#in my mind he's hat kid's great grandparent but maybe like a couple greats (?)

[majormeilani]

i literally don't talk about it much but i do often think about the cut ahit character, tim the time ceo. he had a rather silly (yet somewhat relatable) backstory and concept for his character but it would have been neat if we could see more characters from where hat kid comes from.

also i really liked his design:

he seemed like such a lovely character

[princesspuresarahk]

Fairly Odd Parents Stories

Deep in The Heart of Texas

by Maki and Bug a Fanfic story au inspired by her FOP au

Chapter: 4 Turner Thunder Ranch

Grandpappy and Nonna lead them in as Vernon and Michelle look around with awe. The place was amazing with cozy and warm furniture everywhere with old Western style, it must have been around for a long time and in the living room set a big old stone fireplace that must have been handmade and had a big old longhorn skull on the top center cozy pillows and quilts on the furniture everywhere a big kitchen and an upstairs level where you can see a view from the living room there was just so much to see Michelle ‘Woah….’ As Nonna called out “You two must be tired from your long journey please make yourselves at home caras.” Michelle was warmed by their hospitality “Thank you, ma’am~” Vernon thanked as well as he gazed around. Since as a kid, he have only heard from his peers Timmy came from the middle class… but seeing the ranch belonged to her grandparents…This was beyond middle class from he could tell It was even close to or the same level of high class…Maybe even higher when he noticed a framed picture on the wall that said the great land property of TTR and wow that was a lot of land it was completely the size of Dimmsdale perhaps even bigger Vernon(thinking through his mind) Wow….Notice a couple of very old pictures that look to be Timmy's ancestors including Ebenezer Turner who they believe from the stories with the town crier but in this photo, he looks like a completely different person He seemed more of a fitting as one of the founders of Dimmsdale other than Orville Buxaplenty. And what else he could tell it looked like he had some scars on his face as well It said he had been into a lot of fights for many years most specifically, wars, for example. Then he notices the picture next to it looks to be a leather book a little worn out but still in good contact that said The True Secret Life History Of Ebenezer Turner, surprising Vernon was there more to Timmy's ancestor than people let on finally Grandpappy came up to him with a glass of iced peach tea " here you go son wife thought of making everybody some beverages from y'all's long journey.”

He noticed Vernon was looking at the book and smiled “If you're curious about good old Ebenezer it's a hell of a wild story to tell.” He said with a joyful laugh full of pride as he returned to kiss his wife on the cheek and thanking for making the tea Vernon felt bashful “Oh! Umm… if it’s okay…..”As he looked around some more he noticed some other things too that belonged to the family in cases a couple of cowboy hats and badges as he looks closer he read on the badges that said Texas Rangers which surprised him as he took a sip of tea his eyes widened of how good this tea was as it was homemade he heard Grandpappy laugh happily when Michelle commenting "oh this tea is lovely," Nonna smiling at the compliment “Taste nice, huh…~ specialty brewed by my wife~”

Timmy added, “Sometimes, I can’t follow almost everything Nonna makes…” Nonna cooed “Oh mio poco bella rosa (my little beautiful rose) you'll get to learn all my recipes with time during your stay the spring break." kissing Timmy kiss on the cheek "Now caras how about we take you to your rooms and have your things settled in yes.?" Michelle yawning a little from sleepiness "Oh! Thank you, ma’am,!"(Holding her bags) With that, she guided the kids to their room. Each room was spacious enough for them. With comfy-looking furniture and space enough to unpack their belongings.

“This will be your room Miss Michelle I hope you'll be very comfortable during your stay." She opened the door to reveal her room Michelle squeaked with a bright smile “I love it~!” Nonna laughed "I'm glad you do..~" then they guided Vernon to his room "And here you are Vernon I hope this room will make you nice and comfortable during your stay." Vernon liked it “Wow…thank you…!” After traveling all day everyone was tired and ready for a good night's sleep Timmy missed the old bedroom she stayed in every time she visited her grandparents. Seeing it again relaxed her. (Timmy lay on her bed with a sigh of satisfaction.) As memories of her growing up on the ranch flowed through her. Timmy smiled it was much more peaceful and happier than the lifestyle she had in Dimmsdale.

And always had thoughts of moving back once she turned 18 after graduating high school and going to college here. Speaking of back… she wondered how the old friends she made here…The old friends she used to run around at the ranch before she moved away to Dimmsdale…Maybe they’re still around? If so it would be awesome to catch up with and introduce them to Michelle and Vernon during our stay it'd be really fun as she put on her nightgown Eddie was already curled up on one of the pillows already fast asleep Timmy smiles at the cute scene. Giving Eddie a kiss she slowly drifted off to sleep happily excited for the adventures for tomorrow.

The Next morning Timmy could hear the rooster crying out, signaling it was morning. Giving a yawn Timmy stretched as she woke up opening her blue doe eyes to see the beautiful sunrise through her window getting up she went to open her window to bring in the fresh morning air against her face Timmy inhaled and exhaled with a smile, (hears a squeak, turned to see Eddie) “Morning, Eddie~” He gave her a waving grin as a little another yawn scratching behind his ear until his ears picked up and he started sniffing the air and his tail started wagging in excitement "Ooooohhh" and his mouth started to drool as he smelt something good Timmy sniffed the air “Must be Nonna cooking breakfast…~ I wonder if Michelle and Vernon are already up…”

Quickly getting washed and dressed Timmy headed into the hall just as Michelle opened her door already dressed for the morning as well " Good morning Timmy morning Eddie!" Eddie squeaked as he waved while Timmy greeted as well. “Morning, Michelle~!” They heard a door open and turned to see Vernon rubbing the sleep out of his eyes still in his pajamas as he let out a yawn "Is it morning already ?" Already seeing Timmy and Michelle dressed and up Timmy greeted him “Yep! Our rooster is a natural clock alarm~” He looked to see the clock on the way saying it was 6:00 in the morning suddenly they all heard a loud growl coming from Eddie's stomach Vernon asked “Is it just me or is Eddie hungry…?”

Timmy giggled “Hehe…he is me and Michelle are heading down for breakfast we'll wait for you to join us” Vernon eyes widen guess he better get ready too “O-oh…!” after he closed his door to dress Michelle and Timmy went downstairs where Nonna set the table with breakfast. “Good morning my caras you're just time for prima colazione (breakfast)." With the table set with breakfast Timmy set Eddie on the table who was very hungry "Eeee~!” Nonna makes good breakfast as she and Michelle sat at the table there was whole-made butter pecan pancakes with hot syrup and butter , scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and sausage with cold milk and fresh tangerine juice to drink “Ooooohhh everything looks so good!” Vernon was out just in time with his casual outfit and walked downstairs, greeted by Timmy’s Nonna. “Good morning Vernon I hope you sleep well cara come and join us." Vernon looked at the table “Oh! Good morning, ma’am…!” Timmy waved at him before gesturing him to sit between herself and Michelle. Then Grandpappy and Timmy's parents came inside from the front porch having coffee and helping Pappy around the farm “Morning, princess~ (pats Timmy's head)

Timmy laughed “Good morning, Grandpappy~!” Pappy greeted the others “Morning, kids, and morning my sweetest lady." Kissing his wife on the cheek "Oh Daran you’re such a tease giggle." Acacia smiled Eddie rolled his eyes as he stuffed a big piece of pancake into his mouth Michelle and Timmy inwardly giggled. As they finished eating breakfast, Timmy walked out of the house; Eddie was inside her pocket, relaxing as he ate a lot of food. Timmy “ok guys what would you like to do there's so much to do here? Michelle was unsure “Well, what do you usually do when you visit here?” Timmy playfully tapped her finger on her chin “I can show you around the ranch and the animals there are trails for riding, biking, and hiking, we have a swimming hole a few miles from here with a raft we go on, and there is also a secret tree fort in the woods, there's the town and other places to explore.” That caught Michelle’s interest “Oh~! That sounds wonderful ~!”

Meanwhile, back at Dimmsdale

Gary was in the tree house watching a TV show having decided to stay home relax and have the place all to himself as he was enjoying his time to himself until he heard a noise outside. Gary looked to see who it was and frowned a little of who it was “Well, well, well! If it isn't a "Tell-me-I'm-Sexy" guy… Hello, TANG.” Tristan was outside talking on his phone wondering where Timmy was he was hoping to ask her out on a date and have her all to himself. Tristan looked slightly annoyed was that..Gary? “What are you doing here? Tristan” frowned at Gary “I’m here to see Timmy as it's none of your business as it's a private visit between me and her.” Gary scoffed “Well, too bad. She left.” Tristan looked shocked “She left…?!”

Gary rolled their eyes at his reaction such a drama king “She went off to her grandparents at Tex…” But before Gary could finish Tristan was off to find out where Timmy was in “…Texas Oh well… (he shrugged)but then He groaned as he heard the familiar sound of a limo, turned to see it belonged to Buxaplenty’s as inside were popular kids.

Gary sighed annoyed ”What do you want…Remy?” as Remy walked out to speak to him from the tree house “Gary is Timmy present in the house?” He wanted to invite her to join him for an outing and secretly have her all to himself Gary rolled his eyes a second time “Nope. Family outing.” Remy showed the same expression Tristan did “Excuse me?” Gary was ready to toss a water balloon at him “She left with her parents and friends to visit her grandparents.” Remy was not ok with that news “What!? Gary continued “As I said, she left to visit her grandparents. So, too late!” he grinned slyly “Where then tell me I can find her !?” Remy demanded, which annoyed Gary more “No. even if I tell you, she wouldn’t want her vacation to be ruined” Remy looked annoyed with Gary, who scoffed again at the spoiled guy's attitude “I mean…. She needs a break from the whole thing here…. Do you think she’ll be happy to see her vacation ruined?” Remy flinched and so Tad and Chad.

As much as popular boys enjoy irritating her, but…. ANGERING her? That is off the limit. “besides what are you guys doing back spring break just begun?" Chad spoke, “The Yacht party was canceled.” With Tad finishing “So we came back,” Gary didn’t care “Oh….well that's too bad for you guys anyway I'm outta here the sight of you guys being here waiting for Tim-Tim is not cool." With that, he climbed down the tree house and left to do his own thing while leaving Remy Tad and Chad stunned as Gary left them without a thought.

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch,

Timmy was showing her friends around.”Oh! I'll let you guys meet my old friends~” Vernon and Michelle nodded yes as Timmy led them to the side where some vintage bikes were sitting there ready to ride on a light rose pink with a basket with painted pink and white roses on it, a baby powder blue with a white basket with a painted blue bird and a mint green with the basket placed behind the seat with a horseshoe print on it Michelle "Ohh~!"impressed as did Timmy "looks like Grandpappy got them ready just in time." Getting some helmets in a wooden box handing the other two to Michelle and Vernon “We can ride into town faster biking plus I know a great trail to ride into along the way."Michelle: Can’t wait~! Getting on the bikes and giving them a test run they headed across the ranch passing by the barn where her Dad was helping Pappy shoe the horses and in the middle of cleaning out the back hoof of a buckskin when the kids rode "Hey Dad! hey Pappy! Me, Michelle and Vernon are gonna go into town to show them around we'll be back later!"

Mr.Turner smiled calling back " Alright pumpkin have a good time just be back for supper and remember to call if you're gonna be late ye hear you kids have fun!." “We will Daddy see ya Pappy!" Waving goodbye as they rode out They rode out of the ranch and rode down the road. As they road along the road Michelle and Vernon were amazed by the beautiful scenery of wildflowers pecan trees foliage berry bushes the sun shining through the leaves the sound of streams nearby and spotting wildlife they went from cottontail rabbits squirrels birds tweeting one of them being some roadrunners running along with their bikes and spotted a few deer and coyotes peeking out as they heard the horse's name the chickens clucking and the cows moving from the distance Michelle was awed by it all "So beautiful…~" suddenly Timmy noticed familiar faces of old friends from the distance. She decided to wave to them. As they were closer to the end of the trail it was revealed to be Timmy's friends from Texas Lou and Wilson "Hey Lou~! Wilson~! "Lou was laid back tall androgynous 14-year-old who had long black hair and bangs that almost covered his exotic green eyes that were surrounded by black eyeliner, pale skin with deep maroon lipstick and black fingernails even in the warm spring weather he wore dark colors of gray leggings deep purple shorts with a black tank top that had red letters saying A Southern Gothic along with a pair of dark red boots he seems to never smiles much but on rare occasions such as this when he sees his long time Timmy that he shows a small grin of seeing her again

“Hey, long time no see.” He called to Timmy (waving cheerfully) Wilson: it's so great to see you again Tim-Tim!" Wilson greeted giving Timmy a big hug and lifting her off the ground as he did Wilson was also a very tall 14-15-year-old who had beautifully tan skin on his already muscle-developed body wearing a blue-white strip tank shirt with light tan shorts with a pair of hiking boots and a handsome face that had the sweetest puppy dog smiles and big turquoise eyes that were half hidden full white vitiligo hair with one side half shaved with beautiful patterns and revealing a piercing with a wolf tooth despite being very big and tall for his age Wilson had a big heart and kind nature about him.

Timmy returned the hug “Eee~! Nice seeing you guys again~Michelle and Vernon blinked. Then Timmy introduced them to her old friends. Timmy: This is Michelle and Vernon, my friends from Dimmsdale~ Michelle, Vernon~ these are my old friends Lou and Wilson~" Lou nodded to them "Nice,” Wilson waved "It's great to meet you guys." Michelle did the same "Hi, y’all~" Vernon shyly(waved) "I was about to show them around town wanna join? “Sure sounds cool." Lou agreed “Definitely we'd love to help show them around town there's lots to see here." Getting their bikes leaning against the trees they lead the way into town revealing the beautiful scenery before them Vernon went "Woah…" while Michelle (looks around with sparkling eyes)

Timmy always loved the town's beauty as well "Beautiful as always~" Wilson spoke up "I’m sure they’ll love to meet you again~" They walked to the town, and almost everyone who knew the Turner family recognized Timmy immediately. Everything they could see was amazing from a small cafe called The Little Bluebird to an old-fashioned ice cream shop a clothing store called Boots and Jeans a garden shop known as Miss Lillia's, a Malt shop stand, a bookshop called The Burrowing Owl and so many other places yet to see. The baker of the small cafe, the ice cream shop owner, store owners greeted her with a friendly smile. The kids waved back in greeting with Vernon and Michelle surprised at how kind and friendly people are here in Texas as more people started coming into town said they didn't even know happily waved good morning and howdy to them Timmy thought (Good ol’ town…~)

Chapter:5 Having some Wild Fun

what fun things will Timmy and the others do? and how long can Gary keep Timmy's location away from the Popular Teens and what goodies will Eddie be chowing down in Nonna's kitchen XD

credit to the lovely and amazing https://jknerd.tumblr.com/ of her amazing FOP au

[scorpiofangirl1109]

My Cats OC Part 221

part 220- https://scorpiofangirl1109.tumblr.com/post/662460982456647680/my-cats-oc-part-220 

hello everyone! welcome to part 221 of my series on kiki!

this is a continuation of the human au i didn’t know i was pregnant mini series with munkustrap and demeter!

demeter and munkustrap are still in shock about the whole situation and they are now worried about this baby they had no idea about until earlier today. 

jenny and skimbles do their best to be encouraging to munkustrap and demeter and tell them that everything is going to be ok and they will hear about the baby soon.

of course jenny and skimbles try to encourage munkustrap to at least call his parents to tell them about the situation. but munkustrap shakes his head no.

of course they were going to have to tell everyone else in the family about the baby and how they had no idea demeter was even pregnant. but he is not in  great state of mind to call his parents with the life changing news. 

it feels like hours but soon a nurse comes in with a little bassinet in front of her. jenny and skimbles had left to go get something to eat for themselves and for munkustrap as well. 

demeter sits up in the hospital bed quickly and munkustrap stands up from the hard uncomfortable chair by demeter’s bed.

“how is the baby are they ok?” demeter asked, her voice was filled a bit of fear but also excitement at finally seeing her baby. 

“the doctors are going to need to do a few more tests before you go home but so far your baby girl is perfectly healthy, she is 6 pounds even and 18 inches long. a cute little peanut.” the nurse smiled at demeter.

hearing that the baby was healthy was a relief to munkustrap and demeter. they did not care if they had to do more tests on their baby but now they knew the baby was perfectly healthy. it was weight lifted off their shoulders. 

the nurse came over then and asked “would you like to hold your daughter mom??”

demeter nodded and got her arms ready. the nurse picks up the baby girl and gently places kiki into demeter’s arms making sure sure demeter is supporting the baby’s head and bottom.

the newborn has one of those little hats for a newborn but it has a cute bow for a girl was and she was also in a hospital receiving blanket with cute little footprints all over them.

the nurse was right when saying the little one was small. demeter knew newborns could vary in size obviously but her little girl was small. but she really was a cute peanut.

“i’ll let you two have a moment.” the nurse told the young couple. “i will be just a beep away if you need me.” she smiled leaving the young couple with their new daughter.

munkustrap sat on the hospital bed next to demeter and he leaned in close to be able to see his daughter. a look of pure joy on his face and was so happy. 

just knowing that their daughter was healthy and did not seem to having any health issues was a great feeling. even though they didn’t know about her just the day before munkustrap and demeter were in love already. 

as they looked at their daughter munkustrap and demeter could see little features in her that she shared with them.

their daughter had the same shade of dark hair as munkustrap and she also had his lips and a few other features. but she had demeter’s nose and facial structure. 

the newborn opened her eyes and they were the same exact shade as demeter’s. she was the perfect little combination of munkustrap and demeter.

“oh hi there sweet girl. i am so sorry we had no idea you were in my belly.” demeter said as her daughter let out a little yawn. 

munkustrap chuckled watching the baby yawn and then focus on demeter “i think she recognizes your voice. you recognize your mama’s voice huh?” he smiled.

the newborn turned her head towards munkustrap then as if she was trying to follow his voice.it was really sweet. 

“she really is precious. i cannot believe that she remained hidden in my belly for so long like that.” demeter told munkustrap as they continued over their little girl.  

“i love that she has your eyes, they are just as beautiful as yours.” munkustrap told demeter.

“i hope she gets your smile.” demeter smiled as kiki yawned again and she leaned down giving their daughter a kiss on  her forehead. 

“it’s crazy to think we are a family now. she’s our little miracle. we have tried so hard and so long for a baby and now here we are with a baby girl.” munkustrap smiled.

“i know i do not think that i will ever get sick of looking down at this little face. she is so sweet.” demeter told munkustrap.

“i know. you know i thought about names for long time and i like the name kiki. what do you think?” munkustrap asked demeter.

demeter thought about the name suggestion and looked down at the baby girl and said “i think it fits. what do you think love? do you like that name?” 

the newborn made a noise and waved her one free hand as if to say she liked the name which made the new parents chuckle. 

“alright i guess we have a name now, maybe we can give her your grandmother’s name as her middle name.” demeter suggested.

munkustrap had always been super close with his grandmother, louise, who had been married munkustrap's grandfather gus for so many years so when she passed away it was very difficult on him.

“i like that, my grandma would have loved a great grandchild.” munkustrap smiled. “kiki louise sounds nice.”

