun from prime who's the only one who built it himself. besides Our rick. and starts tracking prime down killing a bunch of other ricks in the process. so many in fact that those remaining build. the citadel of ricks. stay with me. it's like. idk a space station something where a bunch of ricks and their morties live and or stop by to mind their business. whatever. so this haunt for rick prime and killing himself over and over is what eventually gets our rick, who was gonna choose his family and human connections over science and adventure, to be as jaded and nihilistic and Alcoholic as every other rick before and after him. f in the chats for my man

so when the premise of the show is "rick had abandoned beth as a child and randomly crashed into her garage and settled down w her a couple of decades later" we know that's Wrong and that he's been on a quest to avenge her and her mom for all those years. aight. now it also ties into the overarching Plot of rick and morty bc during his quest to kill rick prime our rick also got in general trouble w the Galactic Federation who's like. big ass space government. and made friends w people who want to overthrow it. so he helps fight it yippie. this is how he meets my BELOVED birdperson and squanchy The Boys™ gang gang. we don't have time to discuss that rick's in love w birdperson maybe next time. the federation seems to be permanently dead rn if you care

by evil morty i mean THEE mvp i think some of the most iconic episodes revolve around him he got fed up w his rick and almost killed him put like some computer shit inside of him to control him like a little mechanical puppet. slay. then he went on to. become president of the citadel. slay. and revealed his Final Plan of killing a bunch of ricks and morties to create a portal that would get him out of the. my god. central finite curve. which we find out it's basically. every universe in which rick exists as the smartest being. evil morty's Evil Plan is simply to get out from under ricks' collective thumb and live by himself for himself. there's like a whole morty black market around the universe bc ricks use morties GOD I DON'T WANNA GET INTO IT IT'S SUCH BULLSHIT ACTUALLY but evil morty is my sweetheart he was right he did nothing wrong. he had a convo w our morty that knocks your tits clean off that goes like "if you've ever been sick of him you've been evil too" or "he's attached to us infinitely through his weakness and our forgiveness" like it slaps. it slaps i'm sorry what can i say

i feel like i end up talking too much abt rick when i love morty so much more but ofc the old man who goes on space adventures has more to be said abt him than the 14yo boy. but i do love him to death he's had such good if slow growth he's such a. victim to rick lmao even tho we find out very early on that ricks are usually SO much worse to their morties but he's been growing balls! he tells rick off now and finds him annoying and gets mad at him and all that! i love to see it. in fact rick is just as attached to morty at this point. it's so cute to see. grandpa's little buddy FUCK yeah and the other ricks make fun of him for that HA

tiny rick is. one time he turned himself into a teen and went to school w morty and summer. i like that bc he became pathetic and kept admitting he's Sad. beth clone is umm whenever we find out beth is in fact her father's daughter and is probably just as clever and violent as he is he proposes to make her a clone that will watch after jerry & the kids while she gets to go on space adventures like he did. and she doesn't decide she lets Him decide but instead of deciding her fucking. randomizes it so now there's a SUPER FUCKING COOL SPACE BETH RUNNING AROUND BEING BADASS and her own dad doesn't know which one is the original. top 10 most pathetic rick moments. the toilet episode good lord rick has a special planet where he shits and some alien guy finds his special shitter and rick gets really mad at him. the guy tries to make friends but rick refuses until guy Dies and then it's sad. it's sad. pissmaster episode? EVEN FUCKING SADDER it's like rick has a bunch of random enemies that bother him pissmaster being one of them jerry fuckin Destroys him and it's so humiliating that pissmaster. kills himself and his daughter's looking for him and it pulls at rick's weak spot so he. dresses up. as pissmaster. and sets up this fucking. suicide mission where he saves people from a bomb but dies in the process to kinda. give pissmaster a. proper sendoff. give his daughter closure. you know. it was SAD OK!!!! IT WAS REALLY GOOOOD

[thesunnyshow]

Name: kelsie Writing Blog URL(s): @lovingyong​

Age: 22

Nationality: american

Languages: english, some sign language and spanish

Star Sign: libra

MBTI: INFJ

Favorite color: pink

Favorite food: taco bell (lol)

Favorite movie: pride and prejudice, kill bill, gone with the wind, or the handmaiden

Favorite ice cream flavor: green tea

Favorite animal: otter

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering? tea or hot chocolate. never coffee because i’m allergic

Dream job (whether you have a job or not): human rights attorney or writer

Go-to karaoke song: never gonna give you up - rick astley

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose? teleportation

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose? mmm hard to say bc i enjoy my rights as a woman so i guess probably the 90s

