#jolenes tea house

[teainspoons]

Jolene’s Tea House’ Mandarin & Mint (ft. Amoda Tea) | Tea Review

[roosterbruiser]

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘

“Do you think they’re gonna get too hot?” Bob asks, concern carving his voice into a pitched utterance. “Like--you know, is the sun too much? Should we just take ‘em home?” 

Humming from beside Bob, settled onto the old sheets you have laid out across the sand, you just sigh with a fond smile tugging on your lips. 

Of course he’s concerned about the babies in this heat--he’s a good father, one that never has to be told what to do or when to do it, one that literally leaps out of bed in the night to change diapers. 

“They’re alright,” you assure Bob. “They’re covered! How could the sun get them at all?” 

It’s true--the babies are thoroughly covered. Linen shorts and cotton shirts, floppy little sunhats, sunscreen covering every inch of them. Not to mention the umbrellas Bob has staked in the sand behind you--which casts shade over the entirety of your family. 

“A freak accident,” Bob tells you, eyes slightly widened when he thinks about one of his precious babies--including you--getting burned. “Maybe we should--!” 

“--Baby,” you interrupt, laughing as you glance at him from the top of your glasses. “It’s good that they’re outside! Immunity! Vitamin D! Fresh air! They’ll be alright!” 

Bob sighs, glancing down at Jolene, who is sprawled out on your bent thighs, blinking in confusion at the floppy hat that just barely comes down over her eyes. Then he glances at Waylon, whose sound asleep on Bob’s thighs, little milk dribbling down his chin. 

“It isn’t too late to tell them that they can meet us at the house,” Bob tells you. He looks up at the sky--endless blue and the sun a fiery hole puncturing the sky. “If we want to do that.”

“We don’t,” you assure him. “And, besides--I think it is too late.” 

At that, Bob follows your gaze and turns. Yes--you’re right. It is too late. The squadron is already trailing down the beach, all in their aviators and swimming suits, grinning and zeroed in on yours and Bob’s beach setup. 

“Oh, Lord,” Bob says softly, a fond smile tugging on his lips now. “Rooster’s gonna try and steal them, I think.” 

“You’re only telling me this now?” You whisper, nudging him with your elbow teasingly. 

He has told you before, though, about Rooster’s affinity for children. He can’t get enough of ‘em--he’s always hogging whatever admiral’s child he can get his hands on, playing airplanes or tea party or somehow getting them to nap. And you know, somehow, that Rooster is the goofy looking one with the unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt treading through the sand. 

“Sorry, honey,” Bob chuckles.  

You see how much this matters to Bob. Never mind that you know him better than anyone else in the world, having met in middle school and fallen in love straight away. Even if you didn’t know him better than anyone, if you were just a fly on the wall--you’d still know. He woke up too early this morning, pacing the kitchen as the coffee brewed, checking in on the twins every few minutes until he heard the first sounds of awakeness. He picked their outfits with you, chewing on his bottom lip. He had the car packed and ready to go before noon. He even called Phoenix a few times just to make sure that plans were still on--and was reminded, a few times, that the plans were absolutely still on. 

“You’re shaking the beach,” you whisper, pressing a hand to his bouncing leg.

“Sorry,” Bob mutters, distracted. He stops bouncing his leg. “I’m…I’m really--!” 

“--Nervous,” you finish for him, leaning forward to press your warm cheek against his bicep. You kiss him there, soft and sweet, and then sigh. “It’s alright, Bobby. The babies are perfect, the squadron loves you, I’m very personable, the sun is shining, the seagulls are crying! Everything’s gonna be okay!” 

“Yeah,” Bob sighs, scratching his head and giving you a quick peck on the forehead. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess I’m just--I don’t know. This is important to me.” 

“I know it,” you say, heart swollen. “And I know it’s important to them, too. It’ll be good!” 

“It’ll be good,” Bob repeats softly, glancing at you. You’re grinning at him--it makes his shoulders sink. “It’ll be good.” 

“Well, well, well,” Hangman says as his feet sink into the hot, hot sand. He grins, squinting even behind his aviators as the sun beats down on his face. “If it ain’t baby on board and his babies on board.” 

Bob grins at the sound of Jake’s voice--which surprises him, really. Before that never would’ve happened. But now Bob is back in Lemoore, with you and your babies, and everything feels distinctly better than it did before.

“Hangman,” Bob grins, sticking his hand out for Jake to take. “Good to see you, man.” 

Hangman, who’s holding two comically large stuffed rabbits, shuffles to put them under one arm and take Bob’s hand in his.  

“How goes it?” Jake asks. Then he glances at you--you’re grinning at him, holding your daughter still. “And this must be the Missus, huh? Pleasure to make your acquaintance!” 

Jake crosses the sheets to take your hand, which he promptly brings to his mouth to kiss. 

“Don’t mind him,” Rooster says as he appears, toting a cooler and a speaker. “The lack of oxygen in the cockpit really scrambled his brain.” 

“Ha-ha-ha,” Hangman says, glancing at Rooster. “Did Bob tell you that Rooster is gonna try and steal them?” Jake asks, pointing to the babies with his brow perched. 

“Actually, yes,” you answer, smiling softly. “He did.” 

Rooster, rolling his eyes good-naturedly, sets the cooler in the sand before grinning at Bob and stretching his hands out. 

“Baby me and I’ll beer you,” Rooster says. 

“That doesn’t sound like a fair exchange,” Phoenix sighs, rounding out to clap Rooster on the shoulder before grinning at Bob and you. “Floyds!” 

“Hey, Nat,” Bob grins. “How are you?” 

“Oh, she’s great,” Payback answers, wiping sweat off his forehead as he sets his beach chair in the sand. “Super, even!” 

“She got the aux in the van,” Fanboy explains, resting his elbow on Payback’s shoulder. “Two words: Def Leppard.” 

“Lemme see those babies!” Coyote’s voice booms as he jogs up and rounds out the squadron. He’s grinning a broad grin, arms already outstretched. 

“Hey, I already called dibs!” Rooster says. 

“Yeah, but I got here first,” Hangman grins. 

Everyone looks at Bob like he’s the tie-breaker. 

“There’s only two of them,” Bob says, laughing quietly. 

“You’re gonna have to choose,” Rooster says seriously. 

“Here,” you suggest, leaning forward to put Jolene in Hangman’s extended arms. “Take one and pass it on.” 

Everyone laughs--it’s music to Bob’s ears. He watches you carefully transfer Jolene into Hangman’s arms, watches him turn absolutely gooey at the sight of your infant daughter. He cups her little head, holds her close to him, grins down at her. You readjust her sunhat and then lean back. 

“Oh, she’s too cute,” Hangman says, shaking his head seriously. “Rooster, you’re definitely gonna want to take this one.”

“Here,” Bob says, suddenly feeling more confident in his squadron’s ability than before. He leans forward and bestows Waylon upon Rooster, smiling softly and fondly as he Waylon coos and begins to blink himself awake. “You’re a natural.” 

Rooster, delighted, sinks into the sand and holds Waylon close to him. 

“Oh, I know,” he says--cocksure as ever. “Look at this little fella. Boy, does he look like a Floyd!” 

“Yes,” you agree, laughing. “My DNA didn’t even try.” 

As Hangman and Rooster hog the babies, everyone makes their rounds. You shake everyone’s hands, finally put faces to names, and collect all the presents for the babies and yourself. Bob keeps a watchful eye on the babies, but not because he’s stressed--but because he’s enamored that he has two perfect little beings to share with the important people in his life. 

The afternoon drifts forward. Your little spot on the beach becomes the spot on the beach, everyone spreading their blankets out and overlapping, coolers abundant and drinks icy. The babies get passed around, hardly even fussing, but always somehow end up back in Rooster’s arms. 

Even when everyone decides to get up and toss the pigskins, Rooster ends up staying on the palette with you and Bob and the babies. He’s somehow holding them both at the same time, grinning down at them as they blink up at him. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Hangman had said to Rooster, rolling his eyes. “A giant, gushy, manchild.” 

“Proud of it,” Rooster had said, cheeks pink. 

“They really like you,” you tell Bradley, sighing softly. “I’m still getting used to having all this help, you know? I’m a bit mind-blown right now.”

“Well, I’m here for any babysitting services,” Rooster says. “Hell, I’ll pay you!” 

“You’re my favorite already,” you tell Rooster.  

Bob looks at you--you’re smiling softly at Rooster and the babies. Your eyes are heavy and your back is curved and he knows that you’re that special kind of tired that is special to new motherhood. Bob understands. He knows. But his heart still squeezes at your sentence. He had to leave only two weeks after they were born, which broke his heart and yours. Of course, because you’re you, you’d put on a very brave face for him. But there were a few times--a few more times than Bob is comfortable with--when you answered his call with a tearful sniffle and a deep sigh. 

He reminds himself, as he gazes at you, that things are different now. He’s home for a while--and even after that, he’ll be close to home for the foreseeable future. He’ll never miss bath time or dinner or storytime. He’ll be here, beside you, through it all. 

“They really are beautiful,” Rooster tells the both of you. He looks between the two of you, tired and unsure parents with glittering eyes and soft smiles. “You’re doing a damn fine job of it.”

“Thanks, man,” Bob says. “It’s all her.” 

You have to swallow hard and roll your eyes, nudging him, to keep from crying pure tears of joy. 

Rooster gasps suddenly. “Okay, don’t call me crazy, but I swear to God that Jolene just smiled at me!” He says, elated. “Oh, God. Hangman’s gonna be so pissed.”

[topguncortez]

A Force of Nature, An Act of God || Whumptober day 13 - J. Seresin

whumptober masterlist

synopsis: you always said it would take an act of God to take Jake Seresin off this earth. . . maybe you should've kept that thought to yourself

word count: 1.2k

@ailesswhumptober prompt: crushed and grief

warnings: character death, grief, pregnancy, unhealthy coping mechanisms.

There are just some things you should never hear over a phone call. Y/N didn’t know that the simple ring from her best friend would end with her heart quite literally breaking into two. The loud scream that pierced through the office floor sent everyone’s eyes to the closed office door. Her boss ran down the hall and barged into her office, just in time to catch her from hitting the floor. The screams and cries that left her mouth were enough to break everyone’s heart that was listening. 

She cursed him out. She cursed the other driver out. She even cursed God out. Bradley couldn’t bear to hear the anguish of his wingman’s wife over the phone and hung up, knowing that Natasha was on her way to would be on to go retrieve her and bring her to the hospital. 

No one said anything as she walked into the hospital. Everyone and everything was still. No one looked her in the eye either, too heartbroken. She stood tall though, holding her head up, letting everyone see the emptiness behind her eyes. Y/N had to go in and properly ID him. There was something deep down in her heart that hoped they had gotten the wrong person. But Jake Seresin was a hard person to miss. 

His usual tan was gone. His body was pale, almost gray in color. His hair which was once shiny and full of life, hung down and was matted with blood. Small scars littered his face and arms. She cried softly as she ran her hand over his hair. The doctor stood in the corner, looking grimly at the girl as she sobbed over his body. 

They had just started their life. Married a year ago, and expecting their first child, a boy, whom he had been over the moon excited about. She felt as though bricks were now tied to her feet. It took everything in her to not tear the white sheet off of him once the doctor covered his body back up. 

When she walked back out to the waiting room, Bradley engulfed her in his arms, holding her up as her legs were shaking and ready to give out at any moment. It was unclear how she was going to move on.

How does one move on from this? How is one supposed to bury their lover and carry on with their life? 

Y/N thought it would be better if a car came out of nowhere and crushed her too. 

The next week was spent with people infiltrating her home. She was never alone, everyone kept a close eye on her. She felt like she was under a microscope. She spent three days locked in her room, in constant darkness. It took Bradley having to physically remove her from her bed to get her to eat and shower. She was close to her due date, and they knew it was not the time for her to check out. 

