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deleteddewewted · 3 years

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Incel!Shinsou x F!Reader fanfic idea (Part 2)

So here we are, Incel!Shinsou is back and this time with a bit of growth that he needs to make independently (While thinking about the reader of course. Thank you so much to @blossominglark for sending in such a lovely message! Also here you can find a small explanation as to why i even started the Incel!Shinsou series.)

"I think I want you. I think you're bad. I think you're good, it's like the love I never had. I think I need you. Oh God, it's true. I think I'm falling and there's nothing I can do" - Beetlejuice Chill by Life After Youth

Part 1: Incel! Shinsou x F!Reader

Part 3: Incel!Shinsou x F!Reader (1/2)

How difficult could it be? To forget that you ever existed... thats what's haunting Shinsou ever since the conversation you two had a few days ago. He cant seem to focus anymore, everything just reeks of you. (His own bedroom where you two would sit on the floor and work on your project together. You would laugh at something that came on the television, every time resulting in his face heating up and heart beating harder at the sound, the beautiful sound, of your laughter. It doesn't feel the same anymore. He cant sit or sleep there anymore.) Shinsou starts speaking with Aizawa more, to be honest its not like Aizawa gave him that much of a choice. He needed to understand what was happening with his son and you in order to help or bring some constructive input.

Shinsou goes on and on about how he mocked you to his "friends". When questioned on his "friends" he said that they were all telling him that you needed to be taught how to be a "proper woman" the "perfect girl for them".

("Hitoshi what-...why would you...?"

"I don't know! It made sense when i was young and- i... i dont understand how or why and...please just- help me i dont understand!"

"It's ok, it's ok, come here." Aizawa hugs Shinsou tightly. He starts running his hand over Shinsou's hair comforting him.

"What did you show them? What did you tell them about...her, exactly?") A mess of tears and regrets, thats what Shinsou is. A puddle which he somehow drowned you in out of a bitter rage that had nothing to do with you.

Aizawa finally holding a grasp as to how Shinsou's mind worked, he couldn't help but feel defeated. He neglected his son so much he became bitter and resentful towards the wrong people, the wrong person. (Aizawa only ever told Shinsou that his mother moved away from them because it was "too much for her". Young Shinsou couldn't grasp why his mom would leave him, but again he never really asked questions since he saw how upset it made his dad. "Dont worry Hitoshi, ill be here for you no matter what. Got it, problem child?") An intervention needs to be made now. To prevent even more damage, to keep his son safe and his sons ex-friend safe.

"Hitoshi? The posts and things you put online, you need to delete everything now." Urgency was a must, damage control needed to happen now. Who knows if Shinsou wrote about where he lived, where you lived and studied at, if he showed those "friends" of his your face. Who knows how much information he put out there to a bunch of strangers about you. "Ok, ok. Let me delete everything...yeah...thats-yeah...makes sense." He's slipping, Shinsou is slipping into a pit of shock and disgust, he needs to fix things and that only starts by wiping away years of miss informed opinions disguised as truths.

Everything is gone. No more accounts. No more pictures. No more you. He didn't make any announcements or even address why he was wiping everything. He didn't answer the piles of questions flooding his inbox about why he was doing all of this, he just didn't care anymore. He couldn't find you either. No account on any platform with any signs of you. (He should have asked for your socials, but knowing where you two started off at he thinks its better that you two didn't. It saved you from his incessant torment he saw himself being capable of.)

Week one came and went. You didn't show up for classes and people started to take notice.

"Does anyone know why y/n isn't at school anymore? Is she sick?" Midoriya asked one day. Everyone kind of just looked at each other hoping that someone might have an answer. Be it that no one other then Shinsou was in the same class as you, everyone in his friend group knew about you since you where always nice despite the way you presented clothing wise. (The clothing didn't matter nor did the labels, you were still so welcoming to everyone. Hell, you even welcomed Monoma and that guy is considered psycho by everyone.) Shinsou couldn't do anything but listen to his friends (Midoriya, Shoto, Denki, Mina, Iida, and Ururaka) go on about how nice you were. How they miss you. He misses you . He ruined this, he ruined your school experience and pushed you to lose the friends you had because of his own ignorance. He forced you to choice between showing up to school and dealing with him or not coming in at all and losing the friends you had because of him.

The Sports Festival was coming up soon, here all the students would compete against each other to show off their skills. The Festival acts more as an opportunity for the different Courses to fight each other since its focus centers on the physical strength and wellbeing of the students instead of their study of focus. It also helps with publicity by letting UA show off their students to the general public. (Shinsou didn't understand why the school would have a Sports Festival. UA was better known for being STEM and Art focused which meant that many of the students only had to take 1 year of P.E. instead of the 3 years other schools required.

"So again, what's the purpose of this?"

"Its just a chance for the different Courses to bully each other, and for the General Course to get mocked." responded Togeike. Be it that she never spent time with Shinsou, they both had a mutual attitude and just stayed away from each other out of disinterest. It wasn't after Shinsou's personality changed did she feel more comfortable being around him and started speaking to him casually throughout the day.

"So what does the Business Course do during-"

"Hey, didn't you and y/n work on that project together?" This caught Shinsou of guard. For the past week its all been about you and how you hadn't been coming to class. (You haunt him even outside of school, the guilts too much for him at times.)

"Yeah...what about it." he snarls. Just because he's changed in appearance and largely in attitude, that doesn't mean he's over the way he treats people. Cant she get to the point already-

"Geez man, i just wanted to ask if you needed her number." That...was off. Why would she assume that he needed your number?

"Why would you give me her number? Don't you think that as former project partners i would already have her-"

"You're clearly upset about her not being here, so shut up. Either take it or leave it, jackass." she bit back. How did she know? Shinsou has always had a resting bitch face which made it hard to read his emotions. How did she manage to figure it out? (God he was an asshole!)

"Yeah, please....i'm sorry. I could-"

"Please shut the fuck up, i don't want an apology from you. Take it and fix this shit. I hate seeing people mope and you're pretty much dying in a pit here." Togeike really gives no fucks and she was tired of the purple haired boy looking like a kicked puppy. She assumed it had something to do with you. When you started skipping class, Shinsou also started to look upset and wouldn't speak that often. It wasn't like Shinsou was shy, he just didn't see the need to speak all the time. So to see him become even more silent was concerning.)

He left school that day with a skip to his step. He has your number! He has a way of contacting you! Yet, he still knew that having your number wouldn't fix anything. You left him alone and it wouldn't be fair for him to barge back into your life without proving he's improving, that he's actually deserving of you're friendship at least....

The Sports Festival.....

He can prove himself to you there....

Everyone will see it, every student at UA has to be there for credit....you'll have to be there. You'll also have to participate for the start of it, so you'll have to interact with someone.

(This was it)

This was so much fun to write! Lets give this a slow build up to give him proper character development and redemption. The next part will be the Sports Festival and what he plans on doing to get you back. Let's set up that his intention is too for one, make an impression on the school for when he decides to transfer to the Art Course but also to make an impression on you and get you to notice him in a positive light. Our poor incel is trying his best ok....

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ellewritesathing · 3 years

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Infernal IX

Summary: In your sleepy little town of Greendale, nothing ever slept for long. And ever since October, everything felt like it was waking up. Everything except for you, that is. One teensy trip to Hell (and an infuriatingly cute guy) later and suddenly you felt wide awake.

Word-count: 2k+

Masterlist Prev. | Part 9

A/N: sorry for dropping of the face of the earth!! i’ve been super overwhelmed with uni but here we are 💕 enjoy the angst

When you went to her for help to face the Absolute Dark, Lilith had told you that you could feed on the dark and absorb its power. Even after unbinding your powers, you were left with more power than ever before. You were warned about the dangers of power, but no one told you how consuming it would be. There wasn't a moment that went by that you didn't draw on the Darkness, and almost all you could think about was testing the limits of your power. Every day was a new attempt at mastery, sometimes in the form of controlling a jerk who went too far and other times by tearing through the pages of a grimoire. You'd missed school. You hadn’t talked to your friends in days. For the first time in your life, you were selfish.

You thought Caliban would have liked the new, rebellious version of you better - Lilith certainly did - but he’d been acting strangely ever since the incident at the Paramount. He was more closed-off with you than before, more hesitant with what he said or did to you. At first, his concern for your safety was amusing, but now it just infuriated you. You felt watched and alone even when you were with him.

If he didn’t trust you anymore, then Caliban should just leave.

The flame on the wick exploded, and you cursed as you shook out your burnt palm and scowled at the ruined ritual in front of you. Exploring the Celestial Realm would have to wait.

“Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am bound upon a wheel of fire.”

“That mine own tears do scald like molten lead.” With a sigh, you lowered your palm to your side and turned to face the familiar voice in the corner of your room. “King Lear.”

Caliban’s mouth turned up into a smile. “You’ve been reading.” He leaned easily against your doorframe, seemingly forgetting how your last interaction had blown up.

“I’ve had time,” you said. You crossed your arms over your chest as you walked closer. “What are you doing here?”

Caliban shrugged and stepped closer. “Quiet day in Hell. I thought we could talk.”

“And what do you want to talk about today?”

Caliban reached a hand out to the side of your neck, but you didn’t move. His touch was frosty. “Theo says you haven’t been at school. He was worried about you.”

Your voice caught in your throat. The Darkness stirred at the idea of your friends talking about you behind your back. “I didn’t know you two were so close.”

“Well, since Rosalind is dating Huckleberry Finn, so Theo is my favorite…” Caliban sucked in a breath when you didn’t respond to his joke. He dropped his hand and looked down for a moment. “Have you given any more thought to my offer?”

“Your offer to fix me?”

“That isn't what I said.”

“But it’s what you meant.” You poked his chest angrily. “Because you think there’s something wrong with me.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you.” Caliban’s easy sense of calm faltered as he reached for your hand. He wasn't used to being vulnerable or trying so hard. “Please, will you just listen to me for a moment? This much Darkness is dangerous. It’s changing you.”

“Have you ever thought this is how I’m supposed to be?” You stepped closer and lowered your voice. “I’m Lilith's heir. I’m made of darkness.”

“This isn’t who you are.”

“Yes, it is!”

The candles behind you reignited, their flames exploding to touch your ceiling. You ripped your hands away and stumbled back. Even with all the arguing you'd done and all Darkness in your veins, you’d never yelled at Caliban before then. You breathed heavy, unsteady breaths, trying to get your heart to stop racing and your hands to stop shaking.

Despite his furrowed brow and stormy eyes, Caliban was rooted to the spot just in front of your door. His hand twitched to help you, but he didn’t make any other movements.

“There is nothing wrong with me, do you understand? I’m not broken.”

Caliban’s lips parted, but lightning cracked in your room before he got the chance to speak. The candles were snuffed out in the blinding light, and for a moment, the room was deathly still. The hair on your arms stood on end.

Lilith’s cry brought you back to reality. She clutched her ginormous belly in one hand and clung to one of the minions with her other. When she opened her eyes, instead of explaining, she zeroed in on Caliban. “What is he doing here?”

“He was just leaving,” you said before he could answer. As angry as you were with him, you weren’t going to let your mother hurt him.

Caliban smiled, but it wasn’t as warm as before; his smile was something rueful and tight-lipped. He bowed, twirling his hand as he did, and said, “As you wish,” before disappearing in Hellfire.

It would have hurt less if he stuck a dagger in your chest and twisted.

Lilith screamed again as she crumpled to her knees. Glaring up at you, she forced out, “Something’s wrong with my baby. Take me to Zelda Spellman.”

---

Growing up, it had always been you and your dad. He taught you how to tie your shoes, tried an awfully intricate hairstyle for your first day of school, and read you a story every night before bed. As much as you loved him, it always felt as though your family was missing something. Having long given up on your mom ever coming home, you asked him if you could have a little brother. He promised that one day, when you’d probably forgotten that you asked in the first place, you’d get a little brother.

It was an easy lie to get you to stop asking about having a family - except, as you held the sleeping lump in your arms, you realized that your dad never lied to you. This perfect, troublesome little lump was all you’d ever wanted.

“What do you want to name him?” Lilith asked. You turned away from the window to face her as she pulled herself into a sitting position. She winced slightly as she did, more out of annoyance than pain.

“What?”

Rolling her eyes, she repeated, “What do you want to name him?”

“I don’t know,” you said quietly. Looking down at his face, it was hard to believe he came into this world without a name. It was hard to believe that you’d only had him a few hours at most. “Michael?”

“Less angelic,” Lilith critiqued, taking a long sip from the healing elixir Hilda had given her. Her disdain for herbalism was clear on the look of her face.

You huffed, rocking slightly on your heel to keep him sleeping. “His name is Adam.”

The words tumbled out of your mouth before you thought about it, sounding offhand but packing a punch. Lilith’s grip on the glass turned her fingers bone white. After an icy second, she repeated the name to herself. A wicked smile covered her features. “Adam,” she hummed. “I could agree to that, on the condition that-”

A knock sounded at the door and Lilith froze. Whoever was outside knocked again and you heard Zelda mumbling as the door handle turned and Lilith told them to come inside. She pulled you and Adam closer to her side. Uncharacteristically patient for her, Lilith waited for the witches to shuffle inside and explain that the Lords of Hell were asking to pay tribute to Adam.

The Uninvited had been the Darkness' family. When they were trapped in the alternate reality of Sabrina's dollhouse, the Darkness had lashed out with a white-hot fury, pushing angrily at your ribs and trying to break out. The thought of Adam being taken away from made the Darkness just as angry, but the scary thing was that it made you even angrier.

“Pay tribute?” Lilith scoffed, reaching to take Adam from your arms. Reluctantly, you let her take him. “They are here for one reason and one reason only: to kill my baby.” Before either of the Spellmans could respond, she added, “The baby you just delivered, Zelda Spellman.”

Zelda knotted her hands together. “Very well. Let’s give them the welcome they deserve.” Turning to the witches, “Ladies, if you’ll follow me.”

“Actually…” you stepped forward and tilted your chin up. “I’d like to have a word with them.”

Zelda faltered for the first time in all the years you’d known her. She might have known about your powers, but it must have been difficult for her to process that the child that brought her dandelions each spring was a demon. “Alright,” she said with a nod. “We will be right beside you.”

With a nod of your own, you led the way to the Academy gates. Your chest buzzed at the idea of being one of these witches, butterflies fluttering through the Darkness with all the excitement. Standing in front of the Lords, you clenched your tingling fingertips. They were as unpleasant to look at as the day you met them.

“What do you want?”

They looked at each other for a moment before one of them nodded and the other said, “Word has reached the Infernal Palace that a babe was born of Lucifer’s concubine, Lilith. We come bearing gifts?”

“Aren’t there supposed to be three of you?” With each word, you took a step down the gates. Pointing a finger at the gifts in their hands, you asked, “With gold, frankincense, and myrrh instead of these … trinkets?”

The other one pulled the box close to himself. Asmodeus, if you remembered right. “Bite your tongue, you insolent child. We come at the Dark Lord’s behest.”

You tilted your head to the side. Letting the Darkness seep into your veins, you told him. “Bite your tongue.” He frowned, blinking slowly. “I said: Bite your tongue, and because you didn’t do it right the first time, now I want you to bite it off.”

His voice rose, but all that came out were a few strangled noises before Asmodeus’ eyes glazed over, the box fell to the ground, and blood oozed out of his mouth. He spat his tongue into his hands, coughing and trying to speak, as Beelzebub cursed you.

He didn't get very far before Darkness tinged your vision as you turned to him. You didn’t have to speak this time to control him, just wave a hand and watch him fall to his knees.

“We will not leave-” he grit his teeth as he struggled against the weight of your will “-without the babe.”

Bending down, you grabbed one of the horns on the top of his head to pull his face up to meet your own. “No.” You smiled. “No, I don’t think you’ll be leaving here at all.”

You threw his head to the side and took a step back, watching Asmodeus choke on his own blood and Beelzebub writhe. The Darkness filled your body, and the world grew so still that your heart didn’t dare disturb it by beating. In a cold, distant voice, you recited your most familiar spell.

“Ater ignus, fusce fume.” Beelzebub yelled. You clenched a fist to force his mouth shut. “Te evoco ut potentium tuam monstres.” A spark ignited, right between each of their shoulder blades. “Cupidibus flammis hic veni.” The flames licked their backs, growing taller and darker by the second. “Caelo sub isto, harc arborem consumo.” The puddle of Asmodeus’ blood caught alight, illuminating his wretched face as it burned. “Lucem tenebrasque tuas monstra. Impetuum tuum evoco ad devorandum.” Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes and let the Darkness consume all three of you. “Hanc arborem ac omnes hospitas devora.”

The flames erupted in front of you, blinding your eyes and knocking you off your feet. You were dimly aware of the witches screaming your name and the rush of heels against cobblestones as something sticky and cold dripped down your face. Not tears. Or blood.

Only Darkness.

Tagged: @caliban-is-my-girl @t-a-i-l-o-r-m-a-d-e @music-movies @miss--moose @marrypuffsstuff @harryscarolinaa @igorsbby @foji2000 @hxlalokidottir @artaxerxesthegreat @thxmagic @luquincy @strawberriesandknives @xealia @hotmessindisguise @acciomaximoff @reheated-coffee @olivia-west-allen @sweetrogers @shelby-x @perseny-blog @millie-753 @luneerius @shizzybarnaclee @lettherebelovex @drrramaaaqweeen @throughparisallthroughrome @ietss @thebookwormlife @mechanicalanimalz @mariamermaid @nqbmf @roxytheimmortal @shephard17895 @andie-kathleen @clockworks-world-to-fandoms @blondeeee-e @piensa-bonito @supportstudies @bookishaficionado @perfectlysane24 @sophia-of-sass-gard @insomniac-nerd-posts-things (struck through wouldn’t tag)

#Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #caos #caos rewrite #Infernal #Caliban #caliban x reader

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mysterioh · 4 years

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The Ignorant Beauty and The Beast of New York - Ch. 14

PAIRING: MOB!STEVE ROGERS X READER

SYNOPSIS: Y/N is an exhausted bio major. Steve is danger with a capital DANGER. She thinks he’s a sarcastic prick with an impressive knowledge of art history. He thinks she’s cute even if she’s only running on one brain cell. All he wants is a single date, but she’s adamant upon denying.

