#it’s that he thought bill was a trustworthy friend

[pix-writes]

Thank you so much for answering my question! You always give very thorough and thoughtful answers 🥹🥹 If you don't mind me asking, can I ask the same question about friendships (possible lovers later, just like with Stanley) but with Ford? Thank you so much again, I really love reading your analysis 🥹🙌🏻✨️!!

Aw thank you! ☺️

(answer under cut)

I think I've gone over a little bit about how Ford would be in the beginning of a friendship/relationship in this post. Mainly talking about how his flaws/past wound would hinder him forming relationships, generally.

Though I did mention that I think Ford would be easy to bond with, in terms of connecting over something intellectual or nerdy. If you're someone who is game to tag along on research or adventures and can lend a hand figuratively/physically, then your friendship will start to grow, as quality time is the best way to get to know him (he may be a hero/adventurer, but he's truly an introvert with introvert hobbies). Shared interests are something that seems very important to Ford, having been starved of a lot of affection and deeper connections in the past, especially since he found making friends in school/college; so as long as you share a few passions, he'll open up to you fairly quickly.

However, it will take him more time to form a romantic connection and for him to act on it, it will be very slow burn because firstly, he simply doesn't move fast in a relationship, or at least not as fast as modern dating seems to be, and second of all because he has a little insecurity over whether you're interested in him or not/should be interested in him. It takes Ford a little bit to be convinced you won't get your head turned by someone more 'suitable' in his mind. This is also in part to the trauma from Bill's manipulation and torture, whilst you may have only connected after bill was erased, it still brings up trust issues in him and he needs to feel he could trust a partner - as well as work through anxiety about putting you in potential danger (will be quite protective over you as a partner as a result of this).

Kindness will go a long way in securing his opinion of you as someone trustworthy, not only to him but Ford seeing you be kind to his family, your other friends, even to strangers or just plain altruistic in actions not just in words, means that he can trust that he has evidence to back up what he thinks of you and not fall into a similar trap like he did with bill.

Also will admire you for any show of bravery or doing what is right (especially if it's in a situation where it's against the odds, whether it's something dire or a situation where it would be easy to give into social pressures). He appreciates when people say what they mean and are direct with him, as he'll be the same with them (I'm neurodivergent and I hc Ford is too, so this may be specific to being ND, as it's confusing when neurotypical people talk in circles to me!)

Friendship with Ford would include:

watching nerdy TV/films together, whilst I think Ford has only passingly known of/shown interest in world events even before the portal incident, he still managed to have some semblance of interests/life outside of his research, it may arguably not have been a lot, but considering his interest in dnd (including the intergalactic versions) and how he wanted to drop everything to play it with dipper in that one episode, he is definitely interested in catching up on all the nerdy TV/films he's missed out on, cue watching LOTR, star wars, star trek etc. However his gaps in world events comes up as well at the most random of times, he didn't really ask much on what he's missed out in world news (it's not relevant to his work or so he thinks), which can be both hilarious and sad, as as his friend you have to catch him up or remind him (e.g. 'no sixer, the soviet union doesn't exist any more, remember?' 'oh yeah, there was a war in Afghanistan... What do you mean how did it start?!')

playing board games/video games, like I said above Ford is a long time player of ttrpgs and so you will be persuaded into playing some version of a DND campaign if you're not already into it. Ford's excellent at teaching the mechanics and actually pretty good at roleplay and DMing, he can't do many voices but his storytelling is masterful (he is an author after all, even if he wasn't writing fiction and has lots of past practice from college). Dives straight into 5e, learns it quickly and creates his own homebrew version in no time at all! If you introduce him to the concept of dnd shows, he becomes a critter for sure! Essek and Percy are his favourite characters in Critical Role. Hums the theme song sometimes when he's working in the lab. Dipper gets him into Minecraft and you together construct a large home base and underground lab in the game. A lot of these games can take a long time, definitely have stayed up till 3 or 4 am on a campaign more than once.

research in the lab together or out in the field and debating with Ford about all sorts of topics, including your current research projects and both of your hypotheses. You might not have the same skill set as him but he values a different perspective from his own, you help balance out his hyperfocus. Is protective of you if something might be dangerous, will want him to be the one that gets hit/hurt if anyone has to, though both of you have had to patch up the other.

Getting into debates: Ford loves a mental challenge, he doesn;t realise its good for him (consciously/not until post-weirdmageddon) but having someone who isn't afraid to challenge him or speak their mind with him helps to keep him grounded and for him to really pause and think about his theories/morals. It doesn't have to be too deep though, perhaps you simply disagree on something, this will turn into a full debate, but despite some thinking you're arguing, its more of a passionate conversation, you're both having fun. Plus its even more fun when Ford ends up agreeing with you (its rare but it boosts your ego when it does happen)

related to the adventures a little: expect Ford to praise you/your efforts, (reminds me a bit like the 9th doctor or Sherlock) will just be doing something or figuring out a code or puzzle he'll exclaim "fascinating!" Or brilliant/fantastic/excellent/good, sometimes he's not aware he's saying these hushed phrases! Or he'll follow it up with questions, eyes lit up from being energised in his work, like "fascinating! How did you reach that conclusion?" 🤓

catching him up on technology, he finds it difficult compared to the high tech stuff from other universes but I like to hc he would get over it eventually, he's not the most adept in terms of keeping up with internet culture but is when it comes to tinkering with technology and experimenting/improving it. Still likes to call people instead of text and will have regular phone calls with you if you or him are away from each other.l, eases his worries about you (he's protective and still has nightmares from time to time so he likes to hear your voice so he knows you're ok).

Spending quieter moments together, even if its just stargazing on the stan o war whilst stan fishes, if you're close friends, I can imagine Ford would like hugs, holding hands and on the odd occaision napping cuddled up together (platonically) - the naps happened by accident at first, however its nice and your adventures are exhausting sometimes, so you now get the weighted blanket for you to both lie under for an hour or two (Mabel definitely has a picture of you asleep on her phone because its adorable).

Ford hasn't driven for 30 yrs (well not a regular old car anyway) so you've definitely had to drive him places/collect him before because his attempts at driving are almost as reckless as Stan is behind the wheel 😬 on a boat though? He's the most trustworthy captain 🫡 meticulous on the safety checks, will boss you and stan about a little on what to do, but you know it's for good reason... most of the time

[nightlight-stardust-and-rain]

Having Higgs thoughts.

First of all, it's absolutely hilarious that Oggie calls him kid even though Higgs is literally a first-generation Jager. Incredible. This must be the Jeger equivalent of being 40 but having such a bad case of baby face that you look like a teenager and no one takes you seriously.

Secondly. I read a fic with one (1) interaction between Higgs and Lilith/Judy and decided it would be very interesting if Higgs had been the one to 'raise' her (and Punch/Adam too I guess?). But then I really thought about it and it makes at least a bit of sense. Visibly they were created as adults, but the emotional and mental maturity and humanity had to take a while to set in. And who better to teach them how to act human, how to be human, and how to fake being a socially acceptable non-mechanicsburg person than the guy who's not human but whose job is literally to blend in with them? Plus, Dimo said that Bill and Barry didn't like the Jagers being with them because it was bad for their reputation or something but Higgs doesn't look like a Jager so he was probably on Heterodyne-sitting duty way more than the rest of them because he's way more subtle and less réputation-damaging than the others.

Point is. Higgs being the one to teach Punch and Judy How To Be Human When You're Not, Really and then he ends up catching parental feelings which is... Interesting. Never happened before. When Punch and Judy are good enough at passing for human and don't really need him for that anymore he goes back to his job but they keep in touch sporadically. He's really worried when they "disappear" but he can't search for them because he's in a deep cover operation. Plus, signs points to Punch and Judy being very good at hiding if no one found them and Agatha in all those years.

Higgs learning that Judy and Punch were 'killed' and just..... Disappearing from the airship for a while to destroy a forest or two. Only to discover them in Gil's secret lab during his routine patrol of all the secret places in the airship. From then on he tries to visit them as often as he can without compromising his cover.

Obviously he probably learns about the Agatha thing early, but then he learns who raised her and gets confusing grandfatherly feelings. Give him a break, he's just gotten used to the idea of having children, he wasn't expecting a grandkid :/ he goes to Oggie (grandfather many times over) about it. Oggie, surprisingly, takes him absolutely seriously, gives him advice, and only teases him a little ("out ov all de grandkeeds hyu chust had to get de most troublesome one uh ?")

It still takes a while for Agatha to learn that she's got a sort of adopted grandpa (who isn't evil !) who looks barely 20 years older than her and is one of her subordinates oh that's awkward..... But at least he's very trustworthy and now she has to adapt to the idea of her best friend dating her grandpa (Zeetha thinks it's absolutely hilarious).

[zjpg]

no body, no crime

summary inspired by no body, no crime by taylor swift

pairing lando norris x este , ??? (reader) x revenge

warnings cheating, death and murder

a/n i hope this is good omg i'm kinda scared hahaahah. anyway live laugh love taylor swift.

Este's a friend of mine, We meet up every Tuesday night for dinner and a glass of wine

"Sorry I'm late, traffic." celeste huff and sits across from her friend. The wine has been waiting in it's corked bottle, but her exact salad order was already placed at her side of the table. "No worries, baby-love" her best friend smiles at her as the young waiter walks over and pops the wine's cork

This was their weekly thing, always has been since they were in high school. Hard to believe that the two girls that were sat at this table talking about things like marriage, taxes and alcohol were once two younger girls gossiping about boys, weekend sports games, and hair color. That's just how things change sometime. But the older of the two hated changed. Always has. Always will.

That's why they kept this Tuesday tradition even through college. They always had dinner together, same restaurant, same table, same wine, same orders. No changes. Just the way they liked it, loved it.

"How's Lando?" The older woman asked her friend before sipping her wine. An unpleasant taste makes its way through her mouth, replacing the usually enjoyable red wine once she saw celeste's face change into a saddened and depressed expression.

"Well, he's great. I just, I've noticed some things recently..."

She says, "That ain't my Merlot on his mouth That ain't my jewelry on our joint account"

"It's just... I drink the same wine he does,"

"Merlot," her friend nods, earning a nod back. Lando had money, coming from a rich background and growing up in an even richer future as a Formula 1 driver. He drives on circuits everywhere around the world, from america to italy to tokyo. so it's safe to say he knew their wines. Celeste was the same, growing up in a just as wealthy family, she's enjoyed her moms expensive wines since she was in high school, which was odd amongst the crowd of teenagers that were drinking spirits and beers.

"Yeah, and the merlot we drink, it doesn't leave that red stain on his lips." She lets out a small sigh before pushing further into her point, "And I only wear silver jewelry, always have, but I went through our bank accounts for bills and I saw gold jewelry being bought on his account."

Maybe she's exaggerating, but the more she's looked back on the past few months, things start making sense. Less time together, less sex, quieter 'I love you's. She wondered if he was bored, she tried her best to keep their relationship exciting in many different ways. But nothing has changed.

The older friend wanted so badly to go online and expose him, call him out on his bullshit that Este has been crying about for the past few months. She wanted to end his little fanbase, maybe even his career. But there wasn't enough proof, she needed proof.

No body, no crime.

"I think he did it, but... I just can't prove it"

The next Tuesday cam by and she hadn't heard from Celeste at all that day, nonetheless, she still showed up to their usual restaurant. But after about an hour she made a call to their other friend, Inez, she works with Celeste, they've all been fairly close since school. Though Inez isn't the most trustworthy source, she knows she would get an honest answer as to where Celeste was. "I haven't seen her, I thought she was sick but our boss said she hasn't even called in sick. We figured she just got too sick to call this morning."

But that's not like Celeste. Her best friend had seen her call into their high school to let them know she wasn't making it even when she had food poisoning. She knows that's not the case. She left the restaurant, making her way to the Norris household. "I haven't seen her either, I tried filing a report but they said I have to wait 24 hours." He seemed panicked, like he had been crying and screaming all day long. His voice was practically gone and his hands were shaking more than a small dog stuck in the winter snow.

Hе reports his missing wife. And I noticed when I passed his house his truck has got some brand new tires.

The tires was one thing, maybe he genuinely needed tires. His face is all over the news along with Celeste's talking about his missing wife, but they don't bother to mention his new side pieces that just moved in...

"his mistress moved in, sleeps in Este's bed and everything!" Inez's nosy ass came in hand from time to time. She saw the move in truck when she was making her way to work one day. At first she thought it was Lando that was moving out, turns out the mistress that their dear friend had been worrying about weeks before had moved in.

"I think he did it, I just can't prove it."

"No body, no crime." Inez shrugged, not thinking much of her friends statement, surely Norris wasn't up to anything? He loved Este. Right?

As time went on, it was obvious. He did it. Even the police think so, but rich people always get their way don't they? She starts coming up with a plan. Vengeance. It ran through her bloodstream, it felt like a burning sensation.

"Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was fifteen." Everything was going according to plan, it was perfect.

"Hey, Lando." She gave him a smile. It had been four months since Celeste was presumed dead, the investigation went silent a while ago and the whole town gave up hope of finding her. Her name is no longer a trending topic, but her voice and face are still gone.

The racing driver looked at his dead wife's friend with shock but nervousness. He tries to cover it with a mask of sadness, but she knew better than to fall for a man's lies. She was invited in, seeing no trace on her friend anywhere in the mansion that Celeste had called home.

"What are you doing here?" He asked once the door closed and locked behind him. He knew something was up, he was smart but not much of a genius, clearly. "Just catching up Norris," She smiled at the taller individual, "I see you and the new girl are getting along just fine. That didn't take long?"

"It's been a year."

"Took you barely 10 months to move her in." She states back. "I wanna show you something."

The drive to the docks was a good 10 minutes, Monaco is a great place to live when you want to buy a fancy new yacht. Her dad's yacht was nothing compared to Lando's driving competitor, but it was still very impressive. "Your dad's yacht?"

The amount of parties that were thrown around and on the yacht were crazy, it's how him and Este met in the first place. He thought it was a sweet gesture from the girl, though she saw the look on his face the entire time they were on the water. He looked sea sick, but she knows the driver had been on plenty of yacht's in his life, he's not sea sick.

He was quick to realize what was happening when they stopped in the middle of the nowhere on the deep waters. He knew, he came to terms with it, but he was so sure they would catch her, unlike they did him. His name is bigger, his house, his cars, his bank account, they're all bigger. But her? She's simply just... better.

"I've cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene." Was the last thing he would hear that night. They next morning she would let her father know that the boat is cleaned, smells of fresh lemons and other citrus like aroma's. "Thank you sweetheart, glad to know you still have time to clean that ole' thing between your classes," He handed her some wadded up cash. The monthly occurrence of cleaning for her parents, everything from their yard to the yacht, they are just far too old to do it themselves.

News stations, media outlets, and other headlining articles went crazy after the mistress filed a missing persons report. Lando Norris missing nearly a full year after his wife's disappearance.

"Formula 1 McLaren driver, Lando Norris, was reported missing last night after not coming home from a boating trip with some friends. Officials have yet to give anymore details."

Good things Este's sisters gonna swear she was with me.

"She was with me, dude, I told you this. We all went out on the yacht, he got too drunk so we sent him home." Alana swore up and down her truth, another cover up that will never slip her teeth. Her parents always said she would be a good actor, she got away with everything as a kid. Este used to hate it.

