#everyone talks “oh i want pink characters event” and i love it but consider BLUE CHARACTERS EVENT

[7fckingidiots]

Would you be alright with writing some HCs about the brothers and a MC who's a trans guy? Sorry if it's a tall order or too vague, they're a big comfort for me and I'd like to see what ideas you have bcs your headcanons are fantastic ;w;

HELL YEAH DUDE!!!! IM ALSO TRANS!!! AH!!!!! demigirl rights :3 but i also find a huge comfort in the boys and i hc all of them as trans because no one can Stop Me •• but i really hope you enjoy these and remember you’re valid and i care u so much! Also i hope you don’t mind but i kinda made it gender neutral so every trans folk could enjoy!

The Brothers With A Trans MC

Lucifer

He didn’t know until you came out to him honestly. He knew all his other siblings were trans but with all the work Diavolo gave him and adding new students from different realms on top of that he hadn’t really had time to notice any minor changes in you.

He feels guilty about this and immediately makes sure(like everyone else)to ask for your pronouns, name, and how you would like to present yourself from now on.

Fixes your ID cards and your papers with Diavolo right after dinner

God. He’s such a dad and he gets you things that have your new name on them. You wake up to see you have a new pencil case with your name embroidered on it with matching pencils. God.....he’s so weird i love him so much

Asmo does most of your clothing shopping but for formal wear he takes you shopping! He’s not about to buy you some cheap tux or gown ok it’s gonna be over 2000 grim and he’s gonna get you three of them STOP HIM

He’s not the best with verbal affection so he writes down notes that are like “you looked very handsome/pretty today.” or when he first starts writing them they’re like “you’re a boy/girl/kid. i’m proud of you.” Thank u mr morningstar

You want surgery or to start hormones??? He will stop all his work with Diavolo and spend forever looking up things for you, he wants you to be as safe as possible(pls he almost fainted after he realized you’d have to give yourself a shot like everyday dhdhdhjdhd hc that demons/angels don’t have to do hormone therapy i’m so JEALOUS)

Practices saying your pronouns in his study when you first come out. He just wants to make sure you feel as safe as possible in his care(and he remembers how terrible it felt to be misgendered)

Guess what....he loves you no matter what :)

Mammon

You’re blind as hell if you couldn’t see his top scars but I respect it

King DOES slip up on your pronoun change but always immediately corrects himself. Satan has a spray bottle that he sprays Mammon with when he does it. Mammon is NOT amused but the same can’t be said for Belphie.

Gender affirming activities??? Oh yeah like robbing a bank?? That’s pretty gender neutral and trans right?? Yeah!!! Wow such a good supportive brother.

If you want you can wear the formal wear Lucifer bought you to the said bank heist. Boom trans rights

You can practice painting his nails or doing his makeup if you’re too nervous to do it on yourself first!! Dw if it’s bad he also can’t do makeup or paint nails so once you let him return the favor you’re both laughing and Asmo is distraught.

KING at dying hair he will get you whatever you need and if you want an entire different hair cut entirely he’s ON it

Very used to being Loud and Brash but if you need someone to talk to about anything really he always calms down and sits down to listen to whatever you have to say.

Lots of gendered gifts from him. This said for men??? Oh ok adds to cart. Oh pink??? For ladies??? yeah that can go in there too

You’re never gonna believe this.....But he loves you and supports you :)

Levi

He was the first one to come out to you at the house!! He was just so excited! Same hat!!!

Gets literally any video game where you can design the protag/have custom pronouns and will play games like that with you for hours

Would you like a pride flag.....for u.....He has too many.....Please take the trans flag please he has no room....he bought in bulk for a pride event and didn’t consider the consequences of his actions

Miku binder but irl. He will get if for you but unironically.....thanks King. He just likes binders with patterns and i respect IT

Dysphoria?? He gives you his hoodie bc that was his trademark dysphoria hoodie and i GUESS for you he can share............he would give u anything just ask nicely he’s sensitive

Reads any character that matches up with your gender and is like!!!!! That’s you!!!! OMG!!!! You in da IRL

Goes back and edits his tweets if they use your old name or pronouns(also has he/they in his bio. this is for nothing just makes me :D)

If you haven’t chosen your name he’s gonna suggest so many fictional characters. POV levi kin assigns you.

You listen to music together that just has Trans Vibes.....maybe u cry together but there’s no judgment!! It’s just nice :)

God it’s wild but! He loves u and thinks ur great :)

Satan

Enby Satan. That’s all :)

He’s very quite about it, he supports you! He’s just not loud like his brothers

He brings you book about gender studies and LGBTQ history that he thinks would interest you(there some of his favorite books and they’ve made him feel the most comfortable in his gender)

Gives you a name list if you haven’t named yourself yet! He cares about you and wants to make sure you have the right name that suits you

He’s the one that tells you that it’s ok if you’re still figuring it all out, learning about yourself is a very tricky process and if anyone knows that it’s Satan

Any of the brothers would kill anyone who misgendered you but with Satan that shit is ON SIGHT

Asks you how you know and what were the signs that gave it away to you, but only if you’re comfortable telling him!! He just finds everyone’s experience interesting and would like to know yours as well.

Spells for fucking DAYS Satan personally kills body dysphoria the best he can(mainly bc he’s HIGHKEY afraid of you getting surgery he hates knives so much)

Makes your comfort food for you when you’re feeling down about yourself and will read whatever you want to hear outloud to you.

!!!!!! GET THIS !!!!!! He loves YOU :0

Asmo

Fucking excited!!!! This means you two are going to buy so much clothing together and he gets to style you let’s GO

Buys you whatever you want but he will make you try it all on so be CAREFUL what u wish for.....ur gonna be there till the store closes yeah......

Paints your nails with the trans pride flag!! Also does your makeup and gives you tips on how to look more masculine or fem!!

VOICE LESSONS

He will help you lower or raise the pitch of your voice if it KILLS him. It eventually becomes like a mini class after school

Helps with internalized transphobia! Hes dealt with his fair share and knows how awful it can be and he will NOT being having you experience that as well we r practicing Self Care now

Picks apart any one who misgenders you until they’re crying he has NO fucking time for that behavior in this HOUSE

Sometimes self care is eating whatever you want and sitting in the dysphoria hoodies while watching chick flicks with Asmo

He likes dressing you up but he’s always sure to set boundaries so he never puts you into something that makes you feel uncomfortable

ALSO edits his posts and takes down anything that makes you uncomfortable!!

He loves you so much!!!!

Beel

another one to hand you The Dysphoria Hoodie and it’s very large and comfy!

he’ll help you make out a work out routine that will help you get the body you want and it makes him really happy to work out with you :)

he’s gonna hold your hand if you have to take shots and will give you puppy eyes if you don’t let him. He’s just worried!!!! He wants to help

stands behind you whenever you’re nervous about coming out to someone, he will NOT have someone making you feel bad or misgendering you

he’ll see food with trans pride colors and gives it too you, probably doesn’t even know what it is half the time but it made him think of you so he makes sure to get it for you

he doesn’t trip up on any of your new pronouns or name and makes it seem like he never even knew them. dead name???? what’s that??? a type of sauce?????

will let you vent to him whenever needed and will always make you a sundae after you’ve finished. it’s comically huge but it’s tasty and does make you feel a lot better, thanks beel

makes sure you remember to take off your binder if you’ve been wearing it for more than eight hours! and if you’ve been wearing heels to feel more fem he reminds you to take those off too and has a pair of slippers for you in his room that you can wear instead

hey! get this! He loves you so, so much :D

Belphie

you’re trans? ok kid join the club. he doesn’t make a big deal at all

are you still gonna cuddle with him and join him in his quest to make lucifer’s life difficult? yeah? ok then cool what’s ur name 

if he hears someone misgender you he waits till you’ve left the room and just kills whoever did it, dude’s unhinged what did you expect from him honestly

he’s actually really curious about any hormone therapy you’re on and likes listening to you rant about it to him. he likes seeing your face light up and it partly reminds him of lilith

calls your hormones something stupid like “oh dude, your gamer girl juice arrived.” or “hey your little man potion is here.” ...thanks belphie

will NOT let you sleep in a binder or push up bra!!! not healthy!! let ur chest breath guys 

like mammon, he gets you gendered gifts but they’re so fucking weird? you didn’t need a girls version of a collectable hot wheels set???? he got you blue lightning mcqueen sheets?????? those EXIST here????!!!!! when does he even shop......

introduces you to new people like “this is our resident boy/girl/human. they don’t do much but i think they’re cool.”

he really does care about you but he remembers when he came out he just didnt want people to make a big deal about it so he’s just doing what would have made him feel the most comfortable, but you can still see how much love he has for you when you look into his eyes

he loves you, so, so much :)

[chickwiththepurpleguitar]

It is I, here to Officially Request™ absolutely chaos All Named Characters Molina Family Board Game Night because honestly? The chaos needs to be freed.

THERE'S SO MUCH CHAOS I'M NOT SORRY.

Have the official sequel to this fic because when @screamin-amuseum requested the first part as "the whole gang + boardgame" I took that to mean All Named Characters playing board games and so here's that continuation. It's so unnecessarily long. It's so unnecessarily angsty??? TW for mentions of Trevor with an eating disorder, nothing graphic though.

I don't know what else to say. This is really chaotic. I can't write scenes with more than two people in them and yet this fic has 13. Hope you all enjoy.

Read on ao3 here:

--

Unfortunately, the Molinas’ extensive board game collection does not actually include Pretty Pretty Princess (it was just a tad bit before Julie’s time).

But on the bright side, she knows someone they can borrow it from. Even if Luke’s not happy about it.

“Why’d you have to invite him?” he complains the second Julie gets off the phone with Nick.

“Because—” Julie barely spares Luke a glance as she passes him on the way to the living room. “We’re borrowing his little sister’s board game.”

“So? That doesn’t mean he has to play it with us!”

Julie rolls her eyes. “Luke, are you seriously still jealous of him?”

Luke lets out an indignant squawk. “I am not jealous . I just don’t like him!” He poofs out and back in again to cut Julie off in the doorway, and she stops out of instinct, never quite sure these days if she’ll end up walking through the boys or into them. “Julie, in case you’ve forgotten, we’re talking about a kid who was literally possessed by Caleb five minutes ago. And you want us to hang out with him? You want to bring him into your house? Where you live? To play Pretty Pretty Princess? ”

Julie gives him the most exasperated look she can muster, trying to ignore the smile threatening to tug at her lips. “Luke. First of all, Nick’s already been to my house, so that argument is invalid. Second, he’s not possessed by Caleb anymore, and the fact that he used to be is only more reason for us to offer him some extra friendship, I’m sure he needs it. And third, I already invited him, he’s on his way, and not even your pouting and puppy dog eyes can change that, so don’t even bother trying.”

Of course, Luke immediately breaks out the pout and the puppy dog eyes, but Julie doesn’t let herself so much as look at him. She pushes past him and continues through to the kitchen, shaking her head in amusement as Luke’s annoyed grumbling fades out behind her.

Her dad’s at the kitchen counter, just hanging up his own phone. He turns when Julie enters and offers her a small smile. “Takeout’s on its way. And your tía’s coming, with her own set of dice, so be prepared for those to be loaded.”

Julie giggles. “Well, I called Flynn and they’re gonna bring some sodas and snacks, and Nick’s bringing Pretty Pretty Princess since the boys were so excited to play it. It’s still cool that he comes, too, right?”

“Of course, mija.” Her dad looks at her for a second, and then away, busies himself with wiping down the perfectly-clean counter. “Did you, uh… Did you maybe want to invite Carrie to join us?”

Julie sighs. “Dad, you know me and Carrie aren’t friends anymore.”

“No, yeah, I know.” He scrubs harder at an invisible speck of dirt. “I just thought it might be a nice gesture.”

Despite everything, Julie finds herself considering it. Sure, she and Carrie are still decidedly not friends , but… they’re not quite enemies anymore, either. It’s hard to be enemies with someone who helped you save your shared ex-love interest from an evil jazz-singing magician ghost. Carrie knows about the guys now and didn’t expose Julie and the Phantoms as a fraud, and she hasn’t been as actively mean to Julie and Flynn at school the past few months.

Maybe someday, the three of them will be able to reconcile, officially. Julie might even want to. But that doesn’t mean she’s ready to have Carrie in her house so soon, doesn’t mean she wants to include Carrie in their first family game night without her mom.

“Maybe another time,” she says, offering her dad a soft smile so he knows she means it.

He smiles back, and there’s more relief and happiness in his eyes than Julie would’ve expected under the circumstances, leaving Julie to wonder why her dad would care about her relationship with Carrie Wilson so much.

An hour later, everything’s all set up, and all the guests—ghost and human alike—have arrived. They’re all spread out across the various couches and floor space in Julie’s living room, all ten of them—Julie, her dad, Carlos, Tía Victoria, Luke, Alex, Reggie, Willie, Flynn, and Nick. The four ghosts are all sharing one couch, the four Molinas another, while Flynn and Nick lounge on the floor across the room because the ghosts still make Nick a little uncomfortable (though Julie’s unsure if that’s because of his stint with Caleb or because Luke won’t stop glaring at him).

Knowing Game Night, the seating arrangements won’t stay as they are for long, as the various games require space or privacy or the occasional team-up. Julie’s certain by the end of the night, her friends and family will all be mingling and getting along.

Since there are so many of them, they can’t follow the usual Game Night rules—everyone picks one game and they play through them all. If they tried, they’d be here all night, and half of them have to go to school tomorrow. So instead, the plan is this: Everyone’s name will go in a hat. Whoever wins each game picks a name out of the hat, and that person gets to pick the next game. They’ll play a total of five, or until midnight, whichever comes first.

The only caveat to this strategy is that they’re playing Pretty Pretty Princess first, and since that was technically Alex’s choice, his name’s not going in the hat (a fact Alex seems perfectly fine with).

Game Number One isn’t nearly as much of a disaster as Julie kind of expected it to be. It’s only a four player game, so they play in teams of two and three: Luke, Reggie, and Julie playing for the purple jewelry; Alex, Willie, and Flynn playing for the pink; Nick and Carlos for green; and Dad and Tía for blue. The only fight that breaks out is when Luke takes the black ring on purpose and then refuses to put it back the next turn; otherwise, the teams work together surprisingly well.

Somehow, despite Reggie’s earlier insistence that Alex is a PPP master, the adults win, and then they insist on splitting their winning jewelry between them even though it’s all sized to fit five-year-olds.

Just as Dad and Tía are celebrating their victory, and Julie and Carlos are having a telepathic brother-sister conversation about how their aunt must have rigged it, the doorbell rings.

“Ooh, I bet that’s the pizza,” Dad says, hauling himself to his feet. He keeps one hand on the tiny plastic crown on his head so it doesn’t fall off.

He looks ridiculous, between the crown, the singular clip-on earring, and the ring just barely stuck on the end of his pinky finger, but Julie manages to hold back her laughter as she stands and says, “I’ll help carry.”

Her dad beats her to the door, only because Reggie holds her back and tries to convince her not to let Luke have any pizza (to which Luke gives another indignant squawk and immediately starts bickering), so by the time Julie catches up with him, Dad’s already got the front door thrown open, and whatever’s on the porch to greet him has left him staring, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, and pale.

Like he’s seen a ghost or something.

“Dad?” Julie starts to say, but the word dies in her throat as she steps into view of the open door and sees none other than Carrie Wilson standing on her front porch.

Carrie looks nervous, and just as pale, as she stares back at Julie’s father, a clutch purse held in her white-knuckled hands.

Carrie says something, quietly enough that Julie thinks she might have imagined it, that sounds suspiciously like, “Hi, Papi,” and then her gaze flits behind him to Julie and her eyes widen. She clears her throat, straightens her shoulders, says louder, “Mr. Molina. Julie.”

“Hi, Carrie,” Dad says after a weirdly long pause, startling like he’s been struck. “What are—I didn’t—” He breaks off and glances at Julie over his shoulder, his expression screaming, I thought you weren’t going to invite her!

I didn’t! Julie shoots back, then trains a painfully plastic smile on her definitely-not-a-friend-but-not-quite-an-enemy. “Carrie, what are you doing here?”

“Sorry to interrupt, I—didn’t realize you had company…” She glances toward the driveway next to the house, where Nick parked his car. “I can leave.”

“No, don’t—It’s okay,” Dad assures her, a little too quickly for Julie’s liking. “What’s—did you need something?”

Carrie shifts her weight awkwardly from foot to foot, looking back and forth between Julie and her dad like she wants to ask Julie to give them some privacy. Julie just plants her feet and crosses her arms over her chest. Like hell is she gonna leave Carrie alone with her dad when he’s already acting weird and she still has yet to tell them what she’s doing there.

Julie doesn’t even remember the last time Carrie Wilson stepped foot on the Molinas’ property. It’s all too weird, like Julie’s stepped out of Family Game Night and into some strange, confusing alternate universe.

“Um… Okay, so, Dad and I were at this dumb charity event at Schaefer’s, and on the way back, our car broke down.” Carrie waves a vague hand toward the street. “Gerald—our driver—called someone, but Dad doesn’t trust mechanics, and I think it’s supposed to storm later, so…” She trails off, blushes, and adds, “We were only a block or so away so I thought…”

Julie’s not sure she’s following. Her dad must catch up quicker because he says, “Oh! Oh, well—well, you’re welcome to wait out the storm here, we’ve got food coming, we’re having a little game night. Why don’t you join us?”

He turns to look at Julie, almost as an afterthought, his gaze somehow pleading and apologetic at the same time.

Whatever frustration Julie might feel at his eagerness to let Carrie interfere with their lives despite knowing how Julie feels about her is quickly snuffed out by the look on her dad’s face, and the equally anxious look on Carrie’s.

Julie doesn’t like this. She doesn’t think putting her, Flynn, Nick, and Carrie in a competitive setting together is a good idea. She really doesn’t think putting Luke, Alex, Reggie, and Trevor Wilson in a competitive setting together is a good idea. She can think of very few scenarios in which this whole night doesn’t turn into a complete and total disaster.

But reconciliation has to start somewhere, and she does, deep down, want to be Carrie’s friend again someday, wants even more to help her boys get their bandmate back.

She takes a slow, deep breath, prays she won’t regret this, and says, “Of course, Carrie. Come join us for Game Night.”

Carrie visibly relaxes, something like a real, genuine smile fluttering around her lips. “Okay. Thanks. I’ll, um—I’ll go get Dad. He wanted to wait in the car, in case you guys… turned us away…”

Awkward silence falls, and Julie can’t understand why her dad looks so sad all of a sudden, but before she can think of how to ask, Carrie spins on her high heels and starts back down the porch steps.

The second the door closes behind her, Dad says, “I’m sorry, did I overstep?”

Julie sighs. Her dad’s always been particularly good with boundaries. And she thinks part of him might miss the days when Carrie was over more often than not, playing dolls and singing with Julie and Flynn. So Julie can’t be mad. “No, it’s okay. But you get to tell the guys the pizza’s not here yet, and the guy who stole all their songs is.”

His eyes widen in horror, only adding to the absurdity of his bejeweled look, and Julie stifles another laugh as she heads back to the living room.

All things considered, it’s not nearly as much of a trainwreck as Julie thought it might be. Flynn loudly declares that she will not be on a team with Carrie under any circumstances, and the guys don’t take the Trevor news well , exactly, but a sharp look from Julie and a badly whispered promise from Willie to do some serious ghost pranking later keep them from actively pitching a fit about it.

When the Wilsons and their driver Gerald arrive, the tension in the room grows so instantly thick and awkward that Julie’s worried someone might actually explode. Carrie breaks it by stalking confidently into the room and plopping herself on the floor between Nick and Carlos like she belongs there. Gerald soon follows, claiming a chair next to Tía Victoria, and smiles politely at them all.

Only Trevor remains hovering in the doorway, pale and shaky, taking deep meditative breaths as his eyes rove across each person one at a time, lingering a little too long on Julie’s aunt, skipping over Luke entirely. Finally, he swallows, winces like it hurts, and says to Julie’s dad, “I didn’t realize you still did these.”

Julie frowns, unsure what that’s supposed to mean exactly, but her dad offers up no explanation, just waves Trevor over to sit on the couch with him. Luke lays a gentle hand on Julie’s knee, leans in close to whisper, “Hey. You okay?”

She gives him a grateful smile, nods. “Fine. How about you?”

Luke shrugs, glances over at Trevor, who’s still very purposefully not looking in their direction, and winks at Julie. “Let’s just cream this guy, shall we?”

And so, Game Night continues.

The three new guests’ names get added to the hat, and Victoria shuffles them around before pulling a slip of paper out.

“Carrie,” she reads. “You get to pick the next game.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay,” Carrie tries. “I just got here, someone else can pick.”

“Come on, Care,” Nick says, nudging her encouragingly. “Them’s the rules.”

“Your name came out of the hat,” Julie agrees, attempting a smile. It’s the closest she can get to a peace offering. “Pick a game.”

Carrie scans her face a moment, like she’s searching for any hint that Julie’s being mean or ingenuine. She must not find any, because she says, “Okay,” and gets to her feet, brushing invisible dust off her skirt. She peers into the game cabinet for a total of about five seconds before she says, “Oh my god, you still have Monopoly with the credit card readers? We are definitely playing that.”

“Dibs on banker!” Carlos shouts and jumps to his feet to dig the box out of the cabinet.

Julie grins at her little brother’s enthusiasm, and when she catches Carrie’s eye, her smile doesn’t fade.

Maybe they can do this. It’s as good a first step toward reconciliation as any, she supposes.

The pizza arrives while Carrie and Carlos are setting up the Monopoly board, so Julie and her dad bring it in and set up the stack of boxes on the kitchen island for easy access. The ghosts immediately descend on the food like a pack of rabid animals, Luke grabbing four or five slices at once and starting to stuff them in his mouth before Julie shouts, “Plates, boys! Plates!” and he deflates, grinning bashfully at her.

Once everyone who wants pizza has gotten some (Gerald takes a slice, Trevor and Carrie don’t—Julie remembers vaguely that the Wilsons were never big fans of take-out in general), they work out new teams, which leads to less bloodshed than Julie expected but takes way longer than it has any right to. Finally, they figure out a breakdown that everyone’s more or less happy with, despite now having an uneven number of players: Trevor, Gerald, Dad, and Tía; Carlos, Luke, and Reggie; Alex, Willie, and Flynn; and Carrie, Nick, and Julie.

It’s a chaotic game for sure, but no one outright attacks each other, so Julie counts it as a success. And her team wins, so.

The rest of the night goes like that, one game after another. Julie picks Willie’s name, Willie picks Mario Kart, Carlos wins. Carlos picks Gerald’s name, Gerald picks poker (“Oh my god, my driver’s a gambler,” Trevor sighs into his hands), and somehow Flynn smokes them all. For the last game, Flynn picks Luke’s name, Luke picks Candy Land because he’s actually eight years old, and Flynn and Carrie manage to eke out a victory despite being on the same team and bickering the entire game.

Luke and Trevor, also on the same team, don’t say a single word to each other, but Julie doesn’t miss how a smile tugs at Luke’s lips when Trevor makes a joke about Lord Licorice looking like their high school English teacher.

Gerald gets a call just as they’re finishing up and informs them that the broken down limo’s been towed away and one of his colleagues is there with a fresh car to take the Wilsons home.

“Perfect timing,” Dad says, clapping his hands together. “I’ll walk you out.”

Once they’re gone, Nick and Flynn soon follow. Julie thanks Nick profusely for letting them borrow his sister’s game and convinces him to take some of the leftover pizza home to his family. Tía kisses them all goodnight (including the ghosts, which leaves Reggie grinning and the rest of them bright red), and then she’s out the door too, and Carlos heads up to bed, and Willie poofs out, telling Alex they’ll catch him later, leaving just Julie alone with her Phantoms.

“That was actually really fun,” she says, leaning back into the couch.

“Next time, I think we should choose teams at the beginning and stick with them all night,” Luke suggests, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “More fun that way.”

Alex plops onto the couch on Luke’s other side. “But if we play Pretty Pretty Princess again, I’m not playing on your team, bro.”

“Yeah, man,” Reggie agrees, snuggling up under Julie’s arm. “We coulda won that game if you’d just put the black ring away. ”

“It made me look awesome!” Luke insists.

“And the purple one didn’t?”

Alex lets out a dramatic sigh as Luke and Reggie break into an argument over Julie’s head. She just rolls her eyes and tries not to giggle too audibly, though it’s hard when her boys are so lovingly silly.

When she looks up, her dad’s lingering in the doorway, watching the four of them and playing a little nervously with his hands.

Julie frowns, catches his gaze, and mouths, You okay?

