#but there is the problem: went camping with friend and her fiance and they were talking about future plans - which involve moving away

[rowenabean]

The thing about crying into my falafel is that as soon as you phrase it as "crying into my falafel" it makes you laugh and therefore breaks the problem

[haxyr3]

Eugenia a weird question but i would love to hear your idea. A couple of days ago we were talking about past with friends, my bf etc. and my fiance's highschool friend told something about their common friend. This friend is a girl. I guess my fiance and she liked (not a strong love, you can think it is a innocent liking) eachother but didnt tell eachother. They were in the same dancing band. For example as far as i heard, she told him a "kitten" 😂 and he was shy from her, and couldnt dare to invite her to the graduation party (he was younger but had friends from older classes) 😂 they went to camping with their friends (the dancing band) to celebrate their graduation so on. By the way, she is 1 year older than him. Anyways, after they graduated this girl tried to enroll a university but failed. Then she tried being a postman and other jobs for not being an unemployee. And in the end, she couldnt manage to enroll a univeristy, then her old friends from highschool and dancing band (my fiance and his friend) told her that they can study together and get enrolled to the univeristy because my fiance was going to enter the univeristy that year. (he is 1 year younger than her) they studied together for the exam, my fiance and she managed to get enrolled but the other could not. They studied together at the univeristy for 1 or 2 years together but later, they told me that she started to hate those math problems so she dropped the univeristy and left for an another city. Anyways, this is what i heard a couple of days ago.

When i asked my fiance about her, he told me that he was her friend, no more than anyone else. And plus, this highschool years are approximately 20 years ago. They follow eachother from instagram, she is married, has 2 children. But you know.. I feel confused 😂 My fiance tells me he was no one more than friend and i guess he would have told me if they dated. What do you think? Plus, i dont think he would hide something which happened 20 years ago. He is really reliable and has been in my life for years but anyways.. Sorry for that long thing 😂 but just wanted to hear your opinions about that. Thank youu..

Hi! I am not a relationship expert, but if you want to know my opinion, here it is.

I wouldn't care whether they dated. I would care about why that situation bothers me. Am I nervous because the wedding is coming? Is that because I don't trust him? Am I jealous? Do I have confidence in him and in myself?

When I met my future husband 20 years ago, I decided that his past didn't belong to me. I wanted us to share our future. I didn't ask him about his past relationships, and he didn't ask me (and I am grateful for that ). " We've been building our relationships without looking back. And, you know, 20 years later, I can say that it was a working strategy.

So, yeah, this is what I would do. I would leave the past in the past and focus on the joy and happiness we give to each other.

[buoyantsaturn]

A World Alone (10/10)

summary: Nico was ready to propose - now he just needed to figure out how. He convinces Will to celebrate Hanukkah for the first time in years. The problem is, Nico doesn't know anything about Hanukkah.

word count: 1,864

read on ao3

Nico woke up to the feeling of Will draped across his back, pressing kisses all over the only side of Nico’s face he could reach. When he seemed to notice that Nico was finally awake, Will said, “Good morning, my future husband.” 

Nico tried to tuck his face into his pillow to hide the smile growing on his lips. “I haven’t even gotten used to fiance yet,” Nico grumbled, finding Will’s hand in the tangle of blankets around his waist and covering it with his own, “and you’re already skipping ahead to husband.”

“I’m just trying to get into the habit,” Will told him, trailing his lips down to Nico’s neck until they stopped to rest just above the collar of Nico’s shirt. “I mean, you never know when one of us might get tired of planning a wedding and decide to run to the courthouse instead.” 

Oh, Nico liked the sound of that. He started to roll back, at least as far as he could until Will got in his way, and turned his head to meet Will’s eyes. “Oh, that’s an option?” At Will’s grin, he turned over entirely and twisted their legs together beneath the bed sheets. “Then good morning, my husband.” 

Will’s arm tightened around him, pulling Nico even closer until their noses brushed together. “See, wouldn’t you rather get used to that?”

Nico hummed. “I can see the appeal. But I’m having a bit of a hard time picturing you with a courthouse wedding.” 

“It wouldn’t be my first choice, I’ll admit to that,” Will replied, “but it’ll be perfect either way. You know why?” 

Nico rolled his eyes. “Because you’ll be marrying--”

“I’ll be marrying you!” Will exclaimed with a blinding smile. “We can do whatever you want, whether it’s just us at the courthouse, or a small ceremony with our friends, or something huge with, like, two thousand people. I mean, I’ll need to meet a lot more people if that’s the case, but--”

“I think I’d like something small,” Nico told him, his fingers tracing the outline of the sun tattooed over Will’s heart. “If that’s okay.” 

“As long as you can promise me one thing,” Will said, and Nico hummed questioningly. “Small wedding, big reception.” 

Nico hesitated before replying, “How big is big?”

“How small is small?” Will shot back. “I’m thinking, maybe ten or fifteen people at the wedding, maybe a hundred people at the reception.” 

“Do we even know a hundred people?” Nico asked, his nose scrunching up with the question.

Will paused to think about it. “We...must, right? I mean, a hundred isn’t that many.” 

Nico’s face cracked into a smile once more. “Okay, we can figure out numbers later, once we establish how many people we actually know. For now, we should probably get ready to leave.”

Will got that sappy smile back on his face again that had Nico simultaneously melting at the sight and bracing himself for what was about to come next. “Back to the place where I fell in love with you,” Will said dreamily, then gasped when he got an idea. “We should get married at camp! It’s huge, always has great weather, a magical border that can keep out monsters - since there’s no doubt that it’ll be mostly demigods in attendance. It’ll be perfect.”

“We can think about it,” Nico told him, “for the reception. I’m still leaning toward the courthouse.” 

Will wore his Hanukkah sweater to camp despite the fact that Hanukkah had ended almost a week earlier. He insisted on wearing it as proof of how much Nico had spoiled him that month.

When they arrived at camp - driving there, because Will didn’t want to risk spending most of their stay in the infirmary with a half-conscious Nico - they dropped their bags off in the Hades cabin before crossing the green to cabin three. 

Percy and Annabeth were already inside, as well as Grover, Leo, and Rachel. As soon as Nico stepped through the door, Percy was on him, dragging him into a hug and taking him a few steps off to the side. He set his hands on Nico’s shoulders, practically bouncing on his toes as he whispered, “Did you do it? Did you, did you, did you?” 

Nico rolled his eyes, smiling fondly as he said, “Yeah, I did it.”

“Hell yeah!” Percy exclaimed and lifted Nico off his feet with the strength of his hug. “I’m so happy for you, dude!” 

When Percy finally set him back on his feet, Nico frowned, looking almost offended. “Woah, I never said that he said yes.” 

Percy looked like he was about to panic, but before he could say anything, Will slipped an arm around Nico’s waist and said, “He’s messing with you, Perce.” 

Percy’s eyes flickered between them. “So…”

Nico’s lips curved up into a smile. “We’re getting married.” 

“Dibs on best man!” Percy shouted, loud enough for the others in the cabin to hear. 

Nico’s eyes rolled on their own accord, and he shoved at Percy’s arm. “You got to help pick the ring, give somebody else a role.” 

“He spent a whole week buttering me up,” Will was telling everyone while Nico tried to hide his embarrassment in the corner of the room away from everybody else. A few others had arrived by then - Thalia and Reyna, Tyson and Ella, and Lou Ellen and Cecil. Hazel and Frank were expected to arrive the next day for Christmas Eve, and Piper had decided to spend the holiday with Shel’s family, so at most they were expecting an Iris Message from her at some point. “Obviously, I would’ve said yes either way, but it was sweet nonetheless.” 

“Aw, you hear that, Neeks?” Leo teased, drawing everyone’s attention across the room to Nico. “He thinks you’re sweet!” 

Nico’s arms tightened across his chest, and he pointed his glare at the wall. He was sure his face was already pink to begin with from the way that Will had been talking about him, but having everyone’s attention on him made it so much worse. They were definitely going to have a small wedding. 

“Can we see the ring?” Rachel asked, pulling everyone’s attention back to Will. Nico was going to have to thank her for that later. When Nico glanced back at the group, Rachel shot him a wink. 

Much later in the night, after the general excitement over the engagement announcement had faded to the background, Nico sat down beside Will on the couch and sunk into his side. Will draped an arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to the side of his head, whispering, “I didn’t embarrass you too much, did I?” 

“I’m mortified, and the wedding is off,” Nico grumbled into Will’s shoulder.

“You don’t mean that.” 

“I’m mortified, and the wedding will be at the courthouse,” Nico corrected. 

“Alright, I’ll take it.” Will kissed his temple once more. “I’m sorry. I won’t embarrass you anymore this weekend.” 

“No, you will,” Nico told him. “Once Hazel gets here tomorrow, you’ll do it all over again. But it’s okay, I forgive you in advance.” 

Will rubbed his arm a few times, quickly, like he was trying to warm him up. “Are you having fun otherwise?”

“Yeah, it’s been okay. I still want to catch up with Reyna since I haven’t seen her in…” 

Nico trailed off, his head tilting in confusion as his eyes followed Thalia across the room. She was suddenly decked out in fairy lights, wrapped in a garland and even wearing a tree-topper star on her head.

“Uh,” he started up again, “what’s going on?” 

Will laughed. “You know, because she used to be a pine tree.”

Nico shot up, spinning back toward Will and looking absolutely bewildered. “That wasn’t a joke?”

Seeing as they were back at camp, they did have to abide by the usual lights out rules if they wanted to avoid being attacked by harpies - not that any of them couldn’t manage to take down a harpy on their own at this point in their lives - so as the night wore on, they all went their separate ways to their different cabins. 

Nico and Will counted themselves lucky to have the Hades cabin to themselves, at least until Hazel and Frank were scheduled to arrive the next day. Unlike Cecil, neither of them had to try to cram into an open space in one of the other cabins with younger siblings. Nico and Will, on the other hand - just like Reyna and Thalia - had plenty of space to spread out. 

(Unlike Reyna and Thalia, Nico and Will didn’t take a vow to be single forever, and would therefore not be taking advantage of the extra space to spread out.)

When Nico came out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth, he found Will standing beside the bed, pulling back the sheets, dressed head-to-toe in a monochromatic brown. 

“I thought you promised that thing would never leave the apartment!” Nico exclaimed with a gasp, causing Will to jump and turn toward him, his Chewbacca onesie on full display. 

Will pointed an accusing finger at him. “And I thought you promised to leave all card games at home.” 

Nico spluttered. “I didn’t bring them!” 

In the dim light of the cabin, Will found Nico’s backpack on the ground and lifted it up. The main pocket was mostly unzipped, and the single lit torch on the wall gave off just enough light for Nico to see the few packs of games resting inside. Nico winced at the sight. 

“Okay, new deal: nothing leaves this cabin,” Nico said, then added, “except when we go home.” 

“Deal,” Will said, and climbed into bed. The only two beds in the cabin were pushed up against opposite walls, so Will had to crawl across the queen size mattress in order to make room for his fiance.

Nico stood beside the bed, arms crossing with a hmph. “I’m not sleeping next to you in that thing.” 

Will grinned up at him as he laid back against his pillow. “But it’s so cozy, and weirdly furry.” 

Nico stood his ground. Will simply shrugged back.

“Alright, suit yourself.” He pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and settled in, sighing contentedly and shutting his eyes. A few moments later, just as Nico was starting to reconsider the risks of brushing up against Chewbacca fur in his sleep, Will groaned and shoved the blankets away. “Okay, never mind, I’m sweating.” In a few quick movements, he had unzipped the onesie and stripped down to his underwear, then practically kicked the thing off the foot of the bed. 

Nico rolled his eyes at the overdramatics. “Here, maybe this will help,” he said, and reached down to press his cold fingers to the side of Will’s neck. 

He cringed at the feeling, nearly crushing Nico’s hand between his cheek and his shoulder with the force of his movement. “Dear gods, you’re freezing,” Will exclaimed. “Get in here!” He grabbed Nico by the arms and pulled him down to the bed before covering them both with the blanket and holding Nico close to warm him up.

thanks for reading!!

buy me a coffee | more solangelo stuff

[crmsfanfiction]

Second Chances: Chapter 1

Author’s note: Hello everyone. Just a quick note of the timeline of this story. It starts in 2015. I own nothing, but plot (loosely as I am sure it has been done before) and my OCs. Everyone else is owned by themselves and Marvel at this point. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

This is unbeta’d and all mistakes are mine and mine alone. Constructive criticism is welcome.   This will be a Sebastian Stan/OC story.

_____________________________________________________________

Chapter 1: Broken Dream, Broken Heart

Willa stood still as she took in the scene before her. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It wasn’t possible for this to be happening. Her brain couldn’t compute the scene in front of her. This had to be a dream. The moans coming from the bed in front of her are what finally snapped her out of her disbelief. She turned and walked out of the bedroom, the occupants never even knowing she was there. She grabbed her purse and left the home she had built for the past 3 years with the man she was supposed to marry in two months time.

She felt numb. She drove to the airport and paid for long term parking. Not even caring about the cost. She got a one way ticket to Georgia and headed for the departures lounge. Her flight wasn’t leaving for a few hours, but she didn’t have the energy to try and come back. Pulling her phone out Willa scrolled through her social media accounts while continuing to replay the scene from her bedroom through her head. She didn’t cry. It still didn’t feel real. She knew once she saw her uncle it would hit her, but until then she wouldn’t allow herself to break down. Her mama raised her to be stronger than that. Never allow them to see you cry. Don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing you broken. Break down the private, when no one can see you. Where no one will judge you.

Several hours later Willa landed in Georgia and hailed a cab out of the airport. Giving the address to the cabbie, Willa finally sent a quick texted and arranged for a pass for her. It was a twenty minute ride to the studio lot and she knew once she got there it was going to be bad, but she would make it. Tears started to prick at her eyelids, but she held them back. Not wanting to break down in the back of a cab. Willa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was going to make sure she wasn’t a mess when she got to the studio lot. Taking another breath and blowing it out slowly, helped steady her nerves and her emotions.

“Thank you.” Willa said twenty minutes later as she pulled out enough cash to cover her cab fare and a tip. She opened the cab door and stepped out into the sweltering heat of a Georgia summer. Closing the door she headed for the guard shack next to a gate. Smiling at the older guard in the shack Willa pulled out her id and showed it to him. “Willa Anderson. I should have a pass waiting for me from Mr. Downey Jr.”

“Miss Anderson?” a soft voice said from the other side of the gate. Willa turned to see a tall blonde holding out a lanyard with a visitors pass attached. “Sorry Ernie. I didn’t have a chance to get this up here before now.” the blonde said as Ernie grinned and opened the gate letting Willa walk through.

“Not a problem Miss Jade.” Jade smiled as she handed Willa the pass and turned to head deeper onto the lot. “If you’ll follow me Miss Anderson. I will take you to RDJ’s camp. The pass you have is a temporary pass, and we should have a permanent pass for you by the end of the day.” Jade chattered as she looked over at Willa. Willa smiled and slipped the pass over her head and settled it around her neck.

“It’s Willa. Miss Anderson is way to formal.” Willa said as she took in her surroundings. Jade smiled and nodded. Willa thought she might like this soft spoken blonde. She reminded her of someone she knew years ago.

“How do you know Mr. Downey Jr?” Jade asked as they walked.

“He is an old family friend, but I have always considered him an uncle. Sometimes even a father figure.” Willa said as her voice took on a wistful tone. “What do you do? Are you his new assistant?” Willa asked Jade. She shook her head no. “I am just a gopher. I get the coffee and stuff like that usually.”

“Ah. I did that for a movie once. It was an eye opening experience. I enjoyed it though.”