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you? Only starting at the summer before high school

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken? horse sized chicken but i could not explain why. It’s just my gut instinct

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been? I was the floater/nobody for sureeeee

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures? yes aliens allll the way lets go

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know? I only type with two fingers on each hand but can still type 60 wpm

What fandom(s) do you write for? nct but i want to also start writing for haikyuu soon

When did you post your first piece? july of 2018

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why? I like a good combo. Life is never completely fluffy or totally angsty. It’s good to have a balance to make it all seem more realistic and immersive

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc? x reader right now but when i write for haikyuu, it’ll be ships

Why did you decide to write for Tumblr? I think it was just… there and available. Ao3 is fun but there’s not a lot of chances or opportunities for interaction so i decided to go back to the hellsite

What inspires you to write? Oh goodness, anything and everything. Oftentimes it’s music. I hear a song and i’m immediately like i need a story for this asap

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most? Mafia and crime. It’s such a guilty pleasure of mine

What do you hope your readers take away from your work? I just want it to be a temporary escape and provide at least some form of enjoyment

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively? Read more or watch anime just because both of those are enjoyable things for me but can also give me the inspiration to create again

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful? you may regret this is literally my baby. It’s not my favorite, but i think taeyong’s spin off story, a way out, is because it's everything i wanted for ymrt, i just didn’t have the same skills at the time. Another favorite of mine is hanakotoba because it’s literally my heart and soul in a story and i’ll always have that deep personal connection to it. My most successful is white knuckle tight which is truly still fascinating for me because it was an idea i got on a random tuesday during christmas break and i just ran with it. I think it’s an alright story but it’s far from my favorite. I lack the emotional attachment that i have to other pieces.

Who is your favorite person to write about? taeyong. Writing him is almost like second nature to me. His character is always the easiest for me to construct and i think people will find he’s the most consistent character throughout stories. There’s not as much variation.

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose? Yes and no. i think writing kpop fanfiction is much more similar to original prose because you don’t have a world to build around. You only have a person. In fact, you don’t even have that. You only have an idea of a person to construct into a character. I think the only difference is that you can get away with a lot more unreasonable plot lines.

What do you think makes a good story? Good characters and enough emotion to create an attachment to the plot. I want to care about what’s happening and the best way to do that is by leading me to some sort of connection to the characters

What is your writing process like? Very chaotic and sporadic. I’ll come up with ideas at 3 am, make a random note about it, and then do my best to bring it to life when i’m actually awake. I don’t plan. I just have snippets of scenes i would like to include. So much of it is just writing whatever comes to mind while im writing it

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story? I’m doing so with one right now, though 8-% of it is getting scrapped and changed. There’s nothing wrong with that though. Having good bones is what matters and i think this story has exactly that

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand? I love enemies to loves if it’s done right. Exes to lovers is another classic. Mafia is a given. Hanahaki and soulmates always does something to my heart. I can’t stand hybrid and a/b/o fics idk why i just have never been able to get into them. Yandere like tropes are also really hard to do right so i usually avoid those as well

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you? It means a lot. I’m sure any writer can tell you that but it’s truly the reason i still write fanfic and haven’t just given up and written only original prose.

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)? Timing. It’s always about which member is really getting to people at the moment and which trope is gaining traction. 85% of writing on tumblr is kind of just dumb luck

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged? Yes. i think it just comes from lack of understanding

Do you think art can be a medium for change? Without a doubt. Art pieces as well as writings have made significant impacts in my life in a variety of ways. It’s a medium of awareness and recognition

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself? Not really because i kind of just do whatever the fuck i want (sorry for my language lol) but i usually come up with totally self indulgent ideas and then just do it. 

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times? No… not yet. I expected someone to with shattered memories but it seemed to do and say what i wanted to

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr? My roommates. My friends know i write they just don’t know what

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers? I’m doing my best and i wish i could put stories out more often 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there? Just go for it. You have to try if you want to see any sort of results. Plus these people don’t know you so what’s the risk

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr? nah

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey? Kai, jewel, and abbey for sure. They were some of my closest mutuals when my blog really started to take off

Pick a quote to end your interview with: 

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go… - dr. seuss

[idontcare4030]

Hunter!Nico Au

the background of Supernatural basically matches the Rickrordanverse. Rick has the background of if you believe it, it's true while supernatural has the background of Everything Is Real even if it's not if you believe enough and it will be. I believe that this could be interpreted as they all happened in the same verse.