He nods, smiles, but looks from her to the three ghost boys cuddled up next to her and back again. Julie instantly catches his meaning.

“Hey, guys,” she says, loud enough to be heard over Luke and Reggie’s bickering. They shut up right away. “I’m gonna help my dad clean up. Can you go wait in the studio for me, and we can rehearse a bit before I go to bed?”

“Oh, yeah,” the boys say, and “Yeah, sure, Julie,” and they all hug her and wave goodnight to her dad before disappearing with a gentle displacement of air.

Julie gets to her feet as her dad joins her in the living room. He sets his phone on top of the game cabinet and plays a Celia Cruz album her mom liked.

They work in companionable silence for a while, other than the music, counting all the cards and tokens and jewelry pieces to make sure everything’s accounted for and gets back into its proper box.

As Julie’s wrapping up the Mario Kart controllers, her dad says casually, “You have fun tonight?”

“Yeah,” she says, and finds she means it. “Yeah, you know, it wasn’t quite the same as playing with Mom, but I still had a really good time. Thanks for letting everyone come over.”

“Thank you for being such a good sport about Carrie. I know she wasn’t exactly part of your plan for how the night would go.”

“No,” Julie agrees, shutting the game cabinet. “But I kinda liked having her here. Although—can I ask you something?”

Dad grabs his phone to pause the music. “Of course, mija. What is it?”

Something’s been nagging at her all evening, but now that Julie actually has the opportunity to ask about it, she’s not quite sure how to put her question into words.

Finally, she manages, “When Mr. Wilson first got here, he said something like… like he didn’t know we still had game nights. But I don’t remember him ever playing with us when Mom was alive.”

Her dad doesn’t answer for a really long time. Julie knows him well enough to know she needs not be concerned—her dad, much more than her mom, has always needed to really take his time and think before he says anything, especially anything important. Finally, he sighs and says, “Honestly, mija… I’m not quite sure what to say. It’s not really my story to tell.” He sits on one of the couches and pats the cushion next to him. Julie joins him, hugging a throw pillow as she waits patiently for him to continue.

“Do you remember, when you were really little, Trevor and Carrie used to live with us?”

Julie’s mouth drops open. “What? No. When?”

“Only until you were about six,” Dad explains. “But for a while, we had a house together, the five and then six of us, once Carlos was born. Your mom and I, and Trevor, we all kind of raised you kids together.” He elbows her teasingly. “You used to call Trevor Daddy.”

“I definitely don’t remember that,” Julie says, eyes wide in horror.

His smile fades, face turning serious. “I think Carrie does,” he says softly, and Julie remembers when Carrie first got here tonight, how she called Julie’s dad Papi , so quietly Julie thought she’d imagined it.

“Anyway,” he continues, “before all that, before Trevor was even… Trevor … he lived with your mom and me, and he was going through a really rough time, had a lot of trouble with food because, well…”

“Because food killed his best friends…” Julie realizes.

“We used to play board games with him, after dinner, when things were hard. It kept him distracted, made it easier to keep things down. That was the real start of Molina Family Game Night.”

“Huh,” Julie breathes. “Well then, next time? I want to invite him and Carrie for real.”

--

Taglist: @whenweremarried @sunsethimb0s @pink-flame @penguin0613 @fighttoshine @sunsetcurvecuddles @apples-bees @reggiescrookedteeth @brightattheorpheum @queenmolina @jandthephantoms @lexilucacia @sapphossidechick @acnhaddict @shrimp-colours @sunset-bobby @lenacarstairspotterstewart @conversationaltreestump @burntchromas @shellydominique

[starbuckie]

𝐢𝐟 𝐢 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

words: 2,393(with song lyrics), 2,300(without song lyrics)

warnings: LaNgUaGe, a little baby bit of angst, fluff, and soft!bucky

summary: y/n tried to move in after the events of infinity war.

a/n: i bring you my first bucky oneshot! dear evan hansen is one of my favorite musicals in the entire world,  and “if i could tell her” is the sweetest song. i thought it would fit well with this plot i came up with and i really enjoyed writing this, so if y’all wanna read more musical inspired fics just let me know (even though i’ll probably still do it anyway). anywaaaaays, enjoy as always, and i hope you guys have a great day <3

main masterlist || sebastian stan characters masterlist

He thought you were awesome

He thought I was awesome? My brother?

Definitely!

You sat in the compound with Nat in silence. Grieving over Chinese food together had become a norm over the past five years. Ever since the snap, losing your teammates and half of the universe had taken a toll on your friendship. You two worked in tandem together still, but there was always that tension in the air, the elephant in the room. Neither of you addressed the “blip” unless you were on a call with the remaining heroes. Five years later, and you two still have trouble speaking about it. 

Quiet footsteps approached letting you know that Steve had arrived. You looked up, and there was your blue-eyed friend, leaning against the doorway, lips turned up in a small smile.

“Chinese food again?” He walked over and sat next to Natasha to grab a plate. “Everytime I come over here you two are sitting at the table eating Chinese takeout without speaking to each other. Natasha, get your feet off the table.” 

Both of you smiled at this. “Okay, dad.” She snarkily responded. Those were the first words she had said all day. Of course Steve could get her to talk. Whenever he came to visit, he was always the one to break the quiet. To get you to smile. Three of you sat and chatted a bit about your days, until there was nothing left to say. Silence heavy in the air, Natasha set her plate down on the table. “I’m going to my room to work on some stuff. I’ll be gone for a bit.” She put her hand on your shoulder and left.

“We’re both aware that that’s code for her going to track Barton down, right?” You sighed heavily and nodded. He knew that she was spending any free time she had trying to find her best friend, but whenever she did find him, she would look at what he’d done and decided to leave it. Clint was grieving too. Natasha had been very reserved, and though the two of you were still close, the distance between her and everyone else seemed farther than ever.

You respected Natasha’s privacy and solitude, but sometimes you really need to talk to her. Much like Natasha, the Avengers were the only family you had, and you had lost them. You had survived and they hadn’t. Feelings were always bubbling in the pit of your stomach, but you had no way to express them. Exhaustion had kept you from your tears, but now that Steve was here, you broke down.

“She needs to grieve.” You took a long breath. “And so do I, frankly. Because everyone’s gone now Steve. There’s nothing left to fucking do. We have no leads about where they may have gone, or what the hell happened! Nothing is in our control anymore. There’s nothing left for us.” After your small outburst, the two of you sat in silence, hot tears trailing down your face.

“He loved you too, you know.” You looked up, red rimmed eyes, staring at him imploringly. “Bucky.”

Bucky. The one person that you had felt strongly towards. God, you wished you had just told him when you had the chance. But you let him walk off into battle before you could say anything. 

You remembered the first time you saw the blue-eyed man. Clint had rushed you and Wanda out of the compound, exclaiming that Steve needed your help. Your friend had literally just thrown her boyfriend(?) through the ground, and everything about it seemed very illegal. Tony had told the two of you to stay inside the compound, but if Cap needed you, you went. After a fun journey to San Francisco to pick up Scott, the four of you found yourselves in a white van, traveling to an airport in Germany.

The first time you laid eyes on him, you could have sworn you were in heaven. Steve’s description of him did Bucky no justice. Long brown hair that fell right above his chin, and pink pouty lips. He had an angled jaw, that at the time you swore could get you pregnant it was so hot, and stubble that covered most of it. He had broad shoulders and you had to stop yourself from ogling his thighs. But what really caught your attention were his eyes. Bright and vibrant, yet tired and dull at the same time. In that moment, you had fallen in love. 

However, your time with him wasn’t very long, as you soon after had to go and fight your old team. Once Steve and Bucky had gotten into the quinjet, you thought that was the last time you would see the pretty, blue-eyed boy. Months later though, after Steve came back to free you, Sam, Clint, Wanda, and Scott, he offered to take you to Wakanda. He knew you were tired, not looking to fight anymore, and T’Challa had offered asylum. Eagerly you had agreed, and flew to Wakanda, where you truly fell in love with James Buchanan Barnes.

Though Bucky was brought out of his cryostasis chamber three months after you had gotten there, the two of you had bonded fairly quickly. It did take him a while to open up to you, considering you had only a brief interaction, but after that, the two of you were inseparable. You would spend mornings watching the beautiful sunrise outside his hut and playing with the goats, afternoons working in the fields, and nights wrapped around each other with blankets, talking about nothing and everything all at once. Over the months, you found yourself falling farther and farther in love with Bucky, but you didn’t know what the two of you were. He always called you “doll”, “honey”, and “sweetheart”, and gave you forehead kisses. He came to you at night when he had nightmares and let you hold him until he fell asleep. But was that love? Did he feel anything for you? You hoped he did. But you let him get away, and now there was nothing left to say.

How?

Well, he said

There's nothing like your smile

Sort of subtle and perfect and real

He said

You never knew how wonderful

That smile could make someone feel

Snapping out of your reverie, you focused back on Steve. “H-he loved me?” Steve chuckled softly and leaned over the table slightly, taking your hand in his. 

“More than anything.” Nodding at him to keep going, he continued. “He told me right before we went to fight. Horrible timing, but that’s how it always is, huh. So goddamn cliche.”

Steve thought back to the conversation he had had with his oldest friend, and recounted it for you.

“What’s going on with you and Y/N, pal?” Steve smiled brightly at his best friend, even though they weren’t in the best circumstances for a catch-up, he was dying to know what was going on between two of his closest friends. Bucky bashfully grinned and dipped his head down in hopes that his best friend wouldn’t see his blush, but to no avail. “Aw, you’re sweet on her, aren’t you?”

“Steve, I’m not sweet on her.” Steve’s smile fell, but Bucky’s only grew. “I think I love her. No, I know I love her.” He smiled fondly into the distance, watching where you were exchanging greetings with Sam and Natasha near Shuri’s lab tables. You were laughing, head thrown back and teeth sparkling in the light. You had a tactical suit on, hair tied up in a sleek ponytail, a rifle in hand, and Bucky thought you never had looked prettier.

Steve had never seen Bucky like this. Calm, peaceful, in love. Granted, they hadn’t exactly been spending lots of time together in the past seventy years, but it made him happy to know that Bucky was happy. “In love? What about her?”

Bucky chuckled and looked back to his friend. “Where do you want me to start?” Bucky sighed before beginning his speech. “She is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. And from what I can remember, I knew a lot of girls back then. I know that waking up and getting to be around her everyday is a blessing, and makes me forget everything. She’s all sunshine and pure happiness, Steve.”

“What else, Buck?” 

“She has the sweetest laugh in the world, and God, her smile is enough to make my entire day. It’s so real, just perfect. I only want to see that for the rest of my life. And she’s always there for me. Y/N is the most open-hearted person I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. She’s strong, hot-headed, kind, beautiful, funny, patient, and just so goddamn beautiful, inside and out. I would spend every single day with her by my side if that were possible.” Bucky then sighed, and his heart ached. Because though she was this wonderful human, how could she want him? His old, broken, damaged, quiet self? She deserved much better.

Steve grinned, completely missing Bucky’s face filled with self-doubt. “I think you’ve got it bad, Bucky. You should tell her.” The brunette simply shook his head.

“Maybe someday.”

But he kept it all inside his head

What he saw he left unsaid

And though he wanted to

He couldn't talk to you

He couldn't find the way

But he would always say

Your eyes started spilling more tears with Steve’s words. Bucky loved you. Bucky loved you. That information should have made you happy, but it just filled you with more grief. Silent sobs were felt through your whole body. “Oh sweet girl, what’s wrong?” Steve immediately got up to hug you, pulling your form into his body.

“We could've had a chance.” You managed to croak out. “We loved each other. We could’ve been happy together. It's strange really. We missed our opportunity.” Steve looked down at you and prodded you to continue your thoughts. “Stevie, I had so many reasons listed out in my head as to why I shouldn’t have told him. Maybe he thought of me as a sister, or wasn’t ready for a relationship. But to find out that we could’ve been happy together… it hurts worse than any of those options. We never told each other, and kept it inside of our heads. And now he’s gone.”

Steve continued to hold you throughout your breakdown. Your tears soaked his tee shirt, but he didn’t mind. And it was on that day in March of 2023, that the two of you mourned James Buchanan Barnes.

But we're a million worlds apart

And I don't know how I would even start

If I could tell her

If I could tell her

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

If someone had told Bucky that he would pass out in one battle and wake up to yet another one five years in the future, he probably would’ve hurt them. However, the only people he thought of hurting right now were Thanos and his stupid goonies. Blasting another creature to the ground, he grunted and pulled a hair tie off his wrist. Thank God Shuri forced him to carry them with him all the time, because his hair really was unmanageable. Tying half of his hair up in a small bun at the back of his head, he wondered what the hell was happening. No one had told him anything before they came onto this destructive wasteland. T’Challa just gave him a hand to help him off the ground, and told him that Steve needed his help.

Suddenly, a flash of navy blue sailed past him and it was like he was seeing you for the first time again. He stared at you, dumbfounded. Though he had only been gone for a few hours(in his point of view), you looked older, more mature, and a lot more tired. Your hair had been cut shorter, but you were still as beautiful as ever. 

You brushed off some dust and looked around. The rest of your team had come back. Though you were in the middle of a battle, you couldn’t stop smiling. Tears were blocking your vision, but your emotions were on a rollercoaster right now, and you wanted all of it to be over. You saw Doctor Strange lifting up a storm along with many other wizards. Actually, were they wizards? You had no clue. Tony and Pepper fought side by side in the skies, and even Peter was holding the gauntlet as he rode on a pegasus’ back. But what caught most of your attention was the tall brunette, blue-eyed man staring right back at you. 

“Bucky?” Tears found a path down your face, but you really didn’t care anymore. You ran towards him, aliens be damned. They could wait. After all, you had to wait five years. 

Bucky saw you run towards him and he sprinted towards you with the same fervor, hot, salty tears falling from his eyes. His heart was filled with relief as he took you in.

And how do you say

I love you

I love you

I love you

I love you

Finally meeting each other in the middle, you grasped his face and brought your lips to his. He immediately gripped your waist and tugged you as close as he could to your body. This kiss was needy and heated, filled with hurry and passion. His tongue ran along your bottom lip, and you opened yourself up to him. When you finally pulled back for air, your heart was beating, fast.

“I love you, Bucky. So goddamn much.” Tears continued to flow down your cheeks, but you laughed, because after all these years, he was real, alive, and right in front of you.

“I love you too, Y/N. More than I can say.” He took his vibranium hand to wipe tears off your cheek, and pulled you back in for another kiss. This one, unlike the first one, was full of pure emotion, and the two of you put much more love into it. You smiled against his lips, and soon enough he did too. Because right now, in the middle of a battle, you found each other, and for now that was enough. No thoughts about the future, or the past. Just raw, pure, real love.

[multisfabulis]

Land’s Trust in Light

Arrival in Thornewind (Chapter 1/6)

Word Count: 4090

Oh, look, a new Corona's Shadow entry that doesn't feature Verreth? That's possible?!

I kid but it honestly feels good to not be writing Verreth for CS for a little bit. CS was never meant to be a Verreth love story, it only ended up like that because I went straight into writing "The Road to Forgiveness Be Damned" after finishing "A Single Ray of Light in a Sea of Darkness" because I simply wanted to write more Ven and I started to regret my decision around the time I wrote the rough version of the third chapter. Obviously, I stuck with that decision to the end but it was throughout that time I had wants to write Verreth and I wrote those as well. However, all the Verreth segments are what I consider to be side stories, which I know may be hard to believe but trust me, because Ven and Ferreth are not the main protagonists of CS. Eric, if anyone remembers him, is. The Verreth segments were only added to the CS series because I didn't want to make a whole new series entirely focused on Verreth and take them out of something they are main characters of.

Does this mean I'm done writing Verreth? For now, yes. Outside of occasional updates to "Only Through Acceptance Will Love Find Us", I wanna focus on both this and other smaller projects, like RLD and fanfics. Just in case anyone's lost hope, the next big project is Verreth-related, with Ferreth taking the protag role a la TRFBD. Let's just say we're finally getting a look at his backstory and a reason as to why he has self-worth issues.

God, it feels great to be writing in Eric's POV again. It's been over 2 years since I finished ASRLSD so I am making the most of this!

Surprisingly enough, there wasn't much change during the transition from rough draft to publication, which actually made this harder to write. I'm so used to there being at least one major change that I got tripped up by this. The only major change here is the addition of descriptors and needed elaboration and those, I feel like, are key to "beautifying" writing so I don't count those.

One last thing is the "flirting" present in here. I honestly don't know if that can be considered flirting because I'm not someone who flirts or is flirted with on a daily basis. I'm pretty much the dense harem anime protagonist so please forgive me for the terrible flirting.

Read on AO3 | Read on DA | Support me on Ko-fi!

     Thornewind was gorgeous. Sure, Eric was looking at it from a distance atop Asha, but it made one hell of a good first impression. Thornewind seemed colorful and vibrant and he wanted to explore every last inch of it. He gently kicked Asha’s side and she began walking at a slow, leisurely pace.

     Thornewind was a town nestled in the mountains north of Aurora Zenith. The tiny glimpse he saw of it left him awestruck, from its tall, rich buildings packed closely together to its bright windmills scattered across its many open fields. Then there was the sight that awaited him over the ridge, stealing his breath away.

     There were tulips that stretched as far as the eye could see. A sea of blue, red, orange, pink, and yellow blossoms swayed in the summery breeze. It was strange how all these tulips were in bloom when Augvesta had just rolled around but he didn’t put much thought into it. Botany was more of Ven’s expertise and she would be positively thrilled upon seeing this.

     It was soon after crossing the garden he arrived at the entrance. It surprised him to see how lax security was if they let a complete stranger in without so much as a request for papers. He didn’t mind it, though; it just struck him as odd since no one was allowed entry if they weren’t deemed trustworthy back in his childhood home. He and Asha passed through the threshold and was rendered speechless.

     Towering brick buildings loomed over him while a rainbow of others stood further ahead of him. Paths of smooth stone ran in every direction, the opposite of Aurora Zenith’s dirt roads that swept up dust with enough energy behind it. He could hear the tinkling of wind chimes and the fervor of voices all around him. Thornewind certainly had Brinegarde beat in its lively atmosphere.

     He hopped off Asha, making sure to keep the reins in a firm grip. Her deep brown eyes met his as he slowly put a hand on her face and stroked. She didn’t flinch, which was a good sign of progress.

     “You’re such a good girl, Asha,” he murmured, moving his hand down to stroke her neck. “Let’s find a place for you to rest, hmm?”

     It didn’t take long to find a stable. He led her into one of the empty stalls and fed her a couple sugar cubes as a reward for all the hard work she’d done over the past two weeks. The last thing he did was tell the stableman how to care for her during her stay and that he’d be checking up on her daily. Waving goodbye to Asha, it was time to explore Thornewind.

     With it being mid-afternoon, it was pleasantly warm as people crowded the streets on their day-to-day routine. The sound of the wind chimes grew louder and the scent of delicious meals made his mouth water in anticipation. Thank god his anxiety wasn’t ruining this for him. He could hardly contain the bounce in his step as he excitedly toured around the busy thoroughfares. It was rare for him to see and visit new places so he wanted to make the most of this trip.

     There were two things he noticed. First was that most of the people he saw weren’t humans nor were they elves. Their ears were similar to Ven’s and they had what seemed to be like fangs sticking out from their upper lips. What really threw him off, though, were their sizes. Many of them were easily a foot or so taller than him just from a distance and were definitely well-built. Whatever these people were, they’ve caught his eye and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t enticed.

     Then there were the stares. He initially thought they were wondering what a human was doing here till he realized it was what he wore. It wasn’t like he was wearing an extravagant suit but he still clearly looked like a noble, or so he assumed. He wasn’t trying to show people up. He was just taught to always dress his best for important events and he considered his reason for being here to be one such.

     Now came the realization he was lost. He had become so engrossed in his surroundings, an hour flew by without him noticing. He needed to find the lord of this town and talk with them about the relationship between them and Aurora Zenith. Allies were essential in political affairs, after all. The bad part was, he had no idea on where to start looking.

     Well, as much as he hated to, he had to ask someone for directions. It couldn’t be that hard, right? All he’d have to do is go up to a random person, ask them on how to get to the lord’s house, and that’d be it. Simple and easy!

     He felt a hand touch his shoulder and heard a voice ask, “Hey, are you okay?”

     He let out a startled shriek and turned to face the stranger. There was a man in front of him with his hands up in a conciliatory manner towards him. One of the first things he noticed was just how big he was.

     He’d never seen anyone taller than Alek before and it honestly unnerved him. The man had the same pointed ears and fangs as everyone else so he must’ve been one of the not-human, not-elf people. He had dark brown skin, messy brown hair with a small braid that reached his shoulders, and bright green eyes. What was really peculiar about him were the bandages starting from the middle of his arms and ending all the way down to his fingertips. He was definitely hiding something underneath those but Eric could care less about what right now.

     “Hey, hey, hey, calm down, okay?” the man said in a soothing tone. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

     “I would hope not!” Eric breathed in, placed a hand on his chest, and breathed out. “It’s not every day some random stranger walks up, claps a hand on my shoulder, and asks if I’m okay right in my ear.”

     “Well, you seemed troubled so I thought you might’ve needed help,” the man replied, putting his hands down.

     Feeling rather embarrassed with himself for that pathetic display, he cleared his throat and asked, “As a matter of fact, I do. Could you please tell me where the lord of this town is, I need to speak with them right away.”

     “You wanna talk to Bris?”

     “If that’s their name, then yes. I have some important business to discuss with them.”

     “He’s not far from here, I can take you to him if you want.”

     That would probably be the best course of action. He was never good at memorizing directions and reciting them to himself only confused him more. He had no one to blame but himself for being in this situation to begin with so…

     “Sure, that’d be great,” Eric conceded. At least this guy was kind and generous enough to show him the way there.

     “All right, let’s make our way over there.” The two men began walking down a street that wasn’t as busy as before. “By the way, my name’s Ferreth.”

     “I’m Eric, it’s nice to meet you,” he said, flashing him a friendly smile.

     “So what brings someone like you to our fair town of Thornewind?” Ferreth asked. “I thought I’d recognized all our visitors since those don’t come by very often.”

     “It’s as I said. I’ve traveled a long way to see Bris in the hopes of discussing important business with him.”

     “What kind of business? Are you an important person?”

     “I’d say being lord counts as pretty important. I’ve come all the way from Aurora Zenith to see if our two towns could potentially become allies.”

     “Oh, wow. I, uh, didn’t think someone as cute as you could be lord.”

     He tilted his head in both curiosity and confusion. “I don’t see what my appearance has to do with anything but I can assure you I wasn’t lying.”

     “I didn’t think you were. I just wasn’t expecting a man in your position to be so…good-looking.”

     “So what were you expecting?”

     “You know, somebody the complete opposite. I mean, I’m figuring you’re, like, smart, charismatic, kind, and everything else Bris is like.”

     Ah, that’s what was happening here. He had an inkling of it the first time Ferreth mentioned his appearance but now he was sure. Alek had never done it with him and there wasn’t really a need for him to. As flattered as he was by it, his heart was and always will be Alek’s.

     Chuckling, he said, “Well, I think my boyfriend would agree with you on some of those things but I’m more modest about them.”

     “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Ferreth had a defeated smile on his face, gracefully accepting his loss. Eric liked how easygoing he was.

     “So what’s your relationship with Bris like?” he asked.

     “Oh, me and him are best friends. We’ve known each other since childhood but I’d say we’re more like brothers than friends by this point.”

     “Sounds like you get along with him really well.”

     “Don’t get me wrong, Bris and I have had our fair share of arguments but what friendship hasn’t? We have each others’ backs and no fight’s ever gonna change that.”

     Ferreth had a certain fondness in his voice when he spoke about Bris. It was easy to see the love and devotion he held for Bris and it warmed Eric’s heart. He was admittedly envious of their friendship. He never had any friends as a child aside from Alek and, while Alek’s irreplaceable, he wished he was able to make some back then. At least that seemed to be changing with him befriending Ven during his trip to Brinegarde so maybe he still had a chance to form everlasting relationships.

     “Here we are!”

     The two stopped before a giant windmill. Dark red brick made up the exterior and the blades turned gently in the breeze, creaking ever so slightly. There were hardly any windows aside from the two in front and there was a wraparound balcony set up just below the wooden roof. Eric didn’t know windmills could be habitable, which made him want to live here if only a little.

     “Wow…”

     “Let’s go on up, shall we?”

     They climbed up the stone steps leading to the front door. It was a tall, dark wooden door stretching up towards the wraparound balcony, with a black, wrought iron ring on the side as its knocker. Before he could think of a script in his head, Ferreth grabbed the ring and hit it against the door a few times.

