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eideticmemory · 4 years

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FINE LINE II | SPENCER REID

Two kids and two decades of history later, you and your ex-husband learn to navigate the world of co-parenting. PART 2! Read Part One.

Word Count: 3,643.

Warning: Daddy Issues, mommy issues, angst, drama, romance. Love to see it.

Spencer’s a deep sleeper; both E and Em get it from him. But the one thing that all three of them are trained to wake up to, is your voice.

“Hey!” You snapped at Spencer, landing a harsh blow beside his sleeping frame.

He jolted awake in familiar frenzy, reaching out to grab you, make sure you were safe.

“Hey, hey, it’s me,” you spoke. “Look, I need a favor.”

“A favor?” he muttered.

“Yes,” you nodded. “You wanna be here for a few days? I need some help. Take the kids to school today.”

“Wha—“

“Or let E drive your car, it doesn’t matter, she’s a good driver,” you shrugged. “They need to be there at 8:15 sharp or else the administration has a stick up their ass. They’ll wake themselves up, dress themselves — stylishly — and feed themselves. And, uh, if you make them late, they’ll lose their minds so try to be out of here by 8, okay? Okay. Thank you.”

“Wait, wait, wait, [y/n],” Spencer called, holding your hand in his palm. “Where are you going?” He weakly pat around the mattress, searching for his phone, and when he grabbed the device in his hand, he checked the time. “It’s six in the morning.”

“So?”

“So,” he sighed, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. You subtly averted your eyes to avoid seeing him shirtless, the duvet cover falling to his lap. “You didn’t get home until two in the morning.”

“You spying on me?” You asked.

“No, I just . . . can’t sleep knowing you’re out late at night—“

“Working,” you interjected.

“Working . . . and now you’re up four hours later?” He questioned.

“We could sit here and argue about who has a more messed up work schedule, or you can take the kids to school, just this once, and I’ll pick them up.”

“No, I’ll pick them up, don’t worry about it,” Spencer shrugged. “You go to work, I’ve got it.”

You sighed, “Are you actually staying until Sunday?”

“[y/n]—“

“No, Mr. Unit Chief, how did you get the week off from the BAU? Hm? It — it just doesn’t make sense.”

“So that’s what you wanted to ask me last night . . . why not just say it, [y/n]?”

“Don’t profile me, it’s valid question.”

“Listen,” he squeezed your hand lightly, just enough that the pressure silenced you. “I am off of work until Monday morning. You need me to drop off and pick up the kids? I can do that. Need me to feed them? I can do that, too. I can do it every day this week if you want. If you need to be at work, then go.”

You inhaled deeply, and released it in a sharp breath. “Thanks,” you shrugged. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

The drive to your office was silent. Full of nothing but your thoughts and rambles and quiet scoffs. You missed the kids. Missed being with them in early hours like this, eating breakfast on the go, singing along to the radio. But your mind needed time to rest, to regroup away from Spencer and his sudden appearance.

When you arrived at work, you stumbled in to find an earlier bird than you. “Raven . . .” you mumbled. “I told you to go home, babe.”

“And I told you that this is getting in at 7:30 sharp . . .” she cleared her throat and glanced at you apologetically. “Boss. . .”

You sighed and shrugged, “Do you need help?”

“Nope,” she shook her head. “I’m right on schedule.”

You chuckled, full of pride, “Good.” You wandered over to your private office and secluded yourself behind the glass doors. Taking a seat at your desk, you plopped down with a tired huff. You rested your head on your folded arms, and just as you began to snore, your phone rang in your ear. You jumped up in a daze, groaning out at the device in frustration. When you picked it up, however, and saw who was calling, you gasped, whined, fell back childishly in your chair.

You sighed, answering the facetime, “Hi, Penelope.”

“Don’t ‘hi, Penelope” me,” she replied, her phone showing her dressed and sipping on a cup of tea. “I had to find out from Emily that Spencer is staying the week with you and the kids? How is this possible?”

“Pen—“

“Hold on.”

Suddenly, your screen revealed another person being added to the call. “Pen, why did you add Em— . . . Emily, hi.”

“What the hell is going on? [y/n]? Did you call me?” Emily hollered into her car speaker, focusing on the road ahead of her as she speaks.

“I did not call, Penelope called, I was ambushed,” you explained.

“No, no, you do not have Spencer spending the entire week at your house — for the first time, I might add — and not tell me,” Penelope interjected. “How are you? How are the kids? How did this happen? Are you two talking? Are you—“

“I told Penelope that Spencer requested the week off,” Emily said. “I thought you had already told her.”

“Yeah, Section Chief, how about some warning there? How did Spencer even get so much time off?” You rambled.

“Woah, woah,” Emily crowed. “Don’t shoot the messenger, he had more than enough vacation time saved up. He could’ve taken the entire month off and not lost a dime. There was nothing I could do. Plus, I thought, maybe . . .”

“Maybe. . .what?” You questioned.

“Maybe you and him had talked things out and . . .”

“Oh, my goodness,” Penelope exclaimed. “Are you guys back together?”

“No!” You shout. You sighed, “No . . . Spencer and I are not back together. He just . . . showed up. I called him to talk about E’s birthday party and he . . . well he says he’s staying until Sunday. Which is, perfect. Perfect in theory, if he actually stays. But he’s getting the kids’ hopes up and I hate that.”

“Yeah . . .” Emily snickered. “He’s getting the kids’ hopes up?”

“Emily Prentiss, do not profile me. Not you. I swear . . .”

Emily busted out laughing. “I mean, honey,” Penelope whispered. “I’m profiling you right now.”

“And with that, we must say goodbye,” you hummed happily as you pressed the button to hang up.

It was Wednesday. Wednesday. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So, five days with the man, at most. Then he goes back to DC, and those beautiful ninety miles are between you two again. Unless you do therapy, which you won’t, because it’s an awful idea and — you don’t want to think about Spencer Reid this much. You can’t. But you check the clock and it’s 7:45 and he needs to get the kids out the door soon. Should you call? You should call. Okay, call. No, text E.

Y: hey girlie!! 🥰 had to leave early this morning, is dad taking you to school?

E: hey mom 🥺 yeah dad’s taking us!! we’re getting breakfast right now from chick-fil-a and he’s letting me drive his car!!

Y: oh wow! don’t hit any cows out there!

E: ha ha ha so funny ur hilarious

Y: love you 💕 💗 ❤️

E: love you ✨✨

Okay. They’re up. They’re happy. That’s good. They’re smiles are going to get you through the week. They always do.

When you get home that afternoon, Spencer and the kids were laughing, playing cards against each other in the kitchen.

“I hope you guys aren’t gambling in here, because that’s more of a living room activity,” you laughed to announce your presence.

“Hey, [y/n],” Spencer greeted you. “Come play!”

“I’m good,” you nodded.

“See? I told you guys she won’t play against me. She never has and never will,” he told the kids. They giggled.

“Oh, please, you say that like I’m scared to play against you,” you snickered.

“Well? Are you?” He asked, a hint of arrogance in his voice.

“Absolutely not,” you set your things down on the counter and joined them at the table. “Continue your game, though, because I would be scared to play against the kids.”

Spencer gave you this look out of the corner of his eye, his iris looking at you under his eyelashes and a light smile on his face.

Maybe these next four days won’t be so bad.

They were more than not so bad. They weren’t bad at all. They were blissful and full of smiles and laughter and fun family dinners every night, and you’d never felt so productive. You cleared two major social work cases at the job, thanks to Spencer’s help with the kids. Friday night, you came home to the backyard fully decorated for tomorrow’s party. Spencer had recieved the chair delivery and set everything up behind the house, surrounded each table with a handful of chairs and the proper decorations sat in the center. You absorbed it all in complete and utter shock. You were prepared to spend all of tonight and tomorrow morning doing this. And Spencer took care of it all.

“What do you think?” Spencer grinned, him and E standing in the center of the backyard proudly. “Took us hours but it’s all set. Now we just need the food and the people.”

E chuckled, “What do ya’ think, mom?”

“I. . .” you whispered. “I think it looks gorgeous. You guys did amazing.”

“Thank you,” she pipped, grinning happily. “I think so, too. Oh, c’mon, dad, let me show you my party dress!”

As they rushed into the house, Spencer pinched onto your shoulder lightly, smirking as he passed you by. Your stomach filled with an unshakable and startling feeling. It had you rocking on your heels trying to process it and breathe through it.

Saturday morning, you woke up at 9 o’clock as planned. E would be up in another hour, so you had plenty of time to sort out the last few details of her party. The guest list was just above 80 people, and you had to make sure you had ordered enough food to feed them all. You had to check in with the caterer, the baker, Spencer.

You knocked on the door heavily, before wandering in, expecting him to be dead asleep. When you walked in and saw the bed empty and well made, you stopped in your tracks.

“What the hell?” You muttered, stomping over to the bed, and snatching up the note on the pillow.

My dearest [y/n]

Gone out to run some birthday errands. Kiss the birthday girl for me.

Spencer

Errands? What errands? Is he serious? You sighed, and pulled your phone from your back pocket. You dialed Spencer’s number and held the phone to your ear, only to be greeted with an immediate voicemail. You furrowed your eyebrows and huffed angrily.

You drafted and sent a text to him, desperately wishing you were more surprised by this:

Be back by 4 please.

No answer.

You carried on the day with one mission: keep things under control and keep E’s mind off of Spencer. You let her stay cornered in her room, bringing her breakfast and an iced coffee, and kissing her on the top of her head.

“I can’t believe 16 years ago today, I was laid up in a hospital bed, screaming my head off, cursing at the nurses, when this tiny, slimy thing just . . . popped out of me.”

“Most people just say happy birthday,” Eden cringed.

“Happy birthday, babe,” you giggled. “You have no idea what you’ve done for me just by existing.”

“That’s more like it,” she nodded happily. “Thank you. Is dad here?”

“Uh, no,” you said quickly, prepared for the question. “He went to take care of some stuff for the party, he’ll be back before the party starts, though. Will Francesca be coming over today?”

“Oh. Okay. Uh, yeah. She’s coming to do my makeup.”

“Awesome,” you smiled, standing up. “Well, birthday girl, you get glitzy and glammy, and get ready for the party of a lifetime.”

“Mom . . . is everything okay?”

“Yeah, of course. Stop that, don’t worry about anything today, okay? Things are fine.”

“Okay,” she nodded. She trusted you. For 16 years, since the minute she was born, she’s trusted you. “Okay.”

Eden’s godmother was the first to show up. Penelope Garcia live and in the flesh. She barged into the house the moment you opened the door to greet her, and she rushed up the stairs.

“Pen, she is getting ready—“

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I understand the importance of a teenage girls appearance, but I haven’t seen either of the kids in so long.”

“It’s been a month, Pen.”

“Way too long . . . Penelope!” She called out for Eden.

E perked her head up in her room, stopping her best friend, Francesca, from doing her eye makeup. “Auntie P?” She murmured and turned to the door.

Penelope opened the bedroom door joyfully, smiling ear to ear when she saw E. “Little Penelope!” She shouted, excitedly clapping her hands.

E hopped up from her seat and ran over to Penelope, practically jumping into her arms.

“Oh, happy birthday, babygirl!” Penelope cooed. “I can’t believe how big you are!”

“Thank you,” E smiled, her face tucked into Penelope’s shoulder.

You watched them, close to tears yourself to see them together. There were 5 people in the room when Eden Penelope Reid was born 16 years old ago. The doctor, 2 nurses, you — of course — and Penelope Garcia. It was the scariest thing you’d ever been through. And at your side, for 10 hours of labor, was Penelope. She held your hand, spoke softly to distract you from the pain, and encouraged you as you went through delivery. When Eden came into the world, it was no question what her middle name would be.

Penelope helped E prepare as you kept the business rolling in. Food, lights, cutlery, plates. You were rushing and running for hours. You barely just had time to shower and get yourself ready, let alone make sure Em put on the outfit you picked out for him. Luckily, Penelope got him dressed and sat with a good book so you could get yourself together.

The clock struck 4 in the afternoon, signaled by an alarm on your phone, and you had just stepped out of the bathroom. You slipped on a floral dress, befitting of a mother on a special day. Hair in place, dress without wrinkles, shoes to match, guests rolling in, and . . . oh yeah, still no Spencer. Countless calls and texts to him went unanswered, and you were running out of excuses to tell the kids.

