#colin seems like he fully regrets it all

[whatdourelfeyessee]

God god god god god Colin going from pushing himself into the carriage in front of Deli, (That's my bodyguard!) wanting to protect and defend and kill for him, only to step back when Deli actually asked him to go into the cave first. And Colin said no, none of this was worth it and letting Deli wander into the unknown, I'm

[booboodaddysblog]

Let’s talk…

Warnings: none, just talking and healing hearts

Words: 1882

Marg was glad to be back at work. She sat down at her desk and started up her computer. She didn't know if Colin was already at work or not. She knew that they had planned to have lunch together today.... But in her mind she still had an unpleasant parting. Then she saw Colin at the bar and her heart broke into a million pieces again. He looked sad, drunk and lonely. She felt sorry for him. She wanted them to get along somehow, after all, in seven months she was due to give birth to a child that was his.

Suddenly she heard footsteps in the hallway. She looked toward the window. It was Colin. He stopped for a moment in front of her door. He looked at her and seemed to smile slightly. He walked into his office.

Colin had already been working for about an hour. He wasn't exactly feeling well. He had a hangover. His head hurt and every louder sound irritated him. But when he saw Marg and her smile. He felt better, or at least he thought he did.

He walked into his office and set his coffee mug on his desk. For a moment he wondered what he should do now. They had a lunch appointment, which he was honestly looking forward to. He looked at his watch. It was 10 a.m. The break is usually around 12.

- It would be useful to say hello - he thought aloud.

He went out into the hallway and knocked on Marg's door.

- Come in, Colin - she smiled and looked at him.

Marg looked at him in silence. Colin looked tired. His eyes were sad, she could see it from a distance, but they were shining nonetheless, he looked like he was slightly drunk. He hadn't shaved, his hair wasn't perfectly styled, as was his habit.

He also looked at her wondering what she was thinking about now. He furrowed his eyebrows, he still wasn't sure what he wanted to talk to her about. But since he had already made the effort to come to her office something had to be said...

- Hello, Marg.

- Hello, Colin.

Without taking his eyes off her, he sat down on one of the chairs.

- I... sorry to disturb you, but I just wanted to come here and talk to you a little... before we go to lunch, and… - he fell silent for a moment - is it okay?

For a while she looked at him and said nothing. She had doubts, but finally broke through.

- I thought we would only talk at lunch. But no problem, now we can too. What do you want to talk about? Have you rethought your behavior a bit?

Marg stared at him waiting for an answer.

He sighed, wondering how exactly to answer this question. He didn't want to lie to her, but he wanted to sound like someone who at least somewhat understood his mistakes.

- I thought about it a lot... and... and yes, I have come to the conclusion that I was completely wrong about all of this... about the whole situation... I really screwed everything up...

He hoped that what he just said sounded right. He had been putting it together in his head for a long time.

She nodded, listening to what he was saying.

- We both know you screwed up. You hurt me a lot, you know? Because of you, I sleep very poorly. And I think too much. It's not my style. I feel bad about all this. I really don't understand why you treated me this way.

She didn't look at him. She got up to pour herself some water. When she did she didn't sit back down at her desk, she looked out the window and slowly drank the water. She found it hard to look at Colin.

He closed his eyes. He felt bad to see her in such a state. She looked exhausted and as if she still hadn't come to terms with what he had done to her. He felt the urge to go up to her and hug her, but he knew he wasn't allowed to do that yet until things between them were fully cleared up.

- I'm really sorry, I really messed everything up and I just... I couldn't think of the right way to handle the situation... It was all a complete failure on my part and I regret everything I said...

She still did not turn to him. She only nodded her head.

- Yes, Colin... I really thought I could trust you. You promised me so much and assured me that you would take care of me... me and the baby. However, you did not keep your word. You just gave up.

Finally she turned and looked at him, she was sad.

He looked into her eyes, although with great effort. He understood that her anger and sadness were definitely justified. He had to face it, he wasn't going to lose her now.

- You're right, I didn't fulfill what I promised you... I made so many mistakes, I said things I really shouldn't have said... really...

- Answer me one question. Why are you drunk, Colin? You're at work... if the chief could found out about this... eh you're really lucky he has a week off now - she sat down at her desk again and looked at him with a disgruntled expression.

Now she saw right through him. He could not continue to deny that he was not drunk. It was obvious that he had been drinking. He felt a little ashamed, but was prepared for the consequences of what was about to happen.

- I had a drink this morning to calm myself down. I didn't even think about it, I just felt so anxious. I did it not intentionally - he lowered his gaze to his hands.

- How did you get to work? I hope you didn't go by car and someone gave you a ride?- she sighed looking at him - I'm really worried about you. Even though I’m still angry at you. You are someone important to me.

He raised his eyes to her. It seemed to him that she was sympathetic to his current state, which in turn meant that she might be more sympathetic when it came to his drinking... no rather not... it's time to stop...

- Yes... yes, I had a ride... I couldn't go here myself... I still manage to think soberly. I’m not that stupid.

- That's good. And did you have anything for breakfast, or was the only this drink… this was your meal?

- Well... I just had that drink... - he said with slight embarrassment.

He knew how awful it must have sounded to her, but he really didn't feel like eating. He was so stressed to the point that he didn't even have an appetite.

She raised her eyebrows and sighed loudly.

- And you claim that alcohol will help you be less stressed? Don't be ridiculous. Pull yourself together, please - she rolled her eyes.

He was beginning to feel terrible. Nothing was working out for him. He was definitely acting like a fool, which made everything worse and made Marg lose hope that he would be able to fix himself. He now knew that drinking really wouldn't fix any of his underlying problems. He had to think about it more deeply.

- I know I sound ridiculous now, but I just... - he covered his face with his hands.

- If you promise me that you will stop drinking, I will think about starting to work on our relationship. If you want I can sign you up for therapy. I can go with you sometimes to support you - she looked at him hopefully - do it for our child who will come into this world soon, please.

He uncovered his face and looked at her. He liked what he had just heard. But it also meant that he would have to recover, stop doing all this self-destructive behavior and focus on improving himself.

- I promise... I promise you that I will stop drinking.

It seemed to him that he said it in a confident voice, even though he wasn't quite sure of it himself. He had to keep the promise he gave her, because otherwise he would probably destroy everything between them before he could fix anything.

- Well, I hope you are telling the truth. I will look for a good therapist for you. Now go back to your office. I have some work to do. We'll go to lunch at 1pm, okay? - she got up to open the door for him.

- I understand... I'll go... I'll stop drinking...

Nodding with understanding, he got up from his chair. And with these words he left her office, heading back to his own office.

- Have a drink of water, Colin - she called out after him before closing the door.

He smiled at these words and, without turning around, waved his hand in confirmation. He decided to do it, he had to take a little more care of himself, he had to stop self-harming.

He walked into the kitchen and went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. He opened it and took a sip. The cool drink sobered him slightly. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

- What’s up, Zabel?

He didn't have to turn around. He knew who had asked the question.

- Mare, oh it's so nice to see you - he turned around and smiled artfully.

- Yes, it is me. What did you screw up this time that you look so hopeless? - she squinted - were you at the meeting with the psychologist yesterday? I hope so... but somehow I don't notice any visible change.

Colin rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling.

- Mare... hmm... I really thank you for allowing me to go to this meeting... this lady messed with my head a bit. I don't know if she brightened anything for me. Rather... she forced me to help myself.

- And isn't that what a psychologist's job is to show you how to deal with problems yourself?

- I guess so...

- What did she say? Did she inspire you with something?

He was silent for a while, not knowing if it was worth talking about.

- She suggested that I should start writing down my thoughts in a notebook. Then I'm supposed to analyze them and draw conclusions. I don't know if anything will come of it.

- This is an interesting idea. She once told me about this method. I haven't tried this. I need to talk to her about it and ask if something like this would work for me - Mare also took water from the refrigerator.

- Do you have intrusive thoughts like me? - surprised Colin.

- Sometimes - she shrugged her shoulders - It's good that I don't "drown" into my thoughts like you do - she left the kitchen and left him alone.

He sighed loudly and went back to his office.

—————

To be continued…

@robnovetre

Promise

[mrsclearwaterss]

Paul Lahote X Emmett Cullen imprinting fic

Paul imprints on Emmett at a meeting and tries to fight it. (I’m terrible at descriptions).

Some angst, fluff

3,068 words

Paul was unable to make it to the treaty meeting after Jacobs imprint and didn't witness Seth and Leah's imprints but he was less than pleased when he saw it replayed in the shifters minds.

He likes to think he could've stopped this madness, not the imprints but at least the treaty mishap, if he was there.

The leeches claimed 3 of his friends, his family, and it pisses him off to no end. He knows he can't blame his pack mates for their imprints but he can sure as hell blame the vampires for choosing Forks, for meeting the pack, for everything that led to this moment.

Sam decided to make them come to this meeting in their human forms, something he'd argued against for hours but eventually had to give in to his Alphas decision.

Seth, Leah and Jacob seem to have warmed up to their imprints, Leah more reluctantly than the others and as much as it infuriates him, he can't exactly expect them to deny their fated mates.

This meeting is to discuss fighting techniques for future issues that both may encounter and he reluctantly follows Sam and Jacobs trucks on his bike, with Seth clinging onto him as he drives and the others riding with the Alphas.

When he finally pulls up and Seth runs towards his imprint before he fully stops, he groans at the inevitable torture.

Leah and Jacob stay put on either side of Sam but they aren't as tense as Paul in front of the vampires.

"Hello Carlisle," Sam addresses their leader who smiles and greets him back.

"I'm glad you're open to building trust with us." Sam nods,

"It'd be best for the future of both of us. You said we we're going through fight techniques?"

"Yes, Jasper is a trained general, he knows how to fight vampires, specifically newborns who would be a great threat should we ever come across them. It would be a useful tool to learn."

"Okay so let's do that." Carlisle nods and Jasper steps forward, he goes into an explanation and then a demonstration with all of the Cullens.

Paul thinks this is a pointless exercise, they know how to fight, and vampires are their natural enemies, they don't need tips.

He watches Sam go against Quil, Embry against Colin, Rosalie against Jared and Alice against Seth until Jaspers eyes land on him.

He rolls his eyes and steps forward, cracking his knuckles.

"Who am I fighting?"

"I think Emmett should be a good fit against you." He learns that Emmett is the brute when he steps forward with a shit eating grin but his eyes shift when they land on him.

Edwards eyes widen and he looks at him confused, the mind reader just shakes his head as if to tell him to wait.

He shakes it off but he feels them eyes stay on him as he goes behind a tree and shifts before coming back to face his opponent.

When he does he regrets everything. He should have skipped this meeting too, because the universe clearly hates him.

His imprint, his whole world, his sole purpose for living, is a fucking leech. That must have been the reason for the shift in the brutes eyes, he'd mated and when Paul shifted so did he.

The shifters who'd already had their matches started exclaiming their shock in his mind until Sam silenced them all.

'Oh my god! Paul, you too man?!' Jared, he didn't fucking ask for this.

'This is so good!' Seth, and he rolls his eyes because this is anything but good.

'Maybe this is a good thing,' Colin, he appreciates the effort but he wants to fucking scream at the thought of this.

'Come on Paul, he's your soulmate, there's clearly a reason for this.' Embry, yeah and the reason is that the universe has it out for him.

'I still don't get how this shit is possible,' Quil, the voice of fucking reason.

'Everyone Quiet!' Sam, now he's going to get a lecture about accepting this and not breaking both of their hearts or some shit.

'Paul-'

'I don't wanna hear it Sam.'

'I won't lecture you. Just talk to him before you do anything you'll regret.' Too late.

As soon as his imprint steps forward, he moves back and then before he knows it he's running.

He hears the pack shouting for him, and Jacob telling his imprint to, "give him time," but he doesn't dwell on any of it.

He's outside his house and he's unshifted. He thinks about it for a moment and decides he'd rather not face his parents right now, he's too out of it too make anything up.

So he does the next best thing, and climbs in through his bedroom window.

The only thing he can think to do is sleep, he doesn't want to think about what just happened and what it means.

He's fated to a leech, what a fucking nightmare.

When he wakes up his head is throbbing and he knows it's not normal but he ignores it and goes out for his usual run, pushing through the pain and ignoring the occasional tug from the new link in his mind.

Every day that goes by with him ignoring the imprint, the pain gets worse but he forces himself to push through it.

His heart feels like it's being ripped apart every time he thinks about Emmett's face when he ran away but all he can do is push it to the back of his mind and ignore it.

On day 5, Sam asks him to do patrol, he's avoided shifting for this long knowing how much worse it will get when his wolf has control. He's been pushing his wolf down for so long and it's been fighting back, pushing him towards Emmett.

When he finally shifts with Quil and lets Jared end his patrol he feel's everything tenfold. The pain from Emmett is mixed with a hunger he's never felt before and he realises his mate hasn't been feeding.

'Ffs, I need to hunt for him now.'

'Mate, you should just speak to him. Clearly it's affecting you. You can barely function.'

'I'm fine. Quil, you need to give this to him. I can't be near him.'

'You can't trust yourself with him?' Quil laughs and he gives him a deadpan look knowing how weird it looks in his wolf form.

'Alright, I'll do it.' He rolls his eyes and begins his search for prey.

He comes across a deer and slowly sneaks up on it, attacking the jugular and making sure it's dead before dropping it in front of Quil who grabs it and runs towards the Cullens house.

He watches through the pack mind as Quil comes to a stop in front of the mansion and a confused Carlisle opens the door.

"Quil, right?" He nods and Carlisle smiles still confused before Edward joins him and reads his mind.

"Paul knows Emmett hasn't been feeding, he sent Quil to give him the deer. He hunted it himself."

Emmett steps onto his balcony as soon as he hears his mates name and jumps down in front of the wolf who drops the food in front of the vampire.

"Thank you." They all know it's aimed at Paul and he practically swoons at the small smile sent his way.

'You're already sappy for him bro.' Quil laughs.

'Shut the fuck up.' He watches Edward laugh a bit at the conversation and tells him to fuck off too.

Quil nods at them all before leaving and making his way back.

Slowly the hunger Paul could feel through the link dissipates and the pain that has been lingering for days also dulls slightly.

He repeats Emmett's smile in his head through his whole patrol and Quil practically runs home when they're done, glad to be done with his pining.

'Just talk to him man,' he hears before the pack mind is empty. He rolls his eyes and unshifts himself to go back to his usual routine, sleep, eat, and then sleep some more.

Sleep is the only thing that dissipates the pain, heartbreak and throbbing head alike.

But at the 2 week mark his mind is playing with him, his days consist of staying in bed, his parents and the pack forcing him to eat, he can't shake the squeezing of his heart and the feeling that his very being and soul is hurting, his dreamless nights have turned into a nightmare.

Emmett being chased by some random vampire, she's right on his tale until she starts jumping through trees in the preserve and then finally lands on him and rips his head off.

He wakes up screaming and sweating when it happens. Sam comes running in with the rest of the pack in tow, they were discussing what to do about Paul's imprint when they heard his cries.

"Paul! Paul, what's happened. Calm down, tell me what happened."

"Em-Emmett. He died- ahhhh." He thrashes and screams at the pain that fills his whole body now, his heart is breaking, the guilt of not being there, of not saving him is overwhelming.

He hears muffled talking and shouts until Jacob and Leah are in front of him, "Paul, he's okay. He's alive. We just saw him."

He looks up at them, trying to find out if there's any truth in their words, and he finally feels the link in his mind still exists. His heart rate picks up in relief and he lets out a sob.

"Paul, please. It's killing you. Just go see him." Sam begs and he looks at the alpha.

"He's not doing well either." Seth starts, the look Jacob and Leah share with him doesn't go unnoticed.

"He's been begging us not to tell you, to let you figure it out on your own. But you haven't shifted, so you haven't seen it. When you told Quil to give him that deer because you felt the hunger when you shifted. It's the last thing he let himself eat because you got it."

"He's been getting worse, like he's punishing himself for not being good enough for you. He won't leave his room, he shouldn't get sick but he looks paler every time we see him, like he's disappearing before our eyes." Jacob adds and he reels in anger, shock, and guilt.

He knew ignoring his imprint would hurt him, he didn't know that mates worked the same way, he thought Emmett would be okay without him. Albeit hurt but okay nonetheless.

"What the fuck?! Why hasn't he been feeding? Why does he think he's not fucking good enough?!" Before the pack can say anything else he storms out and shifts.

He pauses when it hits him, agony. He feels like he hasn't eaten in months, the link between them that's stronger when shifted is weak, he can barely feel him.

His wolf cries out and he runs as fast as he can towards the Cullen house.

When voices pop into his head one by one he ignores them and pushes through, finally reaching the mansion.

He shifts back, pulling his shorts on and speeding to the front door, where Alice opens it with a sympathetic smile.

He doesn't deserve that, he's pissed at himself more than anything. He could take the pain, but how dare he cause his mate the same fate.

"Where is he?" She points to the stairs and he rushes past her, the rest of the Cullens scattered across the living and the pack piling into the house behind him.

"It's the second room on the left," she says to him as he goes and he mutters a small thanks as he runs up.

He barges into the room, and the sight he's met with makes him want to throw up.

Emmett quickly stands from his bed and smiles softly, "Paul." He looks so pale, even for a vampire this doesn't seem natural, his eyes are bloodshot, there'd be tear tracks down his cheeks if he could cry.

Paul rushes forward and shoves him into the wall next to the balcony,

"Why haven't you been feeding?!" Emmett looks confused and shakes his head,

"How could I? I don't deserve to feed. I'm a leech remember, you could never love me." Paul reels in shock, his grip loosens and he feels a lump in the back of his throat.

"You- you're."

"Im sorry you had to come here Paul. You can leave if you want." He knows neither of them want that. He can see in Emmett's eyes that he's hurting at even the idea.

He doesn't know what to say so he does the next best thing, he holds out his arm. Emmett looks even more confused now, eyebrows knitted together, it's kind of cute.

He shakes the thought out of his head, right now he needs to help his mate, and his blood should bring back his strength faster than anything else.

"Eat." He demands and Emmett's eyes widen. "I- I can't. I haven't fed, I don't think I could stop myself."

"I'm willing to take that risk... and.. I trust you." Emmett shakes his head,

"I'll hurt you. I can't."

"Emmett, you're weak, this is the only way to bring your strength back. I'm your mate, I know you won't hurt me."

Emmett looks at him, his eyes conflicted and he brings his arm too his own mouth, using his sharp wolf teeth to penetrate the skin, hissing a bit, before pushing his arm closer to Emmett's mouth,

"Eat." He says again and finally he gives in, gently holding his arm and bringing it to his mouth. He hesitates for a second before licking the dripping blood and then allowing himself to continue.

It doesn't hurt the way Paul thought it would, it's like the more his mate drinks, the more satisfied he feels. When Emmett finally feels the liquid he worries for a second that he won't stop. It's better than anything he's ever tasted, and he knows it's because it's Paul. But he also knows he could never hurt him and allows himself to enjoy it for a moment.

Paul feels weak, not from his blood being drained but from the feeling of giving his mate strength. It's overwhelmingly good.

He rests his head on Emmett's shoulder and feels the vampire pause, "it's okay, keep going." He says it in the softest tone and he doesn't think he's ever heard himself use that tone with anyone.