     Almost immediately after, a woman answered. She wasn’t much taller than him, though he figured the top of his head would be just scraping her chin, and the slim blue dress she wore did little to hide her defined muscles. She had porcelain skin, long, wavy rose pink hair flowing down to her waist, and sandy brown eyes, reminding him of the shores of Aurora Zenith’s beaches. She was stunningly beautiful and his throat felt suddenly dry.

     “Ah, Ferreth, are you here to see Master Brirsyrun today?” she asked. Her voice sounded soft and airy like a lovely breeze.

     “Hey, Aissyl, I’m actually here because my new friend wanted to speak with Bris regarding some important matters, right?” Ferreth put a hand squarely on Eric’s back and pushed him forward slightly.

     “Oh, uh, yes!” he spoke quickly. “My name is Eric Travere and I’m the lord of Aurora Zenith. I’m here today because I needed to talk to Brirsyrun about improving the relationship between our two towns.”

     “I see. I shall ask Master Brirsyrun if he’ll see you now, please wait a moment.” She closed the door.

     That could have gone a little better, he thought as he released a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding in. He heard Ferreth trying to stifle a laugh from beside him and promptly wanted to die. Guess he wasn’t the only one she had that effect on, if this has happened before.

     “She’s pretty, isn’t she?” Ferreth asked, pretending like he didn’t know the answer.

     “Yes, well, I can’t deny that she’s quite beautiful,” he replied, clearing his throat. “Have you tried anything with her?”

     “When I first met her, yeah, and she swiftly turned me down.” He clicked his tongue, as if remembering the memory wasn’t pleasant. “Let’s just say she’s not interested in men like us. Or any man, really.”

     Before he could say any more, the woman known as Aissyl opened the door and invited them inside. The room he entered seemed to be what he’d liken to a waiting room or lounge. What little of the walls he saw that weren’t decorated in exquisite murals were painted a warm honey color. There were a couple of cushioned chairs sitting by the small window and a low table set in front of them. He didn’t have time to check out much more before Aissyl led them through an arched threshold into another room he presumed to be Bris’ office.

     It wasn’t terribly big but it worked fine for its purpose. Unlike the lounge, the walls were a cerulean blue, similar to the sky at dawn before the sunrise. There were tall bookcases standing on one side of the room and a spiral staircase leading up to the second floor on the other. A leather chair sat behind a pine desk atop a nondescript forest green rug. He figured the unusual empty space in front of the desk was for additional chairs if they had guests over. They must not get many of them if they hadn’t gotten a chair specifically for this room. A man was sitting at the desk when he looked up and Eric believed him to be Bris.

     The first thing he noticed was the cream-colored scarf worn around his neck, which he found odd since it was late summer. He looked to have a lean yet muscled body and, when he stood up, seemed to be just shy of Aissyl’s height. He had sun-kissed skin, cropped blond hair, and cloudy gray eyes. A smile broke out across his face upon seeing Ferreth and he walked around his desk.

     “Hey, I was wondering when I’d see you,” said Bris.

     “Well, I was planning on coming by here anyway but my new friend here--” Ferreth wrapped an arm around Eric’s shoulders, making him jump slightly-- “needed help finding you so why not save a trip?”

     “Right.” Bris walked up and offered a hand. “I’m Brirsyrun, son of Nulzrot and Tallo of the air.”

     That was a…unique way of introducing himself, he thought curiously as he put his hand in Bris’ and said, “I’m Eric Travere, lord of Aurora Zenith.”

     “Aissyl said you had some important matters to discuss?”

     “Yes, well, I wanted to talk with you regarding the relationship between Thornewind and Aurora Zenith.” He took a step forward, shrugging off Ferreth’s arm. “You see, I’m planning on going to the rest of the major cities and asking them for their cooperation. In simpler terms, I’m in want of allies. I already have the town of Brinegarde as one so Thornewind’s my second stop.”

     “I see. Well, I’d like to talk more of this tomorrow morning because I have some things that need attending to today. Will that be all right with you?”

     “No, that’s good, that’s great! I’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

     Wow, a guaranteed meeting? No waiting for someone because they were fooling around instead of doing work in their office? This trip was already leagues better than Brinegarde’s and it was all due to Bris being a responsible adult. That pompous jackass Lianthorne could take some pointers.

     “I think, with that being settled, we’re done here.” Bris gestured towards Ferreth. “Ferr, could you show Eric to the Dravitae Inn so he’ll have a place to stay during his time here?”

     “Of course, my lord,” Ferreth replied with a joking smile.

     “Don’t call me that, even if it’s a joke,” Bris protested, despite his own grin.

     Aissyl led the two men outside with Bris following behind. Eric and Ferreth gave a short wave goodbye and they were off. He made sure to remember any and all distinctive markers on the roads as they walked. He didn’t want to be late for the meeting tomorrow because he was lost again.

     “So, how was your first impression of Bris?” Ferreth asked, folding his hands behind his head. “Pretty nice guy, right?”

     “Yeah, he seems like a really decent person--” he let out a chuckle before sighing wearily-- “which is a lot more than I can say about Brinegarde’s lord.”

     “I’m guessing they weren’t as nice.”

     “God, you would not believe. They’re probably the most arrogant and pretentious asshole I’ve ever met.”

     “At least Bris isn’t like that, thankfully.”

     “Yeah, thank god.”

     Despite his complaining of it, he didn’t regret his trip to Brinegarde. It was a beautiful town, like many other coastal towns, and the sweets were to die for. Meeting and becoming friends with Ven, however, was easily the best part of that trip. No beauty or tasty treats will come close to the joy having her in his life brought. She was Brinegarde’s saving grace.

     “You know, I’m curious…” He put a finger to his chin as if thinking about something before continuing. “What do you do around here, Ferreth? It must be a job that gives you a lot of free time if you’re allowed to cart me around all day.”

     “Oh, I guess I’m what you’d call a handyman,” Ferreth replied. “I do general repairs wherever they’re needed and I basically do work people don’t wanna do themselves.”

     “So it’s like you’re an errand boy, then?”

     “I’d say handyman’s an upgrade from that but yeah. It may not be the most ideal job but it lets me help people and it doesn’t pay so bad, either.”

     “No offense and all but…isn’t there something you’d rather be doing than being a handyman? I mean, I guess I don’t really understand it but still… Do you have something to aspire to?”

     He swore he saw him tense up and a glimmer of something he couldn’t quite detect before it disappeared as he answered with, “Not really.”

     That was most definitely a lie. He couldn’t figure out why Ferreth would lie to him over an innocent question like that but it was none of his business. There might’ve been more going on underneath the surface and they had only just met earlier today. No sane person tells a complete stranger their entire life story hours after meeting them. He was entitled to his secrets, as was he.

     It was soon after they arrived at the Dravitae Inn. It was a simple four-story building, with pale green walls, a dark red shingled roof, a pair of large double doors serving as the entrance, and windows on either side that allowed passersby a peek inside the establishment. On the corner was a hanging metal sign that had the name of the inn inscribed on it with a sleeping dragon below. It seemed like a good enough place to stay in during his visit.

     “Here we are.” Ferreth turned towards him. “You gonna need help getting to Bris’ tomorrow?”

     “No, I should be good. Besides--” he placed a finger to his temple-- “I have a pretty good memory so I think I have the path there memorized.”

     “All right, well, good luck tomorrow,” he said, gesturing his hand in a motion reminiscent of a salute. “Enjoy the rest of your stay.”

     He began walking back the way they came. Eric watched his figure shrink smaller and smaller before he was out of sight completely. He hoped he’d have a chance to talk with him more throughout his stay here in Thornewind. He had questions he wanted answers to, such as the nature of the people here and what he was like. For now, though, it was time to check in.

     A quick chat with the innkeeper later and he had his room. It was slightly smaller than his room back at home but it brought some comfort. A queen-sized bed sat on the right side of the room and an average cupboard opposite it. The armoire was tucked away into the upper left-hand corner while a small table and chairs were in the upper right-hand corner. A single window was set at the back, which gave him a decent view of Thornewind in the late afternoon.

     He set his bag and key down on the table before flopping onto the bed. God, he wanted nothing more than to lay there for a minute or hour. He still wasn’t used to walking and talking by himself so he was thankful for the short rest. Hey, maybe by the time he goes to Emberranth, he’ll have the skills of a functioning human being and not that of an introverted shut-in.

     He sat up, reached into his pocket, and took out his pendant. The crystal inside the bottle glinted slightly upon being held up to the light. He smiled as he brought it close to his chest, hoping his mother was watching over him.

     Tomorrow was his meeting with Bris. Other than that, he had a few days to spend time doing whatever he wanted. Sightseeing, buying souvenirs, trying out Thornewind’s cuisine, he may as well treat himself as a tourist more than a visitor. He never got to do these things before now so he wanted to make the most of it.

     May he leave Thornewind with an unforgettable experience.

[princess-mei]

Mei 美美 Qin – Character Sheet

it’s like everything you say is a sweet revelation / all i wanna do is get into your head / yeah we could stay alone, you and me and this temptation / sipping on your lips, hanging on by a thread, baby

late night watching television / but how’d we get in this position / it’s way too soon, i know this isn’t love (no) / but i need to tell you something

i really really really really really really like you / and i want you, do you want me, do you want me too?

Archetype — The Explorer Birthday — July 9th, 2002 Zodiac Sign — Year of the Horse, Rising Leo, Sun in Cancer, Moon in Cancer MBTI — ENFP Enneagram — 2, the Helper Temperament — Sanguine Hogwarts House — Gryffindor Moral Alignment — Chaotic Good Primary Vice — Lust Primary Virtue — Charity Element — Water/Fire (she’s a Water Horse, so she definitely identifies with that but in Western tradition she is Fire.)

Overview:

Mother — Tanya Qin Father — Peng Qin Mother’s Occupation — Editor-in-Chief of the San Francisco Chronicle Father’s Occupation — financial diviner Family Finances — wealthy Birth Order — middle Brothers —  none Sisters — Ting-Ting (Gemma Chan, May 13, 1993), Su (January 22, 2003) Other Close Family — close to their mother’s side, father’s side lives in China, but they’ve taken trips to see them once or twice. do not have any cousins/aunts/uncles, but close to their grandparents. Best Friend — Daisy Zanetti, they grew up together. Met in school and were thick as thieves right away. Daisy is a half-fairy, so they both understood the whole “half” background thing. Other Friends — Lots and lots of friends~ Enemies — There was probably like one Mean Girl that Mei was always antagonizing and who was always antagonizing her. Pets — None. Home Life During Childhood — Relatively happy. Has nice, loving parents. Did a lot of Family Activities, since that was important. Mother was busy a lot with work, but her father was around a lot and Ting-Ting was always around (until she went to school.) Town or City Name(s) — San Francisco, CA What Did His or Her Bedroom Look Like — Posters everywhere! Very personalized and customized. Lots of reds and golds. Probably had like one of those net things around her bed. Always very messy, because Mei starts a project and then just jumps to the next. Lots of natural light too probably. Any Sports or Clubs — Dance and Gymnastics. Mei has kept up with both of these throughout the year. Does both ballet and hip hop. Her favorite gymnastics is rhythmics. Favorite Toy or Game — She wouldn’t consider it a toy or game, of course, but loves doing tarot and tea readings. Also enjoys a good board game, is very competitive though. Schooling — Public school. Favorite Subject — Physical Education ?? Maybe literature. Art classes… Popular or Loner — Decently popular. She wasn’t one of the people that everyone knew but she had a wide circle of friends. Important Experiences or Events — Discovering she had divination skills. Deciding her specialization. Moving to Swynlake! Nationality — American Culture — Chinese-American Religion and beliefs — Spiritual, borrowing from a spread of Taoism, Buddhism, Chinese folklore, and Confucianism.

Physical Appearance:

Face Claim — Cheng Xiao Complexion — Fair-skinned Hair Colour — Naturally a dark brown, but she dyes it a lot! Eye Colour — Dark brown. Height — 5’6 Build — Athletic, but slim. Tattoos — None. Piercings — Ears. Common Hairstyle — Likes to braid it or put it in two buns. Does a lot of half-up/half-down hairstyles. Clothing Style — Chic and trendy, lots of colors and patterns. Mannerisms — Very bouncy, doesn’t sit still much. Twirls her hair around her finger a lot. Usual Expression —

Health:

Overall (do they get sick easily)? — Pretty healthy! I’m sure this is due to Ting-Ting constantly balancing her Yin-Yang Physical Ailments — None. Neurological Conditions — None. Allergies — None! Grooming Habits — Rather good. Takes a lot of care with her appearance. Always makes sure to moisturize and exfoliate and change out of sweaty clothes. Sleeping Habits — Average. Eating Habits — Eats a lot because Su is constantly making things, but can forget meals if she is distracted or concentrating. Exercise Habits —  Exercises a lot! Does all sorts of things like pilates and swimming and jogging. Emotional Stability — I give her a 7/10, she loses points for being a stubborn, unreasonable teenager and for her temper, but otherwise is pretty even-keeled. Body Temperature — Average. Sociability — Very social! Loves surrounding herself with people. Addictions — Love? Drug Use — None, we will see. Alcohol Use — Has gone to parties where she’s drank before, but not often.

Your Character’s Character:

Bad Habits — Interrupting people, bouncing from topic to topic, meddling in things that she shouldn’t, talking back, being a general nuisance. Good Habits — Very kind, very caring. Wants to take care of all her people. Strong moral compass. Best Characteristic — Her certainty. Worst Characteristic — Her stubbornness. Worst Memory — Being told she would have to move to Swynlake. Best Memory — When her father told her that he was proud of her for completing her studies for being a sorcerer and accepting an apprenticeship. Proud of — Her magic, her family history, her looks, her sporting ability. Embarrassed by — Not much, probably the fact she isn’t very good at school. Driving Style — Probably was just learning how to drive. A speed demon, but surprisingly a good driver. Strong Points — Her moral center and her big heart. Temperament — Can be explosive, but general soft and sweet. Attitude — Generally positive. Weakness — Not knowing what she wants. Fears — Not knowing what she’s going to do with her life. Phobias — Anything unlucky, though I wouldn’t call it a phobia, more of a cautious regard. Secrets — None really? She doesn’t keep much from people. She’s very “This Is Who I am. Fight Me.” Regrets — Having to leave Swynlake. Feels Vulnerable When — People are angry or upset with her, she’s not following her heart. Pet Peeves — Being told she’s wrong, lol. Conflicts — Duty to Family v Duty to Heart Motivation — Following her heart. Short Term Goals and Hopes — Make friends and something out of her life in Swynlake. Long Term Goals and Hopes — Figure out what she wants to do with her life. Sexuality — As-is she is straight, but this can change. Day or Night Person — Day Introvert or Extrovert — Extrovert. Optimist or Pessimist — Optimist except she can be really sour when things don’t go her way.

Likes and Styles:

Music — Oh, gosh–where to start? Mei loves love songs, of course. Big fan of Elton John, Elvis Presley, Celine Dion, etc etc. She also loves modern stuff, of course. Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Ed Sheeran…if she’s really feeling it some Florence and the Machine. Loves KPop too. I’ll let Lauryl tell me who she stans. (Is that the phrase I feel like there is a phrase.) Anyway, anything that is love related, she’ll give it a listen. Books — Doesn’t actually like reading that much, tbh. Doesn’t hold her interest. Magazines — Do people read magazines anymore? Does Buzzfeed count as a magazine? Probably giggles over Cosmopolitan. Foods — Sweets! Chocolate is her favorite, but she likes licorice a lot too. Is one of those weird people that likes black licorice. Also, loves a good rice pudding. That’s probably her favorite dessert. She also loves chicken, any kind of chicken–she doesn’t care what you put it in or what you put on it. Isn’t much of a picky eater. Actually really enjoys being adventurous with her food. Drinks — Green tea, green tea, green tea! Mei loves tea, especially iced. She also surprisingly likes salt soda water–she goes back and forth on sweet and savory. Sometimes, she just really wants salt soda water because it is just crisp and refreshing and wakes her back-up and reorients her yin-yang when she needs it. Animals — Elephants! Mei loves elephants. She’s that girl that has like elephant shirts and an elephant backpack and an elephant stuffed animal probably. They have such a high emotional capacity and Mei really respects them for this. They are also just so cute with their floppy ears and their soft, sweet eyes! Loves birds too as most of them are symbols of good luck and good tidings–besides owls, which are harbingers of death. Sports — Gymnastics and dance. Social Issues — Magick Rights is the biggest one. Also feminism. Also all the “main” issues. Favorite Saying — “Better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness” - Chinese Proverb Color — Golds, yellows, reds, blues are her favourites. She loves gold because it is a Classy color. Most of her jewelry is gold. She loves yellow because it is bright and happy! Red is lucky in Chinese culture and it always reminds her of times like New Year’s! Also, it is the color of passion and love. Blues she likes because they are calming and gentle.  These are her lucky colors. She also loves pink, even though it is technically a color that she should avoid. Really hates white, because she doesn’t like what a blank slate it is. Also, hates brown because it is an icky boring color. As you can see, she has a lot of Opinions on colors. Clothing —Chic and trendy, lots of colors and patterns. Jewelry — Loves it! Wears mostly gold. Probably has a few staple pieces but then exchanges things depending on her mood. Websites — Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter etc etc TV Shows — CW shows and K/Cdramas Movies — All the great love classics: Gone with the Wind, the Titanic, When Harry Met Sally, Roman Holiday, all of Audrey Hepburn probably, the Notebook, Singing in the Rain…I could go on and on. She loves movies that tug at the heart strings and are full of that wild, amazing, passionate kind of love. They always make her swoon and if she is choosing a movie for movie night, you know it’s gonna be a romantic tearjerker. Though, she also likes romcoms. Doesn’t like action movies or horror movies or anything too intense, they freak her out Greatest Want — To figure out what to do with her life. Greatest Need — To grow up and learn things aren’t all about her, lmao.

Where and How Does Your Character Live Now:

Home — A three bedroom apartment with Ting-Ting and Su. Household furnishings — Rather plain at the moment, but will probably grow cozy as they settle in. Favorite Possession — Her pseudogrimoire where she writes down all the signs and stuff that she sees and puzzles out the meaning to. Most Cherished Possession — Her wand, which is a fan that was her mother’s, her mother gave it to her and her father and Ting-Ting help her imbibe it with magic. Neighborhood — Tortuga Place Married Before — No Significant Other Before — Non-serious boyfriends and Serious crushes Children — She iS a child Relationship with Family — Very close with her dad, even though he’s always yelling at her and being disappointed in her. They have a lot in common and she loves him. Her and her mother also get along more or less, she’s less stringent than her dad. Ting-Ting and her probably have the most contentious relationship, but even that hasn’t been that bad really. Mostly Mei being a nosy, annoying little sister. It will get more intense now that Ting-Ting is the authority figure and Mei is pissed about their situation. Su and Mei get along more or less well, they annoy each other, as sisters are wont to do, but Mei would def consider Su one of her best friends. Car — None. Career — Student Dream Career — She doesn’t know !! Dream Life — Married, with children, though she doesn’t know what she wants out of a career. Love Life — Nonexistant, which pisses her off. Talents or Skills — Excellent gymnast and very good with her magic. Intelligence Level — Decently intelligent, has street smarts, tbh. Very sharp in conversation. Finances — Wealthy

[nerdypanda3126]

It’s Complicated - Ch. 3

Read on Ao3 Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 4

Pattern Making

She doesn’t know how long she’s been standing on her balcony, staring off into the night, but Tikki has floated up to perch next to her on the railing. She nuzzles at Marinette’s hand, which brings her back to the present.

Marinette shakes her head and turns to climb back into her bedroom. The night has gotten cold and he’s obviously not coming back any time soon. Tikki follows her through the skylight and Marinette latches it. She needs to get some sleep. But as she settles into her bed, pulling the blankets up over her and curling to her side, her mind is still reeling over the night’s events.

Chat has become a friend, and he visits when he’s lonely or if he needs a distraction from... something. She can't be sure what it is; he keeps a lot to himself. Which is a good thing, it really is. Out of the two of them, she would think he would be the irresponsible one and reveal his identity to someone he feels close to. But at least with Marinette he seems to be as stubborn about the identities as she is.

Clutching her pillow to her head, she thinks again about the chest in the corner of her room. She holds the Miracle Box now. Tikki’s told her that theoretically, she can revoke the identity rule if she wants to. She’s been stalling, weighing the pros and cons back and forth. So far her cons list is much longer, amplified by a haunting memory of Chat Blanc, his cataclysm activated, advancing towards her and calling her by her name. She shakes her head before the memory can take root. She doesn’t need to have any more nightmares. For now, until she figures things out, it’s best their identities stay hidden.

On the other hand, if she knows more about Chat, maybe she can help him by being his friend. He’s been coming to her house more often. She hadn’t had the chance to talk to him about whatever was on his mind tonight, but it usually ends up that way anyways. He’s good at distracting her, making her forget that he’s the one looking for distraction.

She replays their interaction in her head, looking for clues about why he might’ve run off. The first time he got upset was when he figured out her design was for Luka. And he hadn’t wanted to own up to knowing Luka. She recalls the way his brow furrowed when he first saw her sketch, the damning hearts fluttering around the edges.

“Hey, Tikki?” She sits up, letting the blankets pool in her lap. “Chat was acting weird tonight, right?”

The kwami floats up to be next to Marinette’s face. “I do think it was a little out of character for him.”

“Like everything was fine until I mentioned Luka, and then he went all quiet. He’s been that way with Ladybug before but only when…”

“Only when he’s jealous?” Tikki says. Marinette nods, glad that Tikki has caught on to her train of thought.

“But it wouldn’t make sense for him to be jealous of me, I mean, we’re friends. He’s in love with Ladybug.”

“Maybe he’s changed his mind?”

Marinette shakes her head. “He doesn’t have feelings for me. He’s told me that himself. But what about... Luka?”

She had always assumed, based on the targets of his flirting, that Chat was straight. She hadn’t even considered that he might be questioning. But from what she understands of his home life, his father is not an understanding person. Could that be what he’s been struggling with and trying to talk with her about?

She feels a small twinge of something in the pit of her stomach. Chat just told her he was in love with Ladybug not that long ago. Has he switched gears so easily, then? Is Luka just a new target for him? She shakes her head to get rid of that train of thought. It’s not like she has any claim on Chat, or on Luka for that matter. And she’s jumping to conclusions. Next time Chat comes to see her, she’ll have to pin him down and just ask him. No more distractions.

Tikki hasn’t answered her rhetorical question, probably to let her reason it out for herself. Now that Marinette has thought about it, though, the two boys start to circle around each other in her mind. She wonders what Chat’s song would sound like to Luka.

Luka’s music brings her thoughts back to the design she had been working on. Black. That’s what it needed. It needed to have black leather, with silver accents. Bright blue and pink and white worked in for Luka’s mask. The piping, like Chat’s costume. Where is her sketchbook?

She scrambles out of bed and down her ladder to her desk, barely making it to her desk chair before the ideas are flowing out of her and onto the paper. Tikki sleeps on her desk next to her as she gets absorbed in the new design. She might not sleep tonight, but it’ll be so worth it.

***

She’s been working feverishly on Luka’s jacket for the past few days. It’s finished. And just in time, too. She has just enough time to get ready and get over there before the concert starts. She runs her hand over her work. The piping had been the most challenging. She had twined the pink, blue, and white together before stitching it into the leather. There had been so many pieces. This has definitely been her biggest challenge so far. She hopes Luka likes it. She glances at the clock again. Is that really the time?

Tikki watches from the desk, munching happily on a cookie, as Marinette fumbles out of her desk chair to start getting ready. She catches a glimpse of the sketch that Chat had seen, still on her desk where he had left it. He hasn’t come back to visit. And Hawkmoth has been oddly quiet. She hasn’t seen him on either side of the mask since he ran away from her. She’s worried about him, and it’s weighing heavily on her mind. She hopes she can clear the air with him soon, but his visits are so unpredictable.

As she races around her room, pulling on her street clothes as quickly as she can, she thinks again that she should’ve invited Adrien to the concert tonight. She hasn’t really been fair to him lately. It’s not his fault, after all. He likes Kagami, and they’re perfect for each other. They’ll all be friends, and that’ll be fine. She’s fine. She ignores the way her heart beats just a little faster when she thinks about him. She should text Nino and ask if he’s already invited Adrien. She doesn’t trust herself to invite him to anything without being, well, the way she always is around him.

She tugs her hair into pigtails, tying her ribbons hastily, then dives for her phone. Gah! No time. She has to be there like five minutes ago. She just barely remembers to grab Luka’s jacket off her sewing machine and pauses to let Tikki zip into her purse before she bolts out the door.