“you want to hold your baby girl daddy?” demeter smiled looking at munkustrap. “i think you should do it.”

of course the male nodded his head yes and got his arms ready as demeter put the newborn in his arms. the newly named kiki fussed a bit at the handing off but she quieted down as munkustrap shushed her.

hey hey...shhhh. it’s ok kiki. it’s ok princess.” munkustrap told her. “i’ve got you, it’s ok. your daddy’s got you.”

demeter watched munkustrap who began to sign softly to the newborn. he really loved kids and babies. munkustrap would play with their friend’s kids and always seemed to have a natural talent at getting fussy baby to settle.

so seeing munkustrap with his own child and calming her down was so special. he was just made to be a dad and demeter was glad he would be the father of her children.

kiki settled and soon she was fast asleep with munkustrap’s arms. one of her little hands peeked out of the hospital blanket so demeter used her thumb to stroke it and kiki grabbed demeter’s pointer finger and wrapped her finger around it,

munkustrap smiled at this and said “i am so proud of you going through all of that pain to bring this little girl into the world. i love you so much.”

then he leaned over and pecked demeter on the lips. demeter returned the favor with a kiss.

“thank you. i can’t wait for my parents to come back and to see their reactions.” demeter said.

“i am too. they are going to be the best grandparents.” munksutrap said as he looked down at a sleeping kiki in his arms. 

this was not the way munkustrap or demeter ever though how their day would go. but now they were a little family of 3 and they were so in love. now they just had to explain to their family about the surprise addition. 

alright that is part 221! let me know what you guys thought and i will see you all for part 222!

[wolfstarflowerpottstarchaser]

How I imagine Rose Granger-Weasley

She grew up playing in WWW

Ron was a stay-at-home Dad with Rose until Hermione fell pregnant with Hugo, and he took on a role at WWW to help with bills (more on this in an old post)

Rose gets on with both of her parents, but she’s definitely a Daddy’s Girl and Hugo is a big Mummy’s boy

Rose and Hugo fall out sometimes like all siblings do, but she’s very protective of him for the most part

She is a very stereotypical big sister and she definitely inherited her mother’s knack for bossiness, ordering Hugo about whenever they played games

But she made the most fun games and Hugo didn’t mind letting her take charge because she was the best at imagining

Of all her cousins, she’s closest with Albus. Maybe because they were the closest in age, they would often get sat together at family events and they became very close, but really she was close with all her cousins

When she’s at Hogwarts, she hangs around mostly with Albus and Scorpius, but (since they’re in a different house) she doesn’t see them all the time. That’s okay with her, though, because she likes to have time to herself, reading and painting

Like Ron says, she takes after her mother

She’s definitely a bright witch so no one’s real surprised initially when the Sorting hat places her in Ravenclaw

“Hermione Granger’s daughter, you know? Just like her mother, I’m sure”

But classes start and her teachers are surprised by her behaviour. They expected her to be just like Hermione, but her behaviour is much more like Ron

In class, she’s often told off for daydreaming and letters were definitely sent home fairly often informing Ron and Hermione that she wasn’t paying attention in class

Instead, more often than not, she would sketch instead of take notes. She was a good little artist

In her first class with McGonagall, she drew a picture of her animagus form in her witch’s hat, and it was confiscated

Sometimes she would enchant the pictures to move, but other times she would prefer to keep them still and admire the world she created trapped in a single moment

When end of year exams came, her teachers were pleasantly shocked she had passed most of her subjects with mostly ‘Exceeds Expectations,’ a couple ‘Acceptables’ and even one ‘Outstanding’ in astronomy after a year of late homework and not paying attention

Around third year, she started feeling more anxious about her academic performance. Her whole life, she was being compared to her mother and now that Hermione was the Minister, the pressure was worse than ever

She felt as though people met her, daughter of Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, and Ron Weasley, also one of the bravest fighters during the war, and they expected something… better

It was an impossible life to live up to

She tried to do better, push herself to get those top marks in subjects. She really tried her hardest in class, asking questions and taking notes, and she stayed up late into the night to get more studying done

Rose stopped drawing, stopped painting, stopped everything that made her happy, including seeing her friends and cousins. There was no time anymore

James was the one who finally wrote to her parents, but apparently he hadn’t been the only one who had noticed

Rose was asked to stay behind after transfiguration with McGonagall. Minnie poured them some tea and offered Rose a biscuit, which she took quite happily

“I’ve noticed a change in your behaviour, Ms Granger-Weasley,” she said. “Apparently I’m not the only one. Professor Longbottom has conveyed similar changes in herbology. It’s almost as if your mother is back in my class.”

Rose smiled, tired from lack of sleep, but pleased. “Thank you!”

“I also noticed a few other differences,” she continued. “For example, I have seen you falling asleep in the Great Hall during meal times, and it’s been a long time since you’ve shown me one of your wonderful pictures.”

“Well, Professor, I’ve been trying a lot harder in all my classes,” Rose said. “There’s time for silly hobbies after I’ve completed my education. I need to be focused like my mum was.”

And then McGonagall went on to tell Rose the importance of not overexerting oneself and the toll it can take on your mental health

“I imagine that it’s not always easy being the child of two famous parents, especially when they achieved so much at a young age, but… you are your own person. Not your mother or father and nor would they want you to be. You are Rose Minerva Granger-Weasley, and you have your own wonderful destiny.”

Rose was stunned. As she left, McGonagall added, “For the record, I have never considered your art a silly hobby,” and Rose noticed her slip something into her desk drawer. The same picture she had confiscated from her two years ago

She really listened to her that day. She was not Hermione or Ron. She was a little bit of both and then some. She was Rose and she had her own path to take

That night, she used a paintbrush for the first time in months and felt herself again

Something occurred to her. She wasn’t the only one who loved art. If they teach it in muggle schools, why could they not have art classes in Hogwarts?

That said, why stop there? What about things like music?

A few days later, she went to see McGonagall again, this time with five pages filled with signatures

“These are the students who think we should have an arts and music programme at Hogwarts. There are so many empty classrooms and the school definitely has the funding.”

McGonagall smiled proudly. “This is quite something you’ve put together, I’ll propose it to the board.”

It took some time, but eventually the board had to agree because so many students were demanding it

Obviously, Hermione and Ron were so proud

Fifth year starts and Rose joins the quidditch team, chaser like her Aunt Ginny

Around this time, she becomes friends with a fourth-year muggleborn witch also new on the team, Darlene

She realises (or, more accurately, let’s herself realise) that she’s got feelings for Darlene

She tries to ignore it, but one day, Darlene kisses her and she can’t ignore it anymore

Over Christmas break, she comes out to her family, and holds her breath

But, of course, they’re all so supportive

Ron is especially eager to meet her new girlfriend, insisting she stay with them for a week over the summer

When Albus and Scorpius come out a year later, she’s the only one who’s shocked

She’s seen them together more than anyone, but somehow was the only one who missed it entirely

Like her Uncle Harry, she can be totally oblivious

(Except this time, even he knew)

When Rose left school, she became an artist… but decided she wanted to explore her Muggle heritage

She stayed with her maternal grandparents for a while, and then started to sell her paintings in muggle art galleries

After Darlene finished Hogwarts, they got a small place together, and saved for several years until they could afford…

Their own café on Diagon Alley. Darlene loved to bake and her cakes quickly became famous, and Rose’s artwork (now painted with magic again) we’re selling more than ever, and other artists were showcasing their work there now, too

They lived above the café in a small flat

It wasn’t until they were in their late 30s that they decided to get married, and it was a small, intimate wedding

(Yes, Ron cried his eyes out)

They never had kids, neither of them wanted to be mothers and were quite happy just being aunties

But they did have a cat. Her name was Minnie

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 19

Previous / Next

"She....what?". "Judas, galexia just....predicted the future, with her drawings... do you have any idea what this means?!", Sky was pulling at her hair, her monster hat of the day lying on the bed, sunny was sitting next to lexi in the corner and judas seemed a little more then startled. "Sky, are you sure she's not just drawing things she knows about or sees? It's not that i don't believe you but if you're sure about this it's uh..well it's quite the thing to to confirm you know?". "Judas, you have no idea! Lexi once drew kelly, before she met her! And now this! Think about it, do you remember her drawing anything that is kinda suspicious now?", the demon child bit his lip and thought back, "Well, there was a time where she used shampoo to draw a.....plant...". The gears clicked in his head and he looked right at galexia, "But that was...that was almost forever ago, it's not like with the teacups...that was something that only happened a few hours ago!."