When Paul actually starts to feel lightheaded he lets Emmett keep going for a few seconds before he stops him.

"Emmett.. that's enough." He thinks the vampire can't hear him for a second but then he feels the fangs retract and Emmett licks the wound to clean it up.

When they look at each other they realise what just happened, Paul can't help the blush that spreads across his cheeks. He'd ignored it for so long and when he finally gave in it was so intimate that it was overwhelming.

"I'm sorry I caused you pain," he whispers and Emmett just smiles at him,

"You don't understand how long I've wanted this."

"I think I do." Paul can't help but steal a look at his imprints lips before looking back into his eyes.

"You're the most stubborn man I've ever met you know." Emmett says. He laughs a bit and nods.

They're so close that their breaths are mingled and Paul can't help it anymore, he leans in and closes the gap, catching Emmett's gasp and deepening the kiss.

When they pull away so Paul can catch his breath their lips are bruised and Emmett is beaming at him.

Paul feels even more lightheaded after that and stumbles the tiniest bit, but Emmett catches on and helps steady him, moving them towards the bed.

"Did I go too far," he panics and Paul shakes his head, "no, I'm fine. It's fine." He whispers softly.

"Do you want to sleep?" The thought of climbing into his imprints bed and being surrounded by that smell is so tempting. He nods and moves to get under the covers.

When Emmett sits on the chair next to the bed he looks at him confused and the vampire looks back with a similar look.

"Why are you over there?" The vampire grins cheekily, "you want me to lay with you?"

The growing smirk makes him blush and he rolls his eyes indignantly, shaking his head.

"Nah, I'll just sleep on my own." He turns to his side and hears a laugh that makes his heart race.

"Paul?" He ignores it, "pauul," and he shakes his head.

It's silent for a second but then he hears ruffling and their's a breath on his neck, "Alright, I'll lay here with you." The hairs on his neck rise and he turns around quickly. His breath hitches at how close they are again.

"I didn't think you'd want me too." Emmett tells him honestly.

"I just let you drink my blood. I think sharing a bed is a small step compared to that." He whispers back and Emmett laughs a bit.

"That was a hell of a way to start wasn't it?" And Paul just nods in agreement, closing his eyes.

"Does this mean you've accepted me?" Emmett asks after a few moments of silence. Paul peeks an eye open to see if he's being serious and when he realises he is he looks at him incredulously.

"Okay, okay. You have. I was just making sure you won't leave again." Paul feels a pang of guilt hit him again when he realises how much he's hurt his imprint and shakes his head.

"I'm sorry. I should have come sooner." He whispers and Emmett smiles softly, "I understand." Paul shakes his head, "no, I won't ever forgive myself for putting you through that." Emmett rolls his eyes now, "you put yourself through it too. You're just stubborn." Before Paul can speak, Emmett kisses him softly.

"Sleep," Emmett tells him when they pull away and he sighs but obliges, closing his eyes and falling asleep comfortably for the first time in weeks.

[cruelsummer-thesingle]

I posted 603 times in 2022

That's 579 more posts than 2021!

85 posts created (14%)

518 posts reblogged (86%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cruelsummer-thesingle

@he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle

@eyeldritch

@funnytwittertweets

@casmick-consequences

I tagged 113 of my posts in 2022

#taylor swift - 37 posts

#taylorswift - 31 posts

#taylornation - 29 posts

#midnights - 26 posts

#folklore - 15 posts

#karma - 14 posts

#swifties - 13 posts

#bisexual - 11 posts

#karma is real - 11 posts

#what we do in the shadows - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 92 characters

#you act as if the fibre is silk and suddenly your poop is a shawl worn by kings and emperors

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Not enough The Great War recognition:

Sorry, a song about your mental illness possibly toppling your entire relationship but they held on even through your worst moments- THIS doesn't get enough recognition??????

WAKE UP PEOPLE

85 notes - Posted October 21, 2022

#4

SHUTTUP Nandor leaving the celebration MID DANCE to a quiet corner where he IMMEDIATELY rescues Guillermo from Tween Colin Robinson

159 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#3

Nadja and Laszlo serving bi-bi poly couple realness is so sexy of the writers

167 notes - Posted August 11, 2022

#2

Not to be emotional on main but i kinda WANT wholesome, slice of life like, wlw/nblw mainstream stuff. Like I know there's wlw stuff like first kill or everything sucks or killing Eve but I'm touch starved and my favourite tag on ao3 is fluff so where's me heartstopper wlw version???? Can I atleast get a season with Tara and Darcy in the lead??? I want to know I can feel love like that too

436 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Started watching The Sandman series this morning and these are my thoughts:

LOVE HOW EVERYONE/THING IS QUEER. Exorcist- bisexual( no because Jenna Coleman is responsible for my bisexual awakening and this just feel full circle), the nightmare with mouth eyes is queer, all the side characters are queer (except for the token str8s) .

THAT A CHARACTER'S QUEERNESS ISNT THEIR STORYLINE:

Alex being gay but his story arc is more about his daddy issues and his own folly for not being able to TRUST Morpheus

Johanna is bisexual but her story arc is she's a exorcist with commitment issues and leading a life led with regrets and the feeling she's never enough

Death and Dream using they/them pronouns for Desire casually and NOT ONCE is it ever like "omg so proud of them for coming out" . Yes they're being beyond gender and all that sure, whatever but BRO

The fact that the Endless don't have a "supernatural family's theme for fashion and behaviour" so you have Death being all 🥰😺💛☀️🌸 but Dream being all 🖤💀😠👿🔪 when you would think they'd be the opposite

Death being so beautiful. Death woos us all despite our wishes and our lives so it seems like a metaphor??? (idk how to put it) that we're convinced to go do strange things just by a friendly and pretty face

Hob Gadling's absolute zest for life. I keep thinking about all the times I have fully hated my existence and just existing and wishing to go back to romanticising life and the mundane. I think about how it feels like these days the world's going to go up in flames and it's all my fault and just being cynical about everything. I hate that cynicism is imposed upon us so often. So seeing Hob and his enjoyment of life LAUGHING in the face of Cynicism('s Lord) and then Morpheus Ruler of Never Smiling ,Goth Lord 🔪👿 LITERALLY SMILING when he meets him

Me being unable to decipher which posts are about the sandman and which are about mcyt

Anyway, I'm only in ep6 can't wait to binge the series and binge the books

487 notes - Posted August 6, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[americxn]

heeeyyy ive been thinking abt colin a lot and wondered like how it would be to have make up sex with him? After they had a huge fight then they have angry sex and then (still rough and hot) make up sex in the morning?

Im not sure if theres a difference between angry or make up sex but yeah

Hot Tempered (Colin Zabel x fem!Reader)

wordcount: 5.1k warnings: NSFW, penetration, giving and receiving oral, swearing, verbal arguing and a little bit of physical conflict

Yours nails scraped harshly on the surface of your kitchen table as you snatched up your phone, Colin’s face frozen in an irritated frown as you glanced back at him. His chair scuffed against the hard wood of the floor as you spun on your heel, heading for the door and the stairs beyond. “Y/n.” Colin’s voice was rough as he called after you, his long strides closing the distance between you as he reached out for your arm. “No, Colin.” You spat, whirling on him and wrenching your arm from his grasp. “I’m done talking about it, just fuck off.” His face fell, all of his agitation dropping from his features at the ferocity with which you cursed at him.  Your anger doused any guilt that should have swarmed you as the creases of annoyance on his face instantly smoothed over, his arm falling limp at his side. “Sleep down here.” You ordered firmly, turning once more and making your way to the stairs; your footfalls were heavier than intended. Shoving the door to your shared bedroom open with a shoulder, you flopped face first on the bed, gripping your pillow and smothering your face into it. Tears of hot frustration leaked from your eyes, dampening the fabric beneath your face as you clutched onto it, replaying the screaming match that had just occurred between you and your fiancé. It was undoubtedly the worst argument that the two of you had ever had.

From below, you heard the front door opening, closing harshly a second later.  You lay on the bed for several long minutes, the pillow clutched to your face staunching the flow of your tears. Only when your phone buzzed beside your head did you lift your face out of the confines of the pillow, the sudden light burning your teary eyes as you glanced at the screen as it lit up with Colin’s name. 

I won’t come to you until you’re ready to talk. Message me whenever that is.

You chucked the phone to the bottom of the bed with a soft sign, rolling onto your back and rubbing your hands over your face. Why did he insist on always being so patient? For whatever reason, his generous offering of space refuelled your anger, anger that was perhaps directed at yourself this time. Another hot tear squeezed its way out of your eye, rolling down the side of your face and disappearing into the hair at your ear. Swiping the wet trail away, you pushed yourself off the bed, storming for the bathroom and wrenching the faucet of the shower, causing scolding water to pour. You didn’t allow the water to cool, shucking off your clothes and stepping under the steaming torrents; it hit your skin in fiery relief, leeching some of the anger from your body and carrying it up into the space of the bathroom as steam, condensing and dripping in cool droplets off the mirrors and windows. You emerged from the shower half an hour later, the adrenaline of your argument having worn off entirely, a heaviness settling over your body in its place.  Your clothes remained in a heap in the centre of the bathroom floor, the fabric dampened slightly by the clouds of heat from the shower.  Sleep tugged at your eyes and you glanced at the alarm clock on your bedside table: 23:17. You obeyed the heaviness of your eyelids, allowing it to steer you towards the bed, flopping down onto its softness once more, the sheets cool against your warm skin, a comforting embrace in the place of Colins.

When Colin returned home, creeping warily up the stairs and softly pushing open the door to your shared room, it was almost two in the morning. He had gone to the office, taken his spare keys and lounged at his desk for hours that seemed to stretch away into eternity. His anger at you and your unforgivingness had long since softened, dripping away into pools of regret and willingness to compromise; he couldn’t even recall who had started the argument and what is was about.  But looking at you now, your naked body stretched out atop the covers, your torso expanding with each laboured breath you took, any thought of the argument slipped from his mind’s grasp.  Tugging off his coat, he hung it on the back of the door, reluctant to take his eyes off your sleeping frame for too long, your arms grappled around your pillow, your body softly curving across the bed. On tiptoe, he approached you, sitting gently on the bed beside your waist. Your eyes were closed lightly, your lashes fluttering slightly in sleep and your mouth cracked open in a soft part. He exhaled through his nose, rubbing his hand on the thigh of his jeans to ensure that his palm was somewhat warm before placing it tentatively on your waist. When you didn’t stir, your laboured breaths unfaltering, he began to move his hand down to your hip and up to your rib, trailing his fingertips along your sleep warmed skin tenderly. When you finally stirred, a small noise cracking out from the back of your nose and your legs shifting, you forced open one eye to see Colin surveying you carefully. You pulled open your other eye, blinking at him in an attempt to clear your sleep fogged vision; his lips tugged upwards in a small, surrendering smile. You let your eyes fall shut once more, sighing through your nose before shifting onto your back. Colin’s eyes dipped once, taking a thirsty scan of your exposed body before going back to your sleepy face, his smile widening when you held out your arms to him. He accepted, shuffling forwards before folding over you in an embrace, smiling into your bare chest as you folded your arms around his shoulders. You savoured the feeling of his hair brushing softly against your collarbone, sighing into his weight and allowing your eyes to drift shut once more. Colin’s head shifted, his cheek coming to rest on your chest; your skin was warm and soft beneath him. He allowed more of his weight to spread over you, your hips pressing into his as he flattened himself fully onto you. You cracked open one eye as he fell still once more, his breath coming out hot on your skin. You were glad he didn’t say anything, content to bask in his presence and indulge in his warm weight on top of you. The room fell into silence once more, sleep crawling back into your reach. You grasped for it, your arms slackening in their hold around Colin’s shoulders. The shift of his head against your skin pulled you away from the desired slumber once more, Colin turning to press a kiss to the space just above the valley of your breasts, his lips warm as they brushed against your skin. You stayed motionless, hoping that he would think you were asleep and let you be. But of course, he wouldn’t let that happen. He repeated the simple action of pressing a kiss to your skin, this time with more persistence. He lifted his head to regard you when you remained immobile, a small frown painting his forehead with creases. “Y/n?” You opened your eyes as he addressed you directly, glancing down at him. “Yes?” You muttered, your bad mood threatening to take over once more with his persistence. You just wanted to sleep. “Are we going to talk about it or...?” “Honestly, Colin. I would rather not.” You responded flatly, shutting him down. He pushed himself off you at you short reply, sitting back and running his fingers through his hair. “Well I want to talk about.” He pushed, his voice gaining a shade more strength. You surveyed him blankly before rolling onto your side, turning away from him and bringing your legs up to your chest, allowing your eyes to shut once more. “Y/n. Are you serious? I left the house for god knows how long; I’ve given you space. Talk to me.” “I don’t want to talk about it.” You uttered, voice muffled by the pillow you had buried your face in. “Well I do, goddamnit.” He spat, his prior agitation returning in hot waves as you continued to dismiss him. Led by his fresh anger, he reached out, taking ahold of your forearm and pulling harshly, forcing your body to twist in his direction.  Your eyes filled with furious surprise as he made you turn to him, recovering a second later and ripping your arm from his grasp. “Fuck this, Colin.” You spat, sitting up and scooting to the edge of the bed. Your feet brushed the floor as you made to push yourself to standing but Colin was too quick, a potent wave of utterly irritated disbelief filling him; wrapping his arms around your torso, Colin threw you back onto the bed, the sheets soft against your skin as you landed, Colin moving to kneel by your chest. Your glowered at him, pushing yourself onto your elbows. Colin’s face intercepted your path, appearing before you, an angry hue staining his cheeks. “Why are you being like this?” He demanded gruffly, your noses close to touch him. “I’ve told you that I don’t want to talk about it.” You ground back, standing your ground, refusing to balk from his mounting fury. “So what? We’re just going to pretend that it didn’t happen?” He challenged, his dark eyes boring into yours intensely. It wasn’t often that Colin presented this side of him to you, the side that had drawn so many confessions from suspects in his line of work. “Yes. Yes we are -” “No, we’re not.” He cut you off, his nose brushing yours slightly as he leaned in even closer, his upper lip curling into an enraged snarl. “You don’t get to just tell me to fuck off and then refuse to speak to me about it.”  You fell silent at his words, realisation of how unreasonable you were being washing over you. But you could’t back down now, your pride wouldn’t allow it. “I can do what I -” Colin’s lips crashed onto yours, your noses fully pressing against each other as he closed the small distance between your faces, stealing your next words as he cut you off once more. A small squeak of surprise emanated from the back of your throat as Colin, instead of pulling away to continue round two of the argument, titled his head to deepen the kiss, running his tongue along your lower lip once in warning before flooding eagerly into your mouth. The kiss was demanding and punishing, roving thoroughly around your mouth, your tongue struggling to keep up with his as he ran is across your own, making strokes across the roof of your mouth with the tip, drawing shudders from your naked body. He leaned in more, his hands finding your shoulders and running down your spine, meeting at the small of your back and lowering you fully to the bed. His hands trailed to your hips as he lifted a leg, shifting to straddle you. You were torn between shoving him off and gripping onto the front of his shirt to pull him closer. Settling on the latter, you reached for the soft fabric, your fingers grappling into the material and tugging, forcing his lips to form a tighter seal around your own. He groaned at your roughness, one of his hands moving slowly up from your hip, across the plane of your ribs and around the curve of your breast to your throat. He pressed his thumb into the hollow of your neck, sighing at the pulse he found fluttering there as you lifted up your hips slightly beneath him, silently screaming your mounting need at him. His thumb remained at the base of your throat as his tongue made another thorough sweep of your mouth, your hands releasing the front of his shirt, only to attach to the buttons holding it closed, fumbling with them in your feverish need to have his bare skin against yours.  Colin’s annoyance was only mounting with your drawn out kissing, your fingers stumbling in their hurry to free him of his shirt. He pulled away suddenly, your head lifting off the pillow of its accord, trying to follow his lips. Sitting back on your hips, Colin’s face was flushed with a rosy hue as he ripped apart the last of the buttons that you hadn’t been able to undo, both of your uneven breathing filling the room as you lay beneath him, reigning in your impatience and watching as he started on his pants. The clacking of his belt as it was pulled it undone drew a quiet groan of anticipation from the back of your throat, the subsequent sound of Colin’s zipper drowning out the weak noise. He fell back down onto you, one of his hands spearing into the pillow next to your head, the other reaching down to wrench his pants down his legs, taking his underwear with them. His hand fell onto your upper thigh, his eyes flicking to bore into yours as his made a tantalizing trail with his fingertips up the inside of your thigh to your aching core, allowing his nails to dig into your soft skin ever so slightly.  You let out an unsteady exhale as he drew a line straight through your awaiting cunt with a single finger, letting out a stunted groan of approval at the wetness he found there. You braced yourself for his engorged cock as you lay still beneath him, staring up at him as he made another exploratory sweep of his finger through your folds, your juices gleaming on his fingertip when he pulled his hand away. You opened your mouth, readying to scold him for suddenly taking so long when he sat back, providing you with the view of his swollen cock curving towards his stomach, its head purple and weeping creamy precum.  You arched your back slightly in a gesture of indignation, pushing your tits up in the hopes of luring him back down on top of him. Instead, much to your annoyance, he pushed himself to his knees. You could’ve drooled at the sight of his cock bouncing slightly with the movement, your hands coming to cup your own tits as your tongue made a sweep along your lower lip. Colin, who had taken a second to admire your body below his, the goosebumps smattered across your skin, your hair fanned out across the pillow beneath your head and your eyes, lustfully dark and still half-lidded with sleep, reached down, taking your waist in his hands and pulling you up, twisting your torso. He manipulated your body, forcing you face down on the bed. You immediately lifted your hips up, waving you ass in a beckoning gesture as Colin settled back over you, aligning himself with your entrance, his tip pushing in ever so slightly.  He paused here, causing you to hiss in impatient agitation, your arms lifting to gather the pillow beneath your head under your chin, arching your back in order to give him better access. Your face buried into the pillow with a deep, placated groan as he finally pushed himself all the way into you. Pulling out immediately, Colin sunk himself back into your cunt, taking his time to fill you thoroughly before setting about fucking you at a steady pace.   “Oh god.” You gasped when Colin began to thrust at an established pace, hard and deep, drawing out of you slowly, only to slam his fullness back into you. “Oh fuck.” The intensity with which he immediately started to fuck you made your fingers and toes tingle, your pussy being gloriously stretched open. Your moans were broken and breathless as Colin pounded furiously into you from behind, small sounds of pleasure squeezing their way through his tightly gritted teeth as he took you thoroughly. You groaned, your fingers gripping onto the pillow beneath you as he repeatedly slammed into you with such force that your body moved up the bed, the covers creasing around your body. His hands quickly looped under your thighs to pull them up, positioning you so that your ass was in the air but your chest and face remained pressed into the bed. Your the muscles in your back strained, aching slightly at the harsh angle that Colin positioned you into but the dim pain barely registered as he continued to pound into you from behind, pushing your body further and further into the mattress with each stroke. “Oh. Oh, Colin.” You groaned luxuriously, your name on his lips only fuelling him to go harder, faster, deeper. Just when you began to gasp, slightly overwhelmed by the pleasure that he was abundantly giving you, tears pricking at your eyes, Colin, with a shuddering breath, released your upper thighs and planted his hands onto the hot skin of your back, his fingertips digging into the planes of your back, his nails clawing into your skin. You squeaked his name as your pleasure began to mount, each one of his frenzied thrusts ripping a layer from the ball of ecstasy glowing in your stomach, the release hidden at the centre Colin’s goal as he pushed you further and further to climax. Your eyes rolled shut, tears of utter pleasure burning them as you bit down on the pillow, your pleasure building, building, building, Colin’s thrusts punctuated by his own rough groans of gratification as he, too, neared climax. Your body went rigid beneath Colin as your orgasm slammed into your body, sending waves of unforgiving pleasure rippling through your entire being. You almost screamed at the force of your climax, Colin muttering encouragements through gritted teeth with each forceful slam of his cock into your pussy. Your fingers fell away from the pillow you had been grasping, grappling with the sheets pooled around your writhing body instead as you gasped for air, Colin’s hand coming around to grab your chin, forcing your teeth to release their tight hold on the pillow and holding your face so that your neck was craned upwards towards the ceiling. You couldn’t seem to gain control of your eyes as they rolled back again and again, each of Colin’s thrust punctuating the aftershocks of your orgasm as you struggled to come down from your high. But he didn’t stop. And it was all you could do but keep gulping down breaths of air in time to his wild thrusting, his hands settling on your hips to pull you further onto his cock. Your fingers shook from where they clenched the bed sheets pooled around you, your legs trembling so violently that it was a miracle you didn’t collapse fully onto the bed. Your gasped moans turned into high-pitched whines, the sudden sloppiness of Colin’s thrusts as his hips snapped relentlessly into you signalling that he, too, was dangerously close to coming undone. He grunted your name and with one last punishing drive of his cock into you, he fell forwards onto your body, his teeth finding the side of your neck and clamping down as he spilled into you, rocking his hips in order to draw out his pleasure.  You were whimpering, his moans loud at your ear, muffled by the tender skin he held in his bite. He released his hold on your hot skin as the last of his seed shot into you, taking a shuddering inhale and moving his lips to press a kiss to your shoulder. You were still heaving down gasps of air when he pulled out, your head falling back onto the pillow beneath you as he released his hold on your chin, collapsing away from you and onto his side of the bed. Your back gave out, your ass bouncing slightly as it, too, fell onto the mattress. You turned onto your side, your mingled wetness coating your thighs as you moved, staring at Colin with hooded eyes. He offered you a tentative smile. You returned it, reaching out a hand and taking his, squeezing his fingers affectionately. “Fuck you.” You breathed at him, playful intent sparkling in your exhaust clouded eyes. “Yeah, fuck you too.” Colin offered in response, bringing your joined hands up to his mouth and brushing his lips across the back of your fist. “Sorry.” You added quietly, your blinks slow and heavy as you struggled to keep your eyes open, sleep beckoning you to fall into its embrace. “I’m sorry, too.” Colin agreed, reaching over to pull your body to his, peppering your face with kisses before untangling himself from your hold and standing, retrieving his shirt from the floor before pacing for the bathroom.