"To his wife?"

"They're married? I don't know, man, I guess. She seemed pretty pissed if you ask me."

Good thing his mistress took out a big life insurance policy

She was cleared, no proof, no evidence. they checked the camera's, Alana and her sisters friend helping each other drag Lando's drunken body back in the truck. The yacht was clean, "I clean it at this time every month for my parents, they're getting too old to scrub it down like they used to, ya know?" The maid and her parents vouched for her, it's true, the end every month when it wasn't too cold or hot, she was at the docs. The other boat owners even agreed.

"They think she did it, but they just can't prove it." The news reporter stated as a picture of the now widowed mistress was shown on the screen. The television shuts off as a smirk is splattered on their faces.

"She thinks I did it." She smiles at the younger, chuckling in disbelief as if she was crazy for thinking just a thing. "She just can't prove it. But, like we've always said, No body." She raises up her wine glass.

Celeste copies the gesture with a venomous smile, "No crime."

taglist: @enhacolor @bibissparkles @blueanfield

[ninebluehearts]

love me some whiskey, i want an angsty cant handle his feelings whiskey with the reader who is oblivious to it all

BESTIE I'M SCREAMING- YES. JUST YES.

Warnings: bad flirting and allusions to smut.

-------------------------------------------------------

December, 2015

If you were to tell you from six months ago that you were going to an official Statesmen Christmas dinner, you would've laughed right in your own face. But two weeks ago, as you were leaving the bar after a nine-hour long shift, you saw your brother Tequila leaning against your car with a great big grin on his face.

"There she is." He had said, holding his arms wide open for you.

You never saw your brother anymore; with him constantly traveling for work and you working long shifts at the bar and wherever else you could find work, there never seemed to be a good time to catch up with him.

"T!" You ran over and leaped into his arms, squeezing him as tight as you could. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in D.C. for the month?"

"Nope, this time it was only two weeks." Tequila pulled away from the hug, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a small, red envelope. "Plus, I have something for you."

You furrowed your brow, taking the envelope from him and examining it with suspicion. Written in cursive lettering across the front of it read, "Statesmen." You gently ran your thumb under the seam on the back, not wanting to damage the pretty red paper.

Inside was an invitation to the Statesmen Christmas party.

You gasped, staring at the invitation in shock. "T- How did you- but I thought-"

Tequila held up his hand. "I talked to Champ, and he finally agreed to let you come. He said that you've been trustworthy so far, so this is a chance to really show them you're gonna keep our secret safe."

A few years back, while you were in your later years of college, you had way too many drinks with your friends, who ended up stranding you at the bar with the bill.

Not knowing what to do, you called Tequila to come save you. He helped pay the bill and took you back to his house so you could sleep off the alcohol and he could keep an eye on you.

You woke up in the middle of the night, sick to your stomach. You wandered around his home, calling out his name while holding your stomach. In search for Tequila, you stubbled upon all of his spy gear that he had accidentally left sitting on his desk in his room.

You were really sick after that.

The leader of Stateesmen, Agent Champagne (AKA Champ), almost fired Tequila on the spot, but you swore you weren't going to tell anyone. And so far, you hadn't.

You reached over and gave Tequila another hug, a huge grin stuck on your lips. "You're the best T! Thank You!"

..

So here you are, two weeks later, walking into the most beautiful dining hall you've ever seen. Tequila immediately started introducing you to his coworkers, excited to finally be able to tell you stories and for you to know who he was talking about.

It wasn't long before Tequila got wrapped up in multiple conversations that were moving too quickly for you to keep up with, so you quietly slipped away from the group.

You glanced around the room for a moment, catching sight of the minibar in the corner of the room and making a beeline for it. You ordered a simple margarita, not even noticing the man sitting on the barstool beside you, until he let out a long, high-pitched whistle.

The man stood from his seat, leaning against the bar instead. "My god, what's a pretty thing like you doing here? I'm sure I've never seen you around; definitely would've remembered ya.."

You let out a little laugh, thanking the bartender for your drink before answering him. "You must be Agent Whiskey. Tequila told me to watch out for you."

"Oh yeah? What'd he say to watch out for?" He asked with a smirk, slightly raising his eyebrows.

"Wouldn't you like to know." You said with a smirk of your own, picking up your drink before heading back into the crowd to find your brother.

..

An hour later, Champ asked everyone to find their seats, signaling that dinner was about to begin. After a few minutes of looking at name tags, you and Tequila finally found your assigned seats at the table.

You sat down, beginning to smooth your black dress as Tequila pushed your chair in. When you glanced up from your lap, you caught sight of who was sitting in front of you.

Whiskey tipped the edge of his hat at you, his lips set in that same charming smirk as before. "Ma'am."

"Agent Whiskey." You draped your napkin across your lap, not even noticing Tequila's eyes flashing between you and Whiskey.

"I see you two have met." Tequila said, annoyance obvious in his tone.

"Not really. She ain't even told me her name yet."

"Oh, it's-"

"And she ain't going to." Tequila said with a growl. You knew Whiskey and Tequila didn't get along, but this was a bit excessive.

Whiskey held up his hands, not bothering to push the matter.

You held up your hand to the side of your face, mouthing your name to Whiskey without Tequila seeing.

Whiskey nodded, breathing out a laugh before taking a sip of his drink.

Soon after, the food was served, and all the other conversations died out as well. Every now and then you could feel Whiskey's eyes on you, his gaze just like a spotlight.

You finally looked up at him when you felt the familiar heaviness of his stare once again. This time you caught him, watching as his eyes widened before quickly looking down at his plate.

If you were being honest, if he was anybody else, you wouldn't have thought this behavior was so damn cute.

There was something about that sexy smile of his that made your heart skip several beats.

Before you could really think it through, you accidentally dropped your fork on the floor. Ducking under the table to retrieve it, you reached over and gently squeezed Whiskey's calf, holding back giggles when you heard him choke on his drink and start coughing.

Sitting back up straight in your seat- fork in hand- you saw just how red Whiskey's face was. You gave him a small, innocent smile, thinking he would find it funny as well. Hell, maybe even sexy.

But what you didn't expect was for Whiskey to glare at you.

You sank back into your chair, avoiding eye contact with everyone at the table. Had you misread his intentions? You could've sworn he was flirting with you..

Whiskey cleared his throat, excusing himself from the table. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes as he made his way towards the exit.

You sighed; a deep frown set on your face as you pushed your food around on your plate with your spoon. You didn't mean to upset him. You expected him to somehow flirt back; maybe slip you his number when Tequila wasn't looking. At least you never have to see him again. You didn't think you could look him in the eye after that.

Right after dinner, you asked Tequila to take you home. Not only were you still embarrassed, but you were exhausted. You had worked today, ending up having to race home in order to be ready on time before Tequila picked you up. You regretted not driving yourself, hating to pull him away so early in the night.

In the next room over, servants were setting up card games while the guests lined up at the bar. You and Tequila went around saying your goodbyes to his coworkers, noting that Whiskey was nowhere to be seen.

The last person you said goodbye to was Champ, who seemed disappointed that you were leaving so soon. "We were just about to start a game of poker though. Are you sure you don't wanna stick around for just one game?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It's just that I have to be up for work early tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, Tequila tells me you're a bartender?"

"Yeah, sometimes, but I'm kind of in between jobs at the moment."

Champ nodded. "Tequila also told me you're a writer?"

Your cheeks began to burn, smiling at Tequila with a murderous look in your eyes. Yes, you wrote a little in your free time, but you didn't think any of it was worth publishing.

"Sometimes; only in my free time, really."

"Interestin'.. Listen, we have some agents here that write down the bare minimum while taking notes. I mean, we have one that spells words so wrong that he can't even translate them later on when we need 'em." Both he and Tequlia began to laugh, obviously knowing exactly who he was talking about.

"What I'm saying is, I'd like to offer you a job. You'd translate the notes for us and maybe answer a few phone calls here and there."

"So, like an assistant?"

"Kind of, but you wouldn't be helping anyone in particular. You'd get your own office and you would get to attend certain meetings. What do ya say?"

"Don't think about it. Say yes." Tequila said, grinning like an idiot.

You let out a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of your head. A stable job did sound nice. Plus, you would get to work with your brother, so you would get to see him more often. "Sounds like I would be stupid if I said no."

"Great! I'll see you on Monday. You get home safe now." And just like that, he walked away, leaving you standing there in shock. You were going to work for The Statesmen.

"Isn't this great?" Tequila asked, gently pushing your shoulder. "You're gonna be awesome."

You didn't know why, but something didn't feel right about this; like you were forgetting something important. "Yeah, super awesome.." You mumbled, trying to figure out what was making your stomach turn so badly all of the sudden. And then it hit you.

You would have to work with Agent Whiskey too.

July, 2016

You've been working for Statesmen for seven months now, and it is everything you wanted and more. The work is mostly easy and interesting, your coworkers are nice, and the pay is amazing. Plus, you and Tequila are closer than ever since you get to see him on a regular basis again. The only problem was that Whiskey wasn't making things very easy for you.

You knew he hated you. Plain and simple. Always avoiding you, ignoring you, or walking out of the room you had just entered. You tried to get to know him better, delivering his paperwork to him directly, trying to make small talk in the halls, but no matter what you did, he would respond with as little words as possible and come up with strange excuses on why he had to go.

You have had it.

On Wednesday, you ended up working late due to the extra paperwork you took on from Ginger. You told her you'd do it for her so she could go home early and take care of her sick cat, Mr. Grump.

You didn't end up leaving until quarter after eleven, though everyone else had left around six. Or so you thought.

Walking down the hallway towards the exit, you couldn't help but notice that the lights in Whiskey's office were on. You thought it was strange, considering he was only in Kentucky once or twice a month and you hadn't heard anyone mention his arrival. So, if it wasn't him, then who was it?

You kept a knife in your bag for situations like this; just a small switchblade, but it got the job done. You set your bags on the ground, digging around for your knife before slowly approaching the office.

You pressed your back against the door, one hand holding the knife, the other on the doorknob. You took a deep breath, preparing yourself for the worst.

"One.. Two.." You whispered, about to say three, but suddenly the door was pulled open, making you drop to the floor with a yelp.

Looking down at you was Whiskey, a gun in hand. "Jesus.. What the hell are you doin' here?" He walked back towards his desk to pour himself another drink, not even offering you his hand to help you up.

"I work here. What are you doing here?" You pulled yourself back to your feet, shoving your knife into your pocket.

"I work here too, in case you've forgotten."

"How could I forget." You mumbled under your breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Look, I thought you were in Texas still. What are you doing back here? And so late."

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Whiskey sat back at his desk, resting his feet on a stack of paperwork.

You rolled your eyes, not even bothering to answer at this point. You turned around, ready to just go home and forget about all of this with the help of a bottle of wine.

"Well that's mighty rude of you; ignoring me like that."

You froze, something deep inside of you finally snapped, and there was no controlling it. "I'm rude?" You turned back around to face him, arms crossed over your chest, one hip leaned to the side. "Are you not the one who has barely said anything to me in the entire seven months I've worked here? Hell, you didn't even say happy birthday to me last week!"

Whiskey simply shrugged. "Happy birthday."

You blinked, shocked that someone could be this arrogant. "Goodnight, Agent Whiskey." You spat, turning around once again.

"Wait-" Whiskey stood up, walking around his desk to lean against the front. "I'm- Fuck.. Alright, I guess I might've been a bit rude at times.. But you haven't made it easy."

You glanced over your shoulder. "What?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything."

You walked over to where he was standing, arms still firmly pressed against your chest. "No. What do you mean by that? Because last time I checked, I haven't been anything but nice to you.

Whiskey switched his weight from one foot to the other, glancing around the room to avoid looking at you. "Exactly. You're always so nice. Why?"

"Why not? It's not like you've really given me a reason not to. We work together. Might as well get along, ya know?" You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose. "Listen.. If this is about the Christmas party, I'm sorry. I guess I just misread some signals-"

Whiskey laughed- he laughed right in your face.

"I'm sorry, is something funny?"

"Just how oblivious you actually are."

Your eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "Wha-"

Whiskey cut you off with a kiss, both of you shocked by his action.

You didn't know what to do. One minute he hates you, the next he's kissing you? All of this time, he's been ignoring you, avoiding you, hating you, because he liked you? Your head was spinning, so many thoughts and feelings ran through you so quickly it felt as though you couldn't breathe. And only then you realized- you liked him too.

Whiskey went to pull away, but you grabbed the edges of his jacket, pulling him back as you deepened the kiss. You were so relieved when he started kissing you back too.

When you finally did pull away, both of you stared at each other for a moment, soft pants escaping between your lips.

"So, I take it you feel the same?" Whiskey asked.

"Shut up and kiss me, Jack." And he did. Who knew that long night at the office could get even longer..

[dks-smut]

&yet part 1

Pairing: f!reader x rm!Sehun x Kyungsoo

Rating: Mature

Word Count: ~4,100

Genre: Smut, Jealousy, Angst, Friends/Strangers to FWB (lovers soon?)

Warnings: Teasing, drugs/alcohol (exposition mostly)

Plot: Sehun, your best friend and roommate, invites his new friend from work over, Kyungsoo, to help him through a rough breakup. As tensions build, the dynamic between you three takes a turn.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 /

——///——

You couldn’t sleep. You had to be up early in the morning for work yet all you could hear was your roommate’s groans and the whines of the cute girl he was fucking. The sounds grew louder as you hoped they would finish soon.

This was not the first time hearing your roommate, Sehun, have sex. It seemed like it was a new girl every other week. What did it matter? You didn’t care if he was getting his dick wet.

You had been friends since high school and started living together once you started going to the same college. Both of you have since dropped out due to meandering minds. But he went to study music and literature. Yes, you know, you told him that major was a dead end since the economy tanked the year you both graduated high school. Once he couldn’t find steady work to fund his education, he stopped attending classes.

You put school on hold after your best friend died in a car accident. It was winter, the roads were icy, you can guess the rest. But you’ve been seeing a therapist and have had more good days than bad.

But it’s nights like this that do not help your sanity: work in the morning, bills past due, still hungry; didn’t eat enough today. You turn over in your bed; earplugs do not help. You can hear the picture frames vibrating against your wall. I guess he’s really giving it to her tonight. It had been a couple of weeks since he had someone over.

It felt like you blinked and it was morning. As you rushed out the front door, you saw Sehun standing shirtless over the kitchen sink guzzling down orange juice from the carton.

“Thirsty?” You say to him, his back toward you.

He jolts and turns around. You can see your reflection in his brown eyes as he focuses on you. Then the muscles in his arms relax once he realizes who just sneaked up on him.

“I bought that! At least use a cup!” You raise your voice at him but then you start to giggle. He looks at you, confused, his eyes getting larger. He sets the carton down and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He was about to speak but, in a flash, you closed the front door behind you.

What just happened? Why did I laugh? Why did I abruptly leave?

These and more questions continue to fog your mind as you walk to work. Not a place you wanted to be, but who really wants to be? The job you had at the cafe was more convenient than anything. Just two and half blocks from your apartment.

You were always the first to arrive at the shop even though you were not a manager and yet, you had a set of keys. Other people found you to be reliable, trustworthy, responsible. You did not feel like any of those things. You had just started getting better with medication, therapy, et cetera. You felt like anything but a responsible adult.