Warnings: mentions of death and light depressive thoughts.

A/N: I reached 400 followers today! Which is my first month anniversary! Wow thank you so much for all the love! 🥰

Masterlist

Stay With Me

Steve waits in his car, tapping his fingers along to the beat of a lazy tune he was humming. His fingers brushed along the four ring symbol embedded into the center of the steering wheel of his Audi R8.

The windows were down letting the heated rays of the sun shine on his arm lining the window pane.

It was one of those weird days again. A clear sunny day in the middle of January. Being an avid lover of hating the cold, he wasn't complaining, but he knew that an out-of-place summer day in midwinter was a foreboding omen that Mother Nature was brewing a deadly storm.

He sighs looking to his side and out the window to see students walk by. Some in a hurry and others not so much. His lips twist into a crooked smile when he catches a few passersby ogling the curves of his car like she's some hot babe on the beach. Some of them even spotting the Adonis sitting inside, lowering their glasses to get a real good look. He liked the attention.

Steve was never taught to be prideful. What was his today could be someone else's tomorrow. But as a rich man, he couldn't not show off a bit. And where else to show off than in front of his girl's school?

Well, she wasn't "his girl" yet but he liked to think she was. No harm in that? Right?

Steve sits back in his seat folding his hands over his chest while smiling to himself. He texted you earlier saying he'd pick you up from class today for the sole reason of saying he missed you.

You obviously argued with a burning blush on your cheeks, saying you could go home on your own. He only replied with a "I'll pick you up at three."

It's fifteen minutes past three and he's wondering where you are. He gets out of the car to stretch his legs and get a good dose of Vitamin D. He leans against the car, one pocket in his hand, the other holding his phone, thumb tapping away until he finds your contact.

"You better not be dipping." He texts.

The typing bubble pops up almost right away.

"Don't get your panties all in a bunch. I just had to make study group plans."

He smiles, starting to type something snarky. He stops half way when you send another text.

"God, I can see your hideous face from all the way over here. 👹"

He looks up and sees you walking over, bag slung over one shoulder with a textbook in your hand. He smiles and waves as you approach him with two girls.

"Hey, loser," you greeted with a lazy salute.

He snorts, slipping his phone into his pocket. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" he retorted.

Your lips form into a pout and you huff through your nose.

"Are you going to introduce us to your friend, Y/N?" One of the girls asked with a sly grin. She was pale skinned with jet black hair and striking blue eyes.

"Oh, um, this is Steve," you pointed at him. "Steve, these are my friends. Jane and Darcy," you introduced by motioning to each one.

"Hi nice to meet ya," he waved.

"Sooo," Darcy drawled. "Are you Y/N's boyfriend?"

Steve's cheeks tint a light pink and the girls don't miss it. They chuckled as he started spewing out random words. "Uh well uhm, I don't–"

"Tsk, tsk, Y/N," Darcy teased, "you leading him on?"

"It's not like that!" You retorted, a bit loud.

"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before," Jane spoke up. "Are you a model or something?" She asked.

Steve laughs heartily. "No, no, I'm not, but thanks for the compliment."

"Back off, Jane!" Darcy exclaimed, a common trace of mischief streaking her tone. "That's Y/N's man!"

"Darcy!" You grumbled, clutching the book in your hand tighter and ready to swing at her if she didn't shut up.

"Oh my gosh, of course, I'm so sorry," Jane chuckled. You sink behind your book as Steve scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment. "You two make a really cute couple," she complimented.

Steve beams at her words. "Thanks!" He exclaims. You glare at him, eyes shooting daggers at him. Sadly, it does nothing to stop him from smiling like an idiot. Nothing ever really did.

"Woah, fancy car you got here," Darcy remarked, sliding her hand against jetblack metal. "Imported?"

"All the way from Germany," Steve boasted with a smile. He was proud of his baby.

Darcy smirks at his tone, she looks over to you. "You have good taste," she winks and Steve can't help but let out a chuckle.

You swing your book at her, face red from her constant teasing. "Oh shut up!"

She takes a step back, laughing like a maniac. Jane hooks her arm in Darcy's.

"C'mon, Darcy, let's go," she tugs on her arm with a wicked grin splayed on her face. "We don't want Y/N, to be late for her date."

"It's not–oh forget it," you gave up, your shoulders dropping in defeat.

"Have fun, you two," Jane waves goodbye.

"You two need a ride?" He offered.

"No, not this time, but maybe the next," Jane replied with a smile as they headed off.

You groaned quietly. "Shall we go now?" Steve asked with a smile.

"I guess so," you nodded, walking to the other side. You open the door and get inside. "Sorry, they're kind of annoying."

"No, I like them," Steve shakes his head, starting the car.

"Like dissolves with like, I suppose," you shrugged.

Steve rolls his eyes as he shifts into drive and gets out of the curb. "Alright, Princess, where to?"

"Home would be nice," you replied, looking out the window, secretly swooning because of his nickname.

He boldly takes your hand resting on the textbook in your lap and tugs on it gently. You look over at him. It’s a sight to behold, one hand over the steering wheel and the other in yours. It's a picture you like and there's a strange feeling of intimacy in it all.

He shares his eyes between you and the street as he asks a question.

"The long way or the short way?"

You chuckled, wishing he wasn't so cute.

"The long way, please."

"Do they call you Godfather?" you asked without any context.

Steve chuckles, walking beside you in the park beside the East River and under the Brooklyn Bridge.

"No, that'd be kinda weird if they did," he replied. "Besides that's an Italian thing and I'm Irish."

"Right, I guess my view of the mob is very skewed," you said.

"Maybe just a little," he chuckles and measuring with his hand.

"So when did you actually start?" you asked. "Like how'd you know this was what you wanted to do?"

"My family's been running the Brooklyn mob for ages," he informs. "I was the next in line so I had to take it."

"You were forced into it?"

"No, not like that, it's more of a duty, an honor so to speak," he replied. "It just seems kind of wrong if I left everything my ancestors built to screw around."

"I get that," you nodded.

"Does it bother you?" He asked.

"What?"

"Me being in the mob," he elaborated, feeling somewhat ashamed.

"No, not really," you shrugged with a shake of the head. "Okay, maybe when I'm being chased down the street it does," you said, a chuckle coloring your words and he chuckles along. "But other than that I'm alright. I believe you shouldn't really judge a book by its cover," you smiled at him and he follows.

You skipped around him and over to the side of the path, stepping onto the blocks that held the fence along the river. Your fingers curl around the metal rods, letting you balance yourself on top.

Your hair twirls in the briny breeze that passes by as hues of orange and pink begin to paint the sky. Steve stands beside you, his back to the river, head turned to look up at you.

"So what about your family?" You asked.

Steve tenses for a second. "Just me,” he replies with a lopsided small. “My mom died of cancer when I was a kid. So my dad raised me by himself,” he turns over and rests his elbows on the rail.

“He never got married again?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “He didn’t want to. He used to say no one could ever be Sarah and he didn’t want anyone else but her.”

“He really loved her, didn’t he?” you said.

Steve turned to you with a smile, the wind blowing through his blonde locks. “He did,” he smiled sadly, “They’re happy together now.”

“What happened to him?”

“He was killed a while back. Got shot through the heart three times,” Steve told you. Truth is, he hated talking about it.

“Because he was the kingpin,” you connected the dots. He nodded and a cold shiver runs down your spine. The reality of the mob really started to sink in.

“Don't you ever feel afraid? That they might do the same to you?”

Steve raised his shoulder in a half shrug. “Not really. I've been in the mob all my life. I’ve never really felt like I needed to be afraid,” he explained, “Besides it’s not like I really have much to stay for, if I left I don’t think it’d really change the course of things.”

Your lips part to speak but there aren’t any words. Steve never seemed like the one who’d have such grim thoughts. He was cheerful and warm as if he didn’t have a care in the world. But anyone could wear a mask. That was something you knew all too well.

Steve notices sadness written on your face and he takes your hand in his. “But lately I’ve been thinking,” he brushes his thumb over of your hand, admiring how soft it is, “that might not be entirely true.”

“It isn’t,” you replied with a shy smile, “I can name a couple of people that’d want you to stay. Me, being the first.”

He smiles with a quiet chuckle, pulling you closer by the hand. “Yeah? I thought you hated me?”

“No, I don’t hate you,” you retorted with a roll of the eyes, “I don’t really know what is that I feel when it comes to you but it’s certainly not that.”

Your back hits the railing behind as he turns to stand in front of you. He gives you a smile that is so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness and it sends an unexpected warmth through you. “You’re really cute when you talk like that,”

Your cheeks burn bright, laughing at him. “You know you’re the first guy to ever make me blush so hard,” you told him with a shy smile.

Steve dips his head, leaning into your space. “I guess that makes me special?”

“Maybe just a little,” you mused. He rests his forehead against yours and the two of you start giggling like children.

When you look at him, Steve smiles warmly like the morning light, but there’s something solemn swimming in his eyes.

“Y/N, about what happened that night," he recalled.

“Yeah?”

“Um, I-” he tries to find the words. “It’s just. It’s not going to go away. They’ll come back and it could get worse. Maybe not tomorrow but someday,” he warned. “What I’m really trying to say is that as long as you’re with me it’ll be dangerous.”

“Are you telling me to leave?” you asked, your voice laced with worry.

“No," he shakes his head in denial. He says it too fast, maybe a bit needy. "Never," he intertwined his fingers with yours. “Only when you want to. But I’m hoping you’ll stay.”

A small smile forms on your face. “I want to stay," you replied. Your hands squeeze his tightly in assurance, keeping him from floating off into space. "With you."

Steve's heart fluttered like a butterfly caught in a heavy gust of wind. Battered back and forth between thick walls, just trying to make it through without falling.

Steve smiles wide, the blush on his cheeks growing evident. Who would've thought the kingpin could blush so much? Let alone fall so hard for one girl when he had a million on his tail.

He had the world in his hand but all he really wanted was you. And it's like his dream was finally coming true.

"Besides, if anyone tries to mess with me I'll be sure to give 'em what they came for," you remarked, playfully punching him in the chest.

“A real Brooklyn Baby," he jested with a laugh.

“Oh shut up," you retorted, a chuckle coloring your words.

“Make me," he goaded with a grin.

You pulled him gently by the collar of his shirt, bringing him closer until his lips hover over yours. Your breath brushes along his lips, but you don't make another move. You're teasing him and it drives him crazy. Crazy to the point he forgets all that's around him.

Unable to bear the gap in between, Steve takes your face in his hands and pulls you into a bruising kiss. Your arms wrap around his neck by instinct, pulling him in deeper.

By the cool currents of the East River and under the fading heat of the setting sun, you feel warm in his arms and loved in his embrace like there's nowhere else in the world you could ever truly belong.

TAG LIST (OPEN): @ashwarren32 @scuzmunkie @chuckennuggets1213 @rootcrop @siriusement @savedbystark @little-dark-empress @imsonick @great-goddess-of-sin @calwitch @achishisha @captainchrisstan @thirstybunz @littlebees-things @voltage-my2dlove @booktease21 @rinkashirikitateku @harleyscheekheart @allegra-writes @dancingunicorn113 @miraclesoflove

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years

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Survey #350

“let’s play a love game, play a love game / do you want love, or you want fame? / are you in the game?”

Who was your first good kiss with? Jason. Would you kiss this person again? I know I fucking would and I hate it more than I could possibly express. Name something that is on your bedroom wall? Lots of artwork, mostly of meerkats. What accessory do you want in your bedroom? I need another desk to put stuff on. If you could paint your walls any color what would it be? Something pastel. Maybe like, peach. Soft and warm and would really bring light to the room. What does your phone case look like? It's just this boring purple one that came with the phone. What do you take the most pictures of? My camera roll says my pets, hahaha. What is the point of Twitter for you? Liking Mark's shit lmao. What does your planner look like? I don’t have one. If you get into an argument what is it usually about? My anxiety, I think. What are you always in the mood for? Ummm probably a car ride where I can control the music in the passenger seat. It is very, very rare I'll turn that opportunity down. What’s the last emergency you dealt with? I don't really know; I'm thankfully not in these situations very much, especially when you're cooped up at home. I probably haven't been actually engaged in an emergency since I had to call 911 for my mom before she found out about her cancer. She was basically immobile from agony in her abdomen. Do you have a son? I'm perfectly happy without a son, or kids period. Are you married? No. Have you ever worn a suit? I haven't. Have you ever had to call 911? Twice for Mom. How many keys are on your key-ring? Just one for the house. What’s the last thing you created? An RP post would count as art creation, I'd say. Who are your closest friends? Sara, Girt, and uh... Well, they might be it as far as friends I consider truly close to me. I have a few other people I consider good friends, but we're just not like... on that "close" level, you know? Lisa is maybe another, and Lyndsey perhaps, both WoW friends. Are you ready to have a family? I hate that "have a family" tends to mean get married and have kids, which I'm guessing is what you're implying. If that's the case, no, given I don't want kids and am not fit to get married right now. I'm not even with anyone. I'm content right now with just living with my mom and my two pets, who are children well enough to me. Have you ever taken a DNA test? No. Do you have a family cemetery? No. Would you say you have a high sex drive or not so much? *shrugs* I think it's pretty normal. How do you feel about swallowing pills? What do you mean how do I "feel" about it? I just do it if I need to. What animal is the scariest in your opinion? Some kind of bug, probably. Giant centipedes creep me the fuck out, for one, and I've heard their bite is incredibly painful. I've also always been very afraid of Australia's funnel web spiders since watching some show on Animal Planet when I was younger; I think it scarred me for life, aha. And let's not forget the murder hornets. No thnx, rather die. :') Have you ever questioned your sanity? Way more than once, my friend. How do you feel about people wearing fur coats? Are you for or against it? I am VIOLENTLY against it unless it is for survival in extreme climates and you don't have access to other material. That aside, there is NO way you could possibly convince me that it's okay to wear the fur of something once living on yourself for ~fashion~. What’s the worst thing a friend has either done or said to you? Let's not go here. What’s fake about you? Like extensions, fake nails, botox etc. Nothing. If you got the chance, would you audition for a reality show? No. Have you ever gotten into a Facebook fight? Haha, yeah. Favorite flavor of jelly bean? Probably watermelon or strawberry. I'm not a massive jellybean fan. Do you use Tinder? If yes, have you ever met up with someone you matched? I've never tried it, no. What book/movie has made you cry the hardest? Either The Notebook or Titanic. Something you feared as a kid but don’t anymore? Thunderstorms. What’s your skincare routine? I don't really have one. Just wash it with water in the shower and then use a washcloth when I feel the need. Would you rather have a snake or a tarantula as a pet? I want both, but I prefer snakes. What is something you are NOT looking forward to? I both am and am not looking forward to my second Covid vaccine because it's notoriously worse than the first; the only bright side to it is that after the potential side effects blow over, I'm job hunting. What do you usually do right when you wake up? Check the time on my phone. Would you rather eat your pizza cold or hot? Hot, but I like both. Who taught you how to swim? Dad, I think? Can you do push-ups? No. Do you like Doritos? Yesssss. Who is the closest friend that you live by? I don't know. Have you ever banged your head against something? I've had two concussions before, so, y'know. Have you ever jumped on a trampoline? Yeah, I loved that as a kid. Do you like watching scary movies? Yeah. Has anyone ever told you that you have a big butt? No, considering I have like no ass, rip. Has one of your friends ever tried to "hook you up?" Ugh, yes. Do you prefer landmarks or street names when being given directions? Landmarks, by a mile. Although, I'm super bad with directions, so it probably wouldn't really matter much. Do you read the prologues in the beginnings of books? Yeah, you got to. Does your house have more than one fireplace? No. What was your favourite gym class moment? The one and only thing I liked about gym as a kid was when you took one of those rainbow tarps and made like, an air bubble underneath to make this awesome dome everyone sat in. Ya missed out if you didn't do that. Do you think that ocean boardwalks are fun? Yeah. Do you dread when people ask you to sign their yearbooks? Not at all; I was always flattered, knowing they cared enough to want mine. Apple Jacks: yay or nay? I looove those. Do you have a favorite Scooby-Doo movie? Haha yeah, I think it's the second one? Such iconic scenes. It's the one with the Mary Jane girl that Shaggy liked... oh, jokes that went over your head as a kid. Who were your last 3 Facebook messages from and what do they say? I'm too lazy to list the convos themselves, but the people involved are my friends Chelsea and Ian, as well as a friend's mother. Do you turn your phone off at night when you go to sleep? No. It's always on vibrate, and I just turn the brightness way down. What is the sexual orientation of the last person you talked to? She's straight. What’s your favourite hairstyle on the opposite sex? Don't you fucking dare laugh, emo hair is A++. Has anyone ever played a prank on you? What happened? Not a big one, no. Do you like the Silent Hill movies? Do I?! I love the first one (though for a while I wasn't very happy they swapped the lead role from Harry to his wife), and while the second is literal trash story-wise and it's ALL over the damn place, I still enjoy it with just how much I adore SH as a whole. What movie scared you the most out of any other movies? The Rite, because the concept of being raped and impregnated by a demon is fucking horrifying to me. Have you ever wanted to be on American Idol? When was this? Nah. Name 5 things you don’t believe in. 1.) "Everything happens for a reason;" 2.) karma; 3.) destiny/fate; 4.) psychics, fortune tellers, all that; and 5.) luck, at least in the sense of someone having set "good" or "bad" luck. If you could have any friend that you’ve lost back, who would you pick? Probably Megan. If you have pets, who normally puts food and water in their dish? Me for both of them. Do you organize the pictures on your computer into different folders or are they all just under “My Pictures”? I have folders. Do you think if someone is in a relationship, that it is acceptable to have sleepovers with other people of their preferred sex? Eh, nah, that feels a bit far to me. I am very firmly for friends still being able to hang out even if they're each other's preferred gender, but a sleepover sounds a bit too intimate, even without sharing a bed. Would you shoot a gun if given the chance? If you’ve shot a gun before, how many different types of guns have you shot? No. I'm very intimidated by guns and nearly shook when I merely handed a friend his (not for anything bad, he just carried it with him when he goes out), and I've got noooo plans of holding one again unless my life depends on it. Do you feel uncomfortable sharing things like artwork or poetry you’ve written? Is it because you don’t think it’s good enough to show off or because it’s too personal? You. Have. Zero. Idea. It's for both reasons, and it's far more severe in person. Online, I actually don't mind much, oddly enough... I can't quite pin down why. Do you have any siblings you absolutely despise? Why do you despise them? No. Do knives scare you? Is it from watching scary movies? Knives scare me like five times more than guns. Scary movies have nothing to do with it, though. They're just so sharp and the idea of being stabbed by one is terrifying. As someone with a history of self-mutilation too (not with knives, but I've thought about it and once planned to slit my throat with one, but Mom stopped me), they just make me incredibly uncomfortable to the point I can barely hold a "real" knife to just slice food. Have you ever climbed a chain-link fence? Many times. What is your LEAST favorite Disney animated movie? That I've seen, uhhhhh... I don't know man, there are way too many Disney movies lmao. Who was the last person’s house you went to besides your own? My sister's. On YouTube, who are two people you find hilarious? I'm just counting GameGrumps as one, and then you can't forget Shane Dawson, regardless of the controversy. He probably made me laugh more than any other YouTuber. Do you shave your pits? Yeah. Do you know anyone who has been on life support, and survived? I don't think so. Besides the USA, what is your favorite country? I'm not nearly informed enough about foreign countries' politics and laws and mannerisms to have a favorite. Would you rather go to Europe or Asia? Europe. Would you rather go to Africa or Australia? Africa. Would you rather go to Mexico or Canada? Canada. Do you think emo/scene hair is attractive? I love emo and scene hair, don't @ me, it's cute as fuck. Have you ever seen a ghost orb picture? Lots, actually, at one of my old houses that I totally know was haunted. Do you think abortion should be illegal? NO. You would NOT end abortions. You would end SAFE abortions. Do any of your pets have strange habits? Explain? Venus, my ball python, is extremely odd with food to the point I sometimes worry about her, but she's always been this way and is healthy, so I guess it's nothing really worth fretting over. Anyway, when I place her rat in her terrarium, she gets excited first and will pretty much frantically examine her surroundings, like slithering around everywhere, and even when she has clearly found the rat (she'll even prod it with her snout), she usually won't immediately eat. She just like... sits there and has to continue to verify for ten minutes that it's food. I know it's thawed perfectly, btw. So anyway, THAT'S weird... As for Roman, dear god, that cat's just weird, lmao. Especially in the morning, he's very hyper and will bolt around the house sometimes, he "plays" with nothing all the time, he "meerkat"s at nothing that I can nothing, etc. etc. etc. He's a weirdo lol. Have you ever told an extremely inappropriate joke? Oh god, I said something really inapprops once when my friend Chelsea startled me. I won't be repeating it lmao. Who in life have you felt the strongest need to protect? Sara, I think. Who have you most feared in your life? My dad. He doesn't scare me anymore, but he did. What was the quickest friendship you ever made? Oh idk. What is the worst word anyone ever used to describe you? "Martyr." And not the kind that dies for their beliefs. It hurt me so badly to know someone thought of me that way, and I'll probably never let it go. If you have any pets, were they adopted from the humane society? No. Roman is one of the billion kittens born to the cats my sister's in-laws have, and Venus is from a ball python breeding business in Florida called The Gourmet Rodent (they sell f/t rodents too, obvs) Do you like home design, like picking out paint colors and furniture? Not really. My grandmother though, whew, that was her calling for sure. Have you seen any of the old James Bond movies? Nope. List all of your features that you have ever gotten compliments on: My hair, my eyes, my tattoos, my hands, I think my nose, my dimples, my smile, and my boobs lmao. Have you ever been in a hot air balloon? And if not, would you ever want to go in one? I haven't. I think it'd be kinda cool, but they seem too easy to fall out of, and I'm afraid of heights. I'd probably go in one if given the opportunity. Do you have any stains on your shirt currently? No, but there are two small rips. It's just an old tank top. Do you listen to local bands? No. Not that I'm opposed, I just don't know of any I really enjoy. Do you watch YouTube videos often? Many, many daily. Do your parents fight? Do they even talk at all? They're divorced; they used to fight a lot when they were together. Now they only talk if they have reason to. Have you ever watched a movie that's in a complete different language, so you had to read sub-titles? No. Do people with yellow teeth disgust you? Dude, fuck off, no. My teeth are kinda yellow, and I'm extremely self-conscious about it, so seriously fuck this question. You never know for sure why someone's teeth may seem yellowish. Do you drink alcohol on New Year’s Eve? Usually a drink or two. Do you wear rings? I always have two on, yeah. Are you hungry right now? No, I literally just ate a breakfast bowl. Have you ever tried smoking a cigarette? No; I haven't the slightest interest in doing so.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''lovegame'' by lady gaga

