#dj tire service

[nuka]

Call me delulu, but I woke up with hope in my heart today.

It's only been 2 months since the show was cancelled. WBD is run by an incompetent fool. WBD previously said they'd sell Coyote vs. Acme, but then made it impossible for anyone to buy it. All streaming services are struggling financially at the moment.

Daddy Jenkins had to tell us we've reached the end of the road, because that's the reality right now. Either WBD made it impossible for anyone to buy the show, or the actual realistic price was just too high for other streamers at the moment even if they wanted to buy it. “Many complimentary meetings, conversations, etc” sounds like someone was interested.

DJ and everyone else who worked on the show need to be able to move on, so they can make a living from other projects. They’ve all been holding their breath just in case they can start filming after all. The fans need to move on in the sense that we can't expect a renewal "any day now", like we did for 2 months. We can still hope that we'll see season 3 one day, but now we can be realistic about the chances of it happening in the immediate future.

Everyone who worked on this show has loved it so dearly that I'm certain that if season 3 gets greenlit in the future, they'll all want to work on it again. As long as DJ is in, the others are too. The Revenge can be rebuilt. The time that has passed can be explained in the story, if it needs explaining at all. If some actors won't be able to return, we'll get new characters added to our family, and we'll embrace them just like we embraced all the new characters in season 2.

Depending on what the problem for the pick up was, things might change very quickly, or they might take a few years. Who knows, if we continue being loud, a streaming service that quickly passed on the show in January might take interest in it later. A streaming service that offered too little might make a better offer, and WBD might accept just to get rid of us (because we're back to calling Max out on this bullshit and it's not a good look for them). Or, once the industry recovers a bit, a streaming service might be willing to reconsider spending a big amount of money on this show. And if WBD set an impossible price for the show this time, they might shop it around for a more reasonable price once Zaslav is out (or even greenlight season 3 themselves, but that’s delulu level 200). Even if we don't get a season 3, we might still get a movie, or a comic book, or a script book, or a blu-ray release, or the Jenkins Cut. And honestly, if someone was to announce they've picked up the show in a year or two... that's not a long time at all.

Pirate Daddy said that our campaign was noticed across the industry. They hear and see our love for this show. They know we're here for the show if it's ever to return. They know this show has potential.

So let’s keep having fun in the fandom. Keep being loud about Our Flag Means Death. Keep using the hashtags. Keep making fanart. Keep shouting about how unfair this cancellation was. We don’t have to do it with the same intensity as during the campaign (I know we’re all tired and it’s completely okay to step away if you need/want to), but as long as we as a fandom are consistent, they’ll see there’s a demand that just won’t go away.

There is always hope. It’s not the same kind of hope we had before January 9th, and it’s not the kind we had until March 7th. But there are so many variables, and so little time has passed. Who knows what the industry will look like in a year or two. I’d rather believe in a future that might just hold a pleasant surprise for us than throw in the towel completely.

[666writingcafe]

Quick-Fire Headcanons (12)

Asmo will dance in the car while he’s stuck at a traffic light.

Barbatos gets a thrill out of haggling.

Simeon gets mistaken for an employee wherever he goes; it doesn’t help that he basically enables people’s behavior.

Mammon wants to ride all of the rollercoasters at an amusement park.

Diavolo would spend all of his money on carnival games if Barbatos and Lucifer didn’t stop him.

Lucifer is usually so tired that he doesn’t care if his feet stick out of the covers as he sleeps.

People would assume that Solomon is tone deaf, but he actually has near-perfect pitch.

Levi and Diavolo would make excellent DJs.

A little-known fact about Beel is that he’s really good at beatboxing.

Asmo can turn anything into a musical instrument.

Diavolo has a tendency to celebrate anniversaries on the wrong day, but because he’s the Demon Prince, everyone around him simply moves the date of the original anniversary to whatever day he wants to celebrate it.

When Cerberus was a puppy, Lucifer took lots of pictures of him and showed them to everyone he knew.

Mammon has volunteered to help with someone’s event before, but then turns around and sends them a bill, demanding that they pay him for his service.

Asmo has mailed envelopes full of glitter to his enemies before.

Satan and Simeon both have binders full of essays on why they were right, but only Satan will crack his open to use in an argument.

Mammon and Asmo draw on the chalkboard when the teacher is out of the room.

Barbatos and Lucifer are certified in Devildom first aid training.

Simeon once mowed Purgatory Hall’s yard at 1 am as he was sleepwalking (scaring Luke and Solomon in the process).

Belphie will often leave new rolls of toilet paper on top of the toilet, much to the chagrin of all of his brothers and MC.

Beel cannot have any drinks in Styrofoam cups because he will squeeze the cup so hard that he punctures it and loses his drink.

Simeon and Lucifer still have the default background for both their computer and phone.

Solomon would feed seagulls (and other birds) laxatives.

Luke really likes pancakes, especially the ones that look like cartoon characters.

[misfitwashere]

August 24, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

AUG 25

The raucous roll call of states at the 2024 Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, as everybody danced to DJ Cassidy’s state-themed music, Lil Jon strode down the aisle to cheers for Georgia, and different delegations boasted about their states and good-naturedly teased other delegations, brought home the real-life meaning of E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one.” From then until Thursday, as a sea of American flags waved and attendees joyfully chanted “USA, USA, USA,” the convention welcomed a new vision for the Democratic Party, deeply rooted in the best of traditional America. 

Under the direction of President Joe Biden, over the past three and a half years the Democrats have returned to the economic ideology of the New Deal coalition of the 1930s. This week’s convention showed that it has now gone further, recentering the vision of government that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, Frances Perkins, called upon to make it serve the interests of communities.     

When the Biden-Harris administration took office in 2021, the United States was facing a deadly pandemic and the economic crash it had caused. The country also had to deal with the aftermath of the attempt of former president Donald Trump to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and seize the presidency. It appeared that many people in the United States, as in many other countries around the world, had given up on democracy. 

Biden set out to prove that democracy could work for ordinary people by ditching the neoliberalism that had been in place for forty years. That system, begun in the 1980s, called for the government to allow unfettered markets to organize the economy. Neoliberalism’s proponents promised it would create widespread prosperity, but instead, it transferred more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. As the middle class hollowed out, those slipping behind lined up behind an authoritarian figure who promised to restore their former centrality by attacking those he told them were their enemies.

When he took office, Biden vowed to prove that democracy worked. With laws like the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats directed investment toward ordinary Americans. The dramatic success of their economic program proved that it worked. On Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton noted that since 1989, the U.S. has created 51 million new jobs. Fifty million of those jobs were created under Democratic presidents, while only 1 million were added under Republicans—a striking statistic that perhaps will put neoliberalism, or at least the tired trope that Democrats are worse for the economy than Republicans, to bed. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination convention suggested a more thorough reworking of the federal government, one that also recalls the 1930s but suggests a transformation that goes beyond markets and jobs. 

Before Labor Secretary Perkins’s 1935 Social Security Act, the government served largely to manage the economic relationships between labor, capital, and resources. But Perkins recognized that the purpose of government was not to protect property; it was to protect the community. She recognized that children, women, and elderly and disabled Americans were as valuable to the community as young male workers and the wealthy men who employed them.

With a law that established a federal system of old-age benefits; unemployment insurance; aid to homeless, dependent, and neglected children; funds to promote maternal and child welfare; and public health services, Perkins began the process of molding the government to reflect that truth. 

Perkins’s understanding of the United States as a community reflected both her time in a small town in Maine and in her experience as a social worker in inner-city Philadelphia and Chicago before the law provided any protections for the workers, including children, who made the new factories profitable. She understood that while lawmakers focused on male workers, the American economy was, and always has been, utterly dependent on the unrecognized contributions of women and marginalized people in the form of childcare, sharing food and housing, and the many forms of unpaid work that keep communities functioning. 

This reworking of the American government to reflect community rather than economic

relationships changed the entire fabric of the country, and opponents have worked to destroy it ever since FDR began to put it in place. 

Now, in their quest to win the 2024 election, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz—the Democratic nominees for president and vice president—have reclaimed the idea of community, with its understanding that everyone matters and the government must serve everyone, as the center of American life. 

Their vision rejects the division of the country into “us” and “them” that has been a staple of Republican politics since President Richard M. Nixon. It also rejects the politics of identity that has become identified with the argument that the United States has been irredeemably warped by racism and sexism. Instead, at the DNC, Democrats acknowledged the many ways in which the country has come up short of its principles in the past, and demanded that Americans do something to put in place a government that will address those inequities and make the American dream accessible to all.

Walz personifies this community vision. On Wednesday he laid it out from the very beginning of his acceptance speech, noting that he grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people, with 24 kids in his high school class. “[G]rowing up in a small town like that,” he said, “you'll learn how to take care of each other that that family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they're your neighbors and you look out for them and they look out for you. Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.” The football players Walz coached to a state championship joined him on stage.

Harris also called out this idea of community when she declined to mention that, if elected, she will be the first female president, and instead remembered growing up in “a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride.” Her mother, Harris said, “leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us. Mrs. Shelton, who ran the daycare below us and became a second mother. Uncle Sherman. Aunt Mary. Uncle Freddy. And Auntie Chris. None of them, family by blood. And all of them, Family. By love…. Family who…instilled in us the values they personified. Community. Faith. And the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness. Respect. And compassion.”

The speakers at the DNC called out the women who make communities function. Speaker after speaker at the DNC thanked their mother. Former first lady Michelle Obama explicitly described her mother, Marian Robinson, as someone who lived out the idea of hope for a better future, working for children and the community. Mrs. Obama described her mother as “glad to do the thankless, unglamorous work that for generations has strengthened the fabric of this nation.” 