***

When she steps onto the deck of the houseboat, everyone is already gathered around the stage. Rose and Juleka are off to one side, sharing their headphones and nodding along to something on Rose’s phone. New lyrics, maybe? Alya is spotting Nino on a ladder as he hangs the banners for Kitty Section. Mylène and Ivan are setting up the drums on the stage next to a keyboard.

Luka is kneeling off to the side, tweaking the sound system, his fingers flitting back and forth from his guitar to the amp, fiddling with the knobs one at a time. She almost hates to break his concentration. But she doesn’t have to. He hears her step up behind him and turns, resting his arms on the guitar in his lap, his intense focus melting into a reserved smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Alya slap Nino's calf to get his attention. She really wishes she didn’t have an audience for this. Luka is waiting patiently for her to say something.

“Hey, Luka. I, uh… I brought you something.” She thrusts the jacket at him before she can chicken out. Her heart is fluttering in her chest. She really hopes he likes it. He sets his guitar down on the stage and stands, taking the jacket from her in one smooth movement.

He runs his fingers lightly over the embroidery she had done on the back panel. She had hand stitched Kitty Section’s logo into the black leather to look like an iron-on patch. He weighs the jacket in his hands, stretching out the jersey sleeves to look at them. There are silver studs on the shoulders, subtly mimicking his current shoulder pads. She’s especially proud of the front. She had pieced together the black leather with the colored piping in between triangular panels. The effect she had created was sort of a mosaic, the color just breaking up the black here and there. She had made the sides out of jersey like the sleeves for comfort and stretch.

As Luka examines her work, she watches him carefully. He’s keeping his face even, like he always does. But his breath hitches when he gets around to the front. He traces the piping with his fingers, a smile finally breaking through his composure. He looks up at her through his hair, and she wills herself not to blush, holding her breath to hear his verdict.

“Marinette, this is… amazing. Can I try it on?”

She nods, not trusting herself to speak. He hands the jacket back to her briefly so he can strip off the hoodie he usually wears. Then he takes her jacket back and shrugs into it. She prays that she estimated his measurements correctly. There is some wiggle room with a jacket, and it doesn’t have to fit perfectly, but she really wants it to.

It falls onto his shoulders just as she pictured it would. He stretches the sleeves down and they’re the perfect length for him. And black looks really good on him, she thinks as she feels the blush creep up her cheeks. He twists, trying to see it on himself, and stretches his arms out before he looks at her again, lifting his eyebrows for her approval. She knows she’s grinning from ear to ear. He likes it. He really likes it.

“Oh, there’s a surprise in the hood,” she finally squeaks out, going around him to pull out the hidden mask. “When you have the hood up, the mask is attached here, so you can wear it on stage if you want, or just wear the hood by itself.” She pulls the sequined mask, attached by a sturdy strip of black elastic, out of the hood to show him, and he turns to look over his shoulder.

Her breath catches. She hadn’t noticed how close she had gotten to him, but she can see the small flecks of dark blue in his eyes. She can feel the happiness radiating out of him, even though he’s keeping his expression so carefully closed. He lays a hand over hers on his shoulder.

“Hey, guys, mind if we come aboard?”

She knows that voice. Her eyes travel over Luka’s shoulder. Adrien is standing on the stairs up to the deck.

And he’s leading Kagami by the hand.

And that’s fine. She’s fine. Everything’s fine.

***

@celestethegoddess

[dakotacrisis]

Transferred (11)

I have no regrets

---

After Marinette finished talking to Adrien, or Chloe rather, on the phone she got back to work on the present she had been making for Kagami. A mini-backpack in a white, red, and black color scheme with a patch of Pucca in the corner. The inside was lined with a noodle bowl pattern that she thought Kagami might find cute.

Marinette was sure that Kagami wouldn’t want to accept it since she was already asking a lot with her designing and constructing her fundraiser dress. But she had already been working on it so she was going to accept her gift whether she liked it or not!

She finished the backpack and stowed it away in her closet to give to Kagami tomorrow when she stopped by to start designing her dress. Strange there seemed to be more room in her closet. Maybe she just never noticed how much room she had before.

“Marinette!” her mom called up to her room the next day, “Kagami’s here!”

“Send her up!” she shouted back.

“Hey, Marinette,” Kagami stepped into the room, “Thanks for doing this for me.”

“Hey, Kagami. And trust me, the honor is mine. I rarely have an excuse to make formal wear.” Marinette picked up her measuring tape. “Take off the jacket and I’ll take your measurements.”

“Can do.” she shrugged off the coat and stepped on the little pedestal Marinette had set up. “This is so strange. I haven’t had anything tailored specifically to my measurements in years.”

“Really? You’ll be amazed at how perfect custom tailoring feels. Arms up, please,” She wrapped the tape around her bust. “Have you given any thought as to what style or color you want for your dress?”

“Not really.”

“Well you do have a signature color with the red if you want something like that.” Marinette said as she moved on to her waist and hip measurements.

“I have more red in my wardrobe than I know what to do with. I like it but I think I’d like to try something different for this.”

“Well then, we have a lot of options. You’re very much a winter. Did you want something warm or more cool tones?”

“Cool.”

“Dark or light?”

“Darker I’d say. I’m pretty pale so I’m worried that lighter colors would wash me out.”

“Not if you choose the right one but okay.” Marinette jotted down the last of her measurements, “I’d say something like jade, plum, mauve--ooh, royal blue would look fantastic on you! Hold on I think I got a swatch of it somewhere.”

“I do like this shade of blue,” Kagami said, pointing to the beautiful royal blue swatch Marinette had chosen.

Marinette held it against her skin, “I told you it would look good on you. Did you want this color or did you want to look at more colors?”

“Let’s see some of those purples you suggested.” The rest of the afternoon flew by as they went about debating colors and silhouettes.

“That’s too short!” Kagami whined as Marinette helped a measuring tape up to her middle thigh.

“What about this?” She went to just above the knee.

“Mmm.” Kagami wouldn’t stop making that pouty face.

“If you want a high-low silhouette then it needs to be high in the front.”

“Then scrap the high-low.”

“Okay. But I still think we should get a flash of leg. Maybe twin slits?”

“Just let my legs be hidden.” Kagami’s face was pink.

“One slit?”

“Maybe.”

“We’ll keep working on it.” They wrapped up for the day and Marinette started putting her materials away.

“This was nice.” Kagami said, “I didn’t think designing a dress could be so fun.”

“Now you understand why I like designing so much.”

“I guess so,” Kagami looked around at the other sketches and pictures Marinette had posted around the room. She stopped in front of a picture of Adrien and Marinette at the fashion show. Marinette caught her lingering on the picture, her face not giving anything away.

“Kagami?” Marinette approached her. “Is everything okay?”

“He really likes you, you know.” she murmured, “You come up every time we see each other at fencing practice.”

“He’s just a really good friend.” Marinette turned her away from the picture, “I thought we weren’t gonna be weird about this.”

“I’m not being weird about it.” Kagami sighed, “I thought you would have liked to know how much he thinks about you. Even more so lately it seems.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Adrien has been rather...distant lately. I can’t quite describe it. He always seems to be focusing on something else and that something else has something to do with you.”

“That is strange. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about though.” Marinette pinned the finale design for Kagami’s dress on the wall, “Besides, you are going to have his undivided attention at the fundraiser in this beauty of a dress. Forget all of Adrien’s attention, you’ll have the entire guest list fawning over you.”

“I think you give me too much credit.”

“I think you give yourself too little. Oh wait, that reminds me for whatever reason,” Marinette darted to her closet, “I started making this for you the day we worked on the utopia project.”

She pulled out the backpack and handed it to Kagami. “I was inspired by that character you liked.”

“Marinette…” Kagami clutched the backpack to her chest, “This is too much. You didn’t need to  make me this.”

“I figured you’d try and resist. Don’t worry about it though. I enjoyed making it and I want you to have it.” Marinette assured her. “Now you should get going before your mom starts panic calling you.”

“Thank you, Marinette.” Kagami slung the little backpack over her shoulders. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye Kagami!” Marinette waved as she left the house.

Now that that was finished all Marinette needed to do was go out and buy the material for the dress. She texted Alya to see if she wanted to come with. They had been apart for so long Marinette wanted to catch up on the hang out time they lost.

After a minute she got a response.

You know I’d love to girl but I got a major group project going on that’s due at the end of the week. I promise we’ll hang out after! Love ya!

“Well that stinks.” Marinette frowned, “Guess it’s just you and me, Tikki.”

She headed out for the store. The fabric shop was one of her favorite places to visit. Not only did it mean she was working on a new project but she adored seeing all the materials and envisioning new garments.

She found the perfect shade for Kagami’s dress and moved onto the aisle full of buttons and zippers. Turning the corner she froze when she saw someone else in the aisle. They looked up and smirked. “Hello, Marinette, fancy seeing you here.”

“Lila.” Marinette made a point to ignore her as she maneuvered around her to get to the zippers.

“What? No friends to hide behind today?” Lila remarked, “Or did they realize how annoying you are and ditch you too?”

Marinette ignored her.

“You aren’t even gonna put up a fight, are you?” Lila laughed, “Is that how far you’ve fallen? From your class’ precious everyday Ladybug to the spineless little nobody you really are. I’d pity you if it wasn’t so pathetic.”

They’re just the words of a deranged brat. She’s not worth the time.

“Come on,” Lila edged closer, “It’s no fun if you don’t react.”

How come this zipper was so hard to find?

“Whatever. I’m through with you. I’ve moved onto bigger fish. Mainly that little blogger friend of yours.” Marinette’s head shot up and Lila smiled wider as her comment hit its target, “It’s sad really. I liked Alya. Up until she came crawling back to you that is. Thankfully it won’t take nearly as much to drive her out of the school as it did you.”

“Why?” Marinette couldn’t keep it in any longer, “Why are you like this? What do you gain by doing these things? What hurt you so badly that you have to ruin the lives of everyone you come in contact with?”

“I only ruin the lives of my enemies.”

“That’s the thing, Lila. The second someone does something that doesn’t match up exactly with how you want they’re your enemy. You tell people things that you think they want to hear and spin tales that you think will make you look cooler and for what reason? So that you can feel justified in your horrible behaviour towards your peers? Are you even happy? Happy living these lies? Happy that no one will ever like what you really are because you keep that mean, envious, and scared gremlin that is the real you behind your grandiose stories?”

“Are you finished?” Lila rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I’m done caring about what you do. You are going to get yours, Lila. Karma is coming for you and when it does you will not be able to salvage anything from the wreckage.” Marinette grabbed the zipper she needed and shimmied past her.

“I’d pity you if it wasn’t so pathetic.” she spat the words back in her face before racing to the checkout counter.

She paid for the materials and meandered back home. Lila could do whatever she wanted in terms of trying to torture Marinette but threatening Alya had been one step too far. She was not going to let her ruin someone else’s life.

---

“Geez,” Alya looked around at the mess of papers scattered around Chloe’s room. “I see now why Sabrina does all your assignments if this is how you organize.”

“Less talky, more worky,” Chloe shuffled some papers around, “I need to figure out how to sort all of this into a cohesive narrative by Thursday.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before the due week.” Alya sighed as she booted up her laptop.

“Maybe you should stop with the attitude. You’re lucky I’m letting you anywhere near this, Cesaire.” Chloe sniped.

“She’s my best friend! I have more of a right than you!” Alya growled back.

“Girls!” Adrien hushed them, “Please keep it down, I’m on the phone.”

The girls muttered their apologies and went back to the project. Adrien stayed on the phone hashing out the last details for the fundraiser with Nathalie. As events got closer it was taking a lot more work to keep their plans underwraps and running smoothly. They had one shot at this and if it went wrong then that was it. Improvisation was not Adrien’s strong suit. Which considering that he needs to improvise excuses to run off and be Chat Noir says a lot.

“Yes, Nathalie,” Adrien repeated, “I am aware how important this is. I can assure you I have planned for every contingency. Okay. I understand. I promise it’ll all turn out fine. Alright. Yes. Yes. I’ll be home within the hour. Goodbye.”

Adrien turned back to the girls. “Okay, we gotta work quick cause I need leave soon.”

Chloe downed the rest of her coffee and slammed the cup back on the table. “Then let’s get moving cause I am not doing all this by myself.”

“The Case of Dolos and Aletheia.” Alya typed into the slideshow title card, “A Modern Retelling by Chloe Bourgeois.”

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(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (12)

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(tagged)

@northernbluetongue @heredemaquam @zazzlejazzle @lady-flora-of-slytherin @ladylb @immatureidiot101

[treacherous-dwarf-of-the-seas]

I had a lot of Thoughts about the Steven Universe Future finale

It’s exactly a month after its premiere, but I still have a lot of feelings and I wanna organize my thoughts a bit so I can have them somewhere, perhaps for any future ideas I may have. I think I’m just gonna list my thoughts on the 4 individual episodes, the finale (and season) as a whole, etc. Overall, I liked most of it, but I’m gonna get a bit su critical because although I absolutely loved many things about this finale, Oh boy. Some things I downright Did Not. Spoilers ahead I guess, this is a long one. 

This is my favorite part of the finale by far. To me, it did almost everything right.

I loved picking up right after Fractured, and Steven’s expression and body language, *chef’s kiss*

Poor Jasper gets killed *twice*

Homeworld looks so good! It’s all gardeny and disorganized in a good way.

Purple pearl?

SPINEL’S BACK!!!

Edgy theories that spinel and the diamonds were a disaster waiting to happen (I agreed with these) were wrong and this makes me happy. 

Steven’s reaction to Spinel kissing him? Was a tad strange//

SO GOOD to see Spinel being mentally healthy and happy and while still being herself.

The Diamonds! Actually working to better themselves!

I love the idea of diamond powers “working in reverse”. Like, Yellow diamond can change bodies and destabilize bodies, Blue can change emotions for better or worse, White can take over others or let others in. Honestly the idea that Pink/Rose could bring random plants to life and basically heal anything always struck me as so overpowered and random. The context that she was a goddess of destruction that changed into a goddess of creation makes the concept make a bit more sense to me, I appreciate that. 

I’m so ambivalent about Yellow’s scene. 

Like, its so satisfying to see. The thing that everybody (including me) was complaining about was that the diamonds’ redemption did not change the millennia of shattered, corrupted and amalgamated gems and suffering they had directly caused. Its very nice to see them putting their money with their mouths are. There’s acknowledgement that redemption isn’t just saying sorry and being less of a dick than you were before, it’s also correcting past wrongs and making it up to the people who were hurt.

However, I’m not totally sold on the idea of healing every shattered gem and the cluster. Like, I guess it makes sense considering a shatter is just a crack that’s been finished, and cracks in gems can be healed. But I don’t think it should be as easy as it is, and in any case, it just feels like it cheapens the impact of shattering, and even the forced fusions when they were so impactful in the original show. I wish the healing could still be done, but in a way that respects how awful and impactful the harm was.

I totally understand Steven in the Blue Diamond scene. I had had mental health problems where my mom had just offered drugs instead of talking to me or trying to help in a way that showed she cared about the issue, so this scene hit a bit hard.

Blue gets a song!

White, by far, my favorite scene in all of Future. 

Spinel White, no joke, gave me nightmares. 

The little moment of Steven yelling at himself for being a diamond is exactly what I wanted and I needed so much more of it. 

Triggered by everything White Diamond does. *chef’s kiss*. I especially love the little subtle moment of looking uncomfortable and pushing away white’s fingernails.  

Finally seeing similarities between Steven and White is canon, though I wish it was more explored. 

THE HALLUCINATION

Zach Callison is Intense(TM). This man always goes so hard and deserves mad respect.

TOO BAD.

Intrusive thoughts being represented in this way is amazing.

I still wonder if White knows what happened. Can she read thoughts in that state? 

He used White Diamond’s power to go into her body, and then while in her body, used her power of possession to take over his own body to puppet himself? I actually love the twistedness of this concept. It shows how twisted Steven himself has become. It’s so much about self-harm, while also not being self harm? vengeful thoughts, intrusive thoughts, anger, just everything. This moment could take all day to analyze, and I think it is way more thematically relevant to Steven’s internal struggle than the corruption.  

Love that the diamonds were still willing to help and only seemed concerned after how Steven was acting. They have changed!

Fairy tale imagery, noice.

This one is odd in the best way.

My favorite scenes in anything with supernatural beings is when they look at their own eyes in the mirror and realize that it’s not human or changed from what they should be. The way this scene played out was in a way I’ve only seen in fanfiction, and I am Here for it. The horror on Steven’s face when he’s looking at his own appearance is just wonderfully done. 

Very uncomfortable that there is an actual painting of Steven as an angel in his own room. I love how it ties into this episode, but I genuinely feel uncomfortable that he was thought of in that way at all. 

The flat out denial that he had just done the things he had done simply by virtue of who he is, I love the idea that “Steven Universe” has become more of a concept/symbol to him rather than being his own name. It reminds me of his concept of his mother and how her name is more of a symbol to Steven than a person. I just love the subtle parallel. 

I love the fact that “toxic positivity” is being explored in this show. I never really see it being discussed, and in a show so centered on being honest about emotions, no matter how painful they are, its so wonderful that the protagonist’s main character flaw is the exact opposite, to the point of being forcefully happy and smiling and actively ignoring things going wrong. It really strengthens the message by showing the opposite extreme.

I love the recontextualization that is present in suf. The criticisms of Steven being “too happy” during the cluster arc, being strangely positive after Lars’ death, etc. Although it was uncomfortable when those episodes came out and those events were all but ignored, I’m happy that it is being addressed as this culmination of madness in Steven, being so forcefully happy that its obvious that those episodes weren’t trying to ignore the problems, Steven was. 

I’m also happy to see a genuine “hero complex” in a protagonist. (usually the term is used incorrectly to mean “anyone who is a hero who works too hard.”

Steven talking to himself in typical protagonist fashion. 

The crystal gems staging an intervention, good shit.

“Steven’s here to help. Steven help. Help Steven.” Not subtle, but I’m always a slut for the glitchy messages. 

The confession of his crimes, love that we get to see the gems react to that. 

The whole monologue. Once again, Zach goes hard. I love the manic energy and still the ending is so raw and broken. 

“Oh, don't worry! I fixed that too! I can fix anything. I can just keep messing up and fixing things forever, and you'll never have to know or think about any of it! How messed up is that? That I've gotten away with this for so long. You have no idea how bad I am.”

 It honestly feels like some projection? (Idk something to do with that). It feels like hes a little put out by the things he learned in Homeworld Bound. Like, maybe he feels the same way I do? That the diamonds got off too easy? Maybe it’s simply that hes put out that they’re getting better and he seems to be getting worse. Maybe even, into the worst parts of his mom? I mean from his perspective, his mother had reverse character development and went, in his mind, from a goddess to a petty teenager, to an actual monster. How upsetting would it be to see the galactic dictators who got to live, do so many awful things, worse things than her, and just get to make everything better, to the point of total reversal of their crimes, while pink just ran away and left steven to deal with the mess.While he had to deal with the aftermath of EVERYTHING. Everyone seems to just be okay with the diamonds now, the monsters he feared for so long, so how come he has to be the bad one? How come he has to be like them now? Maybe it’s even coming back to his whole theory that he’s just a reincarnated version of his mom. (I know that he knows it isn’t true, but old fears and old habits can come back during a manic episode, and he spent a long time thinking that he was just there to clean up his mom’s mess and thinking that he was her in disguise.) If you look at what he’s saying, it’s a little strange that he’s talking about how bad he is and how he messes up and then fixes the stuff and no one has to know. It doesn’t even sound like he’s talking about himself, not really.

This sounds like a hysterical realization of what being a diamond means for steven. This is better explained in this post here :https://pennylogue.tumblr.com/post/613441610438590464/steven-is-a-diamond-and-thats-okay . Like, he is panicking that being a diamond means that he can just destroy everything and just fix it like the other diamonds. It’s terrifying that he can just destroy anything and hurt anybody, and people will still worship the ground he walks on just by virtue of who he is. (This isn’t true, obviously, but after what had just happened with jasper, a terrified mind would latch on to that.)  

 Dude, I could just go on all day this monologue is just fascinating. 

Love the parallel of Connie’s “backpack butterflies” and Steve’s back exploding. Its like a subtle way to show that the thoughts are “suddenly swarming.”

Oh god. I’ve gotta be honest. I hated this one. But I’ll start off with things I liked. 

The general concept is okay, but I feel like it is not thematically consistent, which I will get into later. 

The moment when the gems tell Greg to leave, and he stamps his foot down saying he needs to be with his son, I like that it is very apparent that his stomp makes almost no sound or impact, which really shows how different Steven is from him, aka, his separation from his own humanity that has been building up. 

Connie being amazing as always. 

“Yoo hoo! Steven! Is this a bad time?”

Spinel’s entire thing, from her reaction to seeing pink godzilla to her thinking that she is the main villain of steven’s story. It reminds me of Peridot’s “leader of the crystal gems, traitor to homeworld” thing and it makes me so happy. 

“WHy is something like this always happening when we show up for a visit?” 

The ending. Jesus. Zach always goes so hard I don’t doubt he was actually sobbing. I wish I could have cried during this moment. 

I respect the message, that it’s not about fixing it, it’s about being there for the person struggling, and Steven wasn’t cured, he finally hit a breaking point. I understand that the problem was not “solved with a hug” as so many say.

I love that before I saw the episode I saw pics of Garnet being as big as the kaiju and actually said to myself, “Wow the heights really ARE inconsistent.”

I don’t like that Connie included herself as one of the people that depend on Steven. They are the healthiest relationship in the entire show and Connie is always there for Steven? sometimes even more than he can be there for her? Where is this coming from? She has literally always been there. Her calling everyone out did clear my skin and water my crops though. 

Also, where is Connie’s emotional resolution? Didn’ she go through alot of the same trauma as Steven?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable that a diamond, Steven, could corrupt themselves. It’s not necessarily a bad ending to have Steven be corrupted into a giant monster. However, I don’t think it’s the ending that was really built up to. The only real build up was the presence of “Wyrm boi” in the theme song, and that’s about it. It’s not as prevalent as eye symbolism and foreshadowing of someone (Steven or Connie) losing a hand or an eye.

The episode itself was 11 minutes long, and the monster was very underwhelming and way too quick. I feel like the emotions were too rushed, and although everyone else seemed to put in their emotional 2 cents, I feel as though Steven did not get the emotional climax that he really needed. 

Also why didn’t we have a sweet little moment of connection with Nephrite Jade/Centipeetle? Wouldn’t that have been such a bittersweet parallel? The whole “being there for Steven like he was there for us?” So where is she? 

There was so much imagery and thematic elements in both Steven Universe and Steven Universe Future, that did not build up to the kaiju monster in the way that it was.

The imagery with one eye, the eye patches, cat steven, the heterochromatic eyes with Onion’s doll, Cookie cat, split Steven, etc etc, most people have many many more examples. I feel like someone could have lost an eye, or maybe Steven could have had a corruption scar that left his eyes permanently heterochromatic. It also would have been thematically relevant to have Steven come out of this with more of a balance of his gem half and human half. This never really becomes relevant in “I Am My Monster.” His gem half turns him into a monster, his gem half helps him turn back. It’s nice that his gem and human family were there as support, but there was never a sense of balancing both sides of himself in the fact that they are there, as there are only two humans and mostly gems there, and this lack of balance and security with both parts of himself was one of the major themes throughout the series and one of the sources of Steven’s identity crisis. 

Connie is always a parallel to Pearls. Our Pearl and Pink Pearl. I wish something had come of that. (There are amazing comics that show her losing an eye like Pink Pearl, as it seemed to be foreshadowed in Open Book and Sworn to the Sword.)