You open the shop and about 10 minutes later your coworker, Jules, shows up. You start the coffee and baking pastries. Most of your morning shift passes uneventfully. That is until Jules said something to you about being cranky and needing to get dicked down.

The thought of sex hadn’t really been in your mind until your coworker happened to insult you. Maybe it was true. You had dated only one person but that lasted about a month. You had started talking at this party on campus. You had common interests with plenty to talk about but he stopped replying to your texts after he sent, “I need to find time for me and with school and work, I won’t have time for you. Maybe in the future?” It was completely out of the blue.

You couldn’t help but think that you were the problem. After that, dating never really happened for you. In high school, all the guys were either immature or only wanted to fuck. To be honest, you weren’t the prettiest in the school but neither were they. Who gives a fuck about looks. You do not exist to be ogled.

And that’s how you’ve come to really ponder what Jules said to you. In earnest, you try not to mentally talk yourself out of this decision. Maybe your giggle fit in front of Sehun was hiding a deep need within you.

Your shift ended without incident, except for a few shitty and moronic customers, and now you walk home. You feel your phone buzz in your purse that hangs over your shoulder. You stop walking to fish around in your bag. Finally you feel your silicone hotdog phone case and bring it in front of your face. A text from Sehun. It reads, “Hey. Not closing tonight so I’ll be home. Just to let you know in case you had plans at home.”

“You don’t have a girl that needs fingering?” You typed out sarcastically.

“Ha. Ha. Is that all you think I do?” He replies, the letters that make up his words have a hint of hurt in them.

You continue walking as you send a final text to him, “No. I was hoping you’d fuck them too. It was a joke. Be home soon.”

You hope your reply would let Sehun know to quit taking everything so seriously. But maybe it was you who was irritable. And bitter. Can’t forget bitter. You feel your phone buzz again and only read it as you’re turning your key into the front door lock, knowing it was Sehun.

You push the door open while looking down at your phone. Sehun’s text read: “Maybe I can show you sometime *winky face*”

You feel blood rush to your head as you make eye contact with Sehun who is sitting on the couch watching a movie. He turns to pick up the remote to pause the movie. He turns back to look at you. You’re still standing there at the front door, which is still open. You notice your slack jaw when Sehun clears his throat to say,

“Hey! How was work? You okay?” He asks in a low voice which is usually caused when he gets high.

You close your mouth to swallow. You grab your keys from the lock in the front door and shut it. You throw your purse and keys onto a nearby table and slide your shoes off.

You finally reply to Sehun’s question, hoping he didn’t notice your expression as you walked in.

“Same shit, different day. You know.” you say as you walk into the kitchen to grab a beer.

You plop down onto the couch with a huff. You stretch your legs out and place them on the coffee table in front of you. You pass a beer to Sehun, and he laughs and says,

“Aww, thanks!” in a very cheery tone, which catches you by surprise. He reaches to grab the beer from you, an empty seat in between you two.

Okay. I get it now. He is high. That explains that explicit text he sent to me. I really hope to fuck he did not see my face turn red while holding my phone.

You sigh and he reaches down to the coffee table to resume the movie he was watching before you came home.

“Yes! I love this one! And it just started!” You blurt out.

Sehun coughs and seems like he’s about to say something. You notice he just lit and hit a joint. He passes the joint to you and you lean closer to grab it. Your index finger touches his knuckles as you make the exchange. You quickly settle back to your space on the couch, hoping he didn’t see how awkward you felt, and you slowly drag on the joint.

Sehun looks over at you as you exhale smoke and start to cough a little. You take a swig of beer and as you are about to take another hit, you glance up and he is staring at you. You quickly dart your eyes from his to the TV screen and continue with your drag. You exhale again and begin to pass it back to Sehun. He grabs it from you, this time no little touches are exchanged.

You start to rise from the couch and Sehun asks, “Where are you going? I thought you liked this movie?”

“I do! I have to shower and change. I smell like rotten milk and tuna salad,” you say, walking away while untying your apron that was around your waist.

“I’ll be right back.” You say, chucking your apron near your purse, and you walked out of sight. You could hear Sehun mumble something and then laugh at something in the movie.

Once you hit your bedroom door, you slump your shoulders. You shut your door quietly and go to sit on your bed. You lean back on the bed with your feet on the floor. You look up at the ceiling fan and close your eyes.

The weed Sehun buys is always so strong. You feel like you could pass out right now. Your head starts to spin but you open your eyes. You finally pull yourself up off the bed to head into the bathroom.

Unfortunately, sharing a bathroom with a guy is the worst. You have made the best of it since moving in together almost two years ago. You don’t keep much in the bathroom just in case someone needs it. I am just the best roommate, right?

While showering, your buzz from the weed starts really kicking in. Starting to feel paranoid, you shower as quickly as possible. You swear you hear the bathroom door creak. The lock on the bathroom door has been hit or miss ever since you and Sehun threw a party a couple of months back. The landlord has been lax about getting it fixed. At any rate, the door could have creaked when the air conditioning turned on.

Back in your shower reverie, you begin to think that it was awfully coincidental that Sehun had just started that movie as you arrived home. It’s what friends do, right?

Dry, dressed, and still buzzed, you return to your space on the couch. Sehun was too busy texting on his phone to notice your return. As he finishes his text, he takes a cursory glance at you, then places his phone face down on the coffee table. He looks back over at you as he reaches for his beer. After swallowing a sip, he says to you, “What are your plans tonight? I never got a reply from my text.”

You slump down in your seat, trying hard to disappear. You fidget a bit before replying, “No, not tonight. You know me. I never have plans.”

“I didn’t want to assume, so I thought I’d ask,” Sehun says sincerely.

“Thanks. Really. So, where’s your booty call tonight?” You ask with your voice getting quieter as you reach the end of your question.

Just then, Sehun’s phone buzzes. He reaches and turns the phone face up. He looks contemplative as he types a reply. You really do not want to be nosy, but you felt like you had a close enough relationship with him, that you just had to ask,

“You okay? Even without drugs, I haven’t seen you look this glum”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just stuff. My friend is having a rough go of it.”

“Care to elaborate? You know, I am your friend, and have been for 5 years. I’m here if you need to talk.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I really need to sort this out on my own,” he says in a kind, yet serious manner.

“Well, the offer stands,” you say with a smile as you focus back onto the movie playing.

You start fidgeting with the drawstring on your sweatpants, trying hard to not make things even more awkward between you and Sehun. He seems to still be lost in thought which then makes you start wondering who he was texting and what could be going on. He knows he can confide in you or ask for your advice, he has in the past, not sure why he’s being evasive all of a sudden.

Okay, now the munchies have kicked in and you ask Sehun if he’d like a snack from the kitchen as you rise to your feet.

Sehun says, “Oh yeah! Those spicy crispy things you got from the Mexican bodega!” His eyes light up with excitement as you turn to walk to the kitchen.

You return to the couch and toss the bag over to him. He catches the bag with one hand and gives you a surprised look.

“Whoa there! I almost spilled my beer catching that!” Sehun blurts out and you give a half-hearted apology as you open up a packet of mixed nuts.

While piling some cashews in your mouth, Sehun looks over at you and says, “Hey, do you want to grab something to eat tonight? Maybe delivery? I hadn’t planned on what to eat and these snacks are already making me hungry for dinner.”

As you finish chewing you say, “Sure, delivery sounds fine. I’m sick of being around people after my 10 hour shift.”

“Yes, understood. Even me though?” Sehun says and he takes another swig of his beer.

The corners of your mouth slowly turn to a smile and you look at Sehun while your eyebrows go up. Still grinning, you say, “It’s different! You’re not people. You know what I mean. You’re you and I don’t mind being in the same space as you. It’s nice.”

Was this the weed talking or was I getting a buzz from the beer? Or both? Or was this something else entirely? Maybe Jules was right, I need to get laid.

You quickly look down at your now empty hands after having placed the bag of nuts on the table. Again, you fiddle with your drawstring pants not really knowing what to say or where to look even though one of your favorite movies is playing. You catch a quick glimpse of Sehun sitting to your right and the other end of the couch. He smoothly sweeps his fingers through his bangs and pulls them back showing off his forehead for a split second until his hair falls back into place. You snap your head forward to watch the movie and you see Sehun turn his head toward you in your periphery. You hope giving yourself whiplash wasn’t at all obvious to Sehun as he suddenly says, “I enjoy being with you as well.” You glance over toward him. You both lock eyes and time seems to crawl. The intensity is broken when Sehun then starts to make this noise he always makes when something is awkward. It sounds like a mix between a dying bird and a grunt.

“Sorry for getting sappy and introspective and shit. I’m kinda high, if you couldn’t tell,” you say and start loudly laughing.

Sehun sits upright on the couch, now aware of his shitty posture, and starts laughing along. “Nah, no way. Couldn’t tell at all.” Sehun says this and puts the bag next to his beer on the table. Your laughter dies down and the silence becomes deafening. The movie playing doesn’t seem to register in your ears.

He breaks your daydream with a question. “Any ideas for delivery? Pizza? Chinese?”

“Oh, either. Or Both. Really, order whatever and I’ll stuff my face,” you say dryly but in a sarcastic tone. Sehun chuckles at your answer and grabs his phone from the table and starts scrolling.

You glance over and see Sehun’s phone screen being reflected in his eyes. You think, wow his eyes are

“Okay, I ordered 2 pizzas and ramen. Sound good?” Sehun says as he completes the order and sets his phone down on the table again. You both stare blankly at the TV as Sehun then lights up another joint. He never smokes this much. What is going on with him? You want to ask again but don’t want to force him to say something he doesn’t feel comfortable saying.

You bend to move your legs to lay on the couch. Your feet take up the empty seat in between you and Sehun. He glances over towards you and back to the TV. He has his elbow propped on the armrest of the couch with his head in his palm. You pipe up after noticing he’s beginning to shrink into himself, “Hey, you really okay? You feeling alright? You never order pizza unless you’re stressed.”

He sighs, “I am…please don’t get upset. I invited my friend over for dinner tonight. I don’t want him to be alone. This girl he was seeing dumped him…and—,” you cut him off, “You don’t have to explain. I’m not upset. You’re a good friend.”

He sits up and turns his chest toward you, “Really, it’s okay?”

You smile, “Honestly. I’ll just eat fast and make myself scarce.”

“You really don’t have to. I think being around people will take his mind off of her. Please stay? We can watch something funny, get high, and sink into the couch,” he begs and leans toward the table to take a swig from his beer bottle.

“Sure. I will,” you start to sit up, leaning against the pillows pressed haphazardly along the back of the couch. He looks over at your sudden weight shift.

“Who is he? What’s his name,” you ask Sehun, trying not to sound completely clueless when he arrived.

“He works in the kitchen at the restaurant. His name’s Kyungsoo. He’s hilarious, but may seem serious at first. Also, he’s been quite depressed. So try not to be super self deprecating tonight,” he says and begins to chuckle.

“I’m not that bad, am I?” You ask rhetorically, a huge smile across your face, not taking his words too seriously.

There’s a lull in the conversation, as he grabs the remote, scrolling through streaming services, looking for a movie to put on once the food and Kyungsoo arrives.

You suddenly feel the blood rush to your face and your heart beating through your chest. It’s not like you were scared of men, quite the opposite. It was just a change of routine. You like predictability, schedules, and the mundanity that comes with a quiet, simple life. That, and meeting new people, even if he is Sehun’s friend, still makes you nervous and self conscious.

You have to understand that you’ve never crossed “that line” in your friendship. You’ve been wasted together, around other people and alone. It’s been the same, no weirdness. Just flirty jokes here and there and accidental physical contact. You’ve sometimes wanted a hug, just to feel safe, during a difficult time in your life. But you’ve never wanted to jeopardize your relationship with Sehun—strictly friends. Just then the doorbell rings.

Sehun didn’t seem to hear it, and so you stood to answer the door. As you turn and pull the knob, you see a meek yet serious person standing in front of you. He stands half a foot taller than you, with big round eyes, dark brown. He’s wearing black track pants with a large olive green sweatshirt that hangs from his broad shoulders. And lastly, a beanie topping his head, covering his forehead yet showing his thick eyebrows.

You’re frozen, trying not to make it obvious that you’re gawking at the stranger standing in your doorway. You snap yourself out of it, bowing your head toward him, “Come in, please.” You clear your throat and as you’re about to close the door once Kyungsoo walks through the threshold, another person is seen walking up to your door.

You immediately greet the deliverer, smiling, “Thank you. Have a good night.” You grab the pizza boxes, balancing them on your palm, grabbing the bag that contained the ramen. You push the door closed with your foot and walk into the kitchen shouting, “Guys! Perfect timing!” You hear a deep voice in the living room ask, “Can I help you with that?” He walks behind you grabbing the pizza boxes with both his hands, unburdening you. He introduces himself and you reciprocate.

After the greeting, you yell toward the living room, trying to get Sehun up off the couch. “Just a minute! I was adding some cool stuff to our favorites! Coming!” He yells back. Then, you hear his excited feet shuffling into the kitchen. Kyungsoo’s face is elated, eyes disappearing behind his smile. You notice a smirk, but just barely. His full lips spread across his face. He looks down at the table quickly, hiding his reaction.

You all crowd around the table which was filled edge to edge with food, plates, and drinks. There’s hardly any talking as you’re all enjoying the meal, except for an occasional ‘mmmm’ or ‘this is so good,” but not much else. Sehun begins to groan, rubbing his stomach, eyebrows furrowed, “Damn, I’m stuffed. I can’t. I’m done.” You start to lose it and laugh at Sehun being dramatically full, leaning back in his chair. You nod your head in agreement, “Yes, who wants to go out for a smoke?” Kyungsoo nods and stands up immediately lowering his gaze. What a sight. His deep brown eyes are mesmerizing.

Shit, Sehun opted not to join you two, instead choosing to pour himself a stiff drink. He heads to the kitchen as Kyungsoo follows behind you to the tiny balcony. It hardly holds a small potted plant and a chair. You press yourself against the railing, giving Kyungsoo enough space. He slides the glass door closed. It was gentle and quiet, in stark contrast to Sehun’s, which was loud and rough. You are able to feel it through the wood floors in your living room. If you couldn’t tell, it’s annoying. In all honesty, you don’t think Sehun realizes it’s that loud as he slams it closed.

You’re standing shoulder to shoulder. You both pull out your respective cigarette packs, lighting up, and puffing. You place your foot up on the lower railing, resting your elbows on the top railing. Kyungsoo has one hand in his pocket, the other pulling the cigarette from his lips to exhale smoke down toward his chest, some escaping his nostrils simultaneously. He flicks his cigarette ash off the side of the balcony, dragging once again. You’re seeing all of this from the corner of your eye. It’s difficult to see even that, but god his he so fucking attractive.

Heat begins to flow to your cheeks again. You immediately feel hot in the frosty night. You turn your neck in his direction in an attempt to break the ice, “Sorry, I’m kinda uncomfortable around people I’ve just met.” He nods in agreement, “I get it. I’m the same way. Plus, I’m going through a breakup, in case Sehun didn’t already run his big mouth.”

“Sorry. Yeah, I’ve heard. But that’s all. Just a breakup,” you say innocently. You stub your cigarette out and slide the door back open. Kyungsoo follows you, turning to close the door. You take your cardigan off and make yourself comfortable on the couch next to Sehun. Kyungsoo sits on your left, Sehun to your right. You all begin to swap stories and laugh together, thanks to the sticky weed.