Mrs. Obama, Harris, and Walz have emphasized that while they come from different backgrounds, they come from what Mrs. Obama called “the same foundational values”: “the promise of this country,” “the obligation to lift others up,” a “responsibility to give more than we take.”  Harris agreed, saying her mother “taught us to never complain about injustice. But…do something about it. She also taught us—Never do anything half-assed. That’s a direct quote.”

The Democrats worked to make it clear that their vision is not just the Democratic Party’s vision but an American one. They welcomed the union workers and veterans who have in the past gravitated toward Republicans, showing a powerful video contrasting Trump’s photo-ops, in which actors play union workers, with the actual plants being built thanks to money from the Biden-Harris administration. The many Democratic lawmakers who have served in the military stood on stage to back Arizona representative Ruben Gallego, a former Marine, who told the crowd that the veteran unemployment rate under Biden and Harris is the lowest in history. 

The many Republicans who spoke at the convention reinforced that the Democratic vision speaks for the whole country. Former representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) identified this vision as “conservative.” “As a conservative and a veteran,” he said “I believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable. It’s in protecting your family. It’s in standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That…is the soul of being a conservative. It used to be the soul of being a Republican,” Kinzinger said. “But Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.” 

“[A] harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us,” Harris said. And she reminded people of her career as a prosecutor, in which “[e]very day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and said five words: ‘Kamala Harris, for the People.’ My entire career, I have only had one client. The People.”

“And so, on behalf of The People. On behalf of every American. Regardless of party. Race. Gender. Or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with. People who work hard. Chase their dreams. And look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.”

The 100,000 biodegradable balloons that fell from the rafters when Vice President Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president were blown up and tied by a team of 55 balloon artists from 18 states and Canada who volunteered to prepare the drop in honor of their colleague, Tommy DeLorenzo, who, along with his husband Scott, runs a balloon business. DeLorenzo is battling cancer. “We’re more colleagues than competitors,” Patty Sorell told Sydney Page of the Washington Post. “We all wanted to do something to help Tommy, to show him how much we love him.” 

“Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for this community,” DeLorenzo said.  

[selfindulgentpoorlywritten]

The First Time (Ryan Graves Imagine)

Here's my work for @gravestrain for @wyattjohnston 's Summer Fic Exchange! I was so convinced this was due today and it’s not, so I suppose I’m early for once!

Rating: T

Pairing: Ryan Graves/Reader

Words: 2290

Warnings: none

Summary: A few of you and Ryan's "firsts".

Becoming a bespoke tailor isn’t as easy or straightforward as one might think. It’s taken years of schooling, apprenticing, and doing too much for too little pay to get where you are, but you’d do it all a hundred times over again so long as you got to have this moment at the end of it.

You’re tired, sweatier than you’d like to be. The temperature is finally starting to drop with the setting sun, the sky dyed a pink and orange ombre, cut through with warmly-tinted clouds. There’s a breeze ruffling the leaves on the trees, the rustling sound of it hidden under the thumping music from the DJ situated halfway between the indoor and outdoor portions of the venue. It’s a love song, an upbeat one that you recognize but don’t pay too much attention to.

It’s impossible to pay attention to anything other than him.

The First Time You Saw Him

You’re not sure if you still count as an apprentice, technically. You’ve been working with Max for a good four years now, and you mostly work on your own projects without supervision. When you have an extra minute, or Max is doing something unusual or interesting, he’ll let you hover nearby and watch, but those instances are becoming less frequent over time.

You usually handle the front desk duties for the shop, greeting customers as they arrive and manning the register before they leave. This time, however, you’re at the cutting table when the bell above the door rings with movement, Max greeting the customer from where he’d been passing by.

“You must be Mister Graves,” Max says, shaking the hand of the man who enters, ducking through the door to avoid hitting his head on the small frame.

“Please, call me Ryan,” the man replies easily. Max keeps talking but you don’t hear what he’s saying, because the man– Ryan– looks over Max’s head to where you’re standing, and the first sight of his hazel eyes hits you like a punch to the gut. A warm smile spreads across his angular face, and you know with devastating certainty that you’re in trouble.

The First Time You Touched Him

It makes complete and total sense that Ryan needs a lot of his clothing tailored, considering his unusual stature. What doesn’t make sense is why your heart skips a beat every time you see his smiling face coming through the door. He’s had a couple suits tailored, a few pairs of jeans, two button-down shirts. Max takes care of him each time, but he always insists on making time to talk to you when he comes in. It’s sweet, and you appreciate him not ignoring you the way some customers tend to. Your conversations are light, congenial, and you definitely don’t replay them in your head a million times for a week afterward.

“Hi Y/N,” Ryan greets as he walks in on a random Tuesday, “It’s good to see you.” You shoot him a smile, noticing the neatly folded fabric draped over his arm.

“Hey Ryan,” you return, “How are you?” He comes to a stop on the other side of the counter, murmuring a gentle good, how are you?

“I’m good, thank you,” you say, taking a breath before giving him the bad news, “I’m afraid Max is home sick today, though, so he won’t be able to help you.” Ryan looks almost confused at the statement.

“Oh, I hope he feels better soon,” he says, fiddling with the hem of the shirt in his hand, “But I mean– you’re a tailor too, right? So you could maybe help me instead?” That is, of course, the most logical solution. But most people who only work with Max, well, they only work with Max. Ryan is the first one to seem interested in your services.

“Oh, of course! I can definitely assist,” you assure him, “But it’s okay if you want Max to do it. He has your measurements, so you could drop it off and he’ll do it when he comes back. Don’t feel like I’m the only option, if you don’t want me.” This only seems to confuse him more, and the way he tilts his head slightly is unbearably cute.

“I do want you,” he says, seeming to only realize what he’s said after it’s out. His cheeks tinge pink, but he doesn’t correct himself. You swallow hard and remind yourself that you’re talking to a customer right now.

“Well, I can definitely take care of you, then,” you reply. It, you should have said you can take care of it, fuck. Ryan just smiles a little more, the corners of his eyes crinkling with it.

“Yeah, I’m sure you can,” he says. You tell yourself it doesn’t mean anything, because it doesn’t. You extend your hand,  palm up for him to hand over the shirt. He stares at your outstretched hand for a beat, before placing his own free hand on top of it. You can feel your mouth drop open as you stare at the point of contact, his hand impossibly huge atop your own, the warmth of his skin radiating up your arm, his callouses rasping against your own. When you look back up to his face, his eyes are wide, searching for something in your own expression.

“The shirt, Ryan,” you force yourself to say. The words snap the both of you out of… whatever that was. His laugh is awkward as he snatches his hand back, replacing it with the shirt.

“My bad,” he says, clears his throat, looks anywhere except your face, “I’ll just, uh… go. It was nice to see you.” It feels mean to say he flees the shop, but he does almost run face-first into the door frame, so you think it’s the most accurate word choice.

The First Time You Said Yes

You know who Ryan Graves is, in theory: a defenseman for the New Jersey Devils. You also know who Ryan is practically: your super hot, incredibly sweet customer who sometimes brings you snacks and knick-knacks because “it made me think of you”. The fact that Ryan apparently thinks of you outside of your occasional interactions is a fact that you’ve been staunchly ignoring for the past two months. Then he’d come in and offered you his hand, and you were suddenly incapable of ignoring it any longer.

With the way he’d run away last time, part of you expects to never see him again. Sure, you have his shirt now, but he can definitely afford to give up a single standard dress shirt. Yet, he returns two days later, the bell announcing his arrival.

“Oh, hi Ryan,” you greet, trying to sound less surprised than you are. He smiles at you, but there’s something different about it this time. He approaches the counter, shoulders squared and back straight.

“I’m sorry, your shirt’s not ready yet,” you say, genuinely feeling kind of bad, “You usually pick up on Wednesdays, so I figured…” You don’t bother finishing the sentence, caught up in the determined expression on his face.

“That’s okay,” he replies, dark hair slipping from behind his ear and falling into his face, “I’m not here for the shirt.” You check his hands again, sure that you must’ve missed some new piece of clothing he’s carrying. There’s nothing. You return your gaze to his face, your chest tightening from the intensity of his stare.

“Um, what can I help you with, then?” you ask, turning your lips up the barest hint, knowing you still definitely look more confused than anything.

“I know this is your job, and you might just be being nice because of that, and I don’t want you to feel pressured, you can definitely say no, I promise I won’t be upset,” he says all in a rush, stumbles, continues, “I mean, I’ll be disappointed, but that would be my problem, not yours, I would never–” You can’t help the small laugh that escapes you.

“Ryan, what are you talking about?” you ask, stalling his racing run-on sentence. His mouth shuts so quickly his teeth surely click together inside. He clears his throat.

“Do you wanna go to dinner some time?” he asks, clearly trying so hard to appear more confident than he is. But he’s nervous. He’s nervous because of you.

“Like… as a date?” you ask, nearly struck dumb from even the implication of it.

“Yeah,” he nods, breathing deeply, “If you want.” Time stops around you, the constant thrum of the city outside fading away, and all you can see is his eyes, wide and earnest and hopeful. Everything you’ve been forcing yourself to not think of comes rushing back to mind, every conversation, every stupid joke and accompanying overly enthusiastic laugh, every shyly-offered treat. The time he’d given you a Devils beanie and told you, voice soft and reverent, that you looked good in his number.

“Yes,” you reply, finally.

“Yes?” he repeats, a huge toothy smile overtaking his face.

“Of course,” you confirm, grinning so hard your cheeks ache with it.

The First Time You Kiss Him

You aren’t in the habit of hiding things from Max, the man having earned your explicit trust long ago, but you decide it’s best to keep the four dates you and Ryan have been on to yourself. For now, at least. You’re not sure what you’re afraid of, but you don’t really want to find out if the nondescript fear is justified.

As it turns out, you don’t have to tell him.

The shop is open slightly later than usual on Fridays, so you’d asked Max on Sunday if you could leave a little early tonight. He hadn’t pushed for too many details as to why, but had turned those shrewd blue eyes on you for an eternity of a second before agreeing.