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beyourselfchulanmaria · 1 year

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Cattleyas 嘉德麗雅蘭花

Cattleyas was planted by my dad one of orchids about his hobbies in the back yard & front of yard too. when he passed away 14 yrs ago, took most of them by my older brother with his wife to their house in the beautiful sky garden... we left just a little pieces of Phalaenopsis amabilis (蝴蝶蘭) around the pond in front of yard to memorial him. and I saw my younger sister that she started planting Cymbidiuma(國蘭／蘭花草) a couple weeks ago, my dad gave her named just this kind of flower plant (her named 朱"蕙", and I have a gut saying her name, that's causing I know that she doesn't know my blog here lol if it's not she'll kill me soon, She has better than me of Chinese Kung-fu, I fighted a loser by her on each time, and my son saved me always, 🤌🤌🤌 I felt shame at all. 嘖嘖嘖！😅😆🤣) and I have known She's also missing our dad so much 🥲😢😭 (how we missed Dad after 14 yrs still couldn't forget him??? He's really a very "gracious and rich, knowledgeable & Excellent guy" to his children. 🤍💝💖)

I am the one who afraid of 4 person in this world only : Mom, my daughter & son, and my younger sister, why? ~ they're "PURE" to me. My children by my birth from God as a mirror to me always while I feel weakness, and my mom makes me speakless always, I am grateful Mommy even she's not always right, but I'll always pretend she's RIGHT, I was a pretty rebellious being a daughter to mom and I was making her life hard, very sorry. ( and now I go LEFT secretly & silently, still rebellious. lol 🥲😅🤣) xoxo 🦎 Lan~*

#orchids #red #朱色(紅)#蘭花 #cattleyas #嘉德麗雅蘭 #加多利亞蘭 #卡特蘭 #dad i miss you and never forget you taught me everything about life about art #thank you #red orchids = 朱蘭 #chu lan #朱蘭皮藝 #chu lan maria

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rae-is-typing · 5 years

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Universal Language

Description: You, music and the Avengers

Characters: You, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Thor, Bruce Banner, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker and Pepper Potts because I love her

Warnings: Mentions of PTSD, mentions of little Stevie getting beat up, and mild language. If there is something I missed, please let me know.

Disclaimer: Some are longer than others, some have dialogue, and I couldn’t think of anything for Rhodey (I’m so sorry!) Tell me what you think, I was trying something new for this one. If you want something more in-depth, lemme know :)

Word count: ~ 2.5k

Tony took you in when you were a toddler. He knew jack shit about raising a child, and enlisted the help of a nanny,. That is until Pepper made him realize how much he was missing of his daughter’s life. He didn’t even know you started crawling. However, he knew the only thing that got you to stop crying was music. He also knew that banging on things rhythmically was your favorite pastime. From then on, he knew that he was going to have a little musician on his hands.

Tony

In Tony’s opinion, the only good things your mother gave you were life and your knack for the arts, especially music. Rhodey and Pepper saw it, too. You took to music the way Tony took to mechanics. He loved your adorable pout when you were figuring the notes out, and the way your face brightened the room when you finally played it right.

The first thing he got you was a toy xylophone when you were three. He would watch you try and replicate the music he was playing over his speakers. You’d look up at him with tearful eyes when you couldn’t get it. He would gently take the mallet from your hands and copy the music, then he’d give it back to you so could copy him. Your giggles of glee when he played were something he’d never forget. He used his knowledge of the piano to help you learn music.

You were six when he got back from Afghanistan. Even at that young age, you knew things would be different. Your father had been gone for months. His arm as in a sling and he looked sick. He pushed you away for a few weeks after that, only staying in the lab, not even letting you stay in the child-proof area he had set up all those years ago. You didn’t understand why he was different, you only understand that he was different.

One night, you were playing in the main room. Pepper was done for the day, and Obadiah was far away and wouldn’t be back for a really long time; you were all alone with only JARVIS looking after you. You were trying, and failing, to play Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. You kept hitting the wrong keys and messing up the rhythms. Frustrated, you huffed and crossed your arms.

Unbeknownst to you, your dad was behind you. He smiled softly, walked closer to you, picked you up, set you on his lap and played the phrase you were trying to. You demanded he play the rest. Soon enough, he had a sleeping kid in his lap.

You were eight when you had your first performance with an audience. It was a piano recital in a small auditorium at your school. He sat in the front, unashamedly cheering for you and loving you. He was there whenever you had solos, and he cried for a lot of them, not that he would ever admit that to anyone but you or Pepper. He records all of your performance, e even has videos of your progress from a four-year-old you playing Mary Had a Little Lamb to sixteen-year-old you busting out Beethoven like its nothing.

Now, he asks FRIDAY to play back recordings of you singing or playing. It helps him calm down, knowing he’ll always have a piece of what matters most to him with him at all times.

Steve

You met Steve when you were ten years old. It was the aftermath of the Battle of New York. Steve and the rest of the team, excluding Thor, had moved into the tower. While you were thrilled to see Natalie-Natasha again, you were a shy kid, opting to stay with Pepper or your dad and away from the others. The larger-than-life Captain America intimidated the shit out of you.

It wasn’t until you saw him sketching in the common are you began to consider him an actual human and not a walking action figure. You had been trying your hand at drawing for months, and while you had made considerable progress, your work always looked off for some reason. After watching him draw for weeks, you managed to snatch his sketchbook, flip through it when left to go get something from another room. He cleared his throat, startling you into dropping the book. You picked it up, heat in your cheeks, and sheepishly handed it back to him with a small, almost scared, “Sorry,”

He only smiled at you, ten-year-olds weren’t all that subtle when it came to spying. He sat you down on the couch, and began showing you all of the drawings he felt were appropriate. Some of them were memories of war-ravaged battle fields, and he didn’t want to give you nightmares. There were lots of old-timey Brooklyn, a man named Bucky, a vaguely familiar, but very beautiful woman named Peggy and Steve’s Ma, Sarah.

You pouted and explained that whenever you tried to draw, it never came out right. He nodded, then smiled. “I’ll tell you what, you help me learn Piano, I’ll help you learn to draw.”

Clint

Clint is a vent-dweller and, much like everyone else on the team, he struggles with PTSD. He uses the vents as a safe space, a way to escape the nightmares and the heartache from the past. However, he doesn’t like to feel alone. He often says above the lab to hear Tony’s loud music, snarky banter with his AI’s, and his empty threats to the ‘bots. Other times he’ll stay above the gym if he knows that Steve or Natasha are doing late night workouts. The soft grunts and the sounds of the equipment are sufficient to keep the loneliness at bay. On very rare occasions, he stays above the kitchen to hear Vision mutter to himself while attempting, and generally failing at cooking food.

Soon enough, he found the music room. Well, art floor.

You were up late, practicing a solo that you couldn’t quite get, but weren’t ready to give up on. He paused, getting clear tone with his hearing aids in. He soon found himself up above the floor whenever you were playing late. The music was a nice distraction, and he could feel himself become happy with your progress, small feelings of pride swelling in his chest at your success. One night, he even left a note on the piano asking you to learn and play Clair de Lune for him. The next week, you told him to be there at midnight, and sure enough, the beautiful piano tune floated up to the vents.

Natasha

You’ve known Natasha since she was Natalie. You mostly kept your distance until one day. You were struggling to play something. You fumbled with your instrument, while penciling something onto the sheet music. She watched you for a couple minutes before asking if you needed help. You huffed out a petulant “No,” before proceeding to struggle for another five minutes. Defeated, you asked for help. She managed to help you figure out the fingerings and the accidentals.

You took up dancing a little later on, and she began helping you after your regular class. With her guidance, you quickly became one of the best dancers in your classes, always rising to the challenge with the work-ethic she helped instill in you.

Even later on, you became her pupil once more when learning to fight. She knocked you on your ass more times than you can count, and still does all the time. But, with her help, you’ve learned how to kick some serious ass.

Thor

It’s no secret that Thor is a big guy. He doesn’t know his own strength,and often breaks things when he wasn’t careful. Out of all the original Avengers, he intimidated you the most.

One day, you saw him holding your violin, examining it like a specimen under a microscope. You panicked, dropped everything and ran to him.

You demanded he stop, resorting to pulling the bow from his hands. He was confused at the tiny child pulling the interesting midgardian play thing away from him.

“Let it go, Thor! You’ll break it!”

Thor frowned, still holding the violin.

“My apologies, young Stark. I do not know what it is, I was merely trying to find its function.” He says, handing it back to.

You relaxed a little, the initial panic wearing off. “It’s a violin, it makes music.”

“How?”

You got into position, put the bow to the strings and drug across the strings. A note rung put, and everything seemed to click in Thor’s mind.

The next time Thor came to visit, he brought Asgardian instruments for you to learn, try and play. You may or may not have cried out of joy.

Bruce

Bruce is a ball of stress, and that is evident to anyone that’s spent any amount of time with him. He uses music as an outlet, letting the sounds wash over him and makes some amount of stress go away. But there are days that things get too overwhelming, there are days where the headphones and opera don’t work, there are days where he needs something more.

Bruce knows that you play, he knows about your talent, and he’s even gone with Tony to watch you perform. There was a day when he shyly asked if he could watch you practice. You were all for it. You practiced in front of him, and he calmed don a lot more.

It became a routine of sorts, you playing, him offering some constructive criticism when he could and you even taught him a few songs on the piano.

Sam

You took the initiative of catching Steve up with modern music. One day, he sheepishly handed you The List, Working your way down, you finally landed on Marvin Gaye. Steve called his friend Sam in so you both could gush about the icon.

You and Sam ended up screeching singing Ain’t No Mountain High Enough for him, and managed not to scare him off. You called it a successful day.

After that, you had put together a playlist for him, and had your dad create a portable sound system for his wings so he could fly listening to his fave.

Bucky

Bucky came to the tower after his time in Wakanda. Tony was wary, anyone in his situation would be. He wanted you to stay away from the ex-assassin indefinitely, and you didn’t blame him. You knew what Bucky did. However, you tried not to blame Bucky either. Steve explained the situation as best he could to you, and you understood that Bucky had been taken advantage of, used and manipulated.

Now that he was in the tower, Bucky wandered around the tower when he couldn’t sleep which happened to be most nights. One night, he heard something familiar, something that tugged at his chest in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Somewhere over the rainbow,”

He remembers a warm breezy day, the alley he pulled Stevie out the night before, reaming him for fighting more than usual because of the big day they had coming up. He cleaned him up. He remembers holding a washcloth to a small blond Steve as he tried not to hurt him too bad while he berated him for fighting again that week.

“There’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby,”

He remembers walking with Stevie to the theater, paying too much for the tickets and sitting beside his best friend watching color appear on a screen for the first time. Bucky smiles, letting the feeling of nostalgia and the longing for a simpler time linger for a moment longer before heading to another area of the labyrinth to explore.

Wanda

Wanda moved in when you were 13. You were so happy that you had another female in the tower to bond with. When she expressed interest in music, you jumped at the chance to teach her something, anything really. You tried a few things. You started with woodwinds, she couldn’t figure out the embouchure. You moved onto brass, she didn’t like the sounds. You settled on stringed instruments. Her choice was the acoustic guitar, and she was good. She picked it up almost immediately, easily learning the fingerings and chords. Her favorite thing were duets with you, and you often played together whenever you two had time.

Peter

You saw how good Peter was for your dad. He finally had a mentee to teach. Tony really tried to get you into science, he really did. It didn’t work the way he thought it would, and damaged your relationship for awhile until he back off, letting you do you.

You were jealous, admittedly. You weren’t used to sharing your father’s attention with another person your age.

Then you got to know him. You found out through your dad that he was in marching band, and you needed to know more. You began spending a little time together, swapping band stories and laughing at memes. Soon enough, Peter hung out with you before going to working with Tony in the lab for a few hours. It was fun.

You learned the Mii Theme, the Kahoot theme and even put together a duet of meme music to annoy your dad with together.