Jolene and George handled all the details, not wanting to stress her out. They watched as every day she would come down the stairs, pour herself a mug of tea, and sit at the kitchen table, her back to everyone, staring out the window into nothing. Her heart was broken. 

Before Jake’s death, the house was never quiet. Jake hated silence. But now, you could hear a pin drop from the other room. There was no music playing. No laughter echoing. No conversations to be had. The quiet was loud, and everyone knew it. No one dared to make a sound as they moved around. 

Y/N had blocked out the whole service, not remembering a single part of it. She remembered seeing the beautiful dark wooden casket he was laid in. He was dressed in his dress blues, his medals shining perfectly. She barely remembered getting up to speak in front of the crowd, but she did. The dagger squad gave her praise for how strong she was in speaking. 

She was the last to leave, as she watched the gravediggers lower his casket into the ground, and seal the vault. She stood by and watched as they piled the dirt back on top of the vault. Bradley and Natasha stood by the car, looking anywhere but at the plot their wingman now lay under. They knew they couldn’t leave her there, so they painfully waited for her to say her final goodbye. The drive home was silent, as she looked out the window, mindlessly drawing shapes over her belly and letting tears roll down her cheeks. 

It was three weeks to the day, that her water broke in the middle of the night. She hadn’t been sleeping in her once-shared bed, but for some reason, she decided to that night. She had woken up with a scream, that sent Natasha and Bradley stumbling into her bedroom. Neither one really knew what to do, but quickly calmed her down and got her down to the car. 

She didn’t think she would have the strength to walk back into the hospital. But much like she did three weeks ago, she walked in with her head held high, pain and emptiness in her eyes. The nurses and doctors moved quickly to her and sat her down in a wheelchair. She demanded that the brothers go back with her, and they let them. 

The pain of labor was one of the first things she had felt in so long. She had grown numb to everything around her. But the pain ripping through her body reminded her that she was still alive. Sweat and tears ran down her body as the youngest boy rubbed her back as she was fighting through a contraction. 

“I can’t do this,” She cried out. 

“You have to.” 

“I can’t do this without him!” She yelled. 

She sat on the bed, in the room alone with just a doctor and a nurse. The brothers had been kicked out, her request, as she started to push. She did her best, pushing with as much strength as she could, but her body was just too weak. 

“I can’t.” 

“You have to,” The doctor said, looking up at her, “You have to. You have no choice. Your baby will go into distress and so will you.” 

The door barged open, and she closed her eyes, too weak to put up a fight. She watched as he pushed over to her, and climbed behind her on the bed. 

“Bradley…” She cried, leaning her head back against him. 

“I know,” Bradley soothed her. The nurse handed him a damp rag to wipe her sweat, “I know he would do it if roles were reversed.” 

“I need him,” She whimpered out. 

“I know,” Bradley clenched his jaw, trying to push back his own tears, “I do too. But you also need to bring this healthy boy into the world. For him.” 

She nodded and gripped Bradley’s hands. She took a deep breath and listened as the doctor counted down. On one, she let out a loud scream as she pushed as hard as she could. Bradley whispered encouraging things into her ear as she used whatever strength she had buried within herself to bring the baby into the world. 

When the melodic cry broke through the room, she leaned back against Bradley, completely spent. Bradley smiled, tears down his cheek as the doctor laid the newborn against her chest. She looked up at Bradley, tears in her own eyes. The little baby boy was a carbon copy of his father. 

“We did it, Jake,” Y/N whispered and kissed her son’s forehead.

taglist: @els-marvelvsp @sarahsmi13s @topgun-imagines @cassiemitchell @xoxabs88xox @seitmai @a-reader-and-a-writer @bradleybeachbabe @kmc1989 @senawashere @beautifulandvoid @ohtobeleah @rogersbarnesxx @oatmealisweird @dempy @devil-angel-winchester @gillybear17

[slightlymoldybread]

Prince Mush headcanons! Because he lives rent free in my head 24/7

He's in his early 20s, 23 at the oldest. He started fighting in the Glitz Pit when he was still a teenager. Jolene is 3 years older than him.

He and Jolene are the Master's grandkids. He learned most of what he knows about fighting from his grandfather, and extensively trained with him before his career began.

He's pansexual, and particularly attracted to people physically stronger than him. If someone can lift him off the ground, he starts blushing. If they can lift him above their shoulders, he swoons and goes slack in their arms.

Despite his family being much better off now than they were when he started his career, he and Jolene still live with their parents; it's just more convenient for everyone. They do have a nice, big house in Glitzville now, though.

Hot dogs are his favorite food. He always visits Mr. Hoggle's stand if he needs a snack while he's at the Glitz Pit. Mr. Hoggle really likes him because he always leaves a good tip.

He loves to wear hoodies when he goes out, especially big baggy ones. They make up like 80% of his wardrobe when he's not in the ring.

He's a huge comic book/manga nerd. He grew up reading a lot of them, since they were the best form of entertainment his poor family could afford for him. He always keeps a few in with his gear, and unwinds after his training sessions by reading them.

He has recurring night terrors of being dragged to the power-draining machine, unable to move or call for help. He always wakes up screaming just as the machine starts up.

He takes really good care of his hair. That big banana-looking lock of hair he has? It smells amazing and feels like fine silk.

He likes to do a self-care day every now and then. Around once a month he'll skip training for a day, and instead spend that time taking a nice long bubble bath, doing a face mask, and lounging around in a fluffy bathrobe with a hot cup of tea.

He has a bad habit of bottling up his emotions, especially his trauma from what Grubba did to him. He thinks that by avoiding discussing it with anyone and hiding it behind a big smile, he can eventually push it out of his mind. Obviously this doesn't work, and he often ends up crying himself to sleep over it, or letting it all out in one big meltdown when something breaks his facade.

While he's by no means stupid, he is a rather naive person who's too nice for his own good, and is easily taken advantage of.

He generally has a preference for skimpy or loose-fitting clothing, as he likes to wear things that don't restrict his movement. For the same reason, he prefers to go barefoot whenever he's at home or training.

He has low alcohol tolerance, especially compared to Jolene. If he were to drink the amount it takes for her to start feeling buzzed, he'd wake up in the hospital.

He's autistic. Jolene mentions him saying that "there are some things that can only be understood by fighting", which I read as him finding a better understanding of the world around him when viewing it through the lens of his special interest. Maybe he has trouble getting what people are thinking or feeling normally, but he can pick up on things from seeing how they fight, and he feels more connected to and understanding of them overall if he has a spar with them. This is why he's so eager to fight Mario for the first match of his comeback; he has a lot of respect for Mario for saving his life and wants to feel closer to him, and he finds the best way to do that is through combat. Or something.

Another symptom of his autism is that he has a "comfort zone" of things he likes to eat or wear or do, which he doesn't typically step out of.

He loves listening to girly pop music, especially while working out.

He squeals and kicks his feet when he's excited.

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, April 21, 2024

My posts

Initially I wrote, “I ran my mouth about the Watcher streaming/paywall situation because I make bad decisions,” but I think the post has actually gone over well? In short, I want to see them succeed but I am also deeply fuckin’ baffled. I so desperately want the tea about what was really going on behind all this, and how the guys are reacting to it now, and I really hope they can turn this around somehow. 

Side note, Friday was CHAOTIC. 

Reblogs of interest

The Hot Vintage Lady Polls are escalating in round four. We got to a point where I posted propaganda for Ava Gardner AND Dorothy Dandridge in their matchup. Probably the biggest scandal of round three was Vivien Leigh getting knocked out, but she’s now High Chancellor of the Shadow Realm. The most contentious matchup this time seems to be Judy Garland vs Natalie Wood, which is nearly 50/50 as of this writing. But keep your eye on Hedy Lamarr, who may have Mifune Sweep energy. 

(I think I love these brackets for the same reason I love Dracula Daily: it’s delightful that thousands of people on Tumblr actually have deeply-held opinions about things from many decades ago, and if they didn’t before, they do now.)

(“I’m Katharine Hepburn, and this is Jackass!”)

--

Happy Bread Day (Observed)!

Hozier Watch 2024: “Why Would You Be Loved” has arrived on the Wasteland, Baby! special edition. I like this post about how that song is in conversation with “No Plan,” one of my favorites. (I wrote about “Movement” a while ago, but I could have fully inflicted an essay on you about how “No Plan” pulled me out of my six years of hiding from the internet. Anyway, it’s a great album from a few years ago, check it out if you haven’t.) 

Generally I keep my mouth shut about Taylor Swift, but the new songs sure have some lyrics. I love Florence Welch, but I’m scared.

You’ve heard of spoon theory, now check out spell slot theory

“You’re either frolicking in this field with me, or...” is funny, but then you get to the reblog.

What if we lay in this field together and held feet

A deep breach of etiquette with a little dog named Gucio

A story about statue vandalism with a delightful twist

You gotta fight mint with mint (like I can bring in my lemon balm, but at what cost?) 

I saw this post about feeding wild skeletons on Pinterest and I loved it so much that I tracked down the original. 

Once again, Holy Shit, Two Cakes theory

Remember the haunted house I grew up in? Yeah, it had a carpeted bathroom like this.

“gonna start formatting my posts like fics on ff.net circa 2008” will do you exactly the psychic damage you’re imagining 

The Round Table attempts to use Zoom

Video

Lil Nas X covers “Jolene,” Dolly Parton loves it, and @oscar-wet-and-wilde has further Black Country recs

A big loud steppy

“He’s retrieving”

Crispy meows

Watching this angel of a Doberman get a full spa treatment is also self care

AND YOU DARE SAY NO MORE TREATS??!?

The sacred texts

I don’t like thing, now with artist credit 

Personal tags of the week

I love when I can use a really niche, specific tag, and this week, it’s mouth perfect size for meme, with a little shaped on the side.

[systastic]

Maybe an alter or some alters related to the 4 seasons? Any level is fine, preferably level 3 or level 4, but you can pick whatever!

what a fun idea! apologies if it seems short, trying to do all four seasons took a long time and a lotta energy, so we had to park it here for our own sake -🌲

name :: avery, chloé, april, lily, angelica, melanie, chappell, joan, flora, emilie, jolene

age :: 22 to 27

pronouns :: she/her, fleur/fleurs, flor/flora (floraself)

roles :: vernalian, companion

species :: personification of spring

gender identity :: springjenic,

orientation :: bisexual

source :: brainmade, spring season

aesthetic :: bohemian, beach bunny

appearance description :: prim and proper, angelica takes her time with her appearance to ensure it’s perfect on all accounts. her wardrobe is carefully crafted to appear both casual and chic at the same time without exerting any effort when choosing her daily wear. april curls her hair every night while she sleeps to ensure she’ll keep a natural-looking wave for the rest of the day. people often comment on fleur natural beauty and seemingly effortless style, and fleur just laughs; april knows how much time and effort she puts into her look, so it’s funny how people assume it’s easy. flor wardrobe is stuffed full of flower or leaf patterns and freely flowing clothes. the looser it is, the better it looks on flora! she wears nightgowns to sleep and curlers in her hair which has earned some gentle-hearted teasing from her fellow seasons, not that emilie minds all that much.

personality description :: melanie is like one of those aunts that people wish they had: attentive and positive in a non-sickening way, eager to hear about your day, and ensuring a few good moments of physical contact when interacting with someone to show their interest. she lives in a permanent state of bliss fostered by her “attitude of gratitude” and easygoing life. she is chatty and likes to strike up a good conversation with someone else. something good happen lately? earn a big promotion and want someone to tell? need to vent? melanie handles it all with a delicate touch, gentle and soothing like how a mother should be.

