#fam we just getting started

[thestarlightsymphony]

Happy birthday to Spike Spiegel!

Him a fancy boi

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 12

PREVIOUS

If there was one thing no one would ever guess about FF it is that he unapologetically LOVES Black Friday.

You may be thinking. Ugh Black Friday. Everyone is so rude and tired. The deals aren’t even that good. It can turn into a blood sport at the drop of a hat over a toaster that is 15% off.

You are correct.

That is why FF loves it.

It is the one shopping day of the year where every single one of his instincts are correct, valid, and useful. He has pulled his gran out of the way of elbow drops, he has avoided the gaze of a woman in PINK sweat pants who was looking for someone to steal a blender from, and he knows without a doubt that the cashier hates him already so there’s no need to worry about whether or not they hate him.

It’s like a breath of fresh air!

Everyone is just as antagonistic and awful as he thinks they are!

Shopping is actually the blood sport he always feels like it is!

So there he is standing in a line at the nearest store (Target) waiting to be let in with the masses who all look ready to stab one another for better positioning for a TV. The jokes on them though because his only goal is the grocery section and he deals with the threat of repeated stabbings for BREAKFAST.

He spots an IHOP in the distance and hopes his gran doesn’t feel too lonely. They’ve gotten buttermilk stacks together at the IHOP by the mall for years after the two of them finished Christmas Shopping.

Someone elbows him in the side to get his spot in line but FF does not really care. Again, he doubts any of these people are going to be racing him to the all purpose flour.

It’s 4 AM and the barricades come down.

There’s a rush of people pushing and shoving but FF just steps to the side and watches as they all rush in. He’d mostly stayed in the line because the throng of people made it easier to stay warm. He had left his jacket back at the house because the five hour energy might be making his skin feel super sensitive but he is pretty sure that if he wore his nylon jacket he would die.

The five hour energy also may be upping his anxiety just a little bit.

He walks into the store at a leisurely pace and while the crowd fights over the carts he grabs one of the baskets. He can feel the eyes of other shoppers all wondering if he has some insider knowledge on a good deal that would only require the basket or if it’s a matter of who gets to the back to receive the ‘redeem’ coupon.

He sees a few shoppers get lured in by his siren call and much like a siren following anything that FF is about to do will undoubtedly lead to their downfall.

But FF doesn’t care about that.

He cares about HIS downfall.

So he makes his way to the grocery section and ignores the six different shopping assistants who try and guide him to where he ‘should’ be shopping and each of them only give him increasingly confused looks when he states his intention to go to the grocery section every single time.

Is it easier to ignore their stares when the five hour energy have set his baseline heart rate to something that might be too fast to register as a heartbeat? Maybe.

It is easier to ignore the confusion on their faces when he can see both the past (he asked for TWO favors from Andrew in one day how is he still alive???) and the future (still malleable at the moment apparently. There’s even a future where Andrew actually just is trying to make overtures of friendship but he dismisses that one as INCREDIBLY unlikely and looks at the far more viable one where Andrew at least makes his death quick while he enjoys his great gran’s brownies.)

It’s good to set reasonable goals for yourself.

So he arrives at the grocery section which is deserted aside from one employee who may or may not be asleep against a shelf. FF looks and….not a shelf he needs so he is not about to wake that poor man up.

So he gets everything he needs for his great gran’s brownies (he’s trying to buy his life here so he is not about to assume he can use ANYTHING in the house), the ingredients for a good breakfast (because he really needs to eat something that is not a five hour energy or sugar for the sake of his poor stomach and he may as well get enough for everyone), and (since Captain Neil mentioned it & he is trying to buy his life here) the ingredients to bake another pie.

While he grabs cinnamon he checks to see if they have grandma’s love in stock but, alas, it continues to be unavailable commercially.

He stares at the whipped cream for so long that the employee asleep in the other aisle woke up and asked if he needed help and, startled, he dropped it in his basket. “No I’m good.” He says before power walking out of the grocery department and deciding to brave the Home Goods section to buy some incense so that he can hopefully channel the spirit of his great gran to assist him in this, the darkest of his baking hours.

He arrives at the check out stations and finds the shortest line .