You’ve got the door halfway open on your way out, bidding Max farewell, when he says

“Have fun. Tell Ryan I said hello.”

You freeze with one foot on the sidewalk, turning your head back to gape at him. You fumble for something to say, to defend yourself, but Max just smiles, shaking his head and making a shooing motion with his hand.

“Old bastard,” you say, feeling terribly fond as you finish exiting to the sound of his laughter.

You’ve been to Devils games before, but you’re not used to… all of this. Ryan had insisted you use a ticket from him to sit with the WAGs, and you’d been too nervous to ask if that was his way of asking you to be his partner, but accepted anyway. The ladies are all so nice, immediately asking you about yourself and seeming genuinely interested in your answers. The game is great, though they don’t win, and the girls shuffle you around with them afterward, herding you to the tunnel to wait for the boys.

When the guys start filing out, your heart rate picks up a tad, breathing stuttering as you’re surrounded by even more strangers. Then Ryan emerges, his eyes finding you immediately, smiling wide as he waves, and something inside of you settles. Ryan is here, and he’s happy to see you. Ryan is here, and that means everything is going to be okay.

He introduces you to Dougie, whose hand you shake gladly. They guide you out toward the garage, Ryan insisting that he’ll give you a ride home since you’d walked from work. Dougie splits off to go to his own car, leaving you to finish walking with Ryan, swinging your entwined hands as you go.

You chat on the drive, fingers still tangled together on the gearshift between you. When the car stops in front of your building, you continue talking for a few minutes, until silence eventually descends. The two of you stare at each other for a few seconds, and you can’t help but marvel at how quickly you’d gone from skipping heartbeats and strangled breaths around him to this calm certainty.

“Good night,” he says, so quiet he barely breaks the silence, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” He lifts your joined hands and lowers his head until they meet in the middle, not breaking eye contact as he brushes his lips against your knuckles. You shake your head with a grin, reaching across with your free hand to cup his jaw. You hold him in place as you dip in to press your lips together. When you pull back to rest your foreheads together, there’s a matching smile left on his mouth.

The First Time You…

There were a million other firsts from that point on. The first time he called you his partner, the first time you called him your boyfriend. The first time you spent the night, the first time you woke up in his arms. The first time you introduced him to your family, the first time you met his. The first time you fought, the first time you made up. The first time you took a leap of faith and followed him, the first time you stepped foot in the house in Pittsburgh that’s now your home.

The time he proposed. Not the first time you’d said yes to him, but possibly the most important.

And now, here, the first time you get to walk across the patio to where he stands in the suit you’d made, taking his hand and telling Dougie sorry, I need to borrow my husband for a minute.

It still seems like a dream, sometimes, the way your life has panned out. Even more unreal is the fact that it’s still going, that you have so many more years of life and opportunity and love left.

[seat-safety-switch]

“Congratulations, caller! You’ve won a new paint job and detail for your car!”

I had been listening to Sharky In The Morning on The Pulse 93.6 FM for months just to get to this moment. Sharky (not his real name) had promised that one lucky listener would get a fully-paid-for paint job for their car. A little weird of a radio show prize, to be sure, but it was something that I desperately needed.

You see, most of my cars are decrepit shit boxes. There’s dings. There’s rust. There’s accident damage. There’s holes. And getting some body work and a nice paint job would go a long way to returning my car to respectability, and perhaps even myself to employment. I went over to the radio station at the first opportunity, banging and clanging the entire way.

When I got there, I found out a cruel truth of the new era of media: radio stations don’t actually exist. Their address was a server closet in the middle of a cornfield. “Sharky” was a radio DJ from out of province, who did at least seven different cities’ morning zoo programs under different names. Despite myself, I felt cheated on. I thought we had a relationship, me and Sharky In The Morning, but clearly he didn’t feel the same way. Eyes burning with tears, I peeled out of the field and onto the highway, making sure to dispense a short, but angry, one-tire-fire strip of smouldering tire rubber behind as I did so.

A few weeks later, the package from the radio station arrived. I headed to the bodyshop and was summarily rejected. “They said a paint job, man, this is an entire overhaul,” explained the minimum-wage artisan hired to spray my car with something resembling an environmentally-friendly colour. This argument was not unexpected. I came prepared.

“I think you’ll find that if you look in my trunk, you’ll reconsider.”

Inside my trunk was my own shark. My shark of an attorney, Max. He was toting quite the package himself. Of writs, that is. Max was already grinning as the trunk lid flipped open, although he probably cheated and looked through a rust hole. My friend wasted no time in explaining both the body shop’s and the radio station’s respective responsibilities within the bounds of the contest, and how his own professional responsibility extended to hurting as many people involved with this ill-planned legal machination for as long as it took to make someone come out and Bondo up my crapcan before applying a new shade of Plymouth factory baby shit brown.

“With bass boat flake,” I added, hopefully. 

Max barely acknowledged my interjection, and opened his briefcase. Inside that case was nothing except for a series of intricately-detailed, meticulously accurate finger puppets representing myself, his attorney, “Sharky,” and the body shop service writer, which he then proceeded to demonstrate the facts of the case using. I was particularly impressed at how accurate the representation of the service writer was, considering neither of us had ever met him before today.

I didn’t get my bass boat flake, and to be honest, the quality of the paint job, although airtight, was a little crappy. Max told me that there was no legal precedent for water-based paint being ruined by the bodyshop owner’s tears, but we could always try to enter another contest.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 24, 2024 (Saturday)

The raucous roll call of states at the 2024 Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, as everybody danced to DJ Cassidy’s state-themed music, Lil Jon strode down the aisle to cheers for Georgia, and different delegations boasted about their states and good-naturedly teased other delegations, brought home the real-life meaning of E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one.” From then until Thursday, as a sea of American flags waved and attendees joyfully chanted “USA, USA, USA,” the convention welcomed a new vision for the Democratic Party, deeply rooted in the best of traditional America.

Under the direction of President Joe Biden, over the past three and a half years the Democrats have returned to the economic ideology of the New Deal coalition of the 1930s. This week’s convention showed that it has now gone further, recentering the vision of government that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, Frances Perkins, called upon to make it serve the interests of communities.

When the Biden-Harris administration took office in 2021, the United States was facing a deadly pandemic and the economic crash it had caused. The country also had to deal with the aftermath of the attempt of former president Donald Trump to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and seize the presidency. It appeared that many people in the United States, as in many other countries around the world, had given up on democracy.

Biden set out to prove that democracy could work for ordinary people by ditching the neoliberalism that had been in place for forty years. That system, begun in the 1980s, called for the government to allow unfettered markets to organize the economy. Neoliberalism’s proponents promised it would create widespread prosperity, but instead, it transferred more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. As the middle class hollowed out, those slipping behind lined up behind an authoritarian figure who promised to restore their former centrality by attacking those he told them were their enemies.

When he took office, Biden vowed to prove that democracy worked. With laws like the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats directed investment toward ordinary Americans. The dramatic success of their economic program proved that it worked. On Wednesday, former president Bill Clinton noted that since 1989, the U.S. has created 51 million new jobs. Fifty million of those jobs were created under Democratic presidents, while only 1 million were added under Republicans—a striking statistic that perhaps will put neoliberalism, or at least the tired trope that Democrats are worse for the economy than Republicans, to bed.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination convention suggested a more thorough reworking of the federal government, one that also recalls the 1930s but suggests a transformation that goes beyond markets and jobs.

Before Labor Secretary Perkins’s 1935 Social Security Act, the government served largely to manage the economic relationships between labor, capital, and resources. But Perkins recognized that the purpose of government was not to protect property; it was to protect the community. She recognized that children, women, and elderly and disabled Americans were as valuable to the community as young male workers and the wealthy men who employed them.

With a law that established a federal system of old-age benefits; unemployment insurance; aid to homeless, dependent, and neglected children; funds to promote maternal and child welfare; and public health services, Perkins began the process of molding the government to reflect that truth.

Perkins’s understanding of the United States as a community reflected both her time in a small town in Maine and in her experience as a social worker in inner-city Philadelphia and Chicago before the law provided any protections for the workers, including children, who made the new factories profitable. She understood that while lawmakers focused on male workers, the American economy was, and always has been, utterly dependent on the unrecognized contributions of women and marginalized people in the form of childcare, sharing food and housing, and the many forms of unpaid work that keep communities functioning.

This reworking of the American government to reflect community rather than economic relationships changed the entire fabric of the country, and opponents have worked to destroy it ever since FDR began to put it in place.

Now, in their quest to win the 2024 election, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota governor Tim Walz—the Democratic nominees for president and vice president—have reclaimed the idea of community, with its understanding that everyone matters and the government must serve everyone, as the center of American life.

Their vision rejects the division of the country into “us” and “them” that has been a staple of Republican politics since President Richard M. Nixon. It also rejects the politics of identity that has become identified with the argument that the United States has been irredeemably warped by racism and sexism. Instead, at the DNC, Democrats acknowledged the many ways in which the country has come up short of its principles in the past, and demanded that Americans do something to put in place a government that will address those inequities and make the American dream accessible to all.

Walz personifies this community vision. On Wednesday he laid it out from the very beginning of his acceptance speech, noting that he grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people, with 24 kids in his high school class. “[G]rowing up in a small town like that,” he said, “you'll learn how to take care of each other that that family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they're your neighbors and you look out for them and they look out for you. Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.” The football players Walz coached to a state championship joined him on stage.

Harris also called out this idea of community when she declined to mention that, if elected, she will be the first female president, and instead remembered growing up in “a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers, all who tended their lawns with pride.” Her mother, Harris said, “leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us. Mrs. Shelton, who ran the daycare below us and became a second mother. Uncle Sherman. Aunt Mary. Uncle Freddy. And Auntie Chris. None of them, family by blood. And all of them, Family. By love…. Family who…instilled in us the values they personified. Community. Faith. And the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness. Respect. And compassion.”