Sehun puts a movie on and the laughter grows. Joyful noises and jokes echo throughout the living room. At one point, during a fit, you instinctively begin to slap your hand down on Sehun’s leg. Then it became Kyungsoo’s thigh. You lose your breath and begin to heavily draw air into your lungs, a snort emitting from your nose. This makes you laugh harder and the two guys begin to lose it. They’re clapping their hands, giving each other high fives, which causes you to lean back, since you’re in between them, avoiding collision with your face.

Giggles and throaty laughs continue until you fall asleep with your head resting on Sehun’s shoulder. His head is tilted and rests on the back of the couch, snoring. A loud noise from the movie must have awoken Sehun when he noticed you asleep against him. He carefully frees his arm that was trapped beneath you. He places your head on a pillow, trying hard not to wake you. Sehun then notices Kyungsoo also passed out, his head resting at the other end of the couch.

He shrugs and leaves you both there. He turns the TV off and heads of to his room, shutting off any lights on his way.

— — —

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

[tinylittlet]

Regressor Joel headcanons

(Spoilers for The Last of Us up to ep 3)

First of all, let's make this an AU where everything is less bad and Tess, Bill and Frank are all okay because I need them to be TwT

Joel is always protecting everybody so he sometimes needs to be protected too

-The first time he regresses it's unintentional. It's been a really stressful couple of days, so when he finally got a chance to sit down, he wanted to just breathe for a moment but the sudden stop from all the running hit him full force and he felt so tired. Everything went fuzzy in front of his eyes, he felt off and he couldn't put his thoughts together. It wasn't until Tess entered the apartment, stopping in her tracks and asking 'what's wrong' that Joel realised his eyes were full of tears. Tess walked over to sit next to him, putting her arm over his shoulder and Joel pulled up his knees on the couch curling in on himself. He leaned further against Tess and started quietly sobbing in frustration when he couldn't find the words to answer the concerned questions. When it was clear the questions weren't going nowhere, Tess just hugged Joel tighter until the sobbing stopped and the snores began. They stayed curled up together through the night, Joel's hand firmly holding onto the hem of Tess' shirt.

-Joel is reluctant about letting himself slip, always on high alert and looking around for danger. But both him and Tess remember how much more relaxed he was after the first time he regressed. So even though it takes weeks, Joel allows himself to explore regression under Tess' watchful supervision.

- He tends to be quiet and very careful when he's Little. He doesn't let his caregiver out of his sight even for a second and often follows after closely like a little duck

-He's happy with whatever he finds, using random items as toys and finding a hundred different uses for the simplest of things. He can repurpose a sheet of paper from a convas to countless origami animals, to planes, to a ball and then even puzzles! Of course he dutifully gathers the ripped paper after he's done playing

-Joel constantly looks to his carer for reasurance. Either just looks at his carer to make sure he can take an another item to play with or glancing over at his caregivers face to make sure that he's not doing something bad (he never does, but he's worried and needs to make sure)

-When he's comfortable enough, he visits Bill and Frank with Tess. He doesn't go anywhere other people are when he's little, but the two older men became something of close friends with Joel and Tess and their town turned into a safe space.

-During the visits the little guy is still most likely to be found close to Tess, but as Bill and Frank prove themselves to be trustworthy caregivers Joel trusts them enough to be led away from Tess to see things they want to show him

-Just the same as they hold on to clothes for Tess, Frank and Bill gather any children's books, toys and anything alse they find suitable for Joel. Eventually there's boxes full of children's things permanently at their house for when the visitors return

-Between the 3 carers, Little Joes rarely gets a chance to get bored. Tess often spends the time with him by reading or retelling different stories or trying to catch along with whatever adventure Joel makes his toys play out

-Frank likes to introduce the little one to gardening and more artistic activities. The two spend hours in beds of flowers or making picnics from the plants they pick out. Joel also gets to play with paint, gathering prise at his finger painted drawings. By the time it's dinner, Joel is always covered in paint or dirt, or sometimes both. Oftentimes Frank is in a similar shape- the small guy gets clingy and who is he to refuse a hug? Becides, a dirty child is a happy child!

-Bill's caregiving mostly consists of either working or music, or one followed by the other. There's always something to fix in the secure town so he finds a way to make it fun for Joel. He finds something that's not too dangerous to work on and recruits the tyke to 'help him'. Of course it's mostly just for things like holding a flashlight, handing over individual screws, watching if the lights light up or fetching things, but the little guy gets so invested in his tasks! And he proudly points out what he helped with to the other carers. When the tasks are done and Joel gets tired, they go to the radio basement where Bill tells the younger man all about music that's playing before they fall asleep on the small couch. But sometimes when Bill is having a good day, they'll play pretend- some of the favourite games being a game where Joel has to sneak around super-agent style to not be noticed by imaginary intruders while Bill randomly points to where someone is or playing Floor is Lava. When the game is over the house tends to be a mess but the carers deem it a worthy sacrifice for how giddy and excited (if tired from playing) Joel is.

That's all I have for now but since my brain won't let go of Joel there probably will be more :³ plese tell me your hcs id love to hear other peoples ideas!! <3

[narrans]

Everyone Needs A Little Hero | Calling All Heroes

It was a slow process, but Hero was finally starting to feel normal. He was slowly making his rounds to all of his human friends, albeit without being seen, and helping them in the ways he could. He managed to sharpen most of Watney’s pencils for sketching, he left a few encouraging notes for Maggie, and he even managed to get some of the things in Eliza’s apartment out from under the couch so she could find them later.

Overall, the teenage Borrower was feeling rather optimistic about everything in life once again. The only human he had really purposefully come out to talk to and let himself be seen by since the incident was Sam, and he couldn’t be happier with that decision.

Sam was there and always ready to talk about anything and everything at Hero’s pace. With the changing seasons, Sam had to stay home and go to more doctor’s visits recently, so Hero was able to come by and keep him company, playing games and goofing off. There was only one time when Hero was close to being seen by Sam’s mother, but Sam was able to quickly make a fort of blankets to cover up his four-inch friend.

It was a jarring experience, but Hero managed to keep himself composed and steady, even after when Sam’s mother left the room.

So, when Rey came to Hero with a proposition, Hero felt relatively good about it.

At least, in the beginning.

Rey, his fellow Borrower friend, evidently had been seen and was now in communication with a new human in the building named Theo. Theo was a good guy, according to Rey, and he seemed trustworthy with the secret of Borrower kind. In full transparency, Rey ended up telling Hero everything about how he and Theo met, which set Hero on edge.

“You mean his sister saw you too?” asked Hero, feeling his body shudder with a sudden chill that emanated from his bones. “Held you?”

“Well… yeah, but she thought I was a toy and hasn’t pried any further, according to Theo. But, listen, I really think that we can help Theo as part of the whole ‘Help Humans’ campaign,” emphasized Rey. “He is in a wheelchair, so you don’t have to worry about him getting too close to you. Sure, he’s an inventor, but he won’t hurt us. I’ve already run the test on whether or not he is friendly and safe. Plus! Our activity doesn’t require either of us to be seen. He’ll just assume it was me.”

Hero knew Rey wouldn’t lead him astray on a wild goose chase, but the thought of even accidentally being seen by someone new stopped him in his tracks. In a weird way, he suspected this was how he sounded to Rey when talking about helping humans who were already friends. Hero also knew Rey had a sixth sense about humans - one he wished he possessed with more accuracy - and he decided it would be worth helping Rey.

“Okay. What is this plan of yours again?” asked Hero.

“Okay, I’ll cut to the chase. Theo needs money to help him with his legs. I know we don’t have money, but other humans do,” said Rey. Hero immediately felt something inside him bristle.

“Rey, you’re not saying we borrow money from other people, are you? That’s not borrowing. That’s stealing!” said Hero, feeling like he was scolding his friend. Rey shook his head and waved his hands, as if waving away bad air.

“No! No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that coins get lost under the floor and under furniture all of the time. We even have some in our home. Paper bills get lost too. All of these things are ones that get lost. We’re just collecting them and giving them to someone else. If they’re lost and the humans aren’t looking for them, then they aren’t being missed. It makes them fair game. What do you think?” Rey pointed out.

Rey did have a point. A lot of borrowed things were things that weren’t missed, and that spare change would fall under that category. Plus, humans moved in and out of all of these apartments, meaning the people currently living in the apartment might not have been the ones to lose the money in the first place.

Given these circumstances, Hero felt like he could get behind Rey’s plan.

“Okay, so we are just going around to different apartments, collecting coins, and then bringing them to Theo? How will we know if it’s enough?” Hero asked. He knew how to count, but the whole concept of money was beyond him. Borrowers worked in trade, not money.

“I have no idea. We can ask Ashlynn, if you feel up to it, or we can just surprise him with it and hopefully it’ll be enough,” said Rey. “I assume the numbers on all of them mean something, so we could try and add them together, but I think just giving it to Theo would be best.”

To Hero, it seemed like a decent enough plan. It kept them safe and hidden while accomplishing another goal of helping someone. With a couple of nods and a few minutes of thought, he decided to agree.

“Alright. Just… being safe is what matters,” said Hero. At this, Rey gave him a thoughtful grin.

“Well said, and definitely a top priority. Now, let’s go exploring. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover,” said Rey.

The next day, Rey and Hero met up at Ashlynn’s apartment before setting out into the walls for spare change.

Admittedly, it was a bit more of a task than the boys thought it would be. First and foremost, coins were deceptively heavy, especially when you started collecting them. One after the next, they gained weight quickly and the boys had to make multiple trips to the outlet by Theo’s bedroom in order to drop off the coins they collected.

Second, the coins didn’t all look the same. They kept seeing the same four, sure, but there were others in the mix too. Some had odd scribbles and writing on them. Some of the writing looked like squares, others looked like squiggles, and some looked close to the four they saw, but were different sizes with different numbers on them.

“You don’t think…” puffed Hero as he helped stack another set of coins with Rey’s help. “That there are this many different kinds of coins, do you? I mean, the world is a big place, but there are so many different types.”

“There… is… no… way… there are… this… many,” heaved Rey as he hoisted another silver coin on top of another that was about as big as his torso. “I mean, why would they have so many different types? They all use it, right? Some of this… might be play money – stuff they don’t actually use except to play with.”

“I have no idea. Maybe you could ask Ashlynn about it?” Hero suggested. Rey consented to ask Ashlynn about different types of coins and money once they made it back for dinner.

They took a few breaks, especially after they found a dozen or so odd-looking papers that looked like paper bills. They crawled under floors, between beams, and even dared to venture into attic crawl spaces and found a few coins wedged among decorations for different holidays. After another long-ish break, the two Borrower boys decided they had enough to present to Theo. Though they weren’t sure how much was actually in their hordes of stacked coins, they knew it would definitely help.

It was only now, however, that Hero started feeling a little uneasy. He took a few deep breaths and stared at the back of the electrical cover in front of him.

Used to, he would be filled with exhilaration. He used to be so excited to go out and see who he was going to be helping. Now, however, he just felt a massive pit in his gut. Most of his body felt like he was in some kind of cold sweat, and his nerves felt jittery and aching all at the same time.

“Hero?” The young Borrower startled as Rey came up and set a comforting hand on his shoulder. Hero stared into the reassuring pale blue eyes of his friend and realized only now how hard his heart was pounding against his chest and that his breathing had increased tenfold.

“Y-yeah?” stammered Hero.

“You okay?” asked Rey. “You know you don’t have to do this next bit. I can manage on my own from here. You’ve seriously done so much already.” Rey’s smile seemed just as luminous as the light at his hip. Hero felt his heart slowing as he was pulled out of his mental spiral. He looked back at the electrical cover, the light coming from all sides around it, making it seem like some kind of magic door.

He wanted to go. He wanted to go and meet Theo. He wanted to see the look on Theo’s face when he spotted the coins.

Still, the apprehension and experience from the last time he spontaneously met someone, that girl named Lily, was fresh in his mind. He knew he could trust Rey, but the last thing he wanted was a repeat experience.

Still…

A hero needed to be brave and face their fears in order to live up to their name.

Hero wanted that.

Swallowing dryly, he nodded.

“I want to go.”

Rey’s smile broadened, as if he were beaming with pride at some unspoken personal growth.

“Good. Then let’s go. No time like the present.”

With that, the Borrower boys pried off the electrical cover and hoisted themselves over the edge of the wall that divided the world of the Borrowers and the humans.

Hero glanced out and saw they had emerged from under some kind of furniture piece that was probably a dresser. He glanced down after taking a few steps out and saw that there was carpet under his feet that was squishy and made him feel a little off balance.

Hero would have stepped a little further out from under the dresser, but something immediately caught his eye that made him freeze.

There was a human on the ground.

For a moment, Hero thought about retreating back into the walls, but he steeled himself and stayed fixed to his position on the ground.

The human boy’s face was slightly off to the side and his eyes were closed. His breathing was ragged, and he was shivering violently. Hero watched as Rey glanced toward the slightly opened door before darting out into the open toward the human.

Hero stayed planted to the spot.

He wanted to go over and help, but only now did he realize he was shaking a bit too. Seeing a human’s head three or so feet away practically looking under the cabinet was a bit alarming to see, and it was the last thing he expected based on Rey’s description of Theo.

“Theo! Theo!” Rey was shouting. Hero snapped out of his stupor and looked toward his friend, and the sight made a cold shiver shoot up his spine. Rey was pushing on Theo’s forehead, touching and slapping his face ever so slightly to try and awaken the human.

Theo groaned and stirred, which sent another round of convulsing shivers through his body.

“Theo! What happened? You’re burning up,” said Rey. Rey’s usual calm demeanor seemed rattled seeing his friend on the ground and in obvious discomfort. Hero couldn’t stay put. He needed to do something.

Taking a breath and still shaking in his shoes, he dared to take a few steps forward out from under the dresser to observe the rest of the room. There was a mechanical whirring sound coming from the towering desk on the opposite end of the room. A chair with massive wheels that were about as wide as Hero was broad was nearby, but it looked slightly shifted. Based on what Hero was seeing, it looked like Theo might have fallen directly out of the chair and onto the ground when this sickness started.

Hero glanced at the door again, hearing nothing at the moment in the rest of the apartment, before approaching the immense human on the ground.

“Theo!” Rey’s panicked shouts finally rousted the boy as he lazily blinked.

“R-rey?” mumbled Theo. “What ar-.” His voice failed as sleep tried to pull him back into oblivion.

“No! Theo, don’t go back to sleep. What’s wrong? Are you sick? How long have you been like this?” demanded Rey.

“I… f-f-feel s-sick,” muttered Theo. “I… ju-ssst need sl-sleeeeep.”

Hero listened as Theo continued to try and form words while Rey persistently questioned his friend. Hero, out of curiosity and wanting to stay slightly out of Theo’s direct field of view, dared to venture around Theo to see if there was something they were missing – and they were.

Right as Hero made it to Theo’s legs, he saw that his pant leg by his shin was dark. Hero was terrified out of his wits, but hearing Rey’s distress and knowing Theo obviously needed help helped him scrounge up enough courage to walk all the way down toward the end of Theo’s long pant leg. Using his hip lamp, he shown a light up slightly into the dark fabric tunnel and knew immediately this was serious.