He can feel eyes on him, inspecting his purchases, judging them, judging him, who the fuck goes grocery shopping during the Black Friday rush?

FF.

FF goes grocery shopping during the Black Friday rush.

The cashier looks for hidden cameras but FF has no such thing accompanying him today or ever (as far as he knows.)

After a moment the cashier must look at the ever growing line and decide that whatever scheme they think FF is up to isn’t worth trying to figure out. They offer a membership card, FF valiantly declines to get one despite the two attempts.

He is out the door with four bags of groceries that all have a target on them that feels a little too correct. It’s 6 AM now (he really did lose a lot of time at the whipped cream section) and he’s walking back to the house in Columbia.

He actually feels a little bit better since he at least got to experience his actual favorite blood sport (sorry Exy) and he even got another 2 five hour energies while he was in the check out line so he could replace some of the ones that he had gone through.

“Smith?”

He would like to thank the combined weight of the groceries for keeping his feet on the ground when he heard Captain Neil’s voice.

He turns and Captain Neil is looking at him wide-eyed in his running gear that Smith has seen him in. “You were shopping??” He asks.

FF nods and lifts up the four bags as evidence. “Why didn’t you pick up your phone?” He asks.

FF almost scoffs but he doesn’t, “You can’t be distracted when you’re in a Target on Black Friday. That’s how you take an elbow to the eye.” He responds because it’s like Captain Neil has never experienced the WWE-like environment of Black Friday shopping.

Captain Neil blinks at him.

“Text Andrew or me next time you’re going to go off into the night or just let us know beforehand. Andrew would have driven you.” Captain Neil says and grabs two of the bags out of FF’s hand. “C’mon let’s get back and maybe you can get some sleep.” Captain Neil sighs.

“I’m fine.” FF adjusts the bags so he has one in each hand.

Captain Neil does not say anything so FF assumes that he has accepted that.

***

FF had not been asleep on the couch when Neil had walked through the living room. Neil, in a move that had Andrew fully waking up, went back to the room to check his phone to see if FF had texted him an update on going out. All that greets Neil is the impersonal series of texts that mostly confirmed when practice times had been changed, when the bus was leaving, and spelling on various Spanish words.

FF isn’t a big text person.

He’s more of an in-person kind of friend.

Neil likes that about him most of the time.

“What.” Andrew asks face still half buried in Neil’s pillow.

“Smith isn’t on the couch.”

That has Andrew getting up despite the early hour and their activities the night before. Neil watches as Andrew grabs his own phone to scroll through but seems to come up with the same lack of communication that Neil does.

Andrew does do the extra step and hit the call button.

But all he gets is the confirmation that the VM has not been configured that has greeted them every time FF misses their calls. (Voicemails make FF anxious so when he got his new phone he just…never configured it.)

Neil knew that FF was not pleased with them and somehow the calm request to either stop fooling around or let him out had hit him and Andrew harder than any of the screaming demands that the two of them were usually met with from Nicky, Kevin, Aaron, or any of the other Foxes.

“You said he wasn’t mad.” Neil says.

“He nodded.” Andrew confirms.

“Maybe he went on a walk?” Neil tries as they come out to the living room. They look at the front door and find that it’s locked but it looks like Aaron’s keys are gone. “He probably is going to come back if he took Aaron’s keys since Aaron wouldn’t be the one he’d be irritated with.” Neil rationalizes.

“He didn’t bring his jacket.” Andrew says looking at the black jacket still on the hook by the door.

“We can go and see if we spot him.” Neil offers.

Andrew nods and Neil heads out first since Andrew is still in his sleeping clothes and will need some time.

Neil had not expected to find FF walking back to the house with groceries for breakfast and the pie that Neil had mentioned hoping they could bake at the house.

“Is this for the pie?” He asks looking down at what was in the bags he was carrying as the walked back to the house. Neil managed to shoot off a quick text letting Andrew know that it was fine, FF just went grocery shopping.

FF just nods, “Got everything but Grandma’s love.” He says.

FF is a nice guy to brave the stores on a morning like this but FF also looks like he hasn’t slept a wink.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Neil asks.

“I’m fine.” FF repeats.

Neil really is starting to understand his friends’ hatred for the phrase.

They get back to the house and Andrew is sat out in the living room. FF stops and blinks at the sight of him sitting there.