Pepper

Pepper is your mother. No, she didn’t birth you, and you didn’t call her mom, but she has been there for you through everything. Through your father’s time in Afghanistan, the battle with Obadiah, your first day of middle school, whenever your dad was busy and you were upset, your first period. It didn’t matter, she was with you. She listened to you when you worked hard on a piece. Hell, she even helped you pick out your first professional grade instrument, despite knowing very little about them.

She encouraged you when were feeling less than, she helped pick you up when you were down, she taught how to act around the business assholes in Galas and events.

Pepper loved you and you loved her.

When the proposal happened, Pepper asked you to sing at the wedding. You took this role very seriously, singing ‘A Thousand years’ by Christina Perri and ‘Future Looks Good’ by OneRepublic.

When Morgan was born, you sang to her whenever you could. When she was old enough, you’d sit her on your lap and let her smash the piano keys like Tony did with you.

Pepper couldn’t think of a better older sister for her baby; she couldn’t think of any better daughters.

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mango7889 · 4 years

Photo

Prance. One of many nations that are now all part of the greater Equestria. Each nation had been pulled into Equestria in order to extend the control of Queen Nightmare Moon, But to this day each nation still maintains a sense of independence in a form of a commonwealth. Prance was always famous for its fine art and food, the latter being something that drew ponies in from all across the empire.

Eclair was one such pony. She came for one of Prance’s most prestigious culinary schools, L'Academie de Cuisine in Maresailles. Some of the empire’s best pastry chefs got their start at this fine establishment, and Éclair was hoping to leave with a degree that would get her a job as lead pastry chef at none other than Canterlot castle. It was her dream to get to craft amazing dishes for the queen herself. It also helped that her sister, Aurora, worked at the castle, which gave her an excuse to spend more time with her.

Eclair’s time in Prance was not as fun as she had hoped it to be, much of the opposite in fact. Eclair loved her home back in Canterlot. Despite being from a family of pure blooded bat ponies, her family wasn’t wealthy. In her household, they’d decided to simply live alongside the other races of Equestria, rather than flaunt their genetics. But in their modesty, they still had a nice house just outside of the main city of Canterlot. She missed waking up and helping her mom bake for their small bakery. She missed having to drag Aurora out of her bed after a late night of studying for medical training. She even missed her dad’s annoyed rants about the “stuck up'' pure blood nobles looking at him funny.

Here in Prance, every day was long and not quite pleasant. It wasn’t from a language barrier or anything; Eclair had a very good understanding of Prench, and most schools in other nations taught Equestrian standard as the official second language. What had really started to get to her was the culture. People were more reclusive, keeping to themselves most of the time. Eclair and her sister had been taught by their mom to always try to make friends wherever they went. The two of them took that to heart and would always strike up conversations with anypony they found themselves standing next to. Here though, they just gave her odd looks anytime she tried chatting with someone she waited in line with or passed in her school. On occasion even going as far as to mock the ‘silly foreigner’.

Eclair did take solace in the fact that she was almost done. Two long years of studying in Prance were coming to as close as their final assignment closed in.

And Eclair was in full panic mode.

Eclair had never been bad at baking or decorating, far from in fact. But even though she was good at what she did, she had no idea what to make for her final presentation. She knew that the ponies back in Canterlot loved fine foods from all over Equestria. But she also knew that the ponies who lived in Canterlot castle, the place she wanted to work, preferred seeing stuff that was more locally classic, but with a flare from other nations. It was Eclairs hope that she could really master the art of making Prench spins of classic Equestrian fair. However anytime she made something like that, the teacher would insult her dish, saying it was “An insult to Prench cuisine,” or “A failure to understand the finer things.'' It was frustrating to say the least, but she had pushed through it this far and wanted to finish.

The problem was that her teacher had assigned each of them a recipe to carry out, and she had even stopped to tell Éclair specifically to make it the actual dish and not “A peasant’s rendition.” Aside from feeling insulted by her remark, Eclair was in a panic as she tried to figure out how to make her dish special, but traditionally Prench. The dish in question was eclairs, She figured it was her teacher's version of a joke. As to say that if she did poorly, she failed her own namesake.

Eclair flipped through one of her cookbooks frantically and pausing every once in a while to compare recipes with those from another book she had found in one of the campus libraries. As she tried desperately to find a good starting point, a pony she only knew in passing sat down next to her. The pale pink unicorn with a two tone red and silver mane that she knew as Étoile Rouge, or just Rouge because it was easier to say.

She wore a nervous smile. “Your name is Eclair right? I saw you grabbing a bunch of books for baking and I was wondering if you wanted to swap ideas for the assignment.”

Eclair was honestly a little shocked, because for the entire time she was at the school, her interactions with other students had been either occasional small talk or some of them being rude to her. “Yeah, and sure, I’d love to work with you! …I do have to ask though… Most ponies haven’t really approached me the whole time I’ve been here. So why now?”

Rouge looked rather embarrassed. “Well to be honest, I don’t think it’s personal for most ponies here. You see, in this part of Prance, ponies are really reserved. It’s a culture that exists in many of the larger cities here. For example, I come from a rather wealthy family from here and growing up, I was taught to reject anything seen as unrefined or uncouth. For most it means that we often shy away from foreign ponies as we can’t really gauge you. For others, they’ve actually grown to resent ponies like you as inferior.”

“Hmm, well that explains a lot. Honestly I kind of feel bad for you. Does it ever bother you that you need to look at everypony under a microscope, rather than just giving them the benefit of the doubt and having a conversation?”

Rouge’s expression turned a little douer. “Yes, every day.. Don’t get me wrong, I love many facets of my life here in Prance, the art, the music, the food... But I’ve always felt like I didn't belong. Then you came here and I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of what you had. And to answer your original question, I was hoping to get a chance to really learn about you and Equestria’s heartland as a whole.”

Eclair blinked. “Sooooo, you’re saying that you want to be my friend?” Rouge blushed and nodded. Eclair was smiling widely. “Yes! Finally I can actually talk to somepony. Help me figure out a good recipe for my eclairs and I’ll tell you everything about back home!”

Rouge gave a sheepish grin. “Actually could you also help me with a recipe for cupcakes that’s like something you would make in the Canterlot region? I know our teacher won’t really like it but I already have great grades and I would love to learn about your cooking.” She then paused for a second. “And wait a minute, She’s having you make eclairs? Seems a little mean.”

Eclair laughed despite the stress. “I know right? And I’d love to show you some of my recipes!”

The next week was by far the best week Eclair had during her entire stay at the culinary school. She finally had somepony pleasant to talk to, and she was making real progress towards a final product her teacher might actually like. She had come to really see Rouge as a friend, and through her, she learned more about Prance as a whole. Getting to see the country through Rouge’s eyes made her see why she had trouble fitting in. It actually felt similar to when she was a filly going to a nice school in upper Canterlot. The parents there would make snide comments about her befriending “lower class ponies” and acting improper for a “pure blood”. Only now, she couldn’t really escape it, She was, however, experienced in just dealing with it.

Eclair wasn’t the only one learning from the unlikely pairing. Rouge had always felt out of place in Prance, and the more she listened to Eclair talk about life back in the heartland of Equestria, the more she longed for a life like that. She had also been learning to put an unorthodox spin on her dish that she knew their teacher would hate, but her grades were already stellar and she was guaranteed to pass anyway.

It was the last night that they had to work on their assignments and both of them had a final recipe ready for the morning. It was finally time for R&R as the two relaxed in Eclair’s dorm room. Eclair was packing up her stuff since her airship would be leaving the evening after the teacher graded her final assignment and decided whether she passed or not.

She looked over at Rouge writing a letter. “You know it feels like they’re really trying to shove me out the door. I mean do I really need to leave the day of my final? Can’t I have like one more day?”

Rouge sighed, also dreading losing the one pony she felt like she really got along with. “It’s how they usually run it. They aren’t exactly eager to keep foreign students in Prance for longer than needed. It mainly comes down to old grudges really.”

Eclair stopped packing for a moment, really starting to feel the sting of having to say goodby. “I’m gonna miss you Rouge, and we better keep in touch.”

She just smiled back at her. “Oh don’t worry. I’ll make sure you don’t forget about me. Now come on, you should be packing. I mean, we do need to be getting some sleep soon.”

The moment Rouge turned back to the letter she was writing, she felt Éclair throw her hooves around her in a crushing hug. Startled and blushing she launched her paper and quill across the room before settling. After their hug, they shared a laugh as Rouge then needed to go pick up her papers and practically pull her quill out of the wall.

The next morning was a blur as Éclair flew around her workstation, sometimes literally, putting her dish together. She had made a recipe that was far more Prench then how she normally made her eclairs, but it would definitely buy her more points with their teacher. All that stress and testing would finally pay off as she pulled the finished product out of the oven and put it together with the chocolate and filling.

She brought it before her teacher, brimming with excitement. The teacher simply gave her a stern look. “Eclair perhaps you should save your excitement until after I’ve tried your dish. And if you truly want that certificate, this better be an improvement on the other parodies you served to me before.”

Eclair deflated as the gravity of the situation flooded in. She silently begging her teacher to like the pastries. Otherwise, the last two years would have been for naught. She watched with bated breath as her teacher tested the dessert, watching for any change in expression or sign that she had done it.

Finally, the teacher put it down, made some notes, then looked at her. “Well Eclair, I must say, you have actually managed to impress me. This éclair actually tastes comparable to something made here in Prance. I asked that you show me improvement and you have. Keep baking like this and I’m sure there is a bright future ahead of you. You’ve passed.”

The teacher signed off on a certificate with Eclair’s name on it and gave it to her. Eclair silently and respectfully took the now rolled up certificate in her wing. “Thank you miss. I’ll keep improving.”

She made her way out of their classroom and into the hall. The moment the door was closed though, she started jumping up and down. “Yes! I did it, I’m finally done!”

Rouge had been waiting outside for her to finish. “Congratulations Eclair!”

She ran up and now she was the one hugging Eclair. The two stayed there for a little while talking about the final. Sure enough, the teacher was rather displeased with Rouge’s dish. Asking why she had chosen to throw away all her knowledge and make something so uncouth. All Rouge did was smile and tell her that she was mixing things up a bit.

As much as both of them wanted to stay and chat for the rest of the day, Eclair had to get ready to leave. Rouge stayed with her all the way up to the skyport and they said their goodbyes as Eclair boarded her airship. One fifteen hour flight later, and her airship was arriving at the Canterlot skyport. Eclair had made it just into the main building when she got her welcome.

“Eclair!!” She suddenly felt her hooves leave the ground as a dark blue blur slammed into her. Now sprawled on her back, her wide eyes looked into the equally wide eyes of her sister Aurora. She was quickly pulled up into a hug. “Oh I missed you so much! We have so much catching up to do, and I wanna hear all about your classes, and try all your new recipes, and I’ve gotta tell you aaaaall about my job at the castle!”

Eclair hugged her right back and started telling her about her time in Prance. Some of it was a bit of a shock to Aurora, hearing about the unfriendly nature of the ponies she was meeting.

“I’ll have to tell you more over some coffee when we get home. And I definitely want to hear about how your placement in the castle clinic is going.” Eclair started dusting herself off.

Aurora clapped her hooves together. “And you’ll bake me some of your pastries that I’ve been missing for two years?”

Eclair laughed and ruffled her mane a bit. “Yes, I’ll bake you one of your favourites. Now come on, I’m sure mom and dad want some time together too.”

“Oh, and you aren’t going to introduce me?” Eclair’s spun in place to see Rouge standing a little bit behind the two of them, carrying two suitcases in her crimson magic.

Eclair looked at her in disbelief. “Rouge? What are you doing here!?”

Rouge walked up to them so she could put down her bags. “Well I told you about how I feel back in Prance. And that letter I was writing the night before you left was to my family, a sort of formal declaration of my moving to the Heartland to pursue my passion. They’ll probably be livid, but I don’t really mind. All I want is to work in some small bakery here in canterlot.”

Aurora took the chance to speak up. “I know a really cute little cafe in lower Canterlot looking for a baker!”

Rouge smiled at Aurora. “I assume this is your darling sister you told me so much about. If I remember right, your name is Aurora.”

Aurora blushed a bit, hearing that Eclair had been talking, which usually meant she told the embarrassing stories. Not really saying anything, she simply nodded to Rouge.

Rouge hopped over and threw her hoof around Aurora’s shoulder. “Well I’d love it if you could introduce me to the pony who runs it! In fact, How about you give me the directions and I’ll meet you two there at five for coffee?”

Eclair stepped in. “That sounds like a great idea. It gives me some time to get home and see my parents. So I guess I’ll be seeing you later Rouge, and for the record, I’m really happy to have you here.”

#More story stuff #AQM #Eclair #Aurora Heart #Étoile Rouge #Last story about the bats sisters for a bit promise

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somedayonbroadway · 4 years

Note

Looking at your Newsies AU list, I'd love to see that Now You See Me idea. These fellas strike me as the Robin Hood con artist type

Absolutely I can!

Now You See Me AU

Characters

Jack Kelly- J. Daniel Atlas

Katherine Plumber- Henley Reeves

David Jacobs- Merritt McKinney

Racetrack Higgins- Jack Wilder

Obadiah Wiesel- Arthur Tresler

Joseph Pulitzer- Thaddeus Bradley

Bryan Denton- Dylan Rhodes

Hannah- Alma Dray

Jack Kelly (The Lover)

Jack is an illusionist.

He’s a bit of a ladies man and nows how to get what he wants while also being a complete and utter control freak.

He’s been practicing magic since he was four years old and the last thing he received from his biological parents was a book on magic tricks

He grew up in the system with his little brother, Charlie

He was abused most of his life and used his magic tricks as a way to cheer up his little brother and himself when things got bad

He begins preforming on the streets when he’s fifteen, just to make a little extra money.

At age twenty he is one of the worlds best illusionists.

His little brother gets really sick when Jack is sixteen. Charlie is twelve by then. Bone cancer.

Since they’re in the system and his foster family gives them up so that they don’t have to deal with it, Jack finds a lot of the pressure on himself to provide for his little brother and keep him alive.

The system splits them up, placing Jack with a Mr. Snyder and Charlie with a Miss Medda who promises to help

Jack has to run to avoid getting killed by his foster father. But he still sneaks over to the hospital to see Charlie once a week. And he steals for the orphans he left behind in that boys home.

Medda knows he’s there but never calls him out.

Charlie survives but is not truly out of the clear. Jack visits him whenever he can.

Jack lives on the streets doing magic until he’s eighteen. He buys an apartment and starts doing actual shows with his assistant, Katherine Plumber.

Jack Kelly actually begins to become fairly famous. Him and his assistant are proud. They make good money before they split up when Jack was around 22.

Jack gets his card when he’s 24. His card to join “The Eye”.

He’s doing a street show, just for fun.

He does a card trick for a young, beautiful, drunk girl who he ends up taking home that night and almost sleeping with before he sees it.

He kicks her out of his apartment and immediately gets ready to go on his way.

Katherine Plumber (High Priestess)

Katherine is an escape artist.

Katherine had a relatively normal childhood. Mom, Dad (who worked all the time).

She was an only child.

When she’s little, she learns about this magician names Harry Houdini

Baby Katherine is fascinated

Growing up, she’s a bit of a loner, the only people who really talked to her being teenage pricks who wanted to get in her pants.

Her father was a great magician too. She wanted to be just like him. Except, when she was around seventeen, he quit, instead choosing to depict the illusions rather than perform them.

Katherine left home the day after she graduated high school, running off to join some magic act where she meets the famous Jack Kelly.

Yes, they sleep together. Several times. But their quest for fame gets the better of both of them and things don’t quite work out at first.

She leaves Jack when she’s 24 and starts her own shows and acts, doing magnificent escapes and tricks

She gets her card when she’s 25

She’s doing a show for a paying audience. She does a morbid trick that involves chains, a glass box filled with water and flesh eating piranhas.

She finds the card floating in the large tank after her show.

David Jacobs (The Hermit)

David is a mentalist.

This means many different things.

First off, he can hypnotize people easily. He is self taught and very good.

Second, he can read people easily, causing people to believe that he’s psychic or can actually read minds.

Third, he’s overall just very smart and takes information in easily, which helps him out a lot in his career path.

David grows up poor, with his father and his mother and his little brother. He has to start working when he’s sixteen and he does mentalism on the side which actually brings him a lot of cash considering he kind of shakes people down by threatening to give up all their secrets that he gets out of them

He’s very smart.

The most important person in his life is his little brother

His father can’t work after he breaks his leg. It never fully heals.

It’s David’s job to support for his family.

David’s mentalism career takes off when he’s about 23. He does a couple tours around the US. But all of his money goes straight to his family.

His career dies down when his father dies and he has to go take care of his mother and baby brother.

He gets his card when he’s 26.

He’s doing a street show for some tourists where he meets a couple.

He figures out that the husband is actually cheating on his wife with his wife’s sister and he forces the husband to give him everything in his wallet in order to make the wife forget she heard it.

He does it to a lot of people that take their family for granted.

Racetrack Higgins (Death)

Race is a sleight of hand. More well known as a pickpocket.

He is also very good at throwing cards and using them as weapons.

He has anxiety.

Race grows up as an orphan.

He’s put through a lot of homes and is taken advantage of a couple of times by some foster parents.

Eventually he lands in a boys home run by a mister Snyder.

He’s about ten when he lands there. He never meets Jack officially, only sees him a couple of times at the window, passing around some food and blankets to the littles.

The kids are like vultures. They grab for it even though Jack asks them to share. None of them know him since he ran before all of them got there. They just know him as the boy who brings them gifts.

Only once does Race get to talk to him. When Jack realizes he never gets any food or blankets. He makes a point to give Race some.

Race looks up to Jack so much even before he really knows him.

Snyder is cruel to Race.