"Then maybe this stuff could happen at any time! Weeks, days, months! Judas, we have a seerer! And not like one of those ones Melaine likes to play as, like, a REAL seerer!!", she looked excited but also incredibly panicked, "I mean, maybe she can help us! Tell us who is responsible, predict all the things we might run into! Imagine all the things we can do if galexia can predict the future!".  She was pacing and sunny and judas shared a worried expression. "We could find out whose behind the mask, how to fix everything! If galexia can predict stupid cups then imagine what else she could predict?!". But judas still didn't seem to share her excitement, looking more and more concerned. "Sky, remember when i told you you were freaking out too much about well...the other worlds? Letting them get to you? Well, i feel like you might just be....well, freaking out too much about this?", he stood up, "If galexia can predict the future, well, we don't know if it works, how accurate it is, nothing. You might be...well, getting too.....excited and i uh......i'm getting a bit worried ....about you.". Sky looked over the drawings around the room, "You sure you're not just worried about all the drawings she did of you? C'mon judas, it'll be fine, with this we could stop you from having issues before they happen!". "Sky....well, yeah, of course that makes me anxious but....you know, stuff like this.....you shouldn't let it take you over or anything. I mean, the plant drawing happened forever ago, events could happen in a day, or a year from now from what we know. W-we don't even know if she can control it.", Sky looked a bit frustrated, turning away and eyeing the green-eyed princess in the corner ."Galexia, How do you do it? Any of this?", Lexi just blinked at her, he face never wavering from her normal dreamy expression, "I just draw my dreams, my parents always wanted me to keep a dream journal and eclipsa said i should keep up using it! Said i had a real talent for drawing all kinds of cool stuff! You like?". "Lexi, you just predicted the future! Don't you know that!?" "I just draw my dreams, that's it. I like draw the things i see in my dreams and they come out looking really pretty!" Sky scratched at her face, and felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up to see judas with a sad smile. "Sky look, it's.....Galexia has drawn a ton of stuff, stuff that's never happened yet, look around you....Can you really ever see-", he picked one of the drawings out of the pile, "Eclipsa riding around on a giant pizza? We don't know how this works sky....even if she can tell the future, what if....what if most of this stuff never actually ends up being true? Look Sky we can't focus on the future.....we have to look out for what happens now...". "C'mon judas! You just told me today you just want to know who it is! ". "We have no control over what lexi draws sky!", he raised his voice, before softening it,"Please sky, let's not....let's not look too deep into this. You know that this stuff might make me and you more anxious about an already scary situation. And you know what can happen when...I panic....", Sky's eyes looked towards his arm, and she sighed. "Fine, but i'm just saying jude, what if we can use this to help! If we had known before....we could've stopped the plant...". "Sky, please...", sunny stood up now, eyeing between the two, "Lexi's my friend, i can tell you if she draws anything funny? Is that ok?". There was a moment of silence but the boy signed and gave in, "That's just fine, you better get going anyway, after the plant attack, my family would panic knowing you're here. We'll catch up later, ok?". Sunny nodded, Lexi gathering up all her drawings to head to her own room, sunny hugged the girl happily as they parted, both waving to the other teens as lexi ran out the door and sunny teleported. "And one last thing......", he turned away from sky, staring at the door, "We can't tell luna about this, you know as well as i if she finds out that lexi might be able to tell the future, she won't use it for the right reasons and we can't risk it. I don't trust her knowing about something like this.....". Her turned back to face his friend, "Sky, c'mon, tell me something. Please don't stand there and give me that look, i want you to tell me your answer, we're a team....". "Why don't you tell nora then....", sky grumbled under her breath. "Pardon?". Sky went back to being quiet, not really looking at her friend in the face and turning her back to him.  Judas looked depressed, eyeing at the floor and sighing, "Sky, we're best friends, we need to talk to each other about this. Nora is cool and i want to help her and befriend her but you're still my best friend, that hasn't changed. I-I'm not mad, i just think...we can't rush into this....and we need to be careful is all....we can't dig too deep into something like time...it's dangerous..and I don't want you or anyone getting hurt...". Sky still didn't answer and the prince sighed and turned around, "I'll see you later sky, and...I hope to see you when we visit nora in a few days....just....please don't do anything irrational...ok?". Sky heard him teleport and sighed, falling face first into her mattress and forcing back weak tears. - Dinner that night was rather quiet, judas wasn't exactly sure if he and sky just had some sort of fight, but he knew they didn't seem to leave on the best of terms. He kinda wanted to call her back and maybe apologize but  it felt too soon, it had only been a couple hours ago after all. His surroundings were not better, even though they got grounded at least what felt like a week ago, everyone still seemed in a sour mood. Even his parents weren't their usual flirty selves at dinner. Celeste had always been kinda bitter but Sunny seemed oddly quiet, her normal radiance wasn't getting to anyone tonight, she ate in silence, perhaps the galexia talk had gotten to her a bit too. The only reason judas could think to explain his grandparents being in a downer mood was because everyone else seemed to be, and weren't even talking that much. Though out of the corner of his third eye judas could tell landon was glaring at him angrily. As he had been for a bit of time now in fact, the whole castle felt sour and even when their parents suggested game nights or movie nights no one seemed to say anything. Judas could've sworn he saw mason holding a funeral for his plant in his room at one point. He just wanted the funk to end, he actually missed seeing his parents flirt in front of him, or mason's little announcements, or his grandparents fussing about his condition. He needed something to take his mind off his sadness and worry about sky and this really wasn't helping. "Jackie's back..", Marco said, trying to smile and lighten up the room a bit more, "I haven't gotten a chance to see her but i'm glad she's finally back, it feels like it's been forever...". There was a bit of silence before the former king sighed and his teal eyes looked towards the couple. "Good, perhaps with her around we can resolve all this much sooner, she's caught quite a few powerful crooks hasn't she?", his wife next to him grumbled in approval. "Yeah, she's one of the best, she can totally catch this guy, the commission will be helping her, well, whoever among them that can help." Judas took another bite of his vegetables, and listened in, his purple ears twitching. "I can't believe they haven't caught them by NOW, they're more powerful then any of us.". "Toffee evaded them", Marco pointed out, "Even they can't catch everyone, especially those with great knowledge about magic and how to evade them.". "Hmm, wonder if toffee may be behind this once again....", He took a sip of his drink, thinking about it as his son shook her head. "Dad, toffee's deader then dead at this point, we can't rule him out but we'd much rather not deal with him again...". But the king persisted, "That's exactly what they said last time before he came back and wrecked the underworld, regardless, you both should update me and your mother....we're on off time, we might be of help.". "Guys, no offence, but we're in charge, this is our responsibility.". "Thomas, you're never too old to ask your parents for help. You're still our little boy..". The use of his full name and the little boy comment made the king slightly pink, marco laughing next to him. Hearing the queen laugh seemed to get the attention of all the kids in the room, sunny cracking a smile and even mason's wings flickered a bit more then they had been.  "Ok ok, don't.....dad, don't do that again....", the queen's hand slinked up and intertwined with the half-demon's. They then kissed the king's cheek and whispered some words in spanish to them, making the king blush more. "God marco...not at the dinner table.....c'mon now...". The moment seemed to lighten up the room a bit, but then landon stood up, finished his meal, and without a word he headed out. The king and queen watched him leave sadly and then judas stood up,  "Mom, dad, uh....give me a minute...". He followed after his younger brother and luckily he hadn't seemed to have gotten very far. Landon grumbling as he heard judas approach and normally Judas would say something about that but this time he decided maybe it was best not to pick a fight . "And what do you want?". The question caught judas off guard, why did he want to follow landon out anyway when he was clearly in no mood to talk? But then he brushed those thoughts off, he needed to talk to his brother, nothing more then that, if anything so they could break the tension between them and try and get things back to normal. He thought for a moment and crossed his arms, trying to cool down and focus on what he wanted to say. "Landon, hey, i.....i want to check up on you, you've been kinda distant lately...well, more distant, and-". Landon turned around, "Go away jude.....can't a guy go mope in peace instead of hearing their goody two shoes brother annoy them?". He put his hood up, trying to cover up his face as much as he possible could despite his little horns making it difficult. "Landon...". "Just go spend time with mom and dad, you're their favorite anyway....". "What?". "A week to just take care of our dog as punishment? Protecting your hide every chance they can? worrying about your stupid arm more then anything! Stop trying to act like you don't notice how they treat you, you're their angel son who makes no mistakes and doesn't need to get punished like everyone else. I had to spend hours digging through the garden to uproot giant killer plants and what do you get? A slap on the wrist because of course you do!.", he snorted at his brother, eyes practically glowing. "Landon, you gave mason dangerous seeds, not me.". "And you knew about it, and said nothing, and yet? They let you off easy!". "But you did it knowing mom and dad weren't cool with it!", judas argued back, "This entire thing was on you, landon! Where did you even get seeds like that anyway?!". Landon shook his head, "You're missing the point jude, yeah, it was stupid, whatever.....but that's not what i'm talking about. I'm talking about you being left off the hook once again, when you knew about it....you never told them yourself beforehand, and now that they know you hid it as much as i did you just get more chores?". "I didn't say anything because i didn't want you to get hurt! You'd be even more mad if i just told on you! There's no win-win situation here for me!!", then judas toned down his voice, "Look, I just...I know we have never always gotten along, and i didn't want to well....make things worse between us. It was stupid to not say anything about something i knew would lead to trouble but i didn't want to make things...well, tougher between us, i don't like fighting with you. Ok? I'm sorry.". "Sorry isn't enough, you're their precious son judas! and i'm just the middle child no one cares about....don't lie to me jude. I finally get a friend i can talk to and i'm grounded from seeing him, but you? Yeah, you can go wherever you want...it's stupid....it's not fair.", Landon turned around and judas was about to say something but to his horror, his arm transformed. The creepy purple tentacle lying down on the ground in front of him, even starling his younger brother. It had probably intended to reach for the boy but instead it now weakly wiggled on the floor, and landon made a face at it before turning his back to his brother. "Ugh, just leave me alone judas...". He shoved his hands into his hoodie and moved along, leaving judas behind who looked at his transformed arm and sighed. - "At ease everyone!", luna looked up as Kelly walked in, "As i assume you all know by now, our fearless captain has returned to us on important matters, i need you all on your best behavior in her presence. You'll be trained by her at least once a week, when she's not busy. But don't be ashamed if you can't match her, no one ever really does...", then the woman eyed luna, "Though considering this batch some of you might manage to at least get a hit on her....who knows.". Luna's eyes returned to her weapon at hand, she hadn't managed to get a glimpse of her mother yet but she had been mentally preparing for it ever since she found out she was coming back. What kinda person would her mom even be in this environment, as a knight? She was quite tough as a queen but what about a knight? Is she tough as nails or as silly as her mom turned out to be in this dimension? What if she saw right through luna and her lies? "She'll be here in a few minutes, i suggest getting to fighting and looking busy, want her to come here and be impressed to see you all, so no lollygagging. Who knows, she might take a liking to some of you, and if you wanna be as high ranked as her, you'll want to catch her attention.". She stepped out and as soon as the door closed the room scrambled, monster and mewman both immediately cleaning up the area and heading out to train . She sighed, grabbing her helmet and following them. She needed to keep her cover. Her hair tied up, her posture straight, and her armor on correctly as she took a seat on one of the benches, watching two of her current cadets fighting each other.  Most of everyone was already in combat practice, though she could spot a few doing some exercises off to the side. She pulled out a sketchpad, taking some notes of the room, and of the skills of her fellow cadets. Once she was able, she was going to get another look at Janna's office. By breaking into it. She didn't hide the fact she found janna suspicious at all, and that hadn't changed much. The woman's office was full of tricks and if luna was finally gonna get down to things, she needed to play dirty and get a closer look at all of these adults. Judas and Sky were too busy with their own problems to prioritize any actual action, so once again it was up to her to take leadership and handle the situation all on her own. It was almost like being back home one again. Eclipsa coming through that painting gave her the perfect way to enter, as long as she found where she came in. Turns out having janna make them do chores didn't come all in vain after all. She'd have to simply get back into her office and take a detailed and thorough run of the place and hopefully she'd find everything she was looking for, and see if she could be cut out. The biggest thing standing in her way was that janna didn't appear to be a heavy magic user if she was one at all, but luna would be a fool to cross her out in case she had power from other sources though. Working with celeste had the potential to be messy but having a partner was probably for the best.  Tonight she needed the girl to check out the woods on some of the locations she already tracked down, at least then they could get an idea of if the culprit was even in them to begin with. At the very least, it was nice of the locals to happily talk about some of the hidden locations in the woods. What mattered now was if Celeste actually succeeded tonight with gathering anything. "What'cha drawing cadet?". Luna looked up, away from her work, "It's nothing of your concern-". Then she froze. Her eyes met the brilliant turquoise ones of a woman,she had short blonde hair with a teal streak, tanish skin, freckles, and was covered in armor of silver and blue. Luna froze where she sat, putting away the sketchbook and almost about to fall to pieces if the woman hadn't begun laughing, "You're new, i can tell, ah it's ok. I get the feeling you're probably not too familiar enough with me, you seem like you're not from around here, are you?". Luna still didn't speak, looking over her mother strangely, as though she was a stranger. And in a way, she was. The entire room behind her was even frozen, it appeared jackie came in without so much as a peep. Catching most everyone entirely off guard as they scrambled to get themselves together before her. She seemed amused, even despite the circumstances in which brought her here, "It's ok miss, you'll get used to everything around here real fast, but i must say, if you're taking notes on your opponents, that's rather smart of you. Just keep in mind you won't be able to do much of that when in combat, people are unpredictable.". She sounded.....oddly sweet, and luna was caught thinking to what she was like back home. She didn't seem to let things get to her, made her mother's life easier and supported her all the time, was always trying to avoid violence whenever possible. But here, she was literally a knight, someone who usually ended up in violent situations whether they wanted to or not. And yet, she didn't seem nearly as hard-edged as luna had kinda been expecting. She crossed her arms and watched the other cadets scramble to present themselves to her, so much for showing off their best. But she didn't seem to mind, and luna got in line with the rest of them, her back straight and her eyes faced forward. "So you're all the cadets kelly has been telling me about huh? I'm hearing good things all the time from her, i trust her imput. Now, allow me to make a guess among the bunch of you...". She then turned to face luna, looking her over. "You're luna, i hear you're quite the fighter.....even star tells me she finds you impressive.". "How-". "How did i know it was you? Warrior's instinct....that and, well, again, queen wouldn't stop talking about you, of course she'd have at least a couple pictures.", she nodded to her," I suppose we'll see how you do under my supervision, hope to see you work the most.". Then she returned to addressing the rest of the cadets as a whole, "Now, with the current situation at hand, i cannot be nearly as frequent to teach you as i would be under better circumstances, you will be trained by Kelly more often.". "However-", she unshiethed her sword, swinging it against the ground, "We'll make the very most out of any lesson i have with you, we need more warriors now then ever to hunt down this guy and the more of you that graduate the better, some of you have already been on patrol, some of you have even been asked to be squires already. You're on your way to heading up a higher rank, that's a good sign.....hopefully you all get to that within the next month.". "Now, I want to see some action, no more talk, let's test out some of these skills and see where you all land and what needs to be worked on.". She clapped her hands and everyone got moving, grabbing their items and forming two lines on the opposite ends of the "One on One" room, a rather large training arena in the center that was fit for large scale fighting for knights. It had obstacles and dummies, and was perfect for training in a semi-realistic setting. If luna wasn't trying to blend it she would have some criticisms on how cluttered and potentially unhelpful this arena seemed to be but she kept her mouth shut. Being centered out so much was doing little for her blending in, all eyes tended to be on her. Some who seemed to find her impressive, others who seemed a tad jealous of her spotlight, and others who just plain found her strange or suspicious. Hopefully they didn't look too into the fact she looked a lot like jackie to say anything about it, at least her covered up marks did some favors to her though, but not much she could do about the rest of her without serious consequences. And of course, as she expected, guess who was selected to fight first by being pushed to the front of the line? "Luna, you're up, against....what's your name miss?", she nodded to a rather large monster woman who was the front of her line, "Dana...". She growled and grabbed her weapons, already ready for combat, and luna sighed. Yeah, put her up against the clearly larger and clearly stronger then her monster, thanks jackie. If she was using her wand she'd win this in a landslide, but she grabbed her blade and put on her helmet, in her mind already calculating the best way about this. Jackie watched closely as the girls bowed before resuming their places and waiting. And then a whistle blew. Dana rushing at her from her side only for luna to flip right over her easily, landing right on her feet to everyone's amazement. Her opponent turned around, lunging once again at her and their swords clinked together, luna was at a bit of a disadvantage as far as strength went here, so she had to rely on her other instincts if she were to win this. Though for a brief moment she considered losing, strategically, just to not put herself in the spotlight as much. Only for her eyes to match her mother's, and before she really considered it, her leg swept out and tripped her opponent, allowing her to climb on top of one of the large obstacles just as the monster recovered and went right after her with a powerful leap. Luna blocked, she was fending her off rather well, Her agile body leaping to safer locations so she could have the upper ground. Training back home had been necessary in case her wand was lost and she only used it on rare occasions. Never thought she'd be putting those skills to the test the way she was now but here she was, and showing them off to one of her moms of all people. Even if technically it wasn't exactly her, back home she'd never seen her like this. She narrowly avoided another hit from the sword before ramming her opponent down, the monster falling to the floor. She quickly was on her way back up only for luna to jump down and swing at her, the monster blocked and the two swords pushed against each other. Luna felt her strength fading but as she almost fell apart, she remembered who was watching and pushed back hard enough to knock the sword of her opponent away. She won. The whistle blew and there was clapping and applause, jackie look intrigued, though luna herself knew she may of  made things worse for herself by remaining in her mother's spotlight. She got off the arena and took off her helmet, Dana doing the same so the next players to go. She could hear people whispering about her and she sighed, she had the gulls to compalin about judas and sky, and here she was making it almost impossible to belnd in because she was a perfectionist. She hoped her mother would simply fade her interest with her as time went on, and when she did get out of here, her thoughts on her faded. Luckily the woman was focused on the other students as they all went, though their fights were clearly not nearly as interesting as luna's had been to the class. One match lasted less then a minute, Jackie calling instructions to some cadets on some of their mistakes or if they got too rough in the arena then was allowed. Now that she thought about it, was her mother married in this dimension? She never asked judas or sky and she seemed to be on her own so- Luna shook her head, she was getting too distracted about her mother. After this was over she needed to talk to celeste about any searching she had been doing on the outside. That should be where her mind was at, not at her mother, not to mention she was planning a break in that could ruin everything if it failed. She took a deep breath and pulled out her pad again, back to her original planning and work. She was at it for what she supposed had been almost half an hour before someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Training for today is over, you may want to head out, i think all of you deserve a beak." It was her mom, because of course it was. Luna stood up, "Right, pardon me then....", she adverted her eyes and started heading out as the woman called to her, "You did well, keep up the good work, though, maybe go a tad easier on your fellow students, ok?". Luna stood in her tracks, not even looking at her, "Alright.", Then she proceeded to head out. She needed to empty her clouded mind and get back on track and as she left through the room, the weight left and her head felt much clearer. A glance to Janna's office as she made her way back to her room, pulling out her compact and dialing. "Hey celeste, how soon can you be ready to go on a little hike?" - "Sky, dear, is everything alright?", eclipsa's words snapped sky out of her trance, her focus shifting back to the woman and she caught a glimpse of angel watching as she realized they had both stopped debating over the logistics of acid tears to wonder why sky wasn't saying anything. Sky crossed her arms, "Yeah, i'm fine, just....bored....", eclipsa didn't seem to be entirely buying it though. She put down her teacup and rested her head on her hands. "Sky, you've been distant since we started.....did something happen...?" "No...",she said rather quickly. The prince eyed her suspiciously. "Judas hasn't been around her recently, i don't smell him anywhere on her....", angel noted, making sky turn to him and point her finger right in between all his eyes. "And YOU stay out of this! You have nothing to do with any of this!". The boy huffed, "Whatever, i was just saying....", and eclipsa's gaze reverted back to sky, "Well, is it to do with your prince friend or is something else going on that you want to talk about? It's not your mother again is it?". "No...not this time.....but i'm not talking about it, and especially not in front of him....", she nodded to the prince next to her and angel turned away from her. "Look, let's just get back to...whatever exactly we were talking about...?", Eclipsa sighed and bit her lip, thinking for a moment before standing up. "Actually, let's do something else, perhaps something a bit more physical might get your attention just a tad more, make sure you have your wand...c'mon.". Confused, sky checked her pockets before heading out behind angel and her sorta grandmother. "Wait, we're doing what now? Cause i don't want to do anything with him.", sky grumbled, angel stopped dead in his tracks, to look at her, "You're not making things better by insulting me every single time we're in the same room together, i have ears, i can hear you...". He moved forward, "I'm not even doing anything wrong, and you're STILL mad at me...look, no webs, i'm not bothering people, haven't mentioned your mother once since we started classes....and your still complaining.". "Your're just doing it so you don't get in more trouble or get kicked out, you're not doing it to be nice and you know it....if my mom kicked you out right now you'd go right back to before and i'm not fooled. Don't even try to deny it angel....but then again, you speak your mind pretty well..", angel kept his mouth quiet as eclipsa shushed both of them, sky had been so distracted by angel she hadn't even noticed eclipsa was taking them both to the other side of the castle. "Wait, where are we going here?" "You'll see...." Sky sighed as she followed behind, hoping eclipsa wasn't taking her to do chores or something.. Only to find as they finally stopped, Eclipsa had taken them all the way to the ballroom. The new chandelier above them gleamed brightly and all of angel's eyes diverted around it. "Wait, you took us all the way to the ballroom, why? What does this place have to do with us....being good rulers?". Eclipsa turned to her two students and smiled,"Because you both are going to play active rulers, him the king and you the queen.". "What?", they both said in unison. Eclipsa clapped her hands and in an instant two servants set some chairs up and off to the side for the kids to sit it. " You're going to take a seat and i'll pretend to be a civilian asking for your assistance, and you'll respond accordingly.  And i'll show you what happens from there....now c'mon, this'll be fun.". The kids gave her a disgruntled look but she ushered them forward and they took their respective seats, looking less then pleased to be forced to be pretend rulers together. Eclipsa laughed at them before removing her hat and holding it to her chest, changing her body movements to pretend to be a poor peasant. She gave the two royals puppy dog eyes and they exchanged awkward glances as she kneeled to them, even though it was all pretend, it still made them feel weird. "My king and Queen, we've been hit with a terrible drought, could you please help us? Our home was swept away and i don't know what we'll do for food." There was silence, what did her mom normally do in these situations? Well, normally she was super happy and seemed to accept fixing everything and perfecting it. At least, that's what sky knew, she was never really present at these things and when she was she normally fell asleep. "Uh well, i can do magic and make some food for you to eat and then well.....i can donate some money, get your house rebuilt and uh....you can start fresh, we can give you like....a place to sleep in the meantime....". The former queen then nodded to her wand and Sky got the hint and attempted to magic up some food, all that came out was a small fish but at the very least it didn't seem to bother the woman too much that she didn't do it perfectly. The prince didn't seem to give it much thought himself, just sitting on the throne and looking as though he weren't paying a ton of attention to the situation until he noticed the dead silence in the room meant he was supposed to do something. Eclipsa smiled, then nodded to angel, who sky elbowed to get to finally speak. "What she said...". And sky elbowed him again. He hissed, "What was THAT for? I answered your request!". "You're supposed to be a king, don't you have anything better to say then just agreeing with me?". "Well, if i were king of mewni, that would pretty much be all i would have to do, wouldn't i?" Sky gave him a dirty look. "Haven't you even remotely learned how to do anything in your own kingdom? Or were you expecting when you got married that your partner would do everything? Like, if you want to be a good king, that kinda requires being a king to begin with.", the boy blushed and grumbled and eclipsa dropped the act and stood up, "Well, that was somewhat of a start, sky you're doing good but...well, work on not tripping over yourself and angel...well, your queen over there makes a fair point." "I'm not his queen." "Well for the sake of this lesson, you're pretending to be. Now, let's try another, this is kinda fun.", she giggled and parted her hat, changing her position to one of a possible limping mewman with a hunched back. Eclipsa might've been having fun with this game of pretend but sky was more then frustrated by this point. The stuff with judas was bad enough, dealing with the pressures of being queen combined with being forced to work with angel. She wasn't even paying attention to eclipsa's acting, just knowing she said something about being a sea captain trying to get fish or something. She could feel angel glancing at her to give an answer, but instead he forced himself to speak. "Uh, well, if you're having a tough fishing season you could uh....well i supposed we could share some of our food. We've not running out of grubs and overally large insects anytime soon, so that might be able to make up for the loss of fish..I'll send my men out to help and everything.". Sky, still saying nothing this time, lead him to speak further, "And uh.....i guess my queen can oversee about some locals who might...help?". Sky was looking off into the distance now and even though eclipsa had finally broke character to give angel praise for trying to sound like a proper diplomat, angel's focus seemed to be more on sky. He almost looked tempted to say something or ask her if she was alright but resisted and crossed his arms. But then eclipsa's own compact started to ring, "Oh pardon me a second, i need to check something. She took a look at her screen and sky turned her head to see eclipsa's smile turn to a frown, and there seemed to be a bit of panic in her eyes. "um, sorry it seems i have an emergency to get to, uh, stay right here, i'll be right back! Don't kill each other in the meantime ok?". And before sky could say anything, eclipsa had already grabbed some scissors and portaled out. "Uh....what just happened...?". Angel returned to his usual self, crossing his arms, "i don't know eclipsa very well, so you tell me.". The room was silent, and sky was almost just about to ditch it, but then again if she was spotted outside of classes and her mother found out, that wouldn't be a good sign. And leaving angel all along by himself in the castle was also not very high on her list either. She simply turned her head away from him and got lost in her thoughts, angel fixing his messy ponytail and his long light pink hair covering his face. Sky snorted at this and her turned red, grumbling and tying his hair back up the best he could. "Queen Eclipsa seems....interesting.". "Well considering you haven't had an uproar since being in her class i assume you probably do find her interesting. At least enough to keep you from being a pain.", her companion looked away from her, "You don't understand princess butterfly, nothing about what my people went through, nothing about your own kingdom and what it does, and you certainly don't know anything about me.". His spider legs stretched out a bit, trying to make himself comfortable. Was he insulting her? He was wasn't he? "You should talk, you have no idea how our magic even works and don't care about the consequences of anything. You're asking to fix old issues only to make new issues! That's the problem angel, you don't THINK!  Nor do you try and learn either, you're too stubborn. You don't remotely care about what else could happen or the issues that come along with doing all the things you ask. You're like, you're still just a kid, I don't even get respect in my family all the time, how the heck were you supposed to?". "Pardon? You're the princess, of course you're respected! Everyone, including my parents look up to YOUR family. Your next in line here, everyone here has to listen to everything you say!", Sky scoffed at him, "No they don't! My mom is considered the greatest queen to ever live! And i'm her disappointing daughter! I can barely use my wand, i procrastinate, i can't even form proper friendships with anyone outside of judas.....and...and....ugh no one listens to me....most of my ideas suck.". "Such as....? Sounds like something happened...". "Nothing happened angel....". "You don't think I've been frustrated like this? I know something had to have happened for you to be this upset..." Sky side-eyed him, she really shouldn't be talking to angel about any of her issues, she didn't like him and she sure didn't need his opinion on anything going on in her life. But she felt so mad and she felt like ranting and she let it all out of her system. "Ugh, it's just, i know something, something that could really help me and everyone else, and judas said no! He thinks it's too reckless and i might be getting way too obsessed with this and ugh it's just.....he's right but...what if...what if we need to do this to help?!". Not in her lifetime would she ever flat out tell the prince she had a magical half-sister from another dimension that could predict the future, and without that context it probably made what she said rather confusing, but angel didn't seem to find it strange. Perhaps his long spree of protesting and doing "Reckless" things in the eyes of sky made this whole thing less foreign to him. "Well prince lucitor always seems to mean well, he doesn't like anyone being hurt....especially to something he could've fixed himself.". "Yeah i know and he's saved me a lot and been a big help but it's just, what if this were MY thing? Like, imagine if i could fix this all on my own? If i could figure out a way to do this, no one could be hurt and i could just...i could really prove myself to everyone, judas, my mom. It's just...UGH.". She pulled on her hair, before readjusting her hat, "I don't even know what i'm supposed to do...I-I..ugh.....i really should talk to judas again and say something but i'm so upset...". "Wait, what exactly are you trying to fix?". "It's none of your concern....I have my own problems, you stick to yours, i'll stick to mine...", she was breathing rather heavy now, leaning and resting her arms on her legs. "I should call judas, apologize.....i just miss talking to him...we don't fight often...". She twiddled her fingers and sighed, "I don't have a ton of friends outside of him, we've been hanging out since we were very little because of our parents....and if i screw that up..I don't know what i'll do...". "Make new friends?", he mumbled. "You don't know anything about making friends angel, a little bird told me you don't even want them." "She told you?", angel's eyes diverted to the floor, "I don't need friendships princess butterfly, i have to put my focus where it matters. But, if you want friends and you want to have them, then you should go and find some new ones.". But his companion shook her head, "Don't tell me how to handle my relationships angel, you don't understand what something like this feels like, making your best friend upset with you and then not speaking to each other for so long....you're used to being alone...i'm used to having judas around.". "You shouldn't have to listen to him....if you trust your instincts...". "No, he's right.....i was wrong...". "There's nothing wrong about doing whatever it takes to try and save people you care about...", he was almost mumbling that last bit, his hands clasping together and his eyes closing. "Why do you think I keep trying so hard? I don't want....anyone to suffer...no one....". Sky heard him snort, "If you would do anything to save the people you care about, what's so wrong about me feeling the same way?". For a moment sky was wordless, she was getting way too sentimental about this, and with angel of all people, she needed to regain her composure....she was falling apart. "What's wrong is you don't think angel! You don't think....about the consequences...you don't know as much as you think you do..". "And how is that any different judging by what judas said? In terms of your little...conflict?". He had a point. "You webbed people to walls! You kept people from getting to their jobs! You literally scare the heck out of our citizens!", the prince's pointed ears flickered, "Fine, maybe I did, but i never hurt anyone....can't say the same for you.". He was talking about the tazing, wasn't he? Man, no one was ever going to let that go. Worst part was sky could feel the tazer still in her jacket pocket, simply in case the masked creep snuck up on her, as that was what her earth wand was for. Geez, when did today she start becoming so sympathetic to her least favorite royal? "I don't enjoy fighting you.....just so you know, never have....". The boy glanced at her, before he stood up, stretching out all his legs, "You claim you're not very talented with that wand but i can't recall a time you haven't beaten me with it.". He turned around to face her, "If you're really as pathetic with it as you said you were, then show me.....let's fight...". Sky's expression was one of confusion and shock, she hadn't fought angel in a while, at least since the tazing incident, but that was only because after everything else happened, she had put him off. Though he had been mysteriously cutting back on his usual schemes... Regardless, she didn't seem to entirely like this proposal," Wait, you're asking for me to literally attack you? Dude, the last time i used a wand in here an expensive chandelier broke and the mewni people assumed i was trying to attack my mother. They're still not entirely cool with me for that, i'm not fighting you, my mom would freak out if i broke something or she found out i attacked you....ugh, and who knows what your dad would say about it...". "I'm just saying, if you're so weak as you claim, then i'm testing it." "Why?". "Just try.....i'll tell you after..". "No, why do you care so much about testing my magic?". "Because i do, now c'mon....fight me.....throw a spell at me....you said you're useless and weak, and i'm seeing if that's true...". Sky got up and off her seat, "Dude, i'm not going to attack you for no reason, if you end up seriously hurt my family is gonna be SUPER mad with me. How do you expect me to explain it if you end up injured?!". Annoyed, one of angel's hand started glowing, a web spell shot at her from his hands and on instinct sky shot a spell at him. A narhwal blast of all things, hitting angel square in the stomach and making him fall against the wall, "This time....i attacked first....". "DUDE!!". He moved the narwhal aside, and stood up, holding his stomach, "See? I told you....not useless...you're good with magic when you're focused and you know what you're trying to go for.....". Sky put the wand down, freaking out, she ran over and as much as she didn't enjoy angel, she looked him over for any injuries. "Are you ok?", God she hoped eclipsa didn't walk in any second now cause she had no idea how she'd react to something like this if she did. "I'm fine, just need to catch my breath....", He slowly stood up, catching his breath and watching the narwhal get summoned back into sky's wand. "Don't do that again, i really could've ended up hurting you....", sky grumbled, turning away from him. "Look, don't injure yourself trying to make me feel better, judas already freaks out enough when he finds out i might of seriously hurt you.....this is ten times worse then doing it to you because of the usual reasons...". "Well, this is supposed to be a lesson isn't it? Well, now you learned you can fight when you really set your mind to it.....", Sky looked at him, then looked at the wand in her hand. "Well, thanks....i guess....don't do it again...". She headed back over to the seats, taking her place as angel joined here, neither looking at each other until ecipsa re-entered the room minutes later.  She looked a tad...dirty, like she had been involved with something outside or even dangerous. But she seemed fine, fixing her hat and making a face as she re-entered the room. "Sorry i was gone for so long, important business....but you both seem just fine, so that's good. Now, where were we again? Ah yes, you two were working on presenting yourself and solving issues as rulers...now let's see about-". But angel interrupted her, "seems as though time's almost up actually, my father will be here any minute...". Eclipsa glanced at her compact and sighed, "Sorry i was gone for so long, but you both seem fine and we'll work things out tomorrow..". Sky glanced at angel, sighing, and for once she wasn't acting like a brat about sitting next to him. "Yeah, can do...". - Out in the mud under the moon in a dark forest, clearly a ton of fun for someone like celeste. She had to ditch her guards once again to go out into the woods, alone mind you, and dig up stuff out here for luna. Was she kinda desperate to go home? Sure. Was she desperate enough to go wandering out in the middle of the night with a threat on the loose to find out where they may be hiding? Heck no. This two person alliance was already falling apart and it had barely started, she might as well have gone back to the underworld and told judas everything. But then again, luna wasn't wrong that judas and sky were dong little to help, avoiding risky moves and trying to keep out of the spotlight. And at this rate, Celeste would be freakishly old by the time she got back home. She looked at the wand in her hands, she had agreed to hiding it before, but the longer she went without it the more she wanted to use it. it was practically all she had left from home not to mention what she could solve with it. Though she had to admit maybe having a loud wand like hers being carried around when she was trying to be sneaky was kinda stupid. Of course she had to be unlucky enough to get a wand with beans on the inside, she might as well wear a raincoat with a big red target on it at this rate. "Go patrol and find some of these locations she said, it won't be THAT hard she said....ugh.." Luna's handmade map was doing her no good and she couldn't help but be anxious about the sounds of creatures all around her. Is something jumped out at her and she had to attack it there was no way she was going to stay much longer out here. Her wand provided some light but it was not enough to help her navigate. She was getting lost in here and she probably should just dump this crazy idea and get back in her warm bed before anyone noticed she was gone. Luna would be pissed, but at least celeste wouldn't be dead. A few more minutes later and she could hear a howl in the distance, yeah, that was it, she wasn't sticking around much longer. Luna was just going to have to deal with another night of no real progress into finding what she needed. She reached in her pockets for her scissors, only to find they weren't there. She grumbled, she must have dropped them on the trial by accident, she was going to have to retrace her steps and find them. Fantastic, just what she needed. She spit on the ground and started walking back to...wherever she came from. Being lost in the forest was not what she had in mind tonight and she was gonna have to magically scrub her clothes so no one go suspicious of her when she returned. If the lucitors saw her filthy clothing, they'd know she had probably escaped and that was a recipe for disaster. She just needed the light to show her a glint, then she could pick us the scissors and get out of here. She could hear whispering and she was sure someone was watching her. She turned around, paranoid, but saw only darkness. she gripped her wand tighter, knowing if anyone attacked they'd be met with a rather powerful lightning bolt.  Her brown eyes took another good look around, hopefully it was just a deer or something harmless that was just resting if anything. She kept walking, she couldn't see anything out here and she wouldn't admit it but she hated doing this all by herself, even at home she at least had one friend that would help her with stuff like this. But being  on her own clearly sucked. Was luna doing any better? She didn't even tell her anything about seeing her mom today apparently. She brushed it all off like it was nothing, did this girl have any actual emotions or thoughts or was it all just some emotionless machine focused on it's task? God, what happened if luna got caught trying to find what she was looking for and they both got sent to the dungeons or something? Maybe have their wands taken away by their inter dimensional mom. Well at least then her bringing her nothing wouldn't mean much...would it?". Celeste saw something glint out of the corner of her eyes, the scissors! Good, she could finally get out of here and into a warm bed. Luna might chew her out for it, but honestly it wasn't worth it right now. She reached to grab it only for a shadow to pass by, startling her. She held her wand out in front of her, looking around before grabbing the scissors. The shadow flew by her again, and she couldn't even see well enough to make out what it was either. She just hoped it was an animal. But then it brushed by her hand and she was pushed back and onto the ground forcefully. That was NO animal. She shot a bolt at it and it scattered into the woods, her breath getting faster as she made a portal to get out. She could hear growling and she dived for the portal exit, making it just in time. And this was another time she wished the underworld has carpeting because landing on the ground like that was painful. She didn't know what was just happening back there but it seemed almost like whoever or whatever that was was making a dive for her wand. And missed. And boy was it quick too, what could possible move as fast as that? She was still stuck watching where the portal closed, yeah she owned luna a punch in the gut for making her go out there to do something like THAT. Celeste was rarely this freaked out but as she rehid her wand she was still processing the event. Maybe she really should report that to judas, if the thing really had been going for her wand or all that? Unless she was overreacting about an animal. "Uh...". Celeste froze in place, turning her head around to see she had company. Landon. He stood there, confused and looking over to where her portal had been. At first his look was one of confusion, then he looked slightly bemused. "Um, where in the heck where you going in the middle of the night, oh and before you ask, i just came in here to hide from judas....I think he's been trying to talk to me all day.". Celeste was still a bit shocked, not entirely sure how to react to the situation, landon was quiet the one for barging into her room wasn't he? "It's investigation stuff, isn't it? Did my brother put you up to this?". Celeste still didn't answer and landon stared and looked at her face curiously. "He doesn't know....". Landon's eyebrows furrowed. "Celeste, what's going on?".