You were awoken the several hours later by the watery light of the morning filtering through the blinds of your bedroom, Colin’s body a warm presence behind you. His arms were twined around your abdomen with his face buried in the crook of your neck, his puffs of sleep infused breath settling onto your skin. You shifted slightly, bunching the covers up beneath your chin with a sigh of contentment and pushing your body further into Colin’s. He stirred at this, the steady rhythm of his breathing interrupted as your movement dragged him from his deep sleep. His arms tightened their looping hold around your abdomen and you turned, craning your neck to plant a kiss on the top of his head. Pulling his face from your neck, he offered you a sleepy smile, his eyes barely cracked open against the natural light infiltrating into the room. “Good morning.” You mumbled, your breath stale and voice weak from lack of use. “Morning.” He murmured back, his chin settling onto your shoulder as he gazed at you. You smiled sweetly at him, disrupting his hold on your waist to move onto your back, Colin drinking in the view of your side profile that you offered him. A dim ache glowed from between your thighs, an ache that you savoured, your eyes fluttering closed with a soft sigh as you recalled the ferocity with which he had fucked you. Your lower lip caught between your teeth at the memory, Colin’s curiosity peaked as he tracked the movement. “What are you thinking about?” He mused quietly. You turned your head to look at him, debating whether to lie or expose to him how much you enjoyed the rare appearance of his rough side the night before. “I’m thinking of you fucking me.” You shrugged, forcing a shade of feigned innocence into your tone. Colin drew in a breath, his eyes opening fully at your words. “I’ve been thinking about that too.” He admitted in agreement. You snapped your head to his, your neck stiff. “Really?” You asked. Colin nodded, the full weight of his chin settling into your shoulder as he relaxed fully into you. “Did I look pretty from behind?” You pressed quietly. Colin lifted his head to survey your full face. You settled your head further into the pillow, blinking easily up at him. “You looked very pretty from behind.” He confirmed, his morning voice rough and low, coming out almost like a purr. You reached up, running your fingertips softly down the side of his face. “I want to do it again.” You admitted, your eyes flicking from his eyes to his lips. His low chuckle of response sent sparks of arousal skittering through you, drawing some wetness to gather between your thighs. “Where are your manners?” He tutted playfully, moving swiftly to straddle you once more, the covers lifting around his shoulders as his hands found your face, cupping your cheeks in his sleep-warmed palms. “Please.” You added, allowing your gaze to become doe-eyed as you stared up at him. His lips curved into a small smile, his head cocking slightly to the side as he lowered his face to yours, catching your lips in a fleeting kiss. You melted into the kiss as his hands moved from your face, trailing lightly down your sides before settling on your hips. Disconnecting his mouth from yours, his moved his lips down to your chin, pressing several kisses from there to the hollow of your throat. You tipped your head back, exposing the column of your throat to him, gyrating your hips slightly under his weight as his allowed his lips to venture further, his kisses becoming hot and open-mouthed as his cut through the space between your breasts and to your bellybutton.  You shuddered beneath the soft brush of his warm lips, his tongue making occasional contact with your hot skin as he made a meandering track downwards, pausing every now and then to latch his teeth onto you, sucking your skin into his mouth. Your breathing became ragged as he reached your mons, kissing and nipping at the space just above your ever wetting cunt with maddening leisure. You reached down, allowing your fingers to tangle in his short hair and tugged persistently at the roots; the desired effect was achieved: Colin groaned, his breath hot on your skin, and detached his mouth from your mons, glancing up at you before repositioning his head and licking a long stripe up your aching centre. “Yes.” You groaned in blissful encouragement, the second stroke of Colin’s tongue causing wetness to pool, coaxing an aching sort of pleasure to spread across your cunt, your folds swelling in response to his ministrations. His hand settled onto your lower abdomen, holding your hips still as he buried his face into you, unleashing himself with ravenous intent on your clit. You mewled with pleasure, the sudden barrage of his tongue on your clit sending strong jolts of satisfaction through the entirety of your body. “Oh god.” You moaned, breathless as Colin continued to lap at your cunt, sucking and nipping at your clit. His fingertips nudged at your entrance and you attempted to push your hips up into them in encouragement, Colin’s low groan at your desperate efforts causing you to gasp and fall limp under him as the sound rumbled through your pussy. He pushed two fingers in, curling them instantly and expertly brushing the rough pads of his fingertips against the spot hidden within you that had your toes curling. You moaned his name, your pent up sexual need following last nights rough fucking of reluctantly proposed apology growing with each flick of his tongue and curl of his fingers. Colin’s cock twitched in response, his name falling from your lips fuelling him to push another finger inside of you, thrusting them in and out of you at a steady pace whilst his tongue worked tirelessly on your clit, each stroke, circle and carefully calculated nudge of his tongue adding fuel to the glowing bundle of pleasure forming in your lower abdomen. You tugged on his roots in needy encouragement, his generous attentiveness of your pussy both not enough and too much.  “Yes, yes, yes. Colin.” A wave of heat rolled through you as your release neared, Colins fingers quickening their pace in your pussy as his tongue maintained its steady lapping at your wetness. “Colin,” his name was a drawn out moan falling from your lips, your head turning to the side, pressing your nose into the pillow beneath you. He hummed onto you, the pace of his fingers slowing as he held them deep inside of you, twitching and curling his fingertips. Your eyes rolled at the intense sensations that his change in technique sent sparking through you; the sudden tension that settled over your body only spurred Colin on, his fingers remaining buried deep within you as his tongue worked fervently, licking you closer and closer to your release.  Your head tipped back, pleasure pooling in your loins. “I’m gonna cum.” You announced on a breathless groan. At your words, Colin groaned his approval, his fingers once again quickening their pace, curling and twisting within you. He indulged in the string of continuous moans that fell from your lips, savouring the feeling of his tongue running across your clit as he finished you off, your body bowing entirely off the bed as your grip in his hair tightened, a wave of considerable pleasure slamming into you. His name was a drawn out moan on your lips as he licked you several more times, helping you through the orgasm that had your eyes rolling and your toes curling. Your thighs clenched deliciously around his head, Colin’s own moan of satisfaction vibrating through the electrified surface of your pussy. When your body collapsed back onto the mattress, the pupils of your eyes re-emerging with a gasp, Colin gripped onto your thighs, pulling his head from your heat and gazing upon your sated body, the scent of your arousal drifting up to meet him from between your thighs. You glanced down, the sight of his swollen lips coated with your cum causing a ball of fresh need to form in your lower abdomen. You blinked slowly down at him, a satiated smile spreading across your face. He grinned up at you, moving to cover your body with his once more, your hands falling onto the pillow at either side of your head as his lips met yours, the taste of your own musk coating his lips and tongue being passed onto your own. Pulling away, he placed a loving kiss on your nose, grinning down at you. “Do you forgive me now?”  Reaching up, your brushed the short strands of dark hair away from his forehead before answering. “I forgave you as soon as your cock entered me last night.” You mused softly, his eyes gleaming with arousal as they bore into your own. “Likewise.” He agreed, lowering his face to yours once more to lay a tentative kiss to your lips. Your hands found his shoulders, your lips curling up against once another as you pushed, Colin aiding you in flipping him onto his back and allowing you to straddle his torso. Permitting your fingertips to trail down the strong planes of his stomach, you leaned in, nipping at his earlobe before whispering, “I need to make sure that you fully forgive me.” Drawing away, Colin’s eyes were alight with aroused curiosity, pulling in a sharp breath when you moved further down his body, ensuring that his clothed erection scraped against your still throbbing heat as you positioned yourself on his thighs, pulling his cock free.  Colin gazed down at you, raising his arms to tuck them under his head, your hand closing around his shaft. You ran your thumb along his slit, gathering the bead of precum that had formed there before lowering your mouth to him.

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[bridgertonbabe]

Ok but theory time: if Jack is a major character for the season and beyond, what if he is a villain of sort. Like, he is all charming and sweet and likeable heck the Featheringtons start to warm up to him. Colin for some reason dislikes him, in his gut feeling. By season 4 Jack is asking Pen for her hand and instead of Cressida, it’s Jack who blackmails Pen about her being LW. He wants to marry her cause the estate wouldn’t be fully his unless he married a Featherington.

Omg yes!!!

I can see Portia and the girls initially being frosty towards him, not knowing what he intends to do with them; whether to provide or chuck them out. He seems charming and good-natured at first but Portia is still skeptical. It's only after a whole season with them that she decides that actually he's a decent man and becomes comfortable with him. All of the Featheringtons end up liking him a great deal, as do most of the Ton, including the Bridgertons (seeing as Jack is part of the hunting party from that one promo); everyone, that is, but Colin. There's something about the man that doesn't sit right with Colin and though he shares his doubts with his brothers, they dismiss him. He even goes to Penelope and advises her to be wary of Jack but when he can't provide her with any actual reason why he doesn't like the man, even she waves off his concern.

Colin's dislike for the man continues throughout S3 and when he speaks to Penelope again (after the incident in which he states he would never marry her), he once more rears up his opinion that Jack shouldn't be trusted and this time Penelope lambastes him, demanding to know who he thinks he is to judge another man's character. He tries to quell her upset but she continues, angrily asking him why he is so self-righteous to be going around proclaiming how honourable a gentleman is or which women aren't worthy of marrying him. Colin is left shocked by her outburst and feels awful for agitating and upsetting his best friend so. When he leaves again on his travels, it's the first time they part on bad terms and the regret consumes him.

And then in S4, it's revealed at first to the audience that Colin was right to lack faith and trust in Jack. The Featherington heir has managed to catch wind that Penelope's been up to something all these years and he's spent a long time keeping a careful watch on her. Little by little and piece by piece, he finally discovers that she is in fact Lady Whistledown. One night at the gentleman's club he informs a gathered group of men that he's about to make a very prosperous marriage, which Colin hears and is puzzled by, seeing as Jack hasn't shown an attachment towards any woman and he hasn't heard of any arrangement. Colin starts to worry when he notices that the only woman Jack ever really speaks to or stands by the side of ballroom with is Penelope - and he's the only other man who ever asks her to dance. With Penelope officially "on the shelf" as a spinster, Jack proposes to her, thinking it'd be a no-brainer for a woman in want of a husband and children. He's shocked when she kindly turns him down, and then he sees her with Colin and realises she rejected him because she's in love with someone else. When he sees Colin clearly falling for her, Jack corners Penelope and blackmails her by revealing he knows of her alias. He needs to force her hand so he can access her Whistledown money for his own dwindling fortune and he's not about to let some Bridgerton swoop in and take what Jack believes is rightfully is...

[thekatebridgerton]

The Devil wears Danbury: a fashion story told in eight parts

Famously outspoken Agatha Danbury has a reputation as the best of the fashion industry, editor in chief for the best selling magazine 'The Ton' Her success is only matched by her revolving door of assistants. All who seem to mysteriously find love and quit before the year is over. But Danbury is nothing if not persistent. Every girl that passes her office must be the best if not then they are free to quit. Of course out of all her former assistants, Agatha Danbury had a special place in her cold heart for Violet's girls.

First there was Daphne, influencer turned aspiring designer who nobody believed in, yes, she took everything Danbury sent her way with a social media smile and boosted the Danbury brand with her PR magic, too bad dear Simon had to swoop in with his false dating scheme to boost his ratings and out was Daphne, inlove and quitting, off to design her first collection.

Then came Kate, a unorthodox recommendation from her sister, who happened to one of Danbury's smartest models, sure Kate was an out of options accountant on a mission to protect her sister Edwina from the dangerous modeling industry, but her help was invaluable when Anthony Bridgerton decided to be an overgrown manchild and put in a request for Danbury's retirement, saying that the formidable Agatha was too old for her job and needed to step down her throne. Well, Kate took care of that, sadly one too many months of sexually charged yelling later and out was Kate, off to marry Anthony and manage Bridgerton Industries. Danbury didn't regret swindling Anthony out of a couple of millions in her contract renewal just as much as he didn't regret stealing Kate out of her grasp.

Poaching Sophie out of Araminta's claws in a business deal was a bargain, Sophie was willing to sell her soul to the devil to get out of her stepmother's thumb and Danbury needed to put Araminta in her place, Sophie was charismatic and quite elegant, had Benedict Bridgerton not swept her off her feet, Sophie could have made a name for herself as a model. Sadly Benedict genius-Artist Bridgerton, made a nuisance of himself in Danbury's office untill "his Muse" said yes to a date and eventually Sophie accepted that she'd rather pose for her beloved painter than any famous photographer and then once again, Danbury was handed another resignation letter.

Then came Penelope, begging for the job after her best friend's brother got too close to discovering the real identity The Ton's salacious columnist, Reporter Whistledown and even then Danbury knew she'd lose Penelope soon. A suspicious Colin Bridgerton was always hard to shake off, so in an effort to help and out of pure mischief Danbury organized the Whistle Revelation contest hoping that millions of suspects would throw Colin of Penelope's scent and hopefully make him realize his blatantly obvious feelings for Penelope sooner. Of course when Colin found out the truth it cost Danbury her best gossip columnist and firing her was only logical now that Reporter Whistledown was exposed. It had nothing to do with 'The Ton' sister publication 'Traveling Coach' offering Penelope a spot as an editor, or it being Colin Bridgerton's site of employment. Danbury might like Penelope, but she wasn't that sentimental.

Francesca lasted exactly two weeks before Michael Stirling came storming into Danbury's office to take her back to Scotland. And to be honest, Danbury didn't even know why she hired Francesca, as the former CFO of Kilmartin games, Fran Bridgerton really had no business hiding out in 'The Ton' and using Danbury's reputation as a shield to escape whatever was happening between her and Stirling. Let alone take a job that was extremely under her paygrade and in a fashion magazine of all places. Agatha's temporary insanity aside, Francesca was the height of efficiency, Danbury almost fought Stirling for her. Yet once again, Agatha was forced to fire a perfectly competent (if overqualified) assistant because of a man inlove. But at least now Kilmartin games owed 'The Ton' a fashion app and a Xbox game.

Hiring Eloise as an assistant after her feminist articles got her fired from one too many newspapers was a favor to Violet. Sending her assistant to track down the reclusive celebrity landscaper and pressure him for an exclusive while Danbury treated herself to a needed vacation in Romney England felt like an easy solution. What trouble could Eloise Bridgerton ever find in the country?. Plenty apparently. One week after reaching their destination, Eloise had already gotten into a paintball war with Phillip's children, given the impression she'd been kidnapped by said man to her brothers and ended the weekend with her and Agatha covered in flour, plus a black eye. If Phillip Crane hadn't said he was some sort of pen pal of hers, Danbury would have called Violet, but as it was Eloise was much adored by the Cranes. Even if the family had a strange way of showing it, with paintball, nerf guns and flowers (too many flowers!). Either way Eloise was too energetic for the fashion industry. Her resignation was no surprise (Her wedding invitation was). And while Eloise credited Agatha for the inspiration behind her choice to start Women Voices Publishing. Danbury would rather just have a competent assistant

Lucy the only one with actual PA experience, was with Danbury the longest, almost a whole year of absolute bliss until some idiot decided hiring Gregory Bridgerton and Hermione (dimwit) Watson in the same multimillion dollar Ad campaign was a good idea. Danbury was ready to cut heads anytime Gregory botched a shoot because he couldn't stop staring at Hermione, who in turn used Lucy's connection to Danbury as a shield whenever she ruined the shoot. Not to mention that Danbury knew fully well that Gregory was using Watson as an excuse to escape his attraction to Lucy. Then of course Gregory had to pull a Bridgerton and get his head out of his arse only when Lucy was about to marry, So yes, Danbury called in a favor with Benedict and gave Lucy's fiancee a tiny push out of the closet. But she resented Gregory, she resented him so much. If he hasn't retired from modeling and gone off to work for Anthony. She would have ruined his career for making her lose Lucy.

And finally there was Hyacinth, Danbury's current assistant, Hyacinth had been with Agatha since graduating college with aspirations of one day becoming editor in chief too, the older woman could see her as a successor in 'The Ton' if only Hyacinth wasn't set on leaving Danbury after getting enough experience to make a splash in the business world then everything would be perfect. Of course, if only her grandson could use that legendary charm to make Hyacinth stay in Danbury's magazine. But while Garret has been attracted to Hyacinth since forever and is an excellent CEO for the magazine, he only has eyes for the family finances his idiot father keeps trying to bankrupt... Unless Danbury gives them both a push too.... She wants to keep Hyacinth after all.