likes :: picnics, photography, gentle breezes, flower crowns and garlands, outdoor concerts, herbal flower tea (chamomile is her all-time favorite), antique shops, flea markets, farmer’s markets, things with a delicate or vintage aesthetic, outdoor activities, exploring those cute little rustic towns that are set up to look like the past with actors and all, hand embroidery, sewing patterns into fabric, making collages out of old photos and pictures she takes herself

dislikes :: excessive heat or excessive cold, dead flowers, withering plants, trapped or hurting animals, faux influencers (people who mimic her style for the sole purpose of “being aesthetic”; she finds it dishonest and distasteful), overconsumption and excess plastic waste from unnecessary spending (why buy five reusable cups when one will work just fine?)

front triggers :: springtime, gentle & calming aesthetics, the smell of older houses/clothing, being around people (such as children and older folk)

signoff :: 💐, 🌿, 🌱, or 🌷

mood board :: here

songs for you :: good luck babe! by chappell roan (was stuck in our head while writing up april), grow by conan grey, absolutely smitten by dodie, crush by tessa violet, she wants me (to be loved) by the happy fits, soulmate song by carson james argenna

kins :: elle woods from legally blonde

typing quirk? :: soft words, soft sounds, and soft tone, spring is the queen of run on sentences, she uses commas instead of periods and rarely capitalizes words that aren’t automatically corrected into being proper nouns

art source here

name :: averie, merida, cherri, cheerilee, bliss, marisol (sol), jubilee, sunny, joy, melody, harmony

age :: 17 to 21

pronouns :: she/her, pop/pops

roles :: confidence holder, mood booster

species :: personification of summer

gender identity :: summerestic, vallengender, strawberrymoona

orientation :: summer bisexual, polygamous / lovime

source :: brainmade, summer season

aesthetic :: coconut girl, urbancore

appearance description :: cherri wears bold, bright colors that make a splash no matter what kind of crowd she’s in. she opts for shorter shorts, mini tank tops, and sometimes things that’ll cover her arms and legs to protect the sun. cheerilee slathers her skin in sunscreen every day, giving her skin a sort of glow in the high hours of the afternoon. (and yes, she does use those tan stickers from the 2000s.) she keeps her hair up all the time in some way (ponytail, buns, pigtails) to help get her tan on. scrunchies, cute hair clips, bold earring choices, and sparkly necklaces are her favorite kind of jewelry, being incorporated in just about every outfit she wears so long as the mood is right. (obviously she won’t wear this sort of thing to a fancy event — even if she desperately wants to). jubilee is the kind of gal who would wear a ring pop unironically as a statement piece, and she’s so based for that.

personality description :: unapologetically herself, averie is the definition of a hot girl summer. she’s bright, beautiful, and positively glowing from the inside out, being both a force of nature and a ball of energy rolled up into one being. cherri has the uncanny ability to see the positive side of any situation, spreading her enthusiasm to everyone else through her signature infectious smile. she is known for her boundless energy and her tendency to keep things high-energy no matter the situation. her radiance touches everyone around her and inspires them to be the best version of themselves that they can be. jolene is never one to sit still for long. it's often a challenge for her to remain focused on one thing, as her mind seems to be constantly buzzing with new ideas and fun ideas.

likes :: sweet fruity drinks/cocktails especially the ones served in a cut-up pineapple or coconut, thrill rides, lively music, big crowds, going to live concerts, big bustling cities, live events, being outside in summer no matter how hot it is, going to the beach for any reason at all, tiktok dances, spontaneous trips, funny animal videos, being sent internet posts by friends that they think she’d find funny, wild and energetic people, playing sports, doing her nails, and busting a move at the nightclub

dislikes :: being stuck indoors, low sunlight, the cold, the dark, not being able to see the sun, going back to school, having to do copious amounts of work, depressing memories and sad movies, cloudy grey days (especially when it’s raining outside), shallow and judgmental people who assume things before getting to know a person, getting caught up in someone else’s relationship drama, chipping pops nail polish (so much effort wasted…), and crowds that just won’t get motivated over anything

front triggers :: summertime, heat waves, group events with a big venue, conventions, being at the beach, theme parks

signoff :: ☀️, 🍉, 🌻, or 🍒

mood board :: here

songs for you :: the last of the real ones by fall out boy, maybe by half•alive, i’d rather be me from the mean girls musical, the boy does nothing by alesha dixon, mr. blue sky by electric light orchestra, forbidden feeling by cg5

kins :: heat meiser from the year without santa claus, jenna roland from be more chill

typing quirk? :: so many!! exclamation marks!!! she gets SUPER excited very easily and capitalizes some words for EXAGGERATION!! girlie punctuates her sentences and uses a lot of “text speak” like lol, omg, etc.

art source here

name :: hawthorne, millie, bobby, cassiopeia (cass/cassie), camilla

age :: 10 to 13

pronouns :: she/her, they/them, e/er/ers

roles :: memori, front buddy, info manager

species :: personification of autumn

gender identity :: autumnic, rainyrooftopic, autumnnosic, corvautumnaesic, foliagic, fantasmookean, celafem

orientation :: sapphic, lith/akiosexual

source :: brainmade, autumn season

aesthetic :: Christian girl autumn, tweencore

appearance description :: cass can typically be seen wearing casual clothing that is vaguely nineties themed (specifically the nerdy reclusive girls of that time period or the pre-transformation of disney channel girls). e opts for long pants and a pullover or jacket that can be removed if the weather is warmer than normal. camilla prefers neutral colors along with shades of brown and green; the more natural they are, the better suited they are for eir wardrobe. the reason for their longer clothes is simple: they prefer spending time outdoors during autumn, watching the leaves fall from the trees and gather on the ground. keeping their wardrobe simple helps to reduce the amount of laundry they need to do — though it would be a lie to say that bobby doesn’t like laying on her warm laundry when it’s pulled from the dryer.

personality description :: reserved and not one to act first, instead choosing to think over her actions to be triply sure of what she wants to do. compared to the other seasons, she’s a total wallflower: speaking up in the midst of a heavy or intense situation is the opposite of what she’d ever be willing to do. hawthorn much prefers to leave her mark in others situations by providing gentle support for those who are lonely. one of the benefits of being the invisible one is being able to pull a whole bunch of small pranks without ever being suspected of it. (nice pranks, though. camilla doesn’t want to be cruel.)

likes :: halloween, spooky decorations, telling scary stories with friends, pumpkins, sweaters, curling up with a good book, warm tea, socializing with the stray cats that she seems to attract, snuggling on the couch, sitting in a comfortable chair (especially one that rocks, those are er favorite), watching movies both on her own time and with her friends and family, and consuming Halloween-themed media (it’s er favorite!)

dislikes :: too much heat, too much cold, being called a basic white girl for their love of pumpkin spice (it isn’t their fault pumpkin spice is the best flavor!), accidental cuts from pumpkin carving, being called “geeky”, relentless teasing over er interests, people who won’t listen, overly energetic people who can’t seem to settle down, being forced out of er comfort zone without any warning, disrupting er thoughts, when e says hi to someone and they don’t say hi back, hangnails, paper cuts, and people forcing er to change er plans for the day without warning

front triggers :: fall season, quiet rooms to herself, pumpkin spice drinks, and reading in a quiet library on one’s own

signoff :: 🍂, 🍁, 🥮, or 📔

mood board :: here

songs for you :: sinners by lauren aquilina, innocently annoying by elysewood, be calm by fun, ship in a bottle by fin, bad body double by imogen heap, rule #1 - magic by fish in a birdcage

kins :: rory gilmore from the gilmore girls

typing quirk? :: proper sentences with accurate punctuation. she types like your grandma who’s a stickler for punctuation would. does not use emojis, doesn’t like capital letters, and has to double check to ensure every word is spelled right.

art source here

name :: marquis, chione*, aneira, eirwen, eira, scylla, freya*, ice queen

age :: on the older side of twenty, almost hitting her thirties

pronouns :: she/her, hal/hael (haelself)

roles :: emotional guardian, absorber therapist (can take other people’s excess bad emotions and “freeze” it to be dealt with later or by another alter)

species :: personification of winter

gender identity :: winterfrost, winteress, yukinic, neigean,

orientation :: sapphic, sex repulsed

source :: brainmade, winter season

aesthetic :: winter fairy coquette

appearance description :: radiant and regal in both stature, appearance, and vibe. chione stands tall and elegant, her presence commanding attention with an air of regal authority. her skin glows with an ethereal, frosty radiance reminiscent of freshly fallen snow under moonlight. long, silvery-white hair cascades down her back shimmering like icicles in the sun, often adorned with delicate frost-like ornaments or put up in an ornately crafted hairstyle. her attire features intricate patterns of snowflakes and ice crystals. hael’s clothing of choice is both practical and elegant, combining flowing layered fabrics that flow freely in the air with more structured elements like frozen ice.

personality description :: marquis knows her own self worth and will accept nothing less than what she deserves. like a winter storm, she can be bitter cold to the people who treat her like garbage; freya know haels worth and refuses to tolerate disrespect. her demeanor can shift from serene calm to fierce intensity of a winter storm, especially towards those who wrong her. she embodies the dual nature of winter itself: beautiful but formidable. those who earn her favor will be granted access and safe passage through her headspace as well as protection from the everlasting freeze. beneath this icy exterior lies a heart that values kindness, loyalty, and protection. hael cherishes moments of warmth, finding joy in acts of giving and cozy candlelight in the cold.

likes :: snow, nipping cold, ice skating, the spirit of giving, candlelight, presents, making her opinion known, standing up for herself, having a say in matters, being seen as a kind and just person, being true to her morals no matter what happens, and ice carving (especially if she can be creative with it!)

dislikes :: being seen as evil or without a heart, excessive heat, people who wear their hearts on their sleeve (don’t they realize just how dangerous it is to do that? don’t they care about protecting themselves?), nosy people, being teased or mocked for her opinions

front triggers :: wintertime, bitter cold chills, ice skating, snowstorms, and christmas carols

signoff :: ❄️, 🌨️, 🧊, or ⛸️

mood board :: here

songs for you :: true north by vocal line, child of ashes by madds buckley, devil on my shoulder by faith marie, mirror mirror by juniper vale, aha! by imogen heap, a lady by tally hall

kins :: the winter spirit from frozen 2 (the original one, not elsa!), the ice queen from folklore and fairy tales

typing quirk? :: Similar to Fall, but capitalizes her sentences. She does use emojis — but they’re the autocorrect kind. 😅 At least she can get the point across. Can be a bit crisp and cold with people she views as potential threats.

art source here

* = name of a god, use with caution!