When your last and final call to him went straight to voicemail, you left a message.

“Spencer, I don’t know where you are, and I want you to know that, right now, I don’t care. It’s a quarter after 4, and people are showing up, and the show must go on, so . . . show up, don’t show up. Keep us on our toes, it doesn’t matter. I hope you’re okay. Bye.”

Dropping you phone on your bed, you gave it one more glance as you left the room.

Music rang throughout the backyard, packed with people by the time it was 5:30. Eden brought the whole BAU together — visited by Penelope, Emily, Matt, Tara, Derek, Hotch, and Luke who brought his and Penny’s baby boy along.

E was in heaven, reunited with some of her closest cousins. It was turning into a good day, without Spencer. But there was a hole caused by his absence that no one could fill. And you know this because you’ve been trying to fill it all of Eden’s life.

While your little girl is quite the social butterfly, sometimes that social battery of hers can wear low. Particularly when she’s overwhelmed by attention, or stress, or her own genius thoughts.

Luckily, she gets that from you, and you two have a tendency to find similar places to hide. She found you sitting on the back patio, hidden in the corner. “Hey, pretty girl!” you smiled. “Having fun?”

“Yeah,” she giggled. “You?”

“Eh, it’s an alright party,” you joked.

“So . . . do you know where dad is?”

You released a long exhale and hesitated for a good, long few seconds. “No.”

She nodded, “Cool. That’s cool.”

“E—“

“Penelope, come here!” Penelope suddenly screamed from the front door.

“Coming!” E called back. “I have to attend to my guests, excuse me.” She giggled, and you smiled at her as she walked away.

You relaxed back against the wall of the house, watching your friends and family rejoice in the backyard. Over the music, you heard the curling sound of a scream. Eden’s scream. And you ran like you’ve never ran in your life.

“Oh, my God,” she cried. “Oh, my God!”

You were confused and a bit scared and very eager to see what had her so overwhelmed. And when you rounded the corner, coming face to face with the front door, you gasped, stopping on your tippy toes like you were knocked in the face by an invisible force.

“Ah! Piccolo genio! Happy birthday!” Rossi said to your daughter as he held her in a tight hug. He pulled away to hold her face in his hands lovingly. “It is incredible to see the person you have become. Goodness! You know who you look just like?” He questioned.

Rossi spun on his heels, facing himself in your direction with open arms. “Her,” he said. “You look just like her.” He stepped towards you slowly, “My goodness, someone would think it was your sweet sixteen we’re celebrating.”

You laughed and shook your head, blinking away the tears of joy in your eyes. “Flattery is not gonna make me forget that a certain someone doesn’t know how to visit more often.”

“Italy to Virginia is a long flight, my dear,” he pulled you into a tight hug. A secure hug. Full of safety and love and memories. “But I will have to make it more.”

You burrowed yourself into his chest, smiling to yourself at the sound of his voice.

“[y/n],” he whispered. “How are you?”

You did nothing but let out a long, long, long sigh.

“We’ll talk,” he nodded.

“Now,” he pulled away from the hug to hold you against his side. “Since I am here, the party may now . . . begin.”

As everyone followed Eden and Rossi through the house, you were left in the entrance with Spencer, who was eyeing you shyly with his hands in his pockets.

“Got caught up at the airport,” he explained.

You gave him the teeniest, tiniest half smile, and let out a faint laugh, “C’mon, Spencer.”

Later that night, when it was just you, Spencer, and the rest of the BAU veterans, he offered to help you clean up. You stood in front of the sink, scrubbing at a dirty pan as music played softly in the background.

“[y/n]?” Spencer whispered to you as he placed leftovers in the fridge. “What’s on your mind?”

You shook your head, and turned briefly to give him a solemn smile, “I never had a sixteenth birthday party,” you told him, returning your attention to the dishes. “Did you?”

He chuckled to himself, “No,” he said. “I had a psychology exam the day of my sixteenth birthday. I took it and then read for the rest of the night.”

“I had a trigonometry exam on my sixteenth birthday,” you shrugged.

“Oh, yeah? How’d you do?” he chuckled.

You rolled your eyes at him, “I did alright . . . then I went back to my charity dorm on MIT’s campus, and had some microwaved pasta.”

Spencer let out a soft sigh, and stepped over to you, “Life of a child prodigy, right?”

“But not for E. Not for Em. All I ever wanted was for them to be extraordinary, and live an ordinary life. High IQ, be damned, it’s what they deserve.” You rambled. After a few minutes of silence, you glanced at Spencer, who was eyeing you sympathetically. “Don’t profile me, Spencer Reid, we’ve talked about this.”

“I’m not profiling you!” He laughed.

“You are,” you said.

“I am not. If anything, you’re profiling me right now.”

“Profiling you profiling me?”

“Exactly—what? No!” he said through constant laughter.

You smirked at him, hiding a smile behind the expression. “I don’t need to profile you, Spencer. I know you.”

“I—“

“I know you.” You enunciated. “I know you.”

“Yeah,” he whispered. “You do.”

You knew you had to tear yourself away from those big brown eyes as soon as possible, or risk major emotional turmoil. So, you focused on the dishes as you spoke, “I’ve been thinking . . . maybe therapy . . . wouldn’t be so bad.”

Spencer’s eyes went wide, “Really?”

“Really, it’s about twenty years too late, but . . .” You nodded. “I guess a part of that whole ordinary lives thing for the kids is having parents that actually get along, so . . . I’ll try it.”

“Thank you, [y/n], thank you so much,” he said. “I already made us an appointment here in Charlottesville for next Friday.”

You scoffed. You should’ve been mad, annoyed. But all you could think was: yeah, I definitely married a scorpio.

“Fi—“ you mumbled, in the midst of rolling your eyes when a gust of movement caught your attention. Outside of the kitchen window, to the side of the house, was E. E and some boy. A handsome boy. You couldn’t tell if he looked familiar. Well. Yeah, he kinda did.

“[y/n]?” Spencer called to you, when he suddenly noticed Eden. “Do . . . do you know him? [y/n]?”

You watched as the kid handed E a birthday gift and placed a kiss to her cheek. She blushed softly and looked down. No. No, you didn’t know him. She hadn’t told you about him.

Another part of the whole ordinary life thing. A part that you had completely forgotten about.

Boys.

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#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fic #spencer reid angst #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #mine #fl

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lottiepumpkinofficial · 3 years

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Hi :) I have a writing request if you don't mind. Feel free to ignore this if you want to. If you're up for it, could you please write some soft Jottie for me? Like some cuddling on a cold day? Thank you! Also have a nice day ❤

This ask is from agesssss ago lmao

sorry its taken so long anon

btw this is set during early pip

also i dont feel like writing dialogue so yeah

Today had been a strange day for Lottie. Normally Saturdays were the days she would train with Jamie, but this week it was far too cold. They had gone outside, but as soon as Lottie’s nose turned pink from the biting wind, Jamie decided they would take the day off. Ellie was still training for the spearathon in the gym, so Lottie couldn’t spend the day with her.

She suggested to Jamie, almost as a joke, that they should spend the day watching Disney films. It sounded like Jamie’s worst nightmare, and she never thought he would agree to it, but there they were, in the middle of watching The Little Mermaid.

Lottie had been singing all the songs very loudly, and she even caught a glimpse of Jamie smiling during Under the Sea. Unfortunately her least favourite part of the movie was coming up. She couldn’t stand Ursula. How could anyone be so selfish? Not to mention her terrifying looks. As soon as Poor Unfortunate Souls started, Lottie on instinct hid her face in the crook of Jamie’s shoulder. It was a shock for both of them.

Jamie was hyperaware of the feeling of Lottie on him, how warm her face was, and the slight movements from her breathing. After a few seconds Lottie sat up, looking sheepish. She still refused to look at the screen, so Jamie took a risk and did something normally he would never do. But today was not a normal day, so he reached his arm out, and pulled Lottie closer to him, feeling her arm against his side. She immediately started blushing but didn’t move away.

After the song ended, they both expected the other to move, but neither did. At first Jamie was tense, thinking Lottie might move away any second, but instead she just moved closer, leaning against him.

By the end of the film Lottie had fallen asleep. Jamie looked outside to see there was snow covering every inch of the ground, and was glad of his decision to skip training.

Lottie woke up, feeling like something was missing, and noticed Jamie had left her. She wondered if maybe she had just been dreaming that he watched a film with her, after all she had an overactive imagination, and had fallen asleep. But no longer than a minute after she thought this, Jamie returned with a bag full of snacks from the kitchen. Lottie grinned and took the bag gratefully.

She ran up to her dorm room and grabbed a huge fluffy blanket. When she got back to the makeshift movie room, she flopped back on the sofa and wiggled into Jamie’s arms again, this time with the blanket draped over them. Lottie told Jamie that he could pick the film this time. She secretly hoped he would pick something scary so she would be able to hide her face again, and feel him become protective, however he chose another Disney film.

The snow started falling again as they settled into the film, and they both felt a moment of pure happiness

#lu writes #jottie shippers I got your back #jottie #jamie volk #lottie pumpkin #rosewood chronicles

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bomberqueen17 · 3 years

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whew

been a minute since i was on here.

we escaped a terrible lake-effect snowstorm and made it to Rochester on Saturday, arriving around 3pm. we started drinking and eating cheese, and had much merriment. It just felt-- so nice to pretend to be normal. (I’d cleared the mingling of COVID pods with everyone for the occasion.)

We did some Witchering that night, which I’ll write up separately. I felt so reassured. It just felt normal. And it was fun to see the kids and all.

[cut for length; writing from my mom’s house]

The next morning we hung out a bit and then hit the Thruway, in patchy sun, no snow at all, smooth enough sailing the rest of the way. Except at one point, like immediately after we passed the Indian Castle rest stop, Dude was like “oh I need to get gas when’s the next one” and I looked it up and was like ‘oh it’s only like 25 miles, that’d be good I guess I could use a potty break” and he was like “oh I’ll run out of gas in 10.” which like. What the fuck bro, I plan my rest stops meticulously and would never in a hundred thousand years even contemplate cutting it that close? So I had to frantically Google, and we had to get off at the Fultonville Quick Stop, which mostly serves trucks and features showers you can pay for around back, and like. What the fuck. Anyway. Also they had no credit card readers on the pumps, so I had to go inside. I was pleasantly astonished to find the cashier putting a mask on as I walked in, so that was better than it might have been. (Also I could’ve bought a Trump 2020 mask for $4.99 right by the register.) (I did NOT pee in the “please pay for truck parking before you shower” restroom, I held it the rest of the way to the farm.)

We survived. A couple of minutes before we got to the farm, Middle-Little called, clearly from her car, warning us they’d just closed Rte 2 for an apparent car accident, but we’d passed that point already. We arrived at the farm just as Farmsister was wandering across the yard to put something away, so she helped me unload the car. And then that very moment, Mom and Elder Sister pulled in. Middle-Little came in a few minutes later, with wild tales of having to suddenly detour, but not much delayed overall.

I had sort of expected a big emotional scene, but we just all each hugged each other, and then went inside and had a beer and then took a lovely walk all around the farm.

We swapped tales of how we were holding up. Mom said her advice now to anyone wishing to know what to say to a bereaved person was not to be really invasive in questioning about what had happened. At least one person had pushed her as far as “Well, I found him dead in the bathroom” and had not been foisted off by that but had persisted “Well, and???” and she was like “how is that not enough detail. How. Do you want to know how cold he was? His coloring? Whether there were fluids and if so, what? Come on.”

So like. There’s the distilled thing.

I said the thing that was surprising to me, but that Dude had warned me of concretely, was that of course people who were just seeing you to give condolences would be in that moment much more emotional than you, and so you wind up having to deal with your ongoing life-altering crushing grief and also some distant relation or not-well-known acquaintance literally hanging off you and weeping while you’re like, trying to live your life. I’m spared much of it by COVID, and of course it’s an understandable human thing, but it’s kind of surprising to be like “oh hey so and so hi nice to see you” and they’re like “A-BLOO-HOO-SOB-HOO” and you have to be like “there there yes my world is in shambles but you know how it is, pip pip cheerio”.