[iamtheblondestblonde]

The Clark Kent Effect

Part One

AN: So this is meant to be the beginning of a (semi short) series, depending on how well it’s received. Feedback is therefore more than appreciated and always remember I love reading tags. Feel free to message me or send me anons as well, every interaction makes my day :) 

To all my American followers: please go vote tomorrow, I don’t even live there but I still know how important it is.

Word Count: 2.9k (short boi)

Warnings: alcohol and one swear word maybe? 

Part Two

My other writing can be found here

While your costume had seemed like a great idea two days ago you now thought differently.

Technically it was a great costume, but only because you hadn’t exactly planned on needing to step out of the club to make an angry phone call. Alas here you were, legs shaking and teeth clattering because of your stupidly short dress, this situation the last nail in the coffin that would finally pronounce your disaster with Colin dead for good. You weren’t sad about it in the least, only cold. If only you’d thought of grabbing your jacket on your way outside this wouldn’t be as bad, it was the end of October and you were in New York after all, but you’d been so angry to see his caller ID on your screen that you’d stormed out without thinking, which you now deeply regretted.

Stepping back inside was like heaven and running into a wall at the same time, if said wall was made out of hot air and the smell of sweat, hairspray and alcohol. You really shouldn’t be happy about stuffy air, but at least you weren’t shivering anymore so you were going to mark it down as a success in your books. Since the restrooms were close to your right you made a quick detour, checking if everything was still where it was supposed to be.

At least your boobs hadn’t fallen out yet and you dismissed the judgy stares in the restroom as you readjusted your cleavage and reapplied your bold red lipstick. Normally you’d stare as well, not judging but usually intrigued by women who portrayed such confidence but tonight you were one of these women and you wouldn’t let anyone else ruin it. You’d earned a good night out after finally escaping Colin’s manipulative fuckboy ways and telling him to get lost for good.

So with your chin up and your shoulders straight you stepped out of the restroom, determined to find your group of friends again so you could get drunk and finally have a good time. It took a bit longer than you’d like to admit, your heels only barely giving your tiny frame a height advantage but then you finally spotted the fluffy halo of your best friend. After making sure that it was really her – there were enough angels in this room to make any priest happy after all – you quickly made your way over to her.

Or at least you tried.

You’d only gotten a few steps in when your heel got caught in the costume of a guy dressed up as mummy – which really only consisted of his regular clothes and what you estimated to be about three rolls of toilet paper – and you stumbled. You could already see yourself in the emergency room of the closest hospital with a broken nose from crashing to the ground, blood running down your face and staining your already red dress. Perhaps you could play it off as a part of your costume but it’d still hurt and your night would definitely be over.

But none of that happened because you were saved by a very handsome Superman. He’d stood with his back to you, you’d definitely spotted his broad shoulders underneath the stretched blue fabric earlier, but he’d turned in your direction right before gravity had decided to take its toll on you. Apparently his costume was justified though, because he caught you with cat-like reflexes, wrapping his hands around your arms and pulling you back towards an upright position before anything damaging could happen.

He was a lot taller than you so the first thing you really noticed of him was his throat and perhaps you really should’ve dressed up as a vampire because you noticed that he had a very sexy throat, if that was even a thing. Your weird thoughts were interrupted by him chuckling though and your gaze quickly snapped up to meet his and you really weren’t sure if you should congratulate or scold yourself for how you’d managed to end up in his arms.

The handsome stranger was wearing glasses in true Clark Kent fashion and his hair was better than any DC artist could have dreamed of, perfectly tousled in the way that showed that he liked to run his hands through it and you’d be lying if you said that you weren’t tempted to do the same. In the dim lighting of the club you couldn’t make out the color of his eyes behind his glasses but they could honestly be yellow and he’d still be hot as fuck.

Sometime during your almost-fall your hands had ended up on his chest and you really should be embarrassed about the fact that you were practically feeling him up but somehow you couldn’t find yourself to care enough to let go. You relaxed your hands from the tight grasp they had on his shirt and instead carefully splayed them out on his chest as if you were going to push yourself off of him but not really doing so. With how you were pressed against him you could feel the heat radiating through his shirt and how firm his body was, his muscular built more and more evident with every passing second. His hands had started to wander as well, moving up from the side of your arms towards the top of your shoulders, the size of them burning itself into your mind as you just stared at each other.

If one were to ask you what day it was right this moment, you honestly wouldn’t be able to answer them despite everyone in this club dressed in Halloween costumes. Mozart himself could have returned from the dead to perform “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” with a string quartett in the middle of this dancefloor and you probably wouldn’t have noticed right now, too caught up in the eyes of this handsome stranger.

When he reached up with one of his hands to adjust the little devil’s horns on top of your head you blinked in surprise, finally snapping out of your daze.

“Oh my God I’m so sorry, I totally didn’t mean to crash into you but my heel got caught and-“, you began to ramble, your sense of common decency finally kicking in but he only laughed and since neither of you had taken a step backwards yet you could feel it rumbling through his chest.

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind having beautiful girls quite literally falling for me”, he joked and if he were any other guy you probably would’ve scoffed at his choice of words but somehow the boyish charm worked well for him and you found yourself grinning as you came up with a response.

“Mmm let’s hope this isn’t a normal occurrence for you because I’m not a fan of getting caught in traffic.” You finally found the strength to take a, very reluctant, step back, untangling yourself from his grasp and dropping your hands but still smiling up at him. He definitely had the potential to be your catch for the night. You could really use the distraction after all.

Your blissful thoughts were interrupted by someone tugging at your arm though, a look over your shoulder revealing a pouting angel dressed in white and with a bouncing halo. It seemed like Emily had found you instead after you’d gotten distracted by your hero.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over the place for you”, she whined and you could tell by her slurred words that she’d gotten quite the head start while you were outside on your phone as she was well on her way to get plastered. Otherwise she never would’ve interrupted a conversation with a hot guy either, it was an unspoken wingwoman rule after all.      

“Come on, Dana just brought a new round of shots and you need to catch up!” And with that she tightened her grip on your wrist and pulled you away. You barely managed to tell the handsome stranger to come find you later before he disappeared between the writhing bodies and was out of your sight.

Way too many shots later you found yourself on the dance floor, intoxicated and having a great time.

Your thoughts hadn’t wandered to Superman in quite a while, too consumed by alcohol and the thumping beat of the music, until you spotted him leaning against the banister of the top floor, drink in one hand and definitely watching you. Again, this would be creepy if he were anyone else but in this case it only made you appreciate the current sensual song even more, your eyes never leaving his as you moved your body to the beat. You were planning on going home with him later either way, you could tease him a little more before then, show him what he could have if he played his cards right.

He was still watching you a couple of songs later when your throat had gotten dry and your heels were starting to grow uncomfortable. In need of a break you pointed towards the bar, hoping that he’d understand and when he nodded you smiled brightly, excusing yourself from your group of friends so you could grab some water. You were done drinking for tonight, much more exciting things laying ahead of you and you wanted to be sober for them.

Water was apparently a welcome change from the regular orders the bartenders got because you were served immediately, a cool bottle set in front of you seconds later. You checked over your shoulder before taking a sip, spotting your Superman as he made his way towards you with a smile, one you returned before turning back around to climb on the stool that had just freed up so you could give your feet a well-deserved break.

When you felt a tap on your shoulder you fully expected it to be the hot guy, your most dazzling smile instantly on your lips as you turned around but it quickly fell off your face as you realized who it really was.

When you were younger you’d often imagined yourself in this moment, thought of what you’d say when you’d finally see him again after all this time apart. A small part of you had pined after him for years and fantasies of how your eyes would meet from across the room and how everything else would stop mattering had filled your daydreams once upon a time. But as you looked at him now there were no butterflies, no fireworks and you could still hear some remix of “Monster Mash” blaring over the speakers, the world was definitely still turning.

Perhaps you’d built up what had been between the two of you in your mind in the years of his absence, put him on a pedestal – he deserved to be one though because through everything he had been nothing short of a great guy – but as you looked at him you realized that all that was in the past. There was just a warm afterglow of what once was. As you looked at him now, there was absolutely no doubt that you didn’t love Anthony Beauvillier anymore.

“I wasn’t sure if it was really you, but wow Y/N you look great”, his familiar voice met your ears and it took you a second to realize that he’d slipped into French, the way the two of you had done countless times as teenagers.

You probably resembled a fish with the way you were opening and closing your mouth without saying anything but you couldn’t help yourself. Seeing Tito in this club had hit you like a fright train and you hadn’t expected it at all, which only made it worse.

Almost 20 Million people lived in New York State and over 8.3 Million in New York City alone. Brooklyn housed well over 500.000 people as well and yet you still managed to run into your ex in this club, despite the both of you growing up in Québec. If you were any good at math you would calculate the probability of this happening but you’d always sucked at it and it really wouldn’t help your situation either. You reminded yourself that you both worked here now but that was absolutely beside the point.

Before you managed to embarrass yourself even further you shook your head to clear your thoughts, smiling at the guy who had once held your heart before making the break into the NHL. He was dressed as a boy scout, with medals pinned to his shirt, the scarf thingy and everything and the costume was so incredibly him that you immediately felt catapulted back into your teenage years. It was easy to fall back into your old routine then.

“Oh yeah, do you think your Mom would still speak so highly of me if she saw me dressed as a slutty devil?”, you joked and he threw his head back in laughter, taking you even more by surprise when he threw his arms around you in a hug. It was a bit awkward with you sitting on the bar stool and all and it made you realize that he himself didn’t even feel the same anymore, his career of being a professional athlete shaping his body into a much more bulkier version of the one you were used to.

As you looked over his shoulder you caught the gaze of your Superman and your thoughts immediately returned to him. What must he be thinking of you hugging another stranger at the bar after telling him to come see you? The confusion was evident of his face, a crease between his eyebrows giving his thoughts away and you noticed how he scrunched up his nose in a very cute way so you immediately pulled back from Tito, reaching up to adjust your horns as a disguise for your sudden movement.

“So, did you finally manage to make your dreams of living and working in New York City come true?”, he asked as he took a step closer to let someone else pass by and you nodded, amazed that he still remembered after all these years. He really was one of the good guys.

“Yep, I finally made it, although it’s not as glamorous as I thought it would be. But maybe that’s only us working class people, I’m sure it’s a lot different in your line of work.” Thankfully he picked up on your teasing and wasn’t insulted, only laughing even more as he finally had the space to move next to you so he could look at the crowd as well.

“Speaking of work..”, he trailed off as he switched back to English and to your utter disbelief he waved your Superman over. Superman was reluctant to move at first, that much you could tell by looking at him, and since you watched him extra closely you were probably the only one to catch him flinching a little as Tito threw his arm around his shoulders but his confused expression was obvious as he looked between the two of you.

“Y/N, this is my teammate and best friend Mat, I’m sure you’ve heard of him. Mat, this is my ex Y/N. You’ve also heard of her.”

Of course you’d heard of Mathew Barzal, last year’s Calder winner and rising star among the NHL’s elite players but it seemed like you were a victim of the Clark Kent Effect because you hadn’t recognized him at all with the glasses on.

Now your Superman had a name but the only thing you could focus on were the words “best friend”. No matter how hot Mat was and how much you’d wanted him before, very much imagining him helping you out of your tight dress, you couldn’t do that to Tito.

Mat seemed to come to the same realization as you because he plastered what could only be described as a business smile on his face, extending his hand for you to shake. You took it, relishing in the way his warm palm felt against yours and allowing yourself to enjoy his touch one last time before letting go and smiling at him with sad eyes as you introduced yourself.

Tito stayed to order a drink, pulling Mat and you into a conversation and therefore preventing your escape and while that was already bad enough in itself, he unknowingly took your breath away when he asked Mat:

“Hey, did you ever find that hot klutz you told me about? The one that fell into your arms earlier?”

Tito had his back towards the both of you so he didn’t see the way Mat looked down at you with sad eyes as well before pulling himself together and responding:

“Yeah, but turns out she’s not available after all.”

The rest of the night passed in a blur, you’d returned to alcohol after saying goodbye to Tito and Mat and promising Tito to stay in touch, so you barely remembered climbing into an uber hours later and only really came to your senses when you chugged a water bottle in your kitchen.

“Wait, weren’t you planning on going home with that hot Superman you mentioned earlier? What happened to him?”, Emily asked from her spot on the couch, her usual spot after a night out since your apartment was closer.

“I guess he left”, you answered, not really willing to go into any details right now.

“Aw, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.”

And wasn’t that the truth.

[starhallows]

almost content with my life now, just sitting here, waiting to hear something from you. *sends hugs and sits here with puppy eyes* would you mind sharing some headcanons, queen?

HIII!

So I took forever to answer this but! I come bearing gifts! Since the ask was pretty open, and I barely get to fully explore the drama surrounding other Bridgertons in ROTB (the fic would be a thousand chapters long) I decided to give you some Ben and Colin and a surprise.

After the page break because there are some minor spoilers for chapter 6 and 7.

It got out of control... Like, they are full-on drabbles... Like I could add another couple hundred words and they would be ok to upload on AO3. Anyway, sorry because this isn’t what you asked for but I hope you enjoy it!!

🎨 Benedict 1:

Benedict Bridgerton was having an awful afternoon. Not that one would expect anything else. Not when he had had to sit down at his friend’s art studio and explain how someone had been detailing and sharing the dalliances of those who would visit Grandville’s after hours. It was done, at least. It had been mortifying and heartbreaking, but he had warned Hendry and Lucy and he could leave for the country at peace. 

Now, he would have loved it if HE had been at the studio, so Ben could... He didn’t even know ... Talk to him, or demand answers, or punch him in the face. Instead, he had left the studio behind, for the time being, having collected his sketchbooks and pilled his brush cases and paints under his right arm. 

“Sir!” He heard someone say behind him. Benedict turned around and found a petite blonde rushing after him with his case of oils in hand. He looked down at the rest of his painting supplies and found that his oils were in fact, missing. He looked up to the sky and muttered just as the blonde girl reached him, and saw his miffed expression. She raised her perfectly arched blonde eyebrow and used her lips to the right in annoyance. “You dropped it, Sir”.

“Forgive me,” he told her, taking the paints from her, “I have had a horrible day. It was never my intent to be rude to you”.

She seemed to soften at that, “Well, there is always tomorrow,” she said, and turned away with a little smile.

Benedict stood there, like an idiot, regretting that she had left without giving him her name. 

🚢 Colin 1:

Penelope had been ignoring him for almost an entire day and Colin found it entirely unacceptable. It was all Eloise’s fault, truly. She was the one to point the game out to him and she was the one who told him that Penelope was keeping secrets, so, logically, she was the one to blame. It wasn’t like he had meant to tease her. He had just flirtingly suggested that if Penelope shared her secrets with him he would share his eclair with her. 

His excuses didn’t really matter, because the fact was that Penelope had had enough of him and had decided to spend the entire day as far away from him as she possibly could. His brothers, of course, were absolutely useless to Colin, too focused on their own worlds to notice his despair at best, actively ignoring it at worst.

Despair might be too strong a word, but what was he meant to do when Penelope was too angry at him to save him from his mother? 

To add insult to injury, she had spent the day in the village and several gentlemen had come back singing her praises. Not that that was bad. Penelope deserved all the praise she got. No. The problem was that they all sounded surprised by her. Surprised! No man that was surprised by Penelope’s genius deserved to be in her presence.

So he had subtly cornered her on her way to Kate who was, in turn, conversing with Anthony, and told her what he had learned. “I heard you spent the day at the village today?”

“Colin!” she gasped.

“Mr Bagwell seemed to be especially complimentary”.

“Was he?” Penelope asked, a soft blush covering her cheeks and neck. Even worse, Penelope switched her gaze to look at Edwina Sheffield who was standing close by and smirked.

“He is a rake, Pen!” Colin hissed ignoring if his words were true or not, Miss Sheffield snorted in the most unladylike manner. “I should hope you to be wise enough to stay far away from the likes of him”.

Penelope’s jaw dropped for a second, before she scolded her features, rolled her eyes at him, and left.

Damn it all.

💜 Charlotte:

Charlotte Bridgerton was ten, and Charlotte Bridgerton was in love. She had been out riding with her brothers and her uncle Michael, when she had seen him pick some flowers for a little girl she had later found out was his sister. 

He was blond and his eyes were green and he spoke in a curious accent uncle Michael had recognised as Irish. More importantly, he was sweet, he was kind and he was only two years older than her. Charlotte twisted the harebell he had given her, and sweetly smiled at the flower, wondering if Mama would teach her how to dry it in a book.

Charlotte looked up when she heard a horrifying gasp to her left, followed by the sound of a heavy book hitting the floor. Her father stood in the hallway, his eyes focused on her flower, his forehead creased and his jaw slack. 

“KAAAAAAAATE!” he called.

“Papa?” she asked, as both her older brothers ran into the house.

“Who gave you that? KAAAAAATE!” both of her brothers tensed behind her.

“Father-” Edmund began.

“I will talk to the two of you as soon as your mother arrives to take your sister upstairs. KAAAAAAAATE!”

“For heaven’s sake Anthony!” her mother protested, “What?!”

“Mama!” Charlotte said, “He is being ridiculous!”

“I am not being ridiculous! Some heathen gave our little girl a flower!”

“He is not a heathen!” Charlotte protested at the same time her mother rolled her eyes.

“Anthony, she is ten. That is a lovely flower sweetheart, would you like me to show you how to dry it?”

“Kate! She is ten! You should not be encouraging this, who knows who that urchin was?”

“He was not an urchin Papa! Harry was very nice and sweet,” Charlotte said, creasing her forehead just like her father would. “Tell him, Edmund! Even you liked him!”

An overdramatic gasp was heard from the top of the stairs, where their youngest sister Mary had poked her head between the balusters. “But Edmund does not like anyone!” she quipped.

“He was a nice boy, Father. I questioned him thoroughly,” Edmund confirmed.

“Yes, I was also present,” Miles nodded along, “he is a very nice boy who is to be a Baron”.

“Not the largest piece of land...”

“No, but then again, Lottie is just ten...”

“Do not call me that, Miles”.

“No, she has time to look for something better...” Edmund ignored her.

“Yes, but Ireland is not so far away, some parts of it are closer to England than some places in Scotland...”

“We should check where the Baron of Arden resides...”

“WHAT?!” their father bellowed, the vein in his neck more and more visible. “NO. KATE, NO”.

“Children, go upstairs I shall speak with your father”.

The children made themselves scarce, not before hearing their father complain about how “of course the bloody Irish would come back” and “she is your daughter, Katharine!”.

[superman86to99]

Who’s Who: Sam Foswell

(art by @donsparrow)

If you’ve been watching the CW’s Superman & Lois, you’ve heard the name “Foswell” a whole lot, usually in an exasperated tone. That’s the jackass who fires several Daily Planet employees in the early episodes, including Clark Kent and, most devastatingly, Whit, the heart and soul of the Planet. In the comics, Foswell plays a very similar role, with some slight differences that probably won’t make it to TV, like when he makes out with a satanic being masquerading as an angel and then transforms into a muscular demon (someone correct me if I’m wrong and that already happened in the show but I missed it, somehow).