The speakers at the DNC called out the women who make communities function. Speaker after speaker at the DNC thanked their mother. Former first lady Michelle Obama explicitly described her mother, Marian Robinson, as someone who lived out the idea of hope for a better future, working for children and the community. Mrs. Obama described her mother as “glad to do the thankless, unglamorous work that for generations has strengthened the fabric of this nation.”

Mrs. Obama, Harris, and Walz have emphasized that while they come from different backgrounds, they come from what Mrs. Obama called “the same foundational values”: “the promise of this country,” “the obligation to lift others up,” a “responsibility to give more than we take.” Harris agreed, saying her mother “taught us to never complain about injustice. But…do something about it. She also taught us—Never do anything half-assed. That’s a direct quote.”

The Democrats worked to make it clear that their vision is not just the Democratic Party’s vision but an American one. They welcomed the union workers and veterans who have in the past gravitated toward Republicans, showing a powerful video contrasting Trump’s photo-ops, in which actors play union workers, with the actual plants being built thanks to money from the Biden-Harris administration. The many Democratic lawmakers who have served in the military stood on stage to back Arizona representative Ruben Gallego, a former Marine, who told the crowd that the veteran unemployment rate under Biden and Harris is the lowest in history.

The many Republicans who spoke at the convention reinforced that the Democratic vision speaks for the whole country. Former representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) identified this vision as “conservative.” “As a conservative and a veteran,” he said “I believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable. It’s in protecting your family. It’s in standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That…is the soul of being a conservative. It used to be the soul of being a Republican,” Kinzinger said. “But Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.”

“[A] harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us,” Harris said. And she reminded people of her career as a prosecutor, in which “[e]very day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and said five words: ‘Kamala Harris, for the People.’ My entire career, I have only had one client. The People.”

“And so, on behalf of The People. On behalf of every American. Regardless of party. Race. Gender. Or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with. People who work hard. Chase their dreams. And look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America.”

The 100,000 biodegradable balloons that fell from the rafters when Vice President Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president were blown up and tied by a team of 55 balloon artists from 18 states and Canada who volunteered to prepare the drop in honor of their colleague, Tommy DeLorenzo, who along with his husband Scott, runs a balloon business. DeLorenzo is battling cancer. “We’re more colleagues than competitors,” Patty Sorell told Sydney Page of the Washington Post. “We all wanted to do something to help Tommy, to show him how much we love him.”

“Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for this community,” DeLorenzo said.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[ladythornofrivia]

the gallery of mournful heart

Pair: Takeomi x Reader (mentions of Shinichiro x Reader in the past)

Warnings: Grief, Takeomi is a playboy/cheater, one-sided relationship with gf, having an affair with the reader, who Takeomi have fell in love with for years before and after Shinichiro died. Cussing, sex, good girl kink, reader is pregnant with Shinichiro’s child. Self-harm, alcohol, abuse. Takeomi is horny af, and reader is sad about Shinichiro. Shinichiro is a sweetheart, but is dead.

a/n: i made a poll months ago, that I said I’ll be doing this as a series. I decided to make it as a one-shot. A very long one. Hope you enjoy.

Things hadn’t been easy for everyone, especially for Takeomi, who have been fucking so many girls ever since Brahman is established. He wanted to forget the means of pain and suffering when his dearest friend, who dubbed Takeomi as a “rain-bringer”, passed on from a sudden kill. Takeomi brings girls in the meetings, brings girls at a private dinners, then brings girls at the club. Every night, he brings girls to forget his awakened state of melancholy and deep-fear of self-hate. He had been spending his money on parties, clubs, drinks, and even condoms when it comes orgy and horniness spewing out from his inner thoughts.

Things have been easy and difficult for the man, he never settled for anyone, except for the girl name Mika, who he has been hooking up with for three months. Brahman noticed this, and thought Takeomi is now finished horsing around with his dick out, plunging into every girl’s vagina, whether taking someone’s virginity or those who are experienced withe sexual intercourses.

Things have been quiet since Takeomi spoiled Mika with large prices of accessories and dresses. Mika is the prettiest one of them all. However, Takeomi wasn’t contented. Each time he spoils his new girlfriend with black card, he knew deep down that he’s doing all of this for a coping mechanism, of not facing the harsh reality. Everyone in Brahman is broken, meanwhile from the Kantou Manji Gang’s side, the Haitani brothers having a blast with much ladies and their DJ occupation. Sanzu, his young brother, enjoy his killing spree while serving Mikey at a god-tier service, though most likely he doesn’t want to know about Sanzu’s whereabouts.

Takeomi heeded Mika’s words each time she was sad about her daily life, making him take out his black credit card for her to shut her mouth and go into an ultimate shopping spree. Little did she know, he grew tired of her. Something was missing in his life, he doesn’t know what killed his mood each time he bring girls over. The satisfaction of climax to someone’s cunt is exhilarating beyond words, but after that, he kicked them out.