There were dark red streaks and massive discolored patches of skin all over Theo’s legs. Near the dark patch, it looked like there was some kind of cloth bandage taped on the back. There was a bit of a weird smell coming from the bandage, and Hero didn’t need to be a human doctor to know this was very bad.

He ran back toward Theo’s head where Rey was still getting him to talk.

“Rey! Ask Theo what happened to his leg,” called Hero as he ran across the difficult carpet.

“Theo, what happened to your leg?” asked Rey. Theo’s face scrunched in discomfort as he replied.

“M-my da-ad got angry. He b-broke a bunch of bottles and was throwing them around. Got cut… I think…. I sent Bells to a fr-rie-nds house to sleeeep o-over for a f-fe-few nights. And o-on my b-birthday toooo…” mumbled Theo. Rey and Hero exchanged frantic looks.

Rey obviously looked like he was at a complete loss. This was beyond either of the Borrower boys’ knowledge of how to fix. This was bad – really bad.

“I… I don’t understand,” muttered Rey. “I saw him just the other day. He wasn’t bad. He was fine.”

Hero felt the tenseness in the air. It was tangible and making his chest feel tight. This kind of helplessness was akin to what he felt when he was taken.

He hated it.

Sadly, it looked like Rey was spiraling just as hard as he was.

Hero wanted to hide away, but that wasn’t what a true hero would do. A hero would be able to make the situation better and save the day.

Then, an idea occurred to him.

Doctors.

Sam told him about doctors and how they were able to help at places called hospitals. It was a long time ago, but Sam had explained that there were people who would come to you and fix the problem in an emergency.

This felt like an emergency.

Hero wasn’t sure how to do it, but he had to try. Sam explained it once before where you take your phone and dial a few numbers to send the doctors to you. The Borrower boys needed to find a phone.

A calm set over Hero’s mind and, like so many times before, he was able to take a breath and the way forward seemed straightforward. He clasped Rey’s shoulder in his hands and turned his friend to face him.

“Rey! Help me find Theo’s phone,” instructed Hero, snapping Rey out of his frozen state.

“Phone? Um… right… it’s… there!” Rey said as he looked around the room and spotted the phone up on top of the desk. Together, both boys ran toward the desk and scaled it, hand over fist, and ran across the smooth surface toward the technological device.

Both of them had a fundamental understanding of how to use the device, but neither had done something like this before.

“Okay, so now what?” asked Rey.

“We need to dial 9-1-1 and then hit the talk button,” said Hero.

“Wait, we’re going to have to talk to someone?” asked Rey. Hero looked around frantically, seeing no other alternative, before Rey nodded, resolve setting Rey’s features, before he crouched over the phone and tapped it. The screen glowed with life as Rey pressed the buttons, which were bigger than his hand.

Lit from the screen, Hero thought Rey looked a little spooky as they both acknowledged what they were about to do.

“We don’t have to be seen when they come in,” reminded Hero. “We just have to get them here.”

“Do we even know where ‘here’ is?” asked Rey as his hand hovered over the green phone button.

“Starlight Paradise apartments, and I think this is the seventh floor,” said Hero. Rey darted back across the table and shouted down to Theo.

“Theo! What is this apartment? Where are we?” shouted Rey.

“Eight thirteen,” mumbled Theo, who convulsed again as his eyes lulled. Rey said the number over and over again as he sprinted back to the phone and crouched by the device. The two Borrower boys exchanged one final look as they knew what they were about to do.

Hero could only hope it was the right thing.

Rey pressed the button.

It took less than ten seconds for a man’s voice to come over the line.

“9-1-1, what’s the location of your emergency?” stated the operator. Rey, swallowing dryly, cleared his throat before speaking as loudly and as clearly as he dared.

“Hello, yes. We’re in the Starlight Paradise apartments, room eight thirteen. My friend is on the floor and he’s shivering. I think there’s something wrong with his leg. He’s in a wheelchair, but he’s hurt. Please, can you get here fast?” said Rey, biting his lip as he listened to the sounds of clicking and typing on the other end of the line.

“Has your friend ingested anything harmful recently?” asked the operator. “Do you need an ambulance?”

“Um… no. No! He hasn’t ingested anything,” stated Rey. Hero felt his heart pounding out of his chest as he glanced over to the door, hoping no one else was in the apartment. “Look! He said his dad cut him with a broken bottle. He’s a jerk. Please! Just get here fast. He’s really sick!”

“Alright, just stay on the line and remain calm. An ambulance is on the way. What else can you tell me about his physical condition. Is he responsive at all? Or is he unconscious?” asked the operator.

“He’s… kind of responding? He keeps trying to sleep. I’m having a hard time keeping him awake, but he’s able to talk and stuff. When… when will they get here?” asked Rey, looking wide-eyed at Hero. Neither of them could believe what was going on.

They were talking to a human on the other end, and they couldn’t tell that they were. The operator didn’t know the two boys were Borrowers.

“The ambulance is almost there. Could you please open the door and be ready to show us where your friend is?” asked the operator. Both Borrower boys exchanged wary glances.

“Um… I… I… I don’t know,” sputtered Rey. “Look, he’s in the back bedroom. I can’t get the door unlocked. I don’t know where his dad is. Just… please! Help him!”

“Understood. The paramedics are almost there,” said the operator. “Please stay on the line.”

Both Rey and Hero exchanged wary glances, knowing they would need to hide away as fast as possible. Rey hated the feeling, but Hero’s reassuring nod told him it was the right thing to do. It was only five, maybe six, minutes later when there was a terrifying, crashing sound from the other room. Hero and Rey nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard the sound of a loud knock followed by shouts from the other side of a door.

The two knew they needed to run and hide, despite every instinct to make sure that Theo was alright.

Hero and Rey darted across the desk and managed to slip down to the ground to hide under a cabinet near the desk when another even louder crash happened. The sound of splintering wood followed by rapid footsteps flooded the apartment.

Helpless and hearts pounding, the two Borrower boys crouched low and watched as six or so humans rushed into the room and began working on Theo, lifting him up onto a board with wheels and rushing him out of the room.

“Well, here’s the phone, but who made the call? Anyone else here?” called one of the paramedics as he scanned all around the room. Hero and Rey barely had time to hide behind the legs of a nearby table when the paramedic checked under the bed for anyone who might be hiding.

They thankfully left the phone behind as they finished up and rushed Theo out of the apartment.

“We have to get that phone,” hissed Rey. “If something happens, we need to be able to answer the calls and stuff.”

“Are you crazy!?” demanded Hero. “We need to get back. We’ve pushed our luck as it is. No doubt someone else will be in here to sweep the room again.”

“We’ll be quick,” insisted Rey. “I’ll push it off of the table and we’ll scoot it under the dresser into the walls. I’ll come back and get it later. Please, Hero. The family watching his sister will probably try and call him.”

Hero didn’t like it, but he couldn’t deny Rey’s pleas. He needed to help, not hinder; and the sooner they did this, the sooner they could get back and let Ashlynn know what happened.

Never before had two Borrowers moved so fast as the boys ascended the desk once again, pushed the phone off of the desk, and maneuvered it into the walls. They left the coins behind for the time being as they shoved and lifted the phone through the walls all the way down to Ashlynn’s apartment.

It took a long time, and there were dozens of questions that followed from Ashlynn, Soren, and Dorian as to why Rey had brought the phone with him. Hero helped fill in a few of the details, daring to come out and see Ashlynn, which was the first time he had done so in a long time.

After a bit of hot chocolate, the friends decided that they had all done the right thing. Ashlynn decided that she would help man the phone and made a few calls to make sure she knew where Theo was taken, claiming she was a cousin who was concerned.

Hero didn’t like the minor deception, but seeing that Ashlynn was able to get a few updates about Theo was a good sign.

It was also a good sign to Hero that, after everything, he was still ready to help humans. He had gone out and helped Rey and Theo both today. He faced his fears and charged into the unknown, relying on his instincts and everything he learned from his human friends to save someone.

All in all, he felt good – heroic even.

And it wouldn’t be the last time….

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

Continue

Previous

Beginning

Prompt

ASK ME ANYTHING

[lyledebeast]

I’ve watched a lot of new (or new to me) movies in the past month, and the one that I’ve thought about and been devasted by the most is Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah (2021).  I watch a lot of biopics, and it seems like there are a lot of movies about good people doing brave things and evil people doing terrible things, but not a lot about people who are not evil but do evil things because they don’t want to face the consequences of not doing them.  Apart from J. Edgar Hoover, of whom Martin Sheen somehow gives the most chilling portrayal I’ve ever seen, there isn’t really a villain. Instead, there are tense moments where Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) and Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) realize that what the FBI is asking of them does not align with their personal values. They could refuse, but they very much do not do that.

The most powerful moment for me comes when O’Neal, tearing up, offers Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) a refill, which the audience knows is a pretext for him to administer the drug the FBI has given him.  A refill seems like an odd thing to be shedding tears over, but Fred is not suspicious.  He believes he is going to be arrested soon and that his friend’s tears are a sign of love, which . . . isn’t not true.  After all, Judas loved Jesus.  But he also believes that love makes O’Neal trustworthy, which is definitely not true.

Love and morality aren’t worth very much if one’s actions do not support them. Before the credits roll, the movie tells us that Bill O’Neal committed suicide in 1990.  Like Judas, he faced even worse consequences than the ones he feared. The story, though, does not simply condemn one historical person.  Rather, it centers a kind of person that is far more common throughout history than the likes of Hampton or Hoover.

[tangledbea]

Have you ever imagined you would come this far, having a very popular blog, knowing cast members, and even having some fans? I acknowledge (and admire) your dedication in achieving all this, but I wonder how it feels like XD

Honestly? No, not at all. XD I never sought any sort of popularity, and some days I don't even want it. Some days, it's kind of lonely. I made this blog primarily to be a resource archive, and to share my insights that seven years of being a Tangled fan had granted me (at the time that TBEA aired), but when crew members started showing up on Tumblr, I one day found myself in the headspace of, "The worst they could do is completely ignore me." So I reached out to everyone I could at first, and kept talking to those who answered.

I think the biggest shocker for me was finding out that crew who hadn't pinged my radar knew who I was. When I went to the Tangled the Series panel at D23 Expo in 2017, Ricky Roxburgh bound up to me, all excited to meet me, like I was some kind of celebrity, and I didn't know who he was (yet). It was surprising, to say the least. When I visited DTVA studios, people's faces lit up when we met for the first time, because they knew who I was. It was like meeting an old friend for the first time. Kay Hayes used to run livestreams of their drawing Tangled fanart, and I attended a few, and whenever I did, they'd say, "Oh hi, Bex!" and people in chat would lose their minds, because I was the Bex. I never thought I'd be the anything. XD And close to the series ending, or just after it, I was told by one of the animators that whenever they (the animation team) animated New Dream interacting, they thought of me and hoped I approved. Me, personally. I was literally told that I was influential in how New Dream turned out. I'm not ashamed to say I cried when I heard that.

The thing is, I'm just a person. I'm a middle-aged woman who works as a bookkeeper in a very small accounting office to pay my bills. There are people who would claim that I'm too old to still be a part of fandom space (especially things that originated when I was already an adult). But I think being in my 30s when the series began and in my 40s now gives me a unique insight into things, in that I'm an age-peer to a lot of the people who worked on the show. I don't come across as a silly kid, I come across as a mature adult. That made me trustworthy and on equal footing with the crew, so they were willing to talk to me in private about things (and even, in some cases, give me gifts that the public didn't get to see).

Fandom has always been led by adults, and fandom spaces were invented by women, of which I am both. But I never dreamed that the creation of my fandom blog would lead me to having days where I had so many asks in my inbox that I was too overwhelmed to even open it, or have to make hard and fast rules about what I didn't want to discuss, or create an FAQ for literally frequently asked questions. I didn't think people would look up to me, or find me too intimidating to talk to me off anon (hello to the handful of you who let me see who you are!). I'm just a person, just a fellow fan. If anything, this experience has taught me that everyone we idolize are just people, too. Sure, they might have a career or hobby that thrusts them into the spotlight, and fame and power might go to their heads, but they're really just people just like the rest of us. Just like you.

[cityandking]

for both of your inquisitors ☀️ : 6, 20, 37, 42, 48!

ty!! // 50 inquisitor asks

6. Who did they romance and why?

VESPER — romanced cullen. she admired his work ethic and determination to improve himself and appreciated his sense of humor. she didn't set out to pursue him—she wasn't particularly interested in pursing anyone, truth be told. it was a long, slow, subtle build from allies to friends to something more, and by the time they got together they were both in deeper than expected. (also, she's got a thing for warriors with nice shoulders and he fits the bill) NARAYANI — romanced solas because I wanted to play a solasmance. originally she was just happy to spend time with someone who respected her refusal of the title of herald, but she also liked his stories and his willingness to discuss things with her, and his sense of humor, and the sly observations he'd make about their companions—it felt like being in on a joke, just the two of them, all the time. that he wanted her enough to struggle with himself over it was also incredibly enticing. it felt so nice to be wanted for herself in the middle of a world that wanted her to be someone—something—else. she fell much harder and faster than she thought she would

20. Do they trust Morrigan?

VESPER — she was wary at first, but she warmed up fast—faster than she should have, probably. morrigan swept into her life with all that assurance and poise and knowledge and vesper was privately, quietly bestotted. in the end, though, it was watching morrigan with kieran that truly convinced vesper that she was trustworthy NARAYANI — not particularly. she doesn't trust morrigan's desire for power or knowledge or history that doesn't—shouldn't—belong to her. there was no way in hell she was going to let morrigan drink from the well of sorrows, and she stands by that decision. the only thing that's softened rani against her was watching morrigan panic and offer to sacrifice herself in order to save her son. mostly rani pities her.

37. Which is the first dragon that they fought?

VESPER — the crestwood dragon, very much on accident. it was an unfortunate run-in, but at least bull was happy. NARAYANI — the hivernal in emprise du lion. someone had to clear them out of judicael's crossing and it was always eventually going to be her. the inquisitor cleans up all of thedas' messes.

42. How do they view Tevinter?

VESPER — she sees it as an interesting and complex country. she’s willing to listen to dorian’s defense of his homeland, though she keeps her own counsel on the matter. the slavery horrifies her. as she sees it, there are shades of grey between the chantry's teachings and tevinter propaganda that paint a more detailed and nuanced picture than most would care to acknowledge. at the very least, there is a history there worth knowing NARAYANI — with distrust at best. she finds dorian's defense of slavery abhorrent and narrow-minded, and their early conversations about tevinter are one of the reasons it took them so long to warm up to each other. and yet, with the inquisition disbanded, she's honestly considering going up there with dorian. it's not like there's much left for her in the south, and with all she's learned about elven (and tevene) history and dorian's belief that things can be improved, she's almost willing to believe he might make some positive change.

48. What do they think about the Hero of Ferelden?

VESPER — after two years of heading the inquisition, vesper has nothing but the utmost respect for warden-commander lira cousland and her work stopping the fifth blight. she only knows the woman through stories—mostly leliana's, sometimes morrigan's—but warden cousland sounds like a true hero, the kind who will stop at nothing to get the work done. maybe one day they'll actually meet. NARAYANI — to be honest I'm not totally settled on who the hero of ferelden is in her worldstate, but mostly rani feels pity for the kid. and a bit of irritation that they swanned off on some mysterious quest and left the southern wardens to turn on themselves, but she gets it—she wouldn't want to stick around if she didn't have to either.