[stargir1z]

hii maybe wrong time to ask this but im moving to london from the north for uni in september !!(albeit on the other side of the river frm csm) i was wondering if you had any good recs for underground clubs/bars or just general underrated spots to visit !!ty if u answer ⭐️🤲🏽

Bro of course!!! i could give a more proper answer if i knew what specifically you wanted but the best rave nights in terms of music and crowd are fetchish net, dionysia, and riposte. for a more chill bar time, you could go to shapes in east, or the sake bar kanpai if you’re ever around peckham. i also love the standard in King’s Cross and the hoxton in holborn for a drink, chilling, studying until late, etc. also there’s a beautiful caffe nero on the water in borough open until 8 or 9.

for art/cultural stuff i love pushkin house, mimosa house, conway hall, reference point, freud museum, and the ica. Prince charles cinema in Leicester Square is genuinely the best cinema but rio cinema in dalston and the whole everyman line (especially screen on the green in angel) are also pretty up there. deeper into movies shows indie films in pubs. reference point is a book shop/library/bar that does chess nights every Wednesday.

foodwise let’s see.. Woo Tea is the best bubble tea shop in London hands down. the best cheap date night is flat iron, great steak for like 12 pounds. best sharing plate style places are jolene in newington green and towpath in haggerston (it’s along the canal!). for italian go di paolo in goodge st or la vita e bella in angel. great cheap udon at marugame, it’s a fast food chain but 5 bucks for a whole lovely soup meal.

the most wholesome place in London is the neighbourhoods around islington (like canonbury, Highbury, De Beauvoir Town) on a sunny Thursday morning.

the most evil place in London is any simmons at any time.

best coffee in King’s Cross is the columbian chain, hermanos. best coffee on the go is gails. It really is..

that’s all i can think of for now. let me know if you have more specific things to know about! ive been eating out and walking a lot recently and would love to share more recs

[iantimony]

i once again am overwhelmed by stupid busywork. Get Me Out

listening: finished the counter/weight prequel eps! feels good to be listening to a friends at the table thing in-time with when they're released, lol. i fully laughed out loud at the heartfelt moment between aria and hymn being interrupted by austin's fucking ice machine. incredible. no notes. "people are gonna go insane about aria in this one" keith you are SO right.

music for the week was the spotify release radar! just gettin some new tunes. i'm thinking of making a playlist that's just the songs that i like from release radar and the at the end of the year i can have a New Of 2024 list, idk. i AM going to try and be more discerning about what things i post, though - it would be very easy to just drop a huge list of all the songs on there that i kinda liked with no commentary but i think it'll be more fun to do fewer songs and actually talk about them, y'know?

philadelphia (matt maltese): feels like a mug of tea. very soft. nostalgic for something i've never seen. travels (rob blivion): really does seem like it should be playing over some indie film montage of someone travelling through mists in the scottish highlands. harsh truths (lemoncello): another indie soundtrack song. i think there's a bass in the background? although in retrospect i think it's a cello. lemoncello. duh. anyways it's very good. burning down the house (paramore): this is SUCH a fun cover. what can't paramore do for real. oh no::he said what? (nothing but thieves): BOUNCY. toe tapper. i am driving down a neon highway at 10000mph. coming home song (sammy rae & the friends): back to wistful and nostalgic. feels a certain kind of way especially right now because i am in the process of finding a new apartment, entirely alone for the first time. jolene (maneskin & dolly parton): speaking of really fun covers, yes yes yes. everything i would have wanted from this.

honorable mention to love me not (emei). i do not like this song particularly. it is stuck in my head though.

reading: fallow.

watching: just like last week: with the boyf, the newest dungeon meshi, i loved the way they animated the mimic. then some kill la kill. we're up to episode 11 now, almost halfway! also went to a superbowl party sunday. basically what you'd expect. fun socializing though.

playing: only had the one dnd last weekend, the one i run! went well. definitely was kinda sleepy and not as focused as i'd like. sigh.

making: mostly fallow...i cut out some of the border pieces for my handsewing project in a nice matching solid blue during the superbowl but have not attached any of it yet. started idly crocheting a rectangular prism-shaped object to use as a mtg deck case.

drew a little birthday card for my grandma i guess? mostly watercolor pencil, some prisma marker for the background. can't be assed to rotate it the right way, sorry, lol

pottery-wise, i did not take pictures but i have some fun interesting stuff in the works! biiiiig pot for my mom (got a little busted. but i think it'll make it). mug. glazing a bowl using sgraffito to carve out some waves (my roommate accidentally dinged the rim and i'm incorporating that into the design). did not take any pictures last week but i'll get some tomorrow for the next tuesdaypost.

eating: my roommate made a truly enormous focaccia in a 9x13 glass baking dish to cut into super bowl party sandwiches. they were delicious and we are still eating them for lunch basically every day. she also made a marinated beef bulgogi-type object, served over rice with veg and a fried egg and some spaghetti squash...yumb.

misc: i can't even be like "i just have to make it through this week" because i know next week will look literally exactly like this one (homework due wednesdays for one class, fridays (plus ANOTHER assignment alternating wednesdays) for the other). really bad vibes. just gotta make it through this week this semester.

[shadowspellchecker]

55. Animal shelter AU

Beth: alright, so the proposal for a 3% increase to the budget didn't make it past the lobby *despite rising kibble prices so backup plans it is for this quarter. Benny—

*funny background event

—get cracking. We're counting on your poker winnings to make up the deficit. Jolene—

"I'll get the anonymous donation forms written up before lunch," the legal consultant drawled, lazily swirling foam circles in her tea.

—*thank you, * competent person. Prioritize your meeting with Commerce Secretary Schneider today though; I want you on him like a pit bull.—

Jolene rolls her eyes—

Now the electrical has to be fixed before adoption week, and as we all know, Alston dropped the ball again. Harry—

Insert confusion all around —

You apprenticed as an electrician for two years before switching to veterinary college. Time to put those skills to use—

"I'm not licensed."

—yeah, don't have the budget to care. Get the overheads off the extension cords yesterday, we have no room for lawsuits. M&M twins!—

They stop muttering suspiciously—

Community outreach. The spay-neuter metrics can hold until Monday, I need you two talking to every news distributor in the county. I'll speak to Townes, get the ball rolling with the papers, but with Margaret on leave you're on your own about the rest. All of you—

Everyone freezes

—should be *delighted (AN: imagine how dry Beth's tone can get. You will fail, but try to anyway) to know that Cleo's Pet Boutique has agreed to work pro bono for the event, so we can hold off on fixing the large breed showers until next week. Pray that Shaibel is back on his feet by then or that the trades union changes their minds about us. Questions? —What is it, Watts?

I know Gibson's Catering has pulled out, but Levertov says the Jewish Community Center would be willing to foot the bill…. Apparently there is a kosher food truck?

—tell him we'll take it. Jolene—

Paperwork coming up.

—Not before lunch. We're in crunch time, so reconvene tomorrow.

[Staff exits]

Beth [to painting on the wall]: How am I doing, Alma?

The Alma Benson House for animals.

[bratshaws]

goodness gracious 35. brb x oc

a/n: *still flipping through my volleyball memories* oh dam n i t i have no idea what im doing

check out the fic's playlist made by the sweet @wiipes !!

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: fluff , Rooster being the supportive boyfriend, mentions of injury but nothing too graphic.

chapters:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30/31/32/33/34

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!!)

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter @shrimping-for-all @gretagerwigsmuse @frenchtoastix

@lizzie-rdj @fanboyluvr @atarmychick007 @comebacktoearthpls

@peachiicherries @mak-32 @lizziespidiepridie @roosterswifey @ollyoxenfrees @piceous21 @sqrlgrl22 @hofficoffi @lexhalstead3 

-

She thought that after the ‘pre-game workout’ Bradley decided to give her after they got back to her house she’d be too exhausted to move. But that was not the case, in fact, she couldn’t sleep. Bradley’s arm held her tightly against his chest, with his face pressed on the back of her neck, his warm breathing heating her skin as he slept peacefully.

Beatrice gently caressed the arm holding her, wishing she could sleep as soundly as he was right now. She tried several things in hopes it’d make her fall into dreamland, from easing her breathing to counting sheep, but something wouldn’t allow her to. She knew it was her anxiety, but she couldn’t elaborate exactly why she was anxious.

The game? That’d be the most obvious answer. They’d be surrounded by random people who wanted to watch them, they’d be facing a professional - albeit infamous now - team of girls younger than they were and it was all part of a charity her former professor created. 

Or maybe it was because Bradley’s leave was coming to an unfortunate end and he wouldn’t be here every day like she got used to. Which is stupid, she’d still see him, it’s not like he was being deployed and she wouldn’t be able to be with him for months….but having him here in her house was really fun. And good. And she didn’t want him to leave. She turned her head partially to check if he was still asleep, smiling sweetly at how relaxed he looked.

She brought up a hand to comb back some of the sleep messed up strands, which made him inhale sleepily and bury his face even more against her neck. Beatrice smiles, moving her face back towards the wall as her smile falters. She was still anxious, so neither of those options were the reason why she was like this.

Beatrice chewed on her lower lip, trying to fall back asleep a few more times without success. Picking up her phone to check the time, she frowned when noticing it was already three in the morning. She had to sleep. With a bit of struggle she removed Bradley’s iron grip around her, reassuring him that she just needed some tea and she’d be right back. He was still sleeping when he complained about her absence, but stopped as soon as she explained where she’d be.

She leaned down to slip on her boyshorts and her large sleeping shirt, walking down the staircase with a heavy sigh. She opened the pet gate, a sound that made Jolene’s head perk up but didn't move from the couch where she was currently lying down. The pitbull however leaped out of the couch when Beatrice turned the kitchen lights on, trying to be as silent as possible as she opened the cabinets to get her Ponyo mug and a chamomile tea bag.

Beatrice supported her head in her hands on the counter as the electric kettle was plugged in, watching the water move slowly inside the clear compartment with her stomach still in knots. Whatever triggered her anxiety was holding onto her with a vengeance, like claws digging deep into her stomach and back. She pushed herself upwards, pacing in a circle inside her kitchen with her hands on her hips, then back to her face, then she just crossed her arms and bounced her legs.

She sighed heavily, continuing to pace until she heard the soft ‘ding!’ of her electric kettle, letting out a quiet ‘thank god’ before she poured the hot water inside her mug. She watched the tea bag float a bit, using a spoon to press it down and squeeze the tea out, the greenish brown color finally taking over the mug.  But she still had to wait because it was too hot for her to drink it.

She sat down on her table, pushing the mug into the center and then folded her arms over it to place her head on top. Her brown hair spilled on the sides of her arms, covering her face even more as she waited. She didn’t know how long, she even tapped her feet on the floor hoping it’d make the time go by faster.

Jolene stood by her side until she heard someone coming, her tail wagging as she ran up to greet Bradley, who petted her head in a greeting. He stops by the doorframe, seeing Beatrice’s head on top of the table, rubbing his face to get rid of the sleep with a slight frown, ‘Babe.” he calls in his sleep toned voice, but Beatrice doesn’t move. He steps into the kitchen to crouch by her side, gently touching her arm “Babe-” Beatrice jumps and snaps her head up, which in turn startles him as well, both of them with wide eyed stares.

“Brad!I–” she sighs, covering her face with both hands, “I’m sorry,I didn’t hear you.”

Bradley frowns, tsking to himself as he grabs her hands from her face, standing to his full height and pulling her out of the chair. She just blinks at him, watching him sit down then bring her to his lap. She hummed, dropping her head on the curve of his shoulder, “What woke you up?”

“Nothing…”

“Doesn’t look like nothing.” he replies, his eyes still blinking hard trying to get the sleep out “Are you okay?” she just makes a noise, then shrugs, “Baby, talk to me.”

“I’m anxious.”

“About the game?”

“...I don’t know.” she replies honestly, because she truly doesn’t know why she’s so anxious, tucking her arms between her chest and his while his own hands touch her thighs and her back, keeping her steady on top of him, “I just…couldn’t sleep.”

Bradley’s chest expands as he sighs, but his lips drop on top of her head, hugging her close to him as she just relaxes her body. He doesn’t know how long she’s been awake, especially after they got back from…the car…and he wore her out a bit more, he expected her to fall asleep as quickly as he did. She sighed against his chest, making Bradley look down at her, it was like he could feel her anxiety seeping out of her with how much she seemed to fidget in his hold.

He lifted his eyes to the Ponyo mug with the steam floating above it, “You made yourself tea?” she nods, holding onto him as he reaches for the mug handle, bringing it closer and blowing on it so it’d cool down faster. Beatrice just watches through her hair as her boyfriend, her amazing and so sweet boyfriend, cools her tea down while holding her.

“You can go back to bed, if you want.” she murmurs, cheek pressed on his left pectoral, “I’ll just have my tea then go.”