This idea isn’t mine, but I’ve seen it done really well and I feel like it would have been a better ending than 10 minute godzilla monster. I wish I could have seen Steven split up again. I am personally fascinated with the otherworldly enigma that are Steven’s two halves, but I feel that that would have tied into the themes better and tied up more loose ends. By the end of the series, we don’t know Steven’s opinion on his mother, and last time we heard him mention her it was in a negative light. This is connected to Steven’s conflict within himself, his desire to understand his human side better, his fear of his power as a diamond, his insecurity and loneliness as a totally unique being. Homeworld Bound was the closest we got to seeing Steven talk to himself, and confront the two sides of himself. This was also the closest we’ve seen Steven come to being honest with the diamonds about how he really sees them. However, this ended with Steven hurting himself, (wanting to hurt White was a response to trauma as well as symbolically confronting his own diamond self), and running away. We never get to see the resolution to that conversation. We never see Steven accept that he is a diamond and that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Furthermore, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is not resolved. The negative character development took a huge toll on her character. Not only does the audience think of her as a terrible person, but the characters also forget her positive character development after hearing about all the mistakes of the past. Rose/Pink’s redemption arc still happened. I think it would have been fitting to remind us here, like all the other diamonds get their moment in this special. I feel like having Steven split up would tie up these loose ends. It would be a dramatic ending while also being a way for Steven to confront these issues within himself in a grounded way, while also making genuine peace with Pink Diamond. We could have Steven talking to himself, maybe starting out the way he did with White in Homeworld Bound, then steadily coming to terms with the sides of himself that he is afraid of, maybe how both sides help each other, how Pink Diamond is not a symbol of all that is wrong in his life, but just a person with flaws who was able to be better, like he can be better, too. This was touched on a little in Change Your Mind, but I would love to see Steven’s thoughts on Pink after the events of Fractured and Homeworld Bound, as there has to be some difference in perspective there. I feel that if Steven split into his components, these themes and ideas could be explored more and we could have a better climatic resolution for Steven’s character arc.  Even if Steven came out with no scars, even with both his eyes, the imagery and thematic elements would still be satisfactorily resolved if we got to see the two halves of Steven actually talk to each other. This also explains it better. https://scatterpatter.tumblr.com/post/615024679798915072/hmmmm-okay-so-i-just-watched-one-of-those-rose

Btw, if anybody has fanfiction recs with this concept, please hmu. 

I think I hate the kaiju ending because it seemed like such a waste of potential and didn’t really resolve any conflict besides functioning as a sort of breakdown.

The Future. aka: Welcome to another episode of Crying Breakfast Friends!

Boogle

The cookie cat rap. Pearl obviously kills it because she’s awesome and I was dying the entire time. 

Steven/Therapy is canon!

I like that Steven puts up a poster of Kerry Moonbeam in his room that he’s giving to his dad. It’s like he’s made peace with the whole “mr. universe thing” and it makes me happy to see that he’s not holding it against his dad or even avoiding the subject. 

I appreciate alot of little moments with the family while it still lasts.

It is genuinely like watching Crying Breakfast Friends. 

Steven gets to be “petty” with his emotions! He is finally honest with his family. I do appreciate the subtle resolution to his character arc (despite my opinions of the climax).

My favorite thing about Steven and Connie is that the fact that they are “canon” has basically always been true. Like, they’ve always loved eachother as best friends and they still do, it’s just that they get to kiss now. I absolutely love that its not a huge dramatic thing, its just Steven and Connie and they are otp for life. 

The fanfic potential is strong with this one. 

I wish I could have seen a therapy session or at least meeting the therapist. Maybe Steven walking into the office with his family behind him and its a moment of doing the first steps toward getting better.

But as is, this one is fine. 

Love the idea of a road trip with our little weirdo interacting with normies. 

Time to hit up Gravity Falls, lmao. 

TLDR:, the finale was good, but I did not particularly care for the climax. I am genuinely sad to see this show go. I was not a fan until I was already 18, but even after 5 years this show has taught me so much about self love, acceptance, tolerance, emotional honesty, etc. (I’ll probably do another post about it because holy shit this is long.) But this season, or epilogue series, has gotten me through such a difficult time in my life that is still happening, and has given me the tools to get through it. I sympathize with Steven so much, and I know alot of other people did too. It was so nice to be part of a community that just adopted this feral child. Some of future was rushed and of course it wasn’t perfect, but I greatly respect what it was doing. Bringing up PTSD and mental illness in this way in something like this was not something I was prepared for, even in this show, and I certainly couldn’t have imagined it even 5 years ago. Even with its missteps, this show took so many risks and was so incredibly detailed and it was obvious that it was made with alot of love and the fans in mind. I criticize because I love this show and while I feel it is necessary to acknowledge its flaws, I have so much love for the possibilities that this little world makes me dream of. These four episodes in particular was an emotional roller coaster and I am so sad to see it go, but I enjoyed the ride. Thank you, Crewniverse!

[birds-punch]

The One That Got Away

“Summary: Shadow finds himself comforting his arch-rival after witnessing the messy break-up with the Princess.

(Takes Place after issue 134, aka the Infamous Slap.)

Characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sally Acorn (mentioned).

Pairings: Sonadow (Pre-relationship), Sonally (Past.)

A/N: Here’s the next Archie! Sonadow AU fanfic. Sorry for the terrible wait. Hope u all enjoy reading this! 

Shadow skidded to a stop as he surveyed the green vegetation area of Knothole forest, looking for a certain blue hedgehog who ran off in a fit of distress. He did not understand why he wanted to look for the blue hedgehog who is also his arch-rival, but his instincts were telling him to and being the Ultimate Lifeform, he knew his instincts were never wrong.

When the black hedgehog learnt, that Sonic has somehow came back from the dead; or more accurately…came back to Mobius from being lost in space for a year, Shadow has been feeling a strange emotion just like what he felt during that same year. Ever since the day Sonic “died”, he’s been feeling a very strange emotion in his chest which was vastly different, than the warm magnetic pull he felt when the two of them saw each other face to face. It was cold, empty and painful that constantly gnawed at him, much to his own irritation while he kept continuing his ongoing mission of discovering his true purpose in life.

But now that he learned Sonic is alive, that terrible feeling of pain and emptiness had been replaced with the warm magnetic pull he felt before. Which was why earlier that night, he found himself hiding away from everyone’s view in the trees as he watched what had literally played on stage, like a messed-up tragic soap opera that he used to watch with Maria during his time on the ARK.

After going deeper into the forest, he finally found a familiar shade of azure blue in a small clearing, sitting near the lake in a fetal position, his head resting in his arms.

In any different kind of scenario, the black hedgehog would’ve found this scene of his arch-rival wallowing in sadness, rather pathetic. But because of what happened earlier tonight, this was understandable; since it seemed like both him and the princess loved each other very much. Shadow also didn’t understand why he feels that same empty feeling when he thinks of his rival’s now former relationship with the princess at times.

The black hedgehog begins quietly walking closer before he stopped at the blue hedgehog’s side, who either did not noticed his presence or became too emotionally drained to even respond to any kind of sound or movement.

“Faker?” Shadow spoke, seeing if this might initiate a response in his rival.

Sonic jumped from his spot, being rather startled by the voice. He quickly turned his head around to the side, to see his black and red rival standing over him with an unreadable expression. The blue hedgehog made quick work of wiping any eyes left on his face and eyes before plastering on a small fake smile, “H-Hey Shadow, what’cha doing all the way out here near Knothole?”

Like when he was looking for the blue hedgehog, Shadow allowed himself a moment to observe the blue hedgehog. His green eyes that were once filled with life, were now nearly dead and lifeless with a slight red tint and swollen due to crying. Bags also started forming under his eyes and his quills were slightly drooping, along with his ears.

The black hedgehog took a seat next to his rival, much to the latter’s surprise; as he started trying to think on what he should say to him, without showing that he cares for his rival after witnessing what happened over several minutes ago.

“You should be with your friends, blue hedgehog. Not out here alone.” Shadow said, before mentally kicking himself, what the hell was that?

Hearing what his rival just said, Sonic immediately groans as realisation kicked in, hiding his face again.

‘Can this get any worse for me?’ he thought.

He slightly lifted his head, “Did you see all that, Shadow?”

The said hedgehog looked at the blue blur before letting out a sigh, “Yes, indeed I have Faker. I only came out here because I…because I.” he immediately looked away, knowing his attempt at trying not look like he cares, is starting fail.

Oh, fuck.

Sonic blinked for a few moments looking surprised, before he was able to recover some of that cockiness back to make a remark at his rival, “Aww! I didn’t know you cared about me, Faker. It almost makes me see you in a whole different light.”

Shadow only gave a glare his rival, little annoyed that the blue blur was able to figure out his intentions that easily. This only made Sonic chuckle in return as he begins to feel slightly better from the events, that possibly took place nearly an hour ago. It did not last exceptionally long however, as the thought of it made the hedgehog feel sombre again.

Noticing that his rival had become depressed again, Shadow decided to speak up again, while also deciding to give up trying to hide his care for his rival’s well-being. At least for just one night.

“Everything alright, hedgehog?” he asked, despite already knowing what.

The blue hedgehog looked at his rival for a short moment before answering, “Aw, it nothing Shadow. Just thinking about…Sally and everything.” He then lets out a sigh, perking the black hedgehog’s ears a little.

Shadow found himself falling deep into his thoughts as he began to remember…

Sonic’s face became one of sadness, as he gently brushed the princess’s hand away from his cheek.

“Sorry, Sal. I…can’t.”

A loud slap resounded throughout the area, as everyone watched in shock or even gasped loudly. Shadow who was watching everything from the cover of the tress, even looked slightly shocked as he watched what just happened. He felt an extremely dark feeling form in his chest as he watched the princess slapped the blue hedgehog across his face, hard.                                                                                      

“I SHOULD’VE KNOWN YOU’D BE SELFISH!”

As the blue hedgehog held his throbbing cheek, his expression turned to one of great shock, to seething anger. “Selfish…? Selfish?!?”

He then screamed at the top of his lungs in a tone filled with utter outrage and anger, that the black hedgehog has never heard him use before: “I SACRIFICED MY LIFE TO SAVE THE PLANET, ENDED UP ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE UNIVERSE BECAUSE OF IT, DID EVERYTHING I COULD TO GET BACK ONLY TO FIND OUT I LOST A WHOLE YEAR OF MY LIFE AND NOW I WANNA JUST END THIS STUPID WAR! HOW IS THAT SELFISH?!”

The princess already started having tears coming down here, “Do you know what it was like believing you were dead? It completely broke my heart! Watching Mecha hurt you, brought it all back and I refuse to have my heart broken again, Sonic.”

While the black hedgehog was able to understand her reason for calling Faker selfish, he was also fairly sure that she wasn’t the only selfish person here.

“WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU, ANYWAY?! PUNCHING OUT ROBOTNIK’S LIGHTS, OR BEING WITH ME?”

A huge heavy silence fell over everyone as the two started to face off against one another. Like the blue hedgehog’s lover, or ex-lover as it seems right now; Sonic also started to have tears running down his muzzle. Shadow’s expression had changed back to his regular cold expression, but his eyes were slightly wider than normal, as he continued to watch the scene.

Taking her ex-consort’s silence as a no, the princess ran off the stage leaving a devastated Sonic.

“THEN HE CAN HAVE YOU,  ALL TO HIMSELF!”

In a matter of seconds, the two tailed fox and the pink hedgehog came rushing to the edge of the stage, asking their friend if he was alright, snapping him out of the depressed trance. The moment the blue hedgehog had noticed that everyone had all been watching, his eyes widen as he began to hyperventilate and started shaking like he was going into shock, before he dashed off into the forest without a single word, ignoring the cries of his friends to come back.

Straight after the devastated hedgehog fled into the forest, Shadow found himself up on his feet and immediately heading for the distressed hedgehog. He didn’t understand why he wanted to, but his instincts were screaming at him to go after him; as well as that magnetic feeling that seemed to be getting stronger. The only thing he knew, is that he must find his rival…

The black hedgehog fell back to Mobius, his flashback of earlier tonight now fading away. After blinking a few times to help clear his vision, Shadow turned his head back to the blue hedgehog. His expression was still quite depressed from remembering what happened, along with his green eyes that are now slightly flickering with light, but not a lot to look completely alive. And unlike earlier when his rival was speaking to him, he kept his head down at a low angle keeping his stare on the ground with a look of sadness.  

Shadow briefly wondered what he should do. Should he tell his rival what he thinks he should do next now that he and the princess are no longer together? Or should he just leave and ignore the small voice, telling him to do the contrary? After considering his two options; the Ultimate Lifeform took in a deep breath. Well, he got himself into this and he should finish it.

Letting out a huge sigh, Shadow started speaking.

“Listen Hedgehog, I’ve never been in a relationship like your former on with the princess, nor do I know why it feels like to be in one; but…” Well, here goes nothing. “I don’t think that you’re the only one who’s at fault like what she had told you earlier tonight,”

Sonic lifted his head to look at the black and red hedgehog, his expression being that of surprise. Is Shadow trying to talk to him about this or…give him his opinion about it? The blue hedgehog wasn’t sure anymore but allowed himself to listen to what his rival has to say.

“It seems like, the princess doesn't know you or understand you enough to know that you’ll do anything to ensure this world’s protection. Even if you must sacrifice yourself for it. Because you believe that if no one else can stand up for themselves, you wonder who will?” The black hedgehog paused to run his hand through his quills in slight frustration. Why did he decided to do this? He’s never had to deal with anything like this or given this kind of talk to anyone before. “And it may also be a good thing that you broke up with her because; now you could find someone who truly understands you, who can keep up with you, someone who’s willing to give you space and treat you like a person instead of an object and…someone who’s willing to let you fight and be with them at the same time.” Shadow averted his eyes away from the blue hedgehog, not sure what else he could say and feeling a little annoyed, that he had to open up his thoughts like that to his rival.

The blue hedgehog looked at his rival in awe as a strange warm feeling in his chest began to bloom just from hearing Shadow’s words. Despite initially trying to avoid showing how much he cares for him, it was quite obvious that he does, even though it’s actually none of his business and that Shadow had a choice if he wanted to try to comfort him or not.

“You really think it was good that Sally and I broke up, despite the slap?” Sonic could still feel that stinging pain on his cheek from it, along with the broken shards of his heart which seem to dull quite a lot, thanks to his rival and the warm feeling that seem to work as a strong anesthetic.

“What do you think, hedgehog?” Shadow responded, arms folded and giving him a look that accurately says, ‘Come on think, you idiot!’

Seeing the look that he was receiving from his rival, Sonic began thinking on Shadow’s words and the breakup between him and Sally. Despite the fact, he declined when she asked him to give up fighting and stay by her side, he does understand her reason why she asked him however, if he imagined he was in the same position where she sacrificed herself and got lost in space for year instead of him. But he knew that if they or anyone is going have a real future; he needs to help fight this war with everyone else too, otherwise there is a possible chance that they won’t be able to win.

And…if he was also being pretty honest with himself; He hated the idea of someone trying to groom him into someone he’s not; like he’s some-kind of pet or fancy toy for them to play with, instead being treated like an equal. Of course, he knows Sally would never treat him like that, but the thought of it really does scare him. Plus, she should’ve known by now what kind of a person he is by now after all those together, even as kids so; it’s just like what Shadow said. If Sally doesn’t understand his need to risk his life in order to help or save other from Robotnik and to protect Mobius, then maybe she isn’t the one for him.

Sonic couldn’t help himself but let out a breathless laugh, from the irony of the entire situation he got himself into with the black hedgehog.

“I never thought I’ll ever say this but, I think you’re right Shadow.”

The black hedgehog only smirked in response, feeling a little smug. “Hmph! So, you are not as stupid as you look, Faker!”

He then stood up, from where he sat next to his rival. Sonic followed him shortly, standing up from the ground before placing his hand on the Ultimate Lifeform’s arm.

“But really Shadow, thanks for that talk you gave me. I appreciate it.”

Shadow’s eyes widen a little from the touch on his arm, as the warmth in his chest, seemed to grow hotter and started going up to his muzzle. He fought hard to keep the warmth away from reaching his cheeks.

“N-no need to thank me Faker.” He took a small pause to calm himself before continuing, “But know that after this, nothing changes between us. After this night is over, I believe that it is best for the two of us, to forget that this ever happened.”

Sonic only smirked back, “Alright then Faker. After this, we’ll leave this little talk between us forgotten and we’ll go back to kicking each other’s butts, the next time we ran into each other again. Not that you ever managed to kick mine anyway.”

The black hedgehog simply rolled his eyes, “Keep dreaming, Faker.” He said before also adding, “You may also want to go and find your friends as well considering how you just ran away from them earlier tonight.”

This made the blue hero pout after hearing that last sentence, his rival had said to him. But he does have a point though (as much as he hates to admit it.). “And I’ll also forget that you’re also the Ultimate Softie too, Faker!” he yelled out, after waving a goodbye and taking off towards Knothole.

As the blue hedgehog ran off, leaving the black hedgehog standing there by himself in the clearing. Shadow places a hand over his chest where the warmth seems to be, briefly questioning what it is. He then lets out a tiny sigh before skating off into the other direction. Time to get back on his most important mission, now that this one is complete.

(END)

[onthesandsofdreams]

Springtime Blossoming

Fandom: ASoIaF Pairing: Sansa x Ned Dayne Rating: T Summary: Sansa Stark did not fall in love with Edric Dayne at first sight. Words: 1752 Notes: For the @asoiafrarepairs‘s ‘A Dream of Spring’ Event. Day 6: Spring.

Read @ AO3

Sansa Stark did not fall in love with Edric Dayne at first sight.

Of course not, Joffrey and Harry cured her of it. But Sansa is a romantic, she believes in love and marriage, in slow dances under the stars, in roses and chocolates, in gentle affectionate gestures. Sansa firmly believes in happily ever after. She’s just not found her match.

Arya, bless her heart, had actually tried to get her to date. “You’re never going to find anyone if you don’t try.”

Sansa had simply smiled sadly, but thanked her sister all the same.

One day, Arya began bringing her friends to their apartment. Amongst them, Edric Dayne. Edric - Ned - was incredibly polite and very helpful around the house whenever she needed some help. Sansa appreciated him, he was sweet.

And then, he and Arya were everywhere. Arya would organize an outing with her friends, and she would invite her, and only Ned would come, everyone else would cancel at the last minute. Sansa didn’t mind, she understood that life could throw curve balls at you. So, little by little, Sansa began to know Ned better.

Sansa could admit to a crush. Ned was handsome, tall and blond, with a slight tan to his skin, easy smile, deep blue eyes and they were always gentle. What Sansa thought she had found in Joffrey, she found in Ned. He was genuinely a good man. The fact that Arya of all people liked him spoke highly of him.

But Sansa wanted to be cautious, she didn’t want to be hurt again. Not in the same way Joffrey and Harry had hurt her. She could understand if they parted ways, if love faded and a split came, that she could deal. Needless cruelty and constant cheating, she did not want again.

“You should ask him out, you know?” Arya had told her once over dinner. “You two could be good together.”

Sansa had blushed and shook her head. “He’s your friend, I couldn’t.”

“He can handle himself, and you do like him, I’m not blind. I think you should consider at least one or two dates.” Then Arya’s face grew dark and solemn. “He’s not Joffrey or Harry,” she growled. “He’s actually good.”

Sansa smiled gently at her sister. “I know, he wouldn’t be your friend otherwise.”

“Damn right. But seriously, one date. And I’ll get off your hair.”

“I - I’ll consider it.”

Arya gave her such a sharp look then, “Good, because he could be good for you.”

Sansa did not ask Ned out quite yet. Instead, she let herself get to know him, be his friend first, she wanted to see if they could be something else for herself. And the more she knew him, the more she talked with him, Sansa could feel her infatuation grow.

“I remember watching you at the tourney King Robert threw,” Ned told her once. “Loras Tyrell gave you a rose.”

Sansa’s eyebrows had shot up in surprise. It was almost a lifetime ago! “You remember that?”

“Yeah, I was working with Beric Dondarrion then. I saw you, your dress was blue.”

Indeed, her dress had been blue. Pale blue to be precise, Sansa still held a photo of it somewhere. “I can’t believe you remember that! I can only remember the ugly parts. I did not see you.”

Ned gave her a sad smile. “No, you were at your father’s arm, I was quite far away.”

“Oh.”

And with that, Sansa’s whole world had opened. This man remembered her from the tourney, he remembered what she had worn. Years later. Joffrey never paid attention to what she wore, unless it was to make him happy. Harry was more interested in getting her off her clothes than any other thing.

Their friendship grew and with it, Sansa’s heart began to ache for Ned. Perhaps she should listen to Arya and ask him out. Perhaps she could be happy with him. Her decision was cemented during the Sevenmas season. Sansa and Arya were planning on heading North, back to Winterfell with their parents, Gendry was tagging along since Arya had decided to introduce him to their parents.

So they made a small dinner for their friends to exchange gifts. Sansa had gotten a new baking book from Hot Pie, a silver pendant in the shape of a rose from Margaery, and a new leather jacket from Daenerys. But the most surprising gift had come from Ned, he had gifted her two books, one of poetry and another of songs and their history.

“I know you like them,” Ned told her. “So I thought that, with your love for poetry, songs and history, you might enjoy them.”

Sansa is left speechless. Not many appreciate her love for songs, much less the romantic aspects of them, but here he is, Ned Dayne gifting her with two books that she will, without any doubt enjoy. She hugs him and kisses his cheek.

“Thank you, they’re perfect.” Sansa notices a slight blush to his face, but decides to let it go. She did just kiss his cheek, and Ned is not one to be boastful when it comes to romance.

“G-glad you like them.”

“I love them already.”

*****

Sansa spends her holiday thinking of Ned, her mother notices, because of course she does. “Your sister tells me you like a boy.” Leave it to Catelyn Stark to cut to the point.

“I do,” Sansa admits. “But I’m afraid.”

Catelyn nods. “I understand, but you can’t live your life in fear. Your sister wouldn’t approve if Edric were a bad man.”

Sansa sighs, tiredly. “I know. She was the one who saw through Joff quite quickly. And Harry too.”

“Then trust her on Edric’s character.” Catelyn smiles at her daughter, takes one of her hands in hers. “Go on a date, see where that takes you.”

“I wish I had your confidence.”

“You’re my daughter, your father’s too. Be a wolf my darling, be brave.”

That night, Sansa receives a text from Ned, it reads: I hope all is well, have a nice Sevenmas.

And Sansa makes up her mind then, she will ask Ned out. Whatever happens, will happen.

*****

Sansa loses her nerve when she sees Ned when they return. Arya sighs deeply, shakes her head and mutters, ‘idiot’. It takes her three tries to ask Ned out, but she finally manages it, she can feel the heat in her face and she’s stumbling over her words, like a teen asking a boy out for the first time.

But Ned. Wonderful, kind and gentle Ned smiles and his whole face softens, he shines with the same strength of the Dornish sun where he was born, and he accepts. “If you don’t mind, I know a great place I want to take you.”

Sansa doesn’t mind. “When and where, I’ll be ready.”

Ned shakes his head, “No, I’ll pick you up. Saturday at eight?”

“That is fine with me.”

Ned beams then. “Then, Sansa, I’ll see you on Saturday. Wear something casual.”

******

Sansa spends the rest of the week going over her wardrobe. Decides she hates everything and drags Arya shopping. Arya for once doesn’t complain, instead, helps her find the perfect dress. “I know where he’s taking you, you’ll be fine in dress and flats.”

So Sansa listens to her sister, she opts for a lavender dress with white flowers, a soft fluffy cardigan and flats. Spring might have come already, but there is still a chill in the air. Lets her hair loose for the most part, only two small braids holding it from the sides of her head. Her make-up is minimal in soft pink tones.

Sansa’s usual knot in her stomach before a date never comes, a testament to how comfortable she feels with Ned. So, when Ned arrives to pick her up, she walks towards him and kisses his cheek in greeting.

In the end, Sansa discovers that Ned is taking her to a new exhibit. It’s inside the Rhaena Targaryen’s Botanical Gardens. It’s a light show, Sansa loves it. All those beautiful lights, combined with the natural beauty of the flowers and plants, with the crystal ceiling and the stars shining, she feels like this is a magical moment.

At some point Sansa is brave enough to hold Ned’s hand. Ned smiles at her gently, gives her a squeeze and they talk. They talk about everything, and she is pleased at how easy it was to hold his hand, to switch from friendship into a relationship. Because she knew, she knew that she and Ned would go far.

After the light show, Ned takes her to a small bistro. The food is delicious, the company even better. They share a dessert and they go for a walk under the stars. The skies are dark and clear, filled to the brim with stars. Sansa shivers and Ned gallantly offers his jacket, she likes its smell. It smells like Ned, warm and comforting. And she wraps herself around Ned, he simply lets her, but a smile seems to have made itself permanent on his face.

At the end of the night, Sansa is reluctant to part with Ned. They stand at her door, simply unwilling to let go.

“Can I kiss you goodnight?” Ned asks, there’s no pressure in his voice, no demand is made.

“Of course you can,” Sansa answers. She wants to kiss him, to hold him and be held by him. 

Ned presses his forehead against hers, softly caressing her cheek and Sansa holds his face in her hands. He’s so handsome, made all the more by his character. Ned leans forward, gently touching her lips with his own.

Their kiss is soft, gentle and full of something Sansa’s not quite ready to call love. But there is something there, she knows. She wonders if he can feel it too. They separate, but Sansa’s not willing to let go just yet, so she kisses him again, stronger this time and he returns the kiss and holds her head in his hands.