“Yeah I am enjoying it. Well here we are. They should be done shooting soon and breaking for lunch. Have a good day.” Jade said as they walked into Downey’s camp. Willa laughed as she saw the five trailers in a circle. He hadn’t changed a bit. Still as extra as they come. Willa hopped up onto a table and pulled her phone out. She sent her best friend a text letting her know where she was. She would call her later to talk and cry, but right now she needed to be clear minded. While she was waiting she pulled up her bank app and transferred about ¾ths of the money from their joint account into her separate private account. She made more money as a nurse and had put more into the account than he did as a waiter. She had left enough in the account to tide him over for a couple months. She would be putting their home up for sale as soon as she could. He can’t afford to pay the mortgage and she didn’t want to live there anymore. Too many memories.

Thirty minutes later found Willa stretched out on the table with her eyes closed and her arm over her face. This is the position Robert found her in when he walked back into his camp. He had a few of his co-stars coming for lunch but he wanted a few minutes alone with Willa first. Her coming to see him was a complete surprise and he wanted to know what was wrong.

“Willa Annabelle Anderson! What are you doing laying on the table?” Robert said as he walked over to her. Willa opened her eyes and attempted a bright smile, but failed as she locked eyes with her Uncle. “Hi Uncle Bob.” Willa said her voice cracking on his name. He swept her up into a hug as she finally broke down into a huge racking sobs.

Robert picked her up like she weighted nothing and took her into his main trailer. She clung to him like her life depended on it and in a way to her it did. She felt like she was drowning in a sea of memories, heartbreak and pain. Holding onto him was like clinging to a lifeline that would help guide her back to shore and firm footing once again. Robert just murmured soothing sounds and rocked her gently. He pulled his phone out and sent a quick text to Susan to come to set and pick up Willa. She wasn’t staying in a hotel and from the looks of it she didn’t even bring a suitcase.

“Willa? What’s wrong sweetie?” Robert asked once he noticed her sobs quietening down and she was just sniffling. Pulling away from her slightly he tipped her head up so she could look him in the eye.

“I found him in bed with someone else.” she said quietly as fresh tears started to slide down her face. “I walked in on him in our bed with another woman.”

Robert’s face dropped when she told him that. It was worse than he had thought. He figured a fight or even maybe a lost job, but never did he think that she would be here because her fiance had cheated on her and she caught him. It boggled the mind. They were perfect for each other. Both had faults and flaws, but they had always brought out the best in each other. He always assumed they would go the distance.

“Oh Willabee. What can I do? Need me to threaten him? Call a hit man? Pig farmer? I know some people. Want to call Keanu to go John Wick on his ass.”

Willa laughed at that last one and shook her head. “Nah. He isn’t worth the price of a hit man. Though the thought of Keanu is a nice one. Thanks Uncle Bob.” She fully pulled away from RDJ and headed for the small bathroom. “Going to wash my face real quick. How long til Aunt Susan get here?”

“She should be here in a few minutes. I have some co-stars coming to eat lunch here. Do you want to stay and eat or just head out with Susan?”

“Oh. I think I will just head out with Aunt Susan. I need to do some shopping and I am not in the best head space to meet people.” Willa said as she emerged from the bathroom. Her face was still a little red and blotchy from crying and her eyes were still puffy, but clear. Willa hugged Robert again as she left his trailer and headed back towards the main gate to intercept Susan before she made it onto the lot.

Willa smiled as she spotted her Aunt and jogged over to the car. “Hello Aunt Susan” she said as she slid into the passenger seat. “Willabee. What’s going on sweetie? Robert texted me saying you were in town and having a tough time.” Susan Downey asked as she pulled out of the lot and headed for the mall.

“He cheated. I caught him.” Susan’s heart went out to her as her heart broke for the younger woman.

“Well we are on the way to the mall. Some retail therapy will do you some good.” Susan said as she pulled into a parking spot at the mall. Willa shrugged in response. She didn’t have the energy to think about it now. The pain was still to close to the surface, but the breakdown in Robert’s arms helped her feel less numb and more in control of her emotions.

They both got out and headed inside. Several hours later, they left with many bags of clothes, make-up, shoes, and accessories. “Thank god we are done. I wanna go to the house and crash. Thank you for paying for all of this. I will pay you back as soon as I can.” Willa said as they loaded all the bags into the car and headed out of the parking lot and to the house Robert was renting while filming.

“No need to pay us back. I was happy to do it. You needed this. Come on the kids are probably driving the babysitter nuts.” Susan said as they made it to the house and grabbed the bags from the backseat. Walking into the house Willa was attacked by a tiny terror holding a plush dinosaur.

“Hey buddy. You’re getting so big now.” she said as she picked little man up and headed further into the house looking for his baby sister. “Where is Princess?” Little man just pointed towards a door and smiled. He was still a little shy around her. He hadn’t seen her in about 6 months. Tickling his belly Willa set him down as she walked into the bedroom and grinned at the sleepy little girl sitting in her crib.

She was just finishing up a diaper change when Robert walked in looking for them both. He stopped short as he took in Willa holding his daughter and cuddling her close. She turned and smiled at him. “Dinner ready?”

“Yup Willabee. How’s princess doing?” He asked as he took the little girl from Willa and headed back down the hallway to the kitchen. It was a simple dinner of pizza and wine for the adults and water and pizza for the kids.

Willa cleaned up the kitchen and put the left over pizza away in the fridge while Susan and Robert bathed the kids and settled them into bed for the night. Heading into the living room sipping another glass of wine, Willa sat down and let her mind wonder back over the past few weeks and months to see if there was anything she could pinpoint as to why he would do what he did. Nothing came to mind. She just couldn’t see anything that would have caused all of this.

Finishing her glass of wine as Robert and Susan walked into the living room, Willa stood up and hugged both of them. “Thanks for letting me stay here. I am heading to bed. I am exhausted.”

“Of course Willabee. You are always welcome in our house. No matter where we are. Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we can talk about what you are going to do about everything.” Robert said as he hugged her tightly before letting Susan wrap her arms around her just as tightly before letting her walk away and up the stairs to her room.

They looked at each other knowing she wasn’t okay. No matter how well she was acting like it right now. Robert knew her break down that afternoon was just the tip of the iceberg of heartache and pain she was bottling up and ignoring. He just wondered when the dam would finally burst and how she would handle it once it did. She never did do well with letting people in. Would she let them help or would she push everyone away and pretend she was fine?

So many questions. So many ways this could go. Could she heal from a broken dream and a broken heart?

[reddie-fangirl24]

Reddie Drabble Pride Month Day 9: Coming Out

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@missingtrashmouth‘s request word ‘Tent’ is in this story.

The Losers definitely picked a great weekend to go out camping. Vermont was a spectacular place. The fall air was on the rise, so it was a bit chilly. That didn’t stop the Losers from enjoying a little reunion after three months of being apart. Heating up marshmallows over the fire, everyone had a fun time joking around or catching up on stories. 

Eddie was in bright spirits. This was the first adventure he took all summer as he was recovering from his injury. As Richie put it, he had a severe case of cabin fever. Sitting closely next to his love by the fire, Eddie yearned to touch his knee against Richie’s, but he had to wait once they were alone in their tent.

“So, Richie, have you made up any good jokes lately?” Beverly asked as she fed a s’more to Ben. 

“I think the better question is if Bill has written any good endings lately,” Richie poked fun at Bill. 

Bill laughed sarcastically. “I’m interested in learning about where Mikey is living.”

Smiling that he had the floor, Mike didn’t hesitate. “Florida is great. I have an apartment by the ocean. For the summer I signed on to be a lifeguard.”

“Sounds nice. Beverly and I actually have some news to share,” Ben announced wrapping an arm around his girlfriend. The ginger hair woman couldn’t contain herself, biting her lower lip as she smiled. Reminiscent of when she was a kid. 

Richie drum rolled against the ground. Eddie laughed, gazing into his boyfriend’s eyes.

“You just love attention, don’t you?” Beverly chided him.

“If you don’t know me by now, Bev, you should be aware that it’s my best trait,” Richie told her with his English accent. The audience loved it when he did that. Richie decided that it was time to make his own show once and for all. And it turns out, they were way better than having someone type up his own script.

Beverly looked at Ben, adoringly. “Do you want to tell everyone the good news, sweetie?”

Watching them lovingly rub their noses together, Eddie yearned to do that with Richie. For months they’d been dating in secrecy. In the first month, there wasn’t much to do aside from being bed-ridden. Now that he regained his strength, Eddie felt like it was time to branch out from the old life that weighed him down like shackles. 

He loved Richie, but the former was still apprehensive about telling people about them. On one of the nights when they were lying in bed together talking, Richie told him about the experience that happened in the arcade when he was a kid. Eddie felt so terrible for him. From then on they promised to make little baby steps at a time in their relationship.

“Are you all around in February?” Beverly giggled as she happily showed the group her diamond ring. “We’re getting married!”

The Losers congratulated their dear friends. Bill made a toast. Clearly, there was a lot of planning that needed to go down. Everyone was happy about the news, but Eddie was quiet. Beverly and Ben, or Benverly as Richie called them, looked so happy. Glancing around at his friends, he felt so guilty that he was lying.

“Hey, Richie,” Eddie got his boyfriend’s attention. He was in mid cackle, unaware that his marshmallow was burning over the flames. Indicating to the healing stitches, and pointing towards the tent, Richie’s face immediately changed, perplexed. His nursing side immediately took over, worried that Eddie may have overdone it for the evening. Excusing themselves from the group, they disappeared into the tent they were sharing.

“Is it already time to change the bandages?” Richie asked about to lift up Eddie’s shirt once they were in the tent.

Eddie took his hand, pressing it to his heart. “No, Richie, that’s not it.”

“What? Is there a problem?” Richie asked alarmed. He touched his cheek with the fading scar.

Eddie shook his head, feeling a heavy weight on his heart. “I think it’s time that we told them.”

Richie blinked, his face fading more into a frown. “About us?”

“They deserve to know! They’re our friends,” Eddie told him.

“But, what if...” Richie groaned, distracted by the laughter coming from the campfire. “I just... don’t you think it’s a bad idea to upstage Benverly. They’re getting married!”

Staring into his boyfriend’s anxious eyes, Eddie could sense how nervous Richie was. “Richie, there’s no reason to be scared.”

“I’m not scared!” Richie retorted a little roughly.

Eddie took a breath. He couldn’t get all worked up. They had this argument enough. “Then why can’t we tell them?”

Listening to their friend’s chatter, Richie sighed. Eddie rubbed his hand along Richie’s arm in a soft massage. That and it was just an excuse to feel Richie’s incredible arm muscles.

Finally, Richie met his eyes, a sadness blended with fear trailing them. He knew that look all too well. Eddie kissed him and pulled Richie into a hug. To think he was actually complaining right before they went on this camping trip that they were spending too much time together.

“We’re doing this together,” Eddie whispered into his ear.

“Okay,” Richie reluctantly agreed, opening the tent flap.

“Is everything okay?” Mike asked once the two returned. The fire was still crackling, illuminating the forest nicely.

Eddie looked at Richie, urging him. Smiling nervously, Richie took Eddie’s hand in his. Bill took notice, curiously studying his friends. 

“Guys, Richie and I just wanted to tell you that we’re together,” Eddie announced. Even though he didn’t show a hint of fear, Eddie felt his heart pounding. You are string, he said to himself. He gave up his inhaler knowing that he never needed it in the first place. It was tough, Eddie wasn’t going to lie. He needed to learn how to cope, something he should have done as a child.

Beverly’s face grew in excitement. “Really?”

“Wow, guys, good for you!” Ben was next to congratulate them.

Mike toasted his drink. “A lot of great things happening!”

“Yeah, just took you guys long enough,” Bill lightly jabbed as he raised his drink in the air.

Richie looked at his friends, surprised. “Wait, you’re okay with us?” he asked indicating to himself and Eddie. Eddie just about melted away when he heard Richie refer to them as ‘us.’ As Bill said, it was about time.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Mike asked Richie, shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh, well, Derry was never a... accepting town,” Richie muttered. He didn’t even want to think about that nightmare of a town right now.

“Just because we grew up there doesn’t mean that we think the same way,” Bill said to him. “If you guys are happy, then we’re happy.”

“Plus, you know what we always say. Ben?” Beverly nudged her fiance.

Ben toasted his drink. “Losers stick together!”

That’s right, Losers always stick together. Turning to look at Eddie, his boyfriend’s eyes looked so bright over the fire. 

“What are you looking at now, you asshole?”

Richie smiled slyly. “That booger in your nose.”

Before Eddie could sock him, Richie pulled Eddie in for a kiss.

[laveritaswoman]

How do crossing lines and #Timesup work for C and S?

I honestly don’t know the answer to that ... just asking for a friend. Because if Cait and Sam are just platonic TV co-stars and not/never a couple, IMO they have each crossed so many, many lines of blatant on- and off-the-job sexual harassment with each other in the era of #metoo and #Timesup, both causes that C so visibly and vigorously supports at RC events. Hypocrite much, Cait? And I don’t believe for a minute that all that non-show-related sexiness between them was “fan service” or “just C and S being actors and actors have no inhibitions or body boundaries like people in other professions.”

But I guess it’s not sexual harassment if these two bestie co-workers mutually enjoy it ... and they seem to very very much enjoy it. But I wonder how the significant others, particularly C’s fiance/now supposed husband, felt about seeing and hearing about how his wife was sending sexual emojis and measuring her co-worker’s dick and tweeting about it (and she even asked what she was measuring)? And did T snicker along when S said he enjoyed eating C’s banoffee pie? And this went on for years and years, all throughout the time when C was supposedly dating T and even for a long time after People proclaimed them engaged. What does that tell me? In blinking red letters it tells me that C and S both have No Respect at all for C’s SO. She and S didn’t need to sexy tweet each other constantly or smush their junk all up in each other like they’ve done hundreds of times when posing together. If their showrunners had been the ones forcing them to do that, S and C would have an airtight sexual harassment case against them, and since S and C have never implied they were forced to do the sexually-oriented things they did outside of actual filming of intimate scenes, I have to believe it was all them. C has shown she can be the ice queen/shrew when she wants (which is usually most of the time when she is around T), so she could have turned that mutual sex-fection with S off or told him to stop it, or S could have stopped it, but they didn’t until only recently with the civilian engagement dragging on into year 2.

I wonder how C would feel if T were fondling her friend’s breasts and smashing his privates up against her “inner circle” female friends at those little dinner gatherings? Would she be jealous? Wait, she probably wouldn’t be, because she never seems to look at or pay attention to T when he’s around her -- she just throws her sunglasses or purse at him and flits away to talk to someone else with whom she can have an actual conversation.

Interestingly, the same cannot be said about the jealous streaks C has shown and circles she’s peed around her platonic co-star Sam: C went from big smiles to resting bitch face in record time when she watched a female reporter snatching a hug from S. And why did C give S the cold shoulder when S’s supposed SO at the time, MM, appeared with him at an OL function? Even though she doesn’t appear to want S to parade his supposed SOs at the same events she attends, C has never had any problem marching T around in front of S at all the same sorts of events, even to the point of making S bro-hug with T and pose with the happy couple at the Audi event (even though S looks like he wants to puke or flee).

So perhaps now with the alleged nuptials between C and T, Cait will finally believe she has “won” (lol) and proven to everyone that she is much too professional to ever date, much less marry, her co-star, and that she is instead “privately” wedded to a “civilian” husband. Perhaps now her paranoia will abate and we will see S and C conduct themselves more like other normal platonic TV co-stars off-camera. Let’s hope they can find that sweet spot between the 2014-2016 “I want to jump my co-star’s bones” and the 2019 “my co-star has cooties.” 