When Nico was first joining The hunting business he was simply doing jobs for his dad and as I said before during the "fighting analysis," he slowly started finding jobs for himself. This one can be simplified to, he became a hunter. He quickly became a very famous Hunter both for his young age, he wouldn't be that much older than 12 at this time, and that he has no problem hunting down monsters. While he wasn't the best at killing them at first, he quickly became very good at it. He became a source, kind of like Bobby was, where hunters would contact him about questions or getting resources.

He got the ability over time to hide objects in the shadows so if a person came to him asking for a weapon to kill such and such he would simply grab something out of the shadows and give it to them, of course he would go into a different room first so that no one knew that he was literally getting them out of thin air, but he was getting the weapons from a storage that only he and his sister could access. the knowledge from his own little library of information, books, and lots of experience made it so that people would often call him, ask him a question about a case that they are in (sometimes in the middle of a fight) and he would respond without questioning give them an answer and any advice he had before hanging up on them and going back to what he was doing.

This made it so that not only does he have more connections than a person can dream, but he also is very powerful in many circles that he shouldn't even be a part of. An example of this is how well he is at finding old cursed objects, especially ones that were lost for a long time. Because of this and the fact that after he would kill monsters that we're living a double life he would make it so that all the properties, money, and items would belong to him he would  Have a very large, very confusing, and very unnecessary collection of many many things.

 In his later years (AKA whenever he actually settled down and stop doing all this) he would give some property, some money, Etc to half-bloods who are trying to live a normal life. He wouldn't lie to them he would tell exactly what happened on the property or what happened to the objects but normally it would be enough for them to start a life. At this time though he would normally just let the objects sit and collect dust. he rents out a few of the properties and houses to people who need a place to stay for very low rent and he does use some of the places.

One of the places that he uses is a very cluttered old house that he refers to as simply the cursed place. This place is very full of cursed items and he uses it to contain all of them, he has a Enchanted table of sorts that he uses to bring in cursed objects and take them away from Everyday People therefore stopping problems before they start. He doesn't often stay there but it's full of possessed objects as well so he has plenty of reasons to be the one to keep all of them. Whenever a person wants a cursed object or a possessed object they have to fully explain why and what they're going to do with it to Nico before he even considers giving them the Items. A lot of the time people would come in and be very confused by the extremely cluttered house and would be asked questions in the living room before they go to the specific place where the object is. Here he gives directions such as don't touch it with bare skin, don't be left alone with it etcetera. But if you don't return the item when you say you will without a proper reason he will hunt you down and forcibly take it from you though everyone knows not to disobey his rules after what's happened to the last ones.

Because of this he gets calls in the middle of meetings or when he's talking with people that sound frantic to people in the room with him but Nico is very passive and calm during the whole thing because he's used to it by now. As they start to spend more time with him they become more wary of this and end up asking him straight forward what all this means and why he keeps getting these calls to which he explains without even hesitating the whole situation. I forgot to state that "they" are the 7 +

Whenever it comes to connections this makes it so no matter where they are or what mission they are doing Nico and the 7 plus very likely to run into one of his friends who call him a different name every single time which has started to become a betting game between the 7 plus to see who can and guess what the next name is going to be.

No Hunters at all know that Nico is a Half-Blood or that half-bloods even exist, this means that they often get in confusing situations when they're hunting with Nico. Well they expect that he isn't fully human they have no clue that he is truly that powerful and he could tell what their intentions were the second he gave them a drink the first time you met them and accidentally grazed their hands. By this I mean he learned to take a peek into their past to see how they got into haunting since it is most often a death or a family business as this happens he also looks to see how they have responded to the grief if they were were the type that got into it by losing a loved one to monsters. Surprisingly this can tell a lot about a person's reasoning behind what they do. If he has more time, if he's shaking their hands there's more time than if he accidentally grazes the person's hand he will look into past cases to see more about the person. At first he felt bad doing this but over time he learned how important it was to know a person's true intentions before agreeing to work with them

This is one of the many many many reasons he doesn't like touching people because there is a chance that he will accidentally look into they're past and he doesn't feel comfortable doing that unless necessary. 