“Goodnight Sansa,” Ned whispers when they finally part. “Rest well.”

“You too,” Sansa’s voice is equally as soft. She watches him go, but her heart is thundering in her chest and she lifts a hand above it. It’s Spring and flowers are blooming, and Sansa can feel her heart begin to bloom too.

Sansa could love Edric Dayne, perhaps, she already does. And only hopes, that he can love her too.

(He does.)

[lady-olive-oil]

Dog Days Chapter 2

Note: Hey y’all!!! It has been a long as while since i have updated and for that i apologize. Life has taken over and is hectic af right now. But it is here finally, the next installment of Dog Days! Let me know if you wanna be tagged!

Warning: dirty “I miss you public sex>” If ya squint

Word count: 2,467

Taglist: @maddiestundentwritergaines​ || @dc41896​ || @honeychicana​ || @themyscxiras​ || @dc41896​ || @crushed-pink-petals​ || @fumbling-fanfics​ || @champagnesugamama​ || @bugngiz​ || @badassbaker​ || @melinda-january​

_____________

Charity events were always a buzz around town. Whether you’re a socialite: a social media influencer, stylist, designer, you name it. Anybody who is anybody, knew about them. This one in particular was one for the ages.The annual Charity Ball of Hope, was more of a gala of sorts but nevertheless one for a good cause. Upon seeing all the glitz and glamour of the posh and pampered, outside of the limo window, It felt like old times all over again.

My dress was anything but simple, yet tasteful floor length royal blue mermaid halter top dress with a gold beading around the chest. My hair was in tight curls all over my head, my make up was kept light and my little rose gold studs pulled the look together. The not so subtle keyhole drew the attention I wanted and even brought in some donations for the organization I was in charge of for the night. 

The Los Angeles Angels foundation, for single hard working moms was an organization I started after Vinny died. He left Javi and I something even though he was a terrible person. Looking over at the crowd below me from the balcony, I felt like I owned the place. Which is how I felt at every event regardless.

“Bring back any memories?” A soft yet gentle voice awoken my senses back to reality. I saw Henry approach with a couple flutes of wine and handed one towards me. Graciously accepting the bubbly, we clink our glasses and look back over the crowd.

“I’d say so.” Looking at him from the side, I smirked. “I’ll say Mr. Kent, you clean up nicely if I do say so myself. What are the odds of us matching?”

“Well Miss Calhoun, I’d say 1 in 100. Not too many people can pull off royal blue.” His infamous subtle smile would bring anyone to their knees but for me, I'm used to it so I just smile back and think about how corny we both are to be calling each other by character names.

Fiddling with the rim of my glass, leaning firearms against the railing, I sighed in deep thought. “I still haven’t heard anything back yet about my audition. I hope I get it honestly, it would be a dream of mine to bring a character such as Nubia, to life. Especially for my baby sister Davina, she looks up to me and Morgan a lot. I want this for not just me, but for my sisters.” 

Henry had pulled me closer to his side, making it hard for me to not look at him. His soothing blue eyes, with a hint of brown in one of them, made me forget what I was wallowing in pity about.

“You will get this role and be an inspiration to all young women like you, my love. I know that for a fact, you were amazing at your audition. Who else can actually sneer at me while smirking at the same time, while giving a great performance?”

“Oh Henry, you’re just saying that because I’m your friend.” Offering a soft glance at him was short lived, being that he lifted my head up by my chin to look me in the eye.

“I’m not just saying it to say it, Miyah. You’re phenomenal at everything that you do and I wish you’d see that, just as I do.”

His words were true, solid to the core and faithful. Like a quiet day after the rain. No other man had made me feel as loved as he did, and he made sure I knew that. With a gentle nod, I gave in and smiled sweetly.

Placing the empty flute on the serving tray, I sighed happily. “Why don’t we make our rounds and greet people? I’m sure your people are expecting you just as much as my own.”

Taking my hand gently we made our way down the curved staircase, greeting our fellow friends and members we haven’t seen in years. We’ve managed to keep in contact with our mutual friends, mainly for logistics reasons. Nonetheless it’s been a pleasant few years, mainly because they told us what the other was up to. Made us both feel closer in a sense before reconnecting.

I was receiving compliments on my dress that made me feel like a goddess. All I was missing was a sword in the back of my dress, like how Diana had hers in the Wonder Woman movie. Yet with all the pleasantries out there way, awards being given to the charities, I felt an uneasy presence.

Looking around the room, to see if I could spot the person who I could feel in the room. Henry went off to talk to his friends, so that I could venture off and try to schmooze more people. Which was a big mistake in itself, yet strangely enough the feeling wasn’t so frightening. It was warm and inviting. 

“My, my. You have outdone yourself Amiyah, long time no see.” The soft crooning voice of a seasoned Italian brought back memories. 

“I do try, Marco. I have learned from the very best haven’t I?” Embracing him in a tight hug, I tried to suppress my emotions but it was to no avail. The water works were flooding back.

Marco was like my guardian angel, when Javier and I were living with Vinny. He has been there for her through the whole situation, considering he was his nephew. He knew of Vinny’s motives and habits when he was with me. I practically made him the godfather, which didn’t sit well with Vinny at the time, but he never got a say in how I raised my son because of how he treated me. I haven’t seen Marco in years since Javi and I moved away for good. He is family, and this reunion made all the difference in the end.

“You are glowing my dear, gorgeous. Simply gorgeous as always. How are you and Javier?” Placing a gentle kiss upon my head he chuckled in a joyful tone. 

“Thank you Marco, I appreciate it. Time has been good to us lately, since you know.” My voice was caught in my throat a little but I remained content.

“All good things have happened, good to hear. Listen, I'd hate to cut this conversation short my dear, but a few of my colleagues would like to speak with you at some point in time. Whenever is convenient for you, perhaps?”

I knew exactly where this was going. Well partially anyway, but the statement sounded familiar in itself. I always kept my guard up regardless of the situation. Then it clicked, I realized at this moment I would be offered a new opportunity.

I arched a brow in curiosity. “Depends on the colleagues.” 

“You remember them, Lorenzo and Matteo. They are all for the main decision at hand.”  A gentle smirk was etched on his face.

I knew where this was going. “Well I am free in a few weeks. Have them meet me at Wanda’s on 5th street at noon, on that Wednesday.”

He texted the info to the boys just so they’ll know. “Done and done. We shall see you soon, Lady Amiyah. It was great seeing you again.”

Giving him one last hug, I sighed happily. “You too Marco. Don’t be a stranger now, Javier remembers you vaguely. Stop by the house, I’ll send you the address seeing as though I still have your number.”

“Good to hear, Bella. See you soon and say hi to Henry for me.” Watching him leave with a pep in his step, brought back old memories. 

“Will do.” With that I felt at ease and I had to find my saving grace. Like clockwork, Henry found me. 

“Everything alright Miyah? Who was that guy you were talking to?”

As I arched my brow again, I could tell that my gentle giant was getting rather jealous. “Henry, are you jealous?”

He feigned a gasp of shock, scrunching up his nose. “Me? Jealous? Never, whatever gave you that idea?”

“Your nose flared before you scrunched it. If you must know, Marco is Javier’s godfather and a very generous donor too.”

“Really? Marco Ricci, as in Vinny Giovanni?” His eyes went wide as he said the names in a hushed tone.

“Yes, the very same. I’m meeting up with him, Lorenzo and Matteo for some meeting in a couple weeks. They wanted to discuss something with me.”

“Why do they want to meet with the Queen ?” Adjusting his tie, I averted his attention towards me to have him look me in the eye. I could tell the power shifted in my favor, with the way he spoke.

“Something about a business proposition, from what I’ve gathered. Everyone wants to meet with the queen, but only a few will do so.” Placing a gentle kiss along his jaw, I saw him visibly shiver in anticipation. 

A smirk gradually appeared on my face, as I saw his expression. An idea had appeared in my head once I laced our fingers together and dragged him towards a less crowded area. What a bold move I made to not wear any panties under this dress.

“You seem a little hot and bothered my love. Is everything alright?”

“Not when you’re sweet lips tease me my dear. I can barely concentrate, let alone form a complete sentence. You’re more persuasive than you give yourself credit for.” His breath hitched in his throat as I guided him into the bathroom, locking the door behind us and shoved him against the wall.

Thank god for 6 inch heels because there would be no way, I’d be the same height as Henry. He makes me feel like I can be and do anything, and right now I felt invincible.

“How persuasive am I, Cavill?” I whispered against his ear, pressing a gentle kiss on it then felt his strong hands grip my hips. Next thing I know, he lifts me on top of the counter and kisses my neck with such passion that I couldn’t even muster.

“Extremely. To the point where you have me wanting to do unthinkable things to you right here, right now.” He whispers in my ear, locking my ankles behind him as my fingers carded through his hair.

“Do it Cavill. I want you to, I need you to.” My voice shook with desire and need, I couldn’t take it anymore. I practically ripped his shirt open, he unzipped my dress slowly in a teasing manner.

The way his lips were on mine was like a drug, a need to be filled and replenished. Thankful for me being on the pill because when he sheathed himself inside of me, I felt my whole body freeze as my warm heat gripped him tight. He noticed it because he bit into my neck causing the sensation to heighten.

“Oh Henry..” the want in my voice only stirred him even more into a frenzy as he sped up his movements, causing the back of my head to hit the wall. 

“That’s it princess, louder. so everyone knows who you belong to.” His heated lips were whispering sweet nothings in an attempt to console me, but the gears shifted once I placed my lips on his neck

The gentle small gasp that escaped him as my lips glided down the side of his neck before resting at the curve. Your other hand slid lovingly under his button up shirt, and up his side before resting my palm against his exposed chest. A small, shriveled moan escaped his slightly parted lips as his hands gripped the fabric of my dress, that pooled at my hips . I teased my lips against his sensitive skin before obliging him with fervent kisses to the side of his neck. He panted in full ecstasy, broken moans encoring your efforts as I grew more aggressive. We knew there were probably people listening to how loud we were, yet we didn’t care at all.

Pulling his hair to get a better look at his flustered face, I felt a smirk dance across my face. To up the ante, I leaned my hips back and squeezed my kegel muscles as tight as I could around him. The noises he made caused me to let out a few noises myself in pure ecstasy. Dragging my nails down his toned chest caused him to drill into me faster and harder, the grip I had on his hair stayed. Remaining in constant eye contact.

“I know you’re very close to cumming, my love. I can feel you throbbing inside of me. Let go, I want you to come inside of me.” My lips danced against his ear. 

The floodgates came rushing through is both, releasing a symphonic moan, clutching each other like a leech. Having him slide out made me feel empty, like I was missing something desperately to fill the void. We helped each get cleaned up and redressed, before making an appearance out to the public. Fluffing out my curls, I saw him fix his hair as well.

“Next time, we should try cock warming because I need you in me at all times.” Licking his bottom lip, I made him shiver again, then I walked away from him to unlock the door.

“You’re gonna be the death of me woman.” He gave my ass a good smack and proceeded to walk ahead of me.

“Just call me kryptonite.” Sending a wink in his general direction, we agreed to meet back at the fountain after the event was over. Some folks definitely heard us because the looks I got were full of jealousy. Which I didn’t care one bit, he’s my man and I do what I want.

Just to end the night off with a bang, my charity received the biggest donation of the night. It only goes up from here for everyone in my circle, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.My good mood shifted once I saw a few strands of blonde hair waving in the distance next to Henry. His boisterous laugh caught my attention more, that is until I saw the face of the blonde in question. Sabrina Daniels, Henry’s old fling from our time apart. One glance at me and she smirked with an evil gleam in her eye, simultaneously touching his arm to spite me. 

We may not have publicly announced us being together publicly but, people know we have been spending time together. As god as my witness, if this girl does not stay in her place I will for sure kill her myself without hesitation. Come to think of it, I may have people to do my dirty work now. 

[heyyyharry]

My Girl Series: Chapter 12 - I Love You

…in which Y/N wants to face her past, but Harry wants to leave his behind.

Series description: Y/N falls in love with the older boy next door who doesn’t feel the same, years later they meet again at a funeral.

AU: actor!harry, older!harry, younger!y/n; (4-year age gap)

Chapter 11: Paper Love - Y/N tries to compromise, and Harry tries to change.

warning: smut at the end.

OC version

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Anyone who knew Y/N well enough would know that she never got on well with her father, and she deeply loathed his new fiancée Marcy. But no one, not even Celine, had an idea how much Y/N used to adore that woman.

It wasn't a coincidence that Marcy started seeing Bradford not so long after Tam's death. Before that, she used to be an employee at his hardware store in Holmes Chapel. She was clever, pretty, and funny — everything a man could ever dream of. And for an impressionable little girl like Y/N, Marcy was the kind of woman she wanted to become. She used to give Y/N useful advice on boy issues, on how to deal with mean girls in school, and she also had a great taste in literature and music. How could anyone not love Marcy?

How could anyone not love Marcy?

The more Y/N thought about it, the sadder it got. People like Marcy could have anything they wanted, even a married man; and those like her mother had no choice but to accept defeat and swallow the pain. 

Y/N felt very disgusted by her father’s wrongful affair, but most importantly, she felt like she'd betrayed her mother for even liking the person who'd torn their family apart. Her friendship with Marcy made her feel terribly guilty towards her mum, to the point where she ended up lying to Harry that she'd never met that woman before their dinner with her dad.

However, ever since Harry came back, those two had gradually become the least of her concerns. As a matter of fact, she didn't even hate Marcy as much as before. She knew she couldn't stop their wedding from happening, thus the only thing she'd asked from her father’s future wife was to leave her alone and stay out of her life. But Marcy didn't seem to get that. She went all the way against Y/N's request by showing up at her door three nights before the wedding.

"I'm visiting a friend in the city so I thought I should pay you a visit," Marcy said to the confused girl who was glued to the spot. "I'm actually going shopping. Wanna come with me? We can get you a cute dress for my wedding."

"Why did you think it was a good idea to show up here?" Y/N said, lifting an eyebrow. "Sorry, I'm very busy. I can't go with you."

"Wait!"

"What now?"

"I'm very happy that you accepted the invitation. I know this is hard for you but...please don't be like this," Marcy begged as she reached for Y/N's hand, causing the girl to freeze in an instant. "Please give me a chance to get to know you again...I—I'm not asking much just let me buy you a dress to the wedding."

At that moment, Y/N could envision her slamming the door and turning a deaf ear to everything Marcy had just said to carry on with her half-finished work in progress. In reality, however, she was actually considering the offer.

She'd told herself to stop running away from the past and focus on the future, because this grudge she held against her father and his fiancée had only been doing her damage. In the end, it was her own worries that ended up breaking her heart. Maybe she could never like Marcy the same way she used to, but she could give her a chance to fix her wrongdoings. A little effort to make peace was still better than nothing at all.

"Alright," Y/N said at last, making Marcy squeal in joy. "Wait here, I'll go get my coat."

.

.

.

As Jeff was briefing Harry about his shooting schedule for June, the actor let all the words fly from one ear to the other while his eyes stayed fixed on the phone, allowing his hairdresser to do whatever she wanted. He had put all the trust in her to make him look the best for tonight as he knew she had never disappointed him or his fans.

Yes, a red-carpet event sounded immensely fun and exciting, but truthfully, Harry hated these occasions and would only go when he must. If it hadn't been for Niall, who'd written most of the songs on the movie soundtrack and would be there as well, he wouldn't have agreed to attend that premiere.

Ping!

A text popped up on the screen, now distracting Harry even more from what Jeff was rambling on about.

⌲ Bambi: Just ran into Mrs. Huang. She complained about us being too loud again.

Trying hard not to laugh at the message, the man bit his bottom lip and quickly typed down a response:

⌲ Always fucked you good, didn't I? Pretty proud of myself. ;)

⌲ Bambi: Harry!

⌲ Well, you started it.

⌲ Now I cannot stop thinking about last night...

⌲ Bambi: Why are you always horny at the worst time?

⌲ Are you in class?

⌲ Bambi: Nope, dress shopping with THE bride.

⌲ Who?

⌲ Bambi: Marcy.

⌲ Lol really?

⌲ Bambi: Really.

"Done," said the hairdresser as she patted Harry on the back. "Let's get you dressed."

⌲ Gotta go. Tell me all about it tonight?

⌲ Bambi: Okay.

⌲ Bambi: CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOUR RED CARPET PHOTOS!!!

Harry giggled at the text for he could hear her shouting with enthusiasm in his head. Jeff called him louder for the second time, causing the actor to look up and finally notice all the questioning stares his whole crew was giving him.

"Why are you still sitting there?! Hurry up!"

"Sorry, sorry, coming!" He shouted cheerfully, wasting no time to fly right out of his chair and following Jeff out of the room.

.

.

.

Y/N sucked in a deep breath as she stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror, slightly tugging on the flared skirt of her pastel pink gown. It now occurred to the girl that she hadn't gone shopping in a while. Lately, her life had been all about student debts, writer's block, and family drama. She seemed to forget how to really take care of herself.

Tilting her head to the side, she happily thought, maybe with some nice clothes and red lipstick on, she could be just as beautiful as the models Harry used to date.

"I think this looks cute on you."

"But it's pastel pink," said Y/N as she turned around to face Marcy. "I hate this color."

"You used to love it."

"Not anymore."

Little Y/N would grab all the pink items in the store and try on every single piece just because she was obsessed with the hue. But she was a different person back then — a bubbly young girl who saw pink in everything in her life. She'd read somewhere that the pink color stood for unconditional love and understanding, both of which she'd completely lost faith in as she grew up. Now without the kaleidoscope for an eye, her life was always either black or blue.

"Do you have this same dress in a darker color?" Marcy asked an employee in the store, but Y/N stopped that lady right before she could walk away.

"Can we take a break?" she turned to her future step mum. "I've been trying on dresses for half an hour already."

"Oh, alright." Marcy awkwardly nodded as she watched the twenty-year-old flop down on the sofa and pull out her phone — something she always did to avoid unwanted conversations. Taking a seat beside the girl, Marcy didn't mean to be nosy, but it was hard to ignore the beam on Y/N's face in reaction to her phone repeatedly pinging with new messages. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they were all from.

"So..." Marcy trailed off, hands linked together to rest on her knees. "You're going to the wedding with Harry?"

"Yes," Y/N replied shortly without looking at her.

So she waited a couple seconds more before asking another question. "Are you two dating?"

With this one, Y/N finally peeled her eyes off the screen and turned to her dad's fiancée, an eyebrow raised in annoyance. "What?" She scoffed. "Can't friends go to a wedding together?"

"Yes, of course!" Marcy freaked out. "It's just...your dad said—"

"My dad doesn't know anything about me." Y/N shook her head. "He doesn't even know my favorite book even though I used to rant about it at dinner every night. Do you really think he knows or cares whom I'm dating?"

"What Happens In London by Julia Quinn, right? Your favorite book?"

The question for an answer caught Y/N by surprise this time. "How do you—"

"—remember?" Marcy raised a smile. "You once told me your favorite quote from the book was: 'When a man writes a romance, the woman dies. When a woman writes one, it ends all tidy and sweet.' It's become my favorite quote ever since."

"It's still my favorite," Y/N mumbled; for the first time in forever, showing a genuine smile in front of Marcy.

That seemed like a good beginning for everything to go back to the way it’d been. Y/N forgot about her hatred for this woman who began to talk about how Sir Harry Valentine in the book was everyone's dream man, and all the things she adored about Lady Olivia Bevelstoke.

"Sassy, witty, and strong. That's why she's one of the best female characters." Y/N giggled, leaving a massive grin on Marcy's face.

"If you love Lady Bevelstoke then you should really take this dress."

"What does she have to do with this dress?" The twenty-year-old squinted her eyes in confusion as she looked down at the pink gown she was wearing. Such bright color always overwhelmed her, giving her the feeling that other people might stare, when all she wanted was to blend into the crowd or be invisible. She wasn't used to getting excessive attention.

But Marcy only rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you forgot Olivia's 'Unmarried Lady Sorts of Things' list. The first thing is: 'Wear pastel colors'."

"'And be quite glad if you possess the correct complexion for such hues'," Y/N nodded her head slowly, chuckling to herself. "I remember."

"I don't make the rules, Y/N. Olivia did."

Marcy rose up, pulling a giggly Y/N back to the full-length mirror and telling the girl to stand tall, chin up.

"There you go," she encouraged, lips curved into a wide grin. "Lady Bevelstoke." 

The name got the younger girl smiling from ear to ear. With one long look at her own reflection, Y/N inhaled deeply. "Okay." She nodded at last. "I'll take this one."

"Yay!" Marcy squealed, clapping her hands. "You go change and I'll pay for this dress then we'll head out to dinner!"

In that moment, watching the woman dash away to go get an employee, Y/N must admit that she was genuinely happy. She changed back to her own clothes and brought the dress to the front counter, still wearing the same smile.

But she really should've known better — that every bit of happiness in her life up to that point had been all short-lived, including that moment right then in the store.

She saw Marcy hand the employee her credit card, and her stomach clenched immediately as she noticed the shiny little rock on Marcy's slim ring finger. Y/N's smile broke, and so did her heart. She frantically clutched Marcy's left wrist, yanking it up, causing the woman to release a startled gasp as her mouth fell open.

"Is this...my...my grandmother's ring?"

Marcy withdrew her hand when Y/N's grip became uncomfortably tight as if it was meant to break her bone.

"Yes?" She answered, fear overtaking her face. "It's also my engagement ring...What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Y/N laughed wryly.

Everything.

Her dad had used that ring to propose to her mother, who had never taken it off when she was alive, not even once, not even to do house chores, not even when they threw things at the wall and he screamed at her. That was how much the ring meant to the late woman. And the fact that Marcy was wearing it around her finger today could only mean one thing — Y/N's father took it from her mother's body just to put it on the hand of his new and younger wife.

She might've been fooled twice, but she wasn't stupid. She wasn't convinced that Marcy truly had no idea what was wrong. This woman was either extremely dumb, or viciously pretentious, and Y/N knew better than anyone that Marcy was a smart person. And even though she also knew what her parents had wasn't love, it was still painful to think how fast a person could erase from his memory the one he'd vowed to treasure for the rest of his life.

"This is not your ring," Y/N said with her fists clenched tight. "This belongs to my mother."

"For god's sake! Your mother is dead, Y/N!" The harsh emphasis on that one word punched Y/N right in the guts, causing her heart to wrench, yet Marcy didn't just stop there. "What is a dead woman gonna do? Dig her way out of her grave and cut off my finger?"

That was the final straw.

"I was right about you..." Y/N scoffed, quivering lips formed a broken smirk as she shook her head slowly. "You're nothing but a homewrecker. A husband-stealing whore that—"

Marcy's hand smacked across her face, snapping it back with force and causing the girl to clutch her cheek, eyes watering. The small cut below her eye marked by the ring could be easily noticed from a distance. And Marcy was petrified now that she’d realized what she'd done. 

Both of them could hear whispers from the other people in the store who didn't want to interfere with their conflict, even though it was shocking how those two had gone from laughing together to one slapping the other.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't...I didn't mean to..." Marcy reached out, attempting to touch Y/N's face. But the girl immediately took a step back to dodge those hands like a bullet.

Knowing how hot-tempered Y/N had always been, Marcy expected a slap for revenge right then and there, but all that she received was a sense of fear in those glistening eyes. Without another word, the girl ran fast out of the store, ignoring Marcy calling out to her. She ran and didn't look back.

Soon she found herself lost in a river of pedestrians, all were either in a rush or minding their own business, and would just raise their voice if someone accidentally bumped into them. Y/N swirled around those strangers as the panic rose in her chest. She didn't even think, letting her feet guide the way to end up outside Harry's house. 

Trying to steady her breathing pace, Y/N flopped onto the doorstep, holding both knees to her chest and trying to ignore the stung of the slap evident on her red cheek. Though the last thing she wanted was to bother Harry while he was having fun at the after party, she couldn't stop herself from pulling out her phone and dialing his number. She felt the need to be with someone, not just anyone, him.

.

.

"I just ran into Ruby."

When Harry heard those words from Niall, his nerves were frayed. The party around him still continued, the music was still blasting at maximum volume, and all the guests in fancy clothes were still dancing and having a blast; to Harry, however, the entire world stopped as his whole body turned to stone.

He had never been claustrophobic before, but right now he began to feel suffocated for he knew she was somewhere in that same crowd. She could be in a different room, or just a few steps away from where he stood, still what mattered was the fact that she was there.

The mixture of expensive perfumes in the air along with loud laughter and rowdy conversations caused Harry a headache. He looked from left to right, frantically searching for the figure of the woman he used to love, unable to decide whether he was trying to spot her so he could hide from her, or just to see her face again.