But the challenge before them now is can they actually resurrect the Jamie and Claire of S1? Can these actors step away from all the off-camera dramas they’ve created long enough to get back into character and actually act like the star-crossed lovers of the OL books? You know, the characters who aren’t afraid to express their sexual intimacy and actually look like they love each other on the show?  Let’s hope so. But unfortunately, not many from our camp, myself included, will be watching the show to see if that happens. 

More’s the pity.

[artistlove17]

I cut my last 2 friends off yesterday. 🙄

Let me try to get it all in one post... if that's possible.

For starters, they keep stealing from us. Several times my friend Joseph (who has been our friend since 7th grade) has stolen shit from my fiance. He stole a power cord out of our playstation and claimed it was his, even though my fiance and I both remembered that when he came in he said he had forgotten his cord and we gave him ours to use while he stayed at our house. But as he was leaving my fiance asked for it back and he defensively claimed it was HIS power cord and shoved it off in his bag.

My fiance also let him borrow a bunch of games once while he was out travelling and couldn't play them, only to come home and Joseph claim he never gave him any games. We're 99.99% sure he sold those games because he thought my fiance would forget about them. 🤦‍♀️

Joseph also stole some fake plastic guns my fiance had one time. We had them in the trunk of our car and Joseph literally just took them when he was getting his bag out of our trunk.

Then there's Eli. Joseph's "wife."

We took them camping once and had bought a first aid kit as a part of our camping supplies. But then when we were dropping them off back at their house she just took our entire first aid kit. She carried it in with her and then when she went to the bathroom I grabbed it and took it back to our car. It really pissed me off how she just took it and didn't even care that we saw her taking it without her even asking, like she really thought we either wouldn't notice or wouldn't say anything to her. 🙄

I have no idea why they just keep stealing random shit. 🤦‍♀️

Then there is the fact that they make their relationship seem like a competition with ours. My fiance and I have been dating for nearly 7 years (it'll be 7 in January) and have been engaged for 1.5. Joseph and Eli have been together maybe 2 years. They started dating right before my fiance and I got engaged, and then they immediately got engaged after we did. Then they RUSHED to get married, Joseph even made comments about selling his playstation so they'd have money to get married. 🤦‍♀️ And as soon as Eli got a $6000 inheritance from her Grandma, they ran to the courthouse and got married and invited one of Eli's friends but didn't invite us... even though they had been talking about wanting us to come with them for weeks. And every time they're around us they just make their relationship seem like some kind of competition with ours and keep asking us when we're "finally" going to get married... as if we haven't been together for 7 fucking years. Marriage isn't even really anything we're focused on right now. It just really irritates me that they think their 2 year, unhappy, problem filled relationship is ANYTHING compared to ours.

Another problem IS their relationship. They are constantly having break downs and yelling at each other and constantly asking us how "we deal with things like that".... my fiance and I have NEVER yelled at each other. We've never gotten to the point of just absolute anger that we have a full blown fight. We bicker and argue yea, you're going to do that with ANY other human being. But we handle it like adults and talk about it. We don't just freak out and throw tantrums like children and yell at each other the way that they do. 🤦‍♀️

They honestly have a very toxic relationship. Joseph treats Eli like crap.

For example: My fiance made four hotdogs in our campfire the last time we went camping. He made one for each of us for breakfast. Joseph got up and got 2 of the hotdogs... and then Eli said "I'm hungry" and he told her to make herself a hotdog... my fiance told Joseph that he made one for her but Joseph ate both and so he should make her another one. Joseph acted all upset to have to make his WIFE another hotdog after he fucking ate hers... like what the actual fuck?

He's also admitted to my fiance that he gets mad at Eli and yells at her and calls her names, like she went to open their car door once and the handle broke (not her fault) but Joseph got pissed and called her stupid. And he acted like that was just completely normal and was wondering if we ever did that... 🙄🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ like what the FUCK. No, that is NOT normal you dumbass mother fucker.

There's also the fact that Joseph is just... nasty. Like not to be mean to the guy, he was our friend for a long time, but over the last couple years every time we hang out he just smells like shit. Like actual shit. He will not take a shower and he's always got oily hair and smells terrible. He literally refuses to shower and it's really nasty and the smell makes me gag when he gets in the car.

We've also tried and tried and tried to get Joseph to come work with us. We've offered to pick him up and take him to and from work with us and everything... but he literally won't even answer the messages despite him and Eli CONSTANTLY complaining that they need jobs and they have no money... Eli is "disabled" so she thinks she can't get a job, despite the job we are at now being a sitting job. She thinks her hips wouldn't be able to handle her working... which is whatever, I can't tell you what HER body can handle. But Joseph is perfectly capable of working yet he will not even talk to us about an EASY job that we can 100% get him... it makes no sense. He just DOESN'T want to work. He wants to sit around playing video games but that's not going to get them anywhere, and when his dad (who is morbidly obese and in terrible health) dies, they'll have nowhere to go and not a penny to their names.

And the biggest thing for me... is that they CONSTANTLY... CONSTANTLY, use their mental health issues as EXCUSES for everything. I have depression and anxiety and my fiance has severe social anxiety... but we still FORCE ourselves to go out and do things and get a job and take care of ourselves. We don't allow our mental issues to ruin our lives, we just DEAL with them in any way that we can. We aren't about to sit in a room rotting and make ourselves even more depressed because we don't want to deal with our shit.

They have melt downs and episodes every single day and just sit around focusing on things that MAKE them feel bad. They will sit and complain and whine about something until they make themselves depressed... they do it all the time when we take them out to do stuff and then it just ruins mine and my fiances moods.

We went camping last weekend and it really sealed the deal for me cutting them off...

We got there and it was getting dark. We always go camping at my moms because they have a lot of land and we can camp by ourselves wherever we want on their land, which is awesome.

So my fiance and I wanted to go let my family know that we were there like we usually would do. And when we came back Joseph and Eli were sitting in the car very pissed off...

Eli tried to say some crap about us leaving without setting up their tent first and tried to make it a joke. "Well we said we should probably set up the tents first! But nooo, and now it's dark" which I didn't find funny at all... it was just really annoying. Like first of all, I needed to let my family know we're here so they don't freak out about someone being on their land. And secondly... ya'll are both 21 and 22 years old, you can't set up your own damn tent??

Which, they do that shit any time we go camping. They act like we're supposed to treat them like they're our damn kids or something and do every little thing for them. And it's so damn ridiculous.

Then my brother came down there to drink with us and Eli and Jospeh walked off on their own and Eli was crying and shit and having a breakdown while Joseph was just pissy about something. They acted like they just did not want my brother to be there... which really pissed me off.

Like, that's MY brother. This is HIS land that my family and I have invited ya'll to camp on. I invited him to come drink with us because I wanted to hang out with him... and ya'll are forreal throwing a fit because we aren't giving you all of our attention or something??

Ugh. That's all for now. I might add something else I think of later.

But point is, we had really shit friends and I'm so done with them. 😤🤦‍♀️

[mightygarchomp]

Why I Love Goro Akechi: A (Long) Character Analysis

(WARNING: SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5 LEFT AND RIGHT.)

(ADDITIONAL WARNING: Due to how controversial Goro is as a character, I’m definitely gonna get people disagreeing with me, and that’s perfectly fine. Just don’t start tossing in death threats, kay? Kay.)

Goro Akechi. One of the most controversial characters I’ve ever seen in a video game. Opinions on him are widely varied; either you love the guy and feel sorry for what he’s gone through, you can sympathize with him but dislike the lengths he goes to, or you just plain hate the guy due to his actions.

Well, if you couldn’t tell from the title of this analysis, I’m in the first camp, and proud of it.

I accept the risk of an angry mob going for my head in saying that Goro may just be my favorite character in a video game. I love pretty much everything about him, and yet I’m actually legitimately angry at how Atlus treated the guy. Seriously, they had a goldmine here and they wasted it. But whatever, I’m not here to rant about how disappointing Persona 5’s endgame was (though if you REALLY want me to do that, let me know). I’m here to pick apart Goro Akechi. Just what made him into who he was? How did his newfound Persona powers affect the course of his life? And what lead to him pulling the ultimate sacrifice? I’ll be answering all these questions - and hopefully more - in this analysis on the dashing Crow.

Part 1: A Life Full Of Hatred - How Goro Became Who He Was

All of the Phantom Thieves have pretty terrible lives, don’t they? The death of Futaba’s mother gave her some pretty intense survivor’s guilt, Haru’s stuck in an arranged marriage with the worst fiance imaginable, et cetera. Well, I think very few people will argue with me when Goro has the worst of it - save perhaps Futaba, but she gets over her issues. That never truly happens to Goro, even in his final moments. And can you really blame him?

The basic gist of it is this: Goro was born as an illegitimate child who was abandoned by his dad before he was even born. His mother either died from childbirth or killed herself out of shame, which left Goro to be passed around from foster home to foster home by the court. Throughout his entire life he’s never really had anyone to call a friend due to being shunted around. And note that this is just what he tells you before you find out what he’s really up to. When you find out who that dad is, things get much worse.

Goro’s dad is none other than Masayoshi Shido, the main antagonist of the game and one of the most heartless characters I’ve ever seen in a video game. Of course, Goro resented Shido for abandoning him, but he couldn’t really do anything. I’m not completely sure how Goro managed to find out how Shido was his dad, but that’s less an issue with his character and more an issue with Persona 5’s writing, so we’ll skip over that.

A lot of people like to say Goro’s just a guy with daddy issues, but I’d like you guys to keep in mind that this takes place in Japan. If you live in America, then this probably isn’t as much of an issue, but in Japan, being a bastard child is a huge problem, to the point where you’re basically born an outcast. Japan has a family registration system called koseki, which - until 2013 - did nothing to protect against discrimination towards illegitimate children. And keep in mind that his foster homes were probably aware of this, so imagine all of the hatred and discrimination he went through.

Honestly, with this information, it’s no wonder he grew into the bitter, resentful person he was. Never being acknowledge by his father, having to put up with loads of abuse... his early childhood was a terrible mess, to the point where he seems to have little in the way of self-worth. He outright calls himself a “disgrace to the world”. It also puts his ultimate plan into perspective, considering this would destroy Shido’s reputation - and also any trust in government, which would throw society into chaos AND give him the revenge and closure he desired on all the adults who abused him.

Despite his princely detective mask and fame, he has some pretty deep-rooted issues to the point where he’s not only angry that the Phantom Thieves are “better than him” (as he perceives it) but also terrified. The few things he actually has in life - his fame and image - were at risk of being worthless, considering he perceived the Thieves as having things he didn’t despite him being much more successful than them. It shows that even with all this fame he’s not really that happy. And worst of all, he had no chance to change his terrible life.

Or did he?

Part 2: A Chance At Revenge - Goro’s Wild Card Abilities and His Father

Goro may have hit rock bottom, but he found hope when he gained the ability to use Personas - and also the possible power to get revenge on his father, who he was formerly powerless against. But he’s not just any Persona user; he’s a Wild Card. This wouldn’t be much of a big deal before Persona 3, considering from what I know everyone was a Wild Card, but after Persona 3? We never really got Wild Cards other than the protagonist, save maybe Adachi. And even then, Goro was the only one to actually use multiple Personas in battle. Or, well... two.

See, most people complain that Goro’s boss fight could have been a lot cooler, with him switching between Personas, but these people are missing the entire deal of the Wild Card. Goro was unable to fully utilize the power of the Wild Card because he had no bonds. Of course, you may wonder in that case... what’s the deal with his Personas? Which one is the original, and how did he get a second one? Well, my theory is that Loki is the original. It would make sense, given his whole deal of causing mental shutdowns and sending people berserk - the main thing he did with Loki.

Of course, in that case, how did he get Robin Hood? Well, my theory is that there is one bond he made: his bond with Joker. He’s legitimately regretful about the turn of events that leads to his boss fight, and wishes he could have met Joker beforehand. Morgana even points out that he’s happy when he’s with Joker. The other Thieves treat him with scorn initially, and by the time they start warming up to him, it’s not enough to get a true bond. But Joker was... well, depending on your choices, the nicest one to him. At the very least, he’s the one who interacts the most with Goro.

Of course, there’s probably going to be the inevitable argument of “you can still fuse Personas if you don’t have the Social Links yet”. However, one thing I’d like you guys to keep in mind is that we have no confirmation that Goro even got to see the Velvet Room. During his confrontation, his exact words are “Someone, be it god or demon, gave me a chance...” which implies that he has no idea how he got Persona powers. If he doesn’t have access to Igor and the Velvet Room assistants (notably, Caroline and Justine never mention him) then how’s he supposed to fuse new Personas? He had no one to guide him into believing he could negotiate with Shadows, either, unlike Joker. So it makes sense that the only Personas he have would be born from his own heart - one from his sheer hatred for the world and Yaldabaoth’s gift, and the other one being from his bond with Joker.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about Goro’s plans from there: he came to Shido as an unknown benefactor and offered him his services. Of course, seeing as Shido saw him as a useful pawn, he accepted, and the two entered a partnership. Goro was effectively Shido’s personal hitman - and this started two years prior to the events of the game. Basically, Goro became an assassin right out of middle school.

Of course, the biggest elephant in the room is... if Goro is so sympathetic, why did he murder so many people, including being responsible for Wakaba Isshiki and Kunikazu Okumura’s deaths? Well, the thing is... keep in mind Goro has gone through a lot. His dad was basically responsible for his terrible life, and since we can infer he was regularly abused at his households, he probably became pretty fixated on getting revenge. Imagine not getting closure for over a decade for someone who made your life a living hell. Goro is very determined to get revenge on his father, no matter the circumstances. He pretty much had to do exactly what Shido told him if he wanted to get revenge. Keep in mind Shido is willing to kill pretty much anybody who isn’t useful to him anymore. One wrong step and Goro would probably be a victim.

Furthermore, another thing to keep in mind is that throughout all his live, Goro has been severely affection starved. He’s had no friends or family that really loved him. At this point he’s willing to do anything to get acknowledgment from someone even if it’s just for his talents. By the time he found a real friend in Joker, he thought it was too late to really change. Goro outright admits he just wanted to be loved and acknowledged by someone, but due to his own narrow-minded views and the refusal to accept the fact that he wasted two years of his life murdering people and obeying the person he hates most for nothing, his ability to back out is long gone. In Goro’s life, anyone could die.

The most important thing, however, is that even with Persona powers, he’s just a kid going up against a powerful conspiracy. What could he do to escape the cycle of abusive homes? The only real option he could think of to take was revenge. And honestly, I can’t blame him. Even if he’s done some terrible things, he couldn’t really be a hero in the first place, considering he didn’t even know stealing hearts was possible until it was too late.

Luckily, he did see the light in the end... kind of.

Part 3: A Desire For Redemption - The Lead-Up To Goro’s Sacrifice

With my personal disdain for Persona 5’s endgame, I won’t deny that Goro’s redemption arc could have been handled far better. That said, there are clear signs of it. The big question for this section: What built up to Goro eventually sacrificing himself for the Phantom Thieves in a situation that he could’ve escaped from if he had done something as simple as move back a little?

Well, let’s start with the most important part: his friendship with Joker. As you find out in Shido’s cruise ship, despite being a traitor, Goro didn’t lie about his past to Joker - he just left out the more important parts. For a guy who’s perfectly willing to lie and seems heartless, that’s kind of odd, wouldn’t you think? Why would he spill such personal details? It’s obvious he holds Joker in high regard, which is made even more evident as you meet up with him more often and rank up his Confidant. In the final confrontation with him, before he starts to get more hostile, he laments that he couldn’t have met Joker earlier, before he deemed it too late to change.