It is a well-known fact that Andrew does not willingly wake up early most days unless he has to. Neil is glad that Andrew has a friend that he’s coming to care about the way Andrew cares about FF.

Andrew gets up and yanks the bags out of FF’s hands. “Go to sleep. Today will be irritating if you’re half-asleep.” He says with a scowl and walks to the kitchen to put away the groceries FF had bought.

FF just looks at where Andrew had gone uncomprehendingly for a few moments and Neil figures he’s just tired. Neil feels guilty that him and Andrew messing around in the car like that had rendered FF unable to sleep and the two of them had agreed last night that from now on when FF is in the car they can talk all they want but hands stay on the wheel and eyes stay on the road.

FF is plopped down on the couch when Andrew and Neil come out of the kitchen after putting away the groceries (“These are the ingredients for brownies.” Andrew had noted as he put away melting chocolate.) and he’s looking through his flashcards again and not sleeping. He hears Andrew make a disgusted noise next to him and the next thing he knows Andrew is smacking the cards out of FF’s hands.

“Go. To. Sleep.” Andrew enunciates.

FF stares at him, then down at the flashcards. “I don’t think I can.” He says which is better than him lying and saying he wasn’t tired even if the truth had Andrew’s mouth stretch into a thin line that meant he was beating himself up for something.

“Try.” Andrew orders. “Just lay down and close your eyes. Nothing will happen to you while you’re sleeping.” He says.

FF blinks but nods turning on the couch and laying down. The blanket is still over on the lazy boy that Neil had set it on the night before and Andrew rolls his eyes before grabbing it and tossing it over FF.

“Thanks.” FF says before closing his eyes.

Neil looks to Andrew who nods and Neil accepts that there’s nothing else to be done for now and heads out on his run.

***

FF can admit that he’s a bit adrift in what Andrew and Captain Neil are doing right now.

He really should go grab another five hour energy because falling asleep IN FRONT of an irritated Andrew Minyard feels like a death sentence but “Nothing will happen to you while you’re sleeping.” And having a blanket thrown over him did not feel like a threat even if he can feel Andrew’s eyes watching him.

FF is tired and when he’s tired he tends to make stupid decisions. So FF lets himself drift off to sleep while the man who was likely going to move him to a secondary location sat and watched.

His dreams are not peaceful.

He’s running, can’t escape, an echo of words he should have considered before letting himself drift off and he knows he’s going to DIE.

He wakes up with a start to the smell of bacon, eggs, and hashed browns with Nicky standing over him. “Hey there sleeping beauty! I made you a plate!” He says and hands FF a plate of breakfast that smiles up at him with a bacon mouth, egg eyes, and hashed brown hair.

FF takes the plate and digs in immediately. He needs his strength.

“Today will be irritating if you’re half-asleep.”

Andrew Minyard was going to hunt him for SPORT.

NEXT

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As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly? (Cheesecookie whatever you did let me actually select you this time)

[moonlightperseus]

okay like i want to preface that i do not have anything against the storylines that they are doing, i’m straight vibing with this season, having fun. i just want to say it’s a little frustrating to me that 911 keeps tacking on these buck and/or eddie centric “surprise” scenes at the end of an episode because then it becomes the big talking point of the episode after the fact and a lot of the other stuff that happened in it falls away to the sides a bit

[puhpandas]

You know what kind of sucks?

If help wanted 2 is in fact a GGY prequel, and shows how Gregory becomes GGY and broke free and at the end of the game it shows the begging of main SB.

We won't get an answer for what happened to Cassie in ruin for like a year and a half or two years at the max. I don't wanna wait that long.

But I also don't want Steel Wool to rush things again like what happened in main SB.

If there's gonna be a SB 2 I hope it gives those little teaser posters like of showing the new animatronics shadows in front of a giant crowd back in 2020-2021.