Race is loud and likes to talk back so Snyder constantly locks him in closets or in the basement. He starves him and makes him do chores before locking him up again.

Race gets sick of it fast. So he teaches himself how to pick locks. He teaches himself how to lift things off of people like food and wallets and anything he can just to survive.

When he’s thirteen he runs away. He wants to be just like the mysterious boy who helped him and the other boys out for so long.

But he’s too scared to go back.

Eventually, he finds the boy who helped him. Jack Kelly. He’s a magician. And Race is his biggest fan.

Race starts teaching himself how to do magic after he sees his hero do it so easily and confidently.

Living out on the streets, Race gets amazingly good at pickpocketing and sleight of hand tricks. He also gets very good with cards. Throwing them, of course.

He gets his card when he’s seventeen.

He’s doing a trick on a ferry ride, promising that if someone could figure out how he bent a spoon with his mind, he’d give them a hundred dollars.

One man figures it out, but the second he steps up, Race slips his wallet off of him, giving him a hundred from the man’s own wallet and taking the rest.

Then he runs and jumps off the ferry as it pulls away.

He finds a card in his pocket only a couple minutes later.

The Four Horsemen

These four magicians meet at an apartment building, all believing they were the only ones chosen to be apart of a group called the eye — the cards being their invitation. (The eye is an exclusive group that defends and protects magic, just to sum that up real quick). David arrives first, finding that the door is locked and waiting to see if it will be unlocked.

Only moments later do Jack and Katherine find each other in the streets and immediately recognize each other. Jack tells her to wait outside while he takes a look, trying to protect her or be the gentlemen when she immediately pushes him away and walks up to the apartment first.

The minute they get there David laughs and shakes his head, disappointed that he wasn’t the only one chosen. He immediately does a read on Jack, concluding that he is an artist as well as an illusionist and a control freak who may or may not have an OCD problem in every aspect but his art. He pretends to know Katherine’s name, but Jack quickly points out that it’s on the coffee cup she’s holding because he doesn’t like Davey all that much right off the bat.

David hates that Jack calls him Davey.

They start to argue a bit while Jack tries to open the door, when they are interrupted by the last member of the future crew. A teenager who sees Jack and freezes for a moment. Race recognizes Jack. Jack does not recognize him.

Race goes fully into fan mode, telling Jack how he’s seen every trick Jack has ever done and how all of it was so impressive and cool. And Jack would thank him and shake his hand David would ask if he got a card, at which point they would reveal all of theirs (Lover, Prietess, Hermit and Death) and Race would ask why they were all standing around and they’d tell him the door was locked, in which Race would reply that nothing was ever locked and he’d pick the lock and let them all in.

That’s where they’d find plans. A lot of plans. A years worth. It would be hidden by some effects. Water and dry ice and lights.

A Year Later

These four magicians are books out in Las Vegas where they are doing a spectacular magic show. At the end of which they promise an audience member that they are going to rob their bank. They do. And they give their audience 3.2 million dollars.

That’s when the FBI is tipped off.

Agent Bryan Denton of the FBI is put on this case which he calls stupid and low profile because the people they were trying to catch were magicians. He goes to their hotel with a small team and arrests them. The four horsemen (as they call themselves) are smug and not at all concerned as they are led away in handcuffs in front of a cheering crowd.

Denton easily notices that the group is a bit tight knit. He notices that Jack gravitates towards Race a bit when they are arrested, like he wants to protect him a bit more than the others.

When Denton goes into interrogate them, he’s told that Interpol will be assisting them on this case. That’s when he’s assigned a temporary partner. Hannah Dray. He doesn’t appreciate the help and constantly tells her she’s not needed but brings her into interrogation anyways. But she is the one that connects with the people they interrogate, beginning with the man who was chosen to have his bank stolen.

It is revealed the man was hypnotized during the show and a trigger word will make him believe he is a violinist playing in an orchestra.

Denton and Dray interrogate all the magicians, where they are told by Jack that they have no ground to arrest them because if they did it would be like the FBI was admitting that they believed in magic and they couldn’t possibly do that.

In the end, the four horsemen are released.

Denton immediately questions that decisions where his coworkers ask him what changed and he says he met them.

One of the other agents rushes up to tell Denton that someone recorded the entire show. A Joseph Pulitzer. A former magician who now reveals tricks in TV specials.

Pulitzer meets with them and takes them down to Vegas where the trick was done and shows them how it was pulled off, consisting of the four horsemen targeting the man in the audience and hypnotizing him to believe he is actually in Paris when the truth is They’s robbed a Paris bank prior to the trick.

The four horsemen get on a plane to go to their next show.

Their benefactor, mister Wiesel is traveling with them to New Orleans for their next show. The horsemen joke around with him and Jack, to show Davey up, tries to get a read on Wiesel by simply looking at him and fails miserably.

The FBI and Pulitzer attend the next performance, conveniently taking place during Mardi Gras. The four horsemen start their show and explain that they have four separate acts that they are going to make work together.

It’s a spectacular performance.

Prior to this, the FBI figures out that Jack is a pretty big control freak. He puts trackers on the entire team. Not just the horsemen, but stage hands as well.

What they don’t really know is that it’s more to make sure they’re all okay at all times.

At this show, the horsemen admit that every audience member was a victim of hurricane Katrina and they were tricked by their insurance company. Wiesel insurance.

They rob Wiesel and the Denton immediately runs up to arrest them, showing “freeze” as Jack waves to him, only to be tackled to the ground by hypnotized audience members.

Hannah, Denton and Jack eventually end up in a chase through the crowds of New Orleans. Hannah catches up to Jack for a second, holding him at gunpoint, but letting Jack slip away, not shooting on account of him not having a weapon. Denton gets irritated and chases after him again. Jack eventually loses them with the help of Race who plants Jack’s tracker in Denton’s own pocket.

Denton questions Hannah’s motives later that night and Hannah tells him she’s just doing her job. Eventually she tells him about the eye and some tricks that she had to look so far into the past to figure out.

At some point during their chat, Denton realizes that they planted a bug on him, leading him to discover that Jack had lifted his phone off of him during their interrogation and had planted a clone on him instead.

Denton tells them to leave the bug in the phone, believing themselves to finally be ahead of the horsemen.

Meanwhile the horsemen are panicking back at their hideout in New York where the FBI now knows they are. Jack destroys Denton’s phone as they scramble to execute the plan they were given perfectly.

Race in particular is frantic.

He keeps telling them all that he doesn’t think he can do this and that he doesn’t want something to go wrong. He sees his card. Death. He doesn’t want to die.

Jack eventually lashes out and tells him that if he wants they to stop treating him like he kid and more like an adult, then he needs to start acting like one and just do this. Race is taken aback and almost starts crying, which is when Jack tells him to stay and burn it all, only offering him a small pat on the back as a sort of comfort.

Jack feels bad about it but doesn’t have time to offer Race much else.

Davey, Katherine and Jack all leave Race to destroy the evidence in the apartment they met at.

Denton finds him.

Race tries to sneak away, trying to avoid the FBI, but is forced to engage in a fight that ends up being another epic chase. Race uses his sleight of hand techniques to trap another FBI agent, as well as disgusting his voice to sound like Denton to ward off the rest of the FBI and then fighting by throwing cards, pulling disappearing acts and eventually rushing out of the apartment and sliding down a garbage shoot.

He lifts the keys to an official FBI vehicle where Hannah, who wasn’t allowed to go inside on account of jurisdiction, catches sight of him. He drives away and she commenders a car where her and Denton end up chasing him onto the Brooklyn Bridge where Racer ultimately crashes and dies in a big fiery car crash.

Denton tries to pull him from the burning wreckage, only able to grab onto the plans the kid had been trying to hide from him before the car explodes.

Pulitzer calls Denton up after the whole thing, asking Denton how much he trusts Hannah. Denton then questions her place there once again, accusing her of being the mastermind behind the four horsemen.

Only a day later, the remaining three horsemen release a video on YouTube, where Jack tries to explain that they will be having one more show in Race’s honor as he tries not to cry. Davey has to finish for him.

Denton is all over it, feeling guilty over having a teenager die like that and wanting the horsemen to answer for it.

The FBI use Race’s papers to find the next planned crime scene, where they stop the safe from being driven away and put it on full time guard. Pulitzer shows up and tells them to open it, where it is revealed to them that the safe they have is full of balloon animals and magician’s props.

The FBI heads to the horsemen’s show, Hannah and Denton stay together and try to figure out the horsemen’s play. The horsemen DONT truly gives a show, instead saying goodbye to their audience when the show had hardly even begun and managing to jump off the roof of the building they were on, showering their audience with fake money that had their faces on them.

The FBI finds all the stolen money overflowing out of Pulitzer’s car. They arrest him.

Pulitzer waits in a cell until Denton comes down to visit him, where Pulitzer explains to him that he was framed and that he knows how the horsemen did it. He tells Denton that the safe never left the building it had been in and that someone had planted a mirror in the room to make it look like the room had been empty. And while the FBI had gone after the fake safe, someone broke into the warehouse to steal the money.

It was Racetrack Higgins.

Denton said that that was impossible. That Race had died right in front of him. But Pulitzer would explain easily. The other three horsemen had been on the bridge waiting for him. Davey drove a bus, Jack drove a cab and Katherine drove van. They got Race out of view of the FBI for a second where Davey let an identical car lose and had it crash, a cadaver from the mall at the wheel. Race made it out just fine.

Denton asks Pulitzer who put it all together. Pulitzer says he doesn’t know but it had to have been someone on the inside.

He turns around for only a second to think.

When he turns back, Denton has disappeared. Pulitzer then realizes who had been behind it all.

Meanwhile, Jack and Kath and Davey make their way to Central Park where they find the gate locked only for one Racetrack Higgins to come up and tell them that nothings ever locked.

Jack pulls Race into a hug and apologizes for yelling at him and Race holds on a little tighter than he means to.

This is the only real family he’s ever had.

They make their way to the center of the park towards the carrousel. That’s when they see the mastermind.

The one and only Bryan Denton.

Denton tells them that they did phenomenal and are now apart of the eye.

About a week later, Hannah is back in France at her regular job where she sits on a bench to read the paper. She finds an article from twenty years ago stuck in the middle of it.

And Denton sits down next to her.

He explains that his father was a famous magician who had been called a fraud by Pulitzer who revealed all his tricks. He explained that his family had been tricked out of their money by their insurance company, Wiesel insurance. He tells her that he is the fifth horsemen.

And she tells him that some things are better left a mystery.

I wanna write scene from this. What scenes should I write?

Thank you, Anon! For more AU’s, check out my list!

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looselucy · 5 years

Photo

Caged

June 15th It had been exactly a year to the day since we’d lost Rita Hunter. A whole year. I didn’t know where the time had gone.

The anniversary of her death was an instinctively reflective day, enough for my dad to finally voice something I knew he’d been thinking for the past twelve months. “I can’t live here.” He told me. “I know.” I acknowledged calmly. “I understand. I think… I think that’s what’s best for you. Not being here, I mean.” We’d woken up early that Monday morning to go down to the lake together, contemplate everything that had happened over the past year, get away from it all and experience a little peace before the day really began. I was proud of the conclusion he’d reached, as much as it hurt. It wasn’t long after she’d died that my dad had moved back to Rosebury, attempted to start his life over, but I could see he hadn’t been happy. I’d really thought it would have been what was best for him, and he’d thought the same thing, but a year on we both knew that wasn’t the case. “She’s everywhere.” He told me, looking out to the lake. “Around every corner, every crook. I see her… everywhere. She was my whole life here and… I don’t think I can be happy living here. I’ve got too many memories of her and I don’t want to spend the rest of my life feeling like I’ve just lost her. I need to be happy and accept that she’s not here anymore, and I can’t do that in Rosebury.” Other than how much closer we’d gotten over the past year, I knew that he hadn’t gained much by being back there. All those fears he’d had about visiting our tiny village when she was still alive were realised and intensified by her death. They shared too much in that village, and everyone had known them as a unit; a year on and people were still giving him these looks, through kindness and sympathy and love, but even so. It must have been so draining for him, to constantly be viewed as though there was someone missing from his side. There was no room for progression in Rosebury. Not for him. “I wish it was different because I’ve loved having you back,” I sighed. “But I get it. It’s probably for the best, in the grand scheme of things. Do you know… where you wanna go?” “Not really. Close but… somewhere new. Fresh start.” The past year, for me, had felt like a time of growth. It had been my fresh start, somehow. Things had been calm. It had been amazing to have my dad back, to remind ourselves of our bond in a way that wasn’t largely focused around my mother’s illness. And as much as I’d have loved to have both her body and her mind back with us, her passing meant that we had been able to heal and move forwards in ways we never could when she was still with us. And even things like our money worries were no longer a pressing issue, meaning general day to day stresses that we’d had before were no longer troubling us in our daily lives. A weight we’d wished to keep had been lifted. “Well, I’m really happy for you.” I smiled to my father, sensing his relief for having finally aired his feelings. “We’ll get looking. Find somewhere perfect. But don’t go too far.” “I won’t, I promise.” He chuckled. “You sure you’re still happy here? You could come with me.” “I… I love it here too much. I can’t imagine myself anywhere else. I’m really happy here. I’m gunna miss you, but… I can’t leave Rosebury.” “I don’t know why even asked. I knew the bloody answer.” “I’m very predictable.” I chuckled. “But very happy, so… I’ll stay here.” “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.” And though a year had passed, when I closed my eyes at that moment, the gentle breeze tweaked tenderly at my skin, and I could almost feel my mother sat there with us, her tranquil spirit sitting at my side. One year on, and I felt better than I ever thought I would have 365 days earlier.