As he met more people he gained more and more information that he shouldn't know at such a young age such as how to dismantle a gun how to clean one and how to tell the difference between them using bullet holes. He also gained a lot of knowledge on how to be on the Run though he who has been too smart to make it traceable so as he is 15 it's only just being placed together that there is a possibility that these cases are attached, it takes 4 plus years to say for certain that they are connected and they never find the true culprit both this very very large serial killer. He does learn and embrace the not so legal ways of making money that Hunters are famed for being perfect at. He does take a different route then credit card theft though. For the most part the most illegal part of how he makes money is that hes way under the legal age for getting jobs, let alone at places like casinos which is where he mainly worked. His shadow traveling made it so he was a master at sleight of hand making it so he was a never losing card player though he barely had to cheat as he was simply very good at the card games themselves anyway. He learned very quickly how to find tells and how to use the fact that he was in fact a tiny to his advantage by making it so he was underestimated by people in the casino. He was also very good at picking out the people who are the most addicted to gambling but the ones that are also very high up in scales so they would have enough money to lose and they always lost. It was not the most legal Casino which is how he ended up getting a job there simply because there was so much crime going on already what was a little bit more and he was also a very promising worker considering that he already knew exactly how to play the most famous games that they had there.

He was very often treated as a Cryptid even by hunters and as a person that you only contact under very dire circumstances and its said he will keep up his end of the bargain as long as you keep up yours and if you don't then things will go bad very quickly. But whenever he started going back to school things became a little weirder. When he first started going back to the school that he might as well have been kidnapped from, people were excited to see him but could tell that he change. Before and he had left him and his sister basically ran the entire School. It wasn't as much of a dictatorship and more like a they have the power here you do what they say and follow their rules. Their rules were more along the lines of if we see you bullying someone else then you will disappear and if you are pushing someone that is too weak to fight back then Nico will fight you. It was never really questioned that much after the first couple weeks of it since it wasn't a very sudden thing. As all this went down it wasn't surprising that they were shown the most respected people in all of the school. This was at a point where the principal who had been slowly getting worse and worse to the students over time suddenly disappeared they didn't question it and simply turned towards the siblings. By the time Nico started going to school again the school had gone downhill without any of the enforcers there. Almost immediately when he returned those who had been there the same time as he did started to immediately get back into what they were doing before but not that many of those people were left after so many years. As he slowly forced people back into the way they were before they had to readjust to him, this time they stop treating him as a normal person and treated him as if he was a Cryptid, just not in the same way as the hunters. Their way was leaving small objects, getting out of his way when he walked around campus, and coming to make “deals” with him. The deals were often simple things such as tell me what blah blah blah is saying behind my back and in return they would give him small valuable items such as jewelry or other items that are valuable in different ways such as vintage books and important items on a Sentimental level. The more expensive ones would be the ones where he specifically had to jump in instead of Simply listening into some things going on. This could be talking to a specific person or standing up against a person who was being rude to the buyer. These things would often be paid for in more expensive items or more important stuff then the smaller jobs. There is only one case of a person giving him fake items, and let's just say there is a reason no one even tries to do that anymore. If he understands where you're coming from, respects it, but is unable to do it he will return the thing you paid him with and speak (which is a very rare thing from him) and explain the situation. He lives in the same dorm he did back then but now there is a mailbox nailed into his door that he empties out every day to find small objects like I said before. These can be scraps of cloth, bones, jewelry, food, money, or any such items. When Will transfers to this school he is immediately caught off guard by how Nico was treated but as he explained to him what goes on to be treated this way, will understands. If he sees bullying he responds the same way he did as a child and the person either will not be seen, will not be seen for a short amount of time before returning, or he will simply fight them then and there and they always lose. To school over time becomes a kind of sanctuary for Half-Blood kids as he makes it sure that the teachers are very trauma-informed and know how to treat kids with ADHD Etc. He also makes it so that it's very obvious to tell what is an accident and what was on purpose considering how even the teachers know what's going on with Nico and his Cryptidness. I know that this seems like a long shot, the school part of this au-ish thing, but I think it's a very interesting thing to imagine And a not very common a way you can make a character be treated and still stay in character.

Thats all thank you for reading!

[richfieldbranch]

Mike’s Picks - Week of April 6th

Hello again to all our Richfield Library Patrons. We’re back this week with more suggestions to keep you busy while you're stuck at home. All library programs, outreach, and meeting rooms have been canceled until at least May, so hang in there! The books are all available through Hoopla or Overdrive, you can click the title to access it’s listing, or find all our materials at https://akronlibrary.org/browse/digital.  As always, I miss you, and please send me an email to let me know how you're doing, or if there's anything I can do for you.

Mike Daly, Adult Services Librarian 

mdaly@akronlibrary.org

Crafts:

For all you Richfield Crafters out there missing your monthly crafting fix, I have attached a couple of timely links to help you pass the time during the great quarantine.