[roobarrtrashmouth]

Life and Times of The Losers Club - Ch. 2

Thanks to @tinyarmedtrex​ for suggestions and beta-ing. You’re a rock star.

Feeling taggy

@tozier-verse​ @ahoytrashmouth​ @stormypasta88​ @honeybeehanlon​

Click the title to read on AO3

Mike and Stan - There’s no place like... Derry

August 2000

One more box. That's all that was left. One more box of memories. Memories of Stan, Boston, his co-workers from Beatley Library, everything from the last six years. He turns from the yawning emptiness of the rented moving van, to the farmhouse… to home. The outside of the house was in need of a paint job, but didn’t look bad, it just looked the same. The kitchen garden was where it always had been, it needed of a good hoeing, otherwise it looked the same. The barn where he and the Loser’s would hang out on weekends. The barn where his dad had stored their old pickup. Still standing, in good shape. The same, just older.

Memories.

He’s come home and is now being bombarded with memories.  The field out behind the house is where his dad had first hinted at the fire at the Black Spot. The if he looked down the dusty road he could see where the old Bowers place should have been. Long gone now, thank god. Memories of his dad, mom, the Losers and Stan. Always of Stan.

The old oak tree by the side of the barn, is where he had asked Stan out for the first time. He had been so nervous. It had been easy to get Stan to come to his house without the other Losers. They were still Magic Lucky 7, but they had all begun to hang out in pairs or triples, then they would all get together at someone’s house and spend the night together. They still had their standing dates, the quarry, movie night, dinner night. The doubles and triples were nothing bad or permanent, just something new and evolution. He'd asked him to come and check out a nest of birds in his oak tree. Not a lie there was a nest, but he knew what type of birds they were and that they were ok. Stan showed up exactly on time, as usual. Stan pronounced them standard Maine grackles. “You know what they look like Mike. Why’d you want me to come out here and look at them?” Stan asked curious at once.  Mike knew it was time. He indicated that they should sit under the shade of the oak. They leaned against the oak shoulder-to-shoulder and enjoyed the cool.  

“Stan.”  Mike began shyly. “ We've been best friends for a few years and have no secrets, right?”

“Yeah, of course. We don’t keep things from each other. I think we’re great friends. I enjoy spending time with you. Seriously, what's up?” Stan asked a bit confused.

Mike swallowed and without thinking blurted out, “I like you. A lot. I mean, really like you, and want to spend time together alone, more often. I… I… really would like to ask...if...”

Stan interrupted. “Are you asking me to be your boyfriend, Mike?

“Oh shit. Y...y….yeah.” Mike clears his throat.  “Y...Yes I am.” Mike started out stammering and finishes strong which makes him feel more confident.

“Oh. Yeah. Ok. I'd love to.” Stan answers.

“That's it. You aren't going to… YES!” Mike says triumphantly and pump his fist. Stan smiles at his display.

“Mike. I like you, a lot as well. You're fun, you don't mind birding, you put up with my… moods and stuff,  you’re just sweet and caring and very good looking. Why wouldn't I want to date you.” Stan concludes with aplomb.

Standing and staring at “their tree” Mike thinks, “I never would have thought I would be moving back into my old house. Sure maybe some nice place in Derry proper, but not back home and sure as shit not with my mom. God what has my life come to?” He chuckles, bends down to pick up the final memory and take it inside.

He walks over the threshold and is immediately assaulted by more memories. If he looks at the door frame into the family room he can clearly see hash marks going up the frame. Each marking his birthdate and height from 1 to 18, when he left for college and a new life. Or so he thought. The stairs straight ahead he knows to skip the 4 and 10 one they creak loudly. The photos on the wall were almost all the same. Photos of grandparents, cousins, mom and dad as kids, when they were dating, marriage. He turns and see the newer photos cluttering the other wall, school photos of him, him and Stan around the farm as a few from Boston, him and the Losers, his dad and the Losers, all the new memories that were made after Michael Jefferson Hanlon came into this world.  

Jessica pokes her head out of the family room and looks at her only child with a mixture of sadness, love, and warmth. She makes her way to his side and puts an arm around his shoulder. He shoots her a quick glance and points at a particular photo and smiles sadly. It’s of the Losers and William, taken the summer before he passed. “The Losers and your Stan, " she says. That was always how Jessica referred to Stan, when he wasn't in the general vicinity, ‘your Stan’.

She continues, running a finger over William's image. "Your daddy was already sick when we took this one. Your Losers all came out to help us finish and close up for the farm for the season. Good kids, everyone last one of them. Your daddy liked them all and approved of Stan. But you knew that of course. Sure we were a bit sad we won't grandkids, but Stanley is good for you. You’re all good for each other. Remember that. Don’t fret Michael.”  she give him an affectionate pat on the shoulder, kisses him on the cheek and walks back to the family room.

Mike smiles fondly at his mom’s retreating back and turns to the other doorway. Off the main hall is the dining room and his mother’s undisputed domain, the kitchen, pantry and dining room. The furniture in the house was all the same and that made him feel comfortable. Safe. He remembered fondly all the times spent on this furniture with Stan watching movies, making out after his parents had gone to sleep. Time spent with the Losers and their movie marathons. So many things had changed and so many had stayed the same. Down at the other end of the hall was the sole downstairs bedroom, now prepped for it’s new occupant.

Mike looks at the boxes waiting to go upstairs and sighs sadly. He already missed the place he and Stan had shared in Brookline. They had made so many memories there, good and bad. But that was then and this was now and he had to put the past behind him and concentrate on the future.

He had only been back in town a few days and he had so much to get organized. He started his job at Derry Public Library in a week and a half. He smiled at that. He would be putting his all his degrees to work. Finally, he would be a librarian, and in the town he grew up in. He had the history of Derry collection to get organized. He already knew where the gaps in this town’s history were. Even if most of the population wouldn’t or couldn’t admit it. For some reason answering questions about why the latest issue of The Derry News wasn’t on it’s stick made him smile with eagerness. “God I’m such a librarian it’s ridiculous.” he thought to himself.  

As for the farm, well he wasn't going to be a farmer. Stan had been right about that. But he could manage one if needed. He was interviewing, later this week, a couple of crews to handle that. With him moving back into the farmhouse to help Jessica and keep an eye on her and the crew that was hired, he didn’t have to worry about rent. “Put that in the plus column I guess,” he shook his head as he thought that.

He walked into what had been his dad’s farm office, now his office, he thought glumly and dropped the box. It was full of his books and they would be joining or replacing some of the volumes William had kept on his shelves. Mike pulled the copy of the Old Farmer's Almanac at random. It was from 1991 and held it. “I’m keeping this for sure. Great year.” He thought. As he scanned the room, Mike saw items that were William’s; his pipe, old hat, dusty ledger, he suddenly and fiercely missed his dad. He really wanted to take one more ride in the old pickup around to the back acres of the farm. Dad behind the wheel, cussing at the old pickup, willing it to keep running. The missing windshield allowing a cool breeze, and bugs into the cab, the truck bouncing down the furrows.  Mike listening to his dad talk about the town and farming, he would ask his dad for advice. Had he made the right decision? Should he have put Derry in his rear view mirror and just never looked back. Like he was sure the other Losers had done already. Dad would know what to do and say to cheer him up, or simply kick him in the ass. Either one straightening Mike out. But sadly dad was gone and he couldn’t consult him.

He was dependent on his own counsel and he was afraid he was fucking up royally. He could almost hear his dad say as he shifted gears in the old pickup, smile, “Mikey, if you listen to your heart and do what you feel is right, you will wind up a good man. You hear me, son? Listen to your heart.” Mike shook his head and hoped that he had followed his dad’s advice.

Taking some books out from his box he remembered the day he told his dad that he was not only gay, but in love with a white boy. It was in this very room. William was sitting back going over the books, Jessica was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner, and Mike was sitting in the chair opposite his dad. In a muck sweat, his left leg bouncing up and down, trying to get his breathing under control. William looked up at his only child, “What’s ailin’ ya Mikey? Everything OK with school? I know ya don’t have to worry about Bower’s little shit no more. With him up in Juniper Hills and all. Ayuh, that’s taken care of. Spit it out son, what’s wrong with ya?”

Mike swallowed and felt his adam’s apple move up and down. His mouth was suddenly dry. This was a bad idea. They could just keep it all a secret for a bit longer. “MIKE.” William snapped. Automatically Mike answered, “Sir?” “Spit it out son. What’s on your chest? You can barely breathe.” William said in a gentler tone.

Mike had to do this. Stan had told his parents yesterday and that had gone well. So the clock was ticking. He had to tell his parents.  “Dad. I don’t really know how to say this. I… I … I’m not like other boys.” MIke stammered. William prompted Mike with “Ayuh, your the son of a black farmer so no yer not.” Mike plunged on, “No. Not just that. I… you see dad. I like boys the way I should like girls.” Mike held his breath. All he got in response was low humming from deep in his father’s throat. He still hadn’t even told him the worst news, that boy was Stan.

William put up his hand in a stop gesture and hollered, “Jess! Come here to the office right quick.” He pointed at Mike, “You be still.” They waited in silence as Jessica walked into the room and sat in the chair next to Mike. “What’s got the two of you so quiet in here?” Jessica offered with a smile. William gestured to Mike, “Our son has something to say to us. Mikey please repeat to your mother what you just told me.” Mike swallowed even harder and thought for sure he was beginning to see stars dance in front of his eyes. “Go on Mikey.” William prompted again.

Mike cleared his throat “Mom, dad I like boys. I’m gay.” he held his breath. Jessica eyes widened a bit and she looked at William and he nodded. “How long have you known?” She asked. This was good, no screaming and yelling Mike thought. “‘Bout a year, maybe more.” He lied, for sure more, replied.

“Is there someone special?” she asked again with Will looking on. “Yes” Mike offered. “Who?” Will asked. A deep shaky breath, “Stan… Stanley Uris.” Mike literally winced waiting for the outburst. “At least it’s not the Tozier boy. I like him, but he’s a bit much Mikey. It was also bound to be one of them Loser’s Club white boys. With all the time you spend running around with ‘em.” William said with a chuckle and Jessica reached over and patted Mike on the leg. Mike is dumbfounded. Nothing. No yelling, no screaming. “You’re not disappointed or mad?” Mike stammered. “No. What kind of parents would we be if we didn’t know which team our son batted for? We like Stan. But things are gonna change a bit. Those solo sleepovers will have to be reconsidered. We will also want to meet his parents.” William concluded. They all talked for a bit and finally Mike went up to his room. Closed the door, fell on his bed and just wondered why he had been so nervous. Looking back on it, how could he have ever thought it would turn out any differently.

“Michael Jefferson Hanlon get in here and move these blasted boxes from my dining room. How do you expect me to serve dinner? On the back of cardboard boxes. I damn well don’t think so.” Jessica roared from kitchen shocking him back to the present. Mike shook his head and thought, “Back home less than a week and she's already using my full name.”

He left the office and its few boxes and went into the dining room to do as his mom bid. “You know mom, you don’t have to cook.” Mike called from the dining room.  “I am perfectly capable…” Mike started as he was cut off, “This has been my kitchen for years Michael Hanlon. No one is pushing me out, yet. Do you get me?” Jessica fired back. “Yes ma’am.” Mike answered automatically and instantly rolled his eyes. “Don’t you roll your eyes at me young man.” Was the response he got. The boxes in the dining room actually belonged in his room.