It was annoying, wasn't it?

Harry thought he'd mastered not thinking about Ruby, now the possibility of running into her had him plagued with a sinking stomach.

"But she wasn't at the premiere," He nervously blurted, making his friend heave a sigh.

"She probably skipped it. I don't know."

"Did she...did she say something to you?"

Niall's hesitation before answering that one question got Harry sweating in his suit.

"She asked me where you were. She wanted to speak to you about something, but I told her that you didn't want to see her again."

Harry nodded slightly as he muttered a weak "thank you" before rushing towards the nearest exit. Despite Niall desperately calling out to ask where he was going, the actor only walked faster. Once again, he found himself running away from the ghost of his past, like the same old pathetic Harry a couple months ago. It was awkward, embarrassing even.

As he stumbled through the door, his brain was filled with questions that needed answers. What had gotten into him back there? Why was he so afraid of meeting Ruby again? Was it because he still hadn't moved on? Wait. No. He was sure that he had. Because the only girl that'd been on his mind lately was his Bambi, only his Bambi. Maybe he should get back to her.

His throat was dry when he swallowed hard and got into the backseat of his car. He told his driver Y/N's address, hoping that she was still awake to let him in. While chewing on his bottom lip impatiently, Harry looked out of the window, watching streetlights passing by and processing all the complicated thoughts running right through his head. He didn't want to start guessing what it was that Ruby wanted to talk about.

The loud ringtone pierced right through the silence in the car, causing Harry to flinch as he took out the device from his jacket. Once he saw Bambi on the screen, he picked up without reluctance, but the girl didn't give him a chance to speak first.

"I'm right outside your door." Her voice was rapid and fear-filled, making his heart halt for a split second as he quickly told the driver to go back to his house instead.

"I'm on my way home," he said fast into the phone. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I...I need to see you..." She sounded strained, which made him worry even more.

"I'm almost there. Can you wait five more minutes?"

"Sure" was all she said before hanging up on him.

Harry put his phone away and urged the driver to speed up, thanking God that it was late and the avenue was clear. In less than five minutes, he had arrived at his London home. He thanked the driver and rushed out of the vehicle to find Y/N sitting on his doorstep. With both knees held close to her chest, the girl only looked up when she heard his hasty footsteps on the pavement coming her way.

She'd been holding back from the moment she got there, but as soon as he showed up, it didn't take too long for her eyes to flood with tears. She didn't explain. He didn't ask. In silence, she fell into his arms and he held her tight, one hand at the back of her head while his other arm locked around her waist. She desperately needed that hug right now. But little did she know, he needed it just as much.

He kissed her temple as she clutched onto his jacket, telling her no matter what had happened, it was all fine now that he was there. It was dark outside so Harry didn't notice the welt on her cheek at first, but now that he had, he felt a physical pain surging through his bones. He took her face with tenderness. His hands were cold, but the softness of his touch made her feel warm inside.

"Did...did she hit you?" Sadness clouded his features when she shook her head to deny it, still, the look on her face screamed a loud yes. 

Quickly, he unlocked the door and pulled her into his living room where he could hold her for much longer without being afraid of curious eyes on the street. Harry didn't ask any more questions, knowing she would only tell the truth once she was calm enough and ready to confide in him. Now his job was to make her feel safe. He gave her one of his t-shirts so she could change out of her clothes and asked her to wait in the bedroom for him to return with a glass of water. 

She looked exactly like the night they first met. Underneath that hard shell she'd created for herself was still the same little girl who ran away from her parents' fight to a place where she felt safe. And he couldn't decide whether it was disheartening or endearing to see her this vulnerable. Maybe it was a terrible mixture of both. No matter how hard she tried to disregard the nine-year-old she once was, he knew from the sadness in her eyes that she had never really changed.

In silence, he watched her finish her water, smiling at the way his t-shirt looked too big on her. He wanted to just hold her in his arms and shower her face with sweet kisses until she fell asleep.

"I'll be right back," he said when she handed him back the empty glass. But when he turned away, her fingers were locked around his wrist, pulling him back to her.

"Don't go..." She begged. "Lie with me."

Harry was just about to say it would only take a minute, yet he didn't have the heart to deny Y/N's little request when she was giving him that face.

Nodding his head once, the man set the glass down on the nightstand then climbed onto the bed, pulling her close. Now that she was lying close to his chest, he thought she might feel his heart beat for her. They stayed in that position for a while, with him stroking her hair, and her fidgeting with the buttons of his white shirt. She loved the smell of his cologne which always put her at ease. While wearing his shirt and wrapped up in his arms, she was soaked in the scent of him, thinking she could stay like that forever and always.

"I read somewhere that when you lie too close to a person and can listen to their heart beat, your heart will slowly beat in sync with theirs," she said, which came out as a whisper and she felt his body shake with quiet laughter.

"Then your heart must be going insane right now." His joke made her eye roll, but he was staring at the ceiling so he probably had missed that precious smile she put on for him.

After another moment of silence, Y/N had regained her composure to finally tell Harry what had happened at the store, everything but the reason for the mark on her cheek, though she believed Harry had already figured it out. 

She breathed steadily, sorrow dawned on her face as she broke the silence once again, "when I was little, my dad used to say 'I love you' to my mum all the time. In the morning. In the afternoon. Before bed. Every single chance he got, he said those words to her. But one day he suddenly stopped. I assumed he just forgot somehow, not knowing the last time I heard him say he loved her would actually be the last." Her voice was trembling with various emotions. "From that day he raised his voice so often, he smashed furniture and made her cry instead of making her laugh. Maybe he never actually loved her. And those 'I love you's that he used to say every day meant nothing at all. It's just so depressing to think about it...isn't it? How fast a human's heart can change. How easy they can say those words and take them back whenever they want."

Harry's chest lifted when he sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it all out.

"Maybe he did love her at one point," he said, causing the girl to purse her lips.

"Is that what love supposed to be like? Something so fleeting that happens once and can just vanish the next moment?"

Those words really made Harry think.

"You're right." He nodded. "I guess not."

Shifting a bit so he could look at her face, he lifted her chin with his fingers so they were eye to eye and lips to lips.

"Don't think about him anymore," he told her. "Focus on me."

Y/N nervously giggled. For the first time since their kiss in the rain, Harry felt her shiver like a teenage girl being touched for the first time. There was something about the way the bedroom light reflecting in her weary eyes that got him hypnotized.

"Want you to fuck me," she whimpered, hot breath fanning his mouth before their lips attached for a passionate kiss. On spur of the moment, Harry shook his head rapidly, flipping them over so he was hovering above her. His pulsing member was right between her legs where she wanted him most now.

"Let's take it slow this time." He swallowed hard, stroking away the pain on her cheek with his thumb. "If that's alright with you."

Y/N could only answer by nodding fast, and that was all Harry had waited for to kiss her again, slipping his tongue past her lips, gasping when she held his hips down to feel him grow against her thigh. Slowly, as he wished, she unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off to reveal his bare chest, running her fingertips across his tattoos as if she was learning the map to remember every single detail inked on his torso. 

With a hand at the back of his neck, she pulled him down to get a taste of those lips again. She could never get over their sweetness and she enjoyed the way he groaned into her open mouth. His crotch was slightly rubbing against her clothed sex, creating some fiction to maintain the tiny bit of self-control he'd got left.

The feeling was so strange, overwhelming, yet made him feel complete. His t-shirt that she was wearing soon came off after she'd managed to get him out of his tight jeans. They made out slowly with only his boxers in the way as his fingers found their favorite spot between her thighs. He kissed her hard, wanting to devour down every single sound she made, loving all the different ways she whispered his name. He loved to know no one else had the privilege to make her feel this good. Only him.

"There you go, baby. Fuck, that's my girl," he growled into her mouth as she rode out her first orgasm, one hand gripping his wrist as the movements of his fingers was gradually slowing down. He could get off just by looking at the way her face screwed up for pleasure, knowing he was the only one who could touch her this way, kiss her this way, hold her this way. "All mine," Harry whispered, stroking her hair as he tugged down his boxers while she was recovering.

"All yours, H. Want you...fuck...want you inside..." The sounds she made was the most heavenly he'd ever heard. God, he loved every single word she said to him. The fact that they weren't in a rush turned him on even more. He was so hard for her that his eyes watered when her sweaty palm wrapped around him to stroke him slowly. It felt so good, but if she continued, this would end embarrassingly soon.

"Shit, baby...Stop..." He took her wrist and removed her hand quickly. His breathing became ragged when he rolled the condom on and kissed her again. Both of them gasped out loud the second he started to push in slowly for her to adjust to the fullness. Now they could feel everything at once.

His hand reached for hers and they interlocked as he kissed her tenderly, mumbling "you feel amazing" and "so tight for me" against her plump lips. He was completely mesmerized by the way she scrunched her nose and tossed her head back. He couldn't help it, he had to bite down on that pretty neck, causing her fingers to tangle in his messy hair. The feeling caused them both to shiver in complete pleasure and ecstasy.

His warm hands roamed all over her naked body, stroking her flushed skin with affection as he focused on every single thrust, going steady and deep, wanting her to feel all of him.

"You're so beautiful." He breathed into Y/N's mouth, making her laugh slightly as she opened her eyes to stare back at him.

"You're gorgeous," she whispered, holding onto his neck to bring his lips back on hers. He slowly massaged her my breast as they kiss, causing her back to arch as she rewarded him with another soft moan. For his every thrust, her chest rose and fell dramatically. He could feel her getting close as her drenched walls were squeezing him when they maintained eye contact. Her stare was intense, yet tender, and sweet. The noises she made when she fell apart would come back to haunt him in his most beautiful dreams. Harry pushed faster, one hand holding her face, the other holding one of her legs up so he could give it to her harder.

"Yes, baby, that's it...Fuck," he blurted through gritted teeth, feeling himself coming close but he didn't want to close his eyes in fear of missing out her reaction to how good he was making her feel. With one loud gasp, Y/N came hard around him. Harry felt so close to the edge, just a few pushes more...

But then it happened.

"Harry...I love you...."

His eyes shot open wide. In the haziness of his own pleasure, he could still hear those three words so loud and clear. It wasn't a mistake. Y/N breathed harshly through her nose as she clung onto his back when he shuddered and came hard into the condom.

I love you.

Those three words were now echoing inside his brain as both of them tried to catch their breath. Harry's expression hardened as he stared at Y/N, yet the girl only seemed confused.

"What's wrong?" She quietly giggled, stroking his cheek. "Did I say something silly when I came again?"

With that question, he knew she didn't realize it. She'd let those words slip out in the heat of the moment. She didn't even remember saying them.

"No." He pressed his lips into a nervous smile, but he guessed she couldn't see it through. "I kind of spaced out..."

Y/N stayed silent and kissed his nose. The beam on her face made him feel twice as guilty. What would he have done if those words hadn't got out by accident? Would he have said them back?

Now in the darkness of the room, with her warm body pressed against his, Harry felt so hard to breathe. The feeling was no different from having a panic attack, and he was glad that Y/N had fallen asleep and couldn't sense that something was definitely wrong. He couldn't even shut his eyes now, just lying there in silence, staring at the moonlit ceiling and thinking hard about those words she'd said, which scared him witless.

I love you.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, pinching his forehead as he tried to get rid of the voice inside his head that sounded just like her. He tried to count sheep in the hope that it would help him drift off, when the buzzing of his phone on the nightstand struck right through his brain. Y/N was too exhausted to be bothered by the noise, still, she did shift around a little bit, so Harry quickly turned off the alert before it woke her. 

But the moment he saw who was calling, the color all drained out of his face.

RUBY

[masterweaverx]

The Baker And The Writer

Written for @hopeology

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Streamers and balloons wrapped around the cave, some slipping across corkboard while others dangled round disco balls. A pink hoof dragged across the dusty filing cabinets, marked by thoughtful humming. One set of files was pulled out from the drawers, layed down on the table, and observed with shining blue eyes. “Mmmhmmm... hmmm. Ah.”

“Reunion party planning?”

The pink pony didn’t even look up, though a smile crossed her face. “Yeah. Well, for those who still... you know. Still care about this. About us.” She sighed deeply. “Things have changed, haven’t they?”

“Quite a bit. And not all for the better... but not all for the worse, either.”

The pink pony sighed again, shutting the folder. “Well, I suppose there’s no point not talking about it. After all, we’re both mirrors of the same soul.”

“Mirrors, fragments, cosmic coincidences by fate and destiny.”

“All that, yep.” She looked up, into the empty hood of a black robe of leather, and had to hide a giggle behind her hoof. “People are going to think you came from Square Enix, you know.”

“People have always thought that. It’s annoying!” The robe crossed his sleeves petulantly. “I didn’t even know about Organization XIII when I came up with this design, let alone anything Final Fantasy-ish. It was supposed to be--”

“--a comical contrast of a seriously dark-appearing abstraction having hilarious melodrama and/or ordinary life as he interacted with the characters of his writing, I know, I know.” The pony shrugged. “You’ve always been on a different wavelength, Masterweaver.”

“And so have you, Pinkie.”

The pony shrugged. “So I have. So I have...” She averted her gaze, running a hoof down her foreleg. “My story’s not going to be completed, is it?”

The robe examined the roof. “I... well... I want to complete it, and others are working on the other threads--”

“Yeah, but you were young. Well... he was young.”

“I am the author avatar, I can be considered the same as him.”

“I’m a fusion of a canon character and a self insert, I could say the same thing.”

“In a different way.” Masterweaver spread his sleeves. “Identity is a confusing thing, especially when you get meta.”

“And this is getting very meta.”

“Should we acknowledge the audience?”

“...let’s not,” Pinkie said after a moment of thought. “It’s only really useful if we get philosophical about the nature of reality and/or want to throw in a brief joke.”

“Good point.” Masterweaver nodded. “Good point... Still. You’ve got a party to plan, right?”

“For all of us still here. Which is, technically, all of us, but we’ve passed out of the need for the story to focus on us I think.” Pinkie nodded. “It’s been years for me, since the event. And I’ve had... some serious adventures. Yeah. A lot of living... a lot of things.”

She hummed to herself gently. “A lot of worlds visited. Other Equestrias, at first... and then, other places entirely. Mostly to say hi, help out, move on. An adventurer is me.”

“Well that’s a fine life!” Masterweaver said encouragingly. “Expanding your horizons as you go, growing and learning--”

“He’s moved on, hasn’t he?”

The cave was silent for a moment, save for the tinkling of the disco balls.

“...From ponies, I mean. In general.”

“I...” Masterweaver sighed. “No. Yes? Not... he still values this. This experience, with you and with every other part of the fandom. It was... it was with ponies he really found his place, found out what he was, what he could do. It’s why he still considers himself a professional fanfiction writer. And he does keep in contact with his friends from that part of his life. He does still value what he learned from the fandom.” A sleeve reached out, clasping her shoulder. “He still thinks of you. He still cares about you. I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t.”

“...I know. But the core... the part that drew him in, and held him... he’s moved from that, hasn’t he?”

“...He isn’t as deep in the fandom, maybe. But... he’ll never leave it entirely, I think.” Masterweaver shook his hood. “No, he’ll probably come back every once in a while. And he’ll always write fanfiction--it’s just not going to be all pony anymore.”

“Hasn’t been for a while...” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “And he’s been getting kind of dramatic with what he has been doing, hasn’t he?”

“Hey now! Drama exists FOR A REEEEEEEEAAAASON!”

Pinkie giggled at the robe’s pose. “Oh I’m not saying it doesn’t! But, you know, element of Laughter here.”

“Yeah, how’s that treating you?”

“Oh, I’ve got no complaints about that part of my life.” Pinkie giggled. “Still love bringing smiles wherever I go.”

“And you’re preparing a party for all your friends.” Masterweaver nodded toward the folder. “So...”

“So yeah, it’s... that’s still fun. And a lot more’s going on then what’s being written about,” she added quickly. “Obviously, I mean. We have lives beyond...”

She trailed off.

“...You’ve always had a life beyond the fic. As much as you’ve performed for the sake of everyone, you still have your own life.”

“Are you telling me, or are you telling you?”

Masterweaver clapped his sleeves together. “I’m going to say that’s ambiguous because this story is incredibly meta, and no meta story is complete without a little ambiguity!”

“Is this even a story?” Pinkie asked. “I mean we’re just talking! Cryptically at that, with so much context we haven’t mentioned!”

“Huh, you’re right. I guess there should be an arc.” Masterweaver rubbed the base of his hood thoughtfully. “It feels like you were feeling neglected, so maybe I came in to say that even if your story is never finished the author will always treasure you and your existence will have an impact on him, so that reassures you and you go on with your life happy in the knowledge that it is your life but also that you made a positive impact?”

Pinkie gave him a flat look. “Well gee, if you’re going to spell it all out like that, how do I get a chance to work through my emotions?”

Masterweaver shrugged. “Yeah, going to be honest, this is one of those stories where I’m just working through the scene with no idea where it goes.”

“...I mean... that summary isn’t wrong, exactly,” Pinkie admitted. “It’s just a little abrupt.”

“Yeah.”

“...And now we’re staring at each other and wondering how to end this story.”

“Well, yeah.” Masterweaver shrugged. “Actually, you know what we need?”

“What?”

“A smash cut.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Hey everypony!”

“Nopony else is here yet, Pinkie. It’s just me.”

“Oh.” Pinkie shrugged. “Hey Erishy! Surprised you’re the first to get here.”

“It happens.” Erishy shrugged, watching Pinkie set out the snacks. “So what flavor are the cupcakes?”

“Heh. Flavor...” Pinkie shook her head. “All cupcakes share some ingredients, you know? But flavor, flavor is something unique, added during the baking. And everyone focuses on it. But a cupcake wouldn’t be a cupcake without the ingredients, and flavors can be blended, mixed. Sometimes, you have to remember: every flavor, every cupcake, is the result of a baker. And even if they don’t bake the same cupcakes anymore, they’re still baking cupcakes. And somebody will always, always eat the cupcakes.” She took a breath. “But every cupcake eaten is important, even the ones baked long ago.”

Erishy nodded gently. “I see. That... that’s actually very encouraging. I guess you’ve been thinking a lot recently, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Huh.”

“Also the cupcakes are all fruit-flavored, but different flavors of fruit. I was feeling experimental.”

That got a giggle from the pegasus. “Oh, of course. That makes total sense.”

[artificialqueens]

Beneath the Amber Moon, Part 13 (Galactica AU Group Fic) – TheDane & Veronica

Heyyy!! Remember us? We’re so sorry that it’s taken so long to bring you the final chapter of this Galactica sequel. We’d love to hear what you think, and what characters you want us to focus on next. <3

Click here for previous chapters.

Last chapter: Everyone was dealing with the fallout from the club.

This chapter: The fallout continues as Bianca goes on an apology tour and Fame finally gets treated like the Birthday Queen she is.

/////

Bianca stood at the door of Fame’s bungalow, shifting awkwardly. Patrick had been the one to open the door, the man taking one look at her before he grabbed a book, stepping aside and telling Bianca he’d be on the beach for the next hour.

Bianca couldn’t blame him. She didn’t want to be there for the inevitable misery either.

Fame was on the bed, dressed in a pure white robe, her sun-kissed legs resting on a pillow, her hair collected in a towel on her head, a magazine open in her lap, not even looking at Bianca.

“You’re not gonna say hi?”

“Mmmh.”

“So… I guess you’re still mad at me?”

“Me?” Fame flipped a page. “Who said I was mad at you?” Fame asked with an aloof detachment that made something clench in Bianca’s chest.

“Everything about how you’re acting?”

Fame didn’t respond, the blonde simply reading her magazine.

“Fame… Please.” Bianca stepped forward. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“I’m sure you have some other place to be, Bianca.”

Bianca wanted to scream, wanted to tear her hair, wanted to do anything to make Fame pay actual attention to her. Would do anything to have her friend back.

“Fuck. For whatever I did, whatever I said, that upset you. I’m sorry. I just…” Bianca sank to her knees by the bed, exhausted and with no clue what to do or say.

“Urh.” Fame sighed, closing her magazine and finally, finally looking up, acknowledging that Bianca was in the room. “You’re really going for the Oscar.”

“Please, I can’t take this.”

Fame bit her lip, her white teeth disappearing into her pink bottom lip, the first flicker of doubt that Bianca had seen since the day before dancing over her friend’s features.

“Please. I really need you. I need...” Bianca reached out, touching Fame’s knee. “I need a friend right now.”

“Why?”

“I slept with Courtney,” Bianca confessed.

“Oh really?” Fame raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise. “And why do you need me?”

“Because! I just...immediately fucked it up. Now she’s avoiding me, and…” Bianca groaned. “I can never get it right with her. I don’t know why I thought, even for a second, that I could… Fuck.”

Bianca laid her head down on the bed, and then, she felt it, Fame’s hand gently touching her hair.

“I’m sorry you’re suffering.”

“Don’t be…” Bianca looked up, and if it had been with anybody else, she would have felt horrified at how tired and defeated she knew she looked. “I deserve it.”

Fame sighed, and Bianca was scared she would push her out yet again, but then, Fame patted the spot next to her on the bed. Bianca rose and climbed up, curling into her with a deep exhalation of relief.

Fame’s hands went to Bianca’s hair again, as if of their own accord, running through the thick, caramel-colored locks, causing Bianca to snuggle closer against her.

“I just wish it could be easier…”

There was a long pause before Fame responded, finally offering a tentative, “I don’t think she’s good for you, B.”

“No shit,” Bianca replied, followed by a hoarse, humorless laugh.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Fame’s voice was low.

Bianca raised her head to look at Fame, who’d gone from cold and detached to warm and gentle in a matter of minutes. Bianca gave her a halfhearted smile.

“… Pretty sure.” She laid her head back down, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of Fame’s fingers carding through her hair, finally finding peace. When she heard a soft chuckle, she stirred and asked, “Something funny?”

“Just remembering what a horrific monster you were last night.” Fame smiled. “Now I know why.” She pulled Bianca’s hair slightly.

“Ow!”

“I’ll consider forgiving you. Acting like that on my birthday.”

“I was delightful last night,” Bianca batted at Fame’s hand. “What are you talking about?”

“Think Violet and Sutan found you delightful?” Fame asked, lips pursed in judgment. “Because I don’t.”

Bianca blinked, hazy memories coming back to her.

“Oh...shit.”

“Yeah, shit indeed.” Fame sighed, leaning back against the headboard. “Classic Del Rio.”

Bianca sat up, rubbing her eyes.

“And the worst part is! You were so caught up with that, and the drama with your sister and her girlfriends, that you didn’t even spend one minute fawning all over me. On my birthday.”

“Wasn’t your birthday technically two days ag-”

“My birthday week!” Fame huffed. “I felt invisible.”

“I tried! You were ignoring me!”

“Technicality!”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Bianca picked up Fame’s hand and kissed it. “How about tonight, we make it all about you?”

“Sounds...appropriate.” Fame gave Bianca a sly smile, trying to pretend like she wasn’t immensely pleased.

“I mean...all about you, after I apologize for that shit with Violet,” Bianca grimaced.

“Apologize?” Fame widened her eyes comically. “You think that’s enough? You should pay for that kid’s college!”

“I’ll start with ‘I’m sorry.’”

“Fair enough,” Fame giggled, as Bianca snuggled closer to her. “Just don’t get on your knees. It’s really far too dramatic.”

/////

“Here you go, birthday girl…” Bianca handed Fame an elaborate-looking frozen cocktail - it looked like a piña colada with swirls of blue.

“Why, thank you! What is it?”

“I had them make something special for you. It’s called the Galactica,” Bianca said with a wink, clearly proud of herself.

Fame’s eyes lit up and she pulled Bianca closer, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“Thanks, darling, I love it,” she said, with a flutter of lashes.

/

After spending all day recovering from her tequila binge with Adore, Courtney was still feeling a bit delicate. Especially when she thought about Bianca, the knot in her stomach growing the longer they went without clearing the air. Which clearly wasn’t going to happen tonight, judging from the way Fame was hanging on her, laughing giddily.

Courtney closed her eyes. It appeared that she’d lost a turf war - one for which she didn’t remember signing up. She supposed it served her right, for daring to come in the first place. Why she ever thought that a week with this group could be fun and relaxing was beyond her.

When she spotted Violet in the corner, mostly hidden by a large tropical plant, she beelined for her, speaking in a low voice so as not to blow her cover.

“What are you doing over here?”

“Waiting for Raven to look away so I can get out of discussing the Instagram handle of my maybe unborn child.” Violet rolled her eyes. “If we actually have the baby, I’d rather gnaw my own arm off than dress it like a little model. It’s a child. Why would a child need to wear Gucci?”