And so, for anyone who might be wondering “Who’s Sam Foswell?” or “Which DC Comics does Sam Foswell appear in?” or other Google-able phrases that might lead people to this page, we present the definitive comic book history of this classic Superman supporting character (”classic” meaning “he was in the comics I read as a kid in the ‘90s”).

Sam first showed up in Superman #51 (1991), soon after a storyline in which a satanic being/nightclub owner called Lady Blaze steals the souls of Jimmy Olsen and Perry White’s son, Jerry -- who is actually the biological son of Lex Luthor, but should NOT be confused with Lex Luthor II (for one thing, Jerry never slept with a gooey other-dimensional being shaped like Supergirl). Superman manages to save Jimmy and Jerry from Blaze’s hellish realm, but only one of them comes back to life. Unfortunately, it’s Jimmy. I mention all of this because, after the death of his son, Perry decides to quit being the Daily Planet’s editor-in-chief for a while and cedes that title to long-time staff member Sam Foswell, who must have worked in another floor, because we’d never seen this guy before.

It’s pretty obvious right away that Perry would have been better off leaving a janitor or something in charge. In Superman #52, Foswell asks Clark for help using Perry’s computer and seems surprised to learn that those crazy Kent and Lane kids are working on a story together (they’ve been dating for so long that they’re already engaged). In Action Comics #665, he has to beg Clark to go from freelancer to full time staff member because he’s just way in over his head. Up until now, Foswell basically seems like a clueless grandpa running a major media outlet, but he’ll soon become far less adorable...

Clark’s full time salary must be pretty good, because in Superman: The Man of Steel #1, Foswell says the Planet is suddenly having money issues and fires some people. Among them is Jimmy Olsen, who literally just signed the lease on his first apartment, so excellent timing there, Sam. But hey, at least this means Jimmy’s concern that his new editor would “bust his chops” was unjustified! (Because he has no editor, because he’s unemployed.)

(Fun fact: That other girl Foswell fires is secretly the daughter of a DC hero, as part of a storyline absolutely no one noticed, which I’ll write about another time.)

Jimmy only finds out he’s been fired in Superman #57, and he tells Foswell he’s gonna regret it. I’m not sure what Jimmy meant by that, but it probably wasn’t “I’m gonna spend several months homeless and living in my car until a drunken bar owner takes pity on me,” which is what happened. Anyway, on that same issue Foswell says he’s gonna write an editorial praising the Eradicator, who was in his “murder criminals and forcibly turn the Earth into Krypton” phase. When Clark objects, Foswell not so subtly threatens to fire him, even though he was practically kissing Clark’s ass just the other day.

Foswell goes all “Mr. Slate from The Flintstones” on Clark again on Superman #58, this time because he thinks Clark overslept, like he does every time Superman has an early morning emergency. While at it, Foswell also gives Lois crap about some expense reports, leading to an adorable sequence where Clark kisses her at super-speed while she’s being chastised, without Foswell noticing. After going around firing and antagonizing people for several months, Foswell still seems baffled to learn that no one likes him in Adventures of Superman #481. Yeah, this guy’s not the most perceptive journalist ever.

Continuing his quest to become the most hateable Daily Planet staffer ever (not surnamed “Olsen”), Foswell writes an anti-Superman editorial in Superman #59 -- he says that if Superman really cared about Metropolis, he’d take over as CEO of LexCorp and create more jobs. Ironically, Foswell treats his own employees so poorly (the ones he hasn’t fired, I mean), that in Adventures #482 a bunch of them go on strike start heckling him... not very effectively, but it’s the thought that counts.

Perry comes back to the Planet in in Action #670 and the first thing he does is call Foswell and the other higher ups a bunch of idiots for mistreating their employees. Foswell goes back to being a regular staffer after that, but he’s so unpopular that they finally kick him out in Action #677. Foswell tries to get a job at Newstime magazine (the DC Universe’s version of Newsweek and Time) in Superman #68, but the owner, Colin Thornton, basically tells him to go to Hell... which is a spoiler of where this story is going.

This is where things turn really dark for old Sam. The next time we see him, in Man of Steel #14, he’s at the cemetery visiting his wife and son (or someone else he affectionately called “Little Geoffrey,” anyway) and thinking about joining them. Even the Babadook is like “damn, poor guy”...

And sure enough, in Superman #70 Foswell actually jumps off a bridge -- only for a beautiful angel to save him and promise that his fortunes will change if he “pledges himself” to her. Later that same issue, Foswell runs into Colin Thornton again and is offered a job as Newstime’s editor on the spot. Everything’s coming up Foswell! He even gets a smooch on the mouth from that hot angel!

Unfortunately, Foswell’s new “angel” girlfriend is actually the satanic Lady Blaze in disguise. This is leads to “The Blaze/Satanus War” saga (starting in Adventures #493), in which Blaze tries to invade Metropolis by teleporting demons through Foswell, since his soul belongs to her. In Action #680, she convinces Foswell that Superman wants to kill him for firing his pal Jimmy, so Sam fully gives himself to her and becomes a big, muscular demon creature (whom this blog dubbed “FosHELL”).

In Man of Steel #15, Superman is told that the only way to prevent Metropolis from literally going to Hell is to kill Foswell. This seems like it’s setting up a big heroic sacrifice scene, which would have at least given the character a dignified end, but nah. Instead, Superman ends up teaming up with Blaze’s evil-but-less-evil-than-her brother, Lord Satanus, to defeat her.

Once Blaze is taken care of, Satanus restores Foswell to his dweeby human form in Superman #71... but only because he now owns Sam’s soul and thinks he might be useful some day. Oh yeah, and Satanus is secretly Foswell’s boss, Colin Thornton! So he owns the guy in both the earthly and the satanic realms.

I guess his new demonic master never found a use for the guy, because this storyline was the last time we ever saw Sam Foswell... until he was brought back by a TV show in 2021. And he also got new art by our own Don Sparrow!* At last, everything really IS coming up Foswell. Until the show kills him off to bring back Perry White, anyway.

*Foswell fanatics can see Don’s full artwork without that pesky logo in our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/51941393

[invisibleinorange]

Chapters: 22/? Fandom: Bridgerton Rating: M Warnings: Presumed Character Death, Violence Descriptions (In This Chapter) Relationships: Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington,  Eloise Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington(besties),  Bridgerton Family Dynamics, Simon Hastings/Daphne Bridgerton Characters: Colin Bridgerton,  Penelope Featherington, Eloise Bridgerton, Anthony Featherington,  Benedict Bridgerton,  Portia Featherington, Violet Bridgerton,  Pretty Much Everyone (at points) Additional Tags:  Bridgerton, Polin Summary:  Unexpected bad news arrives for the Bridgerton Family (and friends) regarding Colin's travels. This will be a series that is set after "The Duke and I" or season one of the show. It is a companion piece to "Goodbyes".

It was a simple affair that lacked the formality and solemnity that such a wedding might have had should it have been performed back home in London. Country weddings, especially elopements weren’t exactly known for their stark adherence to the religious doctrines.  The fact of the matter was that the men who performed such rites were hardly true clergy.

Penelope could hardly believe that this had become her life and that she was indeed marrying Colin. After everything they’d been through,  he had deemed her worthy to be his bride and the sentiment wasn’t lost on her.  She couldn’t but look back seeking the safety and approval of Anthony and Benedict as she uttered her vows though.

Hearing Colin say the words and knowing that he meant them had been everything that she’d ever wanted before he’d gone missing and when he’d come back she’d been so caught up that she’d failed to really take notice of the fact she wasn’t quite the same infatuated girl she’d been before. She had changed as a person.  She could hardly ignore the loudness of her thoughts against the quiet of his words and her own.

She certainly didn’t intend to regret this though, even if the whole thing felt a bit like an out of body experience.  She wasn’t unhappy but she had imagined that she would feel more joy flittering through her veins, excitement at spending the rest of her life with the man she’d deemed as her soul mate.  She felt something deep inside that she couldn’t quite explain though and she wasn’t quite willing to investigate.

To be perfectly honest she was terrified of what she might find if she did explore it.  She loved Colin. She always had.  God knew that she always would but a part of her couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she hadn’t made the right choice. Maybe they should have taken it slower, maybe they both needed more time to grow before they had their happy ever after if it was meant for them.  It didn’t make sense to her when it felt so right though. She’d been so sure moment ago.

The smile she’d plastered on her face through the aftermath of the ceremony felt like a cover for the sheer and utter panic she was trying to keep down.   There was something she felt deep down inside that she couldn’t quite explain, some feeling like something had to go wrong. She’d felt like that most of her life whenever something was going right. It didn’t normally take hold of her quite so strongly. She could feel it wrapping around her life a vice.

They were all to walk together to the local inn to eat and celebrate the occasion.  Her arm was held steadfast by Colin and she was trying desperately not to have him catch on to the fact she was a bit shaky.

“It’s not like you to be so quiet,” Colin finally told her after a moment. His eyes gazed over her appraisingly from the side, his grip on her all the tighter.  His normal smile was still there, never ceasing but there was concern etched in the depths of his eyes.

“I was just thinking,” Penelope told him though she didn’t choose to expand upon it.  She nodded sympathetically, patting a hand on his arm to provide some sort of reassurance that she was okay but she wasn’t sure if it was believable or not.  “Perhaps, I’m just a bit hungry.”

“Well… we’re going to fix that,”  he insisted.  Whatever skepticism he had over her words didn’t seem to last as he went back to smiling, holding conversation with Anthony as they walked.  The words sort of managed to blur together until they’d found their way to their destination.

--

There had been food and dancing.  It was definitely not the kind of thing that would have gone over as a social event in London but it was comfortable and homey. Penelope did feel full and the dancing did happen to calm her nerves and as the sky began to transition from day to twilight, she felt sure that maybe she’d simply let her mind get the best of her.

When Colin excused himself to go ensure that they had a proper to sleep on their wedding night, she’d let herself be left amongst the mix of stranger and Bridgertons.  Anthony had certainly had allowed himself to partake of the libations to the point where he was a bit sloppy.  She couldn’t help but feel a bit like she was intruding on a bachelor’s night with the way he was carrying on with a random woman.

Benedict for his part was keeping a respectful distance though every so often she would feel his eye on her and know he was more concerned with her safety than finding someone to spend the evening with.  She was grateful for it honestly.

“You can actually converse with me, you know?” she told him, decisively moving so that she could sit across from him at a table.  “You don’t have to go back to ignoring me.”

The fact he couldn’t quite meet her eye told her that it might have actually been his plan.  He forced his gaze up after a minute though.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” he lied.

She knew he was lying and she fully intended to call him out on it. She would have if she didn’t hear a crack of the door that pulled both of their focuses away.

A tall, broad shouldered man came barreling into the room.  There was something about the presence of him that commanded everyone’s attention.

“Clara?” he bellowed.

The woman that Anthony had been carrying on with pulled away from Anthony and seemed to practically disappear into the wood of the floors. She paled and it became quite clear who Clara was.

The man’s next actions were to move toward her and raise his fist to strike.  Anthony, for his part, attempted to stop it. His drinking had made him unsteady and he took the punch himself.  Like any man of honor, he decided it appropriate to strike back.

Goosebumps formed on Penelope’s skin as she watched in absolute horror at what was taking place, the world slipping away. Before she could try and stop Benedict, he was up moving to try and get the giant away from his brother.

Anthony was most definitely losing. It wasn’t an even or fair fight by any stretch and he was going to be bloodied and bruised come the next day.  Benedict simply wanted to stop it from being worse than all of that.

What she didn’t realize was the man was reaching for a knife and neither did Benedict until he was in the process of trying to get in the middle of them.  The whole thing happened so abruptly that there was little she could do to stop the blood curling screams that escaped her as Benedict’s eyes widened and he crumpled to the floor.

The man clearly realized his mistake as soon as it happened, taking off running just as he’d came leaving a bloody mess in his wake.  The woman who’d caused it all taking one look at everything before following after.

Penelope didn’t think, didn’t breath as she moved to try and see the extent of the damage.  Anthony was trying his best to get up and be helpful but he was in no condition to go get a doctor when he needed one himself.

His voice broke as she demanded someone go find a doctor before crumpling to her own knees, accessing the wound.  She ripped the fabric from her dress, trying to use it to compress the bleeding at his abdomen as if it might be enough to hold him until a physician could arrive.

“Hold on,” she demanded.

Benedict was still awake. His eyes were open and he was breathing.  Those were all things to be hopeful for. He opened his mouth to speak a few times but the words seemed to be a struggle for him, the fact he wasn’t speaking only alarmed her all the more.

His hand moved to rest on top of her own, becoming increasingly caked in his blood.  He didn’t have to utter the words for her to know what he was trying to say.  She knew that he wasn’t going to make it but it wasn’t something that she could stand for. She wasn’t sure if she could live with herself if that was the outcome of this.

“Please don’t,” she begged.

Word had apparently gotten back to Colin about there being a problem. She didn’t hear his footsteps but she did know when she heard his horrified voice and saw him there kneeling beside her.

There was so much blood, it wasn’t completely clear who was hurt now.

“Are you hurt?” Colin asked her.

“No, Ben – he was trying to protect Anthony,” she couldn’t even finish the words.  Colin tried to take over her task of holding the wound, trying to order her away with his hands.

“I have this,” he tried to tell her.

She didn’t move.

“I’m not leaving him,” she uttered. She was near hysterical anyways. She couldn’t unseen what she’d seen.  She’d never be able to get the imagery out of her head.

“Pen, you shouldn’t have to -  I’ll stay with him,”  Colin insisted, trying to keep a calm exterior but he was far from it.  The little cracks in the normally calm exterior were on full-display.

“No,” Benedict uttered, giving Colin a look that made him relent and completely give up on any ideas he might have had about sending Penelope away from the carnage.  The damage was already done.

--

By the time they’d actually managed to get a physician there,  Benedict was already beginning to fade.  He was going in and out of consciousness. Every time that he went there, it began to feel as though he might not come back.

Anthony had begun to sober up thanks to water and the horror around him.  If it was possible, he looked worse than Benedict. The guilt was clear on his face. He blamed himself for the whole damn thing.

“Not your fault,” Benedict had told him a few moments of alertness. “I’ve always had your back in a fight.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Anthony told him solidly as the physician attempted to examine the wound. The grim look on his face made it clear that Benedict wasn’t going to be okay.

“The wound penetrated the spleen,” the physician informed them,  cleaning the wound with liquor which caused Benedict to writhe in pain.  He was paler than usually the shirt that he’d been wearing long discarded to be used to help try and stop the bleeding.

Penelope had read enough books that she knew that the odds weren’t in favor of anything being able to be done here except provide comfort, drown out the suffering until the brutal end.   There was a choice to be made here. They could either selfishly keep him alert or allow the physician to allow him to sleep until the end.

One look at his face and she knew the path he wanted.

“We need to get him to a bed,” she uttered. Colin and Anthony could get it done, especially with a little assistance.  Benedict deserved a little dignity and not the floor of this place.

There was no argument from the two of them either, especially as they moved to help with Anthony taking the feet and Colin taking the torso. There was a room with a bed not far off from there so they made their way, physician in tow.

When they managed to get him there, she moved to help remove his boots and socks. She was trembling but there was a mission to be had here.  She’d spent most of the last year grieving in one way or another and she would spend more of it doing the same but for now she needed to keep it together.

“Help him with the rest of his clothes,” she ordered to her new husband, turning away to provide him a little modesty.

Colin did precisely as instructed, Anthony fetching extra blankets to keep their brother warm.   They were far too shell-shocked to offer much argument over what they should be doing.

When she turned around, the physician was mixing some ingredients in a mortar and then pouring it into a drink.

Benedict’s eyes were closed but the shift in the sound of her dress, made him open them again. He nodded through the pain, offering her a silent thank you for taking control of this.

“I want you all to leave me,” he said resolutely after a long moment.  It was the strongest his voice had been since this whole nightmare had began.  “He will let you know when it’s over.”

“I will not,” Penelope said firmly.

“We will not,” Colin chimed in.

“You will. You can’t deny a man’s last request,” he said trying to offer a weak smile.  The wince made it clear it was a struggle for him.  “Take her away from this.”

Colin and Anthony exchanged looks.  As men, they had no choice but to honor the request.

Penelope wasn’t going to go as easily.

“Your last request is denied,” she told him firmly.

“I’m going to miss that fire,” he murmured after the doctor gave him the concoction.  It was already starting to make him feel drowsy. Whatever words he had left would be slurred. His gaze moved between his brothers and then Penelope again. “I’ve loved you all.  Take care of each other and… the others. Go.”

Bridgeton men were not above overly sentimental moments but Anthony touched a hand to his shoulder and nodded as if to silently say he loved him too.  He then turned heel and left, following direction.

Colin followed suit, attempting to grab Penelope by hand at first but when she refused, he picked her up and outright carried her while she kicked and screamed to be allowed back down.  He didn’t put her down until they were all outside to where they could get fresh air.

While the men handled this with stoicism, she absolutely fell apart.  She crumbled into Colin’s arms, crying and screaming until her voice was gone.  She had known something bad was going to happen and now it had.

[thewritingsofamadwomen]

I Hope You Don’t Mind

                            Chapter Two : I don’t know about you

Mia woke to the dark room around her, her hand fumbling around the nightstand trying to find her phone. After getting off the phone with Callie she showered and then went to bed for the night. At least she tried to go to sleep, ending up tossing and turning for hours, her stomach in nerves at the fact she agreed to go on a date with Paul. A guy, a very attractive guy at that, who seemed fully into her after talking for a total of maybe five minutes. It didn't happen in real life just movies and yet this is exactly how she wanted it to happen. She wanted nothing more then the fairytale life. Who says she couldn't get that with Paul, if she did end up liking him that is.

Sighing Mia opened her eyes squinting as the brightness of her phone screen blinded her, her phone reading one o clock in the afternoon. Mia decided it was best to get out of bed and gain the courage to actually call Paul and make some plans for today. Pushing the blankets away, Mia scrolled through her contacts looking for "Love of your Life" a smile spreading across her face at the name and rang him.

After the third ring a groggy voice picked up, guilty feeling she probably woke him up and now the last thing he would want was to go out with someone so rude. She stopped herself from overthinking, there was no possible way that she could of known that he was sleeping and he did tell her to call him today. Standing up Mia started to pace around the room waiting for him to answer.

"Hey, It's um Mia. From the beach yesterday?" She said questionably, unsure how to even start this conversation with a stranger.

"Oh hey. Sorry it was a late night. How's your day going so far?" Paul said on the other end, his voice sounding actually excited or at least Mia hoped so.

"Well I woke up maybe five minutes ago so I can't say too bad yet." She told him laughing, watching her feet as she paced around the room.

"I hope not at all since you'll be hanging out with me later. If you still want to that is?"

"Yeah, of course." Mia said nodding her head forgetting that he wouldn't be able to see her nodding.

"Maybe you could pick me up at the beach, say around five? I have to make a couple stops and I'll be around there. Then I can show you where it is." Paul told her coming up with a plan that seemed like it would work besides seeing a big Paul trying to fit in her car was sure to be an interesting sight to see.

Mia let out a soft giggle at the image, her car was the perfect car for her standing only five four she could easily fit. It was her dream car that Callie helped her get almost a year ago, Glad she didn't have to take the car her parents wanted to give her, forced to be in their debt is not someplace she wanted to be. So when Callie offered Mia had to accept, still unsure where Callie got the money for it but she stopped asking questions a long time ago when it came to her. Her mini coop fit just the right amount of stuff that she needed to travel around but not really much more.