With dinner just about done, the offending boxes were moved to their rightful places. Mike was setting up the table for dinner. Yet another childhood chore he found himself automatically falling back into. “Mom. Everything’s ready. How long until dinner? I still have to square away the other boxes. I guess I keep the truck tonight and return it tomorrow. It’s gonna be too late to return it tonight.” Jessica walks into the dining room, “Mikey it’s almost done. Don’t fret. You’ll have time to organize. Isn’t that rental due back tomorrow anyway?” They both heard a key slide into the lock and the front door open.

“Hi honey I'm home.” Stan calls cheerfully as he puts his bag and keys down on the table by the bannister. Mike walks into the foyer, gives Stan a hug and a kiss. “How was work?”

“You know, the same. The bank isn't used to having such great financial planner and CPA on staff yet.” Stan said. Back in Brookline after a sleepless night for Stan and Mike. They sat and had good talk and in the end Stan had made the decision, “Shep, I love you and I’d follow you anywhere. Hell I’d even go back to Derry and back into the sewers so long as you were by my side.”

Mike had smiled and said, “I”m still sorry we have to move back. But thank you for being so understanding. I love you Will. Thank you. I owe you so much.”

“Oh yes you do and don’t think I won’t collect someday, Mikey.” Stan had smirked.

Stan had moved back to Derry before Mike. Ironically Mike had to give longer notice at work than Stan had. After agreeing to move back, Stan had called his parents and told them the good news, then he used his connections to land a job at a bank/accounting house here in Derry. He had been in town for a more than a week already, splitting his stay between his parent’s house in town and the farm with Jessica. He didn’t want to move into the farmhouse until Mike arrived with all their shit from Brookline. Jessica had been understanding but still had given Stan and Mike a hard time about it.

“What’s left to do Shep? Eat only I hope.” Stan says as he pushes Mike from the hug to look him in the face.

“No such luck babe. There are boxes a plenty to be sorted still.” Mike answers with a toothy grin.

Stan pouts, “Didn’t you do anything while I was work?”

Jessica walks into the foyer and Stan walks over to give her a hug. “Mom sends her best and says that we need to get you over for dinner sometime this week. How was he today? Get on your nerves at all?” Stan to which Mike playfully punches him in the arm.

“I only had to use his full name once today, so its been a good day. Once you both get changed and washed up we can sit down for dinner.” Jessica groused at the two men. Playfully waving them to their room.

“Jessica you are going to spoil us with all of your wonderful cooking.” Stan smiles and gestures for Mike to follow him upstairs. Which he does. Once upstairs they walk into what had been Mike’s parent’s room. The largest in the house. Jessica had insisted and more to the point she wanted the room on the ground floor on the opposite side of the house for reasons obvious to to them all. Stan pulls Mike into a hug and gives him another kiss. “I love you Michael Jefferson Hanlon. I'm glad I followed you back home. It’s been much better than I imagined.”

“I’m glad that I didn’t force us into a break up with my insecurity. It’s weird to be back in my old home. But if I had to be back here I couldn’t pick a better person to remake memories with.” MIke admits.

Stan smiles lovingly at him and walks over to boxes. He digs around until Mike hears “Here it is.”and pulls out a shirt that says “Someone at Simmons University Loves Me” and pair of sweat shorts. “We need to hurry up. We don’t want to give Jess the wrong idea, at least not yet.” He wags his eyebrows at Mike.

Mike pulls Stan in for a quick hug. Then pushes him back to look into Stan’s eyes and says, “I love you Stanley Wyatt Uris. You’d better finish getting changed and get back downstairs I don’t want to be the one to tell mom we were getting it on.” Just then Jessica calls, “Stanley stop kissing that boy and the two of you get down here, dinner’s getting cold. I swear I talk just to hear my head roar.” The two of them chuckle and Mike calls down, ‘Yes ma’am.” As Stan goes to the the boxes piled on the bed and moves them off. Clearing the bed for later. Mike glances at the wooden jewelry box on top of the dresser. He smiles, because in that box is his father’s old ring. The one he is going to use to propose to Stan.

[lucius-morningstar]

Fun/Not So Fun Facts of Mai and Yin Xiao Long

I did have a hilarious little thing planned with Mai and Yin just shooting horrible faunus related jokes at each other. BUT first I thought you’d guys would like to learn a little more about my babies. Which I will happily share with you all. Again if you have questions or points you’d like to point out. Message me or comment whichever works best for you. Some of these facts may or may not change as I continue to develop them. So enjoy ^^ --------------------------------------- 1. - Yin and Mai (Modern Times AU) love Panic! at the disco, Paramore, ect. 2. - Yin loves Salmon and Mai prefers Halibut both tend to argue over which is better all while insulting the others taste. 3. - Mai loves the water while Yin hates it with a passion. Needless to say visiting there grandparents is tiring when they have to try and drag one of there daughters (Yin) onto the boat. (And she puts up a fight every single time.) 4. - Mai and Yin both attain there own scars as they get older. Mai gets one on the bridge of her nose and Yin gets a part of her right ear torn both hate to admit they get very insecure afterwards. (Though how they get these scars I will not say yet.) 5. - The names Yin and Mai hate the most is Scarface (for Mai) and Hard of Hearing (For Yin) upon getting there scars this is sadly a nickname the two of them end up getting from some rather less then distasteful people. 6. - Yin and Mai are very competitive mostly against each other but half the time no one really wants to face them. Mai is what you'd call a rage gamer and Yin would be best described as a constant combo user. 7. - Yin was originally never going to exist but the idea of Mai having a twin just was too tempting to deny after a few weeks and since Yin's design was technically already done it was impossible for me not to put it to good use. (Thanks again Azerae ) 8. - Mai has a crush upon Keira Arc, and Yin loves to tease and mock her for it even go so far as to jokingly "threaten" her that she'd tell Miss Arc thus leading to some rather awkward fights. 9. - Needless to say Yin doesn't have crushes she more or less has interests. If you interest her she'll let you know when she gets older she tends to have flings but does want to have someone in her life at some point it's just a matter of finding that person. This does change later on though. (So don’t look too into this too much.)  10. - Yin and Mai also play instruments, Both of which enjoy playing Bass/Electric or Simple Guitar but they do sometimes play the drums though it's a rare occurrence they've found there passion more against plucking strings. 11. - On a side note Yin and Mai do tend to sneak off at night and do a little jam session with Jade and Onyx as well as a couple others. They often joke about running away and becoming an awesome kick ass band. But at least Junior lets them play at the club from time to time, in exchange there parents don't break anything. Inside joke?, maybe, maybe not. 12. - Due to them being half faunus and half human they tend to be a bit isolated by both humans and faunus. (Or at least those that represent hate towards humans/faunus) 13. - During there insecure phase Yin and Mai often wore hats or tukes to hide there ears. Often sometimes the two would even wear contacts because there red eyes would often come off as intimidating or terrifying. 14. - Mai's theme or song of choice is Ignorance is your new best friend by Paramore. Yin's theme or song of choice is Renegade by Paramore. During there insecure phase they loved the song New Perspective by Panic! at the disco. Mind you it's just the ones they like. They also go nuts over the song Emperor's new Clothes by Panic! at the disco. (Modern AU.) 15. - Yin is terrified of thunder storms. Hides under her bed, lays with Mai or her parents whenever they get bad. Mai on other hand is once again the opposite. She prefers to sit by the window and watch the lightning flash through the sky as well as the heavy rain. 16. - Yin and Mai are practical jokers and tend to have a rather dirty and dark sense of humor but they're also sometimes a bit too realistic in certain situations. Though tend to make and or crack jokes in serious situations. It's how they handle them best: hard times and even to break the ice when meeting new people. 17. - Yin and Mai happen to share a really close relationship with Ilia and Sun Wukong. Often calling them Aunt Illie and Uncle Sun though people find it a bit weird it doesn't seem to bother there parents too much though a lot of people tend to question Ilia and Sun which tends to get a bit irritating. (From Ilia's stand point anyway.) But despite popular belief Ilia has a soft spot for the little faunus children and refuses to tell them otherwise plus it's not like they'd listen either. 18. - Yin and Mai are horrible flirts. While Mai has standards and does know when to call it quits, But Yin on the other hand. Is much worse, she'll flirt with just about anyone who catches her attention. 19. - They do sometimes call Neptune there uncle as well. Though he is a major part of the reason these two flirt, while many assume Yang is the cause she's actually smartened up over the years due to Blake and her kids. 20. - When Yin and Mai we're younger and Sun couldn't watch them when asked, Neptune would offer to take them and use them as literal chick magnets. That is until Yang and Blake found out that ended rather quickly and needless to say Sun and Neptune never spoke of it much afterwards. 21. - During original creations when Mai was an only child she'd spend a lot of her time with uncle Sun and Uncle Neptune as a way to get away from her parents overprotective nature. 22. - During original creations when I first brought Yin into the picture she was intended to die at birth or so she was said to be but was taken in by Raven and raised. She wasn't evil but she wasn't exactly kind either she had an even darker sense of humor and moral value then she does now. 23. - Mai is a climber, it's something she had gotten use to doing while being watched by Sun, where as Yin just enjoyed tormenting the poor faunus by disappearing and leaving clones in her wake, Mai enjoyed scaring the hell out of him by climbing trees or anything she could get a good grip on. Needless to say the first time Mai climbed a tree her parents nearly had a heart attack. 24. - Mai and Yin tend to make puns more towards Sun who is a literal Monkey's uncle and they never let him forget it. It's now a joke Yang enjoys using too. Even Blake gets a little involved in the joke despite Sun's constant begging to stop. 25. - Raven constantly watches Yin and Mai, After a few years only ones who notices are Great Uncle Qrow, Yang and Yin. Mai is oblivious or just doesn't entirely care. That's still up for debate. 26. - Unlike Lillie and Lotus, Mai and Yin's personalities are a bit too much alike that it causes them to often clash and/or fight. Whether with others or each other is debatable depending on the situation. 27. - Despite popular belief Mai and Yin aren't entirely fond of sushi. They don't hate it but they could go with out it if they wanted raw fish they'd catch it themselves. 28. - Whenever visiting there grandparents (Grandpa Ghira and Grandma Kali) things tend to get really out of hand with Yin and Mai. There are a few faunus rivals/enemies/bullies who like to taunt the two sisters and tend to make them try to prove themselves which involves them nearly getting hurt. They want to prove themselves that they are no different then any other faunus and it bugs them that some even if it's just a few don't see Mai or Yin as what they are. Even with there grandfather being a chief of the island it doesn't always stop the taunts and mockery the two have to endure. 29. - Yin and Mai both suffer from a mental illness as they get older, Both have been confirmed to suffer from both depression and heavy anxiety. It only gets worse when the two are divided for a long period of time. They use each other as an emotional crutch so to speak it does get better a bit as they get older but whether that's due to medication or coming up with new methods on how to handle it is unknown. (This is a possible Fact I may or may not keep I’ll let fans decide)  30. - Yin may also be bi-polar but that is also unknown. Mai possibly might also have claustrophobia but right now it's also unknown (Debating on both of those last ones. Though Mai's is more likely due to her history. ) 31. - Yin actually does have a crush. It's a secret she keeps to herself. Her crush is on a young woman by the name of Aquarius Vasilias. The child of Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. (They used a surrogate before people freak out I have an idea as of who but I also just bought her recently so yeah kind of a last minute addition.) 32. - Yin might hate water but she makes an acception for Aqua still won't go near it but she'll at least watch at a distance. 33. - The reason why Yin doesn't tell anyone about this crush is kinda obvious. She knows her sister, her mom and even her uncles will mock the hell out of her. 34. - Mai has her own secret of course one she only shares with Keira. When they're alone she lets Keira rub her ears something she rarely lets anyone do aside from her parents. She doesn't let Yin near them though and vice versa. 35. - Both Yin and Mai gain there scars due to a form of discriminatory nature. It is slightly different though a mentioned before though it is not from humans they gain these scars but of other Faunus who believe they do not deserve to even be labelled as such. 36. - Mai and Yin don't hate dogs well they hate one but there reasoning behind it is more then understandable. PLUS NEW FACTS:  37. Mai and Yin’s relationship with Ruby is a well hyper one I guess you can say. Ruby is the type to kind of encourage them to be more free willed while it does often backfire on all of them they normally have a lot of fun with Auntie Ruby.  38. Mai and Yin’s relationship with Weiss is about as good as you can expect. They enjoy watching there mom mock the heck outta her when she’s around. Though they will admit that she can be a bit terrifying when her cold exterior comes into play. 39. Yin and Mai fear many things and many people. They have a list from people they fear the most to the least.  40. On the top of that list is actually a good friend known as Pepper, and they have a list of reasons not to piss her off. Bottom of the list is Jaune. Yes even he has a hard time striking fear into these girls even as he gets older and very protective of his own. (If you wish to know the whole list again comment or message and I will post it up some day.)  41. Yin and Mai’s favorite target to mock is there cousin Crystal. She is the easiest to piss off but they sometimes tend to go a bit too far and find themselves frozen from time to time. 42. Grandpa Tai is another they visit often. While Yin doesn’t exactly feel very close to him, Mai tends to get along with him rather well.  43. While it isn’t intentional with Yin looking so much like Raven the whole situation between Yin and Tai kinda distances them and she doesn’t find out why until she’s around the age of fourteen.  44. Mai and Yin both have nicknames for there crushes. For Mai she has a habit of calling Keira either Arc Angel or Warrior Princess neither of which she is very fond of but lets it slide. For Yin she tends to sometimes call Aqua, High Tide or Riptide simply because of her love for the water. Unlike Keira, Aqua does not mind these nicknames. --------------------------------------- A lot of these facts are up for debate. Pick a favorite, or even go in deeper I would love to hear some fans ideas as to how to improve or add more to it. If you want to know some facts about my other Oc’s feel free to ask or message. 

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 66)

“Wow, that Keeper of the Grove costume is amazing! I'd be scared if you weren't so tiny, kid, but you and your girlfriend are still pretty creepy.”

“Well ain't you the best damn Piper I've ever seen all night! Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were the Holy Shepherd herself come back from the Aether to bless us with her presence.”

“OH MY GOSH! NINJAS OF LOVE! I NEED A PICTURE WITH YOU, RIGHT NOW, OR I'M GOING TO DIE! LIKE, LITERALLY DIE!”

“Hello! We're from the Old World Animation Society, and we'd love to take your picture and use it as part of our promotional material...”

“Well howdy there, cowboy! Mind if I ask y'all what time it is…?”

Taiyang grinned. “Well, pardner, I'd say it's… niiinneee forty-five…!”

The other Old World cowboy laughed. “Thanks for the laugh and the memories, pardner,” he tipped his hat to Taiyang. “You and your gals enjoy your night now!”

He tipped his hat back. “Yer welcome, pardner, and y'all stay safe, too!” he said, before he resumed waiting at a bench with Weiss, watching over their bags of souvenirs and food while the others were busy with a game of “Shoot the Shade.”

Weiss sighed.

Taiyang turned to her. “Something wrong?”

“I can't believe no one's noticed,” she replied. “All of these pictures, all of these people stopping us, and not a single one has had even the slightest inkling, if I wasn't pretty sure they're also like us.”

Taiyang shrugged. “It's Eve of the Ether; 'weird' kinda becomes the new 'normal.'”

Weiss was about to reply, before she saw a group of Fae walk on by, dressed in their usual armour with their animal features out, shrugging off any suspicion by speaking in fluent Nivian. The difference between Fae and human fashion was so great the unsuspecting masses probably thought they were just dressed up as characters from a holo or a Trance sim.

“Are you fucking kidding me…?!”

“Yeah, they do that,” Taiyang hummed, smiling. “The 'costumes' Summer, Qrow, and Raven were 'wearing' when I first met them were just like those, actually!”

Weiss turned to him. “You met them on Eve of the Ether?”

Taiyang smiled. “In this very city. We met while we were in line at a 'Test Your Strength' game, where I was betting my last Urochs on breaking the record. I couldn't do it, but Summer broke the ever loving shit out of it and the machine, then split her prize money with me—so long as I promised I'd buy Qrow that beer he'd been clamouring for all night with my share.

“It was at that moment that I’m pretty sure I fell for her, and though I didn't realize it at the time, she was pretty interested in me, too.”

“What, couldn't see her expression under the mask?” Weiss teased.

Taiyang chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, she was actually going without it that night, not scare the crap out of people for a while. Denial is a hell of a thing, though.”

“So how’d you end up dating her?”

“We spent the rest of the fair together, and had a lot of fun. By the time the sun was almost about to rise and we all needed to leave, I realized this was one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities staring me in the face.

“I was young, lovesick, and had only enough money for the return trip back under the boot of the coziest kleptocracy in Avalon. What was the harm in following these three strangers back to whatever wild place in the Country they came from, I thought?

“As it turns out: a heckuva lot!

“But if I had a time machine to go back to the exact moment where I made that decision, I'd punch out Past Me, take his place, and convince Summer to take me home with her, so I could do it all over again without all the really bad decisions...

“How are you enjoying it out there, by the way?”

“Very much, actually!” Weiss replied. “My first two weeks aside, everything couldn't be better. At the very least, it's bounds better than what I left behind…”

Taiyang nodded. “You haven't experienced a Soul Eater attack yet, have you...?”

Weiss slowly shook her head. “No, actually... should I be worried?”

Taiyang was about to answer when the others came walking back with their prizes and badges proclaiming them the “Slickest Shade Shooters in the Realm.”

“I suppose you'll find out for yourself eventually!” he said as he got up to meet them.

Weiss sighed, figured that finding out how terrible something was from first-hand experience was just the way things worked in the Valley.

They eventually decided to go get dinner, and at Weiss' recommendation, they ate at Fiorina's.

For reasons of maintaining their cover, they chose a corner booth, Weiss and Pyrrha squeezed all the way inside and out of sight from the rest of the restaurant, Penny making sure that their bags of prizes and souvenirs were arranged in a way that would handily block the surveillance equipment without arousing any suspicion.

“This isn't amateur hour,” Ruby whispered to Weiss and Pyrrha. “We know what we're doing.”

They saw them in action as Taiyang talked to the waiter for all of them, and found out that he had followed the news very closely and had actually watched the fake ransom/execution holo several times—enough to feel that there was something disturbingly familiar about Ruby and the sound of her voice.

Taiyang sighed. “Look, Marty, I know it was big news realm-wide, but come on: we're just here to eat and enjoy ourselves! You wouldn't want to get in trouble with your boss by making seven hungry customers lose their appetites all because you couldn't stop talking about that awful tragedy would you?”

On cue, everyone but Weiss and Pyrrha looked at Marty with a mix of uneasy, disgusted, and extremely annoyed expressions.

Marty groaned. “Okay! Fine! I'm sorry for bringing it up... I'll be back with your orders in a 'jiffy…'”

They all watched him sulk off from the corner of their eyes, until he disappeared back into the kitchen. They let out sighs of relief, then started casually talking and discussing how to spend the rest of their night, as Pyrrha had essentially given them an effectively unlimited budget to do anything they wanted.

“I wish we had some way of paying you back for all this, 'Piper,'” Ruby said after they finalized their plans. “We've spent a LOT tonight.”

Pyrrha smiled. “Oh, it's fine! The memories I've made with all of you are more than worth every Uroch. My only regret is that we'll probably permanently part ways come morning...”