Day goes by when Takeomi had enough with Mika. All the crying and whining on how working as a hostess is hard, realizing she wanted nothing more but to be as Takeomi’s bitch full-time. She didn’t want to earn money through hours on end, and having the access from Brahman’s status, everything goes smoothly for her. Takeomi wasn’t having it, so he spent time finding other girls that wasn’t as annoyingly persistent with his money. Everything went to shit when his room is ransacked. Mika took everything with her, thus calling “cleaners” to kill her on the spot to have his belongings back. It was a nightmare, but Brahman made sure that Mika’s fate is bound to be as a missing girl in the news.

~~~

He couldn’t sleep. Nothing was working for him; he tried every sleeping method and every suggestion from the expertise. He pulled out another cigarette and lit it up, until the smoke escalated towards the ceiling.

So far, he wasn’t feeling well or in the mood for fucking. Instead he thought of a different lens tonight. He longed for prosperity—the prosperity from his past days. He remembered the days where he was once as the God of War, he remembered on how his friends, Wakasa and Benkei, and their leader, Shinichiro Sano, the weakest leader, took over as the first generation Black Dragons. Compare from now to then, one thing that Black Dragons didn’t have is the perseverance of killing or torturing others or traitors. Black Dragons is nothing more than a simple glory, the glory days of fist fights—real fights, and teamwork, thanks to Shinichiro’s persuasive skills. Everyone, even the strongest, the mightiest of men, looked up to Shinichiro. Days in the past, all that Takeomi ever did is to watch Shinichiro take the lead, every moment he has with the Black Dragons is just another memory in his teenage years, up until his early-twenties. Everyone watched Shinichiro getting beaten, and everyone watching him getting rejected by girls 20 times. With every failure Shinichiro received, he never gave up, and find another.

He nearly forgot what Shinichiro sounds like, but still recalled his expression each time he got turned down by the girls. Shinichiro is the kind of man who gets mopey with puppy eyes. Thus Takeomi, although still teasing Shinichiro, he suggested Shinichiro to not give up.

Shinichiro is the loser from fights and girls. Until he met someone special.

You. The ever shy and talented girl, always carrying a sketchbook and pencil in hand. Takeomi took another puff as he recalled on your youngish features. You are brightly and beautiful, with a dimple on your cheeks, send Takeomi’s heart with sway, though he won’t admit. Unlike Shinichiro, he took his chance to make a conversation with you, getting to you. Hearing all the praises from Shinichiro, even though friendly, but Takeomi shouldn’t take it to the heart. He wanted his friend to be happy, to be given at chance with love at life. He watched you two spend each other’s time, watching him flirt with you, court with you, while you’re taking it all in with a smile etched onto your face. Everything about you was as bright as the moonlight’s star, eyes shining when meeting his siblings, the group, and how much happiness you delivered alongside Shinichiro’s cheeky and playful side showing every time. Each day and each night, Takeomi wondered what happens if he ended up courting you instead of Shinichiro.

He didn’t want to betray Shinichiro and his romantic heart, so he let them be. You occasionally spoke to Takeomi, asking him if he wanted to hang out for a sleepover and watching a movie at Shinichiro’s place. He felt happy when you spoke to him, how your gaze send at his direction with a kind smile and cheeky dimples.

Takeomi, without a doubt, went for a sleepover, for your sake. Each time you inched closer to Shinichiro, Takeomi’s heart was about to burst from heartbreak. But carried on as if nothing happened.

Years went by, Shinichiro proposed to you. You saying “yes”, is the happiest moment in Shinichiro’s life, but great and profound sadness in Takeomi’s, as Mikey blurted out belligerently to his close friends, especially Haruchiyo.

But it all changed in one night, where Shinichiro is killed at the bike shop by Mikey’s closest friends, who only wanted to give Mikey a new bike by stealing. Their punishment was sentence in a lighter years, but gained a heavier burden when Takeomi found out you disappeared the night after Shinichiro’s funeral.

The trace of your words, your face and smile, vanished. Although Mikey and his friends are grateful you’re with them throughout the years, they couldn’t bear the thought of losing their older sister—their sister-in-law. Nobody knows where you went.

A day later, Takeomi decided to do his own investigation by hiring a spy—Sanzu, who he despised—in order to see what have you been up to these days. So far, no one is able to reach you.

Frustrated, he wasted another set of money by giving the cash to his younger brother, who he doesn’t want to see. Long story short, Sanzu told him that you aren’t in Japan. You were in a different country. Understandable enough that you don’t want to prolong your stay in Japan, as everything reminds you of Shinichiro. He couldn’t blame you. Thus, he gave up.

Until a storming night came, in the year of 2008.

When he got out from the nightclub, he stumbled across a noise coming from the back alleyway. A deafened noise pierced into his ears as he walked over to see a young man gripping its grasp onto a woman’s wrist. When Takeomi scared the man off, Takeomi asked the woman is okay. But the woman he spoke to is none other than you, outside in a cold stormy weather, with a weeping child carrying into your shaking arms.

Seems like Sanzu got the intel wrong regarding to you. You never left the country to begin with, your life squandered the day Shinichiro died. You tried to find every job that pays a decent salary, but ended up getting kicked out onto the streets because they don’t want a young mother to be a burden to the company.

With a touching reunion, Takeomi took you into Kantou Manji Gang’s quarters, though for a short time, due to conflicted rivalry reasons. When you introduced yourself, some people aghast, as if they’ve seen a ghost. Sanzu was the first person to approach with open arms. The rest were in awe, and as for Mikey, he looked at you empty eyes, until a shred of light came into his eyes and dropped on his knees, shedding his tears as you took Mikey into your arms, apologizing on how you weren’t there for him. Mikey, the leader of Kantou Manji Gang, became a little boy once more into your arms, a twenty-eight year old woman with a baby in your other arm.

After that, you and Takeomi left and went into his apartment.

When you settled into the building, you almost couldn’t help but to feel that there’s hope alight in your heart again. Every mistake and regret you carried, diminished.

Takeomi offered you a smoke, but you reminded him of the baby in your arms.

“So, who’s child is it?” he asked.

With a sniffle, your voice croaked with, “Shinichiro’s,” you said.

His heart stopped.

“Every day when I look at my son, he reminded so much of him. My child, he shouldn’t have dealt with pain that I caused. If only I was with Shinichiro, on that night at the S.S. Motors, things would’ve been different. I failed him. I failed him and my precious boy.”

With a long sigh, Takeomi sat down beside you. “None of this is your fault. You were just waiting for him to come back and celebrate your engagement.”

“When I carried him into my belly, I couldn’t help what life is supposed to be like without Shinichiro. Or what life is like with Shinichiro. Everything about him is so bright and warm and happy. No one ever loved me like he did. All I have at that time was a sketchbook and art supplies to cope the last shred of my sanity. Every dream I shared, he supported me. He protected me and gave me happiness. And each time when he gets frustrated, I always make sure I stay at his side, no matter what. It feels different when I stayed at Shinichiro’s gravestone at the cemetery. Every night and day, I always convinced myself that maybe Shinichiro just ran away and not tell me where he went. I always try to convince myself that he’s still alive, hiding somewhere far beyond my sight and touch. And with my beautiful child into my arms, I didn’t want him to end up in the same fate, but each time I try to fix my life, it always went in the wrong direction. Whenever I try to stay strong for him, I always felt that I’m going to break, the walls I’ve built are going to break. Every day and every night, I visited his grave, sometimes I even sleep because I don’t want my memories and warmth to fade with him in the grave. I don’t want Akira to grow up and see me in this state.”

Takeomi said nothing but gave a firm hug slung over your shoulders and tugged your head gently to weigh against his shoulder.

“I’m here, if you need me,” he said, patting you. “I’m here when you show your weakness or the ugliness inside that’s trapped in your heart. I can ease the pain you’re in. With me, you have nothing to be afraid of. With whatever your son needs, I’ll be there for him, too.”

“I don’t know if I could take it anymore,” you said, “my head is too exhausted, event after event. I’ve been nothing but a shut-in for a couple weeks, and when I did get a job, I almost get bullied by being just a young mother. I wanted the best future for my son, but I just don’t know how.”

Takeomi clasped your shoulder. “We’ll be there for him.”

“How? I’ve heard news regarding to you and to Mikey. Your reputation now is far different from what you have back then.”

Takeomi’s gaze lowered. “It may changed the establishment between enemies, but it doesn’t mean it changed between us. Whatever we have before, it never changed until now. (y/n), for years I’ve watched you, I always wanted to tell you how kind and beautiful and talented you are. Your smile gave me purpose, whatever drives me now, I’ll always be there for you.”

Your head pulled back from his shoulder. “You liked me?”

“I’ve always love you,” he confessed. “I know it won’t repair our past mistakes, but it doesn’t mean it’ll be like that. I want to take it slow, give you a chance of what it means to be alive again. Alive with purpose, alive with happiness and strength from the things you have to endure. I want you in my life, (y/n). Nothing more and nothing less.”

“Takeomi….” you breathed, tears in your eyes began to burn.

“I won’t let you slip from my fingers. I know that anything I say won’t be as impactful as Shinichiro���s, but I’ll try to take his stead for you, especially your son.”

Your hand stroke your son’s face, and tucked him in with a worn out blanket. “I’d give anything for my son, even if it means the cost of an arm and a leg.”

Takeomi pulled you into him embrace. “I’d be willing to cost an arm and a leg for you.”

You said nothing but gaze into his gloomy eyes.

“Your son…is he alright?”

“He’s alright. He just needs food and new clothes.”

“How old is he now?”

“Five years old.”

Takeomi kissed atop of your head. “Leave everything to me. I’ll take of you and…”

“Akira,” you said with a quivered smile.

“Rest,” he said, placing you down on the bed. “Rest and I’ll be taking care of everything you and your son needs. Shinichiro wouldn’t be happy if he sees you crying like this.” His thumb pressed against your cheek.

“Is he mad at me?” you asked.

“Who? Mikey?” Takeomi shook his head. “I don’t think so. Ever since you left, he’s been trying to search for you left and right with a help of his gang. But soon gave up because they thought you died, too. Hopefully you coming back will change Mikey’s mind since they plan on ambushing the gang and all.”

“I’m not dead; I’m not a ghost. Tell Mikey that. I want us to be a family again, and redeem the pains from the past…to subside it.”

“You’re a good girl, (y/n),” Takeomi said, as he knelt down onto your level to kiss your lips, and lightly smacking and squeezing your ass. A little laugh escaped from your lips; Takeomi smirked at the outcome. “You’ve been brave for so long. You can take a long rest now, because I’m not going anywhere. I’ll do everything for you and Akira to have a bright future.”

“For him, but not for me,” you said.”

“It’s never too late to start over,” Takeomi answered in a gentle whisper. Then kissed deeply onto your lips once more. “You okay, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. You found me on a stormy weather.”

“I’m a rain-bringer for a reason.”

You giggled. “A storm-bringer.” And looked at him with the vulnerable gleam in your eyes flooded with warmth.