I get that, but if we do get a GGY prequel, or even dont, that's a huge part of Gregory's character that we would have to waited to see for TWO years (or ONE year, since GGY came out in January this year, but his backstory has been needed for longer). even longer if HW2 isn't a GGY prequel. I've been a fan of Gregory since sb first came out, and was there for GGY the book. gregory fans have already been waiting a long time for this and we might have to wait even longer if they even touch on GGY at all in the games.

we know enough about Cassie to be satisfied at the moment, but still only crumbs of actual canon Gregory, no theories or speculation or hcs. vanessa deserves time too, but first we need to establish one of the biggest questions of the SW era about who Gregory is. he really needs to have that confirmation for his actions after ruin to make sense, and this would be the perfect time to do that. while the crash is still fresh, for everyone to see GGY and go "oh, that's why he did it." even if they dont agree.

I'm just saying that HW2 only being a few months after ruin would be really quick for a Cassie continuation. like too quick. but if one character deserves the spotlight in HW2 its definitely Gregory or even vanessa. cassie was left off on a cliffhanger sure, but were at a good place to leave her off, and waiting is what makes it fun (said as someone who's fave character has been long overdue for a backstory for two years)

maybe next release after HW2, but also remember nothing is confirmed for HW2. its still completely unknown who's the protag, and it could be anybody. but Gregory deserves to have the huge part of his character thats still up in the air after this long to finally be confirmed after what would be basically a year since it was first shown and not elaborated on again

glitchtrap/the mimics influence hasnt been explored enough, especially with the great vanny cut content massacre, but HW2 could give much needed backstory PLUS focus on the glitchtrap aspect of the SW era, which is much needed

[beansprean]

sometimes you get diagnosed with ADHD as an adult which finally makes your mom actually listen to what ADHD actually is and that she didn't cure it by making me do 100 jumping jacks as a kid when I got too hyper and then she realizes that she may have it too

And then you both realize that like 70% of the family probably also has adhd and that's why we are all Like That

[deus-ex-mona]

rage is a ✨way of life✨

[lovecolibri]

I am just over her cackling at the 911 team trying to handle this week. Like, they drop a still that shows Buck on the gurney on accident and everyone goes nuts, then MW is seen on the Fox lot and people start gathering rocks and tomatoes to throw so they tack on Eddie yelling for Buck and Buck hanging from the ladder and everyone is back to being excited, THEN Aisha lost all fucks to give and livestreams from set off and on all day where it's accidentally overheard that Buck is talking about a date he went on at some point and THEN Peter mentions L so the rock and tomatoe gathering starts again FULL FORCE, only for more older BTS footage of what we now know is Buck hanging from the ladder but is possibly also Eddie going to get him to start making the rounds again, so the team has to try and one-up that by CONFIRMING that it's Eddie AND that he's *screaming* for Buck like...WHAT a wild few days. I doubt they wanted to release this much info but it definitely feels like damage control was out in force after a lackluster 6a, dropping ratings, and leaks that might drive viewers away. Good luck everyone, looks like 6b is gonna be a RIDE!

[mercymaker]

chilling vibing getting stuff done and then suddenly getting hit by 'why do you try so hard to make something new and good and bend yourself backwards pushing for quality when that stuff is mostly discouraged and low effort quantity-over-quality stuff is constantly rewarded'

[monotonous-minutia]

so for the last two years I went to see The Nutcracker live at my local performing arts center; but this winter COVID's been coming back with a vengeance in my city so I'm opting out. I'd still like to engage in it though and while I love the one I have saved on spotify I'd also like to watch it. does anyone have suggestions for a recording of a full performance of The Nutcracker that's on youtube or somewhere else online?

thanks in advance!

[agayconcept]

.

[koushirouizumi]

Today in My Life: wE {FINALLY} GOT A WHEELCHAIR!!!!!

[sweet-as-kiwis]

Choosing a kitten to adopt is ROUGH

[bsaka7]

if you know me for more than four years you start unlocking my actual obsessions. the problem with this is im embarrassed by them and no one should have to listen to me to talk myself in circles. even if they already like me.

[spootsaline]

(( do you ever think how integrated meteor children would be in homestucks earths society

[deus-ex-mona]

little brothers and their will to #slay, man </3

[firebirdsdaughter]

But I do love this family so much…

… The acting in the whole series is stellar, but Checkmate really deserved some awards all ‘round.