Yang smirked. “It's not to late to ask for our comms, you know—maybe you can just get Penny's, she's pretty well-connected after all,” she said, winking as she nudged Pyrrha with her elbow.

Pyrrha blushed.

Yang raised an eyebrow, then beamed. “Oh man! You already have, haven't you? Gimme a high-five, 'Piper!'”

Pyrrha tipped her cap lower over her bright red face, before she quickly high-fived Yang.

Penny smiled. “If I may interrupt: I do see a way we would be able to recoup our expenses,” she said as she pulled out her temporary comm-crystal, projected an advertisement out to the whole table.

“The Candela Couple's Costume Contest?” Weiss asked. “But contestants have to have a clearly matching theme, and it's only open to romantic—oh, right...”

“I'm game!” Ruby said. “It might be fun.”

“You'll probably score a lot of points with the judges for being relevant!” Taiyang added. “What is for sure is that you two going to get a lot of attention.”

“Possibly the bad kind...” Weiss muttered.

“Our ploy's worked very well so far,” Pyrrha said quietly. “I think it'll be safe to assume that it'll keep on working.”

Blake pulled out her own comm-crystal, typed something on it: “Make escape plan, just in case?”

Pyrrha nodded. “I can be bait for a distraction; I'm getting hell when I get home anyway, what's a little more trouble?”

Taiyang hummed. “Don't see how this can't work, if all of us work together!”

Yang raised her hand. “Yeah, that's going to be an issue, because I have several issues with this plan.”

Ruby sighed. “Can't you just let it go for tonight, Yang? We could really use the money.”

Yang glared at her. “No. You are my precious, innocent baby sister, and I am not okay with throwing you at the mercy of strangers for Urochs, especially when you'll be going in with Ice Princess over here!”

Weiss growled. “Everyone, could you please excuse myself and Yang? We'll just be going to the restroom...”

Ruby looked uneasily at them both, before she sighed and began to make room for them to leave, the others following suit.

Diners and servers gave them a wide berth as they walked on past, fearing the aura they were giving off—like an inferno coming up against a blizzard.

They kept their voices down for the benefit of the people actually using the facilities, but the tension came through loud and clear.

“What is your problem with me?” Weiss snapped. “What is it that is that ticks you off about me dating Ruby?”

Yang scowled and held up her hand. “I suggest you don't go there, princess, or else we're going to have to add broken furniture and walls to our bill later. Look: has anyone told you about the statistics of Fae/Human relationships? About how they’re almost always doomed to fail?”

“Penny has, and in my defense, that's the same thing they said about my grandparents relationship, and look how they ended up,” Weiss huffed.

Yang groaned. “I'm trying to help you here, Weiss! You know one of the biggest reasons why the Shit went down? It's because dad thought he could handle a relationship with Ruby's mom!

“Now don't get me wrong: they were crazy for each other, and Uncle Qrow’s got the proof in his chronicle, but the fact is, dad just couldn't handle all the cons of dating a Keeper—though it probably didn't help that he was forced to live with his ex-wife, AKA my mom the Alpha Bitch.

“Dating Ruby is going to be crazy, it's going to be full of problems, and trust me: you may think you've got it all figured out, but then something's going to happen that'll turn your whole world round and round till you don't have the slightest clue which way is up or down!

“Trust me: I watched this shit unfold before my very eyes, and it was a helluva roller coaster of ups, downs, and seventeen-dimensional shapes beyond our comprehension! I was just a baby for all of it, but I know you know from personal experience that little kids absorb and understand a lot more shit than adults think they do.”

Yang's eyes softened. “Dad wasn't perfect, as a person or as a husband both times he tried, and he'll be the first to admit that! But he was a helluva lot more well-adjusted and had a whole lot less issues than you did, Weiss.

“You're going to end up getting hurt. Ruby's going to end up getting hurt. And with Keepers, you can bet there’s going to be plenty of collateral damage. And I don't know if you’ll believe me, but I sincerely wish none of that to happens to you—to either of you.

“So please: will you say 'No' to the contest…?”

Weiss looked Yang in the eyes, saw the sincerity, the desperation. She felt the anger and indignation inside of her drain away as she saw something far too familiar:

Someone who only wanted to protect her little sister.

Weiss slowly reached out and touched Yang on the shoulder. “Yang…? I believe you, alright? I don't want Ruby to get hurt either, and trust me, I'm already starting to get a pretty good idea of all the crazy shit that happens when you date a Keeper.

“But I'm entering that contest with her, and I'm going to keep on dating her, unless one or the both of us decide to break it off!”

Weiss carefully pulled off her mask. “Ruby's going to get hurt, Yang. You can't protect her from everything. And I know you know she doesn't want you to—even if you are her big sister.

“It's called the growing the fuck up, and there's nothing you can do about it.”

Weiss put her mask back on.

Yang looked down, defeated. “… If you two happen to win one of the big prizes, and you have to do the big victory kiss for the crowds, don't go full-on make out session, alright? The images my brain is offering are bad enough, I don’t need the reality broadcasted on live HoloVision for all of Avalon to see.”

“We won't, I promise,” Weiss replied. She looked away. “… Besides, we, uh, kinda know from firsthand experience that it's REALLY bad for me to get too excited...”

Yang looked at her in curiosity. “Why? What happens?”

Weiss slowly looked back at her. “… I accidentally freeze our lips together...”

Yang sniggered. “Well, at least I you're not giving her the cold shoulder, huh?”

Beat.

The both of them groaned.

“Oh, fuck me, that was a mistake...” Yang said, quietly gagging.

“Yes… yes it was...” Weiss grumbled.

They returned to their table, told the others that Yang had changed her mind and that she'd join the plan. “And just so we're clear here: this is only because I don't want Ruby to get in trouble,” she added as she and Weiss slipped back into their seats.

“That means she's starting to like you!” Ruby whispered as Weiss returned by her side.

Their food arrived shortly after. They could see Marty still being very suspicious of them, especially with how Weiss and Ruby noticeably kept their masks on as the others began to dig in, but thankfully the other server with him told him to knock it off.

“Geeze, Marty, lay off the shock news for a while! That shit's not good for you...” they muttered as they returned to the kitchen.

After a dinner spent with Weiss and Ruby's hoods up and heads down as they ate, they sent an entry picture of them for the contest:

The two of them in the center, satisfied and looking very much in love while the others were slumped over “dead” on the table, ketchup “bloodstains” everywhere.

Penny attached their fake identities, playfully captioned it “Dinner Date for the Keepers,” then sent it off before they paid their bill and left Fiorina's. Marty was still wary of them and none too pleased about the mess beside, but the generous tip Pyrrha convinced him to give it a rest, for now.

It had barely been five minutes when they got a message back from the officials:

“What amazing costumes and astoundingly bad taste! We love it, you're in.”

Note: As the author finally remembered, their saying “Sexy Animal Noise” in their “Dr. Nefarious” Voice.

[terrasdaughter]

New Year’s Castlevania City

@bernhard-castle-dracula

Dante left his wife and two sons inside the Hotel Castlevania with their Nonno Vincent and Nanni Maria. Normally his family couldn’t afford to stay in a five star place! But the rates had been deeply discounted while the old building was under repair. 

There was construction everywhere in the city, scaffolding and some giant ads obscuring entire major street fronts.

Dante hadn’t planned on staying in Castlevania City long, but the place held an air of opportunity. Certainly he could get a translator’s job here. At least while he learned to hear from God, to discern where to live next.

The cost of living was low, and to Dante, the Eastern European country’s lagging in technological sophistication was a feature, not a bug. The city was walkable and had public transportation. Recent mysterious events would make it abidingly interesting. It’s rich history he hadn’t even scratched the surface of. And it was architecturally amazing, a potential paradise for a traceur. Dante had anticipated living off-grid in a low-tech village, but the vast expanse of roofs here invited endless exploration.

He’d still be able to eat very well here. There remained a tradition of good food made from scratch from healthy ingredients brought in from the countryside. 

Beyond, the country possessed an unspoiled natural treasure in its mountains and forests, which the city’s geographic prominence granted views of. The girl at the tourist bureau had also mentioned the area enjoyed all four seasons, with fairly cool summers, attractive autumn leaves, snow in winter, and bright green grass and spring wildflowers.

He had been concerned about what he would find bringing his family 130 years into the future, for them, but in Castlevania City, at least, it wasn’t as bad as he had feared.

His wife’s excitement and delight to be in the future was infectious. Then it had been a second Christmas for his family as his wife and two little boys and Dante’s parents met each other for the first time.

Dante could tell his Dad was delighted with both children, but probably particularly pleased with the 3-year old who had the same white skin and black hair that he and Dante did. Dante’s elder son was comparatively colorful with light skin, rosy cheeks and his mother’s vibrant darker auburn hair, like Dante’s sister Rosemarie and grandmother Juntarra.

Dante’s parents invited them to ring in the new year with them and celebrate Cyrus’s 5th birthday in Eastern Europe, where some of his father’s work would be featured in a New Year’s Style Show. Earlier in the year the city they’d be going to had suffered damage in a brief conflict, but it was not reported outside the region, and now that it was over, the tourism industry was announcing great luxury vacation deals during the reconstruction. 

The family had been worried about Dante’s wife not having an ID, even though they weren’t supposed to need it on this Orient Express route. When from the train window the snow-blessed Castlevania City gained strikingly above the trees against the thick winter clouds, they felt such relief and awe.

Stepping off the train they smiled looking at each other looking up and around at the expansive station, so vast and with such a high ceiling.

Outside Nonni encouraged the boys to try and get her with snowballs, while Dante helped get their party’s baggage into the hotel van. Dante’s family’s wardrobe was scant, but maybe they’d pick up some pieces in town. They stared out the windows during the ride, Dante lightly squeezing Cyrus’s numb hands to warm them. Cheerful Christmas lights and decorations were still up. “An interesting birthday, huh?” Dante let go of Cyrus’ hand for a moment to wrap his arm around his son’s red hair. He pulled him in and gave the top of his head a kiss. “Wait till you see the hotel.! We’ll go for a walk once we check in. You choose where we eat dinner.!”

He softly mouthed to his wife who had turned to him. “I don’t know what we’re in for,” but they ended up at a wonderful candlelit dinner in front of a roaring fireplace, eating delicious buttery spinach fettuccine, with chocolate mousse for dessert. Cyrus had announced to the host at the front, “It’s my birthday!” Dante pulled his son’s new fuchsia knit hat down the sides over his eyes. “Hey!!” 

They then stayed out late in the streets enjoying the New Year’s celebration. 2058! Fireworks! The boys huddled close. The younger climbed into his mother’s coat and peeked out. Dante picked up and held Cyrus.

Dante’d had hope the kids might sleep in, but they didn’t, but he was able to send them to the connecting suite to their grandparents, and then spend more time in the fancy hotel room’s bed with his wife..

A lovely breakfast! Then accompanying Nonno to the Center where some of his suits would be worn at the fashion show. Later they explored a couple tourist sites that were open, and then had another fine dinner.

Having safely delivered his family to their hotel, Dante was eager for some quiet time alone to think. He arranged the same for his wife, which would allow her to relax in the bath while his parents took the kids. 

He put his long coat and hat in the little closet. His thick long-sleeve top would keep him warm enough once he was moving. He considered going up to the roof from his room’s balcony but didn’t want to give his boys any ideas, so he left through the door and then took the stairs.

From an angular projection of the roof’s wall, he gazed out over the city through the dusk. He spent some minutes relaxing, before halfway turning his attention to mapping a path to higher ground. 

Yes, he needed some peace.

He needed to get to know this city better.

By night.

He needed to have a better sense of the place before bringing up the idea of staying here with his wife.

He couldn’t expect perfection. All cities were dangerous in places. This one had a lot going for it.!

It had personality. Character. Culture.

Something shadowy about it. Obscured by the excitement and celebrations and happiness, of joy with family, and new things. There was something dark. But didn’t all cities have that?

His mind passed to different subjects as he hopped up onto the wall and started walking quickly, and jumped to a nearby building. He knew Cyrus would love a hat like his father’s and Nonno’s for his birthday, and Dante knew just where to take him for it, but he really shouldn’t be spending that kind of money right now..

He was extra careful on his landings and grabbing ledges in case there was a trace of ice that hadn’t melted during the day. He had been planning on going high for the view out over the city, but now was content with lower roofs. He was taking his time. He would leap and then linger, looking over one side of a building and then another side.

He resolved to get Cyrus the hat. He’d get a lot out of it. What color would his son choose? Probably something bright and reddish, like his cherry coat and shoes.

Suddenly, the atmosphere was different. As if a grainy dark and tingling, but not physically. It was almost breathtaking. He blinked, again and again, not really looking into the physical, not really looking at anything. He began to tremble or vibrate slightly. He wasn’t holding his breath, was he? Despite his exertion, he was breathing shallowly. His head began to turn slightly to one side, and the other, although his eyes weren’t focusing on anything. Oh shit. Like a wavering of the air. He put a hand below his ribs. He felt lightheadedly faint.

@writemeendlesssongs

[antares-8]

Tragic AU

Beneath the cut is a long outline for a depressing canon divergence AU. Get your tissues, amigos.

Right when he’s about to bless Miguel, Hector starts spasming. The petal falls from his hand. Imelda, distracted, gives Miguel her blessing... with the condition that he never play music again. It’s more force of habit than anything else, over 90 years of behavior coming to the forefront while she’s distracted by her... husband(?)’s pain.

Miguel finds himself in the cemetery. He leaves the white guitar--it would only slow him down--and runs as quickly as he can to Coco’s room, ignoring his family’s shouts. He tries so hard to remind her of her papa, even reciting the lyrics to “Remember Me” as rhythmically as he can, but it’s no use. No comprehension lights her eyes.

Maybe it’s Miguel’s imagination, but he thinks he can sense the exact moment she forgets Hector completely.

The boy collapses in huge, gasping, ugly sobs. His relatives have no idea what’s going on, but Luisa leads him to his bedroom, telling him to sleep, he’s had a long night, he’ll feel better after a few hours’ rest. She kisses him on the forehead and wishes him sweet dreams.

And Miguel freezes dead in his tracks, because he dreams of music every night.

The curse wouldn’t really claim him for dreaming, right? But he’d been sent back to the Land of the Dead just by touching Hector’s guitar, and he stayed there so long....

He doesn’t know, but he has a nasty feeling that it might.

So Miguel tells his family what happened him. He’d interrogated Hector on their way to the Sunrise Spectacular in the hopes of proving to the Land of the Living that Ernesto was a lying murderer: his location and date of death, a bit about his songwriting, etc. Miguel repeats these things to his family and makes them promise that they’ll investigate for him if he dies in his dreams.

They think he’s nuts, but they agree. 

Miguel tries to stave off sleep, he really does, and he tries to research lucid dreaming. It doesn’t work. He goes to bed alive.

He wakes up dead.

The first thing Miguel does is ask the nice government lady about whether Hector Rivera made it. He didn’t, but would you like me to find the rest of the Rivera family?

Miguel goes still again because suddenly he remembers his first time in the Department of Family Reunions, how Imelda held his very life for ransom and nobody else cared enough to speak up against her. He thinks of their deal to save Hector’s photo in return for him giving up music (a plan that Hector of all people had tried to talk down). Hector, he knew, was planning to give him an unconditional blessing, surrendering any chance of reconciliation, but Hector is gone. The others all attached conditions to their blessings--and he agreed to it, yes, hoping they’d change their minds. 

He agreed to it, but now he’s twelve years old and hurt and grieving and angry and dead. He’ll never grow to his full height, never get married, never even meet his unborn sibling. He agreed to it, but he shouldn’t have had to.

Miguel requests that the Rivera shoemakers not be informed of his demise. He goes to stay with his mother’s grandparents instead.

In the Land of the Living, Miguel’s family finds his body with a quiet smile on its face. Music always did make him happy.

There is no music at his funeral, but it feels wrong, somehow.

Elena and Franco repeal the ban the very next day.

None of them quite know what to think about Miguel predicting his death, about why he thought he might die that night. On one hand, his prediction came true. On the other, his tale was insane--and they didn’t want it to be true.

But then, after Coco dies, Elena finds Hector’s letters and photo in her dresser. The man looks just like Miguel described him, all nose and ears and cheekbones, and the letters are full of music Franco recognizes from his childhood. They go to the library and get the librarian’s help in finding a death certificate from Mexico City--and they find one for the right date, the right name, even the right cause of death (which they now know is a lie).

They keep investigating, aided by the other Riveras. The more they find, the more they realize....

Miguel was right about everything.

Across the marigold bridge, Julio brings his newly arrived wife to the family home. Coco is thrilled to see everybody, though sad to realize that her parents didn’t reconcile in death. She’s confused, at first, to not see Miguel there--but of course her little musician wouldn’t choose to dwell with the original author of the music ban. Maybe he’s with Papa! So she asks when they can go visit Miguel, secretly hoping to meet both (though of course she wanted to see him no matter who was taking care of him).

Cue record scratch. What do you mean Miguel is dead?

(Imelda has a sudden sinking feeling where her stomach used to be. When Coco says that he died in his sleep, she’s a little bit relieved. It wasn’t her condition that killed him.)

They find him in the street near Luisa’s grandparents’ house. He’s playing a guitar from Shantytown, an old straw hat on his head and a brilliantly colored xolo at his side.

Coco grabs him in a hug. He laughs and hugs her back. Then he sees the others, and his eyes turn to flint. Nobody else gets a hug.

His great-grandmother tries to introduce everyone, but Miguel tells her that they’ve met. He’s holding the old guitar like he expects them to tear it from his hands, and Dante is standing between him and the long-dead Riveras, ears flat against his head.

Coco, not being an idiot, demands to know what exactly happened. The story comes out, mostly from the adults, with Miguel glaring at them whenever they falter. (His markings look a lot like Hector’s, but he has Imelda’s glare.) They had no intention of hiding it from her, they just wanted her to adjust before telling her about her papa’s fate. When Coco hears about the blessing that finally sent Miguel home, she sucks in an unneeded breath. “But you died in your sleep,” she protests.

“I died in my dreams,” Miguel corrects her.

They leave pretty quickly after that. When they visit, everyone but Coco is treated with polite coolness. Maybe it’s wrong of Miguel, but he’s in a lot of pain. He tries, though, and he’s getting a little better, a little less bitter.

Most of Ernesto de la Cruz’s possessions are awarded to Coco, his murder victim’s daughter, and Miguel, the living boy he attempted to murder. (Rumor has it that the ‘attempt’ was successful, that this is why the kid is dead so young.) They give most of it to the people of Shantytown. Miguel especially is very involved with them. He’s trying to figure out how to organize a benefit concert. 

The Day of the Dead rolls around again. Hector’s face is back in the photo, though it doesn’t do him any good. Usually, that picture takes the place of honor on top of the ofrenda, but this year it’s been moved down a couple rows to make way for Coco and Miguel.

And there is an unusual offering lying there, waiting to be claimed. A white guitar, beautifully cared for, topped by a gold-toothed skull.

Miguel is enraptured by his baby sister, but he can’t help but glance at it every once in a while. The adults wander among their living relatives, listening to their quiet conversations. If Miguel had been right about Papa Hector, maybe he was right about the dead really being there. 

(Some of them glare at the photos when they think no one is watching.)

The living go to sleep. The dead gather up their offerings and prepare to depart. Miguel picks up most of the things in his pile--pan de muerte, magazine and newspaper articles about “The Ernesto Exposure,” his favorite foods--but doesn’t touch the white guitar.