This carries further through the dungeon he joins you in. Throughout the Palace, Goro is getting hazed by the other Thieves because they’re onto him. However, as the dungeon goes on they start to respect him more for his wit and assistance. Goro was probably feeling good about being admired by people who aren’t complete sociopaths like Shido, and he no doubt wanted to hold onto that feeling, but ultimately decided to go forward because he had sunk too much into his mission with Shido. How could I assume this? Well, after he kills Joker and talks to Shido about the deed, he manages to convince Shido not to have him off the other Thieves, AND also ignores Morgana’s existence and lies about it to Shido - the man he’s pretty much the obedient puppet of at this point. That speaks volumes.

So what happens when the Thieves manage to convince him that it’s not too late for his life to take a turn for a better? Well, one beating-the-crap session out of him later, they outright admit they admire his strength and wit, but also gently admonish him for his power being fueled by hate and anger. Then they give him the option to join them against Shido - for real. A part of me wonders what would have happened if he was able to say yes before Cognitive Goro showed up...

Regardless, this leads to Goro pulling the ultimate sacrifice: blocking himself off from the party and performing a mutual kill on his cognitive self. We’ve already established the lead-up to this, but one thing I noticed is that Goro had an easy escape route. If he just moved a little bit - or, hell, even dived - he could have ended up on the other side of the wall and Cognitive Goro would have been unable to stop him. Why didn’t he? Well...

The biggest reason is that even if Goro changes, as many fans like to point out, his crimes aren’t magically erased. Goro is well aware what he’s doing is wrong, even if he considers it his own twisted “justice” at the same time. Given his demeanor after he’s defeated and the fact that he didn’t reform due to how much he had put into this plan, it’s easy to say he probably doesn’t think he can atone for his crimes with any method other than, well, death.

The other reason is also interesting: Should Goro have escaped, that wouldn’t have helped with Cognitive Goro. He’d still be active and roaming the Palace and could kill the Thieves. Goro’s intelligent enough that he probably considered this and wanted to remove the Thieves’ biggest opponent for good - and the only way to do that was by sacrificing himself.

Or, y’know, he just didn’t have enough energy to move out of the way in time.

Part 4: Closing Thoughts + Should Goro Turn Out To Be Alive?

This doesn’t really relate to his character, but I figured it’d be interesting to include. There are people who think Goro should either stay dead or turn out to be alive, but have to atone for his crimes. What do I think?

Well, this is down to some heavy personal preferences, but I think Goro should stay alive... but only because his redemption arc was pretty rushed due to the endgame’s rather poor writing. They could have done so much more with Goro, honestly, but his redemption arc just kinda happened - and what makes it worse is that he’s mentioned maybe three times max after his death.

The reason I think Goro should have survived his death is because he deserves so much more than what he got. His arc could’ve been absolutely wonderful with how complex a character he is. All he wanted was acknowledgment and love, and we can all relate to that, right? He may have committed some truly heinous crimes, but I think he would have turned out far differently with the right people around. Even if no one else will, I’ll stick up for him any day and give him the affection and respect he deserves.

Thanks for reading.

[pinkpaganofficial-blog]

Content and trigger warnings for:

- eating disorder[s] (eds), i.e anorexia, bulimia

- me talking about my suicidal thoughts and venting (I'm ok i just need to like... "word vomit" i guess)