Bradley just chuckles softly, “I can stay. I don’t mind.” he replies, swirling the leaf water inside the mug watching the steam get less prominent until he felt it was good enough for her to drink it. “There you go.” She thanks him, cupping the mug with both hands and sitting straighter so no hot water would land on either of them. Bradley hugs her with both of his arms now, propping his chin on her shoulder as he watches her carefully sip her warm beverage with her eyes focused somewhere else.

He nuzzles her neck, pressing little kisses to the skin while she drinks her tea, his own body begging for more rest but he doesn't want to leave her alone while she’s trying to calm down. He knows she hates when she gets like this, when her anxiety topples over her own thoughts and she doesn’t know what to do. She told him how she’d always hide herself instead of letting someone else help her deal with it, that she’d eventually calm down and go back to normal.

Which to him was out of the question, he wasn’t going to leave her alone like that.

She finishes her tea and places the mug back on the table, dropping her head on his shoulder, “Feeling better?” She takes a few seconds to reply, but she nods against his neck, “I wish I could beat your anxiety for you, then you wouldn’t have to deal with it so often.”

That made a laugh break out of her, “I’d like that.” she replies quietly, closing her eyes as she inhales his scent with her shoulders relaxing, “Thanks for staying.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” he says softly, pressing a sweet kiss on her cheek then another on her forehead when she lifts her head from his neck, her eyelids drooping as she tried hard to keep them open, “I think we should go back to bed now, yeah?” she yawns quietly, blinking her eyes open when Rooster just picks her up bridal style and carries her out of the kitchen.

“Yeah…” she says with her voice thick with sleep, “Cause I don’t think… I can be awake much longer.”

Bradley smiles down at her as he walks up the stairs, looking down at how she was trying so hard to keep her eyes open “You won’t.” He says, gently lowering her on the bed and smiling even more when she nuzzles the pillow, “God you are so cute.” 

Beatrice hums tiredly, reaching her arm back when he lies down behind her, wrapping it back around her waist as he was doing before she got out of bed minutes ago. She smiles with her eyes closed, feeling his lips press a trail of kisses from her neck to her cheek, smiling against her skin as she pushes her back against him, “Careful, I thought you wanted to sleep?”

Beatrice giggles, leaning her head back to kiss him, “I’m just getting comfortable.” she says against his lips, “I promise.” she drops her head back down to the pillow, her smaller hands touching his as he feels her breathing start to even out.

He leans over her shoulder to check, breathing out in relief when she’s finally in a deep slumber. Bradley drops one last kiss to her cheek, hugging her closer to his chest before he too falls asleep, breathing in her lavender scent.

-

The two of them overslept, which was fine considering how late they eventually fell back asleep. Bradley made sure Bea was alright during the morning time, she said she felt better but it was probably the nerves of playing the game messing with her a bit and that hopefully it’d pass until they left.

Unfortunately, it didn’t pass.

Bradley drove them to the gymnasium where the game was going to happen, with Beatrice chewing the side of her thumb as she looked at the tall building and the parked cars around it, there were a lot of people going inside. The others were already there, Phoenix lifting her hand in a greeting when she saw the blue Bronco rolling into a park not far from them. “Okay,” he turns to Bea, who still looks worried, “You’ll do fine.”

Beatrice smiles softly, “I’ll do my best.” she leans closer to him to press a kiss to his lips, one he deepened just enough to make her squeak in surprise. She pulls back with her cheeks stained red, but she has a little smile on her face, cupping his cheeks to peck him one last time, “I’ll see you after, okay?” 

“Give ‘em hell, angel.” he coos, getting out of the car at the same time she did, following her with his eyes until she met Shells at a side door that led inside. She looked over her shoulder before entering, giving him a little wave and the same nervous smile, but he waved back, leaning his arm over the roof of his car until the door closed behind the two. He locks his car then, shoving his keys in his back pocket to meet the group of officers right before the main doors.

He couldn’t really stop himself when he saw Cyclone and his wife talking to Mav and Penny, the vice-admiral looking up from Pete to meet Rooster’s eyes, “Sir.” he nods, to which Cyclone nods back.

“Bradshaw.”

“Excited for the game,sir?”

Cyclone inhaled quietly, looking back at the double doors then at his wife, who gave him a small smile, “Yes. Yes I am.” Cyclone’s wife, who reached the vice-admiral’s shoulder with how tall she was, says they are both happy to see their daughter again. Bradley took notice that Evelyn looked exactly like the mix of the two of them, it was hard to figure out who she looked more like.

“We were just waiting for you.” Mav said, clapping the younger pilot on the shoulder “Let’s get inside, the girls said our seats are numbered and saved up.” and there were already a lot of people coming inside so they had to step up. There was a large banner with the words ‘NORTHRIDE COLLEGE CHARITY MARATHON! GO HYENAS!’ hanging over their heads as they walk through the green colored double doors, the picture of a snarling hyena printed right beside it. He had never heard of a college having a hyena as a mascot, but he couldn’t say he didn’t find it interesting.

Once they reached the inside court where the game was going to take place, he whistled low at the sheer amount of people. Some of them  were even standing up since they were running out of room in the back bleachers, leaning on the walls or even sitting on the window sills. Since they were a large group, it was hard to walk through the crowd, Bradley even had to stare down a group of nineteen year old boys who didn’t seem to notice they were holding the way.

The main boy, who barely reached his chest, tried to talk back but immediately paled when he noticed he was not only shorter than Bradley, he was also extremely skinny compared to the pilot’s musculature. He squeaked out an apology, telling his friends to move out of the way so they could pass. “Teenagers.” he heard Payback say behind him, “We were all like that once.”

“I wasn’t an idiot.” Bradley mutters, sitting on the left side of the bleachers, the one where he saw a bunch of kids with the Northride red and blue jerseys seated in front of them. Beatrice said her professor wanted a neutral ground for the game, but it seems like the students from Northride had other ideas, deciding to show their support for the college. 

He rested his arms on his knees, looking down at his watch to check the time. They still had fifteen minutes before the game began. “She’ll do fine.” he hears Maverick say right by his side, he had no idea when he moved so close since he was one of the last in line when they got in.

“I know.” he replies, “She’s been very nervous about this game for days.”

“It’s normal, it’s not something she’s used to doing.”

The cacophony of voices around them made it harder to talk normally, so he had to raise his voice just a bit, “I know, I told her that too. I honestly just want her to have fun.” he didn’t want Beatrice to beat herself up if they didn’t win - he knows the pressure is on considering the amount of Northride students and staff around the gymnasium - hoping she’d take the time to enjoy herself more than anything.

While talking to Mav, he couldn’t help but drag his eyes to the opposite team bleachers, seeing a group of about ten girls sitting next to each other, wearing light colored polo shirts and beige shorts, all of them with the same unamused stare on their faces looking into their phones as they waited. There was also a woman in, dare he say it, a very Karen haircut and long manicured white nails right in front of the group of girls, sometimes looking back to talk to the blonde one in the middle.

The blonde one still looked unamused, gesturing to the woman then back at court before going back to her phone. The Karen lady just huffed once she turned her back, pulling out her phone to talk to someone. He didn’t know why, but he felt like that lady would be a problem…he hoped not, honestly.

An older gentleman wearing a colorful shirt and a bright red suit, alongside a blue bow tie stepped in the middle of the court. The group of Northride students and personnel erupted with cheers, clapping as the older man fixed the microphone in his hand, “Thank you,” he tried to say, clearing his throat when the Northride got even louder “Thank you! Thank you,” he gestured for them all to lower their voices, which they did eventually, “Thank you everyone for coming to the Northride Charity Marathon, day three! It’s an honor to have all of you here!”

The older gentleman fixed his large glasses, chuckling when another row of ‘woos!’ came from around the gymnasium, “ My name is Professor Joseph Richards–”

“I love you Joe!” a voice shouts, erupting a laugh from the whole crowd.

“Yes, thank you Mr.Wilcox, I appreciate it…My name is Professor Joseph Richards and I’ve been responsible for the Northride Charity marathon for ten years. Well,for those who don’t know, Northride has been doing the charity marathon ever since 1984 and for the first time in thirty-eight years, we’ve added more sports to it!” He looks back at the doors where the teams would walk in before going back to the audience. 

He gives a short explanation as to why they are doing this marathon and who they’d help during the two weeks they’d keep the marathon going. “Now, without further ado, may the teams enter the court!” Prof.Richards walks out of the court and the doors that kept the teams separated open finally.

The Northride crowd deafen everyone else when the girls step into court, wearing the red and blue volleyball uniforms with the snarling hyena printed on the side. Evelyn walks out first with the number 1 slapped in the middle of her chest and underlined by a white line, “Evelyn!! Honey! Here!!” Cyclone’s wife calls, waving her arm vigorously in hopes the woman would notice. She does, immediately cringing and giving her mother a quick wave before she steps closer to the net.

The other girls follow soon after, with Bea being the last one. While the others had their uniform in red with royal blue stripes, Beatrice’s was royal blue with red stripes on the sides, the number four on the back of her shirt. He couldn’t help but smile at her, proudly so, as she walked into court. She looked terrified but she was trying to put on a brave face, looking back into the crowd and meeting his eyes.

Bradley winked at her and smiled, her face immediately relaxed and a whole new aura surrounded her. She nodded at him with a thankful grin, before she leaned down to fix her black knee pads. Would it be weird to say she looked good? No, he was her boyfriend. He could say that, he could say she looked really good. 

When he looked back to the other team he couldn’t help but notice how they looked like a perfect match with the group of girls seated on the opposite bleachers. Their uniforms were light blue and yellow and he hated how they laughed to each other when looking back at Bea’s team.

Meanwhile, Evelyn looked down at the other team captain as the blonde girl approached the net with a smug smirk, “Old timer.” she greets, her group of vultures coming right behind, “So you still think you can win?”

Evelyn dropped her gaze to look at the other girl from top to bottom, arching one of her eyebrows, “I think we’ll do a good job.”

“Oh, ohhh, did you guys hear that?” the girl says to her friends, “How cute. Aren’t you all nearing menopause? Shouldn’t you be resting at home?”

Shells narrowed her eyes, “What did you say you little bit–” Evelyn stops Shells from stepping closer with a hand on her chest, pushing the blonde back enough so the others could hold her back if needed. 

Evelyn breathed in slowly, “It’d be interesting and hilarious if you all lost to women nearing their menopause as you say?” she asks in a cool tone, watching how the other team captain just narrows her eyes, and is ready to reply but Evelyn steps close enough to the net that it seems she’d bump her head against the other girl’s, “Focus on playing your game, we’ll focus on ours.”

The blonde girl scoffs, flipping her braided ponytail as she walks away with her little troupe. Beatrice approaches Evelyn, both women looking back at the group of young players with a frown, “Ev,” she begins, “Do you think we can win this?”

Evelyn inhales deeply, fixing the headband on her head then her high bun, “I think we are going to make them regret they were even born.” she snarls, “Let’s get settled.”

The referee calls for each team captain to step forward, but before he could flip the coin, the team captain asks for the mic. Evelyn furrows her eyebrows, looking between her and Prof.Richards who confusedly hands her the microphone, “Before we win this game!” the girl’s annoying voice echoes around them, already earning some boos from the Northride students, “I just want to say we are honored to be doing this for our sorority, Kappa Beta Rho!” she points to the group of girls seated on the opposite bleachers.

The blonde girl in the middle just stares, then rolls her eyes before going back to her phone, “This is for you sisters! KAPPA BETA RHO!” The silence that followed was so heavy you could hear people snickering on the bleachers, the Karen haired lady however clapped and cheered for the girl screaming ‘you are doing great honey!!’ 