“Morning!” Louis cheered as I walked into the shop, already in there and setting up everything for our day. “Hi!” I chirped back to him, closing the door behind myself. “You’re here early.” “Well, I knew you were heading out with your dad this morning so I thought I’d come in and get everything sorted for ya.” “You are literally an angel.” “How was it? How you feeling?” He asked as I walked to sit behind the counter. “Um… Yeah, it was nice, y’know. Felt good. Nice to just have a while, reflect and everything.” “I bet.” “And my dad finally admitted it.” “Shit.” His eyes went wide. “That he wants to leave?” “Yup.” We’d discussed it between us a few times because it hadn’t been hard to spot the adjustment troubles my dad had faced, and he had been open and honest about his struggles the entire time without fully admitting he no longer wanted to live there. Louis and him had developed such a lovely bond over the past year, one that had always been there due to how long he and I had been close friends and the ties between our families, but it lovely to see them form an adult friendship completely of their own accord. Louis had been so incredible to me, my whole life and especially over the last twelve months. “Shit. That’s good, right?” “Really good. M’really happy for him. It’s the right choice.” “Agreed. Oh, well fuck me, this is good. I was expecting you to come in feeling really down.” “It’s the opposite. I’m as pleasantly surprised as you are.” “Shall we celebrate with a brew?” “Yes! I’d bloody love one.” “Alright, back in a minute. The logs need doing, by the way.” “Nooooo, not the logs.” I groaned as he scuttled into the back room. “Anything but the bastard logs.” I settled down for the day, grabbing the laptop to begin work on the dreaded logs but still happy to be in work. Even so, it only took a matter of moments for my mind to drift, the files loading as my eyes coasted around the shop. Things had felt quant for quite some time. Rosebury had always been a quiet place, possibly uninteresting for others yet perfect for me, but there seemed to have been a normality and serenity in recent months that hadn’t really been there for quite some time beforehand. I knew that was largely to do with Harry and his absence from my life. For a long time, he’d been my everything; my centre, my focus, my exhilaration, someone who provided and catapulted an incandescent and unprecedented amount of affection and passion and excitement into my life. Life couldn’t have possibly felt quant and quiet with that sort of force being such a constant, and since he’d gone, that certain zest had dissolved, vanished before my eyes and left me with an existence that felt simple, calm. I didn’t even necessarily view it as a bad thing, but it was so apparent in my day to day life and everything I did. He still crossed my mind often, unexpected and uninvited. Often it was a memory, plucked from corners of my mind that I had attempted to cloud, yet despite my efforts every image remained agonisingly clear, as though only minutes had passed since he was mine. I’d think about mornings with him, how it felt to wake already in his arms, how green his eyes had been with the rising sun searching through his window as though it was looking for him specifically, as drawn to him as I was. His eyes would shine when he looked at me, smiling wide as soon as he saw my face. His smile spurred further recollections I’d struggled to omit. I’d think about his classes, how strong he had made me feel, the way he’d smirk at me through the crowd in this certain way, thrilled to be sharing a secret with me. I’d think about his art, the way it had felt beneath the tips of my fingers. I would think about his habits I’d grown to hold dear, like his love for local beers and how he liked to bake, the way he would call me boss. I’d think about his love for those self-defence classes he’d held, how he’d pay extra attention to the older ladies, how he was actually passionate about the results he saw from the lessons he taught. I’d think about the plants in his room, how he liked to have something to care for. And though I’d tried to forget, I’d still find myself thinking about his lips and about his voice, how it was gentle yet firm, how it had burdened me with words of reverence and devotion that continued to torment me. But it wasn’t simply memories that haunted me, it was this latent idea of what we were or might have been. It was worries over his wellbeing, questions of where he was, how he was. The thought of how he’d now been out of my life for even longer than he was in it made me shudder. It pained me to face the fact that even still, I missed the electricity he’d brought to my life. He had always been a storm. “One cuppa tea,” Louis pulled me from my thoughts, walking back out onto the shop floor. “And two chocolate biscuits.” “You’re a star.” He’d barely managed to put our brews on the counter before the door burst open, the bell chiming and Libby running excitedly up to him and leaping into his arms where he caught her as quickly as he physically could. She wrapped her legs and her arms around him like she hadn’t seen him for fucking years. Niall and Lin followed close behind, sliding in just before the door closed, not half as excited. “Morning, all.” I clucked. “Morning, you.” Lin grinned as Niall pressed his palms on the top of the counter so he could elevate himself up and across to plant a big kiss on my cheek before landing back on the floor with a thud. “What’ve I done to deserve your company this morning?” “We wanted to see how you are.” Niall told me with a smile, his tone filled with a thoughtful concern. “How was it?” “Nice, y’know. Really nice. M’feeling loads better.” “Good. That’s good to hear.” “All the better for seeing you lot. Thank you for coming.” I then turned my head to Libby, who by that point was kissing Louis with everything she had. “Oi, you two! Love-birds! I know you’re smitten but this is verging on inappropriate.” “You’ve been like this for weeks, you can chill out now, by the way.” Niall joined in with my good-natured scalding. “I’m worried that by the wedding it’ll practically be live porn.” “Ewwww, Niall!” She cried, getting off Louis so that she could hit his arm, hard, trying to bury her smile. “That’s disgusting!” “So’s your tongue down Louis’ throat, but here we are.” The two of them started scrapping with each other as they often did whilst myself, Louis and Lin began to catch up, like we hadn’t only seen each other less than 12 hours earlier. It had only been a few weeks since Louis had proposed to Libby, and the two of them had been completely inseparable ever since. Not that they weren’t beforehand, because they absolutely were, but since he’d popped the question their antics had intensified tenfold. I think Libby had been the only one of us who hadn’t been expecting the proposal, to be honest, and she’d been showing her gratitude with exuberant desire ever since he’d asked her the question one bright Sunday morning, waking her with a speech about how much he loved her, a subtle and beautiful ring, and a Full English Breakfast. He knew exactly how to get a yes out of her. “STOP ATTACKING ME, I HAVE NEWS!” Niall eventually cried, holding Libby at bay by her face, his palm pushing right against her features. “Y’know Sean?” “Pub Sean?” Lin clarified. “Gay.” He nodded; eyes wide, obviously very excited. “No way.” I gasped. “Yup. He’s gay as fuck and I’m gunna ask him out.” “How do you know?” “He told me. When you all left the pub last night, I stayed and we got chatting and he told me. Said he came out when he was travelling.” I recalled the time when Chloe had told us they’d slept together and how poor it had been, and suddenly that made so much more sense. It gave an entire reason behind his apparent lack of care when they’d been together, introduced all these complexities that made it perfectly plausible. Frankly, it must have been difficult for him. I’d never been able to fix things with Chloe. Not really. We weren’t on bad terms, but we’d never been able to get things back to the way they were before she was with Sam. We’d spoken about it, aimed to get things back on track, but it had never happened. The fact she was so often in his company didn’t help, because even though I was okay with him too, I certainly didn’t want to spend any time with him and neither did the rest of our friends. Things had just dwindled gradually until being in her company became a rarity. As much as I missed having her around, it felt like it was for the best. But the bottom line was that we’d lost two people from our little group of friends over the last year, and it was noticeable. “Well, good for him.” I smiled. “But don’t just ask him out because you feel like he’s your only option. Know what I mean?” “That’s definitely not why. He’s fit.” “True.” “And he seems decent.” “He’s well sound.” Lin chipped in. “I’ve known him for years, he’s top. I think you’d be suited, to be fair.” “If he’s top and he is a top, I’m onto a winner.” He lifted an eyebrow suggestively as he finally let go of Libby’s face, receiving a mixture of laughter and groans from the rest of us. “Reyt, so I wanna buy some wine for if I do ask him out and he says yes and then we get a little drunk and end up stumbling back to my place for some sex. Do you have anything for that situation?” “Yes, we have a wine for that specific scenario.” Louis sniggered. “Wanna look downstairs?” “Let’s.” “I’m coming with!” Libby chirped, grabbing hold of Louis’ hand and accompanying the two of them in their search for the perfect wine. With a smile, I rolled my eyes and shook my head, turning to look at Lin as immediately picking up on how nervous he looked, concern wiping the smile off my face. “What’s up?” “Nothing.” He defended. “You sure?” “Uh.. Y’know, it’s just… With Libby and Louis. Chloe and Sam. Niall and Sean, hopefully. I… I was just wondering if you wanted to… Y’know- I was thinking maybe you and me could… Well… I dunno, I was wondering if I could take you out. Some time. Maybe.” He sputtered. I can’t imagine that the look that masked my face then instilled any hope in him at all. I imagine it was quite the opposite, if anything. I couldn’t make sense of his words. Lin wanted to take me out on a date. “Wait… are you joking?” It was an uncomfortably long time before I managed to blurt those words. “Um… No, m’not. No, I… I’ve kinda wanted to ask you out for years. I was just… scared about ruining stuff. So, no, I’m not joking.” He suddenly panicked. “Unless you’re gunna say no, in which case I wasn’t even serious and it was all a big funny joke at your expense and I definitely have not wanted to ask you out for years.” “Holy shit.” I hadn’t seen it coming. Not at all. Not even with the assumptions Harry used to adopt when it came to Lin and his feelings towards me. I’d always thought he was being ridiculously paranoid, overthinking my friendship with Lincoln because he’d never had anything similar himself, but it seemed he’d genuinely picked up on something that had been downright imperceptible to me. “But… I don’t… We’re not… What?” “Oh shit. I shouldn’t have asked.” He sighed, resting his elbows on the counter and hiding his face in his hands. “No, oh my god, no don’t feel like that! It’s fine, it’s good,” I reached and took his hands in mine. “I’m just… surprised! Like… I mean, what the fuck?” “I know, I know. Like, it’s weird, I know it is, and you’re like my best mate and this doesn’t take away from that, at all!” He looked up to me. “I just… Do you ever worry that you might be missing out on something really good because you’re so fucking settled? Like there’s something amazing and you’re missing out on it because there’s a fear there? I don’t want that. I don’t wanna be like that. And… I dunno. I just think the fucking world of you and if we don’t try, we don’t know. Does that make sense?” It did make sense, as strange as it all felt. It made sense. Fear so often held so many people back, stopped them from reaching for the things they desired. I could strongly sense that Lin wasn’t necessarily saying he’d been secretly in love with me for years, more that he cared for me a lot and there was an attraction and maybe we’d been missing out on something more and we hadn’t given ourselves the opportunity to explore possibilities. He could see all these people around us falling together in a wonderful way and he’d started asking questions. I understood that. “It makes sense.” “So I thought we could maybe… have a date or something. See how it is. Because you never know.” “You never know.” I agreed. “Is that a yes?” “It’s a… I’ll think about it. It’s not a no, by any means, I just… I think I need my wrap my head around it.” “That’s fair. I feel like I dropped this on you from nowhere.” “You did. You’ve fucked me up for the rest of the day.” I chuckled. “Sorry. It’s awkward.” He cringed. “It’s not awkward. We’re not gunna let it be awkward.” I spoke with confidence. “We’re gunna… see what happens.” “That sounds good.” He exhaled, easing. “Thank you, by the way. I was ready for that to go down like a lead balloon. But it’s kinda like… a bog-standard balloon, which is much better. Kinda deflated, but not lead.” “You’re a fucking idiot.” I sniggered. “Correct.” We heard footsteps, so he shut up, standing back upright and aggressively rolling his shoulders in and attempt to straighten himself out and appear relaxed and nonchalant to the rest of them so they wouldn’t guess he’d literally just asked me out, not that any of them would have ever thought he had. Surely that wasn’t a conclusion any of them would have ever reached. “Did you find the perfect wine?” I asked Niall, keeping my voice bright to distract from how uncomfortable Lincoln clearly was. “I did! This is the wine that gets me laid, I can feel it. I’m calling it shag-wine from now on.” “It’s on the house.” I cooed. “Good luck.” “I love you so much.” He headed to the door. “C’mon, you two. Let’s leave these two fuckers to do some work.” He was out the door in seconds, Libby and Louis sharing a sweet goodbye that was as dramatic and wistful as expected. “Let me know.” Lin turned to me, spoke quietly. “I will. I promise.” “Thanks. And sorry.” “Don’t be sorry.” He whispered a few shy goodbyes before following Niall outside, quickly followed by Libby, who leaned over to pinch my cheek for no apparent reason before leaving. It was only when I was out of Lin’s company that his proposal burst back into my mind rather belligerently, his words accompanied by a substantial headache. I gripped my eyes shut, hoping to think of anything but. “So did he ask you?” Louis grinned, retrieving the tea he’d made before we were interrupted. “Huh?” “Lin? Did he ask?” “Wait? What? He told you he was going to ask?” I gawped. “Wait, no, are we talking about the same thing?” “He asked you out on a date, right?” “What the fuck? He told you he was gunna do that?” I squealed. “Well, you know how it is,” He rolled his eyes. “I’m the emotional support one, aren’t I? I dunno how it happened, but I somehow became the mother of the group, so people talk to me about this shit.” There was a warmth about Louis that I could not understand, but he was right; he was the one we all went to when there was anything we really wanted to discuss or anything we felt we needed to open up about. He had this wonderful energy that made him so inviting. Not only that, more often than not he gave wonderful, honest advice. There were secrets that I had kept so close to my chest that I hadn’t even found the strength to tell him, of all people. Something stirred in me then, an abrupt desire for that to change. “I didn’t know what to say.” I sighed. “I feel bad, but… I dunno! What the fuck, I just wasn’t expecting it!” “Kinda knocked me for six too, to be fair. But, I mean… he’s fucking sick. He’s a top lad.” “The best.” “I say do it.” “Oh god. I dunno. I dunno how I feel. I don’t wanna ruin anything.” “Wasn’t I exactly the same about Libby?” He said quite solemnly. “Yeah but I feel like you were always secretly in love with her. And once you got past the denial, boom, sorted.” I huffed. “I’m pretty sure I’m not secretly in love with Lin. Like, I’m really confident on that.” “But you don’t know! Maybe like… kiss him. Test the waters.” “I can’t even picture myself kissing Lin!” “I get that, I do. No pressure, or anything, but like… don’t rule it out, know what I mean?” “Mm.” “Do you feel like there’s something specific holding you back?” This was my opportunity, my gateway to tell him something I’d been holding in for 20 long months. It had been almost 2 fucking years since the first time I found myself in Harry’s bed and I hadn’t told anyone other than my dad about us. When things first started, the whole point was that it was a secret, something between us that no one else needed to know about. Following that, when we were together, I was conscious of how he felt, the pace he wanted to move at, what would make him comfortable, so I stayed quiet. Then it ended and he left and the last thing I wanted to do was talk about it. The cut he’d left was deep, and the idea of talking about him when things came crashing down seemed like salt to the wound. I didn’t want to tell the story of us when all we’d become was an ending. But now the wounds had healed, and the salt would no longer sting. It would merely glide over the scars he’d left. “Um… I… Um… Okay, there is something. It’s… Well, I was sort of… I was with Harry. Remember Harry? Yeah, of course you do, that was stupid. Okay- When Harry was here… we were… Together. Me and Harry… had a thing.” I think I was hoping for an alarmed look of absolute shock and disbelief, but that’s not what I received. Instead, he grinned, took a sip of his tea to try and hide his chuckles. Everything was blowing my mind. “I was wondering if you’d ever tell me.” He sniggered after some time. “What the fuck, Louis? How do you know everything?” “I just do.” He shrugged. “I pick up on these things. You two had a big energy. Huge. I figured.” “You didn’t say anything.” “Well neither did you! What was I supposed to do? And I didn’t know if anything was actually happening, I had no proof. I just knew at the very least you wanted to fuck each other.” I sniggered over his blunt delivery, almost relieved that he’d had some kind of idea that something had happened between us. I’m not sure why I felt that way, but it was like there was less to explain, less questions to be asked. I didn’t like talking about Harry, but it felt good to break that secret. “Does everyone know?” I panicked. “Don’t think so. I think you girls were all so keen on fucking Harry when he first got here that no one really thought anything of it.” “Well… Yeah.” I sniggered. “That’s probably true.” Louis was much more observant and tuned in than the rest of them were. Me and Harry had been surprisingly good at keeping things between the two of us rather inconspicuous, so it didn’t really surprise me that Louis was the only one who had caught on. “Was it serious?” He asked. “Uh… I think I’d say yes and he’d say no. I dunno, it got pretty fucked up… towards the end.” “Did it end because he left?” “I think he left because it ended.” “Shit.” “I told him I loved him and-” “Wait, you loved him?” Finally, he seemed shocked by something I’d said. “I… Yeah. I did, yeah.” “I didn’t realise it was that serious. Well, I knew you were good friends but I guess I figured it was just sex.” “I think he felt the same way. Because I told him I loved him and he freaked out and said it hadn’t meant anything to him, and the next thing I knew he’d fucked off back to New York.” “That’s shit, m’sorry.” “Yeah, well,” I shrugged, tried to loosen up. “Shit happens.” Though he appeared in my mind like a damn migraine more often than I knew he should have, I knew also that time had helped to heal and conceal wounds that Harry had left behind. I guess I’d expected talking about him to hurt, to drag agony back into my heart, but it didn’t. I’d become almost numb when it came to him. I’d had to force myself to forget, move on, not be haunted by a name and a face and a love that wasn’t supposed to ever be in my life in the first place. He was a malfunction, a glitch we’d experienced in our attempts to find the true meaning of our lives. We were never supposed to be. It was better to be numb than to admit the magnitude of feelings he had thrust upon my heart. “It’s his loss.” Louis said, and I rolled my eyes. “Nah, I’m being serious, Alf! He’ll fucking live to regret that, m’telling ya.” “I can’t say I agree, but I’m glad you think so.” “So… Are you not over it? Is that why you’re not sure about Lin?” “There’s a million reasons I’m not sure about Lin.” I wheezed, wanting to lay myself down on the floor and groan for the rest of the day, or at least until I made a decision. “I’ve known him since I was seventeen. I’ve known him for almost eight years. I’m twenty-five in a few months. I… I just feel like if something was supposed to happen, it would have happened already.” “But for the majority of the time you’ve known him… you’ve been with someone else. You’ve been with the wrong people. Sam and then Harry. Maybe the right person was here the whole time, you just weren’t looking.” “It’s so easy for you to say when you and Libby worked out so well.” “Yeah, it is easy. That’s exactly the point.” He said. “Look at how it worked out for me.” It was a risk, but maybe it would turn out to be one that was worth taking. Maybe the risk would bring me exactly what I needed, wanted, craved. Maybe Lin was perfect for me and I’d been too busy falling for the wrong people to even give him a chance. I’d never thought about it before that day, but suddenly I found myself thinking that if I didn’t at least try, I might always be asking myself the question – what if? “I do think the world of him.” I admitted exasperatedly. “Of course you do, he’s fucking amazing. Good hair.” “Such good hair.” I laughed lightly. “You could do a lot worse than Lincoln Crosby.” “I know I could. I know.” My voice and my disposition were both flattened. I adored Lin. I truly didn’t have a bad word to say about him, my only concern was that there was something deficient when it came to the two of us in a romantic sense; something that meant no matter how much we loved each other, we would never be able to fall in love with each other. That was something I needed to find out. But it was like every time I really considered it, allowed myself to think about saying yes, Harry’s face would appear in my mind once more, subconsciously trying to pull me away, keep me from trying things, holding me down, making sure I remained as miserable as I had been since he’d left. I deserved to move on. I deserved to try something new, and I refused to keep being held back and restrained by a boy who had cut me free a year earlier. He had taken flight, and sometimes it felt like I had remained completely grounded. It was as though he had given me the wings and simultaneously locked me in a cage. It was time to set myself free. “You okay?” Louis sounded somewhat concerned, eyes trained on me, likely seeing the cogs working in my head. “Mm.” He took a few moments, as observant and conscious as ever before he spoke again, reminded me just how well he knew me, how easily he could figure me out. “The Harry thing really fucked you up, didn’t it?” I looked to the ground, my stomach churning. “You really loved him, didn’t you? And he just left like…” “Like I’d never meant anything to him.” I said what I felt he couldn’t. “You did. I know you did. He told me you did.” “What? When?” “Uh… I think it was when you first went to see your mum again, and he went with you. I grabbed him for a chat before you went, kinda asked why he’d put himself forward the way he did. I mean, we’d all known you for so many years, we’re all so close. I wanted to know why he’d stepped up.” “Wh-what did he say?” “He was kinda… trying to be blasé about it, like it didn’t mean much, but then… I remember him saying he’d do anything for you. I remember it like it was yesterday. So…. No matter what happened, I know he cared about you a lot, Alfie. And I know it’s hard to see that sometimes, but he did.” Hard didn’t even come close. It was fucking impossible sometimes. Because he’d left. He’d told me that we were just fucking and he’d left; despite everything and despite the reasons he’d moved to Rosebury in the first place, he’d altered his entire life to get away from me. It was near fucking impossible to be conscious of the good parts when the bad had began feeling so much more dominant in his absence. I owed it to myself to see what romance may be like with someone new. I needed to move on from him.

#the bitch is back #with a pretty substantial leap in time #let's get back into it #Happy Bloody Sunday #HBS42 #Part Three #yayayayayay

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prismaticquartz · 4 years

Text

So, new decade huh!

TIME TO GIVE SOME SHOUTOUTS TOO AAAAALL MY BITCHES THIS YEAAR YEEEEAA BABY!!!

(they’re under the cut since theres a lotta folks-)

@sol4r-eclips3

YES HELLO khkjlfshakljhLKJ- ok but fr suns I love you so goddamn much!!! When I first met you I really wanted to get to know you and be friends. You were and still are the funniest and rowdiest fuckin person I’ve met in a loong time!! And yet you’re so understanding and patient and honestly, there aren’t many people in the world like you, which makes me so happy that I found you. Tough, fiery, strong, funny and caring I love you more than words can describe!