It’s hard to know, I suppose, how to act, and I don’t expect I’ll be any less awkward myself. And I have found myself wanting to tell people, because the circumstances were so unfair. I did get the full story out of my mom and sisters, the whole blow-by-blow recounting of the morning-- Mom called Farmsister first, who stayed on the line with her as she called the ambulance from the other phone and waited until they showed up and then when Mom hung up, Farmsister called Middle-Little and had her go directly to the house to be with Mom. (M-L said she watched the whole drive for an ambulance coming the other direction, since she lives in the city where the nearest hospitals are, and was driving on the only road that connects directly-- but they did not transport him to a hospital, as it happened.)

Anyway. I don’t need to get more into that, but knowing more-- it probably does help.

We did a little impromptu late Christmas, and Farmkid was delighted to get more presents. I got some fiber stuff-- bobbins and two ornate niddy-noddies and a cat toy for Chita-- and got to give Farmsister her presents, including a pair of pants that had taken an incredible journey by Fedex tracking.

I... it’s weird, is all. Today we went over to Mom’s house, but this entry’s getting long and I haven’t been sleeping well and I need to try to do that, so maybe tomorrow I can take a minute to write about going to Mom’s house and seeing the will and the search for the missing pistol magazine and so on. I had some fun posts in Instagram Stories I’ll have to move over to my grid, too. But it’ll keep, I’m going to sleep.

#about the author #tw grief

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marmixedwithabitofintellect · 10 months

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The Story of Us Instagram 5: Highs & Lows

Happy Five Months Pip!

liked by mrsannetwist, louist91, pillowpersonpp, mitchrowland, _basselin , glenne_azoff, jeffazoff and 344 others

scottysakamoto My Cali babe

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mrsannetwist Oh stop!! 😍😍😍

thegemmastyles Oh I cannot wait to kiss her chunky legs

y/n.y/l/n Sunshine girl 🌞

glenne_azoff I love her so freaking much

liked by annetwist, pillowpersonpp, mitchrowland, scottysakamoto, nijiadeleye, jeffazoff, paulithepsm, _basselin and 644 others

y/n.y/l/n Someone did not get the memo that her daddy needed some rest

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thegemmastyles She’s my idol 🤣🤣🤣

scottysakamoto I’ll forgive her for being cute

pillowpersonpp Little man also did not get the memo

y/n.y/l/n pillowpersonpp Really?! 🙈🙈🙈

liked by, harry_is_my_medicine, hs.yn.updates, hes1994 and 143,350 others

hsupdates1 H & Y/N were spotted together at Coachella! They were watching Billie’s set

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harryfan1 MOM & DAD

harryfan2 🥺🥺🥺🥺

harryfan3 Oh to be held by Harry while listening to Ocean Eyes

harryfan4 I saw them and they were so cute together 😭😭💖

liked by annetwist, pillowpersonpp, mitchrowland, scottysakamoto, nijiadeleye, jeffazoff, paulithepsm, _basselin and 644 others

y/n.y/l/n Rumor has it that the 4-month old behaved better than the 28-year old

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thegemmastyles FACTS

scottysakamoto The 28-year old did in fact play 2 sold out shows 🤷🏻‍♂️

mitchrowland scottysakamoto stop with the excuses, we all know you’re a crybaby 🙄

mrsannetwist I believe you darling 🤭

liked by, harry_is_my_medicine, hs.yn.updates, hes1994 and 143,350 others

hsupdates1 Pippa on Anne’s Instagram story today! It seems they’re in London after Coachella!

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harryfan1 THE LADYBUG PANTS

harryfan2 The toasies 🥺🥺🥺

liked by, harry_is_my_medicine, hs.yn.updates, hes1994 and 143,350 others

hsupdates1 Pippa on Gemma’s Instagram story today! May 9

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harryfan1 I agree with you Gem

harryfan2 I am still processing the fact that H is a dad 🙃

harryfan3 harryfan2 Me too sister, me too

liked by mrsannetwist, pillowpersonpp, harrystyles, paulithepsm, scottysakamoto, lizzobeating, jeffazoff and 654 others

thegemmastyles: Hi pretty girl I’ve missed you so dang much

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mrsannetwist my girls!!! 🤍

pillowpersonpp I miss her!!! 🥺

glenne_azoff SEND HER BACK TO ME 😭😭

thegemmastyles glenne_azoff pillowpersonpp YOU HAD YOUR TURN LET ME HAVE MINE 🙄🙄🙄

scottysakamoto 😍😍😍

elladeannemurray My god!! The Styles’ genes are coming in strong!! 😮😍

liked by annetwist, pillowpersonpp, mitchrowland, scottysakamoto, nijiadeleye, jeffazoff, paulithepsm, _basselin and 644 others

y/n.y/l/n Hey scottysakamoto if you see this pretty please bring us some Chick-Fil-A and an Iced Chai and Pick Me Up from Joe & the Juice please 😘

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thegemmastyles scottysakamoto You heard her

mrsannetwist Miss you girls so much already

y/n.y/l/n mrsannetwist We miss you too! But we’ll see you so very soon!

glenne_azoff I expect an update to see if he delivered

scottysakamoto OMW love 💖

y/n.y/l/n glenne_azoff thegemmastyles I’m happy to confirm he delivered 🌟🌟

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maybeimamuppet · 3 years

Text

the first date

Damian wakes up to two wildly different texts, one from Cady and one from Janis.

Cady’s is about what he can expect from her; if not a touch more nervous.

Little Slice: Good morning Damian!! I’m sure Janis has already told you but she’s taking me on a date tonight and she won’t tell me where we’re going do you have time to come over and maybe help me put together something to wear???? love you!!

And then there’s Janis.

Janjan: dame can u come over today i’m taking caddy out tonight and i’m losing my shit

Oh boy. He’d been absolutely thrilled when they’d finally announced they were dating, but he should’ve known they would never make it easy on him. He decides to go to Cady’s first, Janis will need his support right up until she leaves to go get her.

He texts both of them while he has breakfast and feeds his little french bulldog, Pippa. He learns that Janis is picking Cady up at four to take her to the zoo, so he has a couple hours to kill before he needs to be with either of them. He sends a text to Cady letting her know he’ll be over around one, getting a thumbs up and several heart emojis in response.

True to his word, he knocks on the Heron’s front door at exactly one, greeting Cady’s mom politely before she shoos him up to Cady’s room. She’s sitting at her desk, still in her Lion King pajamas, working on what Damian can only assume is calculus. He taps lightly on the doorframe, wincing a little as she jumps practically out of her chair before snapping her head to look at him. Once she sees it’s him, though, she smiles brightly and rushes up to hug him, as if she had no idea he was coming.

“Damian! You’re here! I totally lost track of time, I was doing math to relax because Janis won’t tell me anything about where we’re going so I don’t know what to wear or how many people are going to be there and I don’t know what to expect so I’m nervous but it’s also my first date with Janis and I’m so excited and-“ She bursts out rapidly. He envies her breath control, sometimes.

“Whoa, little slice. Deep breaths. I’m here to help, she told me what she has planned and it sounds really cute. I think you’ll like it,” Damian says lowly, massaging her arms to help calm her. “There will probably be a fair number of people around, but I don’t think you’ll notice them and they will definitely not notice you. And I’m here to help you pick something to wear that’ll make Janis combust when she sees you. Okay?”

“Okay. Thanks Damian,” she says, resting her chin on his chest and grinning up at him. He gives her another tight squeeze before making his way to her closet.

“Oh, my god. Okay,” He whispers to himself once he opens it. It’s a violent clashing of various flannels and bright pinks, but he spies a few pieces he can probably work with. “I’ve never seen a lot of this stuff before! Most of this is really cute,” He exclaims, pulling out a yellow sundress that it’s definitely still too cold out to wear.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been meaning to go through and give stuff to Gretchen and Karen that I know I won’t wear. Some of it just isn’t me, and some of the fabrics bug me,” Cady mutters shyly, as if he’d ever judge her for that.

He would never judge her, but he had not taken it into consideration. “Okay, so what kinds of fabrics or textures irritate you?” He asks, flicking through what she has hanging.

“Um, wool or anything scratchy, certain kinds of denim, and most things made of polyester, off the top of my head.” That limits the Plastic side of the closet rather severely.

“What about corduroy?” He asks, spying a green overall dress she bought at the tail end of her time as a Plastic. The color is almost exactly the same as Janis’ favorite jacket, maybe he can coordinate a color scheme. She reaches out to feel it before nodding. “Groovy, now we just need something to go under it.” They’re in the midst of what’s known as “Fool’s Spring”, so it’s just about warm enough outside for her to leave her legs bare. He starts digging through her stuff again, looking for some kind of top to go underneath the dress.

“Did you just say ‘groovy’ in earnest?”

“Yes, I did, thank you.”

“I have some more stuff in my dresser if you want to look at those,” Cady says, decidedly moving on. He puts the discarded garments back on their hangers and closes her closet carefully before moving to root through the drawer she’s pulled open.

“Don’t you judge me, Miss Grool. Let’s see what we have in here,” He says, grinning to himself a little as he pulls out several of Janis’ hoodies. “You guys have only been officially dating for, like, two weeks! How did you already get all these?”

Cady flushes, nearly matching her hair. “She gave me one a long time ago, and it was so comfy I just... never gave it back. And now I borrow them whenever she’s not looking. But only the ones she doesn’t really wear! And I’ll give them back. Eventually.”

Damian laughs at that, knowing full well she won’t give them back until Janis notices they’re gone. “I say go for it, little slice. Payback for her stealing mine since we were little.”

“Aww, you guys must’ve been so cute,” Cady coos, stretching up and pinching one of his cheeks like a grandmother would. “I wanna see pictures soon.”

“You’ll have to fight Jan on that one,” he says, pulling out a black sweater made of the softest fabric he’s ever felt. “Holy shit, this is so nice. Is this one you can handle?”

“Oh yeah, that’s my favorite sweater, I forgot about that. Thanks Dame,” she says, taking it from him gently.

“Okay now go put this on so I can be sure it actually works together,” he demands, clapping his hands and shoving her delicately towards the bathroom. He knows it will, he just wants to see Cady in it.

She shuffles back in a few minutes later and gives a little twirl, holding her hands out to her sides. Damian pretends to take pictures of her like she’s on a runway, and they both start laughing as she goes along with it and starts doing various exaggerated poses.

After a few minutes of shenanigans, he checks the time and realizes he’s been at her place for nearly an hour and a half. Cady is very easy to get lost in conversation with.

“Are you gonna be good if I go now? I have to take Pippa on a walk before dark and run some errands for my mom,” He says, coming up with a little white lie in case Janis doesn’t want Cady to know what he’ll actually be doing.

She nods and comes to hug him goodbye, reaching up to squish his cheeks. He’s exactly a foot taller than her, so she has to reach just a little to get to him, making them both giggle. She gives him one last squeeze, muttering, “Give Pip a snuggle for me?” into his chest before pulling away. He says he absolutely will before wishing her luck and leaving her alone. First job done.

——

Janis’ ten-year-old sister, Juliana, opens the door for him as he steps onto the porch. Their mom must be running errands or something, she doesn’t work Saturdays.

Julie pulls him down to mutter “She’s a mess,” into his ear before running back to the living room with a squeak as Janis calls “I heard that!” from the top of the stairs.

“I’m not a mess,” she murmurs as she reaches him at the bottom, but Damian can tell her anxiety is getting to her.

“Have you taken your meds today?” He whispers into her hair, groaning as she shakes her head. “Janis Olivia, I swear. You gotta take those regularly or they don’t work. Go take them and get something to eat. I’m gonna go pick your outfit.” He pushes her lightly towards the kitchen and thanks the heavens she goes willingly.

Letting himself into her room, he sees the telltale signs of a stressed Janis. Sketchbook open to a random page on her bed, filled with rough sketches of a familiar little redhead. She left her phone blaring music on her nightstand, and he can see faint footprints in the plush carpet from where she’s been pacing.

Damian knows Janis’ closet very well, as she makes him pick her clothes for any important event. He has an outfit in mind already, but he’s a little worried about how Janis will react to part of it. He pulls out the pieces he wants, laying them on her bed gently as she waltzes in. She shuts off the music before turning to look.

“Pants?” She grimaces as soon as she sees what he’s picked. He called it.