Evelyn crosses her arms, waiting for the girl to get back in front of her, “Tails,” she says, smirking when the blonde team captain just narrows her eyes.

“I was going to choose tails.”

“You should've made your little speech shorter then.” Evelyn smirks, hearing the referee flip the coin and both girls tilted their heads up to follow it. They watched as it fell to the ground, rolling to a stop with the tails facing upwards. Evelyn smirks even more, giving the girl an innocent shrug as she grabs the ball from the referee.

Evelyn backs further into their side of the court, tossing the ball to Beatrice who grabs with a furrow on her brow, “You can do it.” She heard Carmen say from her side, rubbing the brunette’s arm for courage, “You aren’t nicknamed Torpedo for nothing.”

Beatrice could only give her a little laugh, even if her nerves were ready to roll out on the surface. Smell the flower, blow the candle. She was nervous, the libero on the other team looked like one of her bullies in high school and that didn’t help either, even if there was no way they’d be related it still brought memories she wished to forget right about now.

“I can do it.” she whispered to herself, clenching her eyes, ‘I can do it.”

Give ‘em hell,angel.

She inhaled deeply one last time, soon after hearing the referee blow the whistle, and opened her eyes to meet the libero on the other side’s gaze. The smirk on the other libero’s  face disappeared when Beatrice spiked the ball towards their side with a force no one from the other team could expect, the one girl with pigtails fell to her knees trying to bump the ball but she couldn’t manage to keep the tallying going and the ball fell on their side of the court.

“YES!” Bradley shouts, “That's my girl!” Of course he’s not the only one celebrating, the other officers joined in alongside the Northride students and a few other people from the crowd. He knew it was one point, but it was his girlfriend who scored it! He hooked his fingers into his mouth and whistled, smiling wider when Beatrice looked his way with her face into such a lovely shade of red he almost leapt out of the bleachers to kiss her. “That’s my fucking girl!”

While it was a great start, the other team was indeed vicious. Both teams were fast, which made for an interesting game seeing the ball tally back and forth before hitting the court on each side. Everytime the Kappa girls would score a point, they’d get loud and right on the girls’ faces, one of them even tried to talk something to Shells but didn’t expect the blonde to puff up her chest and call on her shit.

They were provocative and held little to no respect for their adversaries, Bradley could see them saying something through the net to whoever was closer hoping it’d be a good distraction for them to win the game. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, sometimes he was sure Shells would leap to the other side and beat one of the Kappa players, but she’d be held back by either Bea or Evelyn.

The score kept going higher, they had to make it to 25 to win this game and he couldn’t help but be a ball of nerves watching. He made sure to be very vocal whether Beatrice managed to score a point or not, because he really didn’t want her to stress too much about this game. It wasn’t official or anything like that, the money the game would gather would still be there with them winning or not.

When the score hit 24-24, it was like the whole gymnasium was surrounded by a thick warm fog, the Northride students and personnel were the most vocal, chanting “Try as you might, the Hyenas are gonna bite!” over and over while the sorority girls from the other side remained silent, even with the Karen woman looking back and trying to make them chant something in return. Everyone else in the gymnasium were random people with no connection to either teams, the people just cheered on whoever scored a point.

But back at court, Evelyn looked back at the score while panting heavily, “Jesus Christ,” she whispers, looking back at the girls, “Okay, we better do something about this. We need one more point to win this game.” the other girls nod, “They talk a big fucking game but we are match to match. We can win this.”

It was the Kappa team's turn to serve. When the ball hit it was like everything moved in slow motion, the Northride alumni could only watch as the ball got closer, passing by Evelyn’s head and right to Jennifer, who bumped the ball around to the others spiking it back to the other team only for it to be saved up by the girl with pigtails. They were full on rabid right now, demanding a win from the so called old timers and being a lot more brutal than needed.

When the Kappa team faked a spike, Evelyn couldn’t block it when it passed the net, widening her eyes as the ball went past their heads and towards the edge of Bea’s corner. Beatrice wasted no time and dove into a dig, hitting the ball before it touched the ground but yelping out in pain when her ankle felt like it was electrocuted. She got over it quickly, following the ball with her eyes as it reached Evelyn who immediately spiked over the opposite side.

The score turned. 24-25. They won.

The whole gymnasium erupted in cheers, the Northride chanting getting so loud they couldn’t hear anything else. Beatrice slowly rose to her feet with wide eyes, “We won?” arms wrapped around her body as the girls hugged her tightly, “We won?”

“HELL YEAH! HELL FUCKING YEAH!” Shells screamed, rushing to the net and smirking wildly at the Kappa team shocked faces, “FUCK YEAH! FUCK YEAH WE FUCKING WON YOU LITTLE SHITS!! WE WON!!” Shells cackling couldn’t be stopped, she was bouncing on the same spot, loving how the other girls looked absolutely dumbfounded that they lost the game.

Beatrice could hear Bradley’s voice through the shouting, looking back at the officers with a smile as her boyfriend kept shouting “THAT’S MY GIRL!!” while clapping his hands, he looked so proud of her. He walked down the bleachers when everyone did so he could congratulate her properly, Beatrice broke off the hug to step forward, only to shout out in pain and lean on Eliza as her ankle throbbed when she put her weight on it.

She looked down at her foot, the pain now pulsating to the point she couldn’t move, “What’s wrong?” Eliza asks, looking down at her friend’s sock covered ankle and frowning “Did you twist it?”

“I don’t know!” the brunette replies, talking louder because of the cheering around them, hissing in pain when she tries to twirl the appendage. Bradley’s smile dropped when he noticed how Bea was leaning on her friend with her foot up in the air, immediately speeding up his step until he was right inside the court.

“What happened?” he asks her friend who leads Beatrice to lean on the wall.

“I think she twisted her ankle on that dig,” she says, helping Beatrice on removing her sneaker and sock, sucking the air through her teeth when she could see the damage. While it wasn’t very swollen, it was very red, “Damn, that looks nasty. You should have it checked up.”

Beatrice looked down at her ankle with a frown, “Should I put ice on it?”

“I think you should go to the hospital and check if you didn’t break anything,first.” Eliza says, sliding the black sock back on her foot but not the sneaker before looking up at Bradley, “Can you take her? I’ll accompany you to your car.”

“Of course, come on gorgeous.” he places her arm over his shoulder while he picks her up bridal style, entering the doors that lead to the locker rooms with her friend guiding them forward. He looks down at Beatrice, who clenches her eyes in a wince, “Don’t move your foot.”

“I’m not.” she says, wincing again, ‘It’s just really hurting.” they use the locker rooms as a way out so he wouldn’t have to carry Beatrice through that crowd. Seeing Bea in pain, even if it was just a sprained ankle - hopefully - really bothered him. He could feel her hands dig on the back of his shirt whenever the pain intensified. 

He kissed her forehead, assuring they were almost there, the blue Bronco appearing on his line of sight finally. Rooster gently lowered Beatrice to lean on her good foot as he opened the back doors, his girlfriend whimpering as she sat down, keeping her leg straight and elevated by the jacket she came with, folded right under her calf.

“Hey!” they heard a voice call, ‘What’s going on?”

“Bea twisted her ankle!”

“WHAT??” hurried footsteps got closer until Shells panting form materialized right next to Bradley and Eliza, “Babes, are you okay?” Beatrice gave the blonde a weak thumbs up while adjusting herself on the seat. Soon enough, the whole team and the officers surrounded the Bronco to check what was happening, Mav crouching down to gently prod Beatrice’s ankle and frown, feeling the flesh swell even more.

“Yeah, you better take her to the hospital,” he says, looking back at a worry stricken Bradley, “Hopefully it’s just the ligaments, nothing worse than that.” Maverick looks back at the brunette with a smile, “You’ll be okay.”

Beatrice wanted to believe it, but the pain was so severe she couldn’t really speak. Bradley talked to everyone on the outside as she tried to not whimper in pain at every second, closing the passenger door so he could take his place on the driver seat.

 As he drove off, Beatrice watched as the Kappa team approached Evelyn with a Karen haired woman right behind them, the woman seemed to be the one gesturing and talking the most, but soon enough they were too far away for Beatrice to see anything else. She’d send them a message later to check what was going on before they left, because right now she couldn’t really focus.

-

“The good news Ms.Schiavoni,” the male doctor said, looking up at her x-ray as she was seated on a hospital bed with Bradley right by her side, “Is that you didn’t break anything, but you did tear some ligaments. It’s not worrying enough to undergo surgery, but you do need to rest.”

Beatrice frowns, looking down at her bandaged foot, ‘For how long?”

The doctor hums, still looking at her x-ray, “Well, in your case I’d say two to three weeks. Avoid standing for too long,strenuous activities too, keep your foot elevated and use ice for 15 to 20 minutes.”

“Two to three?? But, c-can’t I just get some meds and get this done with?” Both the doctor and Bradley gave her a look, one she sheepishly avoided, ‘It’s…because of my job and…such…”

“Penny isn’t going to complain about it, Bea.” Bradley says, holding her hand in his “She’ll understand.” his girlfriend didn’t seem convinced, but she nodded, squeezing his hand, “Does she need any medication or something?”

“If the pain gets too bad, she can take ibuprofen.” the doctor says while writing it down on his notepad, ripping the page and handing it to Bradley, “But overall, she’s healthy as she can be, just do keep an eye on her so she won’t overexert herself.”

“Will do.” The doctor leaves the little room after giving Bradley the notes for her medication and he turns towards Beatrice who is just glaring at her bandaged foot, “Hey,” she looks up at him, her lower lip jutted out “Baby…it’s not that bad. Could be much worse, you could’ve broken a bone.”

“I just..I don’t know what I’m going to do for three weeks Brad. I’m going to go insane.” she replies, “I’m used to keeping myself occupied with the bar and the dance classes and taking Jojo out for walks. I’ll have to stay immobile for so long! Not to mention, my room is in a loft, I’ll have to go up stairs.”

Bradley sighs, sitting next to her on the little bed as she just glares down at her foot. He chewed his lower lip, considering his words, “Well…there’s another option.” she stares at him with confusion, “You could stay with me. You and Jojo.”

Her eyes widened, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, “Brad-you- I,” he arches his eyebrows amusedly, waiting for her to finish, “You–you can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Well! Because…you-you have your job!You can’t worry about me like that, a-and Jojo!” she says, gesturing to herself “You know?”

Bradley purses his lips, looking down at his clasped hands between his legs, “Hm…that’s not good enough of a reason,” she makes a distraught noise, earning a laugh out of him, “I’ll take Jojo on walks until you get better, you can play on my ps4 if you feel bored and…well, I can think of many ways of passing the time so you won’t go, as you said, insane.”

“...Bradley, the doctor said no strenuous activities.” she replies with a heavy blush, trying to hold back her smile, “I think that counts as one.”

“He also said keep your leg elevated, and I know how to do that–” she gasps loudly, smacking him on the shoulder while looking out the door the doctor just left. Rooster just chuckles, kissing her on the cheek, “I’m serious though. I don’t mind taking care of you until you can get back on your feet…literally.”

Beatrice smiles softly, looking down at their joined hands, “...are you sure?”

“I am.”

“You won’t regret it?”

Bradley snorts gently, tucking a strand of hair that slid out of her ponytail, “Never.” he replies, earning a brilliant smile from the brunette who nodded in reply, cupping his cheeks and bringing their lips together in a kiss.

[silverjansims]

Generation 2: Darling Fairy Tales

Second Tale: Autumn Adventures

Dana Darling and I, Sophie Rodgers would like to welcome you all back to their home in Lucky Palms for some 'Spooky Day' celebrations. Come dressed in your best costumes and enjoy some great holiday food prepared by Dana. For those of you who are interested here's some fairy dust so that you can join me in my garden fairy house for a fun 'Fairy Tea Party'. Looks like Dana has finished loading our most recent photos on her laptop and is leaving it on the kitchen table so that you can all look at them in between the party games.