- abandonment by friends

- feeling repression

~~~\\

So i doubt most people on here who follow me know that I suffer from mental illness but I do and have for a very long time. All of the symptoms and effects really came out after my grandfather/best friend passed away when I was 11, 12 years ago. I fell into a hole of depression, anxiety, and disordered eating. From the time I was 11 until I was around 14 I had a very hard time with food. I was suffering from bulimia and I would do the routine binges and purges I had set for myself through the day. I'm surprised my teeth survived all of the stomich acid assaults on them honestly.

I was lonely. I felt so fucking alone in the world. I didn't have many friends. The friends I had were pretty fairweather at the time, as we were kids. They'd hop to the coolest person in their opinions on sight and leave me in the dust, and then come back when they were done, or something happened, whatever. It wasn't stable, and I was always afraid of just being deserted again. My friend who stuck with me, my grandfather, was gone. My grandmother was so in shambles that she doesnt even remember the year after he died at all. My mother is chronically ill, and even though she is and will always be there for me as long as is possible I just couldn't tell her how bad I was feeling. Maybe it was guilt because she has problems that I felt far outweighed mine (haha oh god there's the tears that actually stings).

And my dad is... well.. a dad. Sometimes dads just don't understand things like mental illness, or being an unwell person. My dad loves me. I know that, and I love him a lot too. But he can't understand how these things affect me as he's basically neurotypical in every way. He tries. But I can't find empathy there, and a lot of the time there's misunderstanding when we talk about mental illness. So I didn't tell him anything then either.

I would stay in my room a lot, or be out in the woods a lot. I would scratch up my arms with my nails until they would bleed and I would cry. I felt like I didn't care if I died at that time. My parents raised me religiously in the church and I tried very hard to have a relationship with their concept of a god. But I couldn't because to me in was just emptiness. For me, in that sense, there is nothing there. So my loneliness was running even deeper than just the physical. It was spiritual as well. And idk if anyone reading this has experienced spiritual emptiness, or even is a spiritual person, but please believe me when I say it's Hell.

When I was 14 I rode my bicycle out to a bridge near my home out in the back woods type country. The old train bridge kind with the big cement blocks at the bottom of the pillars holding them up. I remember sitting on the very edge of it just looking down at the cement. I really wanted to jump. Honestly the only reason I didn't was because of my mom. She's the reason I stepped back, got on my bicycle and rode home. Albeit I was crying the whole way home, stayed out in the garden to finish crying, washed my face in the creek and went inside and straight upstairs to my bed and I slept until the next day.

When I was around the end of being 14 I tried repression. I started trying eating normally (which has wrecked me internally, I have major digestive problems as I've always refused to go to a rehab centre, which in itself is not good for me). I started pretending to have a relationship with "God". I tried the whole "cool hip Christian kid" spin from when I was that age until 17 or so. I pushed back my depression, my fears and anxieties and eds to see if I could be happy. And I pretended to be happy for a while. And I fooled a lot of people.

Things weren't by any means okay though. My school work was suffering as it always had, but since the work was harder it was also suffering harder. I picked up smoking cigarettes. I also picked up alcohol more and more. I dated a 21 year old and lost my virginity to him at 16, after much coaxing from him. That was an extremely bad 8 months.

My saving grace and my recharge at the time was a Bible camp I'd attend in the summers. I went for 12 years. Now that I think about it.. that camp was my only constant thing for a very long time. It was always there. And even when it wasn't camp time, the place was so close I could just go talk to the live in managers when I had questions. While my relationship with a god I don't believe in was strained and a facade, the people I met are amazing and have helped me a lot.

In fact, at that camp I spilled a lot of my struggles to my group of close friends. We were just a few girls, only 17 or so. But they had all been through things just as bad as me. Some so close it scared me. I felt accepted by those girls who are now beautiful strong women. So I opened the flood gates of what I had been through. All of my dark times and feelings, thoughts of dying and plans to do it, the bulimia and how it hurt my body, my 21 year old ex and what had happened to me, my struggles in school, my guilt towards my mother as her pregnancy with me put her in her wheelchair, my panic attacks and the anxiety that I'd felt for so long, my loneliness and my desperate want to not be alive. Basically just like, ALL of it. I don't really think that was a gate I could've closed even if I tried at that point. It was just a lot.

It took a while to talk about everything, and by the time I'd covered everything even more young folks like us had come over to sit. I was sobbing. My friends weren't very far behind either. Someone was rubbing my back and another person brought me tissues. I finished and everyone was kinda quiet and sad. One of my friends said "Hey can we all just kinda sit together and pray?" and I said that I thought that was a good idea. So we sat. And we just prayed. Even if they were words floating up to an empty space where I see no god, the solidarity that I felt with my friends and those around showing that they cared about me was overwhelming. I wasn't alone. I had friends. REAL friends who weren't looking for the next best thing. And I didn't feel as empty anymore. Knowing that I had people who genuinely cared for me and everything I'd been through and everything I was made me feel so much more worthy of living, it showed me I wasn't nothing.

A lot has happened since those dark times. I've had other dark times. Anorexia claimed me at 18 as a sufferer, and I still struggle with it to this day. I had a physically and emotionally abusive sociopathic partner in the Autumn of my 21st year. I had a whole 2 year ordeal with someone that I'm not even going to talk about, as this person and I have BOTH put it behind us and forgiven each other and are now friends. I alsp dropped out of high school in grade 11.

But I've had a LOT of light times. I started actively loving my body at 21, which was the first new constant in my life. I took action and got a breast reduction from G to C cup for my health at 18. I left the church and started understanding science better. The spiritualist in me called for more, so I delved into research on Paganism and Wicca. What I found was what I needed. It was the second new constant I needed. So now instead of 1, I had 2.

I live with my fiance now. He's someone who I was schoolmates with in highschool. After a few years of not keeping in touch, we hung out. We got close again. And after a few years we started dating. We've had bumpy patches. 1 break up due to his mental illness (again, it rears its ugly head). But that was short lived. And we are actively improving ourselves while being there for one another. Last March I asked him to marry me to which he said "Well, I was gonna ask you when we got our own place, so obviously yes." (I've dated a lot of people, so I am so happy that it was him I'm going to be with, no offense to any of the guys, girls and other folks I've been with and am friends with). He's my third constant.

I have so much more now than I ever dreamed I could in those dark times, friends.

Moral of the story is:

Friends come and go. But you'll find someone, or multiple people who will care about you enough to stick with you as much as you wanna stick with them.

Don't give up on yourself. You're gonna have a lot of bad times. Life happens and we can't do shit about it. But life also has a lot of really good times worth looking forward to and holding close to heart. You can love yourself no matter who you are or what you look like because you're more than a name or a number on a scale. You're a complex person with real feelings who is worthy of self love. And love from others too.

Pain sucks. Life can suck a whole fucking lot. So much you want it to end. But through all the struggle, the hurt and the mental illness, you still very much deserve a good life. If not more, because you're actively trying to enjoy being alive in a very hard time.

So yeah. Thanks for reading this. I just needed to talk. I felt like I was going to explode and my Instagram isn't really the place to put this.

Take care of yourselfs. Cherish yourself and your time here. Make the best of your situations as much as you can. Hold your loved ones close in mind and heart. And don't be afraid to talk.

[gadgetgirl71]

Book Review: The Fate of Us by Tori Fox

After reading the first book in the Broken Lyrics Duet and absolutely loving the story and characters, Then to be left on such a cliff hanger I couldn’t wait to see how everything would work out. Book Two picked up from where book one left us. Unfortunately for me this book didn’t live up to the first one. I found it to be lacking as well as going at a much slower pace. I really wanted to love this book but I just couldn’t.

We pick up with Anna having run away from her sisters engagement party. As she finally found out that her so called best friend Becca had not only been sleeping with her fiance, but she had also had his child.

For years Becca was the only person from Anna’s home town that she stayed in touch with. After her fiance died in a car accident. Anna didn’t know that all this time Becca had been constantly manipulating her, by dissuading Anna not to come back and make it up with her family.

When Anna ran away this time she went to the only place that she knew nobody would find her. Her grandmother’s house at the beach. Nobody knew that this place had been left to Anna. So she knew she’d get the time she needed.

Noah stayed as long as he felt he could with Anna’s parents, but felt that he was starting to out stay his welcome. He bumped in to a friend of Anna’s at the local bar and he told Noah she had borrowed his car. He also passed on a letter that Anna had asked to be pass to Noah in a few days after her leaving so he wouldn’t worry.

It didn’t make Noah feel any better it made him more determined to find her. He got the registration number of the car and cashed in a few favours from other cops he knew to try and trace where the car was. It didn’t take long for him to find her as he remembered her talking about the house at the beach. The only sticking problem was that he couldn’t remember which island it was on.

When Noah turned up at Anna’s door, she didn’t realise how much she had been missing him. They took the time to talk and work everything out between them then spent the rest of the week making up. as well as making new memoires together at the beach house.

As the week was nearing to an end the both knew that they had to go back home as their lives were still waiting for them. Anna had to get ready for a song writers camp she was hoping to be chosen to go on, by writing a new song.

Just as things were starting to get back on track and they were getting in to a familiar routine. A woman turns up at their house proclaiming to be Noah’s wife and that they were still married as she contested the divorce. This turned Anna and Noah’s lives upside down and yet again Anna runs.

This time though Noah knows where she has run too, and under the advice of his younger brother he stops trying to contact her and give her the time and space she needs to work out her feelings. During this time Noah tries to find out exactly why his ex-wife turned up clamming that they are still married. After all she left years ago without leaving any clues to where she had gone, she’d just disappeared without a trace.

Noah’s ex-wife was doing all she could to come between him and Anna, he needed to get her back out of his life! Will Noah find out the truth behind his ex-wife reappearing? How will he get rid of her and how can he make Anna believe that she is the only woman for him, as she is the one that brought him back to life.

Pages: 261, Publication Date: 27August 2020, My Rating: 2 ⭐⭐

#ARC, #BookBlogger, #BookLover, #BookReview, #Books, #Edelweiss, #GoodReads, #LostLove, #Love, #NetGalley, #NetGalleyuk, #NGEW2020, #Romance, #TheBrokenLyricsDuet, #TheFateofUs, #ToriFox

[lostinmirkwood]

85 Questions (yikes)

@cats-and-metersticks tagged me and I’m bored. 85 questions? At this point ya’ll will know me as well as my outside of the internet friends.

Rules: Answer these 85 statements about yourself, then tag 20 people, hahahahaha no.

last

drink - tea! I bought some East Frisian after the last Lunatic stream

phone call – a spa yesterday. I scheduled myself a massage for this morning. It was nice.

text message - my mom.

song you listened to – “Sit Next to Me” by Foster the People. It was on the radio in the car when I finished running errands.

time you cried – a few weekends ago in the theater watching Coco.

ever

dated someone twice? – Seeing as my dating history is two people, no.

kissed someone and regretted it – yes.

been cheated on – it’s a long story.

lost someone special - sure, who hasn’t.

been depressed – not clinically but yes.

gotten drunk and thrown up – I blame the red velvet cake and dancing for the throwing up, not the two tequila sunrises.

fave colors

Purple, darker before lighter

Green, but the green of trees

Blue, particularly of water

Grey, like storm clouds

in the last year have you…

made new friends – Yes!

fallen out of love - no

laughed until you cried – all the time! I’m the person who cries laughing every time they start laughing

found out someone was talking about you – It’s been in a good way, but yes.

met someone who changed you – yes!

found out who your friends are - not any more than already knowing who they are?

kissed someone on your facebook friends list - considering I’m engaged and he has a facebook, yes?

general

how many of your facebook friends do you know irl – all of them!

do you have any pets -  no. I want a cat or a dog but we live in a small apartment, are gone a lot, and I’m really allergic to cat hair.

do you want to change your name - nope! I’m hyphenating when we finally get around to tying the knot.

what did you do for your last birthday – Went to an amusement park and rode the roller coasters!

what time did you wake up today – 9

what were you doing at midnight last night – re-reading @skitzofreak ‘s “You Give Me Something”

what is something you can’t wait for – Summer! I want to go camping!

what are you listening to right now – the fiance is playing a video game while I’m on the couch on my laptop.

have you ever talked to a person named tom – Yes! Leadership camp for drum major’s way back in high school! He was a character.

something that’s getting on your nerves – I’ve been so busy at work I haven’t had the energy to go to the gym in the evenings and I’m not a morning person to go before work.

most visited website - AO3 at home and Post Grad Problems at work

hair colour – brownish blonde

long or short hair – short! I get it cut at a barber shop!

do you have a crush on someone – yes, and I’m marrying him!

what do you like about yourself – I’m not afraid to go on adventures by myself!

want any piercings? – I’d like to get my cartilage done

blood type – A+ but my last few donations have not been positive experiences.

nicknames – Tater tot, T. Swift, and a few sappy ones I’m not sharing

relationship status - engaged

zodiac - Cancer

pronouns - She/her

fave tv shows – I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I’ve been enjoying Mozart in the Jungle. I also liked Agent Carter. When Outlander season 3 comes out on DVD I’ll catch up on that too.

tattoos – none but I want some! My parents have both commented that they expected me to have at least one by now.

right or left handed - right

ever had surgery - nope!

piercings – double piercings in my ears

sport – yoga, running, skiing

drinking – water at the moment? Otherwise I’m down for a good cider or cocktail.

i’m about to watch – I was thinking of watching Attack the Block or Inferno this weekend.

waiting for – summer!

want - to save enough to go on my planned California trip this spring. 5 national parks in eleven days!

get married – Next summer! July 6, 2019!

career – I work in molecular diagnostics R&D! I love it here but I’d like to get into epidemiology.

which is better

hugs or kisses - hugs!

lips or eyes - eyes

shorter or taller - Taller

older or younger - Older

nice arms or stomach - arms

hookup or relationship - relationships

troublemaker or hesitant - little of column A, little of column B

have you ever

kissed a stranger - can’t say I have.

drank hard liquor - I don’t like beer or wine so if there’s not a cider option that’s what I’m drinking.

lost glasses - no! That would be a nightmare!

turned someone down - yeah

sex on first date - no

broken someone’s heart - yes.

had your heart broken - no

been arrested - no, but I’ve had a cop offer me a ride home after I ran out of gas in high school

cried when someone died - Ugly cried when my grandma died in high school.

fallen for a friend - eh… kinda? I got over it.

do you believe in

yourself – I try to!

miracles - sometimes

love at first sight – not really

santa claus - not anymore

kiss on a first date - depends on how the date went

angels - yes.

other

best friend’s name - Emma!

eye colour – hazel, but it depends on what I’m wearing.

fave movie - Stardust might be my favorite? Or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty? Or The Mummy? Lord of the Rings? I really can’t pick one.

fave actor – Hugo Weaving. And John Rhys-Davies. And Kiera Knightly.

If you happen to love long and personal answer things, go for it!

[inadarkdarkroom]

The Devil Voice

Okay, so this is the first real life thing to freak me out in a long time. Here it goes.

I fell in love last summer, hard. So hard that I married the guy. We met at a train station and talked on the phone a lot, since we lived in different cities. I visited him a few times, each time falling more and more in love. It was all-consuming and crazy and intoxicating and everything you expect love to be and more.

On one of these nights we were talking and getting to know each other. he told me that his fiance, years ago, had committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. She left behind children and he was investigated for the crime, though it wasn’t really a crime at all. She was just a troubled person who wanted it to end.

I was sort of weirded out by the coincidence — it was the exact same train that we had met waiting for.

After he told me about her, a lot of weird stuff started happening on the phone. The first time, we were talking at night. As I listened, the phone reception broke and blurped. Totally normal. But then, this deep, hot whisper came through the phone. It said, “Kill yourself.”

At first I seriously thought I was losing it. I said, “What...?” and then there were some more weird sounds. His voice came back normal and he was still talking, uninterrupted.

“Did you hear that?” I asked

He didn’t hear anything on his end. I hung and called him back, thinking that it was just the connection. Thought it was a total fluke. But it kept happening.

The voice would say, “Die,” and “Kill yourself,” and “Fuck you.” Or sometimes just “Fuck.” It wasn’t that jumbled gargled noise you get when you’re going through a tunnel. It was like a harsh, gutteral whisper. The words were audible and the connection would break before and after. When it happened, I would just get this terrible sinking feeling, like I was in imminent danger. I’ve never heard anything like it in my life.

I eventually just resigned myself to the weirdness and just hung up whenever I heard the voice. Both of us eventually ended up with new phones and it stopped happening. Problem solved, right?

Months later, I was at his brother’s house hanging out with their family. He called me and I answered the phone, we were just chatting and the voice came back. My face went pale and slack and his brother’s wife noticed immediately. After I hung up, she said, “You got the devil voice, huh?”

She had heard the voice too, saying the same exact things. I hadn’t told anyone about this. I asked her why she thought it was happening, and she told me that their family is plagued by angry spirits. She had casually told me this before, but like...I just thought it was a way of saying that the family had a temper.

No, she meant actual spirits who were really, really angry.

Update #1: We didn’t really talk on the phone at all after we moved in, for obvious reasons, but he was really convinced our apartment was haunted. My cat would just stare at walls and yowl. But that might have had more to do with the squirrel nest in the crawl space. I did sage the place... a lot. He had a storm cloud over his life. If anything bad was going to happen to someone, it was probably going to be him. Bad luck, I guess.There’s one weird thing that sticks out though— we had a couple beers one night and he took me to see “his spot” in the woods back home, where he used to camp out. The path was along the railroad tracks where his fiance jumped (I did not know this until he told me in that moment). Anyway we go under this bridge and my legs just...stop working and I collapsed on the tracks. And I swear I only had 2 beers. That’s not non-functioning legs territory. He had to pick me up because they just kept folding. Update #2: We aren’t divorced yet but yes that is in the works. I do remember the tension in the house and fighting. Like out of control, wake up in the middle of the night to yell fighting. And it escalated fast. It got to the point where he was abusive and a little psychotic, and so he left (not without a fight of course). He believed that there were signs everywhere, that the songs I listened to were a reflection of what I thought of him, that I was poisoning his food, etc. While that stuff is bonkers, that angry spirit shit was REAL. And I think he knew it was real too. He just didn’t want to scare me away.I remembered right after I posted my last comment that one of his friends asked me about the voice too. Him and his gf were freaked the fuck out by it.I asked him to get help but there’s not much else I can do at the risk of feeling unsafe. But I can tell you the vibes in the apartment are much different now.