“I know, I know, but hear me out. You can still wear your fishnets underneath, they’ll look cool with the rips. And, Cady’s never seen you wear pants before! All you’ve ever worn are your shorts and dresses,” he begs. He knows Cady will love her in this, and it’s in Janis’ comfort zone enough that she’ll still feel confident in it.

“Fine. Turn around, loser.” She grumbles, faking annoyance. He obliges, turning around and covering his eyes until she says he can look. He turns back to face her as she’s pulling her less-decorated green jacket over her black and white checkered crop top, and adjusting where the rips fall on her black mom jeans. “How do I look?” She asks, spinning around like Cady did.

“Bitchin’.” He says, pushing her to her mirror so Janis can see herself. She checks herself out, and Damian can see the grin growing on her face. She really does look great, if he does say so himself.

“Okay, yes, you did a great job, as always. Thank you,” she says as she turns around to hug him. “Now can you help with my hair and makeup?”

———-

Damian pretty much does her typical makeup, just with slightly less around her eyes. After he finishes swiping on her signature dark purple lipstick (and making extra sure to set it enough), they both start talking at the same time.

“Do you think the zoo is too cliché?”

“Can I try something different with your hair?”

“Do whatever you think will look best, Dame. I trust you. But really, is it dumb?”

He grabs her mom’s curling wand and gets to work after putting on a heat protectant. “I don’t think it’s dumb, I think it’s cute. You want to do something she’d like, and she loves animals. Caddy chased that duck around the park for, like, half an hour last week, she’ll love it.”

Janis bursts out laughing at the memory, trying not to move her head to avoid getting a serious burn. “I didn’t think I’d be this nervous. We went out all the time when we were just friends, but like, what if she hates it? What if I’m so awkward she changes her mind and decides she doesn’t want to date me after all? What if I do something dumb and she gets uncomfortable?”

“And what if it’s perfect? Janjan, Caddy’s been pining for you for the better part of a year, and she’s been your best friend for even longer. If she hasn’t run off screaming by now, she’s not going to.” He says comfortingly, shutting off the iron and starting to run a brush through her two-toned hair. “Now hold still, you’re gonna mess it up.”

Janis goes stiff, holding as still as she can. He can tell she’s still very nervous, but she seems to be doing better than earlier, since she didn’t immediately try to contradict everything he just said.

He starts brushing her hair up into a high ponytail, asking “So are you only taking her to the zoo? Or do you have some other scandalous plan for later that you’re not telling me about?” to distract from what he’s doing. It was a valiant attempt that failed miserably, and she shoots him a look in the mirror.

“Um, if she’s not too tired I was gonna take her to that clearing by the pond we found a while ago to watch the stars. She knows all about that stuff,” She murmurs, fiddling with a scrunchie. Regretfully, it is the one Damian needs, so he plucks it delicately from her fingers and gives her the brush to play with instead.

He snaps the scrunchie into place around the ponytail, spraying it lightly with hairspray so the curl holds. He wipes some pretend tears from under his eyes, saying, “My baby girl, all grown up, going on her first date,” with highly exaggerated emotion. Janis laughs, shaking her head and watching her hair bounce around in the mirror.

——-

Julie manages to corral them into playing Mario Kart for a bit, Janis only being able to do one race before she has to go. She grabs her backpack and the large pile of blankets from by the door and puts her boots on, going to kiss both of them on the forehead and remind her sister to feed their cat, Pancakes.

“Get out of the way, Janny, I’m about to win,” Julie whines, kicking her lightly in the shins.

Damian cackles at that, saying “Yeah right, squirt. Have fun, Janjan. Make good choices and send me pictures,” Before also shooing her out of the way. Janis rolls her eyes at them as she locks the front door behind her and texts her mom that she’s going but left Julie with Damian.

——

Janis hears her phone ping as she’s pulling up to Cady’s house. She dries her slightly sweaty hands on her pants before digging for her phone in her bag, grinning as she sees the message.

Cady Girl: Do I need to bring money or anything??? I can’t wait to see you btw, I’m so excited!!!!!

Janis texts her back, telling her all she might need to bring is a blanket and reminding her to wear good shoes since they’ll be walking a lot.

She grabs the flowers and cup she acquired on her drive over and heads up to the door, knocking politely. Cady opens it with a squealed “Janis!” before she’s in her arms, nearly knocking the stuff out of her hands.

Cady clocks them after a few seconds, asking, “Are those for me?” and pointing to the flowers.

Janis pecks her on the cheek in greeting, answering, “No, these are for your mom. Damian said it’d be a good idea. This is for you,” and handing her the venti chai she got from the Starbucks a few blocks out of their neighborhood.

“Aww, Jan, that’s so sweet. Thank you,” Cady coos at her, taking the cup and calling for her parents. “Mom, Daddy, Janis is here! She got you flowers!” Janis flushes bright pink as Mrs. Heron emerges from the kitchen.

“Oh, hello Janis. Thank you, these are lovely,” she says, taking them from her before turning to Cady. “Binti, you know the rules. Home by ten and make good choices.”

“Yes, mom, I will,” Cady says as she hugs her mom goodbye, turning to grab her bag and the blanket she picked out. “Tell dad I said bye. Love you,” she calls as she drags Janis out by the hand and shuts the door loudly behind her. “Sorry about that, she can be so embarrassing sometimes.”

“Nah, don’t be sorry. It’s cute,” Janis says, opening the door to her truck for Cady to be chivalrous. She gets in on the other side and chuckles as Cady sips her tea, cradling the cup as if it’s the most precious thing she’s ever been given.

“You’re wearing pants! And your hair is up!” Cady nearly chokes on her drink as she finally notices, reaching out to tug gently on a curl and watch it spring back into place. “You look so beautiful.”

Janis flushes scarlet again. “Thanks. So do you,” she mutters, grabbing Cady’s hand and kissing her knuckles, feeling the last of her nerves fading into the background.

“So do I get to know where you’re taking me yet?”

“Nope. I want it to be a surprise. Just enjoy the ride, Peanut.” Janis says, reaching for Cady’s hand again as she drives. She takes it and starts playing with her fingers, fiddling with her rings.

“Fine,” Cady pouts. They continue chatting quietly, Janis rubbing her thumb over the back of Cady’s hand. After a while, she goes quiet. Janis looks over to see her asleep, curled up adorably in her seat. Maybe it’ll be a surprise after all. Now she can’t see all the signs saying “ZOO” they keep driving by.

————

Cady still hasn’t woken up by the time Janis has paid for and found a parking space. She goes around to open her door for her, shaking her awake gently.

“Caddy. We’re here, it’s time to wake up.”

“Noooooo,” Cady whines, pawing indignantly at her hand and curling into herself.

“Yeeeees,” Janis laughs. “Come on, this’ll be fun!” She reaches over to click Cady’s seatbelt off, grabbing her hands and hauling her to her feet.

Cady rubs at her eyes blearily, looking around to see where she is. It takes her a second, but once she sees the big lion on the sign nearby it clicks and she jumps into Janis’ arms.

“Jay! We’re at the zoo?!” She squeals into her ear.

Janis laughs as she scoops her up, spinning her around a few times before setting her down again. “Yeah, do you like it?”

“Yes! Come on, let’s go, let’s go let’s go! I wanna go in!” Cady exclaims, bouncing excitedly as she grabs Janis’ hand and goes into a full-tilt run towards the gates.

“Caddy, Jesus, please slow down a little. It’s not even five yet, we have time,” Janis calls.

Cady stops suddenly, turning to look at her. “Oh, sorry. I got carried away,” she says sheepishly. Janis tips her chin up and boops her nose lightly.

“Don’t be sorry, I’m glad you’re excited. Just do it at a speed I can handle,” Janis tells her, breathing a little heavier. Cady grabs her hand again, gentler this time, and starts walking them at a much more reasonable speed towards the gates.

——-

“Where do you wanna go first, Kitkat?” Janis asks, flicking through the map she grabbed once she’d bought their tickets.

“Uhm...” Cady hums pensively. “The aquarium?”

“Sounds great, that’s this way,” Janis answers, pointing down a pathway to their left.

Once they enter the dark building, Cady makes a beeline for the small touch tank, rolling up her sleeves and quickly skimming the rules before sticking a hand in, giggling as a little stingray comes up and brushes against her. Janis comes up behind her, putting her arms around her waist and bending down to rest her chin on her shoulder.

“Do you wanna feel, Jayjay?” Cady asks, holding Janis’ hands with her free one. Janis shakes her head, kissing her jawline gently.

“Nah, I don’t like touching wet things that move. Creeps me out,” she says, prompting a laugh from Cady, who reaches up to pat her cheek with her dry hand.

“We’ll have to go to the petting zoo then, I saw it on the map. Those are just dry things that move,” She teases, turning her head around and kissing Janis’ nose before moving to get some hand sanitizer.

Janis takes her now clean hand and leads them deeper into the building, towards a much, much larger tank that reaches the high ceiling, filled with various tropical fish. Cady goes up to press her face against it, pointing excitedly as a massive shark swims right past her.

Janis stays back for a second, sneaking a quick picture of her, illuminated by the lights in the tank. It gives her auburn hair an almost ethereal glow, making her look like some sort of siren. She puts her phone back into her pocket, deciding to paint the photo later.

Cady turns around to grin at her, gesturing for Janis to come look at the fish. Janis comes up, taking a place next to Cady and admiring the brightly colored fish swimming by. They really are beautiful, but she’s more interested in sneaking glances at her girlfriend’s excited smile.

Cady suddenly throws her arms around her, burrowing into her chest. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she mutters, resting her chin on her chest and smiling up at her. “I love it.”

Janis wraps an arm around her shoulders, brushing Cady’s hair from her forehead with her other hand before leaning down and peppering kisses on all the freckles she can see. She wants to kiss her on the lips, it certainly wouldn’t be their first, but she’s still anxious about doing so in public. Cady squeals at the sensation, smushing her face into her chest again.

“Janis?” she murmurs after a moment.

“Hmm?”

“Can we get food?”

Janis laughs, kissing her hair again. “Yes, we can. Let’s go find something.”

——

Once Cady is satisfied with her belly full of pizza, they make their way over to the section of the park with the African animals, which they’re both the most excited about. Janis has to grip her hand firmly to stop her from running off again.

Cady rushes through the gorillas and hyenas, prattling off every fact she knows so quickly Janis can’t really understand what she’s saying, but she nods and enjoys them nonetheless.

Eventually, they find themselves on a tall platform overlooking the giraffe enclosure, and Cady practically starts vibrating with excitement when she sees the sign listing all the feeding times. Janis looks over and sees the next one is in three minutes, wordlessly going to get in line to buy a bucket of lettuce.

Cady barely notices her absence, pressed up against the fence and admiring the tall creatures as they come up to get fed. Janis hands her a bit, laughing as one comes up directly in front of them and promptly begins to lick the railing separating them.

Cady proffers her leaf, laughing as Janis yelps “What the fuck?!” when its long, alien tongue pokes out to grab it.

A zookeeper comes up, informing them that their giraffe’s name is Georgie and politely asking them not to pet him before wandering off to the next group. They take turns feeding him and taking pictures of each other doing so, until Cady sticks her hand in the bucket to get another bit of lettuce and notices they’ve run out. She pouts sadly as they both wave goodbye to Georgie before returning the empty bucket and washing their hands at the small sink on the other side of the platform.

——

They go see the lions next, Janis’ heart giving a painful squeeze as she watches Cady stare longingly through the fence, pressed against it as close as she can be. She loves her life here now, but every once in a while her heart longs for her old friends. She stands there, watching as the gentle breeze ruffles the mane of the one closest to her, and as the new cubs chase each other around. She’ll see her own lions again, someday. She knows it.

Janis snaps another sneaky picture of her, sending it to Damian with a sad face emoji; he responds in kind with several more crying emojis. Cady doesn’t linger for too long, coming up to Janis for a quick hug before they move on.

Janis keeps an arm around Cady’s shoulders, squeezing her gently as they walk toward the elephant and rhino building. She winces at the smell as soon as they enter, but Cady doesn’t seem fussed by it. They walk down the hall to where the large windows are, looking for an opening in the wall of people blocking them.

Janis thinks she’s found an area behind a few people. She can certainly see fine. “Aww, there’s a little baby one. Look, Cads,” she says, pointing.