"I would love that." Mia told her, her heart skipping at an actual plan being set.

"I'll see you at five then princess." Paul said before hanging up the phone giving her no time to reply to the nickname.

"His going to kill me already and I barley know him." Mia whispered to herself flinging herself back across the bed.

Those last three and half hours seemed to drag out forever, taking another shower and drying her hair and after many attempts to make her hair and make up perfect. And a lengthy conversation with Callie which included lots of wardrobe photos and options, Mia found herself finally heading down to La Push where she met Paul just last night. And boy were her nerves spiking, it wasn't like she had no experience with boys. She had a couple boyfriends back home but none of them were interesting or anyone that she wanted for more then a month. Mia seemed to get bored too easily with most people, the longest relationship was with Callie but that's not going to find her love. Yet Mia was still unsure what she was even doing, even if she liked Paul she still lived far away and even if she moved to a college around here it was still not going to be close by. Any thing they were doing would be cut short and yet Mia found herself still driving towards him.

And quite glad she did so, Paul was sitting on a piece of drift wood, in a white button up shirt hanging over a pair of dark wash blue jeans. Just a few buttons from the top undone to show teases of the chest Mia stared at last night. He looked as nice dressed up as he did dressed in almost nothing and that is not an easy task. It made her giggle a bit seeing as they matched, herself wearing a pair of light blue skinny jeans and a simple white knitted top, a black jacket thrown in the back seat as it looked like it might rain.

"Hey" Paul said grinning as he basically shoved himself into Mia's car, She already pushed the seat all the way back so he had the most space possible but he just barely fit in the too small of a car. " I think next time we may need to take my truck." He said laughing at her. Did she mention how perfect his smile was? Everything about him just seemed to be absolute perfect and it was ridiculous.

"I was thinking about how you would actually fit, it's as funny as I imagined." Mia teased him.

"Ha ha ha. I'm not the one with a tiny matchbox car."

"Hey now, don't be mean to Gage. He has done me well and he is perfect." Mia laughed rubbing her cars dashboard as she pouted at the insult.

"So your a person who names their car are you then? Interesting" Paul said smirking at her

"I don't know if I should be insulted by that comment or not. So tell me the way of food, I haven't ate anything all day." Mia said finding it so easy to joke and talk to him, her nerves seemed to calm down for at least a little bit so she could drive. After Paul gave her some relatively easy directions Mia found herself on the road again driving towards their date.

"So I have never actually been on a first date type thing, I only have gone on dates with people I been dating awhile so I'm not actually sure what I'm doing." Mia spoke fast, embarrassed by admitting it, sure most people her age should have been on plenty of dates good and bad that they would know what they were doing but she was completely clueless and didn't want Paul to have a bad time and regret his decision.

"Lucky for you, I have been on a few and I know just what to do darling. We spend the whole date getting to know each other. I want to know absolutely everything about you that I can." Paul explained, no judgement in his voice which Mia was thankful for.

"There isn't much to learn about me, I'm not that interesting really." She told him shrugging as she pulled into a parking lot of a 'Littlesea Diner' There were a few cars there, some kids looking around nine or ten were playing off to the side of the diner, you could see the people inside were smiling and laughing.

"We will see, Shall we my love?" Paul asked grinning at her as he stepped out of the car meeting her on her side of the car. Lightly placing his hand on her lower back he led them to the front door.

A little bell dinged as they walked through spotting a small table for two in the the back corner they headed over to it, Paul waving at the boy taking orders as they passed. The diner was cute, like something Mia would have seen back home in her town, the mismatched tables and chairs, the light yellow paint on the walls making the inside bright and happy compared to the dark gloomy skies outside. Everything seemed cramped and busy but it was cozy.

"So.." Mia started but trailing off trying to figure out what to ask Paul, unsure how to start a conversation with him. Placing her hands in her lap so she wouldn't fidget in front of him.

"How are you liking La Push or Forks?" Paul asked seemly completely relaxed, his body against the table, his arms relaxed sitting in front of him. His face calm but a small smile playing at his lips.

"It's okay, a little rainy but the beach is nice. It's also a bit smaller then I'm used to." Mia told him

"I thought you were from a small town?" Paul asked her, leaning forward slightly his head tilting a bit trying to figure out if he remembered correctly.

"I do but not this small of a town. Plus if you drive maybe fifteen minutes you get into bigger towns so its not as isolated." Mia explained to him, smiling as the boy Paul waved to handed her a menu.

"Hey Paul." He said grinning at him and giving Mia a smile also. He was huge like Paul was but you could tell he was defiantly younger then Paul was but his muscles almost bulging out of the top he was wearing, his muscles seemingly too toned for a boy his age. His face having softer lines compared to Paul's sharp jawline, his shaggy brown hair almost covering his eyes. And he seemed to have the same tattoo that Paul has on his arm, slightly being able to see it under his shirt.

"Colin, this is Mia. Mia this is my friend Colin." Paul introduced them, Mia gave a small wave and smile at him.

"Nice to see Paul on a nice respectable date" Colin smirked at his friend. "I'll be back in a few to get your order." He said before running off to help a couple close by.

"Do you not go on respectable dates then?" Mia asked him while she looked over the menu, it was simple food which was a good thing, she was far too picky to eat at most places.

"I don't really do the dates thing." Paul confessed, looking somewhat embarrassed as his looked down at his menu avoiding looking her in the eye.

"Ah. Then why did you ask me on a date?" Mia asked, her head tilting as she looked at him trying to figure him out.

"You're special. Different." He said honestly, the way he said it made Mia believe him. Though it could have very easily been a simple line that he used on every girl, Mia liked to believe that maybe it was just for her and no one else. After all she did always want to be that special person in someone life that makes them change their ways for the better. She has clearly seen too many romance movies in her lifetime, life was also much more disappointing but she still couldn't help but hope.

"Well I think I'm going to get a hamburger and french fries. It sounds pretty good." She told him changing subject, Paul looked far to uncomfortable with the current topic.

"They do make really good french fries here. Best around from all the places I go to eat." Paul grinned, thankful for the change.

Mia laughed at him. "I'm guessing you don't have a lot of places to eat around here besides at home."

"Nope we have here, one diner in Forks and this cafe but that really is about it. If you want anything else you have to head out to Seattle basically." Paul shook his head explaining. "A friend of mine, Emily, does all my cooking though."

"No one's cooking stands a chance to Emily's cooking, even my mom admits it and she's the cook here." Colin said walking up to them. "Know what you want?" He asked looking at Mia, knowing Paul got the same thing every time he came in.

"I'll have a Mac and chesse hamburger with french fires and a cola please." Mia ordered handing him the menu to him.

"And a chicken BLT extra fries, veggies and raspberry tea?" Colin asked looking at Paul to double check his order just in case as he grabbed his menu.

"Oh I just love how you take charge like that." Paul smirked up at his friend causing Mia to laugh at the two of them.

"You've certainly been here enough though."

"What can I say, I really hate cooking. I can make eggs though but that's really about it. And sometimes I mess that up." Paul shrugged his shoulder laughing, Emily tried to teach him a while back but after a small fire they decided that Paul was no longer allowed to cook unless it was throwing things in the oven or microwave. Luckily Emily was kind enough to make his meals for him so he could throw it all in a freezer and call it a day.

"Same here. I can't cook but I never really had to learn to cook either. Soon I'll have to if I plan to live on my own during school." Mia told him, giving Colin a thanks when he brought them there sodas.

"What school are you going to? For what?" Paul asked her.

"I wanna be a teacher but I haven't figure out where to go to school. I don't really know where I want to live, I think I have a couple options but they are all over. Plus I'm working in a crunched amount of time cause schools won't be accepting anymore soon." Mia explained to him. Knowing her parents could take care of any lateness but she really didn't want to ask for any favors from them knowing it comes with a favor any time. They would probably want her to go for a different major in order to get her to go to school. And her dream job was not something she was willing to give up.

"And is around here a place that you are looking?" He asked his eyes nervously looking up at her, his body going tense waiting for her answer.

"I liked Seattle when I went through it so I was thinking about it. I have a friend who lives there and she loves it, and her school has the degree I need. So I could end up going there." Mia could see Paul relax a bit in his seat letting out a deep breath that he was holding.

"It isn't so bad out this way, I like it. So tell me about yourself. After all I need to know everything." Paul told her a smirk on his face when he looked at her.

"Everything? That would be a lot of me talking." Mia said giving him a look, no one honestly would want to know that much about her. She had a pretty normal life so far.

"That's the point isn't it. I need to know your last name, your sign, your birthday, what makes your world spin around."

"Well my name is Mia Walker, I'm a Virgo born September 19. I haven't figured out what makes my world spin yet but I have a life time to figure it out yet. What about you Paul?" Mia asked trying to change topics and focus more on Paul.

"Paul Lahote, My birthday is January 13 I have no idea what what my star sign is. And I think it would have to be my family. I didn't have much family growing up but then I gained some and they are pretty alright. Speaking of which." He told her as Colin arrived with the food placing it down in front of them before walking away.

"That's nice to hear, I wanted a big family. I always had family but its more...manipulative. They only come by if they want money from my parents basically then we don't see them again for a while." Mia confessed a bit reluctantly, either people tend to run away from you when they realize you come from money or they start to see you as a bank account and nothing more. The last thing she wanted is Paul to not actually want to be around her as a person.

"That is rude of them. Sounds like people you don't really need in your life then." Paul said taking a huge bite of his sandwich as Mia picked up some fries.

"No not really but it's family so it makes it harder to say no. What's your family like?" Mia turned it back to him.

"I lived in Tacoma, it's another town in Washington." He explained at her confused look, Mia nodded her head to continue. "My dad and I moved here when I was younger. My dad is... a bit of an ass actually. But I made my own family with Sam and Emily and the rest of the pack. There is a huge group of us and so that's my main family. And they really are amazing even if they all can be pain in the asses."

"Do you prefer it here or there then?" She questioned.

"I love it here honestly. It's simple and not so chaotic and busy as a city. I couldn't see myself anywhere else honestly" Paul explained to her. "What's your favorite color?"

"Purple. If you could go anywhere, where would you go?" Mia asked him.

"I wanna go to Las Vegas. What kind of movies are you into?" Paul told her, leaning forward to listen to her, he had a million and one questions he needed to ask her. He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to know everything.

"Anything Disney really, I have a huge obsession with anything Disney and fairytale. I go to Disney at least twice a year, its amazing. What's your type of music?"

"Anything really, Into rock type music mainly though. What are your hobbies?" Paul asked her giving her a smile

"Reading, lots of netflixing. Erm..what's your favorite animal?" Mia said unsure what to ask him, she was always bad at coming up with questions.

"Wolves, Our tribe is all about the wolves I don't have a choice in that. What's your super power if you had one?"

"I wanna fly. What's your favorite holiday?"

"Halloween. How old are you buttercup?"

"I am eighteen. How old are you?"

"Twenty."

"Are you sure about that?" Mia looked at him unconvinced, there was no way that he was so close to age to her.

"Of course I am. I just happened to look a lot older. We mature faster on the Rez. Much better water."

"I might need some then, get rid of this baby face and look like an adult would be nice. I get asked where my parents are far too much." Mia laughed.

"I think your beautiful, you shouldn't want to change." Paul said causing Mia's cheeks to flush bright red, she tried hiding her face with her hair as she looked at her near empty plate before his hand reached out gently pushing her hair out of her face so she could look up at him.

His body leaning across the table so he was a couple inches away from her face, Mia held her breath as she looked at him. Taking in the way his jaw sloped, the way his eyes stared at her, the way he bite his lower lip, the way he stared at her with pure captivation. He was truly absolutely gorgeous

"You shouldn't hide your face. I like seeing the blushes." Paul told her, his voice quiet as he ran his hand lightly across her cheek.

"Oh?" Mia whispered unsure how to even respond to him right now, She never had a moment like this with anyone else, all she wanted to do was to reach across the table and kiss him. But she didn't have the courage to make the first move, she wanted that confidence but the fear of him regretting her was too much.

"You look cute with some color on your cheeks. You stand out here, in a good way." Paul said backtracking not meaning to insult her.

"I'm sorry we can't all have your skin tone, some of us relate more to Casper." Mia said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Completely overrated." Paul told her resting his hand in her free hand, his touch warm against her skin. Mia could only hope her palms weren't sweaty with nerves, that would certainly be an embarrassing mood ruiner.

"Check" Colin breaking the tension between the two, before actually looking at the couple. "Unless you two need a moment." He awkwardly said seeing how close the two become.

"Hand it over Colin." Paul grumbled pulling away from Mia and placing his hand out for the check. Quickly slipping the amount in he handed it back to Colin then turned his attention back to Mia.

"Ready to go sweetheart?" Paul asked her, smiling as Mia sat there looking slightly confused to what just happened.

"Sure." Mia told him quietly, the mood gone but she couldn't help but think what it would be like to kiss him. Distracted she stumbled over the chair as she went to push it in, Paul laughing at her as her face went pink again.

"Not my fault, you're distracting." She mumbled as she made her way outside, it wasn't really raining quite yet just some raindrops here and there. Something she was real glad for.

"I actually have to head to work, its around the corner here so I can walk." Paul told her when they went to her car

"Oh okay." Mia said embarrassed. Clearly she was overthinking everything. Maybe she read the whole date wrong and he honestly wanted nothing to do with her. Maybe he found her too boring and he just wanted the date to end and was trying to find a way to end it. And he was just using normal lines on her and she just didn't realize.

"I wanna take you out again if I didn't bore you too much." Paul said reaching out to grab her hand, moving so he was standing in front of her.

"You didn't bore me at all. I would like that." Mia said looking up at him.

"I have one more question." Paul told her

"What's that?" Mia asked

"Do you kiss on the first date?" Paul asked her, his free hand sliding up her arm to rest on the side of her face, slightly she leaned into the warmth of his hand as she bit her lower lip

"I think I do." She told him.

Paul leaned further down holding his face just over her so their noses touched giving her a moment to back away if she still wanted, realizing she wasn't going to he closed the distance between the two. His lips touching Mia's, she stood on her tip toes to get close to him. His lips soft against hers, his arms wrapping around her pulling her as close as possible to him. Everywhere around her she could feel heat from Paul, Smell him all around her, a woods smell mixed with whatever spray he was wearing. And she realized that there was no where else she'd rather be than him wrapped around her. Paul pulled away quickly placing a kiss on her forehead as he looked down at her, Mia expression dazed but smiling as she had to crane her neck to look up at him so close.

"Was that a good fairytale kiss?" Paul asked her

"Perfectly Disney." Mia grinned at him.

[astoriias]

{ cisgender woman, she/her } ❝ Thank god women learned to whisper / though I crave a megaphone. ❞ huh, who’s CAITRIONA BALFE? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually ASTORIA MALFOY (NEÉ GREENGRASS). she is a 47 year old PUREBLOOD witch who is CHIEF WARLOCK OF THE WIZENGAMOT. she is known for being JUDGEMENTAL, DISHONEST, COLD, RIGID, and CALLOUS but also PRACTICAL, DRIVEN, INNOVATIVE, STEADFAST and DISCIPLINED, so that must be why she always reminds me of the song TOMORROW - MINER and BLACK LEATHER BRIEFCASES, THE CLICK OF HIGH HEELS ON TILE FLOORS, THE LINGERING TASTE OF FAIRY FLOSS, BURGUNDY NAIL POLISH, AND PEARL HAIR PINS. i hear she is aligned with NO ONE so be sure to keep an eye on her. 

BIO

Cursed with a blood malediction that left her and her parents preoccupied with maintaining her health throughout early childhood, Astoria grew up without direction, without passion, and without much to do or think about other than staying alive. She did what she was told and completed what was asked of her by her parents: mostly swallowing thick potions that made her head spin and remaining in bed when all she wanted to do was tumble through the lush gardens of the Greengrass estate and scrape her knees like other children. As she grew older and defied Healers’ expectations — making it past 5, then 10, then 15 — Astoria grew weary of the half-life she’d been prescribed. At Hogwarts, she followed her sister Daphne into Slytherin because she didn’t know where else to go. 

It took Astoria almost a year at Hogwarts before she would speak up in class or acknowledge anyone with more than a handful of words — and each time she did her heartbeat would quicken, her face would flush. If she was called on by a professor and — Merlin forbid — got the answer wrong, her eyes would fill with tears, her gaze would shift to the floor, and she wouldn’t be able to breathe. One day, outside her second-year Transfiguration class, an annoying boy named Colin saw her heavy breathing and told her about panic attacks — Astoria’s irrational fear of social situations and new people now made sense.

That same annoying boy became her close friend not long after. It was a month into study sessions by the Black Lake that Astoria Greengrass learned that her Colin, the boy who kept a camera slung around his neck at all times and was so nice to her, was Colin Creevey, yes, that Colin Creevey, who was petrified by a Basilisk a year prior for being MUGGLEBORN. Astoria found that didn’t bother her very much. Sure, she never advertised that they were friends and didn’t freely associate with Colin in public places, but he understood her position or in the very least, didn’t protest it. She even got him to join Herbology club — though she insisted that they enter and exit the greenhouse at different times and never spoke directly, his presence was a comforting balm.

Colin tried to get her to join up with the student resistance that was brewing in her third year — but Astoria knew she wasn’t the type to stir up such trouble. She couldn’t stand with the muggleborns and blood traitors no matter how right they were; she couldn’t risk losing her family. Unlike those in Dumbledore’s Army, Astoria didn’t see this conflict in terms of black and white, good vs. evil — there were plenty of others like her, struggling to find themselves in the midst of conflict, battling tradition and family expectations. She kept out of Umbridge’s way during that time. Kept out of her father’s way during that time — while he had no Dark Mark to speak of, his entrepreneurial hands passed cursed objects and ingredients for poisons to any Dark Lord-aligned wix who wanted them.

Through her friendship with Colin and her time in Herbology Club, Astoria learned she was a talented witch in her own right. Formed an identity outside of being the sick girl everyone doted on. Quietly realized that her muggleborn classmates  — despite what her pureblood indoctrination taught her — were fully-fledged human beings. To someone who didn’t grow up feeling trapped in the (sometimes socially constructed) confines of a blood illness, perhaps her time in Herbology Club wouldn’t seem so transformative. But for Astoria, it was everything.

Nowadays, Astoria is still defying life expectancy estimations and is perhaps best known for her robust political career. She joined the Ministry as a pupil/intern in its Wizengamot Instruction in Magical Law Program (W.I.M.P.), and in the span of twenty-five years has climbed the ranks to barrister’s assistant, barrister, then Wizengamot member, and finally, the youngest Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot in the last hundred years. She is extremely opinionated about the runnings of the legislature and judiciary, and her past two years as Chief Warlock have been marked by her love for procedure, due process, and fairness -- essentially meaning trials are very thorough and very focused on making sure the Ministry doesn’t overstep its bounds. 

BLOOD MALEDICTION

i’m truly on my bullshit and this needs its own section..........,,,,, i’m sorry

I originally started writing Astoria out of pure spite — it enraged and continues to enrage me that all we’re given about this woman is a few lines about her and an off-page (or off-stage, I guess, but Cursed Child is its own beast) death. It makes me mad that she is only defined by her role as a mother and wife to Scorpius and Draco, that she doesn’t get her own ambitions and a life of her own. The racist and sexist underpinnings of the blood malediction/Maledictus concept are par the course for JK but still, bad!