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[lolainblue]

Thunderbirds   Chapter 22

t/w: referenced drug use

   The next morning I made sure Jane had all the passes and directions she needed before heading out to the venue.  We had interviews and a photo session and of course sound check so there were several hours of busy that there was no need for Jane to be hanging around for when I knew damn well she could use some more sleep. I hadn't forgotten how tired she had looked yesterday when I first got to the hotel.  I just wished I could be there in bed with her.

   I thought about warning Jared that Jane was coming. I almost did several times.  But I figured the closer to time to go on stage he found out, the less time he'd have to have a tantrum before he had to get over it. The more warning he had before Jane showed up the more time he had to work himself into a state.

  Finally, Jane called me letting me know she was almost at the security check point and would be back to us momentarily.  Tomo had apparently spilled the beans to Matt the night before and now both of them had been following me around all day waiting for Jane to show up.  So of course when I slipped away to go meet Jane they were both fast on my heels.

  “Don't you assholes have something better to do?” I asked them jokingly as they trailed after me.  

  “Something better to do than meet the girl that has Jared foaming at the mouth and you sneaking around like the world's horniest secret agent?” Tomo said. “Not a fucking chance.”

   Matt suddenly stopped in his tracks.  “Holy fuck.”

   Tomo gave a low whistle.  “Hell, I'd let Jared yell at me for three days straight too if I got to hit that when he was done.”

   It took me a minute to register that the girl waving our direction from the security checkpoint was Jane.  I hadn't expected the stylish but conservative Jane from the book signing, or elegant and stunning Jane from last night, but maybe something more along the lines of blue jeans and curls Janey from my memory.  I certainly wasn't prepared for the Jane that was walking toward me now, blonde hair all shiny and loose like a shampoo commercial, sunglasses, what looked like a striped barely-there bikini top, black leather shorts that I wasn't sure actually contained enough fabric to be legal and boots that went up over her knees. I was quickly realizing somewhere along the line Jane not only gotten a whole lot more comfortable with her body but had learned to dress for the occasion, and it didn't matter if it was public radio interview or a music festival/'I'm with the band” look, she was going to knock it out of the park.  I was torn between wanting to pin her against something while I shoved my tongue down her throat and throwing my shirt over her to cover her up.  Matt and Tomo weren't as conflicted.

   “You must be Jane,” Tomo said, eagerly stepping in front of me.  Jane just flashed him a gigantic smile and gave him a hug.  

  “Yes,” she said as she released him, “And you're Tomo right?” He nodded. “And you're Matt?” she added, turning to him to give him a big hug too.  Great.  Everyone was hugging.  I just wanted them off her. I was definitely starting to lean more towards the throwing-my-shirt-over-her camp when she finally turned to me, that smile getting even wider.  “Hey I know you,” she purred seductively, slipping her arms around my neck.  I let my hands fall across her hips as she melted into me, my tongue getting to invade her after all.  I was lost in the soft heat of her when I heard Jared behind me.  

   “Hey I thought we agreed no random chicks back here,” he said, sounding annoyed.  He was about to be a lot more annoyed.

   Jane didn't even look up, barely even lifted her mouth away from mine. “Hi, Jared.  Nice to see you too.”

  Well, here we go.  I gave her one last kiss while I braced myself for the meltdown I was sure was coming.

  “What. The. Fuck.”  I didn't turn around, just kept my face pressed against Jane's while I waited to see how bad this was going to be. “Seriously Shannon, what the fuck? What is she doing here?”

   I let Jane go and turned to face Jared who was standing next to me, jaw like iron.  “She's here because I want her here. I asked her to come.”

    “Of course you fucking did.  You have no sense at all when it comes to her.” He turned to Jane.  “And what do you think your fiance would think about this? He cool with you running around half naked and climbing all over other men? Or is it just tit for tat since I'm sure he's got a line of women just waiting for you to turn your back like you have been on that tour.”

   I was expecting a fiery response but Jane just tossed her hair and gave him a withering look.  “You really want to start down this road Leto? I don't know what your problem is with me but...”

   “I just can't figure out your endgame here,” Jared said, cutting her off.  “The fancy millionaire husband explains itself.  But why are you fucking around with my brother? What does sneaking around with the drummer of a moderately successful band get you exactly?”

   Jane clenched her teeth.  “I don't have an endgame.  I'm not a damn Bond villain. If I'm with Shannon it's because I want to be with Shannon. My relationship with Angus is complicated but frankly, none of your damn business.”

   I was surprised.  It was more of an explanation than I thought he deserved under the circumstances.  Of course, Jared wasn't nearly done yet.

  “There's nothing complicated about your little arrangement, it's the oldest story in the damn book, Jane.”  His tone was just as clipped and harsh.  “And yes, if it involves my brother then it is my business.”

   “You don't know Jack Shit about my story and stop pretending otherwise.” I could hear the waver in Jane's voice as she fought to stay composed.  I wanted to step in between them and stop this but to be honest, I was still confused as to what the hell this even was.  I wasn't sure Jane knew either.  It was like there was a one-sided war going on in Jared's head and he was just dragging us all along for the fight.  

    “I don't give a god damn about your story. What I care about is the mess I'm going to have to clean up when you leave again.  And let's be honest here, you're going to leave.  It's what you do, after all.” Jared was inches from her now, giving her that unblinking stare he reserved for when he was truly pissed off.  I had to say something.

   “No one is asking you to clean anything up.  I can make my own decisions and take care of myself here.  Just mind your own damn business this time Jay.”

  Jared flashed me an angry look but immediately turned back to Jane.  “Boy, you've really got him snowed this time, don't you. He has no idea what a nasty piece of work you are.  Don't you dare think I'm going to turn my back on you.  Not for one damn minute.”

   “I'm the 'nasty piece of work'? Really? You're the one that's causing all the drama here.  I haven't done shit to you.” Jane didn't back down one bit, just stood staring him right back.

  “Jared, come on,” I began.  “There's no reason for you to be acting like this.”    

   He kept his gaze fixed on Jane for a minute before responding. “Fine, what the fuck ever, suit yourselves.” He waved his hand dismissively and started to walk away.  “Just keep your wrapper on big bro, God knows where the hell she's been.”

   I could practically see the steam coming out of Jane's ears as she shouted after him. “Yeah, well people who live in glass Whorehouses, Jared....”  He just flipped her off and kept walking.  We all stood around awkwardly for a minute before Tomo broke the silence.

   “I think that went well, really.” Matt laughed.  

   Jane sighed and wound her fingers into mine.  “And when he finds out I'm not leaving?”

   I shrugged. “What's that you said last night? No crossing bridges we haven't gotten to yet.  We'll tell him after the show.”

   She turned to me and put her arms back around my neck.  “I don't think you understand.  I'm not talking about this week.”

   My heart sped up about a hundred more beats per minute.  “Please mean what I think  you mean.”

    “I'm calling off the wedding.  I realize I deserve more than being someone's respectability beard. Angus is just going to have to understand.”  She kissed me then, just a soft brush of lips, but she kept herself pressed tightly against me afterward.  Her voice was quiet when she continued.  “I'm not saying I'm leaving him for you because I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything. I just.... I'd forgotten what it felt like to be with you. To be with someone I really felt something for. It was the best feeling in the world. That's what I want. Something real. No more settling.”

   “You won't be sorry, Jane, I promise,” I told her.  I really believe I meant it too.

     Jared didn't say another word to me. Literally.  As we got ready for the show if he needed to tell me something he would loudly tell the person next to me to tell me, like a fourteen-year-old girl who caught her best friend passing notes to the guy she liked. He didn't even look at Jane. I didn't care.  Nothing could ruin my mood.  I was on cloud nine.

   I drug Jane around and introduced to her to everyone.  Everyone.  The production manager, the techs, the stagehands, the venue volunteers, even the guy that came to get the trash.  “Hi, this is Jane, she's stupid hot and crazy smart and she picked me.  She likes me. She's with me,” went the dialogue in my head.  When I ran out of people to show her off to we went to hang out on the bus and wait for them to let us know it was time to go on.  Jared kept up his silent treatment but Matt and Tomo were happy to chat with her.  For her part, Jane really seemed to be enjoying herself.  

   Our set went great.  Seriously.  Jared was a madman out there and I began to think that maybe we needed to really piss him off before every show.  Jane waited in the wings and cheered me on and as soon as I came off stage she threw her arms around me, not even hesitating when she saw how sweaty I was.  It was sort of amazing to know she was there waiting.  

   I needed to get cleaned up and changed and we were due to sign merchandise after the show so I suggested to Jane that she might want to go hear someone else or check out the festival.  She said she'd been invited to a party on the way in, and wanted to go hang out there.  We made plans for me to meet her there when I was done with my band obligations.  

  Jared, of course, kept up the silent treatment all through it.  As we were walking back to the bus I broke off to go find Jane and figured it was as good a time as any to let him know what was coming.

  “Just so you know, Jay, Jane has this week off so she's going to be coming with me.”

  Jared had his back to me when I said it but he stopped dead in his tracks. I couldn't see his expression but there was no response.  I waited a minute but he never said anything, didn't move either, just kept standing there with his back to me.  “Fine, whatever,” I said, starting to walk away.

  “She's not who you think she is Shan,” he said.  “You're going to regret this.”

   I'd had enough of his vague warnings.  “Dammit Jared, either tell me what has got you so pissed off at her or let it go because I'm really sick of this shit.”

   “Ask her again how she met her fiance,” was all he would say.  He continued to the bus without ever having turned around.

   Like most parties, I heard it long before I got there.  The thumping bass slowly developed into a full song, and the thin groups of people grew into larger clusters and finally a pit of dancers. I forged ahead into the crowd, looking for that shiny blonde head of hair.  Jane found me first though, throwing herself on my back and covering my neck with kisses.  With a laugh, I turned around pulled her against me.  

   “You look like you're having a good time,” I told her, stealing a quick kiss before she could start jumping around again.  

   “The best!” she shouted with a laugh.  She started kissing my neck again, running her teeth over the salty skin as she writhed against me in time with the music.  “Aren't you going to dance with me?”

   She placed her hand on mine as if to lead me out to the dance floor and I was struck with how hot it was.  We were outside in July and she had been dancing, so it didn't seem odd that she was warm and sweaty but this seemed too hot.  Instead of following her to the thicker group I pulled her out to where the crowds were thinner.  

   “Are you okay, Janey?” I asked once we got to where I didn't have to shout so loud to be heard.  “You seem overheated.  Have you been drinking? You know alcohol dehydrates you right? It's really hot.”

   She just laughed.  “I've just got my dancing shoes on Shannon.”  She trailed her fingers up from my wrists.  “God, you've got such great arms.  I love it when you hold me.”

   A thought occurred to me.  “Jane....” I said.  She just smiled and kept running her hands over me, tracing the outline of my shoulders as she bobbed her head to the music.  I tipped her chin up so I could look into her eyes.  Her green irises were just tiny rings around her abnormally large pupils.  Her jaw was tight. “Jane, did you take something?”

  “Just some ecstasy,” she said, as casually as if she had just told me she'd eaten an apple.

  “What the fuck do you mean “Just some ecstasy”?” I gestured to the crowd. “Do you know any of these people?”

  “No,” she said calmly.

   “Did you bring that shit with you?” I could feel my own temperature rising and it wasn't due to any chemicals.  

   “No. I got it from one of the guys on the crew for one of the other bands... I think his name is Kevin....”

   “So you're telling me you took drugs from a stranger, in a group of people you don't know? Dammit, Jane, I thought you were smart.”

   Jane made a face like her step-dad had just caught her sneaking back into the house at 2 a.m. “Jesus Shannon, it's just some ecstasy.  It's a music festival.  I knew you'd be here soon.  Don't be such a prude.”

   The irony of her saying that was so thick my brain did a backflip.  “Do you know who the hell you're talking to?” I asked her.  “I'm telling you from sad experience this is not a good idea.”

   “I'm not sweet Janey who can't hold her liquor anymore Shannon.  I know what I'm doing.  It's fine.” She pouted at me, resting her elbows on my shoulders as she ran her fingers through the back of my hair. “Please, I don't want to fight.  If it's a big deal for you I promise I won't do it around you again.”

   “So you do this a lot?” My head was swimming.  I knew I had no right to get judgmental about her rolling at a concert, but it was just so far from what I would have expected from her I didn't know what to do. And oh sweet Jesus was there going to be fireworks if Jared saw her like this.  

   “A lot? No, but sometimes. I enjoy it every now and then.  I didn't think it was going to be a big deal.” She kissed me on the nose. “I'm sorry. baby.  I didn't mean to make you mad. Please don't be mad.”

   A lot of things went through my head at that moment.  I knew I didn't have a right to be pissed, I knew I was being self-righteous and overreacting.  I also knew she had been careless in the way she had gone about things tonight.  I wondered how well I really did still know her, this was certainly not something L.A. Jane would have done. She didn't even like parties. I thought about scaring up some E and joining her on her trip. I tried not to think about Jared and his warnings.  In the end, I followed her back into the crowd and got my dance on and waited for her to come down.

@msroxyblog @nikkitasevoli @maliciousalishious @meghan12151977 @snewsome756

[zombierunfiction]

Season 2 Side Mission 2: Headcount

The following morning Charlotte was already awake and in the bathrooms looking at her hair.  Ever since the run to get the fast zoms for testing she had a section of hair that was shorter than the rest of it by a good 12 inches.  It annoyed her when she pulled it back to see it uneven.  She thought about evening it out herself but she didn't trust her hand with a pair of scissors.  The door opened showing the Major stepping in.

"Ah Charlotte.  Good morning."  The Major said shutting the door.

"Morning Major.  Shower day?"  Charlotte asked washing her face.

"That it is.  What are you up to?"  The Major asked hoping into the stalled shower.

"Well Janine wants me out on a mission today with you.  So thats a thing.  And I'm contemplating finding someone with some barber skills to even out my hair."  Charlotte said drying off her face.

"Oh well if you like I could help you with that.  My mother was a beautitian.  Taught me everything she knew."  The Major asid happily.

Charlotte looked at the tall imposing woman that was Major De Santa.  "If you aren't too busy."

"Nonsense.  Let me shower up and I'll give you a proper cut."  The Major said proudly as Charlotte shrugs.

"Sounds good to me."  Charlotte said walking out of the shower area.  She went and dressed for the run as the cold air started to nip at her face.

"Char!"  

Charlotte turned seeing Sam running over with Jody.  "Hey Charlotte.  How are you this brisk morning?"  Jody asked with a grin.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow.  "I'm fine.  The Major offered to even out my hair."

Jody and Sam gave her a confused look.  "Really?"  Jody asked.

"Didn't know the Major knew anything about hair."  Sam said.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me Yao."  The Major said fully dressed with her hair pulled into a tight bun.  "Ready Charlotte?"

Charlotte nodded as the four of them walked to the Major's little home which was a cot, table with maps of the area and a ham radio.  "Where should I sit?"  Charlotte asked.

The Major grabbed a stool from the desk and put it down.  "Right there.  Miss Marsh please go get a pair of clippers from Janine."  Jody nodded and ran out.  Sam sat on the edge of the desk in front of Charlotte gently taking her hands, which were surprisingly shaking.

Sam looked at them oddly.  "Nervous?"  He asked.

"I've been growing out my hair for 6 years.  It's like a limb."  Charlotte said as the Major gently gathered her hair checking it with a little swiss army comb.  

"Don't worry.  I will keep as much of the length as I can."  The Major said being surprisingly gentle.  Soon Jody returned with the scissors and the Major gathered some of the hair together.  "Alright Mr. Yao keep her still."  

Sam held her hands tight  as Charlotte closed her eyes feeling the Major cutting away her hair.  She released a breath when the last snip went through.  She looked back and saw that Major had taken roughily 11 inches of hair making her whimper slightly.  Jody gently took the hair and wrapped it in a small cloth.

"I heard hair is a good fire starter."  Jody said trying to console her.

Charlotte snorted.  "Lovely now my red hair can really be flaming."

Sam chuckled squeezing her fingers as the Major started to even out her hair gently.  "If it's any help, hair or no hair I still love you."  He said softly.

Charlotte smiled softly.  "I love you too Sam but I don't think you would like me bald."

"Why?  You might have a cute lumpy head."  Sam chuckled as the Major smirked.  

"Good thing the bullet only struck your hair not your head.  Otherwise we would have to buzz it short.  Make you G.I. Jane."  The Major joked as Charlotte chuckled.  

"Regular jar head."  Charlotte replied making the Major laugh loudly.

After a bit the Major closed up the comb and the scissors.  "There all done."  

Charlotte reached back feeling her now shoulder length hair in her hands.  She tossed it around playing with it.  "This is strange but good.  Thanks Major."  Charlotte said standing up.  "If this military life doesn't pan out you could open a barber shop."

The Major chuckled.  "No thanks.  I like being in the military.  But hair is a good hobby."

Charlotte walked out with Sam who gently ruffled her hair.  "See it's cute!"  Sam said as Charlotte laughs and gathers it up into a ponytail.

"And still enough to pull back.  I will have to find something nice for her.  So know anything about this mission Janine wants me on?"  Charlotte asked.

"Not a thing.  Just that she was going to suit up for a mission with you."  Sam said.  "Which by the way I have to get my systems going."  He kissed her cheek then placed one on her neck making her giggle before running off.

"Cute."  Charlotte said softly walking over to the packs to get hers ready.  She rather missed her fire axe but figured she'd be able to find another one at some point.

"Charlotte."  

Charlotte turned seeing Janine walking over to her.  She had her brown hair pulled into a ponytail and was bundled up the same as her.  "Hey Janine.  So you're really going on this mission with me?"

"Yes I am.  We are not going to have a problem are we?"  Janine asked.

"As long as touche subjects don't come up we should not have a problem."  Charlotte said.

Janine looked at her for a moment before looking away.  "Look...  I liked Sara.  She was a great runner and a great friend.  And I miss her too.  But it's been almost 2 months and not a single word from her.  Now you and her are similar.  You would make contact as soon as you could..."

"And if she's in an area where she can't get to a radio or to Rofflenet?"  Charlotte countered.  "You've said it yourself.  Not everyone is on Rofflenet."

Janine sighs deeply.  "You are going to hold out hope for her aren't you?"

Charlotte lowered her head for a moment before looking at Janine.  "I didn't know my former fiance was alive.  For months I was cut off from him.  I gave him up for dead and you were right.  I did jump at Sam.  Literally.  But Sam is different than Amir.  Night and day.  When I found out Amir was alive... well you know what happened after that."

Janine nodded slowly.  "I'm sorry... for what I said.  This whole thing has made us all frayed and twitchy.  Finding someone who stablizes you is very important.  I'm glad Sam does that for you."

