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jaxinkh · 3 months ago

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Fathers and Sons

Eugene & Rapunzel are visiting Varian.

The Brotherhood is visiting as well. Quirin has invited everyone so Varian could learn more about his heritage, and Varian had in turn invited Eugene & Rapunzel. As the couple was welcomed inside, Varian asked if anyone else came to visit too. Eugene answers him:

“Sorry buddy, but it’s just us. Cass isn’t back for her visits yet and Lance had to figure things out with Kiera & Catalina’s school.”

Everyone had a nice time catching up over tea & apple pie. Edmund had explained many things about the Dark Kingdom., like its religion and the culture that formed in a Kingdom plagued by Black Rocks. Rapunzel was very interested:

“You know, we have the ‘Good Will Gopher Grab’ and ‘the Day of Hearts’ in Corona. Did the Dark Kingdom have any traditions like that?”

Hector says there were several Dark Kingdom traditions. For instance, there was the annual sword-fighting tournament, the harvest festival & the Summer Dance! Rapunzel is excited:

“Is there anything they might be able to do here in Old Corona?”

“Well, there is the Father-Son Contest!”

Adira explains that once a year, teams of fathers & sons would compete in several different challenges. They would hunt, build, fish, shoot a bow & show their physical prowess in a friendly competition. Coincidentally, that contest would be this week! Rapunzel jumps up excitedly:

“We could totally do that! We even have 2 father-son duo’s right here! Right guys?”

Edmund agrees.

“That sounds like a great idea! What do you think, Quirin? Would you and your boy like to challenge us?”

Quirin turns to Varian and asks if he would be ok with that. Varian is happy to join:

“Sure! It sounds like fun!”

After a week of building & setting things up, the course is ready! There are 2 boats, targets, building materials & 2 identical obstacle courses. Rapunzel high-fives Varian & Eugene, happy about a job well done. After a quick check Rapunzel realizes that they don’t have any bows ready. Quirin remembers he has a couple of them. He heads into the house to look for bows. Meanwhile Rapunzel gets curious about the other members of the Brotherhood.

“So how do you like the Kingdom of Corona? It must be strange to be here after 20 years of not leaving your home!”

Edmund agrees, but he does like it here. It’s very colorful and lively! He hopes that one day the Dark Kingdom will be just as lively. Hector disagrees, he actually quite liked the solitude. Eugene asks him if he truly spent 20 years in that Tree without any human contact. Hector denies this:

“I mean, for most of it. Not counting any intruders I chased off, the only people to actually visit were Quirin & his wife. But that was 15, 16 years ago so they could-”

CRASH!!!

Suddenly the group hears a loud noise coming from the house! Worried for Quirin, they rush inside. They find Quirin at the bottom on the stairs, surrounded by fallen books & a toppled over shelf. Unable to stand on his left foot, Edmund & Eugene help him up the stairs and onto a chair. While Adira takes off the boot, Rapunzel asks what happened. Quirin tells her that he tripped and knocked over his bookcase. He’s hurt his ankle though. Adira & Varian look after him while Eugene & Edmund go get the doctor & some ice. Rapunzel offers to clean up the mess in the basement. When she gets down there, she finds Pascal reading one of the books that fell.

“Pascal? What are you doing?”

The little chameleon seems panicked. He points towards the book and he tries to get Rapunzel to read it. Picking it up, Rapunzel realizes this is Quirin’s old diary! She scolds Pascal, saying he shouldn’t read other people’s dairy’s. Pascal still urges her to read it, pointing to a specific page. Rapunzel relents, but still feels bad about it:

“August: Ulla tries to stay optimistic, but I can tell she is only trying to spare my feelings. We have been trying for a few years and she is still not with child. The doctor examined her and she should be more than capable of getting pregnant, so I can only assume the problem lies with me. We both want a baby so badly, I must think of a solution for this. For Ulla. For our family.”

“December: I have discussed it with Ulla, and we finally found a way to have the family we always wanted. She even agreed with my suggestion of who could help us. As soon as the snow clears we will head out. It’s a long journey, but it will be worth it.”

“July: We finally arrived. We pretended this journey was a sort of second honeymoon, but I can tell Ulla is getting nervous now that we are here. I am nervous too. I just hope Hector is willing to hear us out instead of immediately attacking.”

“November: It worked! Ulla has begun showing a bump! She is pregnant! I am so happy, I cannot thank Hector enough! Will it be a boy or a girl? Maybe twins? Ulla vetoed my suggestion of naming the child after the prince, So we will name her Alexis if she’s a girl, and Varian if he is a boy! Even if Hector is the baby’s father, I swear I will raise our child with all the love in the world!”

“RAPS? ARE YOU STILL IN THE BASEMENT? THE DOCTOR IS HERE!”

Eugene calls out to Rapunzel, startling her. She quickly shoves the dairy under the table to hide it. Shaken up, she answers him, saying she’ll be up in a minute. When Eugene leaves, she turns to Pascal:

“Hector is Varian’s actual father? How… Why… Pascal, what are we going to do?”

Pascal turns himself pink like Rapunzel’s dress, and mimes telling to Varian, who he mimes by turning himself wine-red like Varian’s shirt and a blue streak on his head. He urges Rapunzel to tell Varian this. Rapunzel shakes her head vehemently.

“We can’t tell Varian! You know how much he cares about his dad! I mean, about Quirin! He did everything for Quirin, This would break him!”

She slumps down a bit, recalling how she felt when she realized Gothel wasn’t her real mother. Back then, she felt confused, betrayed, hurt, angry! But most of all she felt sad. Everything in her life had been a lie. She doesn’t want to do that to Varian. Rapunzel decides to hide the dairy under the table and forget about it.

Upstairs, the doctor has left. It turns out that Quirin has sprained his ankle and it will take a few weeks to heal. He is upset that he and Varian won’t be able to compete with Eugene & Edmund. Quirin was excited to share something from his homeland with Varian, but it seems like that won’t be possible now. Seeing Varian’s sad look, Quirin turns to Hector:

“Hector, could you perhaps join Varian’s team? I really want him to experience this part of our culture, and I’m not sure he’ll get another chance!”

A little later the group is outside. Quirin has joined Rapunzel & Adira, sitting in a chair Varian has put wheels under. Adira volunteers to be the referee, claiming to be the most impartial of the group.

“Alright! Time for the first contest: the Hunt! Whoever can bring back the biggest-”

Rapunzel whispers something in Adira’s ear. Looking at Varian, Adira sighs and starts over:

“The first contest is TAMING and bringing back the biggest animal. ALIVE, since the princess felt bad.”

The teams head to the starting line near the edge of the forest. At Rapunzel’s signal they run into the woods, searching for the biggest beast! Petting Ruddiger behind the ears, Quirin is a bit nervous. Hunting is easy since you can shoot an animal from afar, but taming one requires you to get close. Adira reassures him. Surely Hector can keep his son safe! Meanwhile in the woods, Hector is following some tracks he found. Varian is following close behind.

“Uncle Hector, you know King Edmund better: Do you think we’ll have a chance of winning?”

“Relax kid, I’m the best tracker of the Brotherhood! As long as what we find has a warrior spirit we’ll be fine!”

This confuses Varian. He asks what Hector means by ‘warrior spirit’?

“Well, I tamed my bearcats & my rhino by beating them in battle! They respected me and accepted me as their leader since they recognized a fellow warrior. Let’s hope this beastie is the same. Speaking of which…”

Varian looks in front of Hector. They found the source of the tracks, and it’s growling with its tail between the legs.

“Uncle Hector, wait! I don’t think this one has a ‘warrior spirit’ like you said! Can I try something first?”

Hector looks at Varian & the wolf & thinks for a bit. Sheathing his swords, he steps aside.

“Kay!”

On the other side of the forest are Edmund & Eugene. They too are following tracks. They are pretty big tracks, so Eugene is pretty sure they will be able to win if they can tame this one. After a while they find the animal that made them. While checking it out from a distance, Eugene expresses his doubts about this:

“What do you think, pops? Do you reckon we can get to be buddy-buddy with a bear?”

“Don’t worry, son! I actually had a pet bear named Petunia when I was young!”

Eugene looks at Edmund incredulously.

“Really? An actual bear, or a teddy bear? Cuz I’d prefer not to get mauled by 600 pounds of angry animal!”

Edmund steps out of the bushes, and shows himself to the bear, which immediately starts to growl.

“Have no fear, Eugene! I’ll show you why they used to call me the Bear-King!”

Meanwhile, Adira & Quirin are having some tea, and Rapunzel has just retrieved some fresh ice for Quirin’s ankle. Sitting down and getting some tea herself, Raps wonders who will return first. Adira isn’t sure.

“Well, Hector will probably find something first but I doubt he’ll win. He’s far more likely to wrestle whatever he finds here. Turning this into a ‘taming-competition’ is a real handicap for him.”

Quirin on the other hand thanks Rapunzel & Adira for it. He was worried, since Varian isn’t good with blood. Suddenly they hear rustling coming from the trees. Adira stands up, ready to judge.

A stick is thrown out of the woods. Immediately after that a wolf comes jumping out of the trees! It’s wagging its tail and looking quite pleased! Hector & Varian follow it out of the woods. Varian quickly calls the wolf back before it goes after Rudiger.

“Bernadette! Come back, girl!”

The wolf bounces back to Varian, stick in its mouth. Varian takes the stick and throws it again, playing fetch with the wolf he named Bernadette. Hector walks up to the group.