And while I can’t choose for Astoria to have this particular chronic illness and completely divorce it from those origins, I can at least eschew parts of it I don’t like and give a Astoria a rich and fulfilling life with a chronic/potentially terminal illness — not in spite of the blood curse, but because those of us with illnesses and disabilities are people with rich and fulfilling lives, wants, desires, and ambitions.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE:  I try to be really careful about ableist language when I describe this blood malediction and its effects on Astoria’s life — I think that there is so much to explore regarding chronic illness and what, exactly, we constitute as ‘health’ — but I know that I can fall into the traps of my own internalized ableism. If there are terms or concepts here that make players uncomfortable and/or have harmful effects, let me know! I’m happy to make changes.

So anyway!

— origins of the blood malediction

I don’t have this fully worked out, but I think the Greengrass blood malediction stretches back a good ten generations to a very vindictive-in-her-righteous-cause-Muggleborn-witch cursing the family for their refusal to let her marry their son. It’s not limited to just the girls in the family, because I hate that, but it does affect at least one child per generation, so long as the family continues to marry exclusively purebloods — which they have continued to do, not knowing that their bigotry (though in some cases, real love!) is the reason for the curse’s spread. Astoria’s parents mistakenly believed that since the last few cases of the curse had cropped up in different branches of the Greengrass family — distant cousins living on the Continent — that their children would be spared.

— astoria’s symptoms and treatment

Since it’s a blood curse, I figure Astoria’s symptoms manifest as issues both with her blood and with her cardiovascular system at large. I’d compare it to haemophilia. Her blood itself is thin and cannot clot without healing spells and thickening potions, meaning that nosebleeds are frequent, bruising is easy, and bad cuts can be fatal. She’s at high risk for internal bleeding in her joints, and  a big — though often unvoiced fear — of hers is a brain aneurysm that ruptures into a haemorrhage.

(miscarriage tw) These symptoms have waxed and waned her entire life, with particular incidents that have brought her close to death; an accident falling from the garden wall at five, a wayward spell hitting her across the face in second-year DADA, trying for a child. She doesn’t regret that last one — not at all — though it was five weeks after her miscarriage before she was able to stand unassisted, and her Healer’s face when she said “I strongly advise you to not have any more children” haunts her to this day. Scorpius’s birth, possible due to a wonderful surrogate, was alternatively the happiest day of her life. (end miscarriage tw)

Then there come the potions — a barrage of them, to be taken at specific times of day, with extras if she’s bleeding externally or feeling pain in particular areas — that come with side effects like exhaustion, headaches, and nausea. She visits St. Mungo’s once every three months to ensure that the potions are working as intended and has learned to accept her Healers chastising her for the times she skips parts of the regimen or pushes herself too far physically.

PERSONALITY

astoria!!! my love. clearly i have a lot of thoughts and Feelings about her lol,,,,,,,

there isn’t any world or timeline in which astoria would be rushing to join the death eaters -- lol, i’ve always envisioned her being extremely inquisitive and Critical of other people, their motivations, their methods -- this makes her extremely Good at Lawyering and Suspicious of Bullshit. i also have always thought that it was important for her to make a muggleborn friend or two just to really hammer the point home that pureblood nonsense is just that.

still, again, she’s not really motivated by niceness, she doesn’t have a bleeding-heart-sense-of-empathy, she’s kind of snarky and mean. her friends describe her as an acquired taste. 

has a massive sweet tooth. her family is regularly concerned she does not eat enough vegetables.

adores her son. just, absolutely thinks he can do no wrong. she and draco agree that most parents think their child is the most perfect and amazing child in the world, but scorpius actually is the most perfect and amazing child in the world, so. 

a note on astoria and draco: i think draco doesn’t treat her with pity or kid gloves, and has never underestimated her capacity to get shit done in light of her blood curse. and they have an honesty and rapport with each other that astoria hasn’t been able to cultivate with anyone else. they may not be very great people but they’re great partners and great parents. i luv them ok bye

STATS

GENERAL

name. astoria céline malfoy (née greengrass)

nickname. aster (reserved for use by her sister only!)

birthdate. 1 january 1982

place of birth. greengrass residence via midwifery

family. daphne greengrass (sister), draco malfoy (husband), scorpius malfoy (son)

residence. malfoy manor, wiltshire

occupation. chief warlock of the wizengamot

gender identity. woman

romantic orientation. biromantic

sexuality. bisexual

blood status. pureblood

relationship status. married

pets. a scottish terrier named hades

HOGWARTS / MAGIC

house. slytherin

extracurriculars/leadership. herbology club

allegiance. neutral/no one

n.e.w.t. grades charms (o), transfiguration (o), herbology (o), d.a.d.a (a), potions (a), arithmancy, astronomy (o), history of magic (a), ancient runes (e).

wand. willow, nine inches, unicorn hair core

boggart. tbd

patronus. also tbd! my brain hurts 

magical strengths. nonverbal casting, herbology, transfiguration, ancient runes

magical weaknesses. flying, defensive spells, domestic spells

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 40 Review: In Which Matt Calls Out Jean Paul (Redux)

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Full Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

Welcome back to my Garden of Evil, the blog where I review and affectionately snark on Canada’s own all-American TV series, Strange Paradise. To my shock, Danny Horn of Dark Shadows Every Day (who introduced me to this delightfully crazy soap with his far more critical reviews) is back to posting more frequently than I do, which isn’t really relevant to this post save that I would not have expected it a year ago. (But then, there are many, many things that happened over this past year that I did not expect.) I would have posted this one sooner, but some urgent matters came up last week and I had to postpone.

Four episodes have passed since eccentric billionaire Jean Paul Desmond’s disastrous failed séance to contact his beloved late wife Erica. Medium and Conjure Woman Vangie Abbott has recovered from her injury, she and Raxl have tried (unsuccessfully) to decode the message in the sand writing box, and now Jean Paul insists on holding another séance! The other characters are trying to figure out how and why the ceremony was disrupted: most accuse Jean Paul of trying to murder them with the falling chandelier, while Vangie announces during the opening recap that she suspects the Reverend Matt Dawson of being a disruptive influence because of his disbelief in voodoo. Now sparks fly once again as another argument erupts between the Reverend and Jean Paul at an emergency meeting in the Great Hall.

Now, let’s begin.

We open with Jean Paul’s first tape recorder journal entry in a while, which is an exposition device that I had been missing mostly because I like mooning over Colin Fox while listening to his gorgeous voice:

Jean Paul: "Erica, my sweet wife, until the day comes when science can restore you to me, can release you from the cryonic suspension colder than ice, as cold as my empty life, I will continue trying to contact you through a séance. You must know the great effort I am making to protect you! But was the evil of Jacques Eloi des Mondes enough to prevent us from making contact at the séance that failed? Erica, believe me! I fought him with all my strength! I held him at bay, but he could not have got through unaided! These people in this house, Erica, I have been thinking about them: are they in consort with the Devil? Which one prevented me from hearing your sweet voice again, my Erica? Which one? If I knew-"

Caught him reading the Teleprompter! (That happens a lot in this episode, by the way.) Also, have I ever mentioned how much I love the lighting in his monitor room?

He stops recording when he sees Holly on the monitor, searching once again for that sweet secret passage in the crypt that she overheard the Reverend mention several episodes ago. Freaking out again over the possibility of danger to Erica’s cryonics capsule, he rushes down to the Great Hall and declares an emergency meeting:

Jean Paul shouting at his detained guests.

"Reverend Dawson, Mr. Stanton, I'm beginning to realize that you have not fully grasped my ruling!" Jean Paul shouts in his most pompous tone. "Now, to each and every one of you, this is most important, and how important it is you will all find out!"

Matt having a scared. I don’t usually find Dan MacDonald cute, but I think he is in this shot.

Quito guarding Holly as she hides in the crypt.

"EVERYBODY!” the Master of Maljardin shouts. “EVERYONE WITHIN THE SOUND OF MY VOICE!" [Line flub? His wording is odd.] "EVERYONE! COME TO THE GREAT HALL! DO YOU HEAR ME? EVERYONE IN THIS HOUSE! THIS IS JEAN PAUL DESMOND CALLING! COME TO THE GREAT HALL AT ONCE! YOU TOO, HOLLY MARSHALL! NOW, ONCE AND FOR ALL, YOU WILL ALL GET THE MESSAGE!"

Jean Paul’s crazy eyes in this scene indicate that he means business.

Everyone gathers in the Great Hall, save Holly and Quito (who are hiding in the basement), Dan Forrest (who is probably in the tub), and Raxl (who isn’t there because Cosette Lee had the day off). Dr. Alison Carr is particularly annoyed, because she could be spending this time researching how to resurrect Erica, but instead is stuck listening to her brother-in-law’s latest hissy fit. Oddly enough, even though Jean Paul acts like a complete ass in this episode, Fox-C looks even more stunning than usual. I can’t explain why, but to me he looks especially handsome during Weeks 8 through 11 of the show. That certain je ne sais quoi of his just comes out particularly strongly during this period.

Jean Paul is so angry that you can see his jaw tensing.

Of all the detained guests in the room, he chooses to pick a fight with Matt, because that worked out so well for him five episodes ago. Elizabeth finds this highly amusing and comments with one of her best lines:

Elizabeth: "It seems to be your opportunity to entertain, Reverend. May I suggest Song of Solomon?"

Jean Paul doesn’t laugh, despite it being arguably the funniest joke anyone other than Jacques has made so far. I, too, want to hear Matt read from the Song of Solomon. Perhaps he has recorded a sermon about it for his album:

Matt’s album, You Can’t Fake Fruit, featuring his sermon “Wherever God Builds a House of Prayer, the Devil Builds a Chapel There” and selections from the Song of Solomon.

I’m not going to recap or quote their entire fight blow by blow, because I just don’t feel like it--and besides, these kinds of overly dramatic yelling matches are more fun to watch for yourself. However, I will note some highlights: 

Matt suspects Jean Paul of murdering Dr. Menkin because of how soon he died after Erica. “Who can say how he died?” he asks as a rhetorical question before proclaiming overconfidently, “There, your control over this island begins to disintegrate!”

He also continues to oppose the notion that the Devil caused any of the events on the island, including the chandelier falling: “The chandelier falls, and it’s blamed on the Devil. And you accept these...superstitious reactions of a few, which are driving all of us beyond the bounds of reason!”

There’s a lot of focus on Holly, as you might expect, given that she‘s been searching in the crypt and also given Matt’s obsession with her. I’m glad he’s trying to protect her from Jean Paul now, even though I will always ship him with his right hand.

Alison stands up to Jean Paul and leaves in the middle of the argument. Good for her! Of course, after she leaves, Jean Paul has to passive-aggressively announce to everyone else that she will regret it.

Vangie tells Jean Paul and Matt that “when a devil works through a man, what he does is not an accident,” referring to the time that Dan allegedly damaged the cryocapsule. Jean Paul latches onto this idea, which Matt objects to because he believes it’s a ploy to turn everyone on the island against each other. So Jean Paul accuses Matt next of evil, which is not a question that most people will answer honestly. Ask Jacques if he’s evil and he will openly admit to it; ask someone like Elizabeth, on the other hand, and she will deny it.

Matt being what the kids today would call “a mood.”

Vangie on Matt: “Because he is a man of the cloth--a religious man--he made the contact [with Erica], but because of his disbelief in the spirits, the chain was weakened, the contact breaks. I would say that whenever the Devil is loose, anything or anyone can be his tool.” 

I would say that Jean Paul in this episode is a tool, albeit a very handsome one.

Even his anger can’t disguise his cuteness.

Jean Paul ends the argument by threatening to punish Holly for invading the crypt. “Now you will see what happens to those who intrude on Erica’s resting place,” he tells the others and Elizabeth responds with this interesting, cryptic line:

So she approves of Jean Paul’s anger at her “impossible” daughter, but she doesn’t want him to punish her? Also note that she is eerily calm when she delivers this line.

In the next scene, Jean Paul gives Holly some serious mixed messages along the lines of the time my grandfather (with whom I used to live) told me “don’t worry about it” when he noticed my cat scratching at my bedroom door, then threw a fit over the (barely) damaged carpet a few hours later. I moved out of his house two and a half years ago but, up until recently, I got nervous any time anyone told me not to worry about something, because he’d often say things like “don’t worry about it” and “take it easy” shortly before he lost his temper over the very same things he told me not to worry about. In a similar vein, Jean Paul first tells Holly to “go ahead” into the crypt, only to then start ranting about how he thinks that some people on the island want the cryocapsule to break down and want to tell the authorities about what he’s doing on Maljardin.

“Now, what were you looking for, Miss Marshall?” he asks her menacingly after his rant.

“I wouldn’t touch that!” she replies, referring to the capsule. “I want you to bring your wife back to life!”

“Then what were you here for!”

“Looking for a way out!” She turns away from him, clutching her head. “Trying to get away from all this. I can’t stand it anymore!”

“I am going to have to make an example of you,” Jean Paul threatens.

“I was only looking for a secret door,” she protests, then explains how he (actually Jacques) led her down there to show him where she thought the secret passage was three episodes ago.

Before he can respond to her, Alison comes rushing down to the crypt to tell him about the notes of Dr. Menkin’s that Jacques left in her lab in Episode 38, which cover part of the previously missing six-week period of his experiments:

Sure, Jacques *might* answer, but only if he feels like it.

Jean Paul tells Alison, “guard these [notes] with your life,” and the episode ends, which means it’s time to discuss the Lost Episode summary. Normally, I do so in either the introduction or at a point in the episode where a plot point was changed, but here the events of the original episode differed so much from those of the final aired version that I decided to discuss them after my recap.

The Lost Episode 40

To begin, here is the summary for the original Episode 40:

Source: The Plain Dealer (November 7, 1969), p. 72.

So the second séance originally took place in this episode and involved a conflict between two spirits. But who? We know for certain the identity of one of these spirits, courtesy of these summaries for Episodes 41 and 42, respectively:

Source: Ibid, p. 84.

Source: Ibid., p. 88.

A slightly longer version of the latter summary from The Fitchburg Sentinel names this priestess Tarasca, the same figure who appeared in a puff of smoke in the original Episode 35 and whose existence apparently threatens Alison’s life. While most summaries of the original Episode 44 (including the one in The Plain Dealer) mention hallucinations, this one from The Minneapolis Star (November 13, 1969) specifically mentions that the hallucination took place at the séance:

Holly searches for the secret passageway when her sleeping mother re-lives the happenings at the séance.

So we know the identity of one of the fighting spirits from the second séance, but who is the other? This summary for Episode 38 states that Jacques promised Vangie that he wouldn’t interfere a second time, but can we really rely on him to keep his promises? (I believe that he most likely summoned Tarasca to mess with the second séance on his behalf while technically not getting involved in it himself.) Still, even considering Jacques’ lack of trustworthiness, it would make more sense for the other spirit to be Erica, given that the whole purpose of both séances is to contact her.

Curiously, another thing we know about the second séance is that Matt took part in it, because Vangie told him that Holly would be in danger if he refused. I know I called the summary for last episode boring, but hearing the way Vangie talks about him in this episode has made me rethink my previous dismissal of its importance. If Vangie demanded that Matt attend the second séance, that means that she must not have considered Matt a disruptive influence in the original, or at least not enough to exclude him.

Who else attended the séance? At the very least, Vangie, Matt, Jean Paul and Elizabeth, but logically Raxl and Quito as well because of their involvement in the Conjure Faith. Alison may also have attended, but I doubt it because (1) Vangie prefers séances with either five or seven participants including the spirit and (2) Alison is getting increasingly fed up with Jean Paul and may have refused to take part.

The mention of Holly being in danger also raises an additional question: which spirit was threatening her, Erica or Tarasca? For my attempt to answer that question--which would contain some spoilers if I included it here--you will have to wait for a future analysis.

Coming up next: The Bad Subtitle Special for Week 8, followed by a very special essay comparing Strange Paradise to the H. P. Lovecraft novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and its 1963 film adaptation The Haunted Palace. After that, a review of Episode 41.

{<- Previous: Episode 39   ||   Next: Episode 41 ->}

[rafe8bbanna]

Best Good Morning Quotes 1. “Good morning. Life is like a mirror: it will smile at you if you smile at it.”

2. “Every morning has a new beginning, a new blessing, a new hope. It’s a perfect day because it’s God’s gift. Have a blessed, hopeful perfect day to begin with.”

3. “Today will be a good day. So wake up and smile”

Good Morning Quotes 4. “Set a goal that make you want to jump out of bed in the morning.”

5. “I opened two gifts this morning. They were my eyes.”

6. “Life without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves, This day let me make a sound beginning. ” – Thomas Kempis

7. “Although time seems to fly, it never travels faster than one day at a time. Each day is a new opportunity to live your life to the fullest. In each waking day, you will find scores of blessing and opportunities for positive change. Do not let your today be stolen by the unchangeable past or the indefinite future! Today is new day! Good Morning!” – Steve Maraboli

8. “Good morning is not just a word. It’s an action and a belief to live the entire day well. Morning is the time when you set the tone for the rest of the day. Set it right. Have a nice day.”

9. “Life laughs at you when you are unhappy. Life smiles at you when you are happy. But, Life salutes you when you make others happy.” – Charlie Chaplin

10. “Something special awaits you each day. All you need is to recognize it and make the most of it. Have a positive attitude through out the day and then that today is going to the best day in your life. Good morning.”

11. “It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is. As long as we are together, it will always be a beautiful day. Good morning.”

12. “The world is beautiful outside when there is stability inside.”

Good Morning Quotes 13. “Your journey will be much lighter and easier if you don’t carry your past with you.”

14. “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius

15. “Waking up this morning, I smile. 24 brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

16. “Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.” – Lemony Snicket

17. “”Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.” – Mahatma Gandhi

18. “Not the day only, but all things have their morning.” – French Proverb

19. “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” – Henry David Thoreau

20. “You cry and scream and you stomp your feet and you shout. You say: “You know what? I’m giving up, I don’t care!” And then you go to bed and you wake up and it’s a brand new day. And you pick yourself back up again.”

21. “Life is too short, she panicked, I want more. He nodded slowly, Wake up earlier.” – Dr. SunWolf

22. “”The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years.” – Thomas Jefferson

Good Morning Quotes 23. “I like my coffee black and my mornings bright.” – Terri Guillemets

24. “I used to love night best but the older I get the more treasures and hope and joy I find in mornings”

25. “Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.” – William Feather

26. “You have to get up every morning and tell yourself I can do this.”

27. “Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with dreams or wake up and chase your dreams. The choice is yours!”

28. “Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth: “You owe me.”

29. “Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it.” – Richard Whately

30. “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” – Meister Eckhart

Good Morning Quotes 31. “Now that your eyes are open, make the sun jealous with your burning passion to start the day. Make the sun jealous or stay in bed.” – Malak El Halabi

32. “The world is new to us every morning. This is God’s gift and every man should believe he is reborn each day.”