Once Takeomi left the bedroom, his heart felt glad again. He wanted to keep you at his side at all cost. Your life improved magnificently. So does the members between gangs—Brahman and Kantou Manji Gang are allies. You have a job as Mikey’s secretary, taking care of Akira by providing him with best food supplies and diapers and new blankets and toys thanks to Kokonoi. And provided Akira with learning books—you wanted to hear Akira’s first words. And each time you and Takeomi spent time together, you couldn’t help but notice that you fell over heels for him. But the difference was, Takeomi fell in love with you the first time he saw you. And thus, spilling every secret passions in between the sheets, you got your happiness back. Your dreams of becoming an artist rekindled, and with Takeomi at your side, and Akira’s future is safe with love and comfort, and with pain of Shinichiro’s passing, letting Shinichiro’s soul rest, the pain in your past life is nothing more than a faded scar.

Taglist: @galactict3a

[balloonboyismyson]

*an angsty anon slides into your ask box*

Heyyyyy. So, uh, what's your headcanons on the animatronics' emotional status the very moment they learn Bonnie kicked the bucket?

ohh dear. Buckle up, kids :o(

They were never told he was gone- it was just a rumor at first. "He's just in Parts 'n' Service, he'll be back on stage tomorrow." It kept their thoughts in check. That must be the reason why they could not ping him or see his location. After 2 months, they had their suspicions. These headcanons take place after Management told them Monty would be filling his spot.

Freddy was...devastated, to put it lightly. His lover, his partner, his honey bunny- gone. What would he do? What could he do? Most of his time after was spent dissociating. He rarely spoke to anyone. He was in his room, silent, staring at the wall. At times he thought his internal clock was messed up; time was passing by too quickly to him, but he never told anyone. He always knew everyone was replaceable, but to not even give him a warning? Staff knew they were close. Maybe they were told to keep silent. He would at least give them the benefit of the doubt. To be honest, he came close to ending it a few times. If they could just drop Bonnie, maybe they could just make a new Freddy. He would stop himself, though. Thinking about his friends and the children, he needed to be strong. He was so, so tired, though.

Roxy was volatile. Each moment of free time was spent crying, yelling or being quiet. Any ounce of bad that happened in a day, whether it was just dropping her brush, would throw her over the edge. She leaned the most on Chica who seemed to be handling things the best. It felt like any day Chica could be taken, too. They had a lot of sleepovers after that. For a brief time, their charging stations were placed next to one another so they could still see each other during their recharge cycles. She got hyper into "being beautiful" after his leaving. She thought, well, if she was beautiful, they would have to keep her.

"Guilty" was the only word that could describe Monty. He was the one who called Bonnie to Gator Golf. He was the one who needed advice. The two were close. Freddy, Roxy and Chica were all usually too busy to deal with Monty. They were polite, but he did not consider them friends. Bonnie visited him often. He could count on Bonnie. It was an act of sacrifice, truly. Had it not been him, Monty would be the one decommissioned. Bonnie would offer him tips on how to calm down and keep his composure. He got a really good at it. Then Bonnie died. The walls of his room were covered. "GUILTY" "GONE" "RUINED" "SORRY" were repeatedly written on them. He stopped after a time. When he got his claws, staff was surprised when it started up again, but this time, much more permanent.

Chica, to the outside world, appeared okay. Roxy needed help, and she could offer that. She just needed to bottle everything up. She was the happy-go-lucky one, afterall. She needed to uphold that. When she was alone, though, she was a mess. This is when her eating habits truly came to life. Sure, she always appreciated a good slice of pizza (or three), but after Bonnie was gone, she felt like she needed to eat. Humans will always need food, so it will never go away. She hated the look of a clean plate because that meant the food was gone. She stopped using them after a while.

DJ Music Man was grief-stricken, but he hid it well. Out of all his friendships, he was closest to Bonnie. Bonnie liked to play with the Mini Music Men. When no one was around, he would play somber music from the back of his hidey hole. He only really has his MMMs now.

The Daycare Attendants were upset, but more from a friend of a friend perspective. They did not often interact with Bonnie. In fact, they did not find out until they saw Monty's new getup. Even then, they only saw him because he was walking to a birthday party.

[amphiptere-art]

I just remembered all my older AUs. I haven't talked about them. Because well. They're not TSAMS. They're just standard security breach DCA. I've already gone on little tirades about these guys. And technically you're supposed to find out more about them in the RBB adventures of the cube. But since no one's interested in that, perhaps you guys would like if I just went on a tirade.

Down below the poll Is this shortest versions of the descriptions I have.

mechanical medic AU- story focused.

(Not in poll, But one of my lesser known AUs)

Ralph the Repair Dragon works as a moving parts and service. But is haunted by 3 fragmented souls of mechanics that died in the Plex. Sun n Moon struggle to get the medical mechanic animatronic to leave them alone.

Purrfect Thief- story focused.

you are a shape-shifting cat. You work with The gang Lord Eclipse but live as a house cat with the detectives Sun and Moon. You are an informant with the spiders web. A info company owned by DJ. Life has been simple and happy. But on the horizon a pack of dogs is ready to ruin that simple life.

Saving Waves- story focused

a sun n moon mer story. Were sun n moon were once in our lab/mer fighting facility. They are saved by a rehab facility and have to learn how to be normal Mer again. Also following the other side of the family. Who are trying to get pesky humans to stay out of their wild waters.

Warehouse AU- story / ask focused.

after the fire story were the dca, Freddy, DJ, foxy and Bonnie are moved to a big werehouse (owned by a y/n) is modified into a mini Plex (honestly more like a side road arcade that's bigger). And the dca has to relearn how to function with the band.

Rusty wheels- ask focused (lots of lore though)

a apocalypse au were a nanite Afton virus infects the world. It's cyberpunk with a rustic feel. Y/N has a big truck sized motorcycle thing and finds sun n moon. And drags them in their attempts of adventure and survival.

Cryptid eater- story / ask focus.

a Sun and Moon are Hunters story but you are a creature that eats vampires and werewolves and things like such. And the story takes place with you trying to convince them that you're on their side.

Warehouse Daycare- ask focused

a version of the warehouse AU where it's only sun n moon. The werehouse is smaller and they grow a closer relationship with y/n and a emotional support cat.

Stop you silly siren- ask focused

suns a tired Pirate. moons a silly siren. Eclipse is an angry sea captain. Popped in my head. want to see were it leads.

Creature dca- I made it for fun.

a random look for sun n moon. Has flip floped between being and basic non animatronic form to fey creatures that deal with changelings and guardian God entities.

Star foolery- a word for silly situations with no lore ties.

basic place for me to draw the dca in different situations. no major story but has lore. does occur during after and before in dca history

[no-nightingales-iwanttodie]

My cashier at the movie theater. You can tell she's either tired or blissfully ignorant when she sees 6 18 year olds walking up to her fully dressed as the puppet, spring lock, security guard/Mike, DJ music man (and I can't completely remember the other 2) and still have the customer service professionalism to ask what movie we'd like tickets to.

[everyonewooeverywhere]

Good morning my love 🥰💗💗

(The way I could stare at these for HOURS)

I know it's not quite time for you yet, but it's the morning of the 23rd here, so I wanted to say happy early birthday dj 🥰😚💕💗💗 there's a lot that I could say here, you know me well enough to know that I can write veeeery long sappy speeches without much trouble 😆 but I'll keep it short(ish):

And every day since I met you I've been grateful for that miracle 🌟

Inside and out. I truly admire how independent and responsible you are while still being dutiful to your family dee, that takes a lot of fortitude and strength. You're one of the smartest people I know, you're a good friend who knows how to give and receive support in a way that's mature and balanced, and you're sooooooooo sweet and pretty. I know you may not always believe that all these things are true, especially when you're tired and things seem so out of control. But I hope you can always remember that those factors are external and temporary, ofc you're not at your best when you're drained and exhausted, and that's okay, because underneath all that you're still the same dj. The same goofy, ridiculous, utterly endearing little bundle of warmth and joy that anyone would be blessed to have in their life. Which leads me to the next point:

I know we haven't known each other long, maybe.... what? Four? Months? Perhaps? But I really do mean it when I say that you're one of my closest friends now. Time plays a role in how deep a friendship goes, sure, but as the quote goes:

And I stand by that. I know you're going to be a friend that I'll remember and cherish for a long time, even if there comes a day when we no longer speak, I your name will still be one that I'll mention with a smile.

I could honestly go on, but I'll stop myself here.

Happy birthday, dee 💛🧡🫂 I hope you have a lovely time with your friends, I hope tomorrow brings you every joy and happiness, I hope you always smile a lot, laugh often, and cry easily when you need to so your heart can be light.

I hope you know that, as much as I yap, I really do mean every word sincerely, that it's not just lip service or word fluff because it's your birthday. I love you. You're precious to me. And I want you to know that 🫂💗🫂🧡💛

oh baby 🥺 thank you so so much 💗

it does truly bring me so much joy to talk to you every day. i have loved every moment of being your friend. you've been so encouraging these past couple of months, and somehow you always know what to say. honestly, these past several months have been some of my lowest, and the fact that i found you in the midst of that is just so wonderful.

thank you kiki 💗 you've been such a wonderful friend, and i hope you know that even though i say it all the time. i'm the type of person who has never connected with people easily. i overthink every little interaction and often feel like i'm annoying or overbearing. but talking with you (even from the beginning) has always been so easy.

all this to say, i don't have many close friends, but i can fully and confidently say that you're one of them. thank you 💗

and i hope you have a wonderful day too 🫂

[tmnt-tychou]

Another scene that wouldn’t leave my brain alone. And I want to pad my word count before 2022 is over so I’m trying to write all the things while December is still going.

@thelaundrybitch​ @turtle-babe83​

Behind the Yellow Line

Mona Lisa looked up from her computer when she realized her house had gone suspiciously quiet. Her mothering instincts told her she should check on the family. With a stretch, she stood and walked out of her office. In the main living room she found Leonardo passed out on the couch in an awkward position. The streaming service on the TV asked if he was still watching. The twins were nowhere to be found.

That was odd. Normally, her Energizer Bunny of a boyfriend could keep up with their two boys. On the rare days they wore even him out, her sons would come get her. After navigating Leonardo into a more comfortable position and placing a blanket over his slumbering body, she continued her search for her children.

She found the two three-year-olds sitting outside Donatello's workshop, each quietly holding a hardcover picture book. Waiting.

“What are you two up to?” she asked pleasantly.

“Waiting for Dad,” DJ said simply.

“Read us stories,” LJ added happily.

Her normally boisterous boys seemed completely content to sit quietly outside the lab, though Mona wasn't happy about what she found. Why would Donatello just leave his sons out here alone while he ignored them?

“Does he know you're out here?” she asked.

They both shrugged.

“Did you tell him you're here?”

“Dad says we can't go in,” DJ said.

“I see. Give me a minute to talk to him.”

She walked into the lab to find Donatello, as usual, surrounded by a plethora of gadgets while he was working on a particularly large piece of machinery with a blow torch. Mona stood behind him as he worked. He had no idea she had entered until she loudly cleared her throat.