[theoddcatlady]

The Midnight Buskers

“All right, ladies and gents, three rules for tonight!”

Adam clapped his hands together, snapping me awake from my position in the front seat. I’d not even meant to fall asleep, I’d just been on my feet all day and I wasn’t really up for being out this late. But this was apparently a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience and I’d not had a chance to hang with Adam outside of cyberspace for months. So I let myself be dragged along as long as I didn’t have to drive. I didn’t have the gas money.

My energetic friend held up a finger. “Rule one, remember to tip. But these people don’t accept bills, did you bring the change, Fiona?”

Fiona nodded as she shook her bulging coin purse. “Hold out your hands,” She said as she gave us each a handful of coins. “Call us even for the time you guys let me couch surf for like a year.”

“Won’t they need more than just a few quarters?” I asked, stuffing the coins in my pockets.

Adam shook his head. “It’s not the value, it’s the shine. The shinier the coins the better. That’s what they like. Rule two,” His second finger popped up, “Be careful around the pretty ones. The prettier, the less trustworthy. If you have to pick between chilling with the cross eyed guy that’s drooling and the Victoria’s Secret Model, you will be leagues safer with the drooler.”

Jessie rolled his eyes, clearly not taking this too seriously, but Andrea frowned. “I thought you said this wouldn’t be dangerous,” She asked.

“It’s not! As long as you listen to the rules, you’re in no danger whatsoever. And number three,” The final finger went up, “Be back at the car at three AM. Don’t be leaving at three AM, be here at three AM. This is the most important rule. Time will get away from you. Set an alarm on your phone if you have to. But be here. Okay?”

I yawned. “That won’t be a problem. I’ll be back by one, probably. Taking a freaking nap,” I grumbled. I got a giggle from Fiona for that. I glanced around the dark park we were parked on the edge of. “I thought this all started at midnight, where is everyone?”

Adam checked his watch. “Just a sec… just a sec…. Now!” He snapped his fingers.

A streetlight popped on, just feet away from our car, and there was the juggler.

He wore a very snappy red and white striped shirt and a straw hat, and in his hands were five orange balls. After taking a short bow, he started tossing them in the air. Andrea gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth as more streetlamps began turning on, revealing fairy lights that were strung up between the poles.

A park I’d initially thought was vacant was now full of people, and before I knew it I stepped out of the car to get a better look.

The juggler winked as I stepped closer. “Hey, welcome to the show!” He said, throwing a ball and balancing it on his nose without missing a beat.

That got a chuckle from me and the juggler beamed. I reached in my pocket and pulled out two brand new pennies, tossing them into the glass bowl in front of him.

“Truly a generous gentleman!” Somehow the juggler managed to bow and not drop a single ball.

Walking into the park itself I was greeted with music from different sources, all playing the same jaunty tune. I stopped dead in my tracks at a booth with two hearts painted on the front, a curly haired gal sitting at it and puckering her lips in my direction. She had painted her face pure white other than her lips, which had a heart painted right in the center.

I put two quarters into the plastic cup on the booth. “Just a kiss?” I asked.

The girl didn’t say a word, just winked and leaned on in. I leaned in as well, making the mistake of closing my eyes. When I reopened them, I was no longer kissing the cutie but instead an elderly woman covered in disgusting warts and zits. I yelped and dodged away from her attempt to add tongue to our kiss, wiping my lips off vigorously. The hag howled and slapped her knee as the heart lipped cutie popped out from under the booth, also laughing her ass off.

“I can see why Adam said don’t trust the pretty ones,” I grumbled as I walked off to see more of the performers.

Fiona was currently in awe at a violinist, the right side of his face drooping as it seemed to be almost melting off his skull. Even the eye looked seconds from popping out. But the song he played was oh so joyful, oh so sweet, even I found myself stopping to enjoy it.

“I could listen to this all night,” She whispered. I nodded in agreement before tossing a penny into his case.

I saw a tear trickle down the paralyzed half of the violinist’s face as he bowed his head in my direction.

I found Andrea getting her palm read by someone who could’ve been the kissing booth hag’s twin sister, only even more hideous. Andrea waved me over and gestured to the elderly woman. “This is Basil, damn, she’s not too bad at this. Says I’m definitely in line for my promotion as long as I don’t let that jerk Mike try to intimidate me.”

“I didn’t call him a jerk, I called him a slimy, dickless snake. Be specific,” The woman croaked. She gestured to me next. “Would you like a reading, sweetie? I could make us some tea too.”

I shook my head. “No offense, I don’t really do fortune tellers,” I said.

Basil shrugged. “Suit yourself. You got some lipstick right here,” She tapped her bottom lip.

I heard Andrea snickering as I walked away, beet red and rubbing furiously away at my lipstick stain.

“Cotton candy!”

A bag was shoved in my face by a kid who couldn’t be older than ten, his emotionless face covered with freckles. I took it, mostly because if I didn’t I would’ve gotten whacked in the face. “Thanks, uh,” I dug in my pocket and handed him a coin, “Here?”

The boy took it, examined it in the lights before he popped it in his mouth and began chewing. “Pleasure doing business,” He burped before ambling off.

The cotton candy’s bag didn’t have any label on it, the floss itself was colored like the rainbow, but it tasted just fine as I continued my walk. I did catch a peek at Jessie hitting it off with a pair of acrobats, twins by the look of it, both giggling and lightly stroking his arm. Good grief.

I was cut off when a sharply dressed man stepped into my path. He tipped his top hat and gave a little bow before he pulled out his cards. “Pick a card, love,” He said, his voice soft but still audible above the music.

Chuckling, I took a card.

“Keep it a secret from me now, I don’t like to have the surprise spoiled,” The man winked and I noticed that his eyes were mismatched, the right was blue and the left was black. The magician shuffled the cards around, his fingers moving with fluidity I didn’t think was possible. “Keep watching… now, surprise!”

I sputtered as my credit card slipped out of his coat sleeve. “Is this your card?” He asked, oh so innocently.

I took it back, patting my wallet to see it was still there. “Okay, did you send that little kid from earlier to pick my pocket or something?” I asked.

“Kid from… cotton candy?” The magician bit his bottom lip before shaking his head. “No, I don’t do business with him. It would be my assistant, the lovely Bloom, who got your card of wealth. Bloom, darling? Could you give the gentleman back his phone as well?”

The woman stepped out of the shadows, wearing a black leotard and red stockings. She smiled as she handed it to me. “It ran out of battery while I had it on me, sorry. I tried to deliver it sooner,” She said, looking a bit sheepish.

“It’s fine, I’ll charge it when I’m back in the car,” I slipped it in my pocket, “I didn’t even see you though, how did you get my wallet?”

Blossom looped her arm in with mine. “Sit with us, I’ll explain,” She said, her fingers just gently grazing my arm. I almost declined when her magician friend took up the other side, snapping his fingers to get the attention of a little girl with purple pigtails.

“Darling, fetch us lemonades! Three, make Blossom’s a pink lemonade, of course!”

We all sat together on this picnic blanket, where the magician continued to play with his playing cards. Blossom draped her head on my shoulder, her emerald green eyes staring right at me. “You have such lovely eyelashes. Tell me, were you looking around when you were with the fortune teller?” She asked.

I shook my head.

“You were not, you were focused on a friend. That’s when I got your wallet. And were you paying attention as you took a bite of cotton candy?”

I shook my head again, finding it difficult to use my words.

“That’s when I returned it. I find my moments, I use them. I’m very good at that,” She tiptoed her fingers up my arm. “My master, Tristan, taught me to look for my moments.”

“Master?” I must’ve made quite the face because the magician started giggling.

“Get your head out of the gutter, I’m the Master of All Arcane Arts, Tristan! I have several assistants of both genders, I’ve performed for longer than you’d expect. I can make dreams come to life.” Tristan flipped his card around in his fingers several times before he rested it before me. It wasn’t a playing card anymore, I recognized it from when my younger sister went through her witch phase. It was a tarot card, specifically, the Magician.

I picked it up and rotated it in my fingers, trying to see if it was stuck to the playing card. “You’re not too bad at slight of hand,” I agreed.

The lemonades were sat down on the blanket and I took mine, taking a long sip. It was the perfect balance of sour and sweet, the best kind of lemonade. Tristan popped a ridiculously twisty green straw into his cup and sipped away, still smiling like he had a million secrets. “I thank you for your kindness, darling. I’ve performed all over the world and there’s nothing like a good compliment to fill the heart. How about we relax here for a bit? You look tired. Long day at work?” The magician rested his head on my knees and I never felt more comfortable to have two strangers so close to me.

“Not that I want to ruin a perfectly good conversation, but it’s been a long week at work.”

“Well, we have all night, don’t we?” Blossom ran her fingers through my hair and I melted. “Let’s just talk.”

We talked about my job, we talked about Blossom’s daughter back home, we talked about magic and illusions, we just talked and it could’ve been five minutes or five years when I felt someone roughly grab my shoulder and yank me away from Blossom and Tristan.

Tristan’s head bounced off the ground and his hat rolled off, I caught a glimpse of pointed ears before he put it back on. “Rude, couldn’t you have given us a few more minutes, woman?” He scolded. I looked back to see Fiona, who looked downright terrified.

“By then it’ll be three AM! Randy! Snap out of it!”

The comforting warmth of companionship faded away as I realized that the lights were starting to go off in the park. I slowly backed away from Tristan as the lights above him went dim. Suddenly the charming magician didn’t look so charming, his mismatched eyes now glowing pink and lavender in the dark. Meanwhile Blossom’s hair had grown down to her ankles, and around those ankles were vines, sprouting from her heels and roses blooming around her calves.

Tristan chuckled darkly as Fiona dragged me away from the pair, following us as the lights continued to go out. “You’ll never make it, Randy, how about we enjoy another cup of lemonade?” He replied in that soft voice of his.

I turned around and bolted then, now dragging along Fiona as we legged it for the car. As the lights went off, I saw the booths disappear, the people manning them either laughing at us or vanishing into thin air.

“Shitshitshit-” Fiona turned behind us and whatever she saw made her face go white. She screamed and with that burst of speed would’ve left me behind if our arms weren’t linked together. I dropped my cotton candy, it bouncing off the sidewalk before rolling into the darkness and melting into liquid, bubbling sugar.

The car was now in sight, but I knew we wouldn’t make it. I swore I could feel Tristan’s breath on the back of my neck, his sinister laughter echoing in my ears.

We weren’t going to make it. But I did.

Fiona came to a dead stop and before I could ask what she was doing she pushed me over into the road just as the last light went out.

I laid on the ground for a few moments before slowly turning around.

The park was now empty, save for a few playing cards fluttering in the wind, and a pair of glowing pink and lavender eyes that winked before they went dark.

[gwidien]

hc: loyalty. i think about how nobody in camp thinks trelawny is trustworthy or, at least, that there's some serious doubts as to his loyalties. how, really, this is understandable—trelawny does appear like a mysterious rash and does disappear just as mysteriously. i think about how, ultimately, they're wrong.

charles: you think he'll talk? arthur: 'course he'll talk. he'd sell his own sister to save a train fare. he don't know how not to talk.

when trelawny is taken by bounty hunters and beaten, battered, and threatened to divulge information about the van der linde gang, he doesn't squeal. he could have if he had no loyalties—it's like he said, they didn't come for him, so it's logical to assume that by being a traitor, he'd spare himself potential death and further pain. why not spill? but he doesn't. he lies about being an intellectual looking for work at a university near rhodes. he takes the beatings not knowing if he'd die for not cooperating. when they storm his caravan and pummel him until he leaves a trail of his own blood, he doesn't break. when they drag him to the cornfields teeming with armed men, he doesn't throw them under the bus. trelawny gave nothing away about the van der linde gang at no benefit to himself when the very opposite would have. that's loyalty.

arthur: thanks for disappearing on us during that sean business, by the way. trelawny: i'd done my part. each to their strengths, dear boy.

the thing is that trelawny, at the end of the day, is sensible. he didn't stick with the gang during the "sean business" not because of a lack of loyalty, but because of pragmatism. he knew he had nothing more to offer. he isn't a gunslinger or a fighter. there really would have been no reason for him to be at the shootout. this may look like disloyalty because it seems like he's true to them only when it's convenient, but it's less that and more that he played his part, and for him to stay would have been to the benefit of no one. loyalty, perhaps to arthur and the rest of the gang at this moment, is being there and by your side 24/7, but that's not how trelawny views it. as he proves with the bounty hunters, he's loyal when it counts.

similarly, this is partly the reason why he leaves the company of the van der linde gang for good. by this time in chapter 6, trelawny is fully aware that the group has broken down. dutch is not the leader they remember. the law like the force of an army is bearing down on them. they're not just fighting that, either, but each other, dividing and hostile. why not leave unannounced? he has no reason to stay and nothing more to offer them. dutch and micah, and to a lesser extent, javier and bill, are belligerent and antagonistic towards anyone who displays even a shred of doubt. trelawny could have done the thing he's good at and simply slipped away and spared himself the headache, but he doesn't. he packs up, uncharacteristically antsy, and tells arthur face-to-face that he's leaving despite his own trepidation. he gives arthur that respect and courtesy not knowing what the reaction would have been, if the others would have been tipped off, or if he'd gotten heat for it. he tells arthur despite these uncertainties, and not just because there's no point in him staying on a sinking ship, but because he considers arthur his honest-to-God friend.

i'm sure everyone already probably thinks all of this about trelawny, but the thought has been taking up prime real estate in my head and i had to put it down into words.

[capricornwriter5]

Always on time - Chapter 16c

Pairing: Jooheon x female OC

Genre: childhood friends to enemies, enemies to friends, friends to lovers, smut (later chapters), fluff, angst, slow burn, idol AU!

Warning: mentions of mental health issues, mentions of workaholic disorder, curse words

Words: 3.1k

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Chapter 16c

"Miss Seo, we weren’t expecting you today, especially with company," said the club owner.

Julie and Jooheon had arrived at the club almost four hours ago. They had stopped for coffee on the way, so they arrived after 4 in the afternoon and asked the manager to let the Doh brothers know they wanted to see them. The owners took all the time they wanted until the staff finally moved them to a private room where the eldest of the brothers was.

"My niece is a fan of yours, Mr. Lee, would you mind giving me your autograph before you leave?"

"Sure, as soon as we resolve the misunderstanding, it will be a pleasure," Jooheon replied.

"I don’t think there’s any misunderstanding," Mr. Doh replied. "We gave our rental terms to Miss Seo and her team, that’s all".

"That is why we are here, Mr. Doh" Julie began, "to understand a little the arguments that support your new terms".

"Very simple: if I close my club, I lose money; if I lose money, I can’t pay the bills at the end of the month" began the owner. "I’m a man who always puts his business before anything, so you’ll understand that I need fair compensation if I’m going to take a risk".

"The initial amount was more than fair compensation," Julie continued. "We did our homework, Mr. Doh, and we know how the numbers move in your area of business".