"And Simon does it for you."  Charlotte said seeing the blush suddenly rush into her face.

"Wha... what do you mean?"  Janine studders making Charlotte chuckle.

"Janine... it's rather transparent.  Or atleast on his end.  He's not exactly shy about his affections and I know you share his feelings.  Let yourself have some happiness.  Let go of all that discipline.  Believe me it makes a difference."  Charlotte said with a happy sign.

Janine snorted slightly.  "Well now that that's all out of the way.  We have a mission to attend to."  She said smiling.  

Charlotte nodded and grabbed a clip board from Sam who looked rather confused why she wanted it.  Janine took out a stack of papers and put them into the clip board from her pack.  The paper had several questions written on it making Charlotte look at her oddly.

"Alright, looks like we've got something special for you today, Five.  Something so special that no one's bothered to tell me what it is we're doing yet.  Because that always ends so well, doesn't it?  I know some of my favorite times have been when Janine's come by with a secret mission for us."  Sam said though their headset.

"It's an order from the Major herself, Mr. Yao. We're trying to keep it under wraps so as not to spread panic."  Janine said as she took a deep breath and moved closer to Charlotte.  "Charlotte... it seems the military doesn't think emergency supplies are being distributed as efficiently as they should be across the country.  With Skoobs and Red Settlements gone, they're talk of skifting their aid drops further south, towards the larger centers."  She whispered softly as Charlotte's eyes widen.

"What?  They can't-!"  Sam started shocked.

"They can... and will if need be."  Charlotte said.

"The Major's asked us to survey the survivors living outside the township and find out who's there, so she can build a case for keeping our supply line open.  I don't have to tell either of you what the loss of those extra emergency rations would mean to Abel in its current state, do i?"  Janine asked making Charlotte shake her head.  

"To say nothing of the medical equipment and weapons."  Charlotte said softly.

Janine nods.  "It's of utmost importance that we do this quickly and quietly."

"But if it's that important, why are we sending Char?"  Sam asked.

"And what's wrong with sending me Sammy?"  Charlotte asked pointedly.

"I mean, no offense, Five.  You're great. Obviously, you're great."  Sam retracked.  "It's just... don't we want someone who's a little more... official?"

"That's why I'll be accompanying Charlotte in the field."  Janine said proudly.  "We all have to do our part, Mr. Yao.  Now more than ever.  Until our defenses are back to full strength, we need as many runners as possible focused on the reconstruction effort, and keeping the zombies away from the township.  We simply can't spare anyone else."

"Besides I'm great company to have around."  Charlotte said with a smirk.

"But-" Sam started.

"Unless you want to volunteer to go instead?"  Charlotte suggests crossing her arms.

"Char... just keep an eye on her, okay?  And Janine - don't do anything I wouldn't do... Change of plan.  Actually, only do things I wouldn't do."  Sam said softly.

"She will be just fine Sammy.  I promise."  Charlotte said with a smile.

"Raise the gates, please!"  Janine calls as the alarm goes off with the gates raising.  "First official post-apocalyptic census, begin."  

Soon both women took off down the path as Charlotte followed her lead.  "So tell me where are we heading to?"  Charlotte asked.

"The cameras that we've managed to bring back online southwest of us have been picking up more movement than usual.  It looks like there might be a new camp forming up in the old distillery."  Janine said as they jogged.

"Wait.  We've been this close to a distillery all along, and we've never sent out a runner?  What do they make?  Whiskey?  Gin?"  Sam asked excited.

"I believe it's the home of Pepe's Finest British Tequila."  Janine said.

Charlotte looks at her oddly.  "British tequila?"

"Aw man, that's just... that's disgusting.  But um, you will try and bring us back a case, right Five?"  Sam asked hopefully.

"If I can.  I'm curious."  Charlotte said.

"The mission, Mr. Yao?"  Janine said seriously.

"Oh, right, right, yeah.  Uh, let me see.  Um... our scanners are still pretty patchy down that way, but yeah, yeah, here we go.  If you tack east, towards the city, you'll hook up on the motorway.  You can follow it nearly all the way down.  Nothing but bare field all around it.  Even if I can't see them on the cameras, you should be able to spot any zoms headed your way before they spot you, Five."  Sam said.

"No, no, that won't do at all."  Janine said.

"It won't?"  Sam questioned.

"The people we're looking for won't be camped on the side of a road, and if they are, we need't worry about counting them, because they won't survive long enough to need supplies!  Runner Five and I are heading for Clannion Wood.  I want us to find atleast fifty people today.  It should be a good place to start."  Janine states as Sam sighs.

"I was afraid you were going to say something like that."  He said.

"When the Major first came to Abel, those woods were filled with survivors."  Janine said.

"Which means now they're probably filled with zombies!"  Sam stressed before he goes quiet for a moment.  "Oh no, what did I tell you?  There's a pack of at least twenty zoms between you and the edge of the forest.  Yeah, and they're really moving.  If you don't change direction fast, you'll run right into them."

Charlotte looked up seeing the shambling group heading right for them.  "Oh yea, Runner Five and I can see them from here."  Janine states.

"And you didn't think that might be worth mentioning?"  Sam asked.

"Quiet!"  Charlotte hissed.  "There's someone... there's someone out in front of the swarm."  She points to someone running away from the swarm towards them.

"If you can lead the zombies away, they might be able to tell us how many people are still living in the forest.  Run down between them and the pack, and lead themm off away.  Do make sure to lose them before you circle back."  Janine said as Charlotte nods running towards the swarm.  

"Janine, I really don't think - Janine?  Janine!"  Sam sighed heavily.  "She's not listening to me anymore is she?  Right, Five, you know the drill here.  Head straight for the pack and lead them away."

She ran up beside the woman who was in some make shift coat and gloves covered in dirt and dried mud.  "There's a woman off to the right hand side.  Run towards her at this same speed.  I'll take care of these guys."  Charlotte said as the woman nodded hanging a right as the zombies continued to follow Charlotte.  

"Oh god, we really need more cameras down here.  I can hardly see, but I think - I think - yeah, I think it's working!  Just keep it up!  Keep running!"  Sam said quickly as Charlotte continued to run.  "Okay, okay, you're doing great, Five.  You're well in front of the swarm, now we just have to get rid of them.  When I give you the signal, I want you to duck into the woods as fast as you can.  You should be able to work you way back to Janine and her new friend without the zoms noticing, but you're going to need to be quiet okay?"

"Got it."  Charlotte said.

"Remember... step on a branch, and they might come in after you... Ready... Now!"  Sam said fast as Charlotte split into the woods avoiding anything that would make noise.  "I can't..."  Sam sighs.  "It's hard to get a lock on you in there, Five, but I think if you keep heading in that direction, you should be coming up on them."  She led the group into the forest easily losing them.  

She started to silently run back but stopped when she saw a corpse laying against a tree.  There was a blown hole through the man's head looking like he was shot through the temple.  She saw the gun in his hand along with a chuck of arm missing.  He must have been bit and took his life.  She saw beside him was a sleeved knife and a sledge hammer.  She checked the sledge hammer for zombie blood before taking it testing it's weight.  It was rather heavy but it would be good for taking out a zombie head.  She picked up the knife and checked it finding it was a Marine K bar.  

Well sharpened too.

She put it back in the sleeve and put it into her pocket.  She held onto the sledge hammer running back towards where Janine was with the young woman.

"Ah, there you are, Runner Five!  Do keep moving, don't want to be caught standing still if that swarm comes back."  Janine said as the three of them started to jog.  "Now, as I was saying to Miss..."

"Iris... Iris Garrity."  The girl said with a thick scottish accent sounded close to tears.  "Thank you!  Thank you so much!  I thought... there were so many of them, and they just kept coming!  I couldn't get away!"

"Well, Runner Five sorted that out for you now.  Is that Garrity with two T's?"  Janine asked.

"Is that a clipboard?"  Iris asked surprised.

"We're conducting a survey on behalf of Abel Township.  We just need you to answer a few non-invasive questions about your day-to-day living situation, and then you can be on your way."  Janine said writing her name down.

"I-I don't-"  Iris stammered.

"First, is there anyone else living with you at present?  If so, I'll need names and ages.  Any children at all?"  Janine continued.

Charlotte ran a hand over her shorter hair sighing heavily.  Janine always spoke to people with a heavy hand and was abrasive.

"There are five of us.  We all set out from Glasgow together when the outbreak first started."  Iris started stammering quickly.  "We've been traveling together for months.  I was looking for wood to start a fire when the zombies..."  She whimpers softly.  "they came from the direction of our camp.  I don't know what happened to the others."

"So... we'll put you down as single then, shall we?"  Janine said writing it down.

Soon enough Iris was allowed to go on her way.  "Janine don't you think you were a little abrupt with her?"  Charlotte questions.

"If I wasn't she might have started to blubber then we would be still waiting on her."  Janine states seriously.

Charlotte sighs softly.  "Alright then... I still think you could have spoke to her with a little tack."

"Come on let's go."  Janine said as they headed into the woods.

"I still don't like this."  Sam said.

"Fallen log."  Janine said as Charlotte lept over it easily.

"You've gone too far into the woods for me to pick you up at all on the scanners.  If something happens, you're in there blind.  I don't like it."  Sam said.

"Your objection has been noted, but we still need another forty-nine people.  We've found a path running through the wood, and it looks well-used.  A little too well-used... mind that garbage heap, Five."  Janine said as they avoided the garbage.

"Who's out there!?"  A voice shouts from near by.

"Hello?"  Charlotte shouts back looking around.

"Oh yea, let's start shouting at people in the forest full of zombies."  Sam said as Charlotte and Janine stopped seeing a stocky man with a balding head wearing a thick flannel coat and jeans holding a shot gun.

"What do you want?"  He snapped looking at them.

"Hello.  We're here from Abel Township.  If you could answer a few questions for us about your living situation-"  Janine starts before the man cocks his gun pointing it at them.

"Did the government send you?"  The man said as Charlotte moved in front of Janine.

"As I said, we're from Abel township.  We've got a survey we'd like you to participate in.  If you could just tell us your age, name, and marital status to start - really, thres no need to point that gun around like that!" Janine snapped.

"Oh, good.  I was just thinking this situation wasn't bad enough."  Sam sighed.

"Get out."  The man growled keeping the gun trained on them.

"Or, skipping down the questionaire, how many people are there in your encampment?  Any children?"  Janine asked.

"So you can blow us up like they did those other settlements?  Ha! Tell your military masters or whoever your working for, they'll never take Clannion alive!  Now go, get!"  The man snaps.

"Sir, no one is trying to blow you up."  Charlotte said softly.

"If you'll just give us a rough estimate of your numbers-"  Janien starts before the man fired a shot near them striking the tree.  Charlotte pulled Janine away from him glaring at him.

"What's happening?  What's going on?  Five?"  Sam asked paniced as the man reloaded pointing it at them again.

"That time, it was a tree."  The man said.

"Janine?  Answer me!"  Sam shouted.

"Next time, it's your head!"  The man finished pointing it right at their heads.

"Right then.  I think that's all the information we need.  Do come along, now, Five.  We really do need to find at least... thirty people. Let's pick up that pace slightly, shall we?"  Janine said as Charlotte slowly led Janine away from the gun waving man as they ran off.

"Next time we run across a gun weilding man why don't you let me talk to him."  Charlotte said as Janine snorted.

"Where are you now?"  Sam asked a bit later.

"Nearly at the edge of the woods.  Runner Five and I are doing just fine, so if you would try to calm down."  Janine said as they continued to run.

"I can see you!  Oh, oh, thank God!"  Sam called happily.  "You're back on scanners, and oh no!  No!  Five, Janine get out of there now!  There's something moving behind you, and it's coming up fast, and I don't know what it is - I've never seen a zom move like that, it's..."  Suddenly a bark sounded off.

"It's a dog."  Charlotte said as she looked back seeing a black pit bull running towards them.

"Baxter!  Baxer!  Slow down, girl!"  A man called from behind them as he ran towards them slowly stopping by Janine and Charlotte.  He was tall with a gray handlebar mustashe on his lip.  "Oh, hello, there.  Sorry, she's normally very friendly."  The man said as Baxter jumpped up on Charlotte licking her face making the red head laugh softly.  "Baxter, down!"  The man said as Baxter hopped down.

"No bother!"  Janine said excitedly kneeling down petting Baxter scratching her ears.  "Who's a good girl?  Yes, you're a good dog, aren't you?  Yes, you are!"  Janine said in a sweet voice.  She looked up seeing Charlotte looking at her with a knowing smirk.  "I mean-"  Janine clears her throat getting up.  "my associate and I are conducting a survey for Abel Township.  We'd like to ask you some questions."  

"Sure, as long as you're willing to keep moving.  I think I heard gunshots a little while ago."  The man said with a rather old english accent.

Charlotte looks at Janine who takes a slow breath.  "How... interesting.  Question one:"  Janine said as the four of them began running through the woods.  "how many people are you travelling with?"

"Just me, and Baxter of course.  Well, I guess she's not actually people."  The man said with a chuckle.

"Do you have any amily in the area?  Any children among them?  Any friends?  Anyone you may connect up with?"  Janine asked.

"Oh no, nothing like that.  I'm just on my way through here.  Better to just keep roaming these days, isn't it?  'Stay in one place, zombies eat your face!'  I always say."  The man said happily as Baxter barked happily.  He looks around giving a shiver.  "This place gives me the creeps, to be honest.  Have you seen the weird old farmhouse up on the hill?  The one with all the walls around it?"  

Charlotte bit her lip to keep from laughing as Janine looked at him slowly.  "Weird?  Old?"  Janine asked.

"It looks like someone's bombed the place!"  The man exclaimed as Charlotte's shoulder started to shake with the silent laughter as he went on.  "I'm not staying around for more of that, I can tell you.  Can't imagine who'd live up there, anyway.  All that concrete and barbed wire.  It'd be like living in a prison camp if you ask me."  

Janine took a deep breath.  "Yes, well, I think that tells us everything we need to know."  Janine put her pencil into her clipboard.

"Oh, are you sure?"  The man asked looking at the clipboard.  "It looks like you've got more questions on that form.  We don't object to the company, or anything."  The man said with a chuckle.

"No, no!"  Janine said briskly.  "I think we've heard everything we need here. If you'll excuse us, I believe we're heading in the opposite direction.  Still need to interview, say, fifteen more people today.  So good to meet you."  She concluded.

"Oh, right then."  The man said as Baxter and him turned off and headed away.  "Good bye!"  He shouted back as Charlotte let out her laughter.

"Prison camp?"  Charlotte said.

Janine turned a sharp eye to her.  "Not another word, Miss DeLoius."  She snapped as they continued to run.

"Oh come on Janine it's not that bad.  I mean yea right now Abel looks like the end of World War Z but it's our home."  Charlotte said as they continued to run.

Janine sighed softly.  "It's my home.  He has no right to pass judgement on my home."  She stressed.

Charlotte reached over gently patting her shoulder.  "Hey.  What does he know anyway?  He's just wandering around.  He doesn't seem to have a home.  And I would say his opinion means nothing to us.  He's just another survivor.  He's not part of our family."  Charlotte said as Janine looked over at her slowly nodding.  

The two ran in silence for a while before coming within a K of the large distillery.  "There we are, Runner Five.  The distillery for Pepe's Finest British Tequila.  Surely the survivors here will understand the importance of our mission."  Janine said looking at it.

"Are you sure there's anyone even in there?  Looks pretty deserted as far as I can tell."  Sam said.

"Look closer.  There's people moving on the roof of the building."  Janine said.

"They've set up a watch tower, at least.  Not bad for a new camp."  Charlotte said as she looked around.

"Oh, be careful going in this time, okay?  I'd really like it if no one else shot at you today?"  Sam said.

"Hello up there!  Can you hear us?"  Janine shouted as a young man with dyed green hair looked over the roof edge.

"What do you want?"  He shouted.

"We've come from Abel Township.  We're conducting a survey of the local population, and we'd like to ask you a few questions about your encampment!"  Janine shouted.

"Well you can't be from Abel Township, uh, it's all been blown up!"  The man shouted back.

Charlotte shook her head as Janine sighed heavily.  "We've experience a minor security setback, but I would hardly say - could someone come down?  I don't like having to shout!"  Janine shouted.

"Right, why don't you two come up here for a while, uh, have a bit of a drink?  Relax for a bit, yeah?"  The man shouted with a grin.

"I don't think that will be necessary .  We're just hoping to ask you a few questions!  It's really very important."  Janine shouted again.

"Oh come on!  Don't be like that! We've all got these, uh..."  The man said reaching next to him pulling out a hat.  "Union Jack sombreros up here, for some reason."  He put the large floppy hat on his head showing the Union jack colors on the rim.  "They'd look, uh, really nice on pretty ladies like you two.  Besides, hey, British tequila's not half bad.  Uh, as long as you try not to taste it."  The man said shrugging.

Charlotte chuckled crossing her arms looking at Janine.  "Hey Janine, you hear that?  Union Jack sombrero's."  She said grinning.

Janine shakes her head fast.  "If we could keep things professional, it would be appreciated!"  Janine shouted.  "Simply answer a few questions about the people in your settlement, and we'll be on our way.  And I don't wear hats!"  She snapped.

The man stood straight.  "Well, if you're going to get snippy about it, then we'll just find some other women to drink with.  Do you know any other women?"  

"Just give me a number!"  Janine all but screamed.

For a moment eh man didn't say anything.  He looked back onto the roof before turning back.  "Seven."  He shouted back.

Janine wrote it down and nearly yanked Charlotte off her feet heading back towards the motorway.  "That's it!  That is it."  Janine growled as they ran.  "Come on, Runner five.  We're going home."

"Janine?  Is everything okay down there?"  Sam asked.

"A little cooperation, why is that too much to ask?  Just a reasonable amount of fellowship.  Humans working together against the zombies, but no no no no no, we can't have that!"  Janine rambled as Charlotte gave her space.

"Five, is she okay?"  Sam asked softly.

"Just a bit perturbed.  She's currently walking ahead of me muttering to herself.  It's kinda like a tantrum a teenager would have."  Charlotte said as Janine looked at her.

"We've gather enough data for today.  I think in future it's best if we send Runner five out on these assignments alone.  Perhaps people will respond to someone more... favorable."  Janine said.

"So, uh, would this be a good or bad moment to mention there's a couple of zombies moving in your direction?  Because uh, yeah, that's happening."  Sam said as Charlotte looked around seeing a few zombies off in the distance.

"Oh no, Mr. Yao.  I think it's very good timing indeed.  I feel like I could stand to take a swing at a few heads on the way home.  What do you say, Runner Five?"  Janine asked as Charlotte smirks taking out her sledge hammer.  

"Sounds good to me."  Charlotte replied as Janine put the clipboard into her pack and pulled out a bat from her pack.

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<     35     >

Season 1 Beginning

Season 2 Beginning

[terselylove]

33 Psychological Tricks To Help You Win Arguments And Make Others Uncomfortable

1. Stare an their forehead just between and slightly above the eye-line while talking to someone. It throws them off their game and they have a harder time lying to you or trying to influence you.

2. When they want to fight remain calm and agree with them. It frustrates them that they can’t rile you up and ends up showcasing how much of an asshole they really are, and essentially exposes them for being an aggressor/manipulator.

3. I have a nervous habit of acting like everything is normal when it’s not. I don’t do it to fuck with people intentionally but it does have that effect. I had a boss who was yelling at me (he was that way, I hadn’t really done anything wrong), and I kept talking slow sips of my coffee throughout and that really triggered him. I crack up when I think back on him getting all fired up, turning red, then purple, then screaming that I needed to stop drinking coffee.