“Well? How’s that? I’d say that’s a beauty of a wolf right there! Do you think she’ll be enough to win?”

Adira is surprised. She didn’t expect Hector to actually tame something that friendly. Hector admits it wasn’t him:

“It was actually Varian who tamed her. He noticed she was more scared than aggressive and calmed her down. He’s pretty good with beasties! I didn’t expect that from the kid.”

Varian guides the wolf back to Adira so she can have a good look.

“I guess animals just like me. I’m not sure why, but when I first met Rudiger he would constantly try to break into my lab just to see me. I only started feeding him when we were already friends. If it’s ok with you I’d like to let Bernadette go now, she should be with her pack instead of in town.”

Adira says it’s ok, and Bernadette trots back into the woods with her stick. Quirin is very happy Varian didn’t decide to keep her. He got a headache just thinking about looking after a wolf! They suddenly hear 2 shouts of surprise coming from the woods! Edmund and Eugene have returned as well. Eugene waves at the group:

“We’re back! So can I assume that the wolf that nearly ran into us was your catch?”

Eugene & Edmund look terrible! They are dirty & their clothes are slightly torn. Rapunzel starts plucking the twigs out of Eugene’s hair.

“Are you hurt? What happened?”

“Well, Sunshine. Turns out that some bears like wrestling. Who’d have thought?”

Rapunzel smiles at him. She assures him it’s not a problem if they didn’t manage to tame a bear, that would be really difficult, especially since Edmund was wearing a bearskin as a cape. That doesn’t exactly invite friendship!

Suddenly she hears a growl. The bear rushes towards Edmund! Adira & Rapunzel get ready for a fight, but Edmund tackles the bear into a hug:

“There she is! Isn’t she a beauty? I shall name you Petunia II, and we will be partners for life!”

The bear starts licking Edmunds face, clearly agreeing with him. Everyone is surprised, except Eugene.

“Like I said, apparently she likes to wrestle. I thought we were goners, but it worked out in the end!”

While Bernadette the wolf was impressive, everyone agrees that Petunia II the bear is the clear winner. Adira declares Edmund & Eugene victorious and the group gets ready for the next challenge.

“Next up is archery! Grab your bows and head for the target please!!”

Adira shows the group the target and instructs everyone to stay behind the line. Everyone gets 3 shots, and the team that scores the most points will win! After a coin toss, Varian & Hector are up first. Hector takes aim, and manages to hit 2 of them in the center of the target, with the last arrow ending up in the second ring instead. Varian cheers for his uncle.

“Amazing! You’re really good at this, uncle Hector!”

Hector stands proud, clearly taking in the praise. But when Varian tries to shoot, Hector stops him.

“Kid, your stance is all wrong. You’re going to poke someone’s eye out that way. Did Quirin never teach you how to use a bow or something?”

Varian shakes his head. He never used a bow before, since Quirin didn’t think it was necessary for him to learn. Varian never wanted to be a hunter and he faints at the sight of blood, so it never came up. Hector scoffs at that:

“What the heck, Quirin! He needs to know stuff like this, you can’t shelter kids! Next thing you’re going to tell me you didn’t teach him how to fight!”

Seeing Varian’s sheepish look, Hector sighs.

“Of course the last knight of the Brotherhood didn’t teach you that. Ok kid, first I’m going to teach you how to shoot, then I’ll teach you how to fight. You have to be able to defend yourself!”

Maneuvering Varian into a proper stance, Hector gives a quick rundown of how to aim and when to shoot. Following the instructions, Varian manages to hit the target. Sure, none of the arrows hit the center, but 1 hits the smaller ring while the other 2 hit the outer one. Varian is happy with this, and he gets a compliment from Hector. Quirin cheers from the sideline.

“Good job, son! You did great!”

Varian waves back to Quirin. He’s very happy he managed to hit the target at all. As Eugene approaches the target, Varian asks Hector if it will be enough to win. Hector tells Varian that it depends entirely on how Eugene shoots. Eugene aims, and shoots:

“Yes! One dead center and 2 inner rings! Lucky shot!”

Eugene celebrates, high fiving Edmund. He did better than he thought he would! Hector groans:

“Well, there goes the win. We’ve lost this one, kid.”

“What? Why? King Edmund only has one arm, how can he even shoot with that?”

While Varian is confused, Edmund takes his place. Using his foot and his one arm, he shoots all 3 arrows dead in the middle of the target. They are so well aimed the arrows pierce each other down the middle! Eugene whistles in amazement.

“Dang, pops! How in the world did you get so good at that?”

Edmund admits that even before the kingdom was evacuated he was the best archer in the Dark Kingdom. When he guarded the Moonstone he would practice with his one arm whenever he got bored, which was often. Varian & Hector didn’t stand a chance!

Next up is the building competition. While Adira moves the target further away, Rapunzel explains the rules:

“Ok, teams! You’re both doing great! For this competition both teams need to make a catapult! You can use whatever items are in the piles next to you, and no stealing from the other’s pile! I can guarantee they have the exact same stuff in them, so it’s 100% fair!”

Eugene whines a bit, claiming it’s not really fair if the Royal Engineer is competing, but since he had the Dark Kingdom’s best archer last round Hector tells him to suck it up. Varian smugly says since Edmund only had one arm he will only use one arm as well, to make it fair for Eugene. The group gets 1 hour to make the best catapult, judged by who can get a pumpkin the closest to the target. While the teams are building away, Rapunzel goes to get some drinks for everyone. While pouring the drinks she sees Pascal trying to drag the diary out of the basement.

“Pascal! Stop that! I know you really want me to tell Varian, but I… I just can’t. Not yet at least. Can we wait until after the Brotherhood has left? I want Varian to be able to bond with his family without this hanging over his head.”

Pascal relents and Rapunzel takes the diary. She hides it in her pocket and takes the drinks outside. When she gets back to the group both teams are ready to show off their catapults. Rapunzel is impressed by both teams:

“Wow! These look amazing, guys! So sophisticated! Varian, are you sure you only used one hand?”

Varian shows he indeed had his hand tied around his back. As it turns out, Hector is quite handy too! He had designed and created the mechanism to extend and retract his swords into their gauntlets himself:

“I had to be able to repair these things myself, after all. Who knows? If I had applied myself to engineering instead of the sword I might have been half as good as the kid!”

Varian laughs claiming they have a lot in common, but Rapunzel gets nervous. She begins to worry that Varian might start to notice their similarities. Meanwhile, Adira looks over the catapults. Edmund & Eugene’s looks like a standard, but well-constructed catapult. Hector & Varian’s looks more like a cannon than a catapult, but since it doesn’t use gun-powder it is allowed. Instead it uses a mechanism similar to Hector’s swords. Adira hands Eugene a pumpkin for their attempt. He loads up the pumpkin while Edmund aims. Satisfied, Edmund starts to count down:

“Alright, stand back everyone! 3… 2… 1… LAUNCH!”

With a big arc, the pumpkin soars through the air! Following it with their eyes, they see it comes pretty close! Rapunzel & Adira head to the target and measure the distance from where the pumpkin hit the ground to the target. Rapunzel shouts the distance to Quirin to write down.

“Only 9 feet from the target! Great job, guys!”

Edmund & Eugene high five. They did very well for a target that was 150 feet away. Rapunzel gives Varian the next pumpkin. They load it up, aim and Varian begins their own countdown:

“1… 2… 3… SHOOT!”

Hector pulls the lever and activates their catapult. It shoots the pumpkin much faster and in a straight line! It zooms across the field and hits the target dead on, knocking it over! Hector & Varian celebrate:

“Yes! It worked! Good job, kiddo!”

“It worked PERFECTLY! Using your swords as a reference was a great idea!”

Quirin holds Ruddiger back from chasing the tasty pumpkin. He smiles at the teams.

“Good job everyone. I don’t think measuring will be necessary this time, though!”

Giving Eugene a kiss on the check, Rapunzel assures him their catapult was also amazing. Besides, Edmund & Eugene are still in the lead. They only need to win once more to be crowned champions!

“You’re right, Sunshine! We still got this! Alright, let’s get fishing! To the boats!”

Both teams are fishing on opposite sides of the lake. It’s been about 30 minutes, and neither side has gotten any bites yet. Neither team wants to scare away the fish. Eugene is worried since it’s taking so long. He leans back to whisper to Edmund:

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to also secretly be the best fisher of the Dark Kingdom? Because it’s been half an hour and I’m not sure I’m trusting my luck here.”

“Don’t worry son. If I know Hector, and I do, he will be eating himself up with frustration right about now. Despite guarding a Tree for 20 years, he isn’t actually a very patient person. He will act up soon, we just have to out-wait him.”

Eugene looks carefully at Hector & Varian’s boat. Sure enough, Hector is angrily tapping his feet. Beside him, Varian is also drumming his fingers on his fishing rod with impatience. Suddenly Hector stands up and growls in anger:

“THAT’S IT. I’M SPEARING ONE OF THESE STUPID FISHES!”

“Uncle Hector, please calm down! You’re scaring away the fish!”

Unsheathing his sword, he leans over the edge. Varian also stands up to get him to calm down, but the way they are pulling on each other rocks the boat heavily!

SPLASH!

They accidentally tip the boat and both Hector & Varian fall into the water! With the boat turned over both swim to shore. In the next boat Edmund turns to Eugene:

“See? This always happens. If Hector cannot train while he is waiting he just works himself into a frenzy!”