Coco picks it up, holds it before him. “Papa would want you to have it,” she chokes.

Miguel hesitates, then puts down his other offerings. He takes the smiling guitar in his hands, cradles it close, and at long last allows himself to cry.

[leisureninja-blog]

Hungry Mother 50k

Note: I’ve never blogged before but I thought it would be a good idea to have a place to post the adventures and exploits of my year off work (that starts today!). 

I wrote this a few months ago but figured I’d use it to keep the juices flowing and see how this Tumblr thing works...

Race Report Hungry Mother 50k, April 2018

10 miles of shimmery salt-soaked space and I’m wondering how long it would take me to cover that distance.  I was on a tour bus full of nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles, my wife and children and their grandparents, driving south along the west side of the Dead Sea looking across those miles at Jordan.  It was late December 2017 and I had my music in, flipping through race websites on my phone (yes, even here I had a great signal).  I’ve always been pretty serious about New Years resolutions and I was thinking through my objectives for the coming year.  It had been two and a half years since I’d run a race (Mountains to Sea Trail 50k in Durham, NC - 3rd Overall) and I knew it was time to commit again.  My unplanned hiatus had come about in the summer of 2015 when I’d herniated a disk in my neck.  Beyond a few weeks just after the injury I’d managed to keep trail running but never felt good enough to train.  

I’d been searching for just the right challenge and I’d found it - the Hungry Mother 50k at the eponymous state park in the far southwest corner of Virginia.  There were plenty of interesting trail races these days but I needed enough time to get ready and had a big work event in March to avoid.  The April 7th date had good prospects for cool weather and the race was small enough that I didn’t have to worry about rapidly filling signups, lotteries or waiting lists.  I’d also heard from my parents that this park was gorgeous so I jumped into the deep end once again.

I always enjoy organizing my training programs so I set to work there on the bus, scribbling in my notebook.  I’ve never been a high mileage runner - I run just four days a week - but I try to balance my training so that each day is pointed towards a specific training objective.  This time I decided to go with:

Tuesday - fast road run (8 miles)

Wednesday - treadmill climb (crank it up as high as it will go and power walk for an hour or two)

Thursday - couple times around the hilly Duke x-country course near my house (7 miles)

Saturday - long trail run (starting at 12 miles and building to 28 a couple weeks before the race)

This is about all my work schedule will allow so I get up early and try to be done before the kids are up.  It makes for a lot of dark runs during these winter months but it’s my stress relief.  I was also tilting towards training for the climbs as the race had 7,000 ft of elevation gain over it’s 31 mile distance (one 15.5 mile loop run twice).  Finally, I knew that to do well in this race I’d need to be running at least marathon distance each Saturday for the last 6 weeks of training so I plotted a pretty quick ramp.  

Time flies by these days and before I knew it it was race time.  I tapered for the last couple weeks and started watching the weather.  Now I was hoping for cool but, to my surprise, there was snow forecasted for race day.  I was intending to bring the family up from Durham but it looked to be a pretty nasty day.  In the end, my Dad drove down from northern VA with his RV and we camped at the Camp Burson RV campground right in the park.   The park has tons of camping options from cabins to yurts to regular camping but Camp Burson was particularly convenient as the race runs right through it (twice), making it convenient for friends/family to see the race.

I woke early on race morning and my Dad helped me get my gear together.   The forecast had turned for the better - the snow was coming over the mountains a little slower and was not expected to start until mid-afternoon.  The temperature was to be about 40 at the start and getting slowly colder throughout the morning.  I knew I’d be pushing pretty hard and decided to go with just a thick short-sleeve, long tights, a warm hat and gloves.  I was a bit worried about rain so I left my Adidas running hoodie with my Dad to hand off to me as needed.  For you gearheads out there, I ran in my Pearl Izumi M2’s, Nathan running belt with two 10oz. bottles for water and Heed and an 8oz. bottle of pre-mixed Perpetuem; and of course my Garmin Forerunner 235.  How could I go wrong?

The race volunteers and rangers were great, taking us through a concise set of rules and course warnings just before ‘go time’.  One last potty break and we were off with a big Whoop Holla!  The group went out pretty slow - I could immediately tell that this group had a deep respect for the big climbs ahead.  I fell into the fifth spot on the short stretch of road before we hit the single track, not knowing how many folks in front of me were 50k runners vs 25k runners as we had all started together.  One of the volunteers had joked earlier about the ‘Clyburn Thigh Burn’ and she was right.  Less than a mile from the start there were already steep sections where I was opting to power walk and conserve energy.  After several hundred feet of climbing I passed a runner as we were finally reaching Clyburn Ridge and then hit a very long fast downhill stretch.  I was impressed at how well groomed the trails were through this section and I was to learn that the whole race was like this.  Outside of some steep spots, the whole race was very runnable.  I’m used to lots of rocks and roots at home but these were perfect conditions for a race of this length.  

This first section was a little less than five miles and my Dad was waiting at the first staffed aid station.  He had never seen me race before (at least since high school x-country) and I got a big boost seeing his face when I came through in fourth place.  It was at this moment that I knew I wanted to dedicate my race to him, for getting out there with me on a nasty day (Go Dad!).  From here the trail ran right past where we had parked the RV and then hugged the edge of the gorgeous lake before going back into the woods on the east side of the park.  Even in the dreary weather, the park was beautiful and it helped to keep my mind off my body.  I was warmed up now and keeping myself just under my red line so I needed some distractions.

The trails on the east side of the lake were even nicer than before, with gentle but persistent dips and climbs following the topo lines of the foothills along the lake.  I came up on a fast woman runner and we started yo-yo’ing on these hills.  I would crank past her on the climbs and then she’d blow past me on the downhills.  We got to talking after the first couple times and I learned her name was Leah and that she was also from Durham (!).   Turns out we both train at Umstead State Park too.  She asked me which race I was in and I told her the 50k and it was only at this point that I realized that the two people now ahead of Leah and me were likely 25k runners, and while I still wasn’t sure, I thought maybe that put me in the front of the 50k crowd.  

The terrain was getting steadily steeper now and I wished Leah luck as I pulled past her (she would go on to finish third in the 25k and first among the women!).  I knew this steepening of the course meant that the beast was coming.  The dominant feature on this course is a steep 800ft climb up to the vista on top of Molly’s Knob.  This comes at roughly mile 10 on the first loop but then you have to do it again at mile 25.  It was this latter climb that had been stuck in my head for the last month so I tried to take it easy the first time through.  The last half mile of this out-and-back is quite steep and I was mostly power walking this, finding few opportunities to run.  The vista at the top uncovered a bird’s eye view of the park’s valleys filled with low lying clouds - the biggest view I was to get that day and pretty spectacular. Coming back down was a blast, the well groomed trails allowing me to really let loose and fly down.        

One of the nice advantages of a out-and-back trail section is that you get a good idea of who’s in front of you. The two guys that came down as I was going up were far enough ahead that I started to feel pretty confident I was leading the 50k race.   There was one more chunky climb before the end of the first loop and I was pretty thrilled to see my Dad again at the finish line area.  He was standing about 20 yards in front of the finish line with my next Perpetuem bottle and I stopped to talk to him for a few seconds and do the bottle swap.  The race volunteers were calling from the finish line saying ‘don’t stop yet!’, not realizing that I had another 15 miles to go!  After getting my stuff I came through and finished the first loop - I’m guessing around the 2:20 mark - and set off to do it again.  

I was still feeling strong through the Clyburn section and was really letting loose on the downhills - something my 43 year old knees don’t often allow me to do.  I knew nutrition was critical at this point in the race, having already burned through any glycogen stores I’d built up over a week of rest.  My stomach wasn’t super happy but I committed to downing the second 8oz. bottle of Perpetuem before the Clyburn Ridge aid station so that I could get my 3rd and final bottle there from my Dad to finish the race with.  This brought me right to the edge of indigestion but I think it paid off in the end with an extra 300 calories to burn.  

I’d never raced from the front before and I’ll tell you it’s a pretty nervous exercise.  While I’ve enjoyed the thrill of overtaking someone on occasion, I found myself looking over my shoulder on this second loop.  I knew Justin Gero was in the race and he had set the course record the year before at 4:59:48.  I figured it was only a matter of time until he came galloping past but I also knew this was my first real shot at topping the podium and my Dad was watching.  

The second time up Molly at mile 25’ish was pretty tough.  By the top, I found myself pushing my knees down with my hands as I climbed.   I hadn’t seen any runners since the the finish line but finally got my bearings as I saw Justin coming up as I was heading down.  We yelled encouragements to each other and did the fist bump as we passed.  While it’s hard to estimate, I think he was most of a mile behind me and I now finally started to taste the victory.  I opened it up even further on this steep downhill, knowing I’d be feeling it in my knees for weeks and knowing at the same time it would be worth it.

I finally got down to the paved area of the park but, within just a hundred yards of the finish line, the true masochism of this race director confronts you.  Within site of the finish, the trail takes a hard right and heads back up the Raider’s Run and Old Shawnee trails.  While I had prepared myself for Molly, this last section hit me like a sucker punch.  I was heading up hurting pretty bad but something possessed me to look at my watch to see how I was doing against the course record.  I was now officially 4:45 minutes into the race and realized that I had a remote shot at breaking Justin’s course record from the year before. I put the last little bit I had into these final climbs and then booked it back to the parking lot area.  I finished at 4:59:25, just 23 seconds ahead of the previous best.  I’d never been first in a race before and I felt that my hard work had really paid off!  

I want to thank the race organizers who put on a great post-race setup.   Food, a cold beer and some great prizes put an awesome finishing touch on the day.  I’ve run a fair number of races in the southeast over the years and I was really impressed with the beauty of the park, the convenient camping, the well groomed but challenging trails and a great group of volunteers. While this is a small race today, I expect this will become a premier race in the area within a couple of years - and I’m sure my course record won’t hold as the top tier runners discover it!

I also want to thank my Dad again for putting up with the bad weather and bringing the RV down for a warm and comfy place to crash after the race.  We had a great time together all weekend and this one is dedicated to him.

Kit Linton

[pyroweasel]

Trigger Warnings: Rape, Death, Loss, narcissist/narcissism. My NGrandma is going to die, and I can't feel anything about it. And I'm not sure why? I can sit here and think about so much good we had together. When I was younger, she had a huge part in raising me, because my parents would be working and she was free, safe babysitting. She has been a narcissist all my life. Her way was the way. She had selective memory... Something she didn't like only happened if she agreed it did and, if not, she would say you were wrong, that it definitely didn't happen. I am shy and non-confrontational to other people but with people I'm comfortable with, I can be a stubborn ass. And I was with my grandma. We butted heads a lot. We'd get in screaming matches. One of the last times I saw her, even, we ended up in a screaming match which I almost walked away from. But in the end it ended up okay. She over shared, and honestly I believe that has somehow led to my own paranoia and anxiety. She would tell me about how she was abused as a child. How she was sexually harassed/raped by family. And I was young when she told me this stuff... It didn't bother me then, but I can see as an adult how kind of messed up sharing that with a child is. But still, I loved (love?) her dearly. Because despite that all, there was so much good. She was also the typical "I'll spoil my grandkids if I want to" grandparent. Which now, as an adult, I can see why that would be problematic and a huge thorn in my mom and dad's sides. But as a kid it was great. I'd stay overnight at her house all the time, because I knew the rules were lax. I could stay up all night on the computer if I wanted! I could watch just about whatever I want. I could eat whatever I want. And even if that last point especially has led to some troubles for me as an adult, I still see it all so fondly. When I was little and upset, she would sing songs like Last Kiss and Puff the Magic Dragon to me, and those remain two of my favorite and nostalgic songs. We watched Ol' Yeller and Prince of Egypt together more time than I can count, and they remain two of my favorite movies. She calls me weasel, in a loving way, because of a book I loved as a kid and told her all about. When I tell her I'm not religious she laughs and says God loves me anyway. But if I get her in a serious enough mood, she would always tell me that she got it, because she was, but she didn't hold her beliefs in the same way most Christians do. She asked me once if I was a lesbian and I told her no, in embarrassment. (forgive me, I was quite a bit younger). But she was all set to support me, if I had said yes. If I were home more recently, I might have told her that maybe I was a little wrong, that maybe I'm bi, but I'm not sure. And I think she would have supported me. She is a narcissist. Over a year ago she had a massive heart attack that nearly killed her. They told us it would, probably sooner rather than later. She had congestive heart failure. She had been a very heavy smoker, a terrible eater, and obese for a long, long time. And somehow she fought like a rabid dog. She has been in and out of the hospital, unable to breathe, heart stopped, bad after bad for this whole year+. But she always bounced back. Except this time. By the sounds of it, there isn't much of her mind left to come back. She's not completely brain dead, but she doesn't sound like she's there, either. I hope not. Because if she is, it must be like torture in there. I live 14 hours away, so I haven't seen her much since Christmas. And if I'm honest with myself, I have pulled away bit by bit since the first time she was in the hospital. I haven't been home to see her, but I also haven't talked to her much otherwise. It's what I do. I'm not proud of it. Blessedly, this is the first time I've lost someone so close to me since my great aunt back in '05. But I remember doing the same, then. My great aunt had cancer and slowly whittled down to nothing, and I tried to pull away because I didn't want to deal with the hurt. It didn't help, though. But this time I guess it has. My grandma was a pretty bad mother to my mom and aunt, and as an adult I resent her for that. The things her body has been through this last year or so have only made those tendencies worse, probably due to death of brain tissue. But she has been a nightmare, running my poor grandfather and great aunt ragged. Running my poor mother ragged. In her absolute worst moments being not only unreasonable but absolutely cruel and demanding. There were times while she was in the hospital that my mom wouldn't let me or my brother go, because she didn't want us on the end of her vile vitriol. These are the reasons I use to excuse my apathy. Grief is exhausting to keep up, and I did grieve a lot a year ago, when I thought we would lose her. And honestly? There's relief, too. Because now maybe I won't lose two grandparents, my grandma driving my grandpa down into the grave with her. And I can stop worrying about my mom, who was putting too much work into helping them both, for no thanks from my grandmother. There are probably messages on Skype from her. I should look at them before she actually passes, because I think eventually the grief will actually hit me, and I'll feel guilty for not checking them sooner. Although I told her many times that I so rarely, rarely look at my Skype. My first thought when my mom called me last night, to say that grandma just isn't improving, she isn't coming back, that they're going to ask that they take her off the vent pretty much keeping her alive, was of the inconvenience of timing. I don't know. I know all the grief articles and books would say it takes a different form and not feeling it at first, or having spent it already, is probably normal. And those who have been raised by, or in close contact with, narcissists would say that not grieving one after separating from them is natural too. But I still can't help but feel guilty. Guilty that I can think of all the good she did for me and still not feel like I have to cry. Although after typing it out, I do have a sort of pit in my stomach, so maybe the grief is just delayed. After all, she is still alive, for the moment, even if death is a certainty now. I cry easily during movies and shows, even if the moment isn't particularly sad. I cry if I imagine losing a parent, or my brother, or a close friend. I'm PMSing, I think, which is usually when I cry at the drop of a hat. I had to send my dog to live with my parents for a couple of months and bawled, feeling like someone had taken out my heart. And he's alive, well, and spoiled! And yet for this... Nothing. Fuck man. I don't know. Apologies for the personal rant. I just needed to get this out somewhere. It probably won't be under a cut unless it does that automatically.. I've no idea how to do that on mobile. So apologies also if it takes up a chunk of your dashboard.

[3one3]

The Sequel - 777

Stranger Things

André Schürrle, Juan Mata, other Chelsea players, and random awesome OC’s

(okay they’re less random now but they’re still pretty awesome)

original epic tale

all chapters of The Sequel

“Was it incredibly strange to have dinner with the family of the guy your wife dated while you were still married, or just a regular amount of strange?”

“It wasn’t as strange as I expected, to be fair. I think it was more uncomfortable for his girlfriend. His mom kept rubbing his friendship with Chris in her face, and then her own mom was talking about things, like...in a way to show that she thinks they should live together, I guess.”

“Did you want to go or did Chris make you?”

“I chose to go. I don’t have a lot of time with her.” And I wanted to see how the two of them interact these days, André added to his careful answer. Eden asked if he wanted to go, and he didn’t really answer that. He didn’t want to go. He volunteered to go to the Boxing Day dinner anyway.

“When is your house finished?” his Belgian friend asked. They were sitting in the indoor arena and watching Christina finish Kyle’s lesson. Yannis and Cornflakes were getting warmed up for theirs to follow.

“I don’t know. Maybe in a month. No one will work during the holidays. Everything stops. I want her to come live at the apartment as soon as the horse facilities are finished though. She doesn’t want to. She won’t say she doesn’t want to, but I know.”

“She doesn’t like it?”

“She likes it here.”

“Ahhhh. Say no more, my friend.”

The two players nodded without even looking at each other. André appreciated that Eden understood the situation with a minimal amount of explanation. It affirmed for him that his own thinking made sense. If someone else could see how his wife might use the apartment as an excuse not to have to leave her comfort zone, then he wasn’t grasping at straws to rationalize his instincts. The sheer anger in her voice as it filled the indoor arena made them both wince too. Their noses wrinkled and their eyes squinted in tandem.

“Where is your leg?” she asked Kyle, who was riding Calvin. “You’re asking a horse the size of a garbage truck to change direction in 10 feet. You can’t help him? You can’t give him a little support?” Her stance in the middle of the ring reflected her astonishment and anger about the rollback turn he performed between an oxer and a vertical, with one hand on her hip and the other palm open and questioning. “Yannis, earmuffs!” The other student in the ring put both reins in one hand and leaned over in his little saddle so that he could use both to cover his ears. “If you keep just trying to yank him the other way he’s going to fucking stop before you even get pointed in the other direction. How fucking hard is it to close your leg? Do it again and do it correctly or so help me-“

“I’ve got it,” Kyle assured, intimidated but not knocked down. Christina’s students knew they were in trouble when her incredulity pushed past sarcastically making fun of them to dropping F-bombs and calling on higher powers. They all had to learn that the right response to that was to be quiet and correct the problem, not get upset or defensive.

“Chris doesn’t have a lot of holiday cheer,” Eden observed in a whisper.

“She’s always like that when she teaches. Has she found another trainer for the boys yet? I try not to ask her about things related to leaving.” The German put his feet up on the top of the kickboard in front of him and used the leverage to lift the front legs of his chair up off the platform.

He’d been sitting there a while, first to watch his girl ride, and then the lesson. Lukas was cranky about everything imaginable at the house. His dad was happy to leave him with his grandparents and go hang out at the barn, hoping that they’d find some way to get him to nap away his petulance before he got back. Being cold in the ring and watching Christina work wasn’t exactly the most thrilling or satisfying way to spend an afternoon, but it was better than listening to screaming, literal toy throwing, and “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Papa, Daddy!”. Having Eden there for the latter half of the afternoon at least gave him someone to talk to. His girl was focused and serious and not much of a conversationalist in the saddle or the middle of the ring. Natasha joined the two players once Leo came in to warm up with his pony, and the three spectators discussed the kids and the upcoming New Year’s Eve festivities.