33. “In the morning a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

34. “Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.” – Henry David Thoreau

35. “I get up every morning and it’s going to be a great day. You never know when it’s going to be over so I refuse to have a bad day.” – Paul Henderson

36. “Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you’ll start to see a big difference in your life.” – Yoko Ono

37. “Every morning is a beautiful morning.” – Terri Guillemets

38. “When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

39. “One key to success is to have lunch at the time of day most people have breakfast.” – Robert Brault

40. “Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

41. “Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.” – William Arthur Ward

42. “There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” – Bernard Williams

43. “I used to love night best but the older I get the more treasures and hope and joy I find in mornings.” – Terri Guillemets

44. “Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.” – William Blake

45. “Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

46. “I wake up some mornings and sit and have my coffee and look out at my beautiful garden, and I go, ‘Remember how good this is. Because you can lose it.”

47. “Every morning, I wake up saying, I’m still alive, a miracle. And so I keep on pushing.” Jim Carrey

48. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

Good Morning Quotes 49. “I love early mornings when I feel like a rest of the world is the fast asleep and you’re the only one who’s awake and everything feels like it isn’t really real and you kind of forget about all your problems because for now it’s just you, the world and the sunrise.”

50. “The sun is but a morning star.” – Henry David

51. “Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first.” – Josh Billings

52. “It is in the early morning hour that the unseen is seen, and that the far-off beauty and glory, vanquishing all their vagueness, move down upon us till they stand clear as crystal close over against the soul.” – Sarah Smiley

53. “There are two ways to wake up in the morning. One is to say, ‘Good morning, God,’ and the other is to say, ‘Good God, morning!” – Fulton J. Sheen

54. “Every morning brings new potential, but if you dwell on the misfortunes of the day before, you tend to overlook tremendous opportunities.” – Harvey Mackay

55. “To simply wake up every morning a better person than when I went to bed.” – Sidney Poitier

56. “Don’t try to force your life to be perfect. Live your life and discover the perfectness in everyday . Don’t stress about how your life will turn out. Just take a breath and go along for the ride. Have a nice morning!”

57. “Once you accept someone for what they really are, they will really surprise you by being better than you ever expected. Good morning!”

58. “Night has gone and the moon, too. Sun is shinning and the sky is blue. Time to open your beautiful eyes; And accept my message to you!”

59. “Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don’t.”

60. “A morning is a wonderful blessing. It stands for hope, giving us another start of what we call Life.”

61. “Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.”

Good Morning Quotes 62. “Your morning hugs are the key to a secret safe Where I store all my happy memories. Good morning”

63. “You have no idea how good it feels to wake up every morning knowing you are mine And I am yours. Good morning!”

64. “Every morning with you leaves me jumping for joy instead of the tedious of the mornings before you life is now filled with love and energy.”

65. “Every day I feel is a blessing from God. And I consider it a new beginning. Yeah, everything is beautiful.” – Prince

66. “Everyone has highs and lows that they have to learn from, but every morning I start off with a good head on my shoulders, saying to myself, ‘It’s going to be a good day!”. – Lindsay Lohan

67. “The sun is new each day.” – Heraclitus

Good Morning Quotes 68. “I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” – J. B. Priestley

69. “Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that day, which must be done, whether you like it or not.” – James Russell Lowell

70. “Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.” – Elbert Hubbard

71. “Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.” – George Washington Carver

72. “God’s mercy is fresh and new every morning.” – Joyce Meyer

73. “I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.” – Miles Davis

74. “A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night.” – Marilyn vos Savant

75. “Do I get up every morning and ask: am I doing the things that I believe in and am I doing them for the best possible motives? Yes. Unambiguously yes.” – Nick Clegg

76. “I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.” – Benjamin Franklin

77. “Good morning is a contradiction of terms.” – Jim Davis

78. “It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.” – Colin Powell

79. “It is a matter of shame that in the morning the birds should be awake earlier than you.” – Abu Bakr

80. “I love the smell of juice boxes in the morning.” – Robert Duvall

Good Morning Quotes 81. “Every morning I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.” – Robert Orben

82. “If you’re changing the world, you’re working on important things. You’re excited to get up in the morning.” – Larry Page

83. “I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.” – Jonathan Swift

84. “First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, ‘I believe,’ three times.” – Ovid

85. “If you’re bored with life – you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.” – Lou Holtz

86. “I’m a very early riser, and I don’t like to miss that beautiful early morning light.” – David Hockney

87. “I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.” – Larry King

88. “The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one’s day and every night to examine the results obtained.” – Alexis Carrel

89. “I never really look for anything. What God throws my way comes. I wake up in the morning and whichever way God turns my feet, I go.” – Pearl Bailey

90. “When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, ‘Did you sleep good?’ I said ‘No, I made a few mistakes.’ – Steven Wright

91. “I wake up laughing. Yes, I wake up in the morning and there I am just laughing my head off.” – Bruce Willis

92. “Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure – that of being Salvador Dali.” – Salvador Dali

93. “When I wake up in the morning, I feel like a billionaire without paying taxes.” – Ernie Banks

94. “If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.” – Elon Musk

95. “I wake up every morning and I surprise myself. I wake up to a new me.” – Gina Carano

96. “What is love? It is the morning and the evening star.” – Sinclair Lewis

Good Morning Quotes

97. “You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning.” – Billy Wilder

98. “Every morning, my dad would have me looking in the mirror and repeat: “Today is going to be a great day; I can, and I will.” – Gina Rodriguez

99. “Life is beautiful, what do you think? In the morning I say, ‘Ah, I am alive still!’ All my friends die already. I am alive. It is fantastic. – Alejandro Jodorowsky

100. “You wake up in the morning and you look at your old spoon, and you say to yourself, ‘Mick, it’s time to get yourself a new spoon.’ And you do. – Mick Jagger

101. “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Horace Lorimer

102. “I get up at sunrise. I’m a Buddhist, so I chant in the morning. My wife and I sit and have coffee together, but then it’s list-making time. I have carpentry projects. We have roads we keep in repair. It’s not back-breaking, but it’s certainly aerobic and mildly strenuous.” – Patrick Duffy

103. “In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning.” – Carl Sandburg

104. “I like to work in the morning. I like to sometimes go to a place where I’m all alone where I’m not going to get a phone call early that hurts my feelings, because once my feelings are hurt, I’m dead in the water.” – Francis Ford Coppola

105. “Greet every morning with open arms and say thanks every night with a full heart. Each day is a precious gift to be savored and used, not left unopened and hoarded for a future that may never come.” – Regina Brett

106. “When my parents were getting divorced, I just said to myself, ‘Go to sleep, and tomorrow you can go skiing.’ I cried myself to sleep, and in the morning I was up on the mountain, and I was good.” – Lindsey Vonn

107. “I learned to love myself, because I sleep with myself every night and I wake up with myself every morning, and if I don’t like myself, there’s no reason to even live the life.” – Gabourey Sidibe

108. “I write in the morning, I walk in the afternoon and I read in the evening. It’s a very easy, lovely life.” – Margaret Forster

109. “Every night when I go to bed, I hope that I may never wake again, and every morning renews my grief.” – Franz Schubert

110. “People often say to me, ‘I don’t know anything about dance.’ I say, ‘Stop. You got up this morning, and you’re walking. You are an expert.’ – Twyla Tharp

111. “You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you’re excited for the day? That’s one of my main goals in life.” – Kirsten Dunst

112. “My principal motivation is supporting my family, which is not a bad reason for getting up in the morning. That’s always been my motivation – to take care of the people who rely on me.” – Tony Parsons

113. “I like freedom. I wake up in the morning and say, ‘I don’t know, should I have a popsicle or a donut?’ You know, who knows?” – Oscar Nunez

114. “I couldn’t be luckier to wake up every morning and be so excited to get to work, even if it’s five in the morning.” – Carly Chaikin

115. “It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It’s my partner.” – Jonas Salk

116. “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.” – E. B. White

117. “Get up tomorrow early in the morning, and earlier than you did today, and do the best that you can.” – Joan of Arc

118. “My dad used to wake me up at 5:30 in the morning and hit me ground balls and tell me, ‘Don’t be afraid to excel. Don’t be afraid to be great.’ – Russell Wilson

119. “Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.” – Wayne Huizenga

Good Morning Quotes 120. “My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.” – Cary Grant

121. “I just enjoy life now. I just enjoy every morning I get to wake up.” – Nas

122. “I wake up in the morning and my heart is light, man. It’s not heavy. I don’t have skeletons in the closet on their way out.” – Drake

123. “Every morning I wake up and thank God.” – Aaron Neville

124. “I am so blessed. I’ve been way over-blessed. At 64 years old, I look forward to going to bed every night so I can wake up in the morning and see what blessing is going to come my way that day. Because you never, ever know what God’s got in store for you.” – Paula Deen

100 Best Good Morning Quotes

125. “Every morning when I get up, I ask God what he wants me to do, ask him to lead me to the right people to help them.” – Richard Simmons

[erindoodless]

a magical kind of love

CHAPTER 1: A NEW BEGINNING FOR DANIEL HOWELL

author’s note: sorry for taking so long to write this! school is very tiring. i hope to post at least every sunday! let me know if you would like to be on my tag list so you will be notified of future chapters and works.

summary: dan gets accepted into hogwarts and meets a new friend on the hogwarts express.

type: modern phan hogwarts au

wc: 2.3k

honorable mention: to my beta readers for their amazing editing skills and being able to read it very last minute @violetofthesea @some-angelic-flowers ​ @hermit-with-friendz

read on ao3 or continue reading below!

As Dan walked through the train station, he felt nervous butterflies in the pit of his stomach. He never liked normal school so the last place he wanted to go was Hogwarts. The idea of being among loads of obnoxious, magical people his own age stressed him out. All he wanted to do was stay home and go on the internet for the rest of his life because it was the only place he could be himself.

While he strolled into the station, it started to rain. Dan didn’t like the rain very much, so he sped to the entrance of the building. This made him believe that going to a wizardly school was such a terrible idea that the sky started to cry. In reality, it was raining to represent a new phase in his life. A brand new beginning for him.

When Dan first got his letter, both he and his parents were very confused. Although neither of his parents are Muggles, and he had exhibited magic before, he lacked any passion for it. They were sure that Dan wouldn’t get accepted for that reason, but his letter came anyway, and their attitudes changed. They were very excited for the first time in a long time for their son. Even though he didn’t want to leave his bedroom, Dan felt pressured by them to go. His bedroom was the only place he found peace. Yet, despite all his complaints, his irritating parents still made him go.

Dan’s mother took him along to the station on the day he was sent to Hogwarts. Similar to him, his mother had mouse-brown hair and dark brown eyes. Dan imagined that he used to have a more trustworthy relationship with his mother. Unfortunately, that was lost as soon as both of his parents shared their opinions about certain topics that he disagreed with. For being just 11 years old, Dan was intelligent for his age because he was able to form opinionated thoughts about controversial ideas due to his free access to the internet. They walked along with the platform. Dan still felt upset about the whole situation while he pushed his loud trolley. He was glad that his parents let him bring his dog Colin along so he could have some sort of friend. He was happy that Hogwarts updated their policies to allow dogs.

“Oh, don’t look so miserable Daniel. This is an opportunity that most children don’t get! You should feel lucky,” his mother said to him with a disappointing look on her soft face. The only thing that brought Dan ease from his mother is her tendency to feel empathetic for him. But in this circumstance, he didn’t feel any love at all and his mother was just disappointing him. “I’m sure you will meet loads of new friends.”

Dan let out a heavy sigh. He never had good friends at his primary school so he wasn’t sure why his mother believed that Hogwarts would be any different. The one time he had a friend was in his 4th year of primary school. His 8-year-old self tried to kiss him after they had a conversation about kissing, but the boy ran off before anything could happen. He never heard from him again.

As Dan was thinking about his time at primary school and walking through the station, his mother suddenly stopped in front of a pillar while Dan is lost in thoughts about primary school. “You’re supposed to run into the pillar. Didn’t you read the letter at all? The train is at platform 9 and ¾,” his mother asked, annoyed at Dan’s disinterest obvious in her voice.

“No? Why would I read a letter about a place I don’t want to go to? And why do they make you go to a platform that doesn’t exist?” Dan replied, not bothering to hide his misery. “And I’ll probably regret going even though you all think I’ll feel guilty about not going.”

This was a drastic moment when Dan’s awful life was changed forever. Without listening to his mother’s response, he just ran into the stone pole with his trolley and Colin yelped.

And there he was. He was standing right in front of the Hogwarts Express with loads of other wide-eyed children and their supportive families. Since it was 10:55 am, and the train was due to leave at 11 am, he decided to just get on the enchanted train so he could avoid his crazy mother as much as possible.

Fortunately for him, he was able to find a seat in an empty compartment. He sat down with a sigh of relief. The compartment consisted of 4 seats, 2 shelves to put up luggage, and a giant window. The luxurious seats were so squishy that one could easily sink into them.

The brown-eyed boy set his stuff down and let his dog out of that horrid cage. He was fully against putting Colin in a cage because he knew he was perfectly capable of walking to the station, but Dan’s mother and father said he would have to put the dog in a cage or leave him at home. Since he found comfort in Colin, he chose to put him into the confinement even though it made him feel very guilty. When the small dog came out, he did a long stretch and laid down on the comfy seat. Dan began petting him lovingly.

He came prepared for the 9-hour train ride to Scotland with his tablet, earbuds, and downloaded the whole season of Yuri On Ice!!! ‘It took 4 hours to download the episodes so this better be worth it’, Dan thought to himself. Thankfully, he also remembered to bring his portable charger in case his tablet battery got too low.

Just as he was about to start the first episode, he heard a soft knock on the door. Startled, he looked up to see a pale-skinned boy with bright blue eyes and bright ginger hair in the slightly opened doorway. Dan was not expecting to have any visitors so this was quite a surprise for him.

“Do you mind if I sit with you? Everywhere else is full,” the pale boy stammered out. He had a strong Northern accent and seemed very shy. Dan hesitantly nodded and the boy quickly sat down.

Dan avoided eye contact with the boy as long as he could and took a few glimpses at him while he was looking out the window. He had lots of colors in his eyes. His soft, orange hair was styled in a quiff. And damn, he was pretty. Even though he was just 11, Dan knew that he found boys nicer to look at than girls. This was another part of him that he had never told anyone in fear of rejection besides, of course, the one friend he tried to kiss. Thankfully, his old friend was somewhat a good person and never told anyone about what happened, even if he made a point of not talking to Dan after. The other parts included his Tumblr URL and his love for anime.

A few minutes later, Dan felt light taps on his shoulder. He looked up and saw that the boy was trying to speak to him. He paused his anime and took an earbud out to listen to what he had to say. “Hey, uh… My name is Phil Lester. What’s yours?” The boy, now known as ‘Phil’, questioned, somewhat awkwardly, his face turning even more red than his hair. He had a high pitched voice, though that might’ve just been nerves. Dan thought it was cute.

“Dan,” was all he said while not looking at Phil in the face. He returned to his anime because he knew he would start crushing hard if they began to have a conversation.

In the next hour or so, Dan noticed Phil eyeing Colin while the dog stared right back at him. Dan took his earbud out again and said, “You can pet him if you want.” Phil looked up at Dan surprised while the brown-eyed boy still wasn’t looking at him in the eye. The pale boy timidly placed his small hand on Colin’s head and began gently stroking him. Dan had never seen someone stroke an animal so delicately in his whole 11 years of being alive. The dog was having the time of his life as Phil began petting his belly.

“Wow, he really likes you,” Dan said out of confusion. He was shocked because it usually takes a while for Colin to trust people.

“Well, I guess I do have a way with animals,” Phil replied with a small smile on his face. “I live on a farm with my parents filled with lots of unique creatures. Maybe if I get to know you better, I can bring you home one time! We have thestrals, house cats, thunderbirds, and loads more. My favorite would have to be my own thestral, Henry,” he babbled on. Dan was distracted by when Phil said he could take him home. Does that mean someone finally wanted to befriend Dan?

“Did you bring a pet with you?” asked Dan. He was curious because he was the other way around where his parents never told him much about the magical world. Since they assumed he would never get into Hogwarts, he didn’t have an opportunity to learn much about special creatures.

“Yes! I have my lovely pygmy puff. She’s a bit on the crazy side, especially since a dog is here, so I’m going to leave her in her cage for now. I’ll show you her another time,” Phil smiled while looking at the small cage.

“Anyway, what are you watching on the screen thing? I’ve been curious about it the whole train ride,” the pale boy questioned. Dan wondered why the boy was suddenly being so talkative after sitting for an hour and not doing or saying anything. “Is that Muggle technology? My parents would never let me have technology.”

Dan was astonished to hear this. “You mean you’ve never watched anime, been on Tumblr, read fanfiction…?” Phil shook his head and had a puzzled look on his face. “Alright then. Come over here and we can watch this anime together.”

Phil blushed a bit again and went across to sit next to Dan. He was more fascinated by Dan’s tablet than anything else. He had never seen a piece of technology in this life besides the few times his parents took him out in public. Colin laid between the two boys while the blue-eyed boy was delightfully petting him again. “So, what exactly is an anime?” Phil inquired. Dan was even more shocked to hear this.

“Japanese cartoon. I need to show you everything now,” Dan responded. Phil let out a squeaky giggle and it made Dan’s checks turn deep red because of how angelic it sounded. “This one I download for the train is Yuri On Ice!!! It’s a competitive figure skating anime and it’s super gay.” That was another word Dan had learned from the internet. He had discovered all the different sexualities.

Phil looked even more excited now because if it’s a cheerful story, then it must be a great story. His parents had told him very little about the Muggle world and they didn’t want him to be involved with technology. All they wanted was their little boy to be a happy farmer. He spent the majority of his childhood reading educational magic books on the different creatures and plants on his family’s farm. He remembers reading the word ‘gay’ in one of his books and it was used to describe pure bliss.

“Oh, I love happy stories,” Phil stated with a small grin.

“I mean, this story has some sad bits. What makes you assume it’s a happy story?” Dan asked in a perplexed voice.

“Because it’s gay.”

Dan burst out laughing. “You know what, nevermind. You’ll learn eventually.” This made Phil even more bewildered than ever, but he just went along with it. Dan gave Phil one of his earbuds and showed him where to put it because he was originally trying to put it in his nostrils. Then they finally began watching. It turned out to be very depressing at the beginning. In Phil’s opinion, it wasn’t very gay. However, throughout the 22 minutes, it became quite funny with all the characters’ dramatic reactions.

After watching the first episode, Dan took out his earbud, and Phil did the same. “So, what did you think?” Dan asked in curiosity.

“I thought it was not happy at all. But I like the characters. And the theme song was good,” Phil responded, still unsure of the whole anime thing. They continued to watch the remaining episodes. Phil began obsessing over Yuri because of their similar love for dogs.

About 5 hours had gone by when they finally finished the anime. They had mini discussions between each episode so it took much longer than Dan expected. They still had 3 hours left on the train. The boys were struggling to think of something they could do or talk about because they didn’t want to be bored out of their minds.

While Dan was thinking of what they could do next, he felt something lay onto his shoulder. He looked over at Phil and realized he had fallen asleep with his head on Dan’s shoulder. Dan let out a sigh and accepted that he wouldn’t be able to move for a long time. He was feeling pretty tired as well so he rested his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes.

He slowly fell asleep, happy that he possibly made a new friend.

authors note: please reblog and like if you enjoyed reading! again, let me know if you want on to be the tag list!