Eugene watches as the 2 swimmers head for land. He feels bad for them since they got soaked. Just as he is about to suggest getting back to shore themselves, he feels a tugging on his rod. Eugene has a bite! Edmund cheers for him:

“Well done, son! Reel it in!”

“I got it, I got it!”

Eugene & Edmund work together and reel in a trout! They row back to shore, and arrive a few moments before Varian & Hector. While Adira measures their fish, Varian suddenly starts to swim erratically.

“MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

The group looks at Varian, who is laughing like an evil villain. Pulling him out of the water, Varian is shaking with laughter:

“HAHAHAHAHA GET OUT!!! THAT TICKLES!!!”

Reaching down his shirt, Varian pulls out a fish. It’s a bass, and it’s much bigger than Eugene’s trout! Varian sighs in relief. Quirin worriedly asks Varian if he is ok.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It just felt really weird! Oh! Aunt Adira, does this fish count? It’s really big!”

Adira laughs, telling him it does. Varian high fives Hector for their victory. Raps wonders if it should count, since they didn’t catch it the way it was intended. Quirin laughs at this:

“Well, it’s Adira’s call. Besides, this way the final competition will be much more exciting, won’t it?”

Adira agrees. But before they can compete, Hector & Varian must dry off. She sends them inside to get ready for the final competition, the obstacle course. Quirin asks her who she thinks will win. Adira thinks for a bit:

“If you want my honest guess, I think it will be Fishskin and King Edmund. Hector is faster than both of them, but Goggles has no practice running over difficult terrain. Besides, you and I both know that King Edmund and Fish-Skin being related makes them more in sync. We’ve seen it times and times again back in the Dark Kingdom. There is no substitute for that kind of compatibility!”

Quirin looks surprised at this.

“Adira, did I never tell you? Hector is-”

Rapunzel cuts him off:

“Hey! I think Hector and Varian need some help finding towels inside! Why don’t you two go and help them, while Pascal and I check over the course again? Ok?”

Startled by Rapunzel’s sudden request, Quirin and Adira head inside. Rapunzel sighs in relief. She then looks worriedly at the course before turning to Pascal:

“That was really close, Quirin almost told Adira! This is bad, Pascal. You heard Adira, right? If Hector and Varian win the competition she’ll be suspicious about their compatibility! If she starts to ask questions, it will only be a matter of time until Varian finds out, he’s too smart for that! They can’t win, we have to…we’ll have to sabotage them, so Eugene & Edmund win!”

Pascal looks at her disapprovingly. He is not ok with that, but Raps is so scared of causing Varian grief that she powers through her guilt. Looking over the course, she sees a part that she can alter.

“If I sabotage this part of the final tower climb, it will fall off the side! They won’t be able to complete the climb to catch the flag. At least Varian will be able to have fun with the rest of the course…”

When Hector & Varian are dried off, everyone heads outside again. Rapunzel is putting lots of hay around the towers. Eugene asks her what she is doing. Rapunzel responds that the hay is to cushion any falls. She doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, after all. The group heads to the starting line, and Adira goes over the course, explaining the obstacles to Varian and Eugene as they never participated before.

“Ok, everyone! There are two identical courses, one for each team. First you swing over the lake to the landing platform and then you make your way over the smaller platforms to the balancing section and lastly you climb the tower. The father must stay on the tower while the son goes for the flag. Whoever grabs the flag first wins! Simple enough, right?”

The teams get ready. Varian looks nervous, but Hector gives him an encouraging grin. Eugene and Edmund give each other a confident look. Adira starts the countdown:

“3… 2… 1… GO!”

Both teams race off! Hector and Eugene reach their ropes first and swing onto the platform with ease. Eugene throws back the rope and makes room for his father to land. Hector on the other hand stays put and catches Varian as he swings.

Eugene is jumping from one tiny platform to the other and making his way to the balancing beam. Looking back he sees Edmund do the same, but he is slower due to his weight. Eugene asks if Edmund is ok, but Edmund says he will manage.

“I shouldn’t have worn my armor for this!”

Hector and Varian are not far behind them. Hector expertly jumps from one platform to the next, years of living in a tree showing their results. Varian however is lagging behind. He never did much parkour, unlike the Brotherhood members and the former thief. He barely makes it over the balancing beam without falling into the water.

Rapunzel is running around the lake to keep up with them, they are fast! Adira is struggling to keep up while pushing Quirin’s chair, falling behind. Rapunzel tells her she will keep an eye on who wins and runs after the men. Both teams made it to the other side of the lake and reached the towers. Raps gets nervous, hoping her sabotage will work as she planned. She sees both teams climb to the top, with Eugene and Edmund in the lead. They start to climb, and reach the final stretch: A pole straight up, with the flag on top. Eugene is a third of the way up, and Hector realizes Varian won’t be able to outclimb him.

“Kid, he’s fast! You got any ideas?”

Varian looks determined at the flag, and turns to Hector:

“Throw me!”

Hector picks Varian up and throws him up the pole! He flies past Eugene and makes it halfway to the top before he grabs hold to climb himself. Suddenly they hear a crack!

To Rapunzel’s horror, the pole she sabotaged starts to topple with Varian on it! With a scream, Varian holds on as parts of the tower come down. Luckily, the pole fell into the ropes holding up the flags and stayed put, precariously suspended over the edge. One part of the tower has fallen into the hay at the bottom, sticking straight up and having dangerous points. If Varian falls on it he would be skewered!

“Help me!”

Varian is hanging from the pole, halfway out. Hector tries to reach for him, but he is too far. Hector tries to stand on the pole to get to Varian, but it cracks even more, making him stop. The men are so busy trying to get to Varian that they haven’t noticed the dangerous spike below. Eugene and Edmund are trying to help, throwing a rope to Varian. Varian tries to grab it, but his hands slip, and he falls! Hector jumps after him, grabbing Varian with one hand while grabbing & holding on to the tower with the other. The weight is too much, and the pole starts to break further!

Rapunzel runs near the catapults made earlier and gets an idea. She runs up to the one made by Varian and Hector and aims it at the hay pile. Realizing she has no ammo, she searches around and in her pockets, finding Quirin’s diary. She loads it up and fires it! The diary shoots across the field, and hits the spike dead-on! It dislodges from the hay and gets knocked out of the way.

The pole gives way completely, and Hector and Varian fall into the hay. Eugene & Edmund start digging them out, fearing the worst. After a few moments, both of them emerge from the pile, unhurt. Rapunzel runs up to them and hugs Varian.

“Are you ok? I’m so sorry, Varian! I never should’ve messed with your course, I swear I didn’t think you would get hurt! Are you hurt? Oh, what did I do? I’m sorry!”

Varian is confused.

“Wait, you sabotaged our course? You caused the pole to fall? Why?”

Adira and Quirin caught up, and heard Rapunzel’s confession. They are very angry with her. While Quirin fusses over Varian, Adira scolds the princess.

“That was very dangerous, Princess. I’m very disappointed in you. I understand you want Fish-skin to win, but that’s no-”

“That’s not… I didn’t want Eugene to win, I needed Hector and Varian to lose! I-”

Eugene looks disappointed, while Varian looks hurt.

“You wanted us to lose? Why?”

While the others are trying to understand, Quirin sees something in the hay:

“What is… Is this my old diary? What is it doing here?”

Rapunzel looks down with guilt.

“Pascal found it after you fell. I… read part of it. I’m sorry… I know the truth.”

Quirin is confused. Varian is getting upset. He asks what she is talking about. Eugene asks if it’s why she sabotaged the course. Under the barrage of questions, Rapunzel can no longer stay silent.

“I’m sorry, Varian. The diary… Quirin… Quirin is not your father. Hector is. I sabotaged the course because I was afraid that, if you won, you’d realize how much you and Hector have in common and would find out you’re his son!”

Eugene is shocked. Adira’s eyes open wide in surprise. Rapunzel is starting to tear up, feeling awful about the whole situation. All three are looking at Varian, worried about his reaction. After a few moments, Varian speaks up:

“You… you sabotaged us, to hide that?”

“Raps, I… uh...”

“I already knew that?”

Rapunzel’s eyes snap open again. She looks at Varian, confused.

“WHAT?”

Varian rubs his head, a bit sheepish:

“Yeah… mom and dad told me I was “an uncle’s kid” when I was 4 years old. I had noticed I didn’t look anything like dad, so I asked mom why. She was never one to lie about stuff and just told me. Dad gave me a lollipop after, I think. It was never a big deal.”

Rapunzel finally relaxes, all tension leaving her body. She is so relieved that Varian isn’t upset! But she asks if Varian knew, why did he still call Quirin his dad? Varian first looks at her strangely for that question, but remembering Rapunzel’s history with parental figures he sighs.

“Dad raised me since the day I was born, with nothing but love! I’m his son no matter what, and he is my dad! No offense, Uncle Hector.”

“None taken, kid. I never wanted a kid and Lord knows I have no business raising one. You’re fun now that you’re older, but when kids are small I need to be able to give ‘em back to someone else. I need my ‘me’ time!”

The group laughs at that, mostly in relief though. Standing up, Rapunzel asks what they should do now. Adira puts her hand on Raps’s shoulder, and gives her a friendly yet stern look.

“First, as punishment, you are going to repair the course. Then we can have a proper race and crown the winner! Meanwhile, the rest will have some apple pie!”

END

#jaxinkh #my art #tangled #tangled series #tangled the series #eugene tangled #tangled eugene #tangled rapunzel #tangled varian #varian tangled #varian #hector tangled #tts hector #tts #my writing

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real-total-drama-takes · 11 months ago

Note

I loved the teams’ almost opposite approaches to voting off campers in Total Drama Island.