“Wait, Raven knows?” Courtney’s jaw dropped. “How does Raven know?!”

“A series of unfortunate events.” Violet gave her a tired, long-suffering look, shaking her head. Violet took a drink of the soda she was holding, Courtney unsure if she had ever actually seen Violet with a sugary drink before.

“Oh...well...can I hide with you?”

“Sure.” Violet giggled and moved, making room on the wall.

“Wait,” She looked at Courtney. “Who are you hiding from? Are you okay?”

“Um…” Courtney hesitated, wondering how much of her personal drama to unload on a clearly stressed pregnant woman with whom she still had a somewhat tentative friendship. She finally settled on a concise, “Things with Bianca are awkward. It’s been a week.”

“Cheers to that.” Violet smiled a little, clinking their glasses together.

“Yeah, and that…” Courtney’s gaze shifted back to Bianca, her arm still casually slung around Fame’s waist. “...isn’t helping.”

“I can imagine.” Violet nodded, then bit her lip, clearly unsure if it was okay that they were talking about it. “I don’t know what I would do if Sutan-” Violet cut herself off, and Courtney was grateful for it.

“I know you care a lot about Bianca.”

“At this point, I honestly just wish that we could be friends.” Courtney twirled a lock of blonde hair. “But...I don’t know if that’ll happen.”

“Bianca is… an intense woman.”

Courtney chuckled. “Uh, yeah. To say the least.”

Violet paused for a moment, then reached out and touched Courtney lightly on the arm.

“Do you want to get out of here?”

“Aren’t you scared of getting crucified for leaving?”

Violet shrugged. “The only good thing about being pregnant is that I have an actually true excuse for leaving places I don’t want to be at.”

Courtney laughed. “Honestly, nothing sounds better to me right now than room service and maybe, if you’re up for it, working on the Moschino line a little bit?”

At that, Violet’s eyes lit up. “Let me text Sutan, and we can leave.”

/

VIOLET: Juju saying that soda helps with nausea is a lie. Had to leave. Love you, don’t freak out.

Sutan smiled as he read the message, his girlfriend knowing him so very well.

Courtney is with me.

Sutan raised a brow, the new friendship between Courtney and Violet one he had never expected, but it looked like it was good for his girl, and therefore, he was all for it.

Please enjoy the party. Pay attention to Fame, it's only been three days since her birthday after all.

Sutan bit his lip. “I’m going to the bar,” he said to Detox and Karl who were standing with him, the words leaving him without even thinking. “You want anything?”

“Yeah, can I get-” Karl stopped talking when Sutan walked away, phone in hand, not waiting for his answer. “Rude.”

“Okay,” Detox crossed his arms, watching their friend leaving. “Is it just me, or does he look...uh...haggard?” Detox asked. “I know he’s not wearing a suit, but it feels like more than that-“

“It’s not just you; he’s a hot garbage mess,” Karl replied, sighing and sipping his wine. “Side effects of heterosexuality.”

Detox laughed, then frowned. “Wait, hey, what are you trying to say?”

Karl cast his eyes up and down Detox’s body critically.

“You heard me.”

/

Bianca cleared her throat, walking up to Sutan at the bar. She wasn’t ordinarily a big apologizer, but this was a scenario where her normal “deal with it” attitude wasn’t going to work.

In their group, Sutan had always been the chill one. The one who rolled with the punches, gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. And, maybe because of that, Bianca spent a fair share of their time together teasing him, giving him shit, treating him like a brother. The thought that she’d gone too far - far enough to hurt him, and someone he loved, made her feel awful. So she bit back her impulse to lead with something snarky and instead offered an uncharacteristically soft, “Hey…”

Sutan didn’t look at her, and if Bianca was honest, he kinda looked like shit. They were in Brazil, and yet he was more grey than sunkissed.

“Can I get a whiskey?” Sutan looked at the bartender. “ Quickly, please.”

Bianca cringed. A small part of her had been hoping that he’d be his normal contented self, totally over the drama of the previous night. She bit her lip and tried again.

“Um...is Violet okay?” she asked.

Sutan looked after the bartender, clearly judging if he’d be fast enough that it would be worth it to continue ignoring Bianca. He apparently decided against it, because he turned to Bianca, actually looking at her.

“B.” Sutan smiled a little, and Bianca saw again how tired he was. “I really don’t want to deal with you or your...humor. Right now.”

“No jokes, I promise,” Bianca said, holding up her hands in surrender. “I just wanted to...I’m sorry-”

Sutan laughed, a short crude sound. “You?” He took a drink of his whiskey. “Being sorry? Come on Bianca. Don’t lie to me.” Sutan rolled his eyes. “You’re good at it, but not that good.”

“Look, I know I was an asshole last night, and you don’t deserve that,” Bianca said. “So if you want me to fuck off, I will, but I needed you to know that I feel bad. And I’m sorry. Really.”

Sutan looked at her, watching her face, analyzing it. “Do you have any idea how much shit you fucked up?”

He sighed, and Bianca saw the last of his armor chip away as he took a seat. She reached out and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You hurt her B.” Sutan ran a hand through his hair. “Like, you really fucking hurt her, and I know you don’t give a shit about Violet, but- Fuck.” Sutan emptied his whiskey. “Hey, Francisco! Refill as well!”

“Look, I’m not gonna lie. We don’t really have a relationship; that’s true. But Tan, I love you.”

Sutan raised an eyebrow at the statement. “Are you dying?” He smiled. It was small, and tucked away in the corner of his mouth, but it was there. “You haven’t told me you loved me while sober since my father died.”

“Well, I do, asshole,” Bianca replied immediately, then stopped and added more contritely, “I do. And I would never, ever want to hurt someone you love. I was fucking around. I was being a dick. But I didn’t mean to hurt her, I swear. You may not forgive me right now, but...I hope you believe me.”

Francisco came with the drinks, taking away Sutan’s empty glass.

“It would have been a shit situation no matter what,” Sutan sighed. “So why not have it happen this way. The nightmare I didn’t even know I had.” He stood up. “Thanks anyway.”

“Do you wanna like...hug?” Bianca asked awkwardly.

“Bianca.” Sutan smiled. “If somebody is actually dying, you have to tell me.”

“Nevermind! Fuck you too!”

Sutan grabbed Bianca, pulling her into a hug, the man so much taller than her that he easily rested his chin on her head.

“I’m sorry, man,” Bianca said. “Really. I hope you’re okay. And I hope Violet’s okay, too.”

“I don’t know if we are.” Sutan sighed. Releasing Bianca. “These last 24 hours, they’ve been... Real fucking rough.”

“Well...if it helps, Fame wants everyone’s attention 100% on her tonight, so I think the heat is off you guys,” Bianca said with a wry grin.

“When has that ever not been the case?” Sutan took his drink. “Let’s go attend the queen's court.”

Bianca laughed. “Cheers to that.”

He held out his hand. “After you. My lady.”

“You’re a nerd,” Bianca said, unable to suppress the huge grin on her face as she took his hand, utterly relieved that he didn’t hate her.

/////

“Well, I’m gonna try to make this quick, because we all know how uncomfortable our beautiful birthday girl is with attention…” Bianca smiled, the table chuckling. “The truth is, blondie, you’re the reason we’re all here. You are the glue that holds this group together. We probably don’t say it enough, but thank you. Thank you for hosting brunches and weekends away and dragging us all on family trips and thank you for keeping us connected. And thank you for doing it while looking smoking hot…”

Fame beamed up at her, charmed.

Raven leaned over towards Juju, muttering, “Looks like someone is sick of the dog house...”

“I’m still saying she deserves it after how she acted yesterday.”

“And now I’m gonna stop before I embarrass myself…” Bianca continued.

“Too late,” Juju whispered to Raven, and they both snickered.

“But I just want you to know how much we love you. How much I love you. Happy birthday, Blondie. Cheers.” Bianca raised her glass, and everyone followed suit.

“I love it when you get drunk and mushy, Bianca. It’s pretty much the only time you’re tolerable,” Raja said, clinking glasses with her.

“I’m not drunk!” Bianca insisted. “I can be mushy sober. Like...once every few years.”

“Speaking of mushy,” Karl said. “Maybe you wanna add something, Raja?”

“Gladly!” Raja stood up, looking around the room and then at Fame, eyes already misty. “My darling friend…”

“Oh, here we go…” Bianca grumbled, annoyed that she was about to be upstaged.

Fame hit her lightly on the shoulder and then turned back to Raja, grinning.

/////

Sutan stood in the doorway, hands on his hips, surveying the scene. Violet and Courtney were curled up in bed, sketches littering the duvet, Violet’s head on Courtney’s shoulder as they were looking at something on the tablet in Courtney’s hands.

“So this is what feeling faint looks like?”

Violet smiled up at him. “Hi.”

As Sutan bent down to give her a soft kiss, Courtney cleared her throat and sat up, quickly gathering her things.

“I guess I should get out of your hair now,” she said.

“You don’t have to go right away,” Violet told her, as Sutan slid onto the bed beside her.

“It’s okay. I’m sure you guys want some alone time. Thank you so much for your help. I’m feeling a billion times better about the line.” Courtney flashed a grateful smile from the doorway. “Have a good night.”

“Goodnight, Courtney,” Violet replied, smiling slightly as Sutan wrapped his arms tightly around her, burying his face in her hair.  

With one last glance at the couple, Courtney slipped through the door into the chilly night. She knew that they had something major to deal with - and yet, she couldn’t help feeling a bit envious.

Violet had something that she’d never experienced: unconditional support from the love of her life. Courtney knew that whatever she decided, Sutan would stand by her, and part of her wondered if she’d ever know what that was like.

/////

Bianca sighed with satisfaction, admiring the inside of her packed suitcase, everything perfectly folded, fitting together like a Tetris win. A soft knock on the door diverted her attention and she looked up to see Courtney, shifting nervously.

“Hey.”

“Hi...can I come in?” Courtney asked.

“Of course.”

Bianca was tentatively friendly, her guard still up. They hadn’t really spoken at all since the other night. Maybe Courtney would explain why she’d been avoiding her. She sat on the bed, waiting for her to speak.

Courtney perched on the edge of the sofa, looking uncomfortable, as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know how, or if she should. Bianca took a deep breath, trying to give off an air of unhurried patience.

“Um...are we okay?” Courtney finally asked.

“I’m okay,” Bianca responded. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” Courtney bit her lip.

Bianca sighed.

“Look...I thought everything was cool. That we were on the same page. But for the last few days, it seems like you’ve been doing everything possible to avoid me. So...was it something I did, or-”

“No! No, you didn’t do anything. I thought...I thought you were the one avoiding me.”

“Well...okay then.” Bianca chuckled.

“Yeah,” Courtney exhaled, clearly relieved. “I guess it’s good that we’re talking, huh? I mean I hate being on bad terms with you, so-”

“We’re not on bad terms,” Bianca promised, giving her a smile. “I had a good time with you.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Courtney glanced out the window, then back to Bianca, eyes soft and misty.

“I should tell you, you’re-” she paused, breath hitching, looking down.

Bianca moved beside her on the sofa, waiting for her to continue. When she looked back up, tears had collected in her eyelashes.

“You’re the love of my life, B.”

Bianca reached up to softly cup Courtney’s face, thumb running over her cheek.

“You’ve got a lot more life to live, kiddo,” she said, brushing away a tear. She leaned forward slowly, lips meeting Courtney’s in a brief, gentle kiss.

When they separated, Courtney sighed, wiping her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I love you, too. Always will.” Bianca swallowed down a lump in her own throat.

“Maybe someday we could be friends,” Courtney said.

“Don’t push it,” Bianca joked.

Courtney chuckled, then leaned back.

“I should go…”

“Okay.” Bianca rose with her.  

“Take care, B,” Courtney said, giving her one last kiss on the cheek and then heading to the door.

“You too...Supergirl.”

Courtney tossed a grin over her shoulder, and Bianca smiled back, hoping she’d never forget this moment, the way Courtney looked in the dazzling afternoon light.

/////

Goodbyes with this group were always a lot, but Raven thrived in them, the melodramatic nature of it a joy for someone who loved drama as much as she did.

Most of them were flying home together, Adore saying a tearful goodbye to Courtney, while Karl was handing out hugs to everyone who was going to New York.

What was the most interesting though, was Raja and Sutan.

The twins had been acting strange ever since Violet had been forced to announce her pregnancy, and while Raja kept insisting that she was fine, that she had talked to her brother, the air between them was still thick with tension.

Raven watched as Sutan walked up to Raja, him and Violet needing to leave to catch their flight, and Raja hesitated for a moment, her arms not immediately going around her brother to hug him until Sutan pulled her in, the two standing together, talking in quiet Indonesian, Raja hiding her face in his shoulder.

Raven could see that it made Violet uncomfortable, knew that everything was changing, but as Sutan pulled away from Raja, giving her a quick, sweet, closemouthed kiss before he walked over to Violet, Raven saw her face change.

Violet looked like she was coming home as Sutan took her hand, the two of them leaving together, fingers intertwined while they walked towards their new life together.

[sarcasticshank-blog]

Story Time

Can i just say real quick how a simple convention has ruined my life lowkey because you might think romantic shit like in some la la land, dirty dancing movie doesn't happen in real life but I'm telling you, that's wrong. So first y'all should know that I'm a really weird human being. As a girl who grew up in a culture that still thinks getting a man and trying to get married is still every women's goal, I'm rather rebellious since I never really gave a shit about getting in a relationship etc. I do fangirl a lot about guys but eh, actual romance? Not in my lobby.

Let me now come to the more interesting part of the story. So a few years ago, my sister literally begged me to go to a supernatural convention (purgatory con ) with her, since she wasn't allowed to go alone and stay at a hotel for the weekend. I do like supernatural but I never considered me a huge fan like my sister. She told me about the cast who was attending the convention and besides Misha Collins, Mark Pellegrino and Kim Rhodes i didn't even know the rest. So I didn't have any expectations of being as hyped as anybody else. Yet I said I'd go with her just for the sake of spending some time with her at a fun(?) place.

So we went there, even met an old friend of ours to chill with. It was really interesting to see all the people who'd display characters from the show, the atmosphere was nice even though I despise crowded places. We had VIP tickets so we didn't have to line up for as long as most ppl, which was rly cool. There was a lot of merchandise and what I thought was awesome, was the fact that I found a Targaryen necklace, which I - as a huge GoT fan - obviously bought and decided to wear, perfectly fitting my house Stark shirt lmao. (I sure looked weird at a place full of SPN cosplayers) We then went to get photos of the actors signed by them. And y'all.. This is where I met Travis Aaron Wade.

This frickin Guy with his stunning blue eyes and his face. We had a small chat first. He asked what my name was so i told him my name was Baby and explained that my parents must've been huge fans of dirty dancing. He was really amused by this and thought it was great and unique. I then deadass told him, a supernatural actor, that I admit I like the show but I was dragged here and I really love game of thrones. He fricking signed the photo with "moon of my life - my baby, my baby" so that was the first thing that got me like.. Bruh don't mess with my heart. I thanked him and told him he's pretty cool. The next time I got to talk to him was when the people with a VIP ticket had a speed-dating like meet and greet with the cast. I asked him if he remembered me and honestly I got so happy when he actually did! That being said, I started to think that I did the right thing by going to the convention because wow I had developed a huge crush on him! Anyways the thing that actually ruined me was when the "pajama party karaoke" started. Lemme tell you one thing. it was summer and I think I was the only person who wasn't wearing an actual pajama or onesie or cosplay. Instead I wore a pink summer dress and a fricking flower in my hair. I thought maybe this would be the only thing I actually wanted to participate in because I love to sing. I didn't sign up though because in the end I was too nervous. I stayed anyways and watched the fans who sang as well as the actors (mark pellegrino did an amazing job guys). But it got later and later and eventually my sister would leave the hall because she didn't feel well. I told her I'd follow her after a few minutes I just wanted to see how it ends.

So there I stood, somehow kinda close to the stage but still in the crowd full of dressed up, cosplayers and fans, looking like I was so out of place, with my handbag held close to me, and I started feeling a little uncomfortable without my sis as well. And then suddenly someone put his arm around my shoulders and I first thought it was my friend (the one we met before), so I turned my head just to look into the face of goddamn Travis Aaron Wade who was legitimately undercover wearing a hoodie and no one noticed him???? He stood so close to me, since it was so loud and he asked me if I was having fun. Y'all this was some fucking Hollywood movie I suddenly was in. Everyone was focused on the stage were the other actors sang their hearts out and I was standing in the crowd, next to this dude who genuinely asked if I enjoyed all this. (I must've looked so out of place omg). So my awkward ass quickly went "oh wowwow heyyy :))) yes I'm having so much fun!" and he smiled at me and I totally didn't tell him that I was glad I came here because he made this whole event really amazing for me. That was when the people who were standing and jumping in front of me began to notice him and of course everyone was screaming so he ended up joining the cast on the stage singing.

This was basically it. That's what ruined me because with that moment in the crows, Mr. Travis Aaron Wade set the goal too high for any guy to actually approach me 😩😩

Thanks for that!

[thotyssey]

On Point With: Doris Dear

A darling of the city’s cabaret stages, Doris Dear is the creation of Staten Island-born actor Ray DeForest and is based on his fascinating mom Taffy. While rarely mixing it up with New York’s nightlife drag stars, Doris has a huge and diverse following all her own. She returns to the Triad Theater this week with a brand new Christmas show... join Thotyssey as we get down with Ms. Dear!

Thotyssey: Hello Ray / Doris, thanks for talking to us tonight! How is the holiday month treating you so far?

Doris Dear: It’s been a crazy, busy, joyous month so far, and there is still lot’s to come! Oh ...hi by the way! 

Hello! Here's an important question... what do you think about the sudden demonizing of "Baby It's Cold Outside?"

Well, my usual take on life as a whole is that if a group is being offended by something then we should respect that. The language we use is constantly changing. Keeping up with things is never easy.

That said, this one I think may take things out of context. If you look at almost any song written 74 years ago, you could look at it as being offensive. Viewing life in the past through a modern lens is difficult. Yet, an overwhelming majority requested not to pull it. So what do we do now? It’s a tightrope to walk, and never an a easy one.

I do think that context is a lost sense these days! So okay, let's put you in some context! Like your character Doris, you're a Staten Island native, right?

Yes, born and raised on the Island of Staten!

How was that for you? I think of SI as being so culturally unique and distant from the other boroughs. Even the accent is so different!

LOL. Yes it is. Staten Islanders are a breed altogether, different than the rest of the boroughs. I do think each borough has it’s own particular identity. 

I just turned 60! Growing up on the Island in the late 50’s, 60’s and 70’s was really wonderful -- when the Island was still underdeveloped, and there were small neighborhoods and lots of open land to explore. I spent my childhood wandering the woods, catching salamanders and watching turtles and native birds, playing hide-and-seek and “superheros” with the neighborhood kids. Luckily, I had a mother and father that really liked the city. My mom was a fashion model in the late 40’s and early 50’s before she met my dad. She loved taking me and my sister into the city and showing us that world.

Now... that accent! LOL it is thick! We have the strange ‘a” sound that is very particular to the Islanders. When I was in college, my acting teacher drilled me hard to develop a more “Mid-West reporter” sound! The classic SI accent is heard when we say “The Staten Island Advance.” Instead of adVANCE, like most people, we say ADvance! 

Yes that's it precisely! So, it was at college when you started theater, or earlier?

Well, I did a high school musical at St Josephs Hill Academy when I was a senior. They needed a tall guy to be opposite a girl that was a lead in their show ... so I was the right height! And in college, I got cast in a show freshman year because I was a swimmer and they needed a good, tall, muscular body to wear pink hot pants as a guard in Jesus Christ Superstar. So it seems my body got me cast in the beginning! After that show, I decided to give it a try and started studying theater.

Tell us about the creation of Doris, and where she first appeared.

Well, really she came about 5 years ago when my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She was such a light in my life, and many other peoples’ lives. I had always told stories about my parents Taffy and Duke (yes, real names). They were the life of the party. So, to deal with the loss, I decided to do what I know best, and that was to take her story to the stage. I wrote a theatrical cabaret show, and when I tried rehearsing it as Ray, I realized it didn’t really feel right. So I decided to create Doris Dear, who would be Taffy’s daughter, who she is teaching everything she knows to be America’s Perfect Housewife. By doing it as a drag character, it opened up the story telling in a way I could never do as Ray. 

I had not done a ton of drag, but really for me it is just another character I do as a professional actor. I thought I would do one show at The Triad Theater and sell maybe 20 tickets. Well, it sold out... and the theater asked me back, and we sold out 4 shows over 2 months. After talking with my director and musical director, and with the backing of Sydney Myer at Don’t Tell Mama, we developed the show for 6 months. Then we took it on the road and now it has become a staple in the cabaret world... The Doris Dear Specials!

So, Doris is talking about your / her mother, but Doris herself is also actually based on your mother. 

Completely! And all the stories I tell are true. They are all based on my mom. I use magazines and other pop culture items to illustrate those stories and songs, like magazines, recipe books and actual items my mom made... like handbags!

Did your mom have that swooping hair, and those glasses, too?

HA! Yes. She totally had the hair and glasses later in life; she always took them off for pictures. The look is all Taffy!

Do you find that audiences of all ages respond to Doris in the same way... or that she might be too "old-fashioned" for younger audiences to understand?

Well, it’s been interesting watching my audience grow and change. At first, it wasn’t exactly a younger audience. It was mostly straight married couples over 40. The husbands really loved Doris; I represent their mothers! Then slowly, the younger people started discovering this slice of life that Doris lives in. I talk a lot about old NYC. The restaurants, the theaters, the shows etc. They love hearing and seeing that. They also love hearing about the “old rules” that women lived by. Now it is truly a mix of all ages. I have some dedicated 15 year-olds that make their parents bring them to every show! I don’t curse or talk “blue.” I try to have an overall positive energy and message.

Would you ever perform in the bars? I can't really picture Doris as Gaga and, like, Shequida as Beyonce doing "Telephone.” Actually wait, that would be amazing!

LOL... can you imagine!? Look, I grew up as a gay man in the NYC bar culture. I came out when I was 16! That would be 1974! I loved bar culture: a place to feel safe, meet people, and more. I grew up when drag queens, leather guys and preppy men all gathered together. I used to produce large club events as well. Being a part of gay culture has always been important to me. 

Now I feel waaaay too old to do bar performing. Honestly... I’m in bed before those shows are even starting! I try to get out now and then to see all the queens out there, and there are some wonderful queens performing every week. I don’t know how they do it! I am also a terrible lip sync artist. I’m awful. And I haven’t done a slip in years! LOL

I bet it's like riding a bike! So, do you actually consider yourself a drag queen, or like you said earlier -- you are an actor, and Doris is just one character you do who happens to be in drag?

When I first started doing shows, I never said “drag queen" -- only because when people hear it was a “drag show,” they had a certain expectation of what it would be. Those people would come and not enjoy it. I called it a “theatrical cabaret” hosted by a Housewife. I gave up on that, though. I sat with the amazing Charles Busch, and we discussed this very thing. I came to the realization that saying I am a drag queen is actually an honor. We are an elite bunch of men that are proud. I have always said it takes a real man to do drag! 

Well said, queen! So Doris' best-known shows are usually the ones for Mothers Day and Christmas, and the latter is coming up this week: The Doris Dear Christmas Special at the Triad Theater, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm! Tell us what we can expect this time around!

Well, it’s a whole new show this year. I absolutely love the Christmas shows. It is a time of year that people really want to feel happy, and we give them that in the show. The premise is that people are coming into my rumpus room and sharing a cocktail and story and song with Doris Dear. I have the most amazing singers who come in and visit. I actually had a cast and band rehearsal today, and I was knocked over by the sound. Simply amazing. Everyone in the show are award-winning singers and musicians. I am really honored that they choose to be a part of the show. You will hear stories of growing up with Taffy and Duke and how we celebrated Christmas. Nothing fills my heart more than honoring them each time I walk on stage!

That sounds absolutely perfect! Anything else we should mention?

I am honestly just so happy at this point in my life I still get to do what I love. I work a lot with other actors through my union SAG/AFTRA. I Serve on the LGBT National Committee and the Sexual Harassment Presidents Working Group to create safe spaces for our members. I try to encourage people to live an authentic life! Finally, what's the number one thing on your list for Santa this year... and what tops Doris' list?

Well, Ray hopes that Santa brings him yet another successful year of shows. And Doris has a bottle of Dewars on her list for all those Whiskey Sours she loves! 

Thank you Ray / Doris... have a great show and Happy Holidays!

Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Doris Dear’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, plus her website.

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