First up is this lovely picture of a nice rainbow that Dana and I saw after one of the many rainfalls during this autumn season.

The next two photos are from Dana's trip to France when she delivered one of her books to Berthe Girard who had been wanting to add one of her novels to her collection. While on her five day trip there, Dana helped local Jolene Montague by taking the picture she needed for her passport. Dana also returned Jean-Luc Beaumont's lost baseball that the special merchant had been hanging on to for some reason. Even though she didn't have to, Dana decided to explore the Forgotten Burial Ground tomb anyways since there were no other exciting adventures at the time. Dana hopes to get better missions on her next trip when she delivers a book on the 'History of Nectar' making she found in the caretaker's cottage to Caroline Girard who is the town's special merchant.

No matter where she goes, Dana likes to draw in her sketchbook. Wonder what inspiration she's getting in one of the local inn's bathroom

Back home, both Dana and Sophie enjoyed a fun Spooky Day outing to the festival where Dana won the apple bobbing contest. In the photo below, Sophie was triumphant in the blueberry pie eating contest and is sporting a blue-stained face. After collecting their prizes, the two BFF's took a greeting card picture together with Sophie still wearing her blueberry pie face.

If you ever need a soundproof place to sleep, Dana recommends their reconstructed sarcophagus or a fairy house, since neither she nor Sophie heard the burglar alarm go off and slept through almost the whole ordeal. Thankfully this nice police officer arrested the would-be thief before he could take anything.

With the winter season coming on, Sophie got herself a new winter outfit to wear outside. Dana is waiting until the first snowfall to get her winter clothes out.

Dana ended the autumn season by carving one of the pumpkins she picked at the festival.

This almost wraps things up for our visit, it's time for Dana and I (Sophie) to head to bed for the night. We leave you with our postcard picture from the Fall Festival. Have a great weekend.

Dana & Sophie

[thenukacolachallenge]

Send me a 💿+ oc and I’ll list five songs that remind me of them

ALL OF THEM DIA

GOOSE YOU RASCAL LMAO (tysm for the ask <3)

Cash: God's Gonna Cut You Down - Johnny Cash Valerie - Amy Winehouse S.O.B. - Daniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats Ain't No Grave - Reckless Mercy Jolene - Dolly Parto

Coco: Invite Only - Great Dane Rose - A Perfect Circle Ilyena - The Mars Volta Always and Never - Coheed and Cambria New Life - King Yager ft. Maris

Calli: Runaway - Halcyon Birthday Cake - Cibo Matto All You Wanted - Michelle Branch Breathe In - Frou Frou Hey Brother - Avicii

Izzy: Look What You Made Me Do - Taylor Swift Bad At Love - Halsey Problem - Natalia Kills I - Kendrick Lamar Thot Shit - Megan Thee Stallion

Sai: Cute Little Tea House In The Mountains - JHFLY Session - Linkin Park 13 - Low Roar Starborne Valley Trail - Paper Mario 64 OST Doctor - Homestuck OST AND BONUS BOYOS!!!!

Sascha: Industry Baby - Lil Nas X ft. Jack Harlow Senior Skip Day - Mac Miller Sweatpants(Battle Tapes Remix) - Childish Gambino/Battle Tapes Fight - Pain DAYWALKER! - Machine Gun Kelly ft. CORPSE

Aten: Lights Out(Bass Boosted Version) - EVILMANE Heartless - The Weeknd The Package - A Perfect Circle Death of a Bachelor - Panic At the Disco Tourniquet Man - The Mars Volta

AND as a friendly reminder, i have a masterpost of all my OCs’ playlists here!

[remmushound]

Curse of the Clans part 36! @brightlotusmoon @selfindulgenz @scentedcandlecryptid

Content warning!! Physical attack, restraint, cursing

SMACK!

April woke up to a solid, heavy thud. It took her a moment to recognize her own room; it was her first night staying in her house for almost three weeks. Every time her parents would go away on their business, the house would be too quiet for her to want to stay in it very long. But now the lair was just as quiet, and with her brothers gone, she didn't want to spend much time there either. It just made her sad. Her conflict with Splinter and Cassandra served to make things worse.

SMACK!

That sound came again, and this time her head snapped immediately to the window. Another impact, and another. A steady, drumming sound. April slid out of bed and into her slippers, slowly approaching the window and pulling back the darkened blinds. Surely the brothers couldn’t be back so soon?

April gave a shout and fell away as another projectile was launched at the window and smacked against it. Was that a rock? Quickly, she scrambled back over to the window and peered outside. Then she opened the window, just barely ducking her head in time to dodge another rock. She slowly peeked back over the windowsill and threw her arms open.

“What the hell Casey?!”

“Sorry!” Cassandra called back from the streets, “You opened the window!”

“No shit, Jones!” April snarled back, and then fell to a weak laugh. “What are you doing throwing rocks at my house at…” She checked the time, “Two in the morning?”

“Come down!” Sunita called up; she was in her human form, which hadn’t changed at all in the years April knew her. Skin a shade darker than April’s own, and hair of ink pulled tight again her scalp in braids.

“Not tonight, yall.” April leaned on her window sill and gave a tired smile.

“What?” Cassandra scoffed in an exaggerated fashion, “Why not?!”

“I have a headache.” Was April’s excuse; she didn't have one, but she certainly didn't feel good. She just couldn’t exactly pin point what part of her body it was that ached.

“I have ibuprofen!” Cassandra held up her purse.

“Good night, girls.” April closed the window.

***

“Well, that stinks.” Sunita put a hand on her hip as she turned to face the shorter Cassandra. “Should we knock again?”

Cassandra considered. She gave a smile that was undetectable due to her mask and cracked her fingers and neck. “I have a better idea~”

***

April was more than happy to enjoy the warm, weighted embrace of her comforter, hugging her childhood teddy bear to beckon sleep to return to her faster. With her injuries, this was shaping up to be the most boring summer of her life! But to be fair, the promise of a simple, normal summer of relaxation definitely appealed to her, no matter how far out of her reach she knew it was. A girl could always dream, right?

April’s body shuttered. It told her to open her eyes, and when she did it was like her worst nightmares came true, though for only a moment before her mind caught up with the fear in her heart and recognized the silhouettes standing over her like villains in the night.

“Casey? Sunita? What are you—?”

Cassandra grabbed April around her waist and hoisted the teen over her shoulder.

“Casey! Put me down!” April growled and kicked her legs, but Cassandra only laughed.

“Sunita— help me! Get her legs!” Cassandra howled, and Sunita hurried to restrain April’s legs while Cassandra supported her front, both of them holding April between them like a hammock. “You’re coming to girls night April!”

They started to carry April toward the open window. April’s initially startled screams slowly turned to laughter. She still struggled, but her actions were more playful than anything. They stopped at the window, though Cassandra had already climbed out of it.

“She ain’t got no shoes, get her shoes!” Cassandra laughed.

Sunita’s arm turned from human back to its slime form and extended out to grab April’s shoes and a pair of socks. Cassandra forced April’s feet still so Sunita could put her shoes on, and then they continued out the window and into the fire escape.

“Guys— I need a mask!” April laughed.

“Got one!” Cassandra reached into her purse and pulled out a blue mask, fixing it over April’s mouth and nose while still carrying her with one arm. Down the fire escape they went, and only when their feet had touched the ground did they put April down.

“Are you proud of yourselves?” April huffed, putting her hand on her hip.

“Very.” Cassandra smirked.

“You could at least have let me get dressed!” April laughed, “I can’t go out for girls night in my PJs!”

“Why not?” Sunita asked innocently.

“Cause It's not proper for a social setting!” April scoffed.

Sunita was quiet for a time before whispering, “Humans are so weird…”

“Oh yeah. Forgot you’re a slime dude.” Cassandra turned to face April, “You’ll be fine! It’s not like we’re going drinking! You’re not old enough; believe me, I’ve checked.”

“Then what are we doing?” April asked, genuine curiosity seeping into her voice.

***

The trio got close enough to see the mutant hippo known as Hypno Ron wandering the shadows of the streets; he didn't seem to have a care in the world as to being spotted. After all, he could always just Mesmer any human to forget! April wasn’t so keen on how reckless the mutant was being, but Cassandra locked on to the hippo almost immediately from the rooftops.

“Oh! Oh! I got this one!” Cassandra cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, it was in a heavy accent; her best attempt at mocking the way Hypno spoke. “Oh oh, deary me! I simply have to find a tiny suit for my tiny worm friend for our anniversary! How am I ever going to find one in time to enjoy tiny tea cakes and orange peels with the lovely Warren Stone?”

“Orange peels?” April scrunched up her nose.

“What? Worms taste with their body.” Cassandra shrugged.

“Oh! There’s one!” Sunita spotted the next mutant, Repo Mantis, buzzing around. She dropped her voice low and raspy. “Rrrrr. I just know there’s a birthday cake to repo ‘round here somewhere. That three-year old’s hiding well, but I’ll sniff em out with my sniffer.” Sunita made exaggerated sniffle motions that made April and Cassandra almost fall over laughing.

“This one’s mine!” April claimed a few buildings down when they spotted the mutant prairie dog wandering an alleyway, her nose twitching in the search for decent morsels. April didn't know her name, so she had to improvise, clearing her throat. “Can I dig here? Noooo this isn’t a good place for digging? Here? Maaaaybe not? Here? No. Man, none of these places are good for digging!”

Sunita and Cassandra were covering their mouths trying to keep their laughter to a minimum. The prairie dog seemed to hear them anyway, looking up from her curious search to twitch her ears in search of the noises.

The girls all ducked down low to hide from her sight, all covering their mouths and their snickers until the suspicions had died down. Then, at Cassandra’s command, all three of them peeked back over the edge and down at the mutant as she continued her work.

“Ohhhh the voices are back!” April carried on, this time in a lower whisper, “Hm? However will I pass the time? I know!” she cleared her throat and started to sing in her mock accent. “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene! I’m begging of you please don’t take my man! Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeene! I’m singing this song just because I caaaaan!”

The prairie dog looked up again. “Did someone call me?”

That made the trio of girls fall apart laughing until their sides hurt and they felt like they might be sick if they laughed any harder. Through the next hour, they found more and more people to mock from afar, both mutants and humans, but after the hour had passed, April was starting to feel completely exhausted. The constant running and laughing made the soreness of her side ache even worse, and now her head really was hurting, and her stomach too.

“Sorry gals.” She told the two of her friends when she felt her body couldn’t hold out any longer. “Really gotta turn in for the night.”

“What?” Cassandra groaned, and Sunita seemed disappointed, “Come on! We still got two hours before the sun comes up!

“And I really should be spending it sleeping.” April sighed, “But I had a really good time! I’ll see you in the morning, girls?”

“Do you want us to walk you home?” Sunita asked softly.

“No, no, don’t trouble yourselves!” April waved her hand, “I know you two are having fun, and I can handle myself.”

“Are you sure?” Cassandra asked, “It’s no trouble…”

“It’s fine! I grew up with the turtles, I can handle myself!”

“If you say so…”

“I’ll be fine. Really.” April tried to reassure.

“At least take my knife.” Cassandra said, giving the long blade over to April, “I feel bad for abducting you without your bat.”

“You don’t have to do that.” April said.

“I want to!” Cassandra beamed. “Besides, I’ll just come back and get it in the morning! No big whoop.”

“Well then… thank you.” April turned the knife over in her hands a few times. “I promise I’ll give it back.”