The Screaming Gophers were way more pragmatic, I noticed. If you cost your team the game or couldn’t be of use to your team, you were out! Noah being useless at dodgeball, Izzy blabbing the idea for DJ to push everyone’s canoes to the other team, Cody being injured beyond use to his team, Beth being blamed for “cursing” their team with a losing streak. Literally the only elimination that didn’t follow this rule was Justin, which was orchestrated by Heather. Speaking of Heather, it’s why I think she always stayed over the other person she was in the bottom 2 with–she was actually determined to win for their team, was frequently a leader (if a very bossy one), and was more useful than the other guy.

Meanwhile, the Killer Bass treated the team like a social hierarchy. You had the Bass trio of Duncan (the ringleader), Geoff, and DJ. Duncan had his C.I.T. Princess at the helm (who was pretty bossy, but stayed due to Duncan’s crush on her). Geoff had his surfer babe Bridgette too (who was super popular and likable in her own right). If you weren’t those 5, you might as well go home.

The Bass definitely voted off players for costing them the game (Katie, Tyler, Harold), but I recall instances like Ezekiel and Eva making themselves social pariahs with their sexism and cabin-destroying rage, respectively. You also had Harold, and as good as he was at winning for their team, he was just gross and geeky, which made him unpopular. I recall FOUR times he was in the bottom 2 (during Eva, Sadie, Courtney, & his own elimination), and it was only for HIS elimination that he actually cost his team the game. I even remember Courtney rallying everyone against Sadie for hitting her with apples and taking it personally. And even Harold not performing the worst in the boot-camp episode couldn’t save him from almost being voted off had he not rigged the votes, just because Courtney was Duncan’s girlfriend and officially a part of the gang now.

Just interesting to see their two approaches.

#td the screaming gophers #td the killer bass #tdi

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thiswasinevitableid · 11 months ago

Text

Aim True (Bridglar)

The runner-up of the "country loves songs" prompt poll was: Trick Shot

Virginia City gets cheesier every year. John is just glad the worst of the Nevada heat hasn’t made an early appearance; last year, it reached triple digits in spite of it being only May.

“Mr. Bridgens!” Three of his students wave to him from in front of the “Olde West Shooting Gallery.”

Why they’re attempting a middle English spelling in a state that never saw a British colony is beyond him, but he waves back as he crosses the road to join them.

Ostensibly, this field trip is to cap off the senior year with a celebration of Nevada history. John doubts more than a handful of students see it as anything other than a chance to spend the day browsing souvenir shops, daring each other to go into the plethora of haunted hotels, and gorging on ice cream and caramel apples. But they look forward to it, and he does like seeing the young minds he’s shepherded through AP or standard English have a day to just be young and carefree.

Principal Franklin sets only three mandatory events for the day: getting to the bus on time, getting back on the bus on time to depart, and seeing the live “Wild West” show.

The trio of students tells him all about the Silver Queen as they find seats in the open-air theater. John ends up between Franklin and James Fitzjames, the drama teacher. He wishes he’d taken a cue from VP Crozier and brought a large hat; the sun is baking his scalp, and the flies keep buzzing past his ears.

“Ladies and gentlemen, cowpokes of all ages, prepare for the wildest show this side of the Rockies!”

The crowd cheers with mild enthusiasm; it’s only the 11am show, after all. No one has had time to imbibe from the saloons lining the street. Not that John would anyway; he’d sooner die than be a derelict chaperone.

A stetson-bearing figure bursts through the central curtains and the staff, and a few of the seniors, hoot and clap. Thomas Blanky, former and much beloved shop teacher, gives an exaggerated bow before launching into the same speech he gives every year.

“Howdy folks! We’re just plum tickled you could join us all on this fine, Friday mornin’. We got a real fine show for you today full of sharp shootin, trick ropin’, and the prettiest face in the west” he winks, “the rest of my troop ain’t bad either.”

Bad accent aside, John enjoys seeing his old colleague acting the ham. Blanky runs through a handful of mildly impressive trick shots, including popping balloons taped to the hats of his fellow performers.

Next is a comedy act involving a literal dog and pony (and a cockatoo), the handler going by Irving insisting that the routine is wholesome while his co-presenter and the exotic bird do everything they can to undermine this assertion.

The third act earns an incredibly loud cheer from James and Francis, as well as from the rather odd duo behind them of Goodsir (biology) and Collins (P.E). Lady Silence, as Blanky calls her, steps onto stage, and John is tickled to see she’s sporting period-accurate Shoshone clothing. Her act consists of more elaborate trick shots, all of which she does without uttering even a peep of fear while permitting a tarantula, then a scorpion, then a rattlesnake (“really a gopher snake” Francis mutters, only to be elbowed by James) to climb on her arms and hands.

When Lady Silence is done, she’s followed off stage by the loudest cheers so far, including a “Brava” from Goodsir.

Act number four sets John's heart beating quicker; knife throwing has always struck him as one of the more dangerous endeavors one could pursue. It doesn’t help that Mr. Irving is back, looking a bit too convincingly terrified as one Mr. Hickey outlines his silhouette with knives. When both men exit in one piece, he relaxes and listens to Blanky introduce the final act.

“And now, to close out our show, the amazing, whip-smart, hawk-eyed, Harry Peglar!”

John’s heart speeds up again.

The man smiling out at the crowd with quiet showmanship and earnest excitement has the most handsome face he’s ever had the pleasure to see.

Harry tips his hat and proceeds to shoot smaller and smaller targets from the air. The coin shot is so impressive that he even hands it to Crozier to inspect before and after the shot. As he straightens and tucks the coin into his pocket, his eyes fall onto John

“For this next trick, I need a charming assistant. How about you, sir?”

John blushes, his instinct to demur, but both Franklin and James urge him forward, and so he allows Harry to pull him up onto the stage. Some of his students cheer, and he can tell without looking that many phones are pointed his way.

“What’s your name, sir?”

God, does the man have to address him that way? He can only pass so much pink off as

sunburn.

“John.”

“Tell me, John, do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Good man.” Harry claps him once, friendly, on the shoulder, “you do, however, know what one of these are?” He produces a cigarette from his pocket.

“Yes.” He smiles, “I said I don’t, not that I never.”

Audible shock from some of the students earns a laugh from the crowd.

“Are you willing to hold this in your mouth for me? It won’t be there very long.”

John obligingly parts his lips only to realize, belatedly, that Harry meant for him to take it from his fingers. Without missing a beat, the trick shooter places it against his lower lip with a grin.

“Now, John, I have another question. Do you know what this is?”

He holds a bullwhip up to the crowd to “oohs” and “ahhs.” John, slightly distracted wondering where the man had been hiding the implement, nods. He’s fairly certain James is cheering extra-excitedly; he did make John watch all four Indiana Jones films.

“Here’s what I’m going to do, John. I’m going to light that cigarette for you. And before you even have a chance to inhale, I’m going to put it out from all the way over there.” He gestures eight feet to his right.

Harry looks over his shoulder, still audible to the crowd but with clear sincerity, “Do I have your permission, John?”

He nods again, trying not to imagine all the other things he’d grant Harry permission to do if he gave him that same look once more.

“Wonderful! Let’s have some cheers for my brave volunteer!”

He uses the cacophony to huddle in close to John, who steadies the unlit cigarette steady with his fingers so the younger man can click a tarnished Zippo beneath it. Then, in a blink, he’s out of reach, unfurling the whip and testing it, bantering with the crowd but keeping his focus clearly on John.

“Ready, John?”

Not knowing what else to do and feeling too tense to nod, he offers a thumbs up.

“Hold still now, I’ll have that out for you in three, two, one.”

Crack

His ears ring, though the claps from the crown and the lack of any blood on his face tell him Harry managed his trick beautifully. He holds up the remainder of the cigarette, increasing the cheers.

“Well done, John!” Harry practically bounds up to him, “let’s give him one more round of applause, folks!”

John means to leave the stage to the performers once more, but before he can, Harry grabs his hand and brings him down into a bow along with him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

There’s an hour left to go on the field trip, and John is an extremely icy cold brew that Fitzjames treated him to. Most of the students are staying close to main street, finishing up their last purchases and taking endless pictures of each other.

“They were a fun crowd.”

He turns to find Harry leaning against a streetlight, still in his cowboy costume, ten times more handsome than anyone who ever played the role on screen “school groups can be hit or miss.”

“I’m glad as well; an excellent show deserves an appreciative audience.”

“Easy to put on a good show when you’ve got good help. I, um” he reaches into his pocket, “I have to go get ready for the show at two, but I meant to give you this before you hopped off stage. I always like to give it to my volunteer for that trick. This time I was a little flustered and forgot.”

Harry holds out the coin from his sharpshooting trick, dropping it into John’s palm.

“Oh, I-” He’s not sure if he means to protest, or say thank you, but Harry cuts him off by closing his palm for him, keeping his own hand around it.

“Something to remember me by.”

A flash of a smile, followed by someone shouting his name from across the way, and then he’s gone. John stands, watching him walk toward the theater, and savoring the ghost of those fingers around his own.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Late June finds him back in a much hotter Virginia City, the sun refusing to drop behind the mountains quickly enough to provide a much needed respite from the glare. He hadn’t expected to visit again so soon, but Silna and Goodsir invited him to meet them for dinner; the Delta Saloon has begun serving a special, twice-monthly menu of period accurate fare and he’s very excited to see if it’s any good.