“Jay, I can’t see anything. There’s people in the way.” It is at this point that Janis suddenly remembers that Cady is 5’3 on a good day, and that she’s a whole seven inches taller than her girlfriend.

“Oh, sorry Peanut,” Janis says sheepishly. “Hold on a second.” She hunches over, gesturing for Cady to climb onto her back. She obliges with a giggle, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and resting her chin on top of Janis’ ponytail as she grabs her thighs to hold her steady. Once she’s sure Cady’s secure, Janis straightens back up.

Now that her eye level is a good foot higher than it used to be, Cady can indeed see the baby elephant Janis was referring to, cooing over it as memories of Kenya come flooding back once again. They walk around a little, listening to the recording of a voice listing facts about the creatures and the area they normally live in, Janis laughing as Cady confirms or debunks everything the robotic voice says.

Cady is still clinging to Janis like a baby monkey as they leave the building, burying her nose in Janis’ apple-scented hair and pressing a few kisses to the top of her head. Janis doesn’t seem to mind, though, adjusting her grip and trying desperately not to think about the amount of bare thigh Cady’s dress is making available for her to hold onto.

“Where next, baby?” She asks, freezing as the pet name slips out of her mouth before she can stop it.

Cady pretends not to notice it for the moment, murmuring, “Erm... penguins?” into her ear softly.

“Did you just pick those because they’re all the way across the park and you want me to carry you more?”

“Maybe,” Cady hums, squishing her cheek against Janis’ warm, flushed one. As Janis starts walking she decides now is probably an okay time to ask about the name. “I’m baby?”

Janis bursts out laughing at that, much to her confusion. “Sorry, that’s an old meme I haven’t shown you yet. I’ll do that later. If you don’t like it I can call you something else. I just thought it fit,” she mutters the end quietly.

“No I love it! Aaron never nicknamed me,” Cady says before remembering mentioning her ex on her first official date with her new girlfriend was potentially not the best move. Stupid with love. “But now I have to come up with more cute things to call you!” She tightens her grip on Janis’ shoulders slightly.

———-

She’s spent the entire walk over to the Antarctica exhibit thinking of something to call Janis. “What about Jellybean? That’s fun,” she asks as Janis gently sets her on her feet again.

“Absolutely not,” Janis squeaks, turning away and pretending to be very interested in an informative plaque to hide how much she’s blushing.

“Aww, you’re all blushy. You’re just as sappy as I am,” Cady teases, poking her arm lightly.

“No I’m not!” Janis insists, gesturing to herself. “Look at me. Look at my boots, look at my hair. I’m tough. I’m a badass. Now let’s go see some fucking adorable penguins.”

Cady bursts into giggles. “Fine, mpenzi, you’re tough as nails. But you’re also going the wrong way,” She calls as Janis is briskly walking away. She freezes for a second before turning around and confidently going the correct way as if that’s what she meant to do all along.

“We are never speaking of this again.”

———-

They find a little bench just across from the exhibit, deciding just to sit and watch them quietly for a while. Janis nearly falls off the bench at one point, laughing hysterically as two of the penguins start fighting over some fish. She laughs even harder as an exhausted keeper comes out to break them up, looking as if it’s not the first time those two have gotten into it today. Cady’s not really paying attention to what’s happening, just grinning as she watches her girlfriend laugh so freely.

Once Janis has recovered, gently wiping tears of laughter from under her eyes, she takes Cady’s hand and pulls them up again. “Okay, you ready for best first date ever part two?”

“There’s more?” Cady asks. “But this was already so fun.” She pouts, wrapping herself in Janis once again.

“Hell yeah there’s more. I have a legal obligation to spoil you now,” Janis grins, leaning down to kiss her forehead gently. “Now come on, we can stop by the gift shop on the way out.”

———

As soon as they walk in, Cady spies a pile of stuffed animals, her eye going specifically to a lion one on top. She runs over to check the price, wincing as she sees that it’s nearly thirty dollars. Janis bought her entrance ticket, and dinner, and let her feed the giraffes, and she didn’t bring any of her own money. She puts it back delicately and makes her way over to where Janis is looking at various keychains.

“Hey, Peanut. Did you find anything?” Janis had definitely noticed her rush over to the stuffed animals, and her dejected frown as she walked over to her.

Cady shakes her head, popping up on her tiptoes to lean her head on Janis’ shoulder. “No, I was just looking. I’ve never been able to find my name on one of these things,” she says, reaching out to flick at one that says Allison. They have her middle name, at least.

“I haven’t either,” Janis says, leaning her head against Cady’s. “At least never spelled correctly. Anyway, do you want to keep looking and see if you find anything? I saw something over there I wanted to grab for Damian,” she lies. The pizza was much cheaper than she had anticipated and her student ID got them

both a discount on their entry fee, so she has a fair bit of money left over. She’s been saving her art prize money, and her mom gave her some to have fun with as well. Time to buy a lion.

She grabs a little bouncy ball for her sister and a pair of sloth socks for Damian. He collects socks, so that’ll make a good enough cover story for now. She snatches the stuffed animal from the pile, rushing up to the counter to buy everything before Cady can see.

She finds her again with both hands in the bin of colorful rocks, sighing at the texture before she removes them again. She jumps lightly as Janis comes up behind her, saying, “Having fun, Kitkat?”

“The texture is satisfying,” she mutters. “Didn’t think you’d find me so fast.”

Janis chuckles, coming up to take her hand. “Are you ready to go?” Cady nods, leading them out the gates and towards Janis’ truck. Janis checks the time once they’ve settled in, finding it to be just before seven thirty. Perfect.

She decides to stop by the Wal-Mart on the way to the clearing to pick up some snacks, Cady still chattering excitedly about how much fun she’s had so far. It must’ve been the tea that put her to sleep last time, now she’s got the most energy Janis has ever seen.

Cady seems a bit confused as they pull into the parking lot, but takes Janis’ hand trustingly regardless. Janis tells her to go pick out a snack she wants, and she nods quickly and darts off. Janis makes a beeline for the chip aisle, immediately grabbing all her favorite kinds before moving on to candy.

In typical Cady form, she comes back carrying only a case of strawberries and two bottles of her favorite sweet tea. “Oh my god, Jan,” she laughs when she sees how many bags Janis is trying to carry. She rushes off once again to grab a cart, returning to Janis and putting her things in it before climbing into the basket herself. Janis raises an eyebrow at her, but ultimately can’t resist the crystal blue puppy eyes blinking pleadingly at her and starts pushing it towards the checkout area with a sarcastic grumble about ‘certain people being too cute for their own damn good’.

———

Janis pulls into the clearing in the woods, telling Cady to close her eyes so she can get everything ready as she cuts the engine.

“Are you gonna murder me now?” Cady jokes as Janis grabs the massive pile of blankets from the backseat and begins making a little nest in the truck bed.

“Yeah,” Janis grunts as she hops up. “Took you out to give you a fun final memory.” It takes her a while, and she swears vigorously as she misses her footing on the way to grab the snacks and nearly falls on her face. She sets all their food up in the middle, and as a finishing touch, puts up Cady’s new stuffie holding up her phone, which is now playing music softly. Not too shabby, but she just hopes her girl likes it.

She goes around to help Cady down, making sure her eyes are still covered as she leads her around to the back before she takes her hands away. “Tah-dah,” she says shyly, but smiles as Cady gasps excitedly.

“Janis! This is incredible! And you bought me that lion,” she squeals, pointing to it. “Thank you!” is all the warning Janis gets before her girlfriend is in her arms, kissing her firmly.

She scrambles to grab her as she suddenly pulls back, saying, “Oh, sorry I didn’t mean- I should’ve asked first,” hastily. Janis sets her down gently before leaning in and pressing their lips together again.

“I appreciate that, but you don’t have to ask anymore, baby. It might take me some time to be comfortable with it in public, but I love your kisses,” She says comfortingly. “Now hop up here and snuggle me.” Cady uses her offered hand as a boost, wriggling up and picking up the stuffed animal to hold it close. Janis follows, getting comfortable in a corner she made extra cushy before gesturing for Cady to come to her.

She obliges, leaning her back against Janis’ chest and resting her head on her shoulder so they can both see the sky. “You don’t have to ask, either,” She murmurs quietly after a few peaceful seconds. “In case you were wondering.”

“Good to know,” Janis says, pulling her tighter against her and wrapping them

both up in another blanket. They watch the sun set in silence, observing the stars getting brighter the lower it gets.

“Which one do you like better?” Janis asks after a long moment.

“Hmm?”

“The sky. Is it better here or in Kenya?”

Cady thinks for a minute. “Uhm, both,” she says softly. “There’s less smog in Africa, obviously, so you can see more. The stars themselves are more distinct and you can see more of them. But everything just stretches on for miles, I could see everything around me, and it always reminded me how alone I was. Here I have you, and Damian, and so many people that I know actually care about me. There’s less sky, but more people to share it with.”

“That’s confusing,” Janis cracks in a ditch attempt to lighten the mood. “What constellations do you know?”

Cady takes her hand gently and uses it to point out what she can see, telling her the scientific names of all the stars she knows and the stories behind all the shapes.

“How do you know all this?” Janis asks after she’s pointed out everything they can see, turning Cady around in her lap to face her.

“My brother taught me when I was little, and then I just kept studying it after that.” Cady surmises, nuzzling into her shoulder and starting to stim with the ends of her hair.

“Your brother?”

“Yeah, he-um. He passed away when I was ten. He was in the military,” Cady says.

“Oh.” Janis says. “I’m sorry. My biological father died when I was four but I still don’t... really know what to say in this kind of situation.” She mumbles, embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it, darling. It’s awkward for everyone,” Cady comforts.

“Tell me about him,” Janis asks. “If you want to, no pressure.” She adds hastily, relieved as her girlfriend chuckles lightly.

“Okay, um- his name is Rhys. He was the best, he taught me all about science and stuff, and he always made up games with me when our parents were busy with their research. I used to get nightmares a lot when I was little, and he would sneak into my tent to cuddle me back to sleep before I woke anyone else up,” Cady recalls fondly. “I think he was a genius, too. He knew everything. He wanted to be a doctor, actually. We couldn’t afford to pay for all of his schooling, so he joined the army to get help with that when he was eighteen. He was almost at the end of his service when he died, he was twenty. My parents never told me what happened, all they ever told me was that there was an accident and he was never in any pain.”

Janis presses Cady impossibly closer to her, kissing her soft cherry-scented curls. “He sounds wonderful, baby. Sounds a lot like you, actually.” She says, nuzzling their noses together.

“You think? My parents say that a lot, but I never believed them,” Cady mutters softly.

——-

They continue to chat quietly as the sky gets ever darker, talking about everything and nothing all at once. Eventually, they go quiet, and Cady leans up to press their lips together gently. Janis sinks into her, tangling her fingers into curly auburn hair and nipping her bottom lip softly.

In her head, Janis knows that the universe is above them, stretching infinitely into nothing. But in her heart, she knows that there are just as many stars in Cady’s eyes, just as much beauty in her heart. Her whole universe is right here, in her arms.

--------

lol remember when I said this one would be shorter ?? oh well.

hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading!