At the sound, Donatello's head curiously shot up. Goggles on, he looked even more alien as he glanced from one side to the other, then behind him.

“Oh, hey.”

She moved up next to him. “Did you know your sons have been waiting outside for you?”

He balked and looked toward the doorway. Then he raised his goggles, looked at her in confusion and then back at the door. “For me?”

This was something new. Usually, he was the odd man out when it came to parenting. As the stay at home dad, Leonardo was the first one the kids went to if they wanted anything. Next, they would go to their mother. Those two were usually enough to satisfy whatever they needed.

“I didn't know they were out there.”

“They said you told them they couldn't come in.”

“Right. It's dangerous in here. They shouldn't ever just walk in.” He paused, still in confusion over the unexpected situation. “Why are they waiting for me?”

She smiled. “They want you to read to them.”

His eyes widened. “They do?”

Donatello immediately shed all his protective gear and swept out of the room with a, “Who wants stories?”

A collection of cheers and happy chirps was his answer. As he gathered his children, he looked at their book selections and frowned. These weren't educational at all. But then he saw Mona watching him from the doorway.

“A bit rudimentary on your choices, my boys, but we can make it work.”

As he carried them off and settled in one of their beds, Donatello decided the book choices didn't matter. His sons were curled up in his lap, enthralled with each word he spoke. Mona came in as he was reading and climbed in bed, too. Snuggled against his side, her chin on his shoulder, she was the first one to fall asleep. By the end of the second book, he had three slumbering reptiles curled up around him. Not a bad way to end a day.

While not tired, he was content to remain where he was for a while. His hands couldn't be busy at the moment, but his mind always was. And it had a problem to solve: that of his sons and the lab.

*************

The next evening, Mona removed her headphones after a late-night zoom call with yokai and mutants advocacy group. There were members—mostly of the yokai variety—from all over the globe, so the meetings were often held at odd times.

She had been on meeting calls and sending e-mails all day. Her back was stiff and she was hungry. After snacking in the kitchen, she wandered into the living room to find Leonardo watching TV alone. She leaned over the back of the couch, hugging him around the neck.

“Where's the kids?”

He put a hand on her arm and leaned his temple to her check without breaking eye contact with the TV. “I dunno. Donnie has them.”

“That was nice of him. I'm going to go see what they're up to.”

She kissed Leonardo's temple before she went, but that was apparently enough to earn all his attention. He caught her arm and pulled her back.

“Hey, you can at least give me a little more of that before you leave.”

She bent over the couch and kissed him with a grin. But Leonardo still wasn't satisfied as he pulled her whole body over the back of the couch. She fell on him, giggling, and they shared a few more kisses.

“I bet we could steal a quickie in the bedroom if we go right now,” he murmured to her.

He really was an Energizer Bunny in a turtle's body, but Mona merely kissed his nose and moved off him.

“Let me check on the boys first, then we'll see about that.”

Leonardo sighed. “Alright. You know where to find me.”

Her hand lingered affectionately in his before she moved on down the hall. This time, there were no toddlers lurking outside the workshop. Within came the sounds of happy chatter. She poked her head in the find a different room than the night before.

Everything in the lab had been pushed back. It left far less room for Donatello to work, but made space for a few feet of open area near the door and the newly-painted bright yellow line on the floor. Planted firmly behind it were LJ and DJ, playing with connectable building toys that were probably a little more advanced than their age, but they seemed happy enough.

Nearby, Donatello had pulled a work table close to them and was currently fiddling with his own project. He nodded along as the twins chatted at him. Sometimes it was in English, sometimes it was chirps and their own version of twin speak, but he continued nodding like he understood it all. Then he glanced down and pointed a toe at the tower DJ was building.

“Son, you need to fortify your base. You have to make the foundation sturdy if you want to build that any higher.”

Mona couldn't help but smile. Donatello always spoke to his sons like they were tiny adults. Even when all they could speak was reptile chirps and baby gibberish. He was never one for baby talk and there was something endearing about that.

She leaned against the frame, watching unnoticed. She knew Donatello felt the most disconnected from the kids and it wasn't always his fault with the nature of his work schedule. She was proud of him for jumping on this opportunity when it presented itself.

After a while, Leonardo joined her at the door. He watched with a smile and then leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Just give me five minutes.”

She smirked at him and whispered back. “With you, it's never just five minutes.”

“Mm, you can put that on my five-star Yelp review,” he murmured into her hair.

“Oh, you'll be three and a half stars at most.”

He snickered into her neck before pulling her away by the hand. “We'll see about that.”

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

New OCs/AU based off the comments of this post.

The Season Moons! They’re best friends and come from the same PizzaPlex and are all celestials, but are not siblings, as they were assigned to different areas and never saw each other as siblings.

Apollo (Sun) and Daphne (Moon) aren’t related in this PizzaPlex. They were made separate and instead made as a couple rather than siblings and eventually they get married. Apollo protected Daphne during the fire and got the majority of the injuries of the two daycare attendants. Daphne had to get Apollo out of the daycare and the PizzaPlex before they got hurt more.

Daphne lost her right arm in this process but she does manage to get them to Spring Moon, who gets them out of the PizzaPlex. Daphne gets sent to a PizzaPlex in Florida, Apollo in a PizzaPlex in California, and Spring Moon gets sent to a Texas PizzaPlex

Spring Moon, the only girl, is a big buff tough lady. She’s a fighter and she has a protection code. She was the daycare security of her own daycare before the fire happened and the PizzaPlex got shut down. Her daycare coworkers, Apollo and Daphne, are her best friends. Unfortunately, they both got moved to different PizzaPlexes across the country from each other and Spring.

Summer Moon is a little fraidy cat. He used to work on the maintenance team before the fire destroyed the PizzaPlex. He was unfortunately still in Parts and Service during the fire and was unable to escape. He got major damage from this and had to be fixed before being relocated to a different PizzaPlex in New York.

Autumn Moon is a quiet bot. They’re quite a tired person and they used to work in the West Arcade with DJ Music Man as his assistant. Autumn was protected by DJ Music Man during the fire and DJ got him out and took all the damage for them in the process of getting them out, which unfortunately ended up killing DJ by the time he got Autumn out of the PizzaPlex. Autumn got relocated to the Colorado PizzaPlex after the fire.

Winter Moon is a little gremlin. He loves causing chaos and pulling pranks. Winter worked with the Glamrocks, who all unfortunately didn’t make it out of the fire, as the lead vocalist in place of Freddy, who is their guitarist. Winter made it out by sheer force of the Glamrocks, who all were trying to get to the exit.

His Monty died after getting Winter out of his room, Freddy died trying to find everyone, Chica had gone back for Summer Moon and died on the way, Roxy shoved him out of the fire escape just seconds before the building collapsed, which ended up saving him but killing her. Winter gets moved to Sun and Moon’s PizzaPlex.

Blood Moon finds Winter and is immediately a simp for Winter and his pretty voice and eventually comes to date him. Once Summer Moon is fixed, he gets relocated again to Sun and Moon’s PizzaPlex, who needed a competent maintenance person. Blood Moon absolutely adores him and simps over Summer as well, which eventually leads to him and Winter dating Summer once they get to know him better.

Harvest Moon simps over Spring and Autumn once they get relocated to Sun and Moon’s PizzaPlex, once the managers put in to transfer all the destroyed PizzaPlex’s surviving bots to their own location. Apollo and Daphne finally get reunited and work with Sun and Moon in the daycare. Harvest eventually ends up dating both Spring and Autumn, who he loves very much.

Harvest’s big buff girlfriend regularly picks him up and just carries him around, which he loves. He also loves picking up Autumn and carrying him around. The twins gush to each other about their pretty partners, Blood Moon mostly over Winter’s pretty voice and Summer’s cute little happy hands (he has ADHD) and Harvest over Spring’s muscles and Autumn’s pretty purple eyes.

[freesia-writes]

Hi lovely friendo! Swooping in for the ask game:

7. What is their favourite movie, or a movie they would really enjoy? For Hunter

30. What is their love language? For Crosshair and Rex!

Ooooo good ones!! Very Alan DJ’s Jamal. 🤌🏻

Hmmmm. A movie Hunter would enjoy… Rambo? LOL. Jkjk. I think the typical action/hero movies would engage too much of his strategic military brain. He probably would tire of the incomprehensible drama of a romance. Maybe something like Inception… not light and fluffy but a new and fresh way to have your world rocked? Haha!

Rex’s love language. 🥹 If we’re going with the standard five… I think quality time, since he had so little of that, followed by words of affirmation.

Crosshair’s would be quality time in the way you enjoy time with a cat — enjoying the same room together while doing your own thing. 🤣 He’d probably scoff at words and gifts but would secretly love them. Same with acts of service. And physical touch would probably be number two but only when no one else can see it. 😜

xoxo

Fun Clone Headcanon Asks

[rendsflesh]

basic relationships chart (or something something...) with a double feature including kitty's children--

so! for the canons--

naki married dating shuu and they are so happily in love it's genuinely sickening; rough dynamic with karren because she doesn't trust his crybaby ass and he picks his nose in front of her to get under her skin. thinks of junichi as a cool older brother

mirumo the proud papa of shuu and adoptive father, of sorts, to karren; single but unsure if ready to mingle. i'm personally open to it but i'm unclear on if it actually suits mirumo's character considering his undying love for his wife. a true wife guy for the ages! he knows of lenn and thinks of him as strange. he distrusts the ikari family

karren is not in love with shuu-- mistook her feelings of adoration and idolization as genuine romantic love. she loves shuu but not in that way because i think it's a little weird considering the circumstances ♡ anyone that is an enemy of master shuu or the tsukiyama family are enemies, no ifs ands or buts

akihiro "dating" donato (no one knows what's going on with these two old men but at least they're having fun? question mark?) and, contrary to popular belief, is alive! why? who knows! i'll think of something. one-eyed ghoulification mayhaps.

renji dating watching over uta, more or less a wandering sort that does odd jobs on the side. he's probably staying with uta somewhere and is constantly having to keep him in check but also joins in on hijinks more than he cares to admit sometimes he's just too darn tired

cool! and now for the original characters--

ren, "head" of the ikari family-- slaughtered his ex-wife, yumiko, in cold blood and fed her remains to his two sons, nori and takeshi. don't worry, he also cleaned his plate. it was satisfactory. currently married (in his heart of hearts, awww omg!) to junichi. his ward loves him because it's borderline a cult. everyone else hates him though because they're sane. it's a whole thing.

yuu "dating" furuta, frenemies (enemies mostly.) with takeshi. they're sorta kinda rivals and all of their fights end in gorefest tie single time. was part of the ccg but leaves after faking his death, primarily because he thinks the ccg are a bunch of pussies and he wants to kill ghouls as he pleases. he also eats ghouls.

yori, professional clown at your service! dating nori and wants to marry him some day. rough relationship with ren because of a violent run-in, ren nearly kills and cannibalizes him. he and renji are kind of friends, mostly because of his ties to the clowns and renji's proximity to uta.