Arriving early–there’s been bad traffic the last two days so he erred on the side of caution–leaves him ample time to ponder the historical artifacts tucked away in the corners of the saloon. He’s reading the plaque on the “suicide table” when a figure steps beside him.

“Anticlimactic, I always thought.”

Harry smiles when John looks his way, the undercurrent noticeably changing from friendliness to hope when John smiles back. He’s dressed in modern clothing; a black tank top, tan shorts, and ankle hiking boots (much better protection against the dust, pebbles, and sunburn than the sandals of most of the visitors).

“The story” Harry continues, “that it’s named that when what happened is one or two people might have killed themselves because of losing money at it, not because someone used it in one, or died right on the wood. Besides, if that’s the bar for calling something a suicide table, I’d bet half the slot machines from here to Vegas need the same plaque.”

“Agreed. Though I do enjoy the thought of preserving some piece of the past, even if it’s to make salacious signs about it.”

“Did you come all the way back just to read our signs?” Harry says with a hint of cheek.

“That depends on if there are any you think I’d like.” He turns full-on toward Harry, who aims for a subtle looking him over and fails.

When his phone buzzes, he considers dropping it in the nearest pitcher of water.

“One moment, I’m meeting Silna and Harry, other Harry, that might be them.”

H. Goodsir: Running late, courtesy of the majesty of nature.

Attached is a photo of a herd of mustangs, who seem utterly disinterested in moving from both lanes of Highway 50. He shows it to Harry, adding, “That’s not sarcasm; the man is delighted any time he sees the native wildlife. Which doesn’t always end well; we were driving to a conference in Tahoe once and he stopped to look at a large black bear. Still in the car, of course, but poor Mr. Collins was still rather stressed by the proximity.”

Harry laughs, then tilts his head towards the bar, “Sounds like we might have time for a drink?”

“I’d say so.”

John orders a gin and tonic, paying for Harry’s lager with a playful, “they don’t pay teachers that poorly” when the younger man tells him he doesn’t have to.

“What do you teach? I didn’t get the chance to ask and I’d been wondering.”

“English, two classes of honors and the rest for seniors and a handful of juniors.”

“I hope they get on better with you than I did with mine; we got into an argument over Tess of the D’urbervilles and I’m not sure he ever got over it. The dyslexia didn’t help; he thought I wasn’t applying myself.”

“That’s a shame. There are lots of ways to assist students who struggle with reading, for any reason. And as a teacher, I’d argue it’s part of the job to make sure you do.” He sips his drink, “may I ask what the argument was?”

“I just thought it was worth talking about how Hardy has a lot of opinions on farming and morality for a man who probably never did any farm work. All well and good to talk about the evils of modernization taking us away from nature, but acting like the things that make running a farm ten times easier are evil because they don’t match your imagined idea of the life seemed…shallow. And I thought that might be an interesting angle to look at the book from. Mr. Thompson disagreed.”

“I happen to think it’s an excellent point.”

A shrug and a sweet smile, “Might have just come to me because I grew up on a farm. You grow up shoveling cow shit, you have some thoughts on the pastoral.” He flinches, “pardon my french.”

“Harry, I was in the navy for ten years, I’ve heard profanity that would make the devil faint.”

“That’s why you have tattoos. I noticed them during the show and, um” he takes another sip, licking his lips after in what’s either an automatic motion or a bid to drive John mad with desire, “I’ve been thinking about them ever since.”

He forces himself not to say that if he’s a very good boy, Harry might get to see the rest. This can just be a friendly drink. If Harry wants it to be more that’s for him to decide. John won’t push it.

“None of your own?”

“Not yet. I want to get a line of poetry but I haven’t decided on which.”

John is very glad for this; if he’d managed to get Harry into bed only to find lines from one of the greats etched into his skin, he might have fainted.

“Who are the contenders?”

A snicker, “Thomas Hardy, for one. I do love his poems about nature. I like Whitman too, but it’s so hard to choose…”

They spend a good half-hour discussing the merits, and ironies, or tattooing varies stanzas onto oneself. By the time Goodsir taps him on the shoulder, they’re leaning far enough towards each other that his glass nearly hits Harry’s jaw when he jolts in surprise.

“I was starting to worry you’d be stuck there all night.”

“I’m sure.” Goodsir says with a smile and a glance at Harry that suggests he doesn’t fully believe him, “they eventually realized there were better places to rest their hooves. I got some wonderful pictures though.”

“You’re going to run out of memory at this rate. Again.” Silna keeps her amused look as she adds, “do you want to eat with us, Henry?”

“Oh no, I don’t want to intrude, I was just keeping John occupied while you got here. I ought to be going, it’s not the longest drive back to Dayton but I’ve got a mountain of chores to do. I’ll see you tomorrow, Silna. Nice to see you, Harry, and it was wonderful talking with you John.” He offers a final, parting smile. John watches him go once more, wondering if doing so makes him lecherous, or if he even cares if it does. At the door, Harry pauses, looking back, and his face brightens when he sees John is looking at him. Then he winks and steps into the finally cooling air.

“Your right pocket.” Goodsir murmurs as the waiter leads them to a table.

John ventures a hand into his shorts and finds a slip of saloon napkin next to the coin, the one he’s been carrying like a lucky charm for a month.

Give me a call

It’s followed by a phone number. Harry didn’t have a chance to write it while they were talking, which means he must have done it the moment he saw John in the bar.

Silna shakes her head, “I told him I could just give it to you for him.”

“You trick shooters, you do have a flair for the dramatic.” Goodsir pulls out her chair.

“If we didn't, no one would watch.”

John lets them banter for the moment. After all, he has to attend to the pressing matter of asking if Harry would like to join him for coffee tomorrow.

#bridglar #john bridgens/henry peglar #john bridgens #henry peglar #amc the terror #yeehawgust 2024 #modern au

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the-kr8tor · 1 year ago

Note

Can we all join forces just to say no roze? Also elaborating on :feather: anon's hobat x farmer reader here>:)

Daily Hobie HC! You stride out into the fields of your farm, making your way straight to the strawberries, giving yourself the excuse of you can check on your other fruits later.

You crouched down at the strawberry shrubs, making sure your gloves were properly on your hands as you dug into them, picking out the red, fresh strawberries that often hid in the middle of the bunch.

As you moved further down the line, however, you began to notice the strawberry quality degrading severely. Your basket was only half-way full, while you picked out a low-quality strawberry and observed it.

There were two puncture marks, with a few nibbles here and there as well, especially on the reddest parts of the strawberry, and avoiding the more lighter bits.

With the supposedly ripe ones, only the tops were left connected to to the plantation.

Your quickest assumption would be the gophers that you loathe as a farmer, but the evidence didn't quite match up, and last time you checked, gophers weren't particularly attracted to strawberries.

With a sigh of defeat, you take the half-eaten strawberry, curious if you could possibly narrow down to what has eaten it. It's been a while since anything attacked your strawberry farm, so it was high up on the priority list.

You return home, setting your evidence-strawberry in a plastic container near your computer. You pour the strawberries into a bowl, letting them soak in the water and rid the bright red fruits of any dirt or debris, before straining them.

You contemplate making strawberry jam, wondering if it'll be enough. After thoroughly washing and storing the strawberries, you set out into your farm once more, tending to the other fruits you had. Apples, mandarins, plums, all the fun stuff.

Every other fruit in season seemed to be fine, apart from the strawberries. You wonder if the culprit only goes for strawberries as you pick the ripe fruits, placing them in your basket.

Once everything had been harvested, you return back inside, repeating the process, before going out and watering your farm.

Once your daily routine has been done, you returned back inside, trying to research anything that may be the cause of the degraded quality of strawberries.

There were a few good possibilities, but none of them seemed to match to what you found on the strawberry. Finally admitting defeat after two hours with your back aching, you stand up and simply just return to the kitchen, intent on making that strawberry jam that peaked your interest.

This mystery creature had seemed to get more ravenous and branched out to other fruits around the farm. At night, your frustrations take the best of you, causing you to simply just walk out into your farm.

You barely open the door before you see the faint silhouette of a bat quickly flying off. More awake than ever, you rush to where you saw the bat fly off from. One of your apple trees.

One of the apples were freshly bitten into and eaten. And now you have the culprit.

Every day and night you attempt to ward off this odd, singular bat, to no avail. Netting doesn't work, repelling smells or tastes doesn't work either. It's like this bat was practically immune, and insistent on making your life hell by spoiling your source of income.

Meanwhile, Hobie was having the best time of his life in your farm, chuckling to himself at the way you seemed so tired and frustrated with his antics, yet he could and couldn't help himself.

Your produce was absolutely amazing and so fresh. He could stop, but he loved to tease you, and your fruits were a little addicting as well.

One night, you storm out with a shotgun in hand. You aim just beside where the bat's silhouette was, firing a warning shot at it. You can see it quickly dive away. With a tired sigh, you rub your temples, a sliver of guilt worming its way into your heart. You didn't want to hurt them, but enough was enough. You return back inside, setting the shotgun down.

Hobie, clearly shocked by the warning shot, grumbles under his breath as he shifts back to a human behind the bushes, planning out some sort of revenge for that scare.

A scare for a scare.

The next night, as you come out to check on your trees and shrubs, there seem to have been no new sign of bites or nibbles. You exhaled in victory, slowly making your way back to your place after a thorough examination of your fruits.