-ezzy

#cadnis #janis sarkisian #cady heron #damian hubbard #paint by numbers #janis x cady #mean girls #mean girls musical #mean girls broadway

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pookystolenkissworld · 3 years

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#radioprogram #broadcasting #playlist #music #listening #pop #rock #indie #live #cool #catradioactive #series #funforaday #hipster #shoegazer #anything #modernrock #musicoftheweek #newrealease #flashback #international #jpop #jrock Catradioactive by DJ Wasana Wirachartplee on every Saturday at 22:00 - 24:00 hrs. (+07:00 GMT) at www.thisiscat.com DJ Wasana Wirachartplee’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/wasana.wirachartplee Catradioactive 11 December 21: Curse Of Lono, Tess Parks - So Damned Beautiful A Tall Tale - Union of Knives feat. Helen Marnie (Ladytron) Fly by Midnight - North Mirror Swim - Skyline Shoestrings - Expectations Wine Lips - Suffer the Joy Toner - Ox '45 Money — Down4ever The Horrors - Against The Blade Wet Leg - Too Late NowTigress - Hungry The Acharis - In the Blue Room Pip Blom - Trouble In Paradise Penelope Isles - Miss Moon The KVB - The Truth White Lies - I Don't Want To Go To Mars Pink Turns Blue - So Why Not Save The World Lips Lips Lips - See It In Your Eyes Nation Of Language - They're Beckoning Big Sleep - Tattoos Mild Orange - What's Your Fire? We.the Pigs - Anyway Tennis System - Bitter The Suncharms - Cast a Spell Band of Horses - In Need of Repair Shout Out Louds - High As a Kite Walk The Moon - Someone Else's Game The War On Drugs - Change https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXGOliEfUtc&list=PLU62MFne4NxDZm6tg4VtQG0s2matVDS-j Fun for a day 249: LEISURE - Be With You Flatsound - Last Minute Cycle Boyish – Smithereens Dull Mourning — Nosebleed Ceramic Animal - Sweet Unknown Luna Sea - Desire Beach House - Esp Wombo - One Of These Beach House - New Romance Dacelynn - Tell Me What You Want Glare — Heavenly Autoheart - Time Machine Coral Pink - As New Days Begin Broken Vow — Broken Vow Men In Love - Tainted Eyes Lyrics Sadboi Simon - Sunday Scaries AMP - Sunflower Flyng Saucer Attack - Outdoor Miner (7inch 1995) R.E.M. - Fall On Me (Tour Film '89) Ocean Colour Scene - So Low Chris & Cosey - Exotika [12" Remix] Nagisa Ni Te - Me, On The Beach Yasuko Agawa - L.A. Night (12 inch 1986) Yuriko Nakamura - Winter Sonata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h26vnQyhpH4&list=PLU62MFne4NxAs2tk4aybNDdJw2tULYGmB https://www.instagram.com/p/CXYe9jXJZwo/?utm_medium=tumblr

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official-weasley · 3 years

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The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 3, Ch. 2

PART 3: THE YEAR OF QUIDDITCH & MAGICAL CREATURES Chapter 2 - Advanced Tranfiguration

Nova

The school year started the same as any other. The Sorting Ceremony was a big blur as I was so hungry that I couldn't really pay attention to it.

The next day we got our class schedules, which were similar to the one we had last year except for the two Elective Subjects. All four Houses had both classes together which made us happy because it meant that Tonks, Charlie, and I would be together in Care of Magical Creatures.

Along with my class schedule, I got another piece of paper, which according to Professor Flitwick, came from Professor McGonagall. I knew it was about my Advanced Transfiguration lessons before even looking at it.

I already took Advanced Transfiguration last year after the holidays but it was only every other week and we mostly covered the theoretical part of it, so I was super excited about what McGonagall was going to show me this year.

With extra Transfiguration classes twice per week and counting on joining the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team my schedule was packed as much as I imagined it would be. I didn't mind it, it just meant that I would have to work extra hard to find time for drawing and spending some quality time with Pip and my friends.

The morning the classes started I decided to write my entire schedule on the same piece of parchment, as I didn't want to miss anything.

Monday – Potions, Double Charms, Double History of Magic, Astronomy at Midnight

Tuesday – Double Ancient Runes, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Double Transfiguration, Advanced Transfiguration

Wednesday – Double Potions, Herbology, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures

Thursday – Ancient Runes, History of Magic, Double Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy at Midnight

Friday – Double Defense Against the Dark Arts, Double Herbology, Transfiguration, Advanced Transfiguration

Despite having History of Magic and Astronomy on Thursday, I knew that I was still going to look forward to every Thursday as we had double Care of Magical Creatures.

—

As expected, the first week went by like it didn't even exist. Charms were going to be interesting this year as we were learning a lot of fire spells. Defense Against the Dark Arts looked promising as well. Nothing could beat History of Magic when it comes to being boring, even though Penny made a promise to herself that this year she will stay awake and take all the notes and take one for the team.

Tonks and I made a bet she will last for two weeks while Charlie and Tulip believed she would only last for one.

Transfiguration was as exciting as always, even though I couldn't help but notice that Tulip, Jae, and Charlie were having problems coping with the speed Professor McGonagall started the class this year. I am confident that it's nothing a couple of hours in the Library with me can't fix.

Penny almost poked Snape in the eye with her wand as he was walking around the class, telling us that this year will be our toughest yet because there will be a lot of potion brewing and she got a little too excited. Of course, to Snape, it didn't matter if she was the best in his class as he took 5 points from Hufflepuff.

We all started to pay more attention in Herbology. Not that we didn't love how Tonks was teaching us last year but we wanted to see what Tonks saw in the subject. By Friday, Tulip and I gave up as we possibly didn't find it as entertaining.

That wasn't the only thing that happened on Friday. That morning, Orion, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain sat down next to me and Penny having breakfast.

“Hi, girls.” He said as I had to look at him twice to recognize just who he was.

“Nova, I know you were debating whether to try out for the team last year and a little birdie told me that you are rather good.” The sound of his smooth voice made me want to go back upstairs and sleep some more.

“A little birdie told you?” I asked confused as to who knew about my Quidditch skills.

“Yes, the Gryffindor Prefect.” He smiled.

I looked at Penny whose cheeks turned bright red when Orion mentioned Bill.

“Oh, well I did practice with him and his siblings over the last two Summers.” I didn't want to sound too excited as he sounded like a pretty chill person.

“Well, I am here to invite you to our tryouts on Saturday at seven in the morning. I hope to see you there. If you're as good as Bill says, we could use a Chaser like you.” He stood up, smiled, and walked away.

“That is so nice of Bill to put in a good word for you!” Penny squealed and I nodded in agreement. I had to take a mental note to thank him if I make it on the Team.

“Why did you blush when Orion mentioned Bill?” I changed the subject.

“I did not!” Penny was a really bad liar.

“Penny, do you have a crush on Bill?” I asked rather excited to hear the answer.

“Hi Nova, Penny.” But before Penny could say anything, Charlie sat down next to me, yawning.

“What's going on?” He quickly noticed he interrupted something as neither of us started speaking and Penny almost put her head in her porridge bowl.

“Oh, look at the time. I'm going to be late for class.” Penny got up, grabbed her bag, and left.

“But class doesn't start for another 20 minutes.” Charlie was now not only sleepy but confused as well.

“Girls, am I right?” I chuckled. I didn't want to reveal Penny's secret, even though it was obvious she had a crush on Bill, I decided to confuse Charlie even more instead.

I then told him all about my tryout invitation and he said that he would love to come and watch me become the new Ravenclaw Chaser but seven in the morning was just too early for him as he would have to again wake up at seven on Sunday as the Gryffindor Team had their first practice. What was I going to do with this sleepy head!

Friday was also my second Advanced Transfiguration class. As much as I thought that this was just going to be an introduction to more advanced spells and more theory like last year, Professor McGonagall proved me wrong the very first lesson.

She told me what we were going to do this year and that she was expecting me to create at least 3 transfiguration spells on my own before the holidays. She also said that we would be covering most of the theory and advanced theory on Vanishing Spells and that she will expect me to master those by the end of the year.

Don't get me wrong, I was still excited and humbled by the opportunity. I just couldn't see the talent she saw in me and was talking about while explaining what we were going to do.

Even though I was kind of intimidated by her and the amount of work she poured into me, I did well in my first two classes. She wanted me to revise the theory we went over last year and also I would have to perfectly cast all spells we learned thus far in normal class for her to know I was ready for what she had planned.

I was a bit surprised when I saw that I was the only one taking Advanced Transfiguration. I expected at least a couple of other students, if anything someone from higher years. Of course, I didn't mind having lessons alone with my favorite teacher.

“I want you to understand just how important theory is when it comes to Transfiguration.” She started. “I wish we would have more time in our regular classes to cover as much as I will be able to show you, as it would come in handy for all students.”

“Why can't you, Professor?” I asked.

“You see, Miss Blackwood, what we teach you is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more to Transfiguration. However, there is not enough time to show you every spell and talk about every single thing that is connected to the subject. That is why when someone starts to show a special talent for the subject, we offer extra classes to those who are interested.”

“Interested? Did anyone ever turn down extra Transfiguration?” I couldn't understand who would do such a thing.

“Of course. Why do you think you are sitting in here alone?” She looked around the classroom. “A student can show exceptional talent when it comes to a subject but if they don't desire to study it above the level necessary we can't force them.”

Well, that would be a waste of talent in my opinion. But what do I know, I love Transfiguration!

“Now about the theory, we learned last year, do you still have your notes?” I nodded. “Good. You will need them as we will start with the practical part of those themes next week.” I was relieved to know that I wasn't rereading those notes all Summer for no reason!

After my lesson, I hurried down to the Great Hall to catch what was now the last 15 minutes of dinner. I sat down next to Charlie who was looking towards the Slytherin Table and chuckling.

“What did I miss?” I put some mashed potatoes on my plate.

“Bill is losing it with the Slytherins. They pranked their Prefects this morning and they are both in the Hospital Wing so Bill had to intervene as they were causing quite a racket there.” He continued chuckling. Apparently, seeing Bill losing his mind was amusing to him. “Of course, Tulip, Tonks, and Jae are already making friends with the Slytherins that put the Prefects down.” He continued.

“Of course, they are.” I laughed.

“How was your Advanced Transfiguration class?” He now turned to me, giving me his undivided attention.

“It is going to be a busy year let me just tell you that.” I made a worried face.

“I think you're going to do great! You're smart, your amazing and talented. There's nothing McGonagall teaches you that you can't handle.” He grinned and I felt my cheeks turn pink.

“Where is Penny?” I looked around as I realized that she is the only one from our group that's not in the Great Hall.

“Oh, she mumbled something about going to the Library. Is she okay, she seemed a little off, just like this morning?” Charlie looked worried.

“Who were you having dinner with when she decided to go to the Library?” I asked even though I knew where this was going.

“The usual. Me, Tonks, Tulip and Jae. Bill joined us for a split second before he ran to shout at the Slytherins.” He chuckled again, still finding it amusing.

So she ran to the Library because Bill showed up!

“What are you smiling about?” Charlie asked. I didn't even know I was smiling.

“Oh, nothing!” I relaxed my face and continued eating.

I didn't know if I should go to the Library and talk to Penny or should I just leave her be and not discuss her feelings and not make a big deal out of it. I mean it wasn't a big deal. So she had a crush on Bill, he is kind of cute, I suppose. I didn't put much thought into it and with the schedule, I was having, it looked like I wasn't going to have the time to think about crushes this year.

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meaningofmotorsport · 3 years

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Dutch Grand Prix Review

It was a day that made Holland proud, although the race, as expected, did not give us plenty of action. That being said, the overtakes we did get, mixed with an incredible track, and a bonkers atmosphere, still made it good to watch!

This weekend could not have gone any better for Verstappen, as he clearly showed his ability to perform under the most extreme pressures, in front of an expectant crowd. That car was in a class of one over the weekend, possibly down to the new upgrades they had at Spa. The team did everything right too, in covering the moves of Mercedes, with good clean pit stops. With Max back in the title lead, momentum is on their side, however the high speed Monza circuit could not be as good for them. It is crucially they are flawless for the rest of the season, which is not easy. We always knew that Perez was a Sunday man, and he showed that again at Zandvoort, with brilliant passes, combined with superb race pace. All he needs to focus on is Saturday, and he could really be a pain for Mercedes if he sorts that out. Considering they were able to take new engine components, it makes the weekend look a bit better for him.

Mercedes shouldn’t be unhappy with how things turned out. As much as their strategy could have been slightly better, Red Bull had the pace to counter any challenges they attempted. Lewis actually did well to stay with Max, and that’s what he needs to keep doing all year, in pressuring the Dutchman as much as he can, to see if he makes an error. Bottas was no match for the top 2, as you would expect, and his tyres were gone when Max overtook him, so you can’t blame him too much for the lack of defence really. The most interesting part of the race in my view, is that Bottas defied team orders, by going for the fastest lap, although Lewis got it back in the end. This to me is a clear indication he isn’t staying with the team for next year. If that is the case, the internal team relationship could get very tasty as we head towards Abu Dhabi!

AlphaTauri’s race pace has been a bit hit and miss this year, but this time they certainly knocked it out of the park. Gasly controlled 4th place all race, pulling away from the Ferrari’s in parts of the race. He is really becoming one of the best drivers in F1 at the moment. Tsunoda never really did anything of note all weekend, which is better than crashing, yet still he needs to be nearer to his teammate.