The Hazards booked a large corner at the all-windows Duck & Waffle, some 40ish floors up in the Heron Tower, to ring in the new year with friends over a 6-course tasting menu and the musical stylings of an “electro-swing” group. The theme of the night- for the whole restaurant, not just their part of the big party- was the Prohibition Era. It was time for the guys to play gangster again, but less seriously, and with more swing dancing. Christina accepted her and André’s invite without hesitation, because she wanted to dress and act like a flapper girl and drink vintage cocktails. She already ordered a cigarette holder on Amazon even though there would be no smoking in the restaurant. Some of the Chelsea squad would be there, and the ex-Blue was looking forward to hanging with his friends. And also a night out with his girl. She had more immediate designs on that.

“I’m so tiiiiireeeed,” she whined to him in her office after the lessons, hugging him but mostly just leaning on him and forcing him to hold her up. “Can we go out to eat? I don’t want leftovers, or to have to load the dishwasher. Do you know how many times I’ve had to run the dishwasher since you’ve been here? More importantly, do you know how many times I’ve had to unload the dishwasher? Let’s go somewhere. Just us. No parents and no baby. How about the pub in town? Pleeee-”

“Okay, okay, take a breath,” he said. “I’m convinced. You don’t have to keep selling.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Did you have your vitamins today?” André asked dubiously. “Why so tired?”

“Yes, I did. I’m tired because two guys got me horribly drunk in the Jacuzzi last night and I didn’t get to bed until 2:30. Do you know them?” Christina turned to look up at him from the middle of his chest, rubbing her chin across the zipper of his jacket because it got itchy as her skin thawed from being outside. There was a scruffy chin above, and then a smile, and then pretty cobalt blue eyes.

“Yeah, but I think just one of them got you drunk, and it was the one that wasn’t me.”

“You just watched, eh?”

“Well it was entertaining. I’m supposed to turn down cheap entertainment?”

“Yes. Gimme kiss.” The rider puckered her lips and closed her eyes to wait for a smooch. Her head still kind of hurt from the hot tub martinis that Rafa fed her after the dinner at Juan’s. Melanie was already asleep when she and André got back, but the Italian was wide awake and enjoying a drink, as usual. André invited him to the hot tub once he realized he wouldn’t be able to seduce Christina in there with him around anyway. The two riders shared some of the horse show circuit gossip, which the footballer found interesting. They knew about love affairs, scams, business deals gone bad, scandalous sales, etc.. There was a whole soap opera unfolding behind the in-gate. The world #1 became more gossipy with each sip of her two martinis.

That ranking was on her mind the next day as she went about her work. It partially prevented her from being very entertaining for André while he hung around. The Longines computer list would be updated in about a week’s time, and Christina would lose her spot at the top. It wouldn’t be a great way to start the new year, and she was unhappy about it. She was unhappy with herself for saying or even thinking of things like “I’m looking for an excuse not to” ride again, or to extend her little break. She wanted to focus and get her horses so well prepared that it wouldn’t matter how she was feeling at a show because they’d be too good to be affected. She wanted to get Nick back in shape so that she had another reliable horse to call on.

“You want to shower and change first or go now?” André asked after obliging with the kiss. He tried to reach into the arm holes of her down vest to rub her back but there wasn’t a lot of room in there with her track jacket underneath.

“Can we go now? I’ll just keep my hat on.” Her hand self-consciously reached for her knit beanie, which was hiding her greasy scalp.

“Sure. Take the boots off though, at least. Should we invite Eden and them, or nah?”

“Nah. Then we have to wait for them to put a big table together, and extra people take longer to decide what to have, and the kids are gonna make noise.” Christina really did hate complications. The most streamlined plan was the most attractive. It went along with the primary colors and straight lines concept her partner had been thinking about recently in the context of her choices. “Just you and me,” she concluded in a sweet voice before letting go to unzip her boots.  

“I know you’ll miss them, but at least once you move you have two less kids to teach all the time, yeah?” André leaned on her desk and glanced at the big calendar with all the lessons and appointments and ship dates.

“Ehh it’s not like they take up a ton of time. It takes me an hour and a half to do the both of them and they only have lessons a couple of times a week,” the trainer shrugged. Fudge it’s cold, she thought as soon as her foot was free of the right boot. Her leg was kind of sweaty from wearing them all day, so it didn’t matter that it was fairly warm in the office. Fresh air and sweaty boot sock always resulted in shivers. That was a comfortingly familiar sensation for her though- one she’d experienced a million times in her life, just like the wonderfully cool feeling of sliding a boot off in summer, peeling the knee-high stocking down, undoing the Velcro cuff at the bottom of the breeches, and pulling them halfway up her calf before slipping into flip-flops. In winter it was running shoes and the socks stayed on. “I’m gonna have the new horse to take up the time anyway.”

“What new horse?”

“The Cartegena horse, from Stephex,” she answered absently, intent on fixing the tongue of her sneaker, which was bunched up below the laces.

“You never said anything about taking him on,” André said, his intonation level but his face confused, and maybe even angry when she looked up. Christina was confused too.

“Yes I did. Remember I said I talked to Stephan about bringing him over once I’m in the new place since I don’t have room here? I’m going to show him in big stuff and Kyle is going to show him in...less-big stuff. He’s not too tall for a tiny horse.”

“The only conversation we had about the horse in Belgium was when you got to Dortmund that night and said he was nice and that he was afraid of the poofy fur thing on the top of your hat.”

“How do you not remember this? I talked to you right after I got off the phone with-“ Oops. No I didn’t. That was totally Juan, the rider realized, feeling rather dumb and also quite guilty for mixing up the two. I’m a moron. An insensitive one, at that. “Okay maybe not,” she conceded. “I thought I told you. After I talked to Stephan I was like “Oh, call Schü and tell him the good news”, but then Juan called and-“

“And you can’t remember the difference between me and him? Really?” André folded his arms and crossed one foot over the other. His countenance was the picture of disgust.

“No I- I guess in my mind I had just ticked the box already, and I honestly haven’t thought a single second about it since then. I told Stephan I’d have Tim get in touch with him about a contract when I know when I can take him, in case they find a better solution for him in the mean time. I’m sorry,” Christina replied earnestly while putting her other shoe on. “It’s really not a big deal though. I’m not going to any extra shows for him or anything. I mostly agreed just to get something else for Kyle to show. He does so well with Calvin and I was fine with them doing low stuff but I don’t like the idea of green rider showing green horse in the big leagues, and Cal is definitely still green. This horse has plenty of experience up to just below the top, so he should be okay there.

“Why don’t you tell my anything anymore?” the player asked very frankly. Nothing. She tells me nothing. She had some kind of serious panic attack about the horse show and not only did she not call me while it was happening, she didn’t even tell me about it until a week later. She doesn’t tell me we’re getting another horse. She only mentioned that she’s going to Spain with Juan to visit sick kids when we were on the way to his place, probably because she just realized he could mention it. She still hasn’t said anything about her thigh being completely better and her ankle hurting less. I wouldn’t know if I didn’t work out with her this morning. He was passive aggressive inside and out, but he was also hurt. It didn’t feel good to learn things about his girl by accident, or after everyone else. It didn’t feel good to learn that he wasn’t the person she wanted to share everything with right away.

“I do.” She didn’t put up a very fervent defense.

“Yeah. Right. Okay.”

“Babe.”

“What? I can’t be annoyed that you don’t talk to me about your life?”

“I mean, to be honest, I would prefer you were a lot more than annoyed if that were true, but it’s not. I talk to you.” I understand I made a boo-boo here but it’s not part of a grand scheme to cut him out of things. Christina resented the implication that she didn’t communicate, and really resented the passive aggressiveness. If I ever really did cut him out, he should be sad about it. Not...whatever this is.

“Not like you used to.”

“Well I used to see you every day, and we used to go to bed at the same time every day because we didn’t live in different time zones.”

“Don’t get smug with me, pretty girl,” he warned. There was a real fight brewing and he was only half-heartedly interested in heading it off. The facts of the case and her attitude about it made part of him welcome an argument and opportunity to air his grievances in a satisfyingly vitriolic way. That was what happened. That was how their relationship got so tetchy throughout the Fall. André got so fed up with what she did and how she did it that he needed an outlet and there was like a filter on it that turned everything that came out into something harsh, cutting, and unkind. It was the only thing that made him feel better, because he couldn’t do anything about the frustration, the disappointment, and the isolation. Indulging the anger part was all he had available to him.

“Can we just drop this a go eat?” his wife sighed. As usual, she lacked the appetite for the fight. A little fire still burned inside of her, keeping her willfulness and abundance of confidence in her ability to argue alive, but it was just a flicker. There was just enough to engage in the beginning- to dip her toe into the row and test it out- and not enough to drive her to pursue a victory, or even an extended standoff. Christina just sought the most painless and speedy conclusion. In the past, André’s being more interested in having her tell him things so that he would know she wanted to tell him things than he was in actually knowing and understanding the things would have really angered her and been something perfect to latch onto and use to beat him. The former was about ego, and the latter was about closeness. She would have slaughtered him for the significance of that. In a way, her learned unwillingness to fight fed the beast. Her partner thought he was winning all the time, and that his feelings were justified. Her forfeiture meant he never had pause or cause to reconsider.

They got past the newest little drama in due course. First there was a silent car ride, and then a cagey period in which soup was eaten and some small talk happened, and then by the time her chicken kebobs, rice, and peas and his baked salmon salad were served, normal conversation had resumed. Tensions were over. Everything was fine. Christina did bedtime for Lukas when they got home, and then took a shower, and she seemed happy enough to be around her husband. So it surprised him when she then announced her intention to spend a while in the study to “work”. He asked her what sort of work she meant, and she explained that she wanted to look at the FEI calendar for the coming months and also update her condition book with training and fitness notes for the horses. The door was shut so that she could play music without disturbing the rest of the family watching TV, though she kept the volume so low nobody would have heard it in the foyer let alone across it in the living room.

Her artist of choice was Einaudi. His contemporary classical music was the best for “working” usually. It didn’t distract her. It was unlikely to manipulate her mood. It was just helpful background noise to block the silence that would distract her. But it did steal her attention away, or she subconsciously wanted it to and let it. And it did alter her mood a bit. She caught herself staring into space three times before concluding that her heart wasn’t in writing in the notebook. It wasn’t in anything. There was nothing gripping enough to focus her mind- not the notes and the horses, not the small fight with André, not the issue at the core of the fight, not her conflicted heart, not the Longines ranking. Christina just zoned out and followed the music at times powerful, moving, emotional, compelling, or just plain beautiful. The composer was a bit of a disappointment to her when they met. As a person, he wasn’t all that interesting or significant. They didn’t get a chance to work together much. He did his thing for the video shoot and she did hers. He did guarantee her VIP treatment at any of his shows though, and naturally she planned to use the invite with Juan. They just never made an actual plan. After looking through the window between the two bookcases for 10 minutes, at nothing but darkness outside, she swiveled in her chair some and typed his name into Chrome on her new computer to find his tour schedule. He was headed Down Under until April, when he’d play one sold out show in Zurich and another in Tokyo preceding a month long break. The tour resumed in Berlin, and he’d play back-to-back nights in London in June. Wedged right in between Germany and England was a concert in Switzerland, in Locarno, the picturesque little town on Lake Maggiore where Christina and André got married.

The venue listed was “Piazza Grande”, and the rider began to feel excitement, picturing a big outdoor event like those André Rieu concerts she watched with her dad on TV. She went back to Google to look it up, images in her head of a square lined in cafes with cute little tables and candles, full to the brim with happy people enjoying Einaudi’s wonderful and moving music with their bottles of wine, the experience enhanced by the scale on which it was shared. The World Cup winner covered her mouth when the pictures of Piazza Grande appeared on the screen. Not only was it a square just like she imagined, but it was one with buildings in a rainbow of colors. Mint green, soft yellow, salmon, canary, peach fuzz, white, baby blue- each three or four storey building was a different color, and each one had lots of windows, and each window had a little balcony, and beyond them were the mountains she explored with André in a top-down Jaguar during their honeymoon. The setting was absolutely perfect except for one thing. The date she could see there with her for the magically romantic evening was Juan.

“I have to tell you about something and I want you to give me your honest analysis,” she explained to the Spaniard when he picked up her call. “Your feedback. Everything you think about it, okay?”

“Okay,” he laughed. His ex-girlfriend hadn’t given any kind of context for her call yet, but she made her urgency known. She felt like there was some kind of fate situation presenting itself and it alarmed and excited her in equal measures.

“I looked up Einaudi’s tour dates just now to see when we could go, and he’s doing a concert in the big plaza in Locarno at the beginning of the summer. It’s the kind with all different color buildings around it, and paving stones, and outdoor cafes with awnings. You remember Locarno, right? Where I got married?”

“Yes. I remember the plaza.”

“I think I only drove near it. We didn’t leave the lake much. But anyway, I’m looking at these pictures of this beautiful, quintessentially European town square next to the most beautiful Italian and Swiss lake, and I’m imagining “Primavera” and “Divenire” happening for thousands of people in folding chairs and hundreds more at beat up wooden tables in front of the awnings and under the kind of starscape you get out there away from big cities, and I want to be there...with you. I think it would be amazing, in the strictest sense of the word and not in the casual way I throw it around. It would be amazing. I want to go. But I have so many terrible feelings about it. How can I want to go have that amazing night with someone who isn’t André in the place where we got married? How can I want you to go there with me when I know it’s just a reminder for you of how hard that day must have been for you, and the persisting reality of what happened that day? Am I a sadist and a masochist and a generally inconsiderate person? What does it mean? What does it meeeeeeean, Juanin?”

“Okay, to start, if you want someone to give you an actual critique of your thoughts then you really should see a therapist, cariña,” the Chelsea man told her with an obvious smile. “Then at least you get an impartial one. If you ask me what I think, you always have to consider that I answer with my own interests in mind, sí? Then you have to analyze what I said about what you said. How confusing! But in this case, I don’t think you need to be as panicked as you sound. It’s normal to want to go to the concert with me. You and I love the music together, and André doesn’t like it. As you said once before, you and I experience it the same way, so it’s better together. I don’t think it matters that you got married a few kilometers from there, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with having “amazing” nights with people other than André. Amazing nights with friends are not against the law, that I know of. Almost nothing is against the law in Switzerland, so...”

“That is patently untrue. Motor racing is against the law in Switzerland, and I think I read that keeping one pet is illegal. If you want a cat, you have to get two. If you want a gerbil, you need more than one. I think there are different minimums for each type. And this is to prevent loneliness, not anything to do with making more business for pet stores.”

“Where did you read that?”

“The Internet.”

“Then it must be true.”

“Shut up! The racing thing is real. I know for sure. The only area in Switzerland where nothing is illegal is banking.”

“Let me know if you find anything on the Internet about it being illegal to go to a concert with a friend.”

“You’re not helping. I have serious conflicts here. I have serious feelings that I don’t know how to feel about.” How does he not see how significant a thing it is that I want to do this thing, that I know how wrong it is because of context and everything, and that I still want to do it? Surely there is meaning in there, Christina whined to herself as her “friend” chuckled at her over the phone. She held it to her ear with the help of her shoulder and used both hands on the armrests to lift her butt off the chair so that she could fold her legs under, and the leather squeaked as it detached from her bare thighs.

“So stop having them,” Juan suggested. “Stop looking for great meaning in everything. Just do what you want,” he yawned. “No reason to get hysterical because you have feelings about the absence of feelings, or the disregard of feelings, or whatever it is you’re trying to say.”

“Are you typing something? I hear typing. You’re so Googling the pet thing.” The equestrian star with the star-print shorts did want to be taken seriously, but she also saw some sense in his point. That in itself upset her too. She didn’t like flying off the handle over the littlest things so much recently. She got panicky over things that didn’t require panic, and it escalated so quickly whether it was getting dressed for the horse show, seeing him kiss Taylor, or thinking about the eternal purgatory she believed she could be caught in between him and her husband.

“I’m looking up the weather. My cousins want to sightsee tomorrow since I have off.”

“Oh. Fun.”

“What are some good sights to see with kids?”

“Aw, you ask me that like I’m one of those experienced moms who knows what she’s doing,” Christina chuckled sarcastically. “I have no idea. The aquarium? Big Ben? The LEGO place?”

“I didn’t ask because you’re a mother. I asked because you’re a child.”

“You’re a child.”

“Okay.”

“You haven’t provided any help at all,” she told him, contrite and disappointed. He’s supposed to translate my mental tornado into like one easily digestible sentence that makes it easy to understand and mitigate. What is this nonsense?

“Do you want me to tell you that what you’re envisioning for the concert is a romantic date and it means you should leave him and be with me? Are we in some opposite world now where when I say that to you it doesn’t just upset you and make your life more difficult? I don’t understand what you want, Chris. You say to stop that, and even I said I shouldn’t do that because it’s so hard for you. Now you look at things the same way and you want me to say it? To confirm what it means? I don’t understand. I thought you wanted me to say it’s nothing.” The Spaniard sounded disappointed too, and obviously a little frustrated. Mostly he sounded like a person who felt boxed in and could do no right, which was slightly comforting to Christina’s ears solely because she was so used to feeling that way herself and to have someone demonstrate real empathy made her feel like someone actually understood.

“I just want you to say what you really think it means, not what you think I want or need to near.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think.”

“It does to me.”

“No it doesn’t. I tell you, you get upset about it for a while, and then you ignore it. Always. It’s always the same, cariña. I don’t feel like doing this tonight,” the player sighed. His friend could tell he wasn’t just trying to get her off the phone, or just tired from the busy schedule. He was asking her not to make him take her through the evidence that supported his belief that she really wanted to be with him. He pointed out that each time he did that- like when he asked her to examine why she was willing to sleep with him even when she knew it hurt André- she experienced a major crisis of confidence, retreated from her relationships with both midfielders, and then ultimately decided she couldn’t decide and should just stick with what she had. Christina knew the process was unfair to him, unfair to her husband, and ravaging on herself. Putting off a decision indefinitely wasn’t so great on her wellbeing either, nor particularly satisfying for either of the guys, but it was at least more peaceful and manageable. Juan was evidently tired of being put through it all only to “lose” again in the end when the love of his life failed to summon the conviction or enough courage to make the change he thought she truly wanted.

“I’m sorry,” the rider told him quietly.

“It’s fine,” he said. Then Christina didn’t know what else to say. She understood what he didn’t feel like talking about and she understood why, and it made her feel guilty. She knew he didn’t want to hear about that either. She knew he must be tired of her pity and regret. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? We’re thinking about bowling before everybody leaves. Maybe you want to come.”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, cariña. Te quiero.”

She went back to staring out the window, not really thinking anything. Only the need to pee brought her out of the idle trance. And then she wanted something sweet to nibble on.

“What do you have, Prinzessin?” André inquired when Christina turned up at the sofa with two small bowls. He didn’t even hear her emerge from the study or do anything in the kitchen, but then he and his parents watched TV with the volume quite high and he was close to falling asleep.

“Fruit.” His wife offered one bowl across the couch to her in-laws, and plopped next to him with the other. She had mango chunks for him in half the bowl and sliced strawberries for herself. “Want some?” He pinched a piece of mango and sat up some to eat it, and to make her usual spot under his arm available to her if she wanted it. She immediately leaned over on him and folded her legs up so they’d fit under his blanket.

“Did you get your work done?” André asked, kissing her head as she got settled and the two Toy Fox terriers got settled around her. They didn’t fail to notice there was something happening in the kitchen with food before.

“I don’t feel like doing it. I just want to sit with you.”

What discouraging realization has she made about her schedule or her horses that has her in quiet-no-eye-contact-desperate-to-cuddle mode, he questioned.