4. When I know someone dislikes me or is indifferent or cold I’ll ask them to do simple favors for me, things like passing me a drink from a table, or doing a small easy menial task and then thank them and tell them they really helped me out. People in general are self-observing and want to make sense of their own actions. By helping you, subconsciously they will slowly change their opinion of you from negative to positive.

It’s an easy way to build relationships, and although it doesn’t fuck with someone in a conscious way sometimes people just end up your friend and have no idea how or why…

5. Confusing people is always the best strategy. If someone is yelling? Ask them if they want sand. Are they in an uncomfortable situation? Ask if they want sand. Are they crying? Comfort them, then say in a calm voice, “Do you want some sand?” Works every time.

6. When asking someone something, nod your head a little bit, and they’ll probably agree to do it and can’t figure out why.

7. Whenever someone is insulting me, I just agree with them:

“Hey you’re really ugly.”

“Yep. I know.”

They never know what to do.

8. Reverse psychology… my sister takes my stuff away, I don’t complain or pretend not to notice. She returns it to me in less than a minute. Works every time.

9. Pretend you’re terrible at lying so when you really need to lie people believe your telling the truth.

10. When in a position of power, offer the person under you a choice of responsibility. This gives them a greater sense of importance because you, a superior, offered it to them before others. I worked as a camp counselor and this method worked wonders.

11. Give someone a sincere compliment during an argument. If they are decent people, It’ll throw them off guard. They will then feel inclined to be more pliable.

12. If your on public transport and you don’t want anyone sitting next to you, when your victim (potential transport neighbor) looks like they are about to sit next to you. Smile at them and pat the seat next to you.

13. If you know you’re right but someone is doing their best to argue with you just for the sake of arguing say something like “yeah whatever. I know you are smart enough to understand that it is X.” It’s hard to explain exactly why this works but I use this tactic and it usually shuts people down. I guess because they feel like if they keep trying to argue Y they will look stupid.

14. Silence. Whenever someone says something stupid, or makes an unreasonable request, I just sit there in silence for a long, uncomfortable moment. Makes people second guess everything, start confessing the stupid things they did that led us to this moment or, ideally, gets them to go and figure out a way to take care of the problem they created on their own. Incredibly effective on the phone.

15. Does someone at work treat you as if you’re beneath them? Nothing better than walking by the person never making eye contact, ignoring any hellos from said person. This does not mean stare at the floor or wall, just stare directly ahead as you pass them. Then later, when you pass them in the hallway, you initiate the hello. Later in some setting they’re liking to crack a joke at your expense and ignoring them at which you say “Oh, I didn’t notice you were there, I was deep in thought. You should have said hello.” Completely knocks said person down a peg or two.

16. Say: “You’ve got something on your cheek” while I scratch my nose

They’ll put their hand to their nose.

17. I use the “door-in-the-face” trick a lot with my wife. Basically, if you ask for something crazy big at first and then what you want, you are more likely to get the person to agree to it than if you were just to ask for the original terms by itself. Could you make me a 5-course dinner tonight? No. How about some homemade mac and cheese? Thanks!

18. I work at a drive through and I get a lot of mumblers. Asking to speak up doesn’t work but if you repeat their order back incorrectly everyone’s diction and volume improves.

19. While arguing with someone smirk and shake your head, or chuckle. Drives people absolutely bonkers.

20. If someone is staring at you, look at their shoes. I don’t know why, but this worked for me, for some reason they look away.

21. One of my favorite things to do is just ask someone why they feel the need to always get the last word in. Whenever they try and say something back, just give them that “you’re proving my point” look. Then they stop talking and pout for a while.

22. “Everything people say about you is true.”

23. If you’re in an argument with someone, don’t yell. Instead, speak quietly and softly. This will often calm them down.

24. My fiance, his brothers and his dad all do this thing that we all refer to as “the thing”. They’ll just pretend to give you increeeedibly false information or pretend they have no clue what you’re talking about randomly with the most obvious shit. It’ll be stuff like, we’ll drive past some palm trees and my fiance will say “hey you know they got their name because the guy who discovered them thought they looked like hands!” or one of them will pretend to have never heard of the movie Back to the Future before or something. They always give it up and start laughing but oh my god.

Thankfully, I’ve been with him long enough that I can see it coming from a mile away and I catch him with “you’re doing the thing.”, but for everyone else it’s an absolute trip because they’re SO believable with it.

25. When talking to someone face-to-face, randomly look over their shoulder with a growing look of horror. Once they have checked to see what you were looking at and have turned back around to face you, continue speaking normally. Ignore any expressions of puzzlement.

26. If you’re annoyed that someone is staring at you stare back. Hold eye contact and don’t let go. If they’re still staring even after this shoot them a kiss, usually gets them to look away.

27. Stop talking. They will babble on, far more than they want to.

28. Laughing at a bully who is obviously all bark and no bite.

Had a female friend in high school getting bullied by a boy who was significantly smaller than she was. He only ever gave her issues when he was with his friends, so it was clear that the goal was to impress them. She wanted to kick his ass since she knew she could stomp him, but didn’t want to get suspended so I told her that next time he puts on his show, laugh. Laugh harder than you’ve ever laughed before. Make yourself cry laughing if you can, and watch what happens.

By golly she took my advice and laughed in his face the next time he verbally attacked her. She was with another friend, and the friend joined in on the laughter. He kept going, calling her different names until his face went red, and still kept going even though he ran out of new insults – causing him to repeat himself.

His friends were originally laughing with him, but after only about a minute of this they stopped him. “Dude, they’re laughing at you. This is getting awkward. Just stop and leave it alone…”

He never tried bullying her again, and I just pulled that idea out of my ass on a whim.

29. Ask someone if they know ALL the words to “I’m a little teapot” (emphasis on the word ALL). Vast majority of the time, grown ass adults will start singing “I’m a little teapot.”

30. One of my bosses feels the need to contradict anything I say, no matter how benign. She gets in “moods”, should probably see a therapist.

When she does this I just start agreeing with whatever she says but I phrase it a little differently, and make my tone slightly argumentative, but I’m basically a parrot. Sure enough she’ll contradict what I say. So I do it again, agreeing with her new statement. We can go on like this for a long time. She argues with herself. It doesn’t help anything but I find it amusing. Its the conversational equivalent of my brother grabbing my hand and smacking me in the face with it whilst saying “why are you hitting yourself ? Stop hitting yourself.”

31. I use this trick all the time when someone is yelling at me over the phone.

Stay completely silent.

Don’t ignore them and speak when spoken to but when they are talking, nothing. No “uh-huh”s, no “mmm”s, no “I see”. Nothing. Deprive them of all subconscious feedback.

You really have to work at it because humans naturally try to feed off one another verbally in conversation. The other person will quickly sense that something is wrong in the conversation and it usually throws them off track enough that they stop ranting or yelling and tell you what they actually want.

Best way to shut someone up without being rude. Semiotics professor taught it to me.

It works just as well in person but, face-to-face, you have to also avoid nodding, moving your hands and you have to look them directly in the eyes.

32. Not really a psychological trick but when I was teaching in the inner city, I had a seventh grader yell at me, in front of the whole class, to go fuck myself when I said they needed to stop talking and pay attention. I didn’t yell at them or scold them, just said we don’t speak like that to each other. Then made it an absolute priority to greet them at the door and ask how their day was going. A couple weeks of this and I asked if they wanted to help run my PowerPoint presentations (transition slides when I needed, etc). Before you knew it, they had the positive influence they needed and I had a wonderful ally in helping my class run smoothly. Sometimes when a person acts out against you, it’s because they are hurt. Show them you care and you may change their entire outlook.

33. Telling people “nice socks” even when they’re not visible.

[the-seductive-historian]

This is kind of an odd scenario request, but picture this. Prompto develops a crush on Imperial Soldier. Trust issues, angst, passion, the whole shebang. 😱

I’m sorry if this is not what you had in mind but this is all that came out this is one of my harder requests I've had to do. Also you didn't say if you wanted it to be just any soldier of you as a soldier so I went with this I hope you like it. I'm also sorry it too so long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Problem Girl ~ Prompto X OC

Prompto dashed about fighting with the others when the Imperial soldiers had dropped down surround them.  He fought fiercely, his guns blazing, he was on fire today. He smiled as he turned around to see one last soldier that had run behind a large rock it was using as cover. Which was odd behavior its a machine right he jumped onto of the rock both pistols pointed at its head. It backed away startled and held a hand up waving it for him to not shoot. Did this machine have a glitch? He shrugged it off and jumped onto its torso pinning it down and putting the pistol to its helmet.

"For the love of the six please don't kill me!" A soft voice sounded from the metal helmet. "What the...." He jumped back confused. The figure on the ground before him took its helmet off slowly. Prompto was stuck as if he had been slapped across the face he seen the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her face was soft and pale and had such beautifully striking features, she pulled a pin out and her hair and her shoulder length hair was freed her hair was white and ombre down into a pink type tint. "You're a woman?" He asked his guns slowly lowering. "Yes, I'm sorry I fought you all just please don't kill me!" She looked down starting to strip from the magitek armor that she had adorned.

"H..Hey wait! Your still one of them! machine or not!" He raised his gun to her face wondering if he would have the strength to pull the trigger he never felt bad killing machines or monsters or ferocious animals that tried to attack them, but a human. "Please, I swear I, I'm an Imperial supervisor I wasn't supposed to fight today. I watch after the battles calculate the amount dead and how many more machines we need to replace the ones lost. I was forced to fight today, I understand if you don't trust me but please don't kill me. I was just doing my job." She slowly stood in her Tight black underclothes from the armor they were like pants and a tank top. "You have a really fucked up employer lady!" His hand started to shake. He sighed looking into her bright hazel eyes. "Damn it." Fine but you're coming with us. "What why?" She stated confused. "Because we can't trust you," Prompto said with as he nods his head.

" Listen the others won't like that I am bringing you with us. So you're a hostage of the magitek they shoved you in a suit and forced you to fight thinking you would be killed. Deal?" He said smiling proudly with his plan. She looked into the boy's eyes and smiles as his freckled face lit up. "Whatever you say." She smiled back at him her cheeks starting to blush slightly. "Awesome now to get the others to believe it." He sighed and grabbed your hand tightly as a blush rose from the poor boy's cheeks as he ran out from the cover of the large rock back to the others.

"Guys! Hey! Check this out!" He ran toward them. Her legs stumbling as she tried to keep up with the blonde. He explained the story that he had come up with and to his surprise, the group believed it well almost. "How can they force you to fight? Shove you in a suit and bring you out here against your will yes, but how can they force you to fight, pray tell?" Ignis' eyes narrowed at the pale face girl. "Ummm robotics..like remote control it's in the armor.... I umm couldn't control my arms or leg." She sighed saying hoping it was believable. "Mmmhmm, and prompto how did you discover it was a hostage how did you know without killing her." Ignis' hand was on his chin know as he looked at both Prompto and the new girl.

"W..w....w...well, I shot part of the armor and I guess it malfunctioned and she took her helmet off cause she could move then." He stuttered out nervously. Ignis stared the two down before cautiously standing aside and motioned for her to get in the car. Gladio laughed, "Hey at least we got a hot chick with us now." he put his arms around her once in the car. "Whats your name cutie?" Gladio suavely asked. "My name is Ravina." She said. "That's a weird name, but you're not a normal girl I guess, If they held you hostage and then tried to kill you. You must be of some importance." Noctis looked at Ravina and then pushed Gladios large arm off the back of the seat.

"Yes....." Ignis said coldly as he looked at her in the rear view mirror. "Good thinking Prompto if she is really important we can use her against them as a bargain." He said. "Ignis what you can't be serious?!" Prompto exclaimed, "Of course I am we have something they want dead say we tell them we will hand her over on a set of a few conditions once they agree we could ambush however the circumstances would have to be precisely right for such a plan to work." Ignis replied as he pushed up his glasses. "Oh, Okay." Prompto turned around in his seat and started talking to Noctis and the others.

A bout a month has passed of Ravina and the boys being together on the road Ignis was still cautious of Ravina. Gladio was forever trying to flirt with her and Noctis didn't really care one way or the other. "Umm hey Prompto, Can I talk to you for a second please?" She asked looking at the blonde boy's face and blushing as she grabbed his hand walking away from camp. "I wanted to thank you for not killing me. I know I never said it before, but this past month has been the best days of my life. and I wanted to prove that to you with a proper thank you. She slowly leaned in and kissed Promptos lips softly. To her surprise, he kissed back with much more passion than she had expected as you broke the heated kiss Prompto blushed.

"That's one hell of a thank you, ahaha, maybe you should thank me more often." He said timidly. Ravina and Prompto both walked casually talking about many different things as they made their way to a small cliff and looked out seeing the camp below and the stars above. "Ravina, I...I've kinda known for a while now, but um. I kinda... Like you. " Prompto rubbed the back of his neck looking at her nervously. "Hahaha you silly choco boy, I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't like you." She pressed her lips to his once more as prompto smiled against them and held her close as he deepened the kiss and his hands slid down her sides to her firm round ass and cupped it in his hands lifting her up onto his hips. They shared more than just a kiss that night up on the cliff. They were both sure that camp heard the screams of pleasure. That night Ravina had cuddled up next to prompto in his sleeping bag pressed close to his chest as they both fell asleep happy and content.

The weeks to pass were perfect. Everything seemed like pure bliss until Ignis had to intervene. "Prompto I don't like this at all!" Something is very off about that girl." Ignis said in a frustrated tone. "Ignis for once in your life why don't you just back off okay im, not Noctis you can't run my life for me!" Prompt snapped back they had been fighting in the distance away from camp for the past hour now. Ravina Gladio and Noctis had all turned their seats around to face them once they heard the yelling. "I do not run anyone's life. I am trying to make sure that we are all safe. Which seems to me is something nobody else around here cares about you are Noctis best friend and yet you refuse to think of whats best for the party and him." Ignis pushed up his glasses.

"Why Ignis because I have someone here who loves me and your girl is back home probably sleeping with someone less uptight than you." Promptos words were as sharp as Ignis' daggers. He knew that Ignis was insecure about being away from his fiancee. "T...that....." Ignis' voice cracked he cleared his throat and regained himself. "That was uncalled for." Ignis' eyes darted back and forth his mind reeling the idea of someone else with his fiance. "Prompto, She is bad, I don't know how to make you see that there is something wrong." Ignis pleaded. "Shut up Ignis," The sunshine boy was mad, fuming, "Prompto you will find someone else but don't do this." Ignis tried to reason again.

"IGNIS.." Promptos eyes looked at the tall blonde man like he had never looked at anyone. "For the love of the six! Open your eyes Prompto." Ignis said exhausted of talking. Prompto stood staring. "I'm not going to stop loving her Ignis." He said softly. "Prompto, STOP BEING A CHILD!" Ignis raised his voice for the first time. "I AM NOT GOING TO STAND HER AND LET YOU DESTROY OUR MISSION OVER. WHAT!?! A GOOD FUCK." Ignis yelled looking down at Prompto. "FUCK YOU!" Prompto lunged at Ignis with a first and struck the man in the face dropping Ignis to his knees cracking his glasses. Prompto continues his assault on the tall blonde. Ignis jumped for promptos arms to restrains him but prompto had already summoned his gun and had it placed at Ignis' temple.

"STOP!!!" Gladio had started to run over in a full sprint as Noctis warp strike to prompto grabbing the gun. "What the fuck man!?" Noctis asked holding prompto back as Gladio helped Ignis up. Ignis' face bloody his nose was bleeding as was his now busted lip along with a nice cut on his brow. "Ignis straighten up and patted Gladio in thanks as he walked back to camp staring down Ravina before grabbing the first aid kit. and tending to himself. The next few weeks Ignis never spoke. Not one word. He drove he cooked he bought supplies. He never spoke. Noctis had tried to do multiple things right and wrong. to get Ignis to speak. But he wouldn't utter a word. Prompto was back to his cheery demeanor constantly tending to Ravina. Noctis and Gladio were stuck they didn't know what to do. Ignis would often walk outside to try to call his fiance only to leave voicemails from her not answering he was breaking down inside.

The day everything changed for the worse. Ignis was sleep deprived of staying up all night trying to contact home. Noctis was irritated because he didn't know what was right or wrong anymore. Gladio felt useless which was something he didn't like yet Prompto and Ravina were in a world of their own happiness and content. Ignis drove and stopped the car looking around before starting to drive again when a Magitek ship appeared and landed in front of them. Ignis got out of the car and summoned his dagger Gladio and Noctis doing the same Prompto pulled Ravina from the car and placed her behind him as he grabbed his Pistols. The ship opened and the all too familiar tall pale man with white hair emerged from the darkness of the ship. "Ravus!" Noctis looked. "A face I would be happy to never see again," Gladio said as he stood guard.

"Hahaha, we meet again chosen one, even though you drip with disrespect or honor for your talents," Ravus said and looked at Noctis walking closer. "Do not worry I have come to pick up something very dear to me. Ravina" He called out and looked behind Prompto to the pale girl.  Prompto held her closer. "You can't have her." wanting to save the woman he loved.  "That's cute, RAVINA! come here!" she slowly walked away from prompto looking at him. "I'm so sorry." Her eyes watered slightly as she bites her lip and sucked it up. "NOW RAVINA!" he yelled pointing at the ground. "Coming brother," She reached out to try to touch Prompto. He shrugged her hand away from him shaking his head as tears threatened to spill. She sighed and ran over to Ravus.

"How are you my little lily flower." Ravis hugged her as Ardyn walked out behind them and she walked over to him hugging him tightly. "You see my sister is promised to Ardyn here and they are to be married very soon." Ravus said with a smirk "So you see why we couldn't have her running around with for men in a car. People talk you know." Ardyn smiled wide and kissed Ravina's lips and looked back at them all. "Thank you for taking care of her. see you all very soon."  The ship closed as they walked back inside and flew off  Prompto collapsed to his knees sobbing. Noctis and Gladio looked at each other. Ignis looked down. "Gods he must hate his sister if he promised her to Ardyn." Ignis stared looking at the ship leave. Noctis and Gladio looking at him before bursting out laughing as Prompto chuckled even though he was crying. " Prompto?" Ignis said, "Yeah specs?" he looked up at the tall blonde. "I hate to be that person who says I told you so...but I did, in fact, tell you, Also you owe me a new pair of glasses," Ignis said as he got into the car. Prompto got up and nodded through his tears "Okay specs."