@nebulanudibranch

MY GOD you are such a sweetheart nebs you really are. Smart, sweet and so wonderful in so many ways. We have so much in common and that makes me feel a lot less alone in the world. When you joined the shit squad I never really knew what to make of you (PFFT I thought you were 17 for some reason and thought you were a compleTELY different person from quirky watercolors JHLKJDF), but meeting you again in shmeeps and in hell and other personal servers I really wanted to make a good impression!! And I really wanted to become closer! AND HOOLY SHIT DID THOSE DESIRES BECOME A REALITY AND I AM SO HAPPY THEY DID HDSFGKAJ!!!! I love you man I do!!! you make me so happy you sweetie!!! I hope for the best of things for you in the future!!

@jackie-from-the-seafloor

*GRABS YOU* JHKJH ok but we have such a long history together nauti and I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. You’re such a vibrant and funny personality, you radiate such a vibrant and colorful prescience wherever you are and it lifts the mood of any conversation!! your art and stories are a majesty to behold and a testament to your colorful personality!! You’ve always been honest and dependable and there for me whenever I need you most.. and I can’t thank you enough for that. I love you my gay fish fillet!!!

@glitch-betch

dani devitoooooo you are a fantastic person to hang out with!!! Your stories and art have been getting better and better and better every time I lay my eyes on em!! You were there for me at a period of uncertainty.. I cut ties with my old friends and was unsure about the future.. but you, tony and simon helped me so much more than all 3 of you could ever even know. You’re funny and smart and just- a treasure to hang out with!!! I hope I can bring you the amount of joy that you brought me chick.. I love you!!!

@jsab-fujii

hello :thot: you’d better not be surprised to see yourself here JHKLJF BUT ANYWAYS YEAH DUDE YOU’RE SICK AS FUCK!! You’ve always got my back and I promise I’ll always have yours!! You bring such a calming atmosphere everywhere you are and are a trustworthy and intelligent friend!! I can also confide in you to talk to about anything and you’ll listen and understand!! Thats something I really value!! You’re so chill and hjdhkajhdkj!!! you’re fuckin epic bro gosh bless,,,

@mother-of-thots-returns

EHE hi- I know we haven’t spoken all that much until recently, but honestly bro, you are a gem!!! An actual gem!! Your writing is superb, you’re one of the sweetest people on the face of the planet earth, you’re talented, charming, *COUGH* gorgeous, and you bring such a warm prescience and are overall just fantastic to talk to!!! From the moment we started chattin, I’ve been wanting to know more and more about you and become closer!! And I hope that we can in the new decade!! Love you mot, gosh bless,,

@hexaforce678

YEAH YOU’RE ON HERE TOO LITTLE HEXAGON COME HERE- Since we met in shmeeps I’ve been interested in gettin to know you bro!! And I’m SO HAPPY I COULD YO!!! You’re a rabid feral knucklehead and I couldn’t be happier to have you around!!! And honestly bro, I’m super proud of your work with Out Of This World. I’m not much into jsab anymore, but you’ve done something not alot of people have done yet, took an idea, made a story and made it real!! Alot of peoples passion projects have been worked on for years and only some have really been released, but you? You’re crushin the game!!!! And thats a rare, sight!! And I’m so proud of you!!!! I hope for more attention to OOTW in the coming years bro!! (if ya start sellin merch tho you gotta give me 20% off cuz we’re friends :thot:

@natto-axolotl

HAHAAAH YOOOOU!!!! Before we added you to the group chat all we could talk about was how much of a delight you are!!! You’re talented, kind, funny and creative and we HAD to throw you in there!!! I know we’ve not known each other for long but I can tell that we’re only gonna become even better pals into the future!!!! Whenever you pop in everyone is always so happy to see you!! And why wouldn’t we be?? You’re amazing!!! And I hope that life will be even more amazing for you in the next decade!!! godspeed you funky axolotl,, godspeed,,

@myserbale

*SCREAMS AT YOU* I STILL CAN’T GET OVER THE FACT THAT I WAS ABLE TO MEET YOU IN THE FLESH!!!!!! Mys I still have those drawings you made hung up on my door and so long as I HAVE a door they will STAY hanging there,, because getting to know you was a fuckeeen trIP!!! I see this breathtaking artist with an interesting jsab blog on my dash, give them a follow then I get a message from nipp saying they’re freaking out because they know about me too??? DUDE I WAS SCREAMING!!!! And even through some rough ass drama related shit you were always there to have mine and our friends back through it all!! All leading up to that magic day where I could give you a bear hug and wander around the museum with you!! Me and my dad couldn’t stop talking about that experience!! He said it was almost like we’ve known each other since kindergarten!!! I really hope to meet you again.. gosh bless Mys.. you funky man,,

@charmed-wonder

Ahh yes the 8th wonder,,, You’ve done nothing but bring comfort and joy you funky mongoose. You’re super funny (and horrifyingly cryptic at times-) and sUUPER talented!! I’d absolutely adore hearing about your original stories n shit bro!!! And I’d love to be able to get to know you better and talk more!! And I hope we will in the new year!! You’re epic as fuck bro!!!!

@krys-lil-corner

Ah yes, the serotonin woman, right here right oon time. That my friend is my thought process everytime you enter a room!! Seeing how supportive you are of so many people?? Honestly I have no fucking clue how you do it?? Either way, I’m so happy to have been able to talk with you!!! I’ve seen you around for a long time, but actually talking with you was a delight!!! I hope that one day you’ll be given as much support for your original series and other creative projects as you’ve given me and so many others. You really deserve it!!

@4n4kin

YOUNG MAN- It’s been pretty tough, I recognize that, but I’m glad that I was able to get in contact with you!! I’ve actually known about you for some time!! But like with many people, I was nervous,, and really intimidated. But after getting to know you it’s been confirmed in my mind that you are actually a mASSIVE DORK!!! It makes me really happy to get a message checkin in on me every once and awhile!! It always reminds me that you do genuinely care!! I thank you so much for our conversations and I hope that we’ll have many more on the road ahead!! bless you!!

@oddlyoglingowl @suna-bara

HEY MOM!! HEY DAD!! JHKJHSK- No but fr you two are actually such parent friends gosh bless- Hanging out in the server with you \two has been such a great time!! The minecraft shenanigans, the voice chat shenanigans and more have always been such memorable things to me and I thank you both so much!! Rose!! I’ve been so intimidated by you for the longest time and when we spoke my brain just lit on fire djhkjAHK- I was stoked to be friends with such a sweet and awesome creator!!! Playing minecraft with you that day was such a wonderful time!! I hope we can do it again sometime!! And yOU Lecter!! Your voice acting is sooo goood!!!! I’d really like to do something like a comic dub of some kind together!! That’d be fuckin epic!! You are such a lighthearted a goofy guy and I hope for more shenanigans to ensue!!!!

HOOLY FUCK THAT TOOK ME LIKE AN HOUR TO TYPE I NEED TO STOP JDFHLKAHFLKJASHFLKJ

There are a lot of people I missed here, but if I were to include everyone I’d be typing for another TWO hours hjfdslkjf- To everyone, friend, foe, or mutual.. thank you all so much for making this year what it’s been. From last November to present day I can say that I’ve been living in a golden age!! I’ve experienced things that I could have never DREAMED of experiencing before. All of this feels like life has rewarded me for pushing past the strife I’ve faced, the ignorance and ineptitude I held, and the knowledge and wisdom I’ve gained. Thank you so much to you all, these past months I will never EVER forget.. And thats a promise. To everyone, even those I don’t talk to as much, thank you for everything you’ve taught me, and for the memories you’ve gifted me. I love you all, each and every one of you.

#GAHAGHGAHGAHG #HAPPY NEW YEAR #WOOO

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cateringisalie · 5 years

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FFVII Halloween Week (Day 6) (Aerti)

Written for today and possibly (clearly) inspired by Terry Pratchett...

Aeris Gainsborough was a witch. In the classic sense; broomstick, black hat and magic. Not that magic was a particularly note-worthy skill or anything. The availability of materia allowed any in the population with the knack (and a sufficiently deep bank account) to conjure up fire, ice, lightning and, in rarer cases, dragons and lancers and Chocobos.

Aeris’s magic was different – though it shared a common source. Materia was crystallised Mako, drawn up from the depths of the Planet and rendered into spheres, the knowledge of the Ancients, of the Cetra, solidified. Aeris got her skills more directly. There were more spells in the Planet, in the Lifestream if one had the skill or patience to hear them. To spend year after year training, meditating, reaching out with one’s being. Mom had taught her before the tragedy took her; her protégé Elmyra took Aeris in in the aftermath, continued her training and became her surrogate mother. Reality diverged sharply from popular depictions of witches; while magic might be easy for Materia users, drawing on the voice of the Planet required effort, more training and work. Short-cuts – some resembling mathematical formulae were transcribed into tomes to speed up the process on repeat uses. The call and response to invoke a spell became second nature and Aeris excelled at her studies – though it would be so much easier to obtain materia. Easier but less effective. No Materia yet identified or catalogued could allow the flight her mother’s own spell provided, the enchantment cast upon a broomstick (why avoid the obvious? Even in the era of airships and powered flight, a person was unable to move as freely and quickly as she could upon her broom). Elmyra already had a reputation in the slums of Midgar and Aeris helped perpetuate; many were wary of the two women who could invoke spells no one else could and with apparently few restrictions. There was a whole cocktail of reasons for the distrust, the occasional insulting word. But these never came to prominence and always swiftly subdued. Elmyra and Aeris were essential for the community of Sector Five. Mom’s knowledge expanded well beyond magic from the Planet. Detailed medical texts, drug experiments, anaesthetic, all penned by her hand. All of use to the ails of the people of Sector Five. Aeris accompanied Elmyra from an early age, tiny black hat perched on her head; the pair went to each house, visiting the pregnant, the ill, the elderly. Keeping an eye on them, providing for them. Much of their work involved no magic at all; simple chores left undone, shopping brought home, free health checks as opposed to the uncomfortable prices in the less than reputable doctors down here or the naked profiteering of the Upper Plates. Despite the other spells; levitation, deeper insight, visualisations of a patient’s internal injuries, there were no spells to wave away maladies. Pregnancies had to be brought to term or else alleviated at the mother’s request. Missing limbs could not be restored, and age was a remorseless drag on everyone. It was never merely one visit to someone in the Sector. Time after time, Elmyra letting Aeris assist in more and more instances. Deaths were something held back for a while – one of the few situations Elmyra took the longest to let Aeris participate in. A shock the first time; waiting on a knife-edge as hours ticked away with a patient on their deathbed, waiting to be there. The need for their presence only became clear after the first time. The moment of death, the sudden knowing that the person lying in the bed had returned to the Planet and breathed their last. For most, the last moments as they faded away were the last imploring’s of love, devotion or sorrow for someone left behind. Distressing but nothing Aeris could not cope with. Later she would encounter the situation Elmyra wished to avoid; the vicious, angry discomfort of a return, the fading voice lashing out at those around them. Being a witch had been Aeris’s life for so long that she thought little of how other people her age might be. She was a witch in training – soon to be a witch herself. Not that she intended to move anywhere else. Mom’s house in the slums had become home and moving away felt wrong. So much of her dealings were with grown-ups; women giving birth, the old and infirm – until the unremarked point when attending to a pregnancy made clear that the patient was younger than Aeris. Children, teenagers, young adults in Sector Five did not especially like Aeris or Elmyra. They respected (and to an extent feared - based on older rumours of those who crossed or brought peril upon Mom) them both. Neither had many friends. Other witches certainly, though few enough were Aeris’s age and none close at hand or with a similar mindset. Aeris was okay on her own, but eventually Elmyra intervened. “You need...” She cast about, removing her hat and cloak. “Someone else.” Aeris blinked at her. “A romantic partner.” “Well. Yes, if you would like to pursue that.” Not something Aeris had thought much about. That kind of thing seemed to extend mostly to how one wound up pregnant or how one ended up weeping beside the bed a partner lay dying in. “Though even just someone your age. Someone for you to talk to or...” “The people my age keep their distance.” Aeris placed her hat on the stand. “I could try a different sector?” “Maybe.” Elmyra approached holding the paper. “Though I was thinking maybe a penpal?” “A penpal?” Letters? But any conversation would be delayed. “It’s not ideal.” Elmyra sighed. “But maybe if you can start talking to them so they get to know... you, before you worry about mentioning the Witch bit.” “You always said it was nothing to be ashamed of!” “I know, I know.” Another sigh. “But I don’t want you to miss out-“ “Would taking off the hat help?” Aeris clutched the brim. “It might.” She smiled. “That might be better. And wear something more colourful if you try.” Absolutely the idea, but now the notion was in place, who were these people who wanted penpals? Still odd seeming given the availability of phones. But- A skim read. Men looking for romance. Men looking for someone to talk to about... sports. Less than compelling. On and on and- One stood out for no particular reason. This was familiar enough; the Planet suggested at times, highlighted something mundane or made them aware of significances. T. Lockhart. Resident of Nibelheim. Likes Martial Arts, piano, cooking and writing. Another name in amongst so many others, but- Aeris fetched the writing paper and penned a first letter. Careful introduction. She was Aeris Gainsborough, resident of Sector Five in Midgar. Interests included- A quick cast around the room to figure out the best way to no precisely lie, but not outright admit her situation. Gardening. Caring for the elderly. Research. Or perhaps reading? Her first letter became a mass of re-worded and crossed out changes. What did T write? She wrote the letter all out again and sent it off the next day, rapidly forgetting all about it. A month later the reply arrived. This lead to an awkward moment of trying to remember what had been said in the first letter. How much had Aeris implied and how much was carefully couched to avoid controversy? T was Tifa – and glad to have an answer from her. The caring for the Elderly threw her – Aeris penned a better explanation even before she was through the letter. Her writing was all oriented around a TV programme; Aeris made a note to tune in and see what it was all about. That was how Aeris wound up watching Seeds of the Garden – a dubbed soap opera from Wutai about a group of teenagers in a military with magically augmented powers. Fun enough. She asked Tifa for some of her writing out of curiosity. The letters accelerated to the point Aeris would receive a reply every two weeks; about the fastest expected between so distant settlements. Tifa’s writing encouraged Aeris to try her own – sending it back for critique and review by Tifa. Tifa’s she carefully kept along with the letters, but she would return to that time and again for enjoyment. Letters became augmented with phone-calls; Aeris volunteering Elmyra’s number first. Thrilling to hear Tifa’s voice – however distant and crackly it was thanks to distance. Tifa was easy and fun to talk to. But always on edge. Always something that did not sit right with her. Two years from the initial contact and Tifa let slip what it was: “I think I hate my Dad.” “Oh.” Aeris shifted the phone from one ear to the other, twisting the cord between her fingers. How even to respond to that? “I mean. I love him and I don’t want anything to happen to him. It’s just me and him at home. No one my age is here and people are leaving the town. He refuses to even consider leaving. No one comes here anymore. No one needs me to guide them across Mount Nibel and...” “Tifa...” A loud sigh from her end of the phone. “I wish someone could help me get away. Just swoop down and carry me off. I can’t afford a transport ticket out of here-“ “I will.” Aeris bit her lip. “I mean. I would. If I could.” Tifa chuckled. “I know. Thank you. That at least gives me something happy to think about.” Was it idle conversation? Or did Tifa really wish for something like that? She was down, depressed and unhappy in her situation. And Aeris could – absolutely could – get to her. Flying to Nibelheim would be all kinds of exhausting. The drain of magic to keep the broom air-borne, not to mention the weather and finding somewhere to say. Navigation. So many reasons not to. But a big reason to. Tifa herself. A few more conversations had Aeris convinced. She would apologise to Elmyra and strike out. Sail her broomstick across the sea and to Nibelheim. Swoop down to the town and find Tifa. Let her know everything obviously and- And what happened next was up for debate. If Tifa wasn’t serious it could be an arduous, unfulfilling trip. And that might damage their friendship. But if Tifa was being honest, perhaps Aeris could offer a way out. Sit Tifa behind her on the broom and return to Midgar with her. Still unsure up until the day; her deadline, to set off and (theoretically) arrive in Nibelheim for Tifa’s favourite holiday. The time when the world at large seemed to celebrate the old magic and witchcraft. And the decision was made. Aeris would go to say in person “Happy Halloween”.

#ffviihalloween #aerti #aerith gainsborough #tifa lockhart #final fantasy vii #my ffvii fanfic

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tleecacc · 4 years

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Virginia Lee

My mom came into this world on November 11, 1922. She loved that she was born 11/11/22. And she loved that it was something genuinely unique. That it held all the axioms of synchronicity.

She often proudly told the story of when she was born, how she was so tiny the doctor’s did not expect her to live. As a last resort, a last ditch effort to save her life, the doctor gave my mother horse serum. Apparently that was a thing. And when she made it through the night, the doctor came in the next morning to tell her mother and father that miraculously she was gaining strength. He said to her parents, my grandmother Eulalia, and grandfather Daniel, ‘this little girl is a fighter’ …That she was.

She was born into an era that included the great depression. She lived through a world war, and so many incredible changes that the 20th century presented its almost unfathomable. Some of which she out right rejected, others she eventually either accepted or adopted. Her first microwave oven was used as a bread box for years before she agreed to learn to use it properly. She was the original, ultimate minimalist. She saved wax paper, rubber bans, bread bags and aluminum foil. She abhorred the idea of just throwing things away after one use, which culminated in receiving food gifts wrapped in layers wax paper, encased in at least two bread bags, held tightly together with six rubber bans. She was also a vitamin freak and insisted on a well balanced diet. We were not allowed to leave the house without drinking orange juice that was kept in as air tight a container as possible, so as not to lose its rich life giving force. She detested impracticality. We’d by her gifts to make her life easier but she would eventually admit to one or another of us, ‘Its so unnecessary, I don’t need it’ ‘I’ll never use it. My old (fill in the blank) works just fine’ etc.