Neal’s not just terrified for El, he’s also having to go through the torture of watching Peter suffer like this, and the show doesn’t cut around that. The way it cuts to him being like ‘I need to go hyperventilate in a corner of the yard’ when he hears Peter say ‘hon,’ bc he knows what that means. Matt Bomer has very expressive eyes and you can just see the agony in them through the whole thing. He’s looking down the barrel of losing what have become two of the most important people in his entire life in different ways, partially bc of his own actions, and that shatters him. Half of this is his fault, and he knows it. It’s heartbreaking to me that even in that moment, he desperately still wants Peter to know he didn’t steal the treasure. He knows he’s at fault but he needs Peter to know he didn’t do that, at least didn’t betray him like that. Ultimately, it’s not a huge comfort, but I don’t think he’s trying to dodge blame, I think he just wants Peter to know he really didn’t do that to him.

Meanwhile, obviously Peter is completely wrecked. Tim DeKay became a master of stoicism over in the show and it’s on full display. When Peter lashes out it’s serious, and the anger and pain are palpable. One of the people he loves most is in danger and he’s absolutely livid at the other bc it’s partially his fault. His son got his wife kidnapped. On top of his son lying to him for months and finding out that his son was thinking about leaving. The anger is perfectly understandable, but I do feel like you still feel his feelings for Neal through it. He snaps, quite understandably, but he’s not completely tearing into Neal and accusing him of not caring or anything, he trusts Neal’s help and ultimately reassures Mozzie, the person ultimately responsible for a lot of his pain this season, that it was Keller’s choice to kidnap El. He cuts off the pointed accusations about leaving when Neal tells him he didn’t want to, and doesn’t accuse Neal of trying to get out of things. Neal saying he didn’t want to leave clearly means something. Peter can be absolutely terrifying when he wants to be, as evidenced by how ready he is to just tear Keller apart. I feel like it shows a lot about his care of Neal that he’s comparatively restrained with him and lets him help. Peter is careful with what he tells Neal if he doesn’t trust him. The appearance of the most emotionally wrought ‘damnit Neal’ ever. Peter trying to shut Keller down when he’s taunting Neal about lying about the treasure, sounding downright protective. And like how Neal’s consequences aren’t just having El be endangered but also having to watch Peter go through this, Peter in pain both bc El is in danger and it’s partially Neal’s fault (and Neal was lying to him). He’s both panicked and betrayed. Someone he loves is in danger bc someone else he loves lied to him. The way he’s still worried about Neal when they lose contact and forgoes immediately rushing to El to go rescue him.

Meanwhile El is a queen. The sheer nerve of being told not to pass messages and then blatantly passing one (also Satchmo for best boy). She also has no doubt that Neal will help rescue her rather than run away, and despite being very frightened holds herself together with aplomb. She’s smart enough to get out of the building with allows the FBI to find her (for someone as allegedly smart as Keller, not checking her jewellery for diamonds is hilarious—maybe he just didn’t think she’d know that/be bale to get to the window). She immediately tells Peter to go get Neal first (w/ all the intensity of ‘go get our boy, dear’).

While I’m generally annoyed w/ Mozzie for any number of reasons, he’s also great. He talks shit but he cares about the Burkes, not just bc Neal does, and sees them as separate from The Establishment. He immediately comes back when he learns what happened (I really wanna know what Neal wrote, was it just ‘WE GOT EL KIDNAPPED BY KELLER’ in bright red capital letters???), and walks right into the FBI. I think it’s also a consequences moment for Mozzie, albeit one that doesn’t really stick, bc he’s the one who taught Neal how to be this self centred, he’s never cared about the effects his actions have on others in the past—partially bc he’s never been in so deep, or pissed off anyone as violent as Keller. He’s also one degree removed—like sure, he cares about the Burkes, but it’s a different relationship than Neal has w/ them. He probably didn’t even consider that Keller would focus on/suspect Neal and by extension them. Mozzie also thinks overly highly of criminal life—he’s got the whole ‘gentleman thief’ illusion. The idea of Keller involving a civilian may never have crossed his mind, bc he projected an ‘honourable battle’ sort of thing onto the situation. He would never involve an innocent civilian, so he doesn’t think that Keller might.

Also if we’re giving acting chops, he’s not family, but I gotta hand them to Keller’s actor, too. That guy does an excellent down played menacing. Definitely much more frightening than his hired muscle.