jun, head of the miyamoto family, has been a widow for several years. he and his teenaged daughter, aimi, live alone in their well-kept mansion. his wife, airi, was murdered by ryosuke and her kakuhou made into his very own quinque. he doesn't have a lot of relationships, considering his shut-in status. he's the closest thing to a pacifist ghoul you're gonna get and simply does not fuck around and find out.

katsuro is dating takeshi and has been defected from the ccg for quite some time. he leaves as a rank 1 but, currently, could be considered an associate special class or higher nowadays. he's turned more and more into a ghoul sympathizer as the days go on, mostly because of takeshi. lost his eye in the past due to a run-in with "glasgow", aka ren. also has a prosthetic right leg born from the same incident. slightly terrified of junichi.

chiyo is yumiko's sister and is married to asuka-- they're the rich lesbian aunts everyone wants but only takeshi and nori get. hates ren's guts, tolerates junichi's presence. she's well-known in the human world as a dj, known formally as b@rracuda and frequents the night club scene both as ghoul and "human" as a regular

masao is part of the washuu clan, born into it under the designated title of "seed" but ultimately defects because of it. he's an on and off ally of goat. hates every other washuu and associate, furuta especially. has a bit of a soft spot for rize, sees her somewhat as a sister. otherwise, he's known as a brutal and aggressive ghoul known as "ogre" that is infamous for his mass killings after long lulls of silence

ryosuke is a quinx, unsure of the generation (and i canNOT bother to care right now.) currently, and is a special class investigator. killed jun's wife and claimed "her" as his quinque. he "jokes" about his frame also being her but c'mon. that's too much ghoul. regularly conflicts with jun. jun killed his own husband as revenge, quoted as, "now, be as lonely as i am." and bit off one of his ears too. has a prosthetic ear now as replacement. would kill a child if they were a ghoul, has killed a ghoul child, and will continue to do so. aimi, you're next.

lenn is a clown that works at a ghoul restaurant. he doesn't really come into contact with the rest of the clowns unless necessary due to being a bit of a "homebody" at the restaurant. he's regularly paired up with furuta, however, and they've become besties. he likes playing bait for potential victims, hence his name "catfish", and loves seeing their faces when they see him auctioning them off like cattle to other ghouls. yori thinks he's fascinating, lenn thinks yori is kind of annoying.

[randowriters]

Romance

D&F: Second fic out of three! Hope you all enjoy it!

Lily: Sorry for being late in uploading it!

Freddy wanted to do something special for DJ. The giant animatronic had always worked hard in setting up and arranging their dates, with the help of the S.T.A.F.F. Bots. Though, such hard work tended to leave the robotic spider more tired than usual. It was something that the glamrock began noticing in their recent dates. Unlike the other animatronics, the music man’s size makes it impossible to use any of the charging stations littered around the pizzaplex. Which is why sleep mode is so important for him, it’s the only way for his battery core to properly recharge.

So, the lead singer offered to handle their next date. DJ can relax, while Freddy takes care of the arrangements. When the animatronic spider agreed to it, the glamrock bear made sure to find Map Bot the very next day. He informed the worker animatronic that he’ll be handling the upcoming movie night instead of the disc jockey and require some help getting it together. To say she happily accepted to help was an understatement. It became clear to the robotic bear that setting up a scenery is pretty difficult. Not only did it need to look good, but it has to be done with the limited resources that the bots can get away with…“borrowing” for the time being.

In a way, it made the glamrock appreciate the hard work that the giant animatronic put in their previous dates even more. Luckily, Map already had a setting in mind. The basement will be decorated with the wallpaper that had been ordered by one of the employees as a mistake in the latest shipment. Along with using the lights and a few heart decorations to accompany the plastered scene of a quiet night at the docks with the glowing display of a carnival in the distance. Apparently, she had always wanted to suggest a more romantic scenery to DJ plenty of times. It just never happened, due to it needing a particular romantic movie to complete it.

And it just so happens that the movie is available right now.

How the robotic worker found out, the lead singer can only assume she was eavesdropping on the conversations of the human staff. Nevertheless, Freddy offered to retrieve it while the S.T.A.F.F. Bots went to work. After all, he didn’t like the idea of just standing by and doing nothing. Movies played within the megaplex are all kid friendly, since their target audience are children. That didn’t stop the employees from sneaking certain movies inside to watch in their free time. 

Not that the glamrock leader had any problem with it. As long as those films stay out of the reach of children, then he’s perfectly fine with it. He enters Customer Service, the most hated workstation in the building…at least that’s what he heard. Neither bot nor human enjoy working here, it was seen as more of a punishment than a work area. Why, the bear animatronic can only assume it was due to always the number of customers lining up to complain and the calls the station receives. He has dealt with angry parents and troublesome guests, but the thought of having to deal with that throughout the whole day…On second that, the animatronic bear can kind of see why this area is heavily disliked.  

He starts searching the cubbies, Map Bot said that the movies were hidden in one that looks dirty and unused. Only problem is that there are a good number of them that fit that description.

Guess the orange glamrock will have to use process of elimination to find the right cubby.

================================================

Twenty cubbies later, and Freddy is no closer to finding the right one. He tried the locker combination that Map Bot gave him on every one of the cubbies that match the requirements, yet each one proved to be the wrong locker. It also made the lead singer realize how messy some of the workers are, or just don’t use their assigned cubbies at all. He jiggles the lock after inputting the code.

Wrong again.

“Freddy!”

The sudden call of his name causes the bear animatronic to slam against the lockers as he whips around. Chica stands in front of him, with an eager smile on her beak.

Oh no.

“There you are! I was wondering where you went!” She said happily. No…no Chica can’t find out what he’s doing! Romantic relationships are forbidden in the pizzaplex, due to the complications that can occur from them. It’s in the policy itself! “Ch-Ch-Ch-Chica,” The glamrock leader forces himself to smile back, “you were…looking for me?” Calm down, just relax or she WILL notice something is wrong.

“Well, not at first! I was heading back to my green room after being cleaned up, but I noticed that the curtains in your room was closed.”

The robotic bear mentally kicks himself. He went through the trouble of fabricating an excuse to Monty and Roxy after practice that he forgot to message it to the animatronic hen! She had to be absent to have the food clogging up her insides removed.

“So, I messaged you to see if you were okay and I didn’t get a reply! Which was strange, cause you always make sure to reply!”

He quickly checks his messages through his interface. As the guitarist stated, there are five unread texts from her. The bear animatronic winces, he was so focused on finding the cubby that he ignored them. “That’s when I got curious!” Chica continues, “And I looked around until I found you!” This is bad, very bad, and the orange glamrock has no one to blame but himself. She inches closer to him, then tilts her head.

“So, whatcha doing?”

“I-!” Freddy’s eyes frantically dart around, “I, uh…” An excuse, think of any excuse to satisfy the white glamrock’s curiosity! Sadly, he’s desperation is picked up by the robotic hen.

“Looking for something? We can go get Roxy to help-”

“No!” blurts out the robotic bear. Her surprised expression made him aware of his outburst. “I mean, thank you for the offer but I can find it for myself.” He said as calmly as he could muster. Unfortunately, that only fed into Chica’s ever growing suspicion. She narrowed her eyes, “Are you checking the lockers?” Freddy fiercely shakes his head.

“No! That is a violation against the privacy policy, section-”

“Yes, you are!” interrupts the robotic hen. “I am not!” The glamrock bear objected. She points at his ears, “You are! Your ears wiggle when you lie!” His hands cover his ears on instinct. He wanted to say otherwise, but the look on the white glamrock’s face says she won’t believe it. The glamrock leader doesn’t want to reveal his relationship with DJ…Thinking it over, he sighs. “I am…looking for a movie to watch.” He admitted. Hopefully spilling a little bit of the truth doesn’t encourage his friend to dig deeper.

Chica’s eyes light up as she gasps. She looks around for any prying eyes, before continuing. “You mean the movie stash!” She whispered. Freddy nods. The guitarist beams, “Oh, then I can toootally help you with that!” She casually walks over to a dark corner. There, the hen animatronic stops in front of a cubby. Messy and unused, just like in the description. Even the lock on it shows signs of rust. “How did you know where they were?” asks the orange glamrock. Chica begins working on the lock, “Some of the employees would ask me to sneak in here and bring one of the movies to them sometimes in exchange for food!”

That explains it. Although, the last part had the glamrock leader wondering if her recent visit to Parts and Service was the result of that. “Here we go!” She said as she removed the rusty lock. Opening the cubby reveals a whole stack of movies: Action movies, comedy movies, so many movies of different genres. “Thank you, Chica.” Freddy smiles, “Though, can you…keep this a secret between the two of us?”

“Sure!”

The robotic bear spots the specific movie and pulls it out. The white glamrock audible gasps, “YOU’RE GOING TO WATCH MUSIC ON THE DOCKS?” Freddy pauses. “Um…” He stares down at the casing, “Yes?”

“Oh my cupcakes, that is SUCH a good romance movie!”

Like a flip of a switch, the robotic hen went straight into gushing. “The music is fantastic, and the love between She-” She abruptly stops, “Almost spoiled the movie for you!” The lead singer prepares himself. There are a lot of things that Chica enjoys, and romance is one of them. He had caught her trying to stealthily watch the romantic dramas that were on tv within the break rooms. She would even talk excessively about certain romance shows with Roxy. “Just know, that it will leave you going “aawwww” the whole time!” giggles the guitarist.

Her body twirls as her mind drifts away. “Like, the scene where they sing on the docks-you’re going to love that one-”

Wait…the docks?

“It is so dreamy! The way the two danced and sang about how the power of music brought them together!”

A…musical?

“A popular musician and a local DJ!” Freddy’s eyes grew wide. The glamrock hen sighs, “One pressured to be the perfect singer of the band that is loved by everyone!” His grip on the case tightens. “While the other is lovable, sweet, and wants to spread the beauty of music to the world!” She finished, oblivious to the horrified face of her friend behind her. This…this sounds too much like…him and DJ. Oh stars-THAT’S why Map Bot insisted on the movie’s importance! The bear animatronic’s hands start to shake.

“Two different worlds, brought together by the very thing that defines them!”

His face is burning red as a slew of emotions hit him fast and hard. Too many implications, this movie might end up exposing the glamrock without him needing to say it! Even if Chica doesn’t pick up on it, there’s still the film’s plot! It…it’s just too personal! This movie night is supposed to be enjoyable AND relaxing! From the sound of it, it won’t BE relaxing at all! Freddy can easily imagine the embarrassment that will come from watching those scenes, having to deal with feeling confronted by the film itself! He gazes down at the casing’s rating:

Rated M.

NOPE.

“A-actually,” The robotic bear swiftly put the movie back, “I picked the wrong one!” He didn’t bother to look as he pulled another one out, “This is what I was looking for!” The guitarist stops and stares at him. “Ah…are you sure?” She asked. “Yep! I have to go!” He dashes out before the animatronic hen could comment any further. She blinks, before giving off a shrug. “I didn’t know Freddy was into horror movies.” Chica mumbled as she closed the miniature locker.