However, as you go to close the door, something manages to slip in, towering over you with a sinister grin. With a yelp, you instinctively grab the shotgun, pressing it up to the stranger's jaw.

Whoops. Hobie hadn't planned this out. He slowly lifted up his hands in a surrendering position, his eyes wide as he quickly explained that he meant no harm in hopes you lowering your gun.

He bites his lip slightly as you ask who he is and why he's here. Hobie introduces himself, before taking a slow step back, and turning into the bat. He now laid on the floor, looking up at you with his big, innocent eyes.

You put your gun aside, brows furrowing in confusion and disappointed as you ask that he's the one that had been eating your produce. Hobie nods frantically, before turning back into a human.

Hobie promises you that he meant no harm, and that he was hungry, loving your produce. Not really thinking straight, with your mind groggy with exhaustion, you invite him to be a frequent on this farm.

He gets to have food that you cook/make from the produce on the farm, and he'll help keep the gophers away, since they had really been bothering you a lot, preventing you from planting new fruit trees.

Hobie agrees, and plans to meet back here in the morning. You nod, before falling right back into your bed happily, and Hobie's just glad he got out of there with his life.

As you both began to tend to the farm, Hobie and you eventually got closer. He helped monitor the farm at night and hunt the gophers that were insistent on destroying your crops, and you repaid him with your cooking, which Hobie absolutely loved.

Eventually, as time went on, after a painful period of lingering touches, light flirting and warm stares, the payment slowly shifted from food to kisses and sweet basking-in-each-others-presence moments.

And after he's done tending and monitoring your garden at night? He simply comes in, smiling at the fact you're already fast asleep as he turns into a bat once more, wriggling under the covers and finding a spot to curl up against you.

Most of the time, Hobie favors the crook of your neck, mainly because he gets to playfully bite and lick your face to get you to wake up.

If Hobie feels like staying close to you that day, he'll wriggle his little fuzzy bat body underneath your shirt and poke his head out from the collar of your shirt.

No matter if you're tending to the garden, asleep, farmer's market. If he feels like it, he will. The first few times he'd ask, and when you'd say yes, you couldn't get over how weird his fuzz felt against your skin, but after around the fifth time, you simply got used to it.

You definitely got used to having your batty boyfriend around though. It's been much easier tending to the farm with him around. -🐦‍⬛

BAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHA there're pro roze in here and there's anti roze 😂😂😂😂��😂

HOBAT!!!!!!

DAILY HOBIE HC 🦇🦇

OH I LOVED THIS!!! I HAD THE BEST TIME READING IT IT'S SO CUTE AND TELLS THE WHOLE STORY IN JUST A FEW WORDS LITERALLY PERFECT!!! (I'm highkey jealous of r rn i want my hobat too 🥺)

MORE HOBAT! MORE HOBAT!!

#ask answered #chatting with lovelies #hobie thoughts #hobie headcanons #daily hobie hc!!#🫶🫶🫶#🐦‍⬛ anon #hobat 🦇

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tylejandro · 9 months ago

Text

I found this "TDI survey" from 2008 and filled it out! You can too here.

Penname: Cavewomania

Age (optional; if you want use interval ranges like 1-100, etc): early 20s

Gender: Female

Location/Hometown (simply stating US or Canada is a'right): US

How did you start watching TDI?: I heard it was similar to Danganronpa, so I watched it when it was on Netflix.

If so, how did you become hooked/what episode got you hooked?: This question applied way better back in the day, but I got into TD again after 4 years of not caring about it much because I saw how many fics were coming out for Alenoah in 2023 and I was like “who’s Alejandro?” Now I’m here.

When did you first see it?: 2019

Favorite episode: In terms of fanworks, I See London. But I should really rewatch Island, it has some pretty good episodes.

Least Favorite episode: Hard to say? I don’t like a lot of the episodes necessarily but I’ve had a lot of fun rewriting some for my Aletyler WT fic. My Island knowledge is rusty and I’ve never wanted to really watch Action for some reason, I’ve only seen around the first four episodes.

I’ve heard Sundae Muddy Sundae sucks?

Favorite Gopher: Owen

Least favorite Gopher: Justin?

Favorite Bass member: Tyler, though I didn’t care for him until WT – during Island I liked Courtney.

Least Favorite Bass member: Ezekiel

Arrange the characters (including Chef and Chris) in order from most favorite to least:

Oh shit uhhh

1. Alejandro

2. Owen

3. Heather

4. Tyler

5. Noah

6. Gwen

7. Duncan

8. Leshawna

9. Courtney

10. Eva

11. Bridgette

12. Geoff

13. Lindsay

14. Sierra

15. Cody

16. DJ

17. Trent

18. Harold

19. Beth

20. Izzy

21. Justin

22. Ezekiel

23. Sadie

24. Katie

25. Blaineley

26. Chef

27. Chris

-ish, this is not a scientific list.

Which character(s) are you most like?: Beth & Tyler. I see a good amount of my young self in Beth.

Are you truthfully, really really obsessively in love with any of the characters?: Nope

If so, who?: I mean Alejandro is my fave, I just wouldn’t say ‘in love’? I’ve cosplayed as him.

Are you on crack?: Thankfully no.

Have you ever been to a mental hospital?: Hm.

Plot Questions..

Who let the dogs out?: Bark!

What came first, the chicken or the egg?: Egg first makes the most sense.

Why is the plane crashing?: It’s just thirsty.

Were you surprised when Owen won?: I don’t recall but I like that he did.

Did you see HxL coming at all?: Nope.

Did you expect Harold had gotten Courtney eliminated before they showed that scene?: I don’t recall.

Did you cry when one of your favorites got voted off?: Nope. Man I should really rewatch this show...

Did you laugh when any of your least favorites got voted off?: Most likely.

Character questions..

Your opinion of Chris Maclean: ‘Maclean’, ha!

He’s my least favorite but he’s fine. I think he’ll grow on me eventually but for now he’s just kind of there.

Does Chef creep you out, even the tiniest bit?: I guess?

Does Chef's cooking creep you out, uhm, alot?: I guess? Is something wrong with me, I didn’t really react to it.

Do you feel sorry for Heather?: She had it coming in Island – I really didn’t like her in Island and it was only until WT that I came around to her..

Why or why not?: see above

Has your opinion of any of the characters changed over the course of the show?: Absolutely. Harold used to be my favorite and I think Cody was my second favorite. Coming back to the show (because I changed so much as a person in between 2019 and 2023) was like a clean slate, though I shipped Nowen before because I’ve always liked both Noah and Owen.

Were you mad at Harold for switching the votes?: No, I don’t think so. I thought it was kind of cool.

Ezekiel or Eva: Eva. No contest.

Noah or Justin: Noah

Katie or Tyler: LMAO

Apples or Oranges: Oranges, they’re not huge like apples often are.

Izzy or Cody: Cody. Izzy’s really hard to write.

Beth or Sadie: Beth

Courtney or Harold: Shit – Courtney.

Trent or Bridgette: Bridgette

Lindsey or DJ: Lindsay

Geoff or Lewshana: Leshawna

Duncan or Heather: Heather

Gwen or Owen: Owen

Opinion of Trent/Gwen: They have some good chemistry, I like them aesthetically, and I’ve read some one-shots focusing on them, but ultimately I prefer them with other characters.

Opinion of Duncan/Courtney: They’re neat and I like how popular they are. If I was naturally more into F/M ships I’d like these two a lot maybe.

Opinion of Geoff/Bridgette: Aesthetically pleasing, but ultimately more interesting with other people in fanworks.

Opinion of Harold/Leshawna: I don’t like them together TBH, I prefer Leshawna/Heather or Leshawna/Courtney. For Harold, IDK, Harold/Ezekiel?

Opinion of Tyler/Lindsey: Aesthetically pleasing, but ultimately more interesting with other people in fanworks. Also Alejandro/Tyler is my favorite pairing in this series so I’m biased to be annoyed by this one – I ship Lindsay more with Trent than with Tyler.

Opinion of Owen/Izzy: I can see it, but also… IDK? Izzy is hard to ship with people and I really like Nowen.

Since Noah/Cody IS TOTALLY CANON WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, your opinion of NxC: They can be cute, and I’ve enjoyed fanworks of them, but I prefer both characters with other people. I simply don’t care about Cody too much.

Opinion of FANON: The shit.

If any, favorite fanon couples: Aletyler, Nowen, Duncowen, Djuncan, Lesheather, Gwourtney, Ezzy (as in Ezekiel/Izzy), Trindsay, DJ x Lindsay, Heatherra, Gweather, etc etc. Doing the ‘ship every character with one another challenge’ helped me expand my range a little. I even ship Gwody a little now – freaky.

Misc. Questions..

We're talking 100, 000 dollars. Would you be a contestant on Total Drama Island?: Hell no.

Would you jump off a thousand foot cliff into a lake full of hungry sharks?: Nope.

Would you be offended by Ezekiel's sexist remarks?: I wouldn’t be offended I’d just be annoyed and I would vote him out as soon as I could.

Would you last two days without any sleep?: I’ve tried, but to no success thankfully. A little over 24 hours is my max.

Are you good at dodgeball?: It’s been a while, I think I’d be okay at dodging but shit with aim.

How many times do you suspect you might possible be hit in the face?: ? I can’t punch to save my life.

Any special talents?: Hm, I can sneak up on people?

Would you join Heather's alliance?: No I’d hate Heather.