Much like Gasly, the Ferrari’s had a quiet race for the most part, Leclerc believes he had slightly better pace than the Frenchman, but couldn’t get within 3 seconds of him due to dirty air. They decided to go deeper into the race before pitting, and you could see Charles was closing on his friend in the closing stages. Carlos was not pleased at all with their race pace, as he thought it was similar to the disaster they had at France. He was pipped by Alonso on the last lap; however, 7th is still a good result as they continue to recover from last year. Most importantly, it has put them over 10 points ahead of McLaren in the constructors.

Alpine ended up about where they deserved to be in the race. They were a major bottleneck in the first stint, as Alonso seemed to be taking care of his tyres much more than others. After that though they could gap those behind on the most part, and close in on Sainz. Ocon was pretty equal with his teammate for pace, it was probably just the dirty air that hurt him compared to Fernando. These was some crucial points in the fight with Aston Martin.

McLaren were on the back foot going into the race, and Daniel didn’t have the pace to move forwards in the race, possibly due to wearing his tyres in behind other cars. Norris on the other hand, could go longer on the first stint, which gave him the tyre advantage for the rest of the race, unfortunately he was just too far back to put it too good use in the end. The defensive move he put on Perez wasn’t penalty worthy, yet I think it was a bit too aggressive, especially as wheel to wheel contact like that can end badly.

Aston Martin much like McLaren, had their work cut out in the race to come away with a good result. They couldn’t do it in the end, not due to a lack of pace, more so as they couldn’t get out of traffic. Stroll was stuck behind Russell for the majority of the race, who wasn’t able to move forwards really. Vettel was in a similar position, and spinning the car at Turn 3 didn’t help matters.

Giovinazzi was the unluckiest yesterday, as he was running just inside the points, until he got a puncture early on in his second stint, ruining his race. With Perez and Norris coming through the field, it is not guaranteed he would have got points, but it is still a tough blow to him, as he fights to stay in the series. Kubica can hold his head high now, as he filled in very well for Kimi having come in at the last minute, especially on a technical track like this.

Russell as I said before was holding strong track position for a good part of the race, but it was on the wrong side of the points. Then he got a penalty for speeding in the pits, followed by some gearbox issues, which ended his day. At least these issues happened on a day where points weren’t possible for them. Haas is having an internal meltdown at the moment, with both drivers not speaking to each other, after a series of events between the two of them. Personally, it looks to be a fuss over nothing, as these issues happen in racing, and Mazepin is the one getting hot headed about it.

Verstappen may have the title lead back, but with the gap being just 3 points, there is no room for error by either side. Plus, going to Monza, the Mercedes has looked slightly better in terms of straight line speed, so it could well swing back the other way by the end of the triple header!

-M

Thank you very much for reading this article! To keep up to date with when they go out, and to see my reactions to races and other news, follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MeaningofMotor1

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#f1 #dutchgp #dutch gp 2021 #formula1 #formulaone #f12021 #motorsport

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sincerlypadfoot · 3 years

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Switched Realities (Chapter One)

~After Remus tries and invent a breath mint potion, everything goes terribly wrong, switching bodies with everyone in that circle and not knowing how to switch back. (Sirius Black fanfic)

(If you get confused on who is who)

Remus-Marlen James-Lily Sirius-Ash

Word Count-1.7K

Send Requests Here

“Lily, Ash, Marlene!” I faintly heard someone hiss, I didn’t care to react, thinking I was dreaming, after listening for a couple seconds, I felt myself drift back to sleep. “Ash,” Someone hissed in my ear.

“Bloody hell, i’ll hex you,” I cried out tossing my soft blanket off my face and squinting my eyes at the bright light in the room. “What do you want?” I asked unknowing who was talking to me.

“Bloody hell turn the lights off,” I heard Marlene squeal, less of a morning person then I was, the lights went off.

“Remus wants everyone in the common room, he has something important to share,” The voice said Sirius, causing my eyes to pop open, only being a sports bra and shorts.

“Sirius Black, you get out of this room right now,” I cried out pointing to the door, pulling my blanket up to my chest.

“I’ll be back if you three aren’t down in the common room in five minutes,” The door open and shut.

“Bloody hell i’ll kill those boys one day, always coming in here,” Marlene croaked turning on her light. “What the hell is going on anyways?” She asked looking in my direction.

“Like hell, I know,” I mumbled closing my eyes then opening them again. “Probably some dumb boy shit, no doubt,” I tossed my sweater on quickly then sat on straight, looking at Lily who was standing up out of her bed and brushing her hair.

“How are you a morning person Lil, i’d kill to sleep all day,” Marlene said making herself and I laugh and nod our heads in agreement.

“Not sure, my parents were always up early so I was always up early, i’ll meet you two down in the common room,” And just like that, Lily was out of the room, leaving Marlene and I.

“What do you think they they’re gonna blow up today, or get us detention for this time?” Marlene asked crawling out of her bed, I did the same, walking over to my closet, grateful that is was a saturday.

“Yeah no doubt we’re going to get detention for this,” I lowly said letting out a bit of a snort, Marlene laughed, we both turned to each other, walking out of the room at the same time.

“Good morning, come sit, I have some exciting news!” Remus called out, he had already sat everyone down in a circle, leaving Marlene and I room to squeeze in.

“What is your so exciting new?” I asked taking my place in between James and Sirius.

Remus grinned brightly, pulling out seven little vials of purple liquid in them. “You guys want breath that smells fresh all day?” Remus asked, James and Sirius looked at each other, leaning over and gawing their breaths

“He needs it!” They both said simultaneously, I rolled my eyes, watching Remus pass the viles to Marlene, who passed them to the next person until everyone had one in hand.

“Fresh lasting beautiful breath here we come,” No one questioned Remus with his potions, since they always were right, and none of them were mix-ups. Everyone went together, chuckling and swallowing the purple potion.

“Smell my breath James,” Sirius suggested, knocking into me, he hadn’t made it to James before falling backwards onto the floor, all our heads shot to him, then to the next thud on the floor, Marlene fell, then James, Lily.

The after taste was awful, making my stomach want to hurl and my eyes baggy. “Remus what did you do?” I pushed my last words out of my mouth, before feeling myself falling backwards, on the soft carpet.

I had felt awake still, but my body felt different, and my stomach was in a knot, my leg felt stronger than my stomach. I forced my eyes open, looking up at the roof, feeling around and not in the same spot.

“Bloody hell what the hell was that?” I moaned rubbing my head, my voice was not my voice, I looked at my hand in my face, that was not my hand either, I quickly sat up looking around the room, everyone was either still laying down or just waking up.

“Oh god what happened,” A woman's voice said beside me, I turned my head, my eyes widened more out of my face. My mouth fell open but no words came out, my eyes turned down to my body, the leather jacket and sweatpants were sure not mine as well.

A scream came from my right, causing my head to turn and look at James who had his hands on his face. “No no no, Remus i’m gonna kill you!” James shrieked again touching his face.

“What’s the problem?” Remus asked sitting up and looking around the room, his eyes landing on Marlene then his face then around the room. “This is not my face,” Remus had made a squeal, the familiar squeal I had heard this morning from someone else.

“Marlene?” My deep voice said looking over at Remus, or Marlene who looked over at me confused. “It’s me, Ash,”

“Ash?” Marlene said placing her hand on her face. “Why am I right there?” She asked looking over at her body that was curled up in a ball, slowly waking up.

“Hey thats me,” My head turned beside me, myself was awake and looking around, unsure of who was in my body. “Thats me?” The person said again, holding there hands on their face.

“Remus what the hell did you do!” Marlene cried out looking around the room, the person beside her started moving, moaning and touching their face.

“I didn’t do anything, I just,” Remus started to say, who was in Marlene's body sat up and looked around, spotting Marlene who was in his body beside him. “Oh no,” Remus hand went on his blonde hair, pushing it over his eyes.

“Bloody hell what happened?” Lily moaned sitting up and looking around, her reaction was the same as everyone else, seeing her body and letting out a girlish scream and covering her mouth.

“James?” Sirius asked tilting his head and looking over at James beside me, who sat up and looked around, letting out a manly scream and covering his mouth again.

“Okay everyone calm down!” Remus shouted standing up, he looked down at the skirt he was wearing and his face went bright read.

“Hey don’t look at me like that!” Marlene pipped up looking at Remus and shaking her head.

“If your me,” I whispered turning my head to Sirius who was looking at himself up and down. “Oh god,” I grabbed my hair, expecting brown but Black hair fell onto my face. “Anyone but you Sirius,”

“Stop talking!” Marlene shouted standing up and looking around the room, I chuckled at her expressions when looking down at her body and spotting her own self standing beside. “Ash, Sirius,” She pointed as Sirius and I, who looked at eachother, then down at our bodies again.

“Nice boobs,” Sirius smirked placing his hands on his chest grinning. I smacked his hands away.

“Lily,” Marlene said catching the attention of Lily who had been in James body. “James,”

“I am so sorry,” Remus said sitting back down and placing his hands on Marlene's head, or his head. “I don’t now how his could have happened,”

“You put me back in my body right now, I can’t even believe this!” Lily squealed running her fingers not through her long red hair but her slick almost black hair.

“I need to get my book, I don’t know what to do,” Remus got up and left the room, Marlene fell backwards, placing her hands over her scared face, letting out little weaps.

“How to you make your skin so soft, and your hair, it’s so siky,” Sirius was unbothered, running his fingers on his skin and though my long brunette hair.

“Stop touching my face Sirius,” I hummed smacking his fingers. “Don’t touch anything, it’s weird,”

“I’ve got good news and horrible news, what do you guys wanna here first,” Remus came rushing down the stairs, with a book in his face, moving the long blonde hair out of his face every couple seconds.

“Good news, please just put me back in my body before James ruins my hair,” Lily cried out placing her hands on her hand, running her fingers though her hair.

“Well, I know a potion that can fix this, but,” Remus said looking at the five of us. “It’ll take a month, and it’s complicated,”

No one said a word, Marlene was the first one to do anything, walking up the stairs and slamming the door shut.

“I can’t even believe this,” I whispered putting my head down into my hands. “I can’t do this,” My hands ran though Sirius’ hair that felt silkier than mine.

“I am so sorry guys, and I promise that all your homework will be done by me and and,” Remus sat on the floor, playing with the blonde hair that hung down his face.

“We have class, what do you want us to do, I can’t even!” Marene came down the stairs, wearing a long woolen sweater to cover Remus’ shirt he was wearing.

“Well atleast now i’ll pass my potions test today, that's Lily Flower,” James chuckle hitting Lily's shoulder.

“Not if I let you fail, just because I have to be you doesn’t mean i’m going to be any nicer,” Lily muttered crossing her arms.

“I need to go get ready for class, lets see what pretty panties you’ve got to wear Ash,” Sirius smirked helping himself off the ground, I watched him slowly walk up the stairs before getting up myself and running after him.

“Don’t touch my underwear Sirius!” I yelled jumping on his back and covering his eyes before he had a chance to do anything. “Or i’ll touch all your clothes and use all your hair gels,”

“You wouldn’t,” Sirius hushed moving my hands off his eyes. “I wasn’t going to be a weirdo about it,” I shook my head looking at my face on Sirius. “Wow I have so much nose hairs,” Sirius stuck his finger in my nose causing me to fall off in disgust.

“We have to get to class Sirius, stop horsing around, just slip my robe on, and lets go,” I helped myself up on my feet, crossing my arms at Sirius again.

“Ash I didn’t realize you smelt so good,” Sirius slipped off my sweater then tossed my robe on, I walked out still with my arms crossed, Sirius robe felt silkier and nicer, knowing I was going to be keeping his robe after this.

#Maraudersera #marauders fanfiction #the marauders #hp marauders #young marauders #AshYoung #RemusLupin #SiriusBlack #PeterPettigrew #JamesPotter #LilyEvans #MarleneMckinnon

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dawnwave16 · 4 years

Text

Gamer Girl

Yes another SAO/MLB crossover. I love SAO so I can’t help it! I was going through my grammerly works and saw the start of this and realised I had never completed it despite starting it in Dec so here you go!