I thought she was the most gentle person ever to touch her feet to this earth. And I believed she couldn’t possibly love anyone as much as she did my brother’s and sisters and I, until she met her grandchildren. My mother held an extraordinary amount of love in her heart for each of them.

She found her spiritual path in the love and devotion she exhibited towards her family everyday of her life, and to every person she encountered, with few exceptions. She prayed for all of us everyday. Harder if she thought we were in special need, a heart was aching, someone's health was in question, a soul was at risk… or you spent time in bars which is the same thing… so yeah, she prayed a lot.

My mother was one of 11 children born to Daniel and Eulalia May. When you come from large families such as ours, you can spew out the names of your offspring or siblings in successive order as if it were one name. For my Mother’s family it was

BobDorthyVirginiaMaryRitaBillLoraineDaveDanBarbaraTom. And by the time my mother was 14 years old, she was a mother to her 8 younger siblings, as her mother was rarely well. She never complained about that role. She loved her brothers and sisters and was devoted to their care. She loved each of them and their individual take on life. She was very proud of the life they each garnered for themselves and their children. She was happy to see them living in a world less harsh than the childhood they endured. She held an extraordinary capacity of love in her heart for each of them. And she took their needs on without the least bit of resentment or regret.

My mother’s family moved 17 times in her years at home. In a family with six gorgeous women you can imagine the stir it caused within each neighborhood they were adopted into. They were the May girls. With their flowing red, auburn and black heads of hair, their Miss America smiles and that undeniable May sense of fun loving humor. To say they were gregarious almost doesn’t do their personalities justice.

My momma was beautiful, physically and spiritually. She loved her life. She was radiant in the outdoors and pushed us daily to be out in the fresh air. She was athletic. Mom made the varsity field hockey team as a freshman. She never drove a car and so walked everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Which may explain the athletic prowess of her children. As toddlers, when the newest sibling took over your spot in the stroller, we had to run along side her to keep up. Although she only stood four foot eleven, she had legs that moved incredibly fast. This tiny, feisty, determined woman walked everywhere and loved every minute of it, so it was hard on all of us to see the loss of that freedom in the recent months when her health finally took that joyful ability away.

According to my mother, the advent of television was humanities downfall, and she was determined to get us children out of doors in the fresh air. She loved picnics in the park and spending time in our large back yard (‘you can’t find a back yard like that just anywhere’). She took us places on busses when my dad did not. We rode to the Art museum, Steinberg, downtown, the Muny free seats, all of forest park really and of course Cardinal Glennon Hospital. A place I believe they new her by name. She made sure we learned to swim, rode bikes, and spent as much time as possible at Jamieson park. She ensured we ran, play ball of any and every kind. All of which we each embraced and learned to love. And to this day we, each of us appreciates her love of nature, because she instill that same love in each of us.

We woke every morning to a good, most often hot breakfast. We were not allowed to escape without first downing a glass of orange juice. Our nutrition was high on her list. Good food on our plates was something she did not often have as a child and often went hungry. I think she is the only person I know who actually did walk uphill to and from school…in worn-out clothes and ill fitting shoes. So to my mother, giving your children what you didn’t have meant that we had everything that was important. Sometimes more, but never less.

She made Christmas Eve our best family celebration every single year. And the tradition goes on today, and will never fade if most of us have our way. It was one occasion that brought us together without fail with all of our clashing personalities, boisterous voices, our loud laughter, and our undying competitive spirits. And an occasional cartwheel from Uncle Laurie. It wasn’t always easy. It was always crowded. And nothing gave her greater joy than to see us all hugging and joking and telling stories, especially if they were about her. She never once let us for a minute question her deep abiding love for us, and she laced all of it with her Irish, indelible May family sense of humor.

My mother was hilarious and she’d be the first one to let that be known. Her sense of humor was one of her great attributes and oh so contagious. My mom instilled in us a basic truth, that one can get through any hardship with prayer and an ability to laugh at ones own foibles. Besides, they made for better stories. And she was the ultimate storyteller, often laughing harder than everyone in the room. She’d sometimes be laughing so hard you couldn’t make out the punch line. And she loved a good practical joke. She once turned off the kitchen lights and laid herself out on the floor, playing dead, to scare my brother Scott, after he and my brother Chris had just spent an hour telling my sisters and me scary stories in the dark. Stories and antics that made us scream with fear and laughter, except maybe Laurie. She screamed alright but then burst into tears….of course…Because Laurie cries at everything so, grain of salt. But man she got him good. And laid there on the floor laughing so hard her belly shook.

She had the most contagious smile. Broad and genuinely warm and engaging. Her laugh was the most incredible music I’ve ever known. If she was telling you a story that she found particularly hilarious, it was all she could do to get the words out as she could hardly breathe. In those moments it didn’t matter that you might not be able to understand her, her joy was a gift.

She made our life so amazing. Nine kids in a 2 bedroom house with a 1/2 story attic big enough for 5 girls to share, like a dorm room. A finished basement where we could roller skate when it rained, or play ping pong or pool and a room that held a zillion board games, blocks, bats, balls, snow suits and boots, a record player, dart board, and the electric trains we set up every Christmas. She taught us to play cards, and never complained when we turned up the stereo or radio when we girls were doing dishes, or dad was out of the house.

She pitched whiffle balls, set up our croquet game or let us use her clothes line for badminton or volleyball. She let us dig in the dirt, play with the hose when it was hot, had my dad build us a sand box and a swing set. She taught us how to cross stitch and made paste with flour and water to stick our construction paper cutouts together. She was unstoppable. She was the ultimate mother. I am who I am today because on 11/11/22, the day God took his wand and cast stardust across the universe and breathed life into my sweet sweet mother, the tiny infant that was not expected to live. She fought for her own life and that of her children and grandchildren with love and prayer and sheer determination. She fought with a deep love for life and heart felt prayer from her soul, for each of us.

The last day she was awake, she gave me a message to pass on to her children. It was a moment I will never forget for the remainder of my own days, and worth repeating often.

‘Tell the children I said goodbye.

Tell them that I love them so much.

Tell them to be good to their mother’s and dads, they love them so much

I love them so much’

I said, I promise momma, I love you so much

She said, ‘I love you more.’…I love you more. How could I ever argue that.

Addendum:

Since the funeral, I have wanted to finish my acknowledgments of the remainder of my siblings that I did not mention at church. Sorry, I lost if after Peggy…

To:

My brother Christopher Dennis, for all the quiet stoic patience that my mother instilled in you. I remember how you always got on your bike and ran errand for mom as a kid. How you took on babysitting duties and made those times fun for us. How you rarely, if ever, complained about life in the middle of 9 kids. How much joy you gave her with the attention and love you gave to our brother Mark. It made her so happy. Mom loved you so much and I could always see her appreciation of you and your gentle way of being. When I look at you, I see that part of her in you.

Mark Joseph, wish you could read and understand me so I could tell you how incredibly much she loved you. Words could never convey.

James, I’m happy she is finally able to bestow all of herself on you now.

Carol Lee. Mom loved you so so deeply. She worried about you constantly, and was so grateful to be able to be there for you in the hard times you suffered from a disease doctors knew very little about in your younger years. She was always so happy to hear your sweet voice on the phone, and to know you were okay. I know she hated leaving you. Thank you for always staying so closely connected to her.

Laurie Lee. She thought she was finished having her passel of children, but as she was apt to reminded you, she decided she had room for just one more, and that was you. I love how much you loved her. How you kept in contact with her and worried about her. You were her last and she enjoyed spoiling you with her time and attention in the years when you were the last be at home with her before grade school. She always noted your generous heart, and you are more like her in that way than many, you just cry more…then again maybe not. She was so proud of you and how hard you worked for the sisters. You are so devoted to your own family, and working for the nuns is almost as good as having a priest for a son…, but not quite so don’t get a big May head about it. Lucy I am so grateful to have been there, to bare whitness, as you, her youngest child, knowing this would probably be her last meal bravely spoon feed her, through tears of course, that last bit of ice cream. I will never forget it.

Finally I come to Scott David. This one, will get to me the most. I spent many hours over my lifetime watching my mom with her own struggles, for her strength to take care of her brood with little sleep, for her ability to keep going after a particularly difficult day with the Bear, which were many, to fight her own depression from being overwhelmed with the enormity of the load she bore everyday from the sheer logistics of her life. But you Scottie were my hero in that. You could make mom laugh with just a one liner as you came barreling through the door. You were a true angel in mom’s life and therefore all of our lives. You brought her more joy with your own May sense of humor than all of us put together. You made her day, everyday that you were near her, and for that I could never repay you. I relished every single moment of watching you, with your quick and whitty sense of irony, make her laugh, make her smile, make her silently giggle. Thank you for all the Johnnie Carson nights you spent with her. I enjoyed watching the two of you at that hour more than any other hour of the day, because you could always bring her relief with your own joy of life. Thank you for all the practical jokes you put up with from her. They were the best and I was always on board with being in on them. You as much as mom taught me that with a humor, everything, no matter how difficult, can be made better, could be eased. I can never find the words to express how much hope you brought back to us when you lifted her spirits. Thank you for giving her so much joy. I don’t know what she would have done without you in her life.

Love you Momma,

Theresa Lee

#grandmaginny virginialee

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hangeladavis · 5 years

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A Gift For You On My 30th Birthday

IT’S MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

This is an accurate portrayal of how I felt this morning when I woke up! 30!!!! WOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!! I have lots of feels so I made a playlist. Naturally. So here are 30 songs (+1 for good luck) that I love and a little bit about them.

Knockin on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan - My mom says that this is the first song that came on the radio when we left the hospital. Imagining that it’s the first song I heard is nice.

I Love Your Smile by Shanice - When I was a baby child, this was my song! Every night when my dad got home from work and walked into our apartment in Queens I would run to him and ask him to play my song and I would sing it. HARD! Mind you I was like 2 or 3 but it didn’t matter.

Fly Like An Eagle by Seal - Can we talk about the Space Jam soundtrack!? It was vibe to my 6 or 7 year old self and it still goes! I feel like this album was the first time I really heard music. And felt it.

I Wanna Be Down by Brandy - Ok so my dad got those Columbia House cds for 1c or whatever and the first one he gave me was Brandy’s self titled album. You couldn’t tell me nothing!!! Hairbrush karaoke on a million!

Bills, Bills, Bills by Destiny’s Child - When “Writings on the Wall” came out, I really tried to convince my friends to do a backyard performance with choreography and everything. They said no but it was then at 9 that I knew I wanted to be an artist, a director specifically.

We Can’t Be Friends by Deborah Cox - Another in the Columbia House cd collection, I played this album out and knew every word. I played it last summer after not listening to it for at least 15 years and still knew every word and every riff.

My All by Mariah Carey - “I’d give my all/ To have/ Just one more night with you” I had no real context for what I was singing but I used to sing this song so hard! I miss classic Mariah.

Kick Your Game by TLC - That Crazy, Sexy, Cool album was so classic and it was hard to pick one song but this was my jam!

I’ll Be There by The Jackson 5 - Now that I am older I question if I really want someone to be there with that much fervor after a breakup but when baby MJ sings “just look over your shoulders honey, oooh!” I feel it in my soul!

Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson - This song sends me. From the very beginning, to the beat drop. And when she grabs the phone from him and tells his baby “He’s not coming back/because he’s sleeping with me!” thats a moment. No one wants to be on the receiving end of that call but Diana gets what she wants.

That’s The Way Love Goes - JANET! Queen of the Whisper Sing! Duchess of Tight Choreo! I was way too young to be singing this song but I blame my dad. It’s a sexy jam and I don’t regret it.

Are You That Somebody by Aaliyah - When I was 10, some friends and I danced to this song at our elementary school. My mom choreographed it, we got matching outfits and we performed it. Another group of girls (who were admittedly more popular) danced to “Maria, Maria” and they wore matching cowboy hats. Naturally, there was a showdown on the playground over who was better. Naturally.

Just a Friend 2002 by Mario - Westbury Middle School! It was the best of times and the worst of times. Mainly the worst of times cuz middle school is hellish and there is nothing you could do to make me want to relive those years. But one of the sweet moments was getting a mixed cd from this boy that had a crush on me and this was the first song. Swoon It worked. We dated for a while. It was cute.

My Life, My Love, My All by Kirk Franklin - This is the first song I ever choreographed and it changed my life. I was 10 years old. I showed my mother the choreo and she said teach me. It was in that moment that she validated my artistry. That’s why can’t nobody tell me nothing. I have been doing this for 20 years!

Healing by Richard Smallwood - My mother choreographed this piece for the church dance ministry, Choresis, at Memorial Presbyterian Church in Roosevelt, NY. It was one of their most popular pieces and it gave my mother the outlet she needed to dive headfirst into her artistry. I learned how to lead, facilitate and hold healing arts-centered space from my mother and the women she danced with. Their labor made me possible.

Air Force Ones by Nelly - Back to Westbury Middle School, this song is to honor the Air Force 1s wearing preteen I was. Ooh girl…

Ready For Love by India.Arie - When this song came out I thought I knew what it meant and sang it as such. Girl. Girl Girl Girl Girl Girl Girl… 15+ years later and the only thing I know is that I don’t know very much at all. Also this song is very hetero and I am indeed very queer. lol

I’ll Write A Song For You by Earth, Wind & Fire - Family road trips were not complete without this song. We still sing this song like it’s our job. I knew we were getting older when my brother Jordan couldn't hit the high notes.

As by Stevie Wonder - This song. Whew. When I was 10, my mother and I were asked to dance to this song at the funeral of a baby that died. We did and afterwards I was tore up. I kept thinking about my baby brother, Aaron, who has just been born and how I would feel if he died. I didn’t listen to this song for years. Until I really listened to the words and thought about a love that transcends space and time. This song inspired me to write a musical based on Stevie Wonder’s music. And it is my favorite song by my favorite singer.

Breathe from In The Heights Musical - Fast forward, my senior year of college my parents gave me tickets for In The Heights for Christmas. My best friend Lana and I sat in the second to last row in this Broadway house and when this song started I wept. I mean completely lost it. Because she was singing my story. I was flunking out of college my senior year and hadn’t told my parents. I had been a top student in high school and graduated #5 in my class. But I didn’t have words to name my anxiety, depression and fear that I had no idea what to do with my life after school. “And what will my parent say?/Can I go in there and say/"I know that I'm letting you down” This song still makes me cry.

I’m Here from The Color Purple Musical - I’ll let the song speak for itself. “I believe I have inside of me /Everything that I need to live a bountiful life/And all the love alive in me/I'll stand as tall as the tallest tree/And I'm thankful for every day that I'm given/Both the easy and hard ones I'm livin'/But most of all, I'm thankful for/Lovin' who I really am

Back That Azz Up - Ha! This is my favorite transition. This song is for my undergrad club days at A&T and the Blu&White fam.

Boogie Oogie Oogie by A Taste of Honey - But I don’t actually club for real because I am a grandma that missed my era. I could dance to disco all night actually.

Seasons of Love from RENT Musical - What can I say? I’m a theatre kid. This is for A&T’s theatre department that taught me so much and made me so much of who and how I am as an artist. And Rest in Peace to the mother of our theatre department, Frankie Day.

Screens by Zoocrü featuring Al Strong - In 2016, I met a woman named Margaret A. Brunson who changed my life. (She has that effect on everyone) The first time we hung out she took me to an Kickstarter kickoff party for a band named Zoocrü. I had never heard of them before but as soon as they started playing I was like Who are these boys? I offered my administrative assistance for their campaign and it turned into more than I ever imagined. That offer is what pushed me into consulting and it’s been a joy to work with artists and creatives. I am grateful that our paths crossed.

Sunday Candy by Donnie Trumpet - My grandmother, my Nanny, Evelyne Marie Laisure Marshall passed away on September 29, 2017. Her living made me possible and her passing changed my life. I talk about grandmas so much because I dont know who I would be without her love. I miss her so much but I find her everywhere; in my red fingernail polish, in my card shuffling, in my baking, in my political analysis, in my care. And yes, in the candy dish in my living room.

F.U.B.U. by Solange - Last year I created a show called “Buy My Soul And Call It Art”. I had no idea what I was doing but my Nanny had passed and my cousin Michael had passed and the Universe was telling me to “do it scared”. This song was featured in the piece because I never wanted anyone to forget who this is for, who this is centering. “All my niggas in the whole wide world…”

I Want You by Erykah Badu - The second show in the trilogy is “Buy My Body And Call It A Ticket” and that show almost killed me. I had to go somewhere deep inside myself and that place is dark and scary and I wasn’t sure that I was gonna make it out. But I did. And what brought me back was this. “I want you.” I want my body. I want my life. I want my love. I want myself.

I Need You To Survive by Hezekiah Walker - Show number 3 (which will be rebooted) is “Buy My Art And Call It Holy”. Though I don’t consider myself a Christian, I cannot separate myself from my Christian upbringing and this is one of my favorite songs. When I sing it I am singing it out to my people. I am singing to you. “I need you/ You need me/We’re all apart of one body”

Never Would Have Made It by Marvin Sapp - Yall there have been times when I wasnt sure if I was gonna make it to 30. Seriously. Depression and anxiety is real. Sometimes it zaps the desire to be right out of me. But I am here. And I am so grateful. Here’s to another day, another week, month, year, decade!

Crazy, Classic, Life by Janelle Monae - Did ya’ll think there wouldnt be some Janelle Monae on here!?! This is my theme song! Let’s ride this thing til the wheels fall off!

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