"We also did our homework, Miss Seo," the club owner countered with a tone of voice that pleased neither Julie nor Jooheon. "I don’t have much interest in negotiating the terms I sent you, and before you think about finding another location, let me be a good colleague and let you know that you will not find another place to rent space at a lower price. Rumors fly, miss, and rumors of high society too".

"Excuse me?"

"I imagine your companion is trustworthy," said Mr. Doh, seeing Jooheon.

Julie was losing patience. Areum had spent all morning researching the place and when Julie called her to ask if she had found anything, her friend said no. Outside of some drunken fights, the place was quite popular among young people. They had recently remodeled one of the halls and had tried to promote the new section as an exclusive room, perfect for high-level executive meetings. However, although they were trying to change their image, people still saw it as a youngsters bar.

"Whatever you need to say, you can say it in front of him" she declared.

"Well, in that case, and since it’s just the three of us, I’ll tell you what might make me rethink the terms I proposed to you," Doh began. "I guess the problem is the production budget, right? Although you always have a couple of thousand won in reserve for emergencies... Anyway, what I’m asking for is very simple and I imagine your fiancé won’t have a hard time doing you a favor, Miss Seo".

Engaged? Jooheon thought. Jules... has a fiancé? No, no, no, it can’t be that piece of a biped, can it? What the hell?

What the fuck is he talking about? Julie thought at the same time. This guy is an idiot.

"I’m sorry to tell you that I do not understand what you want from me, Mr. Doh" replied Julianne. "Although I think there has been a confusion..."

"No confusion and don’t worry, Miss Seo," the club owner cut her off. "I fully understand that in high society these things are handled with greater discretion, so my lips are sealed. I told you, we also did our homework. But don’t worry, the favor is very simple. We know that Mr. Lee Kang Dae’s company, your fiancé, has a monthly meeting with the biggest investors; that meeting is held at an exclusive club near here. All we ask is that you kindly convince Mr. Lee to do his next meeting at our club. With that, we can return to the initial terms of the contract".

 Everyone was silent for a few seconds.

"I cannot help you with your request, Mr. Doh," Julie replied, breaking the silence.

"Really?" said Mr. Doh surprised, though his tone was utterly sarcastic. "I understand that the first reaction is to refuse, but I am sure that Mr. Lee will be glad to know I found a simpler and cheaper solution after our talk".

"Excuse me?" Julianne asked. "What talk?"

"Ahhh, I guess you haven’t had time to chat," continued Mr. Doh. "You see, I sent you the new proposal yesterday morning, and what a surprise it was to receive a call hours later from a person claiming to be a general manager of your company asking to sign the original contract. He told me that if I did, I would receive two checks, one from Highlight Ent, and one from the Deputy Director with the difference. You will understand that everything seemed very strange to me, so I put my people to work and you can imagine how surprised I was to learn that behind it all was Sound Wave Entertainment, a small company recently acquired by your fiancé. Anyway, since I don’t like to do things halfway, I took the liberty of returning the call, and a very nice girl communicated me with Mr. Lee. He agreed to the terms, but I thought I could show that my intention is to build a more lasting business relationship and..."

"Like I said," Julianne cut him standing up, "I can’t help you. I’m sorry to tell you that your people do not have the correct information and I very much doubt that Kang-Dae-ssi was the person you spoke to. You see, he and I are neither engaged nor have any kind of close relationship; my private life is mine and I don’t have to explain it to anyone, but since your people are incompetent, I guess I’ll have to clarify the matter: Mr. Lee and I were in a formal relationship for five years, but that relationship ended recently. We haven’t had any type of contact since, and besides, Mr. Lee isn’t in the country, so no girl with a local number would have been able to connect you to his private line. Thank you for your time, but since we can’t reach an agreement, we’d better finish the meeting here. Excuse me".

Julie quickly left the room and Jooheon was right behind her. Mr. Doh tried to stop them from leaving, but Julianne was so upset that she was barely able to evade the people dancing around her.

Jooheon’s mind was blank. He knew he must not be happy, but joy invaded him when he heard that Jules had broken up with Kang-Dae, and was afraid that a smile would come off at the worst time. Calm down, Jooheon-ah, thought the rapper. Calm down, now the important thing is to see that Jules is okay.

They both got to the car and Julie’s phone started vibrating just as she opened the passenger door. It was Kang-Dae.

Julie didn’t want to answer. She was so angry that she felt like she was going to cry at any moment. However, she needed to vent her anger and this call confirmed that what she had heard was true. There are no coincidences in life.

"You know, oppa, a few years ago you were smarter," Julianne replied in an acid-filled voice. "You would have never made things so obvious".

Jooheon stood still with his hand on the driver’s door. He stared at Julie, but she had turned her back and Jooheon could see how tense she was. He was also tense, didn’t know what to do or what to say, and couldn’t believe that idiot called her either.

"And why should I listen to you?" Julie kept screaming. Jooheon couldn’t hear what Kang-Dae was saying on the phone, so he could only guess the parts of the conversation. "No, I don’t care at all. I don’t care if you thought you had a good reason to, in the first place, have someone follow me... Do you think I’m an idiot? Do you think I don’t know how you work? You and all the monkeys in suits around you are always the same...  I can say whatever I want! And I have every right to be angry!... Are you aware of how ridiculous you sound? What you did is almost industrial espionage... don’t you dare tell me I exaggerate... there’s no other way you knew what I was doing. Areum would never have talked to you, and just so you know, I know all the times you called her and... I don’t care about that! To be very clear, Lee Kang-Dae, you have no right to spy on my public or private life, my job is mine and in the years we were together I never asked you to pull your strings, what made you think I would appreciate you meddling in my affairs now? I don’t want to hear excuses or reasons, don’t intervene, don’t help me, don’t call me, nothing. If it’s a success or if it’s a failure I want it to be mine, not someone else’s, and keep your worries to yourself. We’re not together anymore, so my personal image shouldn’t affect yours. At the end of the day, that was what mattered most to you, right? So leave me alone. We’re done and I have nothing more to say to you".

Julie hung up the phone and Jooheon stayed where he was waiting for her to calm down. He could hear Julie’s deep breaths and knew the girl was holding back tears, as her voice broke a little before hanging up.

Before the rapper could do or say anything, Julie turned around and entered the car. Jooheon also entered and saw Julianne put on her belt, rest her head on the back of the seat and close her eyes.

She didn’t say anything and Jooheon didn’t ask. He just started the engine and started driving.

After driving quietly for about 20 minutes, Julie opened her eyes and turned on the radio. She set up a random station and they both kept going with the background music.

"I’m sorry you had to hear that," Julie said after a while.

"You shouldn’t apologize for anything in this situation, Jules," Jooheon said. "If anyone has the right to explode, it’s you."

"Still not my best moment," she continued.

"On the contrary," Jooheon said. "I mean, the situation sucks, but what did you say on the phone? UUFFFF, that was great!"

Julie just laughed dryly, and Jooheon continued:

"I’m serious. I mean, that was a knock-out, Jules, he never saw it coming and he had no way to defend himself. Besides, you have to teach me to talk that fast, in all my years in this industry, I have NEVER heard anyone spit out syllables so fast and so accurately, AND WITHOUT BREATHING!"

Julie laughed again, but this time it was a genuine laugh. She felt empty, had no energy to do anything and just wanted to be alone, but they still had an hour to go.

At that moment, she received a message from Areum telling her that they already knew how to rent the park they had seen. When reading the message, she realized the time, it was almost 9 pm, the night was beautiful and it was Saturday: it was the perfect day to go on a date.

Julie was convinced something was going on between Areum and Jooheon. While it is true that the rumors she had heard in the bathroom were a little exaggerated, everything seemed to click too well and she was convinced that she had found all the clues and subtle signs that both had tried to hide. While the idea did not make her entirely happy, neither would she lose her friend to a guy.

"I’m sorry you had to spend your Saturday night like this," Julie told Jooheon.

"Nah, Jules, I told you, you don’t have to apologize for anything," he replied. "Besides, I think it was a productive day, despite everything".

"Yes, well... although I’m sure one night with Areum-ah would have been more fun," Julianne continued. In her head, she was being subtle, although clearly that was not her strong suit.

"Auch, Jules, it hurts," Jooheon said, not understanding Julie’s message. "I know she’s your best friend, but I’m not bad, you know?"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

"Also!" the rapper continued. "I was your friend long before Areum-ah. Did you forget when I defended you in kindergarten from the kids who laughed at you for the way you drank your juice?"

"Defend me?" said Julie. "If I remember correctly, I ended up defending YOU because someone thought he could win against 4 older children"

"That’s not important here. My point is that we were friends long before Areum-ah moved to the neighborhood..."

"Okay, well, I give up... we’re not in kindergarten, you know?"

"You were the one who said that hanging out with Areum-ah would be more fun than hanging out with me," Jooheon grumbled at the wheel.

"I meant you," Julie said softly. She was taking a risk, and saying the words didn’t make her very happy either, but she wasn’t going to stop there. "I bet you would have had a better time with Areum-ah."

The comment took Jooheon completely by surprise. He looked back at Julie and the girl’s look confused him even more. She was waiting for him to say something, but the rapper did not know what, so he just remained silent for a few minutes.

"Jules, if you open the hand compartment in front of you, you will find a wallet," Jooheon said. "Can you open it?"

Julie did what the rapper asked. When she opened the wallet, she saw that it was full of old, yellow, and wrinkled papers.

"Yah, Jooheon-ah, you should improve your cleaning habits," mocked Julie. "You have pure garbage here"

"None of that is garbage" defended Jooheon. "Don’t wrinkle or throw anything away".

"It is impossible to wrinkle these papers more than they already are".

"It’s not my fault" he continued. "Years ago Kihyun-hyung had an obsessive lapse and started throwing out a lot of things we had in the dorm. You can’t imagine what I had to do to get those papers back, and I’ve been hiding them here ever since".

"Well, what do you want them for?"

"There is a triangle-shaped folded paper. It is grey and the paper is thick".

"This?"

"That" said Jooheon excited. "Unfold it".

Julie did what he asked without knowing why and when she opened the paper she found a very familiar drawing. She had sent it to Jooheon by fan mail after the first Monsta X concert. She remembered watching videos of the guys' presentations on the internet and, although at the time her grudge against the rapper had not gone down, as a friend she felt incredibly proud, so she decided to draw a portrait of Jooheon and send it to him.

Julie had completely forgotten about that drawing. It was probably one of the last ones she did before her father died, and she felt incredibly embarrassed after sending him.

"I did get it, Jules" Jooheon said after a few minutes. "You sent it to me after our first concert... as you promised you would".

At that time, Julie remembered the promise she had made to the Jooheon while they were still in school:

"Come on, Juleeees" Jooheon begged. "Make me a portrait, will you? This is my best profile".

"Jooheon-ah, I don’t have time" she replied. "I have homework to do and final exams are coming up and..."

"Come ooooooon, tell me you willllllll"

"No".

"But you’ve drawn all your friends and your family," Jooheon complained. "It’s my turn, I’m the only one without a portrait".

"Jooheon-ah, I can do it later and..."

"We may not be able to see each other later," Jooheon insisted. "The reality show is about to begin and if I am among the selected, I will debut, I will become famous and we will not be able to see each other for a while...  Who knows for how long?! And you won’t be able to see my face up close to see how handsome I am".

"Look, how about this?" Julie proposed. "You let me study quietly and after exams..."

"After the exams, the reality show will be over and..."

"AFTER THE EXAMS... if you remain a common mortal, you will have your portrait," promised Julie. "And if you’re an idol by then, I’ll go to a performance of your group and draw you on stage... deal?"

"Deal".

Julie had also forgotten that promise, but maybe that explained why she needed to make that drawing at the time.

"Actually, after our debut, I was waiting for your drawing" Jooheon began. "I mean, we didn’t have much freedom to communicate with other people, but I always thought that one day I would open my eyes and there it would be".

Jooheon waited a few minutes for Julie to say something, but as the girl was silent, he continued.

"You can imagine my surprise a year later when Minhyuk-hyung opened an anonymous letter that had that drawing inside," Jooheon continued. "They bothered me for days for being a narcissist... especially because I didn’t even let them touch the paper".

"How? I didn’t..." Julie began quietly.

"I just have to see it to know it’s yours," he replied. "Don’t even try to deny it, Jules. We may have changed a lot over the years, but you’re still you, and I’m still me... The important things haven’t changed between us, as much as you want to deny it".

A couple of tears came down Julie’s cheeks and she cleaned them up fast.

"Why show me this?" she asked. "You could’ve just told me you had it".

"Receiving that was one of the happiest times I’ve ever had," Jooheon said without directly answering Julianne’s question. "I don’t know if you knew, but you sent it to me at a very difficult time for us, and knowing that you were watching and supporting us made me want to do better... Whenever I needed encouragement, you gave it to me, Jules. And I wouldn’t have preferred anyone else to, just you... because a lot of my best memories are with you, Jules, not with anyone else. And right now, I wouldn’t choose to be with anyone else".

Julie didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know what to feel, as she was very confused by what had happened in the last few days and by what was happening at that moment, so she preferred to re-fold the drawing and put everything where it was before.

She just laid her head back and closed her eyes.

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[wolves-etc]

thoughts on The Last Of Us episode three, just yelled at the friend who recced it to me, now edited to remove most of the yelling:

[thoughts on: 1.1 | 1.2 | X | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.9]

— starting off strong with a) ANGST ABOUT HANDS (MY BELOVED) and b) a moment just appreciating the peace and the view. hey, it's the apocalypse, and there's still natural beauty around <3

— (obligatory "don't move rocks, things live under 'em" PSA but I'm not gonna be the one to ruin his lovely moment)

— I'm impressed with ellie for the… I want to call it boundary setting but it might not be, exactly. the "you made a choice, you needed a truck battery or whatever, don't blame me for something that wasn't my fault" bit. that was brave, especially with how scary joel can be. yes she's had a little time to get to know him, yes she's valuable cargo and she knows it, but he's grieving in a big way and he could make things unpleasant for her if he wanted, so yeah, brave.

— and it's nice that joel just listens and nods - it's not exactly treating her like an adult but it IS acknowledging her as someone who has a point and has a right to be treated fairly, and it's not exactly commonplace for adults to treat kids and teens like that. (though it looked like he had a good relationship with sarah, so I'm not surprised.)

— green <3

— ELLIE ROASTING HIM RELENTLESSLY FOR HIS SCAR AND HIS SHOOTING ABILTIES. I love her I love this

— "there's this one character named mileena who takes off her mask and she has monster teeth and then she swallows you whole and barfs out your bones! oh, man." <3

— "is there anything bad in here?" "just you." "ah, getting funnier." GOOD

— I do not like the dark mystery cellar I am putting socks on again, for fuck's sake. ellie could also do with more anxiety slash survival instincts but kudos to her upper body strength!

— WAS IT WORTH IT FOR TAMPONS, ELLIE. WAS IT WORTH IT

— ellie these things call other things. ellie this is deeply grim. I may have underestimated how much of a murder child she is.

— cordyceps in the food supply is a grim idea. and it does explain how it happened so everywhere and so quickly. (and it means the mycologist's advice to bomb the city might or might not have been enough, if anything had already been sent out.)

— joel answered a question with more than a sentence and ellie said thanks!! I'M SO PROUD OF THEM.