Part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4

AO3

Story:

You would think that Lila Rossi’s lies would be exposed quickly once they had been posted onto the Ladyblog. In fact, you would think that they would be exposed almost as soon as they were spoken with someone so smart in the class. Either way, you would be wrong. It had been six months since the Liar had joined the class and the lies she had told still hadn’t been exposed. Marinette had tried at first but she had soon stopped when it became clear to her that as long as Lila had a story to tell, her class would listen.

As a result of this Marinette had stopped trying to protect her class from Lila’s lies. She had taken to simply ignoring her. She had started to ignore her class too. She didn’t make them the huge birthday cakes or mountain of cupcakes anymore. She didn’t bring in cookies for the whole class once a week and she stopped making personal gifts for everyone. If they wanted anything they had to ask for it but that would require that they remembered that she existed first. It was at the stage where if she didn’t remind her class that she was there, they simply forgot her. She honestly didn’t mind though as it had freed up quite a bit of time for her. Her design business had taken off in Japan as she had several friends there. If she wasn’t ladybug she would have considered moving there as she was much happier there then she was here in Paris. It was due to this that when Marinette had any downtime she had taken to gaming again. Not just any gaming but playing VRMMORPG’s. She had been a little wary of them after being caught in SAO several years prior but when Yui had contacted her after Kirito had logged in to ALO to try to save Asuna, she had willingly gone back into a full dive in order to help him and continued to do so as she went on frequent raids with his group. She had met Kirito when he had wandered into her clothing shop looking for a way to either upgrade or replace his black coat on one of the days that she had been running it rather than leaving it to an NPC. The two had partied together at her suggestion to get the correct mats and had become fast friends with him coming to her whenever he wanted his wardrobe upgraded. Unfortunately, she had reduced the amount of time she had spent gaming due to her class relying on her for so much but now that they weren’t, she had picked up where she had left off. Her stats had skyrocketed with her return to gaming and she had realised that her crush had made her act a little like Klien did whenever he saw a pretty girl. As soon as she realised this she had taken a hard look at herself and decided that while Adrien was handsome, he wasn’t worth making a fool of herself over. The fact that the girls in her class weren’t pushing her at him anymore helped with getting her to calm down too and now she was able to speak to him without looking like an idiot. The past week had been quiet. She’d seen her classmates all talking about something but Marinette hadn’t even asked what it was. She had a raid planned with Kirito and the others that she was looking forward too. Unfortunately, Asuna hadn’t woken from SAO. The blow she had taken from Kiyaba when protecting Kirito had killed her and not even the fact that the game had finished extremely soon after that had saved her like it had saved Kirito. The Asuna that had been pictured at the top of the world tree in ALO that had driven Kirito and herself back into gaming so soon after SAO had been cleared had been an AI that had been created by a mad man. Her family had been unwilling to believe that she was dead when everyone else had started to wake up, choosing instead to believe that she was one of the three hundred that were still trapped somehow. It had been a terrible blow to them when they had realised that this was not the case. The planned raid was one planned in her honour as this Saturday marked the anniversary of her death. Marinette still couldn't believe that three years had passed since she had been declared dead, nor could she believe all the VR events that had happened since then. Marinette had found it ironic that, now that she was no longer focused on Adrien, she had been able to see that she had had a crush on Kirito the whole time. When she had realised this the two of them had sat down and had a long conversation about their hopes and dreams. She had told him about her interest in fashion while in SAO and had kept him up to date with how her brand was doing IRL. In turn, he had told her about how his studies were progressing and how frustrated he was becoming by trying to read all the articles coming out of America about the advancements within his chosen field of study. His face when she had suggested that he have Yui run a translation program over them so that he could read them more easily had been fairly comical, even though she had reminded him that it would be in his best interest to learn English properly anyway. Marinette was drawn out of her musings when Mlle Bustier finally managed to get the class's attention. “Class I know this is may come as a surprise to you but due to the fact that Lila has to go to Achu and we won't be able to celebrate her birthday with her on the actual day, we will be hosting a party for her this Saturday.” The class immediately jumped into planning mode. “I'll do the music!” Nino called. “Ooh, Jeluka and I can organise the decorations!” Rose pipped up “Oh please! I'm going to London with Mummy and Daddy and I'm taking Sabrina with me. You losers can count me out.” Chloe sniffed while Sabrina nodded quickly, even though she didn't look too happy about it. “We could have the party at the park,” Mylene suggested which had Kim, Max, Alix and Ivan nodding eagerly in agreement. “I can't guys, my father has me scheduled for an all-day photo shoot,” Adrien said while he rubbed the back of his neck and appeared regretful. Marinette doubted it but she didn't say anything. “Awe, that's too bad, maybe we can facetime you in one or two of your breaks? I can organise that easily!” Alya tried to comfort him by saying. Marinette shared a look with Nathaniel who shook his head showing that he didn't but this story any more than she did. “What about you, Marinette?” Mlle Bustier said in a sickly sweet tone as though she expected Marinette would agree no matter what her real plans were. The class looked at her expecting her to say she would organise the food because none of the others had offered to do so. “I have plans for Saturday,” Marinette stated calmly. Mlle Bustiers eyes turned cold even as the class started to protest and say she had to organise the food. “Now Marinette, don't you think it would be nice to organise the food for the party?” Mlle Bustier's voice was saccharine sweet as she tried to convince Marinette that she should just comply. “If you want the bakery to do the catering you need to place an order and pay for it like everyone else. I have babysitting for Madam Chamack in the morning while she does her grocery shopping and has a few other appointments. I also have plans for the afternoon but those are personal and something I have been helping to plan for a while now. I can't back out of them now.” Marinette rebutted firmly. She was going on the raid in Asuna's memory no matter what. As she spoke the expectant gazes of her class had turned to glares. “Look, you guys haven't wanted me around for over six months. I have resigned as class president, giving that title to Alya.” Just as Marinette was about to explain more, Kagami walked in wearing a yukata. It took a moment for the class to notice her but Marinette noticed something that the class hadn't noticed and quickly walked towards her. “Do you need some help with retying your yukata?” She asked quietly, not realising that she had slipped into Japanese as she spoke. “Please,” Kagami's voice was filled with relief even as she let Marinette adjust and retie the garment. “How do you know how to do this, let alone speak Japanese so well?” Kagami asked as Marinette worked. Neither girl noticed the class staring at the two of them in shock. When everything was tied properly Marinette stepped back. “I have my own set of yukatas from some of my closest friends in Japan. When you spend as much time with people as I did in the game, you try to find other things to keep you occupied other than grinding for levels. Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica all got together to teach me how to tie mine without relying on in-game mechanics. They also worked on my accent which is why I barely have one when I switch to Japanese, or so I have been told.” Marinette smiled sadly as she remembered the times they had gotten together to have a girls night at one of their homes. The game mechanics meant that they hadn't been able to do much by way of dress up or spa treatments but because Marinette had the tailoring skill she could manipulate fabrics and they had taught her that way. She shook her head quickly and looked back to Kagami. “Are you comfortable?” Kagami nodded and thanked her and they spoke for a little while longer before Kagami left and Marinette turned to walk back to her seat, only to see the class staring at her. “What?” “Marinette, what was that? What language were you speaking? Since when are you and Kagami friends?” The three questions had been thrown at her by Alya, Mlle Bustier and Adrien. Marinette sighed and shook her head then answered. “In order, that as you so eloquently put it Alya, was me helping Kagami to retie her yukata as it is always easier to do when someone helps you, especially if you want one of the more complicated knots. The language, Mlle Bustier, was Japanese. One of the five languages I speak fluently. The other three are Cantonese, Italian and English. I didn't list French as it should be obvious. And as for your question Adrien, Kagami and I became friends on Friendship day

while playing that game. I stuck to French that day so I'm not sure she knew to come here but it doesn't matter.” Marinette was walking back to her seat as she spoke, taking care watch where she put her feet as the class had taken to trying to trip her every so often. “Why did you need my help when your uncle visited then if you can speak Cantonese?” Adrien said in bafflement. “Simple. Uncle Fu speaks Mandarin not Cantonese so we wouldn't have been able to understand each other. I also thought you might enjoy a day practising a language that you were being taught rather than just reading it.” Marinette replied with a small smile even as she sat down again. The class was still glaring at her but she ignored them and Lila quickly reclaimed their attention with some false tears and a sob story. By the time Saturday came around the class had forgotten all about the incident with Kagami and Marinette's refusal to help out with the food or having anything to do with the party. This left the class scrambling to organise food and drinks in time and unfortunately made everything a lot less enjoyable then they had hoped it would be. Marinette, on the other hand, had had a fabulous time looking after Mamon as Kagami and her mother had come round and between them they had dressed Mamon up in different yukatas and kimonos, teaching Mamon how to speak a few words in Japanese at the same time. Despite her very stern nature, Kagami's mother had seemed pleased to be passing on a small part of her culture to others who were eager to learn. The raid had gone well too and she and Kirito along with the others had shared some of their favourite stories about Asuna once it had been completed. Despite the sombre reason for the gathering, everyone had made the effort to be happy and to celebrate the good times they had had with her and with each other. They had held the get together at Marinette's home, which was above her in-game shop so they hadn't needed to worry about finding a private spot when they were ready to log off. When Marinette had walked into class on Monday, she had expected to be bombarded with stories of how great the party was. Instead, she was met with sullen glares and dead silence. Marinette raised an eyebrow but shrugged and ignored them, turning her attention back to her phone. She had woken up an hour early but instead of getting up straight away she had started messaging Kirito as he had been online. They had finally decided to give dating a try the previous day but they were taking things fairly slowly. Currently, they were talking about if she would be able to visit during the upcoming school holidays and trying to work out the logistics if she got permission to do so. “Marinette.” Mlle Bustier called. “Yes, Mlle Bustier?” “I thought you were going to do the food for Lila's party on Saturday. Where were you?” Marinette raised an eyebrow. “I told you I had plans for Saturday and that I would not be at the party.” “Marinette, remember what I said about -” “Mlle Bustier” Marinette cut her off, “While you might think that babysitting and going to the memorial of a friend is less important than a party for someone who does not like me, I don't. While my friend was declared dead three years ago, Saturday was the first time any of us had the chance to truly get together and remember her. Asuna died trying to give others a chance to live and she deserved to be remembered by those of us who were closest to her.” Marinette's voice was sharp and her tone was ice-cold as she spoke. Mlle Bustier and the rest of Marinette's class stared at her. “Footage was recently released of how she died if you are callous enough to demand proof. Unfortunately, I think you are because if anyone except Lila tells all of you anything you just swallow it but as soon as it's to do with anyone else you insist on having proof.” Marinette could tell that the class was about to start shouting at her but she ignored them and looked at her phone only to freeze. From what she was seeing, Yui had copied herself onto her phone and found all the videos from the past six months, as well as recording the confrontation that had just happened and sent it to the School Board. Marinette had planned to try to get a bit more evidence before she did that but it seemed that Yui had decided enough was enough. She was brought out of her frozen state when she heard Max asking if he had permission to play the video he had found for the class. She was about to warn them that it was fairly violent but Mlle Bustier had already granted her permission and Markov was projecting the video of the final SAO battle against the Skull Reaper on the white screen that Mlle Bustier had pulled down to cover the blackboard. The class watched in horrified amazement at what was being shown and gasped when they saw the younger Marinette on the screen amid the fighters. Marinette could see they were wanting to point out the fact that this was a game, you couldn't die because of a game and that none of the female players had died in that fight when they saw that Marinette's eyes hadn't left the screen and that the video hadn't ended. They gasped in horror as they watched everyone collapse to the floor and screamed when a girl jumped between the two players that were duelling, killing her. The video ended and the class was silent. Marinette spoke then, breaking the silence in a voice that was so brittle and hollow that none of them knew what to think. “What you just watched was the final two fights of SAO. The girl that died was my friend Asuna Yuuki. Before you say it's just a game, get Max to look up the details. It was well documented. I'm going home, don't bother to try to stop me. You just made me watch my friend die AGAIN, I think I've earned my mental health day. I will stay in this class for the rest of the term, then I will be transferring to a different class. I want nothing to do with any of you anymore, Mlle Bustier I hope you are proud of yourself for letting things escalate to this.” Having said her piece, Marinette turned round and walked out of the room. She knew there would probably be Akumas that would be created by what had just happened but at that moment she just wanted to be alone. Or better yet, surrounded by here real friends.

#salt #all kinds of salt #character bashing #marinette needs a hug #gamer marinette #saltinette

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