If you saw Izzy in a bear-suit (ONLY YOU DON'T KNOW IT'S IZZY!) during the camping episode, your first reaction: Oh shit is that a bear.

Your biggest fear: Naked in public? But to keep things in tone with the show I’d say being yelled at/being threatened after I’ve seemingly had a decent conversation with a person. (Can you tell I work in customer service?…)

If you recieved a heart-shaped coin purse given by Geoff, you: Give it back and hope he understands I’m not interested – I think he would.

Do you believe in 'bad luck'?: No but I think I’d avoid people with ‘bad luck’ if I thought I’d be annoyed by them/injured by them.

xD Can YOU take the heat?: I can follow directions but otherwise can’t cook really.

Would you get along with the rest of the campers?: As a 20 something, no. As a 16 year old, I’d be so confused with my own boundaries that I wouldn’t want to upset anyone – overall a worse way to deal with people.

Bootcamp. Your first reaction: Fuck.

Can you handle free-falling 5000 feet in the air?: AHHHHHHHHH

OMG, Harold saw your b***. You: Oops.

Were you able to eat the same way again the first few days after seeing the Brunch-of-Disgustingness ep?: Yeah, it’s cartoon food to me.

Would you be happy to see Eva and Izzy back?: It’s been a while. Wow I’m terrible at answering these.

Trent's elimination, your reaction: See above

Would you vote Bridgette off because she smelled really bad?: Yeah, I’d want the money.

Would you do well during the bike challenge?: That challenge is so confusing, I’d want to do well so I’d aim to get first.

Would you tell off Heather if you were Lindsey? (Simple enough): I wouldn’t have the guts...

Horror movies, yay or nay? No, though to be fair I never watch scary movies so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.

Robotic racoon armies? Suddenly cute little animals don't seem as friendly: Sounds like a TF2 thing – maybe I could tame the raccoons with sour cream...

Out of the finally six, who would you least want to be chained to?: Duncan.

THE LOSER RESORT, EEEEEEEEE!: Sup losers.

Your opinion on Mr. Coconut: Can I eat it?

Your opinion on sticky buns: I looked in the thread this survey came from and apparently this is just a random question. Eh? I prefer other sweets like cinnamon rolls.

Your opinion on Heather's haircut: Honestly kind of relatable – I shaved my own head a couple of years ago and it was difficult and messy. It was my own choice though so I can’t relate to Heather on that front.

Before you found out who the winner was, Owen or Gwen? I was on Team Gwen.

#total drama #tdi #interesting survey #total drama island

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years ago

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Enshitternet

Going to Burning Man? Catch me on Tuesday at 2:40pm on the Center Camp Stage for a talk about enshittification and how to reverse it; on Wednesday at noon, I'm hosting Dr Patrick Ball at Liminal Labs (6:15/F) for a talk on using statistics to prove high-level culpability in the recruitment of child soldiers.

On September 6 at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

This week on my podcast, I read "Enshitternet: The old, good internet deserves a new, good internet," my recent Medium column about building a better internet:

https://doctorow.medium.com/enshitternet-c1d4252e5c6b

As John @hodgman is fond of reminding us, "nostalgia is a toxic impulse." It is easy for an old net.hand like me to fall into the trap of shaking his fist at the cloud. Having been on the other side of that dynamic, I can tell you it's no fun.

When I got on BBSes in the early 1980s, there was an omnipresent chorus of grumps insisting that the move from honest acoustic couplers to decadent modems was the end of the Golden Age of telecommunications:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler

When I got on Usenet shortly thereafter, the Unix Greybeard set never passed up an opportunity to tell us newcomers that the Fidonet-Usenet bridge allowed the barbarian hordes to overwhelm their Athenian marketplace of ideas:

https://technicshistory.com/2020/06/25/the-era-of-fragmentation-part-4-the-anarchists/

When I joined The WELL in the late 1980s, I was repeatedly assured that the good times were over, and that we would never see their like again:

https://www.well.com/

Now that I'm 52, I've learned to recognize this dynamic, from the Eternal September:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

to the moral panic over menuing systems replacing CLIs:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/02/gopher-when-adversarial-interoperability-burrowed-under-gatekeepers-fortresses

to the culture wars over what would happen when the net got a normie-friendly GUI:

https://www.dejavu.org/1993win.htm

And yeah, I've done it too, explaining "Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either)":

https://memex.craphound.com/2010/04/01/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either/

But there's a key difference between my own warnings about the enshittification that new "user friendly" technologies would engender and all those other AARP members' complaints: they were wrong, and I was right.

As Tom Eastman reminded us, the internet really was better, back before it became "five giant websites filled with screenshots of text of the other four":

https://twitter.com/tveastman/status/1069674780826071040

The underlying pathology of that enshittification wasn't the UI, or whether it involved an app store. As the Luddites knew, the important thing about a technology isn't what it does, but who it does it for and who it does it to:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

The problem wasn't which technology we used. There is nothing inherent about touchscreens that makes them into prisons that trap users, rather than walled gardens that protect them.

Likewise, the problem wasn't who made that technology. We didn't swap wise UUCP Monks for venal tech bros. The early tech world was full of public-spirited sysops, but it was also full of would-be monopolists who tried – and failed – to get us to "stop talking to each other and start buying things":

https://catvalente.substack.com/p/stop-talking-to-each-other-and-start

If it wasn't the technology that killed the old, good internet, and if it wasn't the people who killed the old, good internet, where did the enshitternet come from?

It wasn't the wrong tech, it wasn't the wrong people: it was the wrong rules. After all, the Apple ][+ went on sale the year Ronald Reagan hit the campaign trail. Consumer tech was the first industry born after antitrust was dismantled, and it created the modern monopoly playbook: buying and merging with competitors. The resulting unity of purpose and anticompetitive profit margins allowed tech to capture its regulators and secure favorable court and legislative outcomes.

The simultaneous drawdown of antitrust enforcement and growth of tech meant that tech's long-standing cycle of renewal was ended. Tech companies that owed their existence to their ability to reverse-engineer incumbent companies' products and make interoperable replacements and add-ons were able to ban anyone else from doing unto them as they did unto the giants that came before them:

https://doctorow.medium.com/let-the-platforms-burn-6fb3e6c0d980

The pirates became admirals, and set about creating a "felony contempt of business model":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/03/painful-burning-dribble/#law-of-intended-consequences

They changed the rules to ensure that they could "disrupt" anyone they chose, but could themselves mobilize the full might of the US government to prevent anyone from disrupting them:

https://locusmag.com/2019/01/cory-doctorow-disruption-for-thee-but-not-for-me/

The old, good internet was the internet we we able to make while tech was still realizing the new anticompetitive powers it had at its disposal, and it disappeared because every administration, R and D, from Reagan to Trump, yanked more and more Jenga blocks out of the antitrust tower.

In other words: the old, good internet was always doomed, because it was being frantically built in an ever-contracting zone of freedom to tinker, where technologies could be operated by and for the people who used them.

Today, the Biden administration has ushered in a new era of antitrust renewal, planting the seeds of a disenshittification movement that will tame corporate power rather than nurturing it:

https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

In other words, we are living in the first days of a better nation.

In other words, rather than restoring the old, good internet, we should build a new, good internet.

What is a new, good internet? It's an internet where it's legal to:

reverse-engineer the products and services you use, to add interoperability to them so you can leave a social network without leaving your friends:

https://www.eff.org/interoperablefacebook

jailbreak devices to remove antifeatures, like surveillance, ink-locking, or repair-blocking:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/17/have-you-tried-not-spying/#coppa

move your media files and apps from any platform to any device or service, even if the company that sold them to you objects:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate

A new, good internet gives powers to users, and takes power away from corporations:

https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6

On a new, good internet, companies can't practice algorithmic wage discrimination:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

They can't turn search into an auction between companies that match your query and companies that want to sell you fakes and knockoffs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

They can't charge rent to the people whose feeds you asked to read for the privilege of reaching you:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

In fact, a new, good internet is one where we euthanize rentiers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

On the new good internet, your boss can't use bossware to turn "work from home" into "live at work":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/24/gwb-rumsfeld-monsters/#bossware

And on top of that, you have the right to hack that bossware to undetectably disable it (and hackers have the right to sell or give you that hack):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/tech-rights-are-workers-rights-doordash-edition

On the new, good internet, we stop pretending that tech is stealing content from news companies, and focus on how tech steals money from the news, with app taxes, rigged ad markets, surveillance ads, and payola:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

The new, good internet is an internet where we seize the means of computation. It's an internet operated by and for the people who use it.

Hodgman is right. Nostalgia is a toxic impulse. The point of making a new, good internet isn't to revive the old, good internet. There were plenty of problems with the old, good internet. The point is to make a new, good internet that is the worthy successor to the old, good internet – and to consign the enshitternet to the scrapheap of history, an unfortunate transitional stage between one good internet and another.

Here's a link to the podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2023/08/21/enshitternet-the-old-good-internet-deserves-a-new-good-internet/

and here's a direct link to the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the Internet Archive; they'll host your stuff for free, forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_448/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_448_-_Enshitternet.mp3

and here's a link to my podcast's RSS feed:

https://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/22/the-new-good-internet/#the-old-good-internet

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#podcasts #mp3s #enshittification #nostalgia #nostalgia is a toxic impulse #spoken word #the old good internet #the new good internet

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disneyparksattractionstournament · 1 year ago

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Disney Parks Animatronic Tournament Match ups: Round 1

Should start tomorrow!