Do-it-yourself Covid Masks

The first link was posted by the U. S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams. It's very simple and doesn't require sewing. You can find the video at: 

https://www.wwlp.com/news/health/coronavirus-local-impact/surgeon-general-heres-how-you-can-make-a-cloth-mask-today-in-just-a-few-easy-steps/

NPR also explains how they should be worn, and offers some different options for making them (including one where you just cut up an old t-shirt, no sewing or stapling or anything):

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/03/826996154/coronavirus-faqs-is-a-homemade-mask-effective-and-whats-the-best-way-to-wear-one

This one is what my wife used to make our family's masks. It does require a sewing machine, but the results were quite professional and easy to wear. There are hundreds of online tutorials if you do an internet search for “making Covid masks”. This one is from USA Today:

 https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2020/04/04/coronavirus-face-mask-tips-how-make-fabric-instructions/2945209001/ 

And finally, Joann Fabric has provided this pattern that does not require elastic or string, but instead has fabric straps:

https://www.joann.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-LibraryJoAnnShared/default/dw4148ae36/static/landingpage/assets/MaskInstructions_V2.pdf

Easter Pom-Pom Craft

Here's a couple of simple craft for all ages. They're really easy and the end products are very cute. All you need are scissors, rubber bands, old fabric, and some yarn. For bunnies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8DYHOSpL50 

and for chicks:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz0o-dBhAKA  

There are many more available on You Tube.

Books:

Non-Fiction

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by David McCullough

McCullough tells the story of the settling of the Northwest Territory, at the time a wilderness northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. His main focus is on the founding and growth of Marietta, Ohio. Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the

prohibition of slavery. McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Manasseh Cutler, Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam, Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. A must read for anyone interested in Ohio history.

Code Name: Lise, the True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Decorated Spy by Larry Loftis

This book was an exciting read. I had never heard of Odette Sansom or the women of the SOE. In 1942 Odette Sansom, a French woman married to and English man, decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and one plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer Captain Peter Churchill. Loftis paints a portrait of true courage, patriotism, and love—of two incredibly heroic people who endured unimaginable horrors. He weaves together the touching romance between Odette and Peter and the thrilling cat and mouse game between them and a wily Gestapo agent.

Fiction:

This week I've been rereading some of my favorite books. The titles listed below are an eclectic mix, so everyone should find something to like. They are also long which will help you kill some time while stuck at home.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

This was my favorite book in high school. Lose yourself in the adventures of Frodo and Gandolf in their epic battle of good versus evil. All three titles, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King are available for down as Ebook or audio on the library website.

The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens 

Although not as well known as Great Expectations or Oliver Twist, this Dickens classic is my favorite. A serial romp through Victorian England, this book is in turns funny, sad, and touching. Don't give up because the 19th Century language is unfamiliar. You will be rewarded if you persevere. 

The Ebook is available through Project Gutenberg: 

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/967/967-h/967-h.htm 

and the audio book is available at LibriVox:

 https://librivox.org/the-life-and-adventures-of-nicholas-nickleby-by/ 

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

The first and best of Follett's historical novels about the fictional English city of Kingsbridge, it's an Oprah Book Club choice as well. The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known, of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect, and of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena. The book tells of the struggle that will turn church against state and brother against brother. The book, as well as the two sequels, A World Without End and A Column of Fire, are available for download as Ebook or Eaudio on the library website.

And finally.................

Monday April 9th is

Fresh Tomato Day

“A tomato may be a fruit, but it is a singular fruit. A savory fruit. A fruit that has ambitions far beyond the ambitions of other fruits.” E. Lockhart

“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” Miles Kington

“It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.” Lewis Grizzard

Tuesday April 7h is

National Beer Day

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Benjamin Franklin

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.” Abraham Lincoln

“Beer's intellectual. What a shame so many idiots drink it.” Ray Bradbury

Wednesday April 8th is

International Feng Shui Day

“You don't have to believe in Feng Shui for it to work. I just know it brings me money.” Donald Trump

“I once drew a picture of Jack Nicholson in The Shining. But I put it away after a Feng Shui expert told me about the bad vibes” David James

“My view on Feng Shui: don’t put your bed in front of the door because you won’t get in.” Jonas Eriksson

Thursday April 9th is

National Gin and Tonic Day

“The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” Winston Churchill

“Of all the gin joints, in all the world she walks into mine.” Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca

“I don't know what reception I'm at, but for God's sake give me a gin and tonic.” Dennis Thatcher, husband of Margaret Thatcher

Friday April 10th is

Global Work from Home Day (Very Appropriate!)

“All happiness depends on courage and work.” Honore de Balzac

“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” Leo Tolstoy

Saturday April 11th is

National Pet Day

“Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.” Amy Sedaris

“Pets are humanizing. They remind us we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve and nurture and care for all life.” James Cromwell

“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.” John Grogan

More to come next week!