— "there's stuff up there you shouldn't see." "you're too honest, man. should've said axe murderer."

what's NICE about this is it sets a precedent and establishes him as a trustworthy adult, at least in that he tells her stuff and he can be believed. because she's in that transitional age where you kinda have to start treating teenagers like adults with some things - just, adults who are much more fragile and have minimal life experience - and that means giving them freedom to see stuff that might be hard for them. like. um. mass graves. okay I'm adjusting this to fit a zombie apocalypse setting and that's making it a little intense. sorry about that.

— this is a flashback I Did Not Want but also HI IS THAT NICK OFFERMAN. HELLO <3

— nobody told me he was a deranged survivalist with a gas mask I love him already

— nick offerman is resource grinding like there's no tomorrow and I love that for him

— nick offerman you fucking weirdo bastard you booby-trapped the place.

— he's WATCHING THEM ON CAMERA FOR FUN. oh I adore him.

— look at him nick he's pathetic he's funny he has no home, you have room for a stray dog guest don't you

— it's been four years since the outbreak and nick is only just causing someone else happiness (frank having a truly amazing time in the shower) and I'm just struck by that, how nourishing each other lifts us up too, and how nick kept himself starved of that.

— (at this point my friend came online and accidentally let slip that nick offerman's character is called bill)

— (WAIT. BILL AS IN BILL AND FRANK OF "JOEL MENTIONED THESE DUDES" FAME. I'm so proud of them.)

— the view of frank sitting at the table alone, in clean clothes, delighted and bewildered by all the finery, was when my brain drew a Beauty And The Beast comparison and I had to sit back and laugh for several minutes

— bill absolutely deer-in-the-headlights when he comes in to see frank standing up <3 kinda stumbling through the door because two plates and a bottle is more than he normally has to carry <3 adjusting frank's plate until it's Just Right <3 I LOVE BILL

— "I know I don't seem like the type." "no, you do." here we reach the moment that (in gifset form) persuaded me to watch this, and gosh, it's even sweeter in person.

— I don't know if frank was just elbowing in and rifling through the music sheets to get a reaction from bill or not. he could just be kinda oblivious and rude, which is fair enough, given the Extenuating Circumstances. him "accidentally" insisting on bill playing was some kind of deliberate though.

— bill playing the piano and frank looking down at him like oh, oh this is a treasure.

— I've never cried at an on-screen kiss before but oh fuck. the desperation and loneliness of it, holding each other as close as possible. the desperation and loneliness of the lives they've both been living the past four years.

— and what it extends to in the bedroom, the caution on frank's front and the almost-shame on bill's, I don't have words for it but it's thick enough to slice and butter for afternoon tea and it feels so real it hurts.

— three years later and they're having relationship talks, I'm SO proud of them

— frank making friends and making bill's life infinitely harder <3 <3 <3

— the small but significant shift in joel when he says "we can help each other and get that gun out of my face." I almost didn't recognise him until that.

— I've never been happier to see two grown men eating strawberries

— yes, I'm tearing up again

— (at this point I started to cotton on to where this was going and paused to accuse my friend of having recommended the show to me largely for this episode. turns out he did! the mortifying ordeal of being known by your friends.)

— (I also stopped making notes. 'cos it got hard to talk about. the scenes we get with them are all so intimate and the last one, at the dinner table, was so real it felt almost voyeuristic to me - and I didn't want to make any kind of judgement about their decisions. it's a lot. they had sixteen years together, and that part's pretty fucking great, considering. I'm leaving it at that.)

— "I'm guessing you found this, Joel, because anyone else would've been electrocuted or blown up by one of my traps. Hehehehehehehehe." bastard I love him

— "there was one person worth saving. that's what I did. I saved him, and I protected him." oh this is absolutely about joel too.

— "we have a job to do. and god help any motherfuckers who stand in our way." <3 <3 <3

— "I leave you all of my weapons and equipment. Use them to keep [tess safe]." ...well, fuck.

(it's an awful thought, but at least joel didn't love her as much as she loved him.)

— love to see joel being honest about his plans with ellie!

— bewildered to see bill and frank still had TOILET PAPER. bill, buddy, how much did you even STASH

— joel and ellie looking totally like a dad and daughter going on a trip except he says "seatbelt" and she doesn't know what he means and it's not 2003 after all, it's 2023 and they're living in a different world, and that world's gone for good. heck.

yeah so my friend recommended the show to me largely for this episode (bastard <3) and he was Right to. that's my takeaway.

[mayxthexforce]

everyone sending ‘💋’ in my inbox gets a kiss from my muse.

@galaccias said

For someone who hadn't taken a Padawan of his own specifically because he didn't want to be in charge of a young life in a time of such political unrest, Garen sure spent a lot of time picking other people's. He was going to start charging like a public transport service. Maybe then the stuck-ups at the Senate would pass the funding, unlike when they refused to pass a funding bill for the Jedi Ace Corps. But he was digressing. This had to be the... third? Maybe the fourth time he'd had to do this for Obi-Wan in the span of a few months– for once, however, it wasn't to get Anakin off some planet he'd landed half a ship on, or to get him and Obi-Wan out of a tight situation that involved a crashed ship and hostiles. It was about getting Ahsoka —and here Garen had hoped she would be more normal than her predecessors— out of Nar Shaddaa.

At least he wasn't alone. Obi-Wan had been nice enough to send Commander Cody with him because, apparently, Garen couldn't be trusted not to get in trouble if he went on his own.

You race in Hutt space one time and you're not trustworthy enough to be left unsupervised anymore. Garen was really tempted to point out to Obi-Wan that it wasn't his Padawan lost in Nar Shaddaa, also known as Little Coruscant, also known as the Smuggler's Moon, also known as the place no decent person should ever set foot at because crime of all shapes and colors ran rampant here. This was the moon criminals from all across the galaxy came to to relax. They didn't like Jedi or clones, and they definitely wouldn't like Jedi and clone, in their turf. On top of that, Garen so happened to have a really, really unfortunate face: Obi-Wan Kenobi's face. Though if anyone asked, Garen would say Obi-Wan had his face because Garen is two months older and had been at the Jedi Temple for over a year before Obi-Wan was taken in by the Order.

But criminals didn't care who looked like who. They just cared that Garen so happened to look like Obi-Wan. So, when he spotted a certain Duros he knew for a fact his dearest friend Kenobi had a lot of friction with, Garen acted without thinking. The narrow streets of Nar Shaddaa all branched out into even narrowed alleys that didn't really leave much room for hiding. But he needed someone to hide with– or someone.

His hands went up to Cody's face. Later, he'd apologize. Later, he'd probably face some kind of consequence for what he was about to do, and he'd take it. But right then, all he thought about was not ending up being shot and waking up the whole neighborhood with a neon sign that said 'Jedi and Clone here'. He pulled the clone commander towards the alley, fingers gripping at the hair at the back of Cody's head as Garen pulled him closer until their lips connected.

People being far too affectionate in a dark alley of Nar Shaddaa was far from a rare sight. In fact, Garen had more than once passed a sight that went beyond kissing, so Cad Bane walked right past with only a sound of tired disgust directed their way. Even with his eyes closed and lips against his own, Garen stayed focused on the Duros through the force, until he was far away enough that he felt safe pulling away from Cody. Good thing he did, because he was running out of breath.

"If you want to punch me, don't punch me in the face," he breathed. "Or do, but then you have to punch Obi-Wan too because if my face is busted, his has to be too or the whole decoy thing doesn't work."

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Sunday 6 January 1833

8

11 ¼

fine morning hard frost F39 ½° at 8 just before lighting my fire – breakfast at 9 5 in an hour with my father and Marian soon came – at my desk at 10 10 - wrote 2 ½ pages to Dr Belcombe – really know not what to write or should have written sooner - ‘I never exactly understood before what nervousness meant and God grant that I may know no more of it in any case which concerns me much! nothing could be more judicious than your letter to Mr Sunderland’ – he a great friend of Dr Paley’s – paid not give me a vote of thanks for taking Miss W- to Dr Belcombe  ‘All I can say is, she really seems to prefer you as a medical man to all who have ever attended her, and that if I had time for nursing, I think our united efforts might be of service - but I am a young practitioner and my courage us much abated - it is dreary to combat sickness without disease, and misery without reason – medicals come [9.S.] from Mr Sunderland; but all I hear is that you and he are agreed as to the course to be pursued - I am to count the letters you have written, for the purpose of taking care that your pen shall not have laboured in vain. It is some satisfaction to me that you will ,at least be remembered, as among the cleverest and most agreeable of medicinae doctores and, should you be applied to when I am gone, I am sure you will do the best that such a case admits, in which the manner will do more than medicine, is the maxima veritas et praevalebit [the greatest truth will prevail]’ – would try to make time for another day on in, if I thought, it would do any good but my hopes not sanguine – will however, on my own account, see them all again if I am before my leaving England – but fear being kept here ‘till the utmost limit of my time, the end of this month or very beginning of the next – anxious to be off. ‘May this new year be felix ter et amplius [happy three times more]! Very faithfully yours. A.L.’  - then wrote letter about 2/3 of a p. rather small and close to Mr. Lister (Swansea) – saying I remitted him bill at 21 days for £35.3 deducting [?] £1.12.0 for insurance – sorry had come to no agreement about the water level gained – 6ft. valued at £6 a year of which ½ belonged to him – had sent 2 law-letters and had 2 valuations and expense already between 3 and 4 pounds, but this should come out of the annual rent to be paid – or if I could get nothing would charge him nothing – vid. Business letter book vol. 2 – downstairs at 11 50 – from 12 in ¾ hour read the prayers and sermon 26 Mr Knight – at my desk at 1 ¼ - Letter from M- (Lawton) 3 pages and ends 3 lines of crossing widely written - ‘I hope and think you will find him (Thomas Beech) a valuable servant - he can read, write and cast accounts’ - then in the few lines dated yesterday adds ‘Thomas Beech agrees to all your proposals’ – i.e. £20 a year including washing and to be engaged from the 30th inst. and clean the carriage unless I hereafter order otherwise, but at any rate to clean it abroad and do all I desire him - Had I mentioned Martha Booth sooner would have taken her as under housemaid - should the one engaged not suit, will think of Martha - would not do for kitchen maid who must be a pretty good cook - ‘she has all the servants’ hall meals to prepare, both white and brown bread to make, and will have to

SH:7/ML/E/15/0176

come as cook here whenever we happen to be over’ ‘the account you give me of your health and spirits delights me much I feel now as if come what may you will be happy and comfortable, it often made me unhappy to think your sole dependence should be on a prop which seemed hardly trustworthy you will see if Charles does not long outlive me, yet I am not ill, nor I do wish not to live, but somehow I feel, and have always felt, as if there was a period that with my constitution would be trying, it may or may not be so, this much of anticipation arises more form what may be, than any indisposition at present, for I am in pretty tolerable health tho’ not a little harassed’  expecting poor old Molly Ownes’ death the old woman (her great favourite) at the Liverpool Lodge - ‘her views of this life as connected with the future are clearer than those of anything I ever met with’ - and M-  has had much consolation from her - Miss Lawton going to marry an army surgeon a widower a Mr Hyne comes from Devonshire saying he makes £500 or £600 a year by his profession - but having no private fortune and 2 children the youngest 10th months old - Mr L- is indignant and refuses his consent - her brother, William L- equally angry - M- says little - wrote 3 pages and ends and under the seal (till 4 10) in answer - ‘I was beginning, my dearest Mary, to be rather impatient for your letter - it is come and has given me much comfort and pleasure - I am satisfied with what you say of yourself - tho’ I hope and trust your anticipation is groundless, yet it is well to set our house in order betimes, and you go about it so calmly, and so happily, that I have no motive for gainsaying - I am glad to have had it - my power to speak so comfortably of myself - you know the bitterness that providence has been pleased to mingle in my draught of life, but I have really learnt to consider it as making the beverage more wholesome, and to take with thankfulness - In fact, Mary, tho’ my conversion is of less long standing than it ought to be, surely it will be lasting as sincere, and, I trust, you will have no occasion to think of me again but with cheerfulness and satisfaction - We cannot tell the n° of our days, but, should we both live longer than you expect, I still hope to congratulate you on a brighter evening than noonday clouds have promised - I grieve over the loss you will have in poor Molly Owen’...... suppose she (M-) will be off to Leamington on the 14th beg to hear from her again 1st if only to give me Thomas’s address - wonder how Eugenie will suit me - have taken one of John’s daughter (will be 14 in a day or two) to bring up as Lady’s maid - shall tell M- my plan and advise with her at Leamington - thanks about Martha Booth - an under housemaid place must be ‘the utmost height she is fit to aspire to’ - sorry for Miss Lawton’s match ‘you say nothing about little Mariana - I have often wished it was possible to trace in her the smallest resemblance to you - what do you hear from York?’ - dare not attempt to fix a day for being off - expense here still going on to the amount of a couple of hundreds more - she must console me - shall have must to say at Leamington - not to forget to take all my letters ‘let us have the burning we have talked of ever since May - I am convinced you are right - we had better get it over before my going abroad again - I know nothing about my return - my aunt and father are both wonderfully well, and may live several years - a life of exertion suits me best - and, unless particularly called home, why should I hurry back? the new year is cold, but may you find it a happier than many of the years that are gone! I like to hear from you if it be but a line or two, so, busy or not, let me see your handwriting - God bless you Mary! there is to all a prop that cannot fail, and you and I may lean upon the same tho’ not together - I am well and happy and very especially and entirely yours AL’.

Added ½ dozen lines of crossing to M- to mention how nearly the farm house I have lately spent about £300 upon was burnt down yesterday week - from a [combers] stove being heated in an upstairs room - fire broke out about 4pm and out at 6 the watering pond being full of water and only one end of the house damaged.

wrote the last 27 lines in 25 minutes till 4 35 - then wrote 3 pages and ends pretty small and close to IN- should have written before but waited to tell her about my plans and about the man servant I was in treaty for and who, as I only heard this morning, agrees to my proposals and is engaged from the 30th of this month - hope IN- will not go to Croft before quite the end - if Mrs N- quite satisfied to have given up the Bath scheme, I am delighted as I have not quite given up the hope of having a peep at them but bare not say or think much about it for fear of disappointment - always one potheration or another to keep me here and put me to expense - mentioned Park-farm house being nearly burnt down yesterday week - will write to Mrs. N- when I know more of my plans - only know at present that I shall take Leamington en route, and see M- some of them will be there on the 14th and she hopes to be settled there on a week afterwards - If I can get off from here by the very end of this month or beginning of next shall be satisfied - should like best to go first, as I always intended, to Italy but uncertain yet whether I shall not be obliged to remain within reach for sometime to come - not on account of my aunt or father - they wonderfully well - will write to aunt Maria when I can tell her I am en route - joke and advise IN- not to mind the vulgarity of Esther’s mother in law - we do not marry a whole family at one fell swoop - in these times the high and low are oddity jostled together - the great fallen and the little ones grown big.....  dinner at 6 25 – at 7 10 sent off by John my letters to M- ‘Lawton hall, Lawton, Cheshire’ and to IN- ‘Langton hall, Malton’ – and to ‘Dr. Belcombe minster yard York’ and to ‘John Lister Esquire Swansea Glamorganshire’ wrote the last 15  lines till 7 25 – then standing by the fire, and looking a little into Horace, and asleep on the sofa till  9 10 – so cold in the drawing room cannot sit to do anything   I must give it up and come to my room