Bracket A/Tier 1:

Hondo Ohnaka vs Beast

Davy Jones vs Disco Yeti

Lava Monster vs Kylo Ren

Anna (Hong Kong version) vs Mr. Potato Head

Jack Sparrow vs BB8

Stitch vs Hopper

Lumiere vs Sven

Belle and Prince Adam vs Tiana

Stunt Spiderman vs Clawhauser

Wheezy vs Tiki Room Stitch

Rocket Raccoon vs C3PO

Shaman of Songs vs Elsa (Hong Kong version)

Ursula vs Lieutenant Bek

Dragon under castle vs Olaf

Hatbox Ghost vs Lantern Belle

Albert vs Dwarves in Mine Train

Bracket B/Tier 2:

Madame Leota vs Fantasmic dragon/Murphy

Giant from Sinbad's Storybook Voyage vs Swedish Chef

Finale conductor Sebastian vs Big Al

Roger Rabbit vs Br'er Porcupine

Dreamfinder vs Constance Hatchaway

Redd vs Munchkins

Skippy vs DJ R3X

Singing Geese vs 1900 Patricia

Daisy Duck vs Mary Poppins

Trixie vs The Five Bear Rugs

Jack Skellington vs Carnotaurus

Buzz Lightyear vs John

Aladar vs Zazu

RX-24 vs John Wayne

Max, Buff and Melvin vs Teddi Berra

Iago vs Panchito

José vs Uh-oa

Sun Bonnet Trio vs Br'er Raccoon

Figment vs Little Leota

Horned King vs Roz

Malestrom trolls vs Donald Duck

Abraham Lincoln vs Q’aráq

Statler and Waldorf vs Gene Kelly

Marshmallow vs Wicked Witch of the West

Will Rogers Jr/Lasso cowboy vs ExtraTERRORestrial Alien

Farming bunnies vs Frank

Timekeeper vs VR Grandma

Luggage Scanner Droids vs Railway end Mickey

Scuttle vs Bean Bunny

S.I.R.(Tim Curry robot) vs Liver Lips Mcgrowl

Buzzy vs Phantom

Ellen Ripley vs Sonny Eclipse

Bracket C/Tier 3:

Hitchhiking Ghosts vs Blue Fairy

Mr Bluebird vs Hag with apple

Richard the pineapple vs Sea Serpent

The Muppet Penguin Orchestra vs The Lost Safari

Horizons Robot butler vs Girl with goose

POTC Donkey vs Goat with dynamite

Jessica Rabbit vs Tiki room birds

Evil queen in window vs dancing Ariel

Puffins vs Mickey Mouse Review Alice

Little Red vs Unnamed laundry girl

Computer engineer woman/Foxy vs Indiana Jones snake

Hula Girls vs Disappearing butterfly

Splash Mountain finale chickens vs Sauropod

Tiger with umbrella vs Br'er Fox and Bear end scene

Donald's butt vs Drunk hats stealing pirate

Xenomorph vs Sally

Drew Carey vs Figaro

Rover vs Nemo seagulls

Exercise Patricia vs Tiki room Jose

Rosita vs Small World hippo

Darla vs POTC prison dog

Beating heart bride vs Barnstormer chickens

Boothill Boys/Vultures vs Ballroom dancer ghosts

Pansy, Poppy and Petunia (Splash opossums) vs Pig pirate

"Here kitty kitty" pirate vs Evil queen turns into hag

Skeleton ship pirate vs Small World cowboy

Singing birds of paradise vs Primeval World diorama

Jungle cruise elephants vs Barker Bird

Uncle Orville vs Granny ghost

Carlos' wife vs Energy dinos

Rabbit family with carrot vs jungle cruise hippos

Dirty foot pirate vs FSU gopher

#disney parks #disney world #match ups #round 1 #disney animatronic tournament #animatronics

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gophergal · 3 months ago

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Hawkfrost and Daisy please

Sure thing! Here is your IcyHawk

And Daisy <3

#gopher art #warrior cats #wc au #anthro warrior cats #hawkfrost #daisy wc #Daisy is such a cool character. Like idk how the text actually handles her but I do love the role she plays in the clan a lot. A career mam #a boss bitch. also on the wiki she's described as 'broad backed' so. easy excuse to give her an apple body shape #also I made Hawkfrost thick. not sure if that's objectively correct or not

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lightofthemoonglow · 2 years ago

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kinktober day seventeen

Threesome or moresome | Fisting | Vore

Buddy Swanson and Sam Wescott

dedicated to the amazing @bisexual-horror-fan

The head counselor. The head cook. The only nurse. The top three positions of authority at this camp. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, she calls them. Sam is their Kirk, being the actual leader that is the glue holding them all together, the balance between the other two. Buddy is their Spock, the pragmatic one that isn’t as expressive, but there’s so much heart to him underneath that exterior. And she’s the McCoy, the whirlwind with a big mouth and bigger emotions. They’re all passionate people though, the three of them somehow having found a way to make it work enough that people want to work with them, the kids want to come back. It’s easy, yet it feels like it takes over everything when they’re all together.

Of course there are rumors. There have been since the first day they had come together, forming the power trio. But only after the whispers had died down did they come true.

–-

“What are you two troublemakers up to?”

Sam ambles over to the lakebed, where a canoe is parked. Steve had asked someone, anyone, to finish testing out the lake gear after he had needed to rest his ankle after incurring an extremely minor injury involving a gopher hole. Lucky for him, Taylor the crafts counselor was helping him in these trying times.

It's the last day of setup before the kids arrive. In fourteen hours, they'll be here and their time will be consumed for the next couple of months. There will be very little personal time for a while.

"We are celebrating a perfect score on the safety inspection." She smiles up at Sam, languid and slow as she beckons him to join her and Buddy on the blanket laid out on the ground. It’s one they’ve laid on countless times, having been ruined by paint and glitter their first summer together. It’s strange how time has become divided between before and after they met. She’s on her back, knees bent as she looks up at the sky as Buddy sits normally, one knee bent and the other leg flat on the ground.

Sam joins them, sitting on her other side. It's a familiar layout, her in the middle. One of the photos on the homepage of the camp website is of the three of them, her arms around their backs as her head rests on Buddy's chest, though she's looking up at Sam, the camera catching her mid-giggle.

"Kids are due tomorrow. Gonna be the last time we have any privacy for weeks." Buddy sighs, gazes out at the water. He shifts around, his head going into her lap, a place he's familiar with. "And then it's back to the city." He's got a fancy restaurant gig lined up at the end of the summer. As it turned out, one of their returning campers had a father who owned this swanky place and constant talk about Buddy's meals had eventually gotten the guy to call him. After years of sticking it out at various places that weren't nearly as nice, it was good for him to have a win. But that would mean not seeing each other for a while, not until around wintertime.

"You make it sound like you're marching to your death." Sam tries to joke, but it is very clear how he feels about the gang splitting up. He moves to grab a bottle of water but pricks his finger on a burr. "Ow!"

"Poor baby. Want me to kiss it better?" She jokes, but it's not really a joke. The time is now, and they all know it. It's now or maybe never because so much could change in the next several months.

"Yeah. I do." Sam's voice is serious, he knows the implications, what it could lead to. But it's dark, the camp is quiet, it feels like they're the only people in the world right now.

Her mouth is soft, gentle against his. Buddy looks up at them, sort of but also not really trapped between their bodies. It's not for long, because Sam pulls back soon, his lips smeared with cotton candy lipsmackers. There's no going back now, it's like Eve biting the apple. The line is gone, all pretense is out the window. It's at the bottom of the lake, alongside the paddle Steve broke last summer.

"I think I…" Buddy can't even come up with a convincing lie, he knows what he wants and they know it too. She leans up, he leans up and he can taste both her and Sam on her mouth, bringing forth a soft moan and Buddy gripping a handful of her hair.

It's not going to be like in a bad porno. It's not a V, it's a triangle. Their first summer, as if to foreshadow what was to come, she had insisted that love triangle was a stupid phrase to refer to two people fighting over another. A triangle is complete, it's when everything flows together perfectly. Those situations are a love V because two points never meet. Buddy and Sam kiss like they've done it for eons, falling together as naturally as she had with them.

If they leave the blanket, the spell will be broken, so that's where they stay. It's where it all began, it is where it will come to the natural conclusion. It could have only ended this way.

She's between them once again, all of their shorts pushed down, her shirt pushed up as Sam's hands grope at her bare tits. No need for a bra in the summer, she'd said over and over again. Buddy's cock is rutting between her thighs as he spits into his hand to jerk Sam off. She's kissing the both of them as much as she can, they're kissing each other, it's a mess of drool and teeth. Sam's hand goes between her legs, searching for her clit.

"Fuck, I'm gonna cum," Buddy grunts, kissing her neck in between words. "Should I -?"

"No." She doesn't care, there's no risk. Nothing matters right now, and she encouraged him without uttering a word after her brief insistence that he come all over her thighs. The mess can always be cleaned up after all.

But it's Sam that comes first, shooting off all over her belly and Buddy's hand. She's so close and yet Buddy beats her to the punch, smearing her inner thighs and the blanket with his spend. Before she can even protest, a hand from each of them is between her legs and she's coming with a sharp cry that scares away a small flock of sleeping birds.

There's no awkward silence afterwards, merely some smiles and a suggestion that they clean off in the lake. It was always meant to end this way, after all and now all they need to do is wait for another moment like this to come around.

#sam wescott x reader #buddy swanson x reader #slasher x reader #slasher imagine #kinktober 2023

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