April found where she was by checking the nearest street signs. She wasn’t more than a few blocks from home. The streets would be far easier to traverse than the buildings; as much as she had trained with the brothers, she never did quite get the hang of building jumping. That’s why Donatello had his special seat in his armor just for her! Thinking of Donatello, April felt a sudden sadness wash over her. She missed his sarcastic voice, his dramatic flare, his simple presence!

When she was out of view of Cassandra and Sunita, the first thing April did was let herself finally release the bile that had been churning her stomach for the past ten minutes, and she felt a lot better when the vomit was outside instead of in. Then she started to cry immediately after, but she didn't know why. She missed Donatello, sure, but enough to cry? And though her head hurt it wasn’t the agonizing, ripping headaches that usually plagued her, so it wasn’t the pain. Maybe it was just a bit of everything mixed into one, and that was why she felt so… not good. She wanted to feel better, and maybe crying could help that! It wasn’t like she could stop now. Once the tears started to fall, they just got heavier.

The tears fell hard as April entered a shortcut alley. Then she stopped when she saw a man at the other end; a man that looked to be just minding his own business, leaned up against a wall drinking from something within a paper bag. She already had a hunch of what it could be, and she certainly didn't want to cross his path. Not when there was a longer, but safer, path she could take instead. Gripping the knife in her pocket, April started to back away; it was preferable to turning her back on the man. At least, that’s what she thought before she collided with a bigger, heavier weight.

April tried to turn around. Powerful arms wrapped around her, one around her chest holding her in a grip so tight she thought her ribs might break, and another holding a cloth to her mouth. She held her breath for as long as she could, kicking out and trying repeatedly to strike the mans legs and groin, but all she met was muscle and what must have been an athletic cup protecting him. Figures! Just her luck!

When April could hold her breath no longer, she squeezed her eyes shut as the acrid fumes overwhelmed her, followed quickly by darkness.

[feminist-propaganda]

Single Mothers Will Probably Cry During Every Episode Of Queen’s Gambit - Episode 7

“You know, most times when people tell us something’s for the best, it’s for the worst. This time it’s true, okay?”

Alice walks out of the car, and eight year old Beth watches her walk towards a big beautiful home. She knocks on the door and a woman with a child in her arms comes out. The woman tells her it isn’t a good time, but Alice insists. She wants to talk to Paul. Alice tells Paul he was right.

“It’s been five years. You can’t just show up here!”

“I came because I can’t do this”. admits Alice

“I cannot” she continues. “I feel like I am letting her down”.

“Why did you bring her here?” says Paul

“Because I need your help!”

“It’s too late. Please go!”

Beth watches from the car. it’s not the same Beth as the latest episodes, it’s Beth right before the orphanage. It’s car crash Beth. She understands everything. She is aware, lucid. 

Alice walks back to the car, stares at the ground. As the car rushes through the country roads, Beth asks.

“Mama, who was that?”

Alice is crying.  She responds : “A mistake. A rounding error. It’s just a problem I gotta solve. ”

Beth asks: “What problem?”

and Alice responds: “What I do with you”

Lesson 7: Ask For Help

Jolene is the first person in the Episode who comes to offer her support to Beth. She finds the house is dirty, Beth is drinking all day and popping pills. She came because she had already tried to call, and never got an answer. The phone is disconnected. She tells Beth that her Chess instructor from the orphanage died, and she offers that they attend the funeral together.

As they talk in Beth’s room, we finally get some insight into Beth’s thoughts. It’s only with Jolene that she gets this real, this comfortable. She explains that the Chess Federation has a lot of expectations from her (Russia, San Francisco, The Tonight Show). That if she doesn’t do these things, she has nothing else but the drinking. That she wants to quit drinking but she’s afraid.

Beth is caught up in a dilemma you probably struggle with too. Chess forces her to focus and perform, it keeps her off the substances she wants to abuse. But she can’t play Chess all of the time. And Chess also is a competitive sport, so it doesn’t particularly relax her. It might keep her off the drink for a while because she’s studying, getting ready for a tournament. But once the tournament is over, she binges. What’s the way out?

Beth says she feels like she’s erased her brain. What she means is that memories from her childhood, like the memory of her mother asking for help and not getting it, are so overwhelming that she would rather think about anything else than to face that.

Jolene tells her to stop digging and Beth says “Maybe it’s in me! My mother went crazy!”

“Went crazy or always was?” “I don’t know” admits Beth.

“She drink or any such?” asks Jolene. “No never” says Beth.

Jolene to conclude : “She gone”. 

They head to the funeral. But it’s not just the Chess instructor that they are releasing, it’s Beth’s mother. 

To release something you love so much, Beth learns, you have to start by thanking it for what it gave you. 

When Beth is in the car, Jolene tells her about her career, the things she’s studying, what her plan is. She tells Beth as soon as she passes the bar, she’ll leave the firm.

"What I want is what you got” 

Beth glares at her

“You’ve been the best at what you do for so long, you don’t evn know what it’s like for the rest of us”.

I am reminded of the things I wrote in Episode 1. The importance of finding a field that belongs to you and becoming the best at what you do. Challenging yourself and adding to the existing discipline. Beth thinks about that too, and probably wonders: What was it? Who was it? How did I know that I should pursue something so agressively like that? 

The girls look at the trailer park. And then pull up to the orphanage, where Beth remembers the lessons she got, she remembers being told by the teachers that her parents made poor choices. During the funeral, Beth remembers she owed the Chess instructor 10 dollars and she wants to go back to the orphanage. As she sits in the basement once more, she seems to be taking it all in. Trying to understand what it was that got her there, trying to understand what the root of it all is, what motivated her to start the Chess journey. You have to look back to remind yourself of how far you’ve come sometimes and see what general direction you’re going. She sees all of the newspaper clippings of her that Mr Shaibel collected, as well as the letter she sent him asking him for those 5 bucks.

Once Beth has faced the memory of her mother asking for help, and she has in turn asked Jolene for help, she is now ready for what therapists call the full integration of her personality. She has now balanced out all of it : her past, her present and her future; her ego, her id and her it. 

When the Christian Crusade offers her a stack of money for her to speak out against the U.S.S.R, Beth tells them she isn’t going to do it. She asks Benny for help but he thinks she ‘s stupid for not accepting the free money. In the end, Jolene is the one who pays for the trip to Moscow.

In Moscow, Beth doesn’t drink. But more importantly, when she has to play the finale against Borgov, she gets on the phone with all of her friends reunited in New York. They’ve each studied a branch of game, they’ve summarized it for her and found the best play. She’s ready.

It’s difficult for single mothers to ask for help, probably because it reminds them of their children’s fathers. They’re probably not around at the moment, and probably aren’t helping out. What you learn, when you face such a situation is to become strong. People tell you to be resilient, and they mean well.

But strength isn’t something a single mother should rely on forever. Strength is what makes you drink at night and pop pills. Strength is what makes you accept abusive behavior, because you think you can take it. Strength is what pushes you to work several jobs. Strength is the voice in your head that tells you that you don’t need to sleep more than 5 hours a night. You got this, remember?

How can a single mother be something else than strong? How can she raise her kids right but at the same time show vulnerability? Where can she look for help?

There isn’t one answer, but I guess this is where I’ll speak my peace on this topic.

The expression “it takes a village” is real. 

In the 1950s, after the Second War World, a new world order was designed and pushed onto the West. The United States started producing a bunch of consumer goods and they wanted to sell them. Consumerism was invented. Back in the day, people lived in farms, they owned 1 x car and they shared it amongst themselves. Not everyone had a lawn mower. People made a lot of their own food, they knew how to process and transform it.

In the 1950s, a new concept was introduced : the nuclear family. All of a sudden there was this huge pressure to get married, have some kids, buy a house in the suburb, have a nice lawn and own a dog. The house came with a lot of stuff inside of it like vacuum cleaners and center pieces and toys. Children were fed advertisements from a young age and were taught to desire things, consume them and then throw them away.

The nuclear family model was a model that excluded the aunts, the uncles, the neighbours, the friends, the grandfathers, the grandmothers, the teachers, the shopkeepers. In that sense, it was the opposite of community, the opposite of communism.

The nuclear family model was invented to sell more Ford cars and tea sets. But the unintended consequences of it was to place a huge amount of pressure on men and women alike to live up to this ideal. Because women at the same time were being trapped in the housewife occupation, they became bitter, depressed human beings. Their husbands couldn’t understand them, and many left.

Who was left once the husbands left? In this new system, no one. Before, men would die at war, women would die in childbirth, death was omnipresent. But community was alive and well in the villages, on the farms. When women were widowed, they quickly remarried. And men did the same. If that’s not what they wanted to do, solutions were found, sisters would live with their sisters, mothers would take in their daughters. Generations lived together and learned from eachother.

The children didn’t rely so much on the presence of one particular individual, a village was raising them.

Single mothers, I reckon, should look for help, ask for help and accept help. Alice’s mistake was that she could only think of one person to ask for help - that was her ex husband. Beth overcomes this in Episode 7. And in the last scene, we see her exiting the taxi that is taking her back to the U.S.A where the President wants to meet her.

Instead, she walks a couple of blocks in Moscow until she finds chess players. Because that’s what chess was always about : a game that people liked to play. Something, an activity, that children and adults can find solace in. A moment where one can be in the present, without worrying too much about what is going on at home right now or what will happen if we disapoint the people around us.

Games preceded toys. Games fascinate children. Toys just frustrate them.

One last thought. Games are mathematical objects. If you study math, you’ll see that in Probabilities, you use the dice as a classic example to calculate the probability of each outcome. Beth’s mother was a mathematician, and the last thing she explains to Beth is that “she has a problem”. She believes she is failing as a mother, and needs to find a better environment for young Beth. Her problem is she can’t figure out what this better environment could be.

Beth’s mother studies the landscape around her, the people she knows, the codes they follow. She calculates, in her mind, that Beth’s best shot at life will be to lose her mother. If she loses her mother, she can be received in an Orphanage, where some stability and comfort will be provided. Alice, Beth’s queen, decides to sacrifice herself to save the Kingdom, which is Beth’s future. I said Alice made a mistake when she failed to ask for help to people that weren’t her husband. But maybe I am not giving her enough credit. Maybe she has already studied those possibilities and she just found that the best outcome was for her to die.

It’s sad, but when you look at the result in the end you can’t help but think she might’ve been right. Beth was raised by an incredibly smart, forward thinking woman, who taught her how to carry herself in life, and now she’s sucesful and she’s found a place where her talents can be valued, where her gifts are noticed.

[beck-a-leck]

Flat White, Mocha, Iced Lemon Tea, Mint Tea

Send me some Cafe Asks!

Oh these are good ones! Thank you for the ask!

Flat White: Coffee or Tea?

Both? Both. Both is good. When I'm looking for a caffeine fix in the morning, I always go for coffee. But when I want something warm to drink without the caffeine, I go for an herbal tea. And I tend to drink more coffee than tea because I have a cold brew pitcher and it's super convenient for me to make a bunch of cold brew and stash it in the fridge to have readily available all week.

Mocha: Dream job?

I've spent most of the last week daydreaming about what I would do if I won the lottery and could just live my life and not have to worry about working 40 hours a week to pay my bills, so ya know, being rich and not being evil about it would be pretty awesome.

But considering I don't actually play the lottery, that's not a very feasible dream. Which gives me a slightly harder question. I've been trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up, since the job I'm currently in is okay, but a dead end, and I'm not really sure. Something in in-lab medical research I think.

Iced Lemon Tea: Favorite song/band?

Okay, so I'm the kind of person who has a thousand favorites and can't ever pick a single one. So in no particular order, here's a handful of my favorite songs and artists.

Jolene and by extension Dolly Parton, Uptown Funk and Bruno Mars in general, Queen, Annie's Song by John Denver, Lizzo, and I am your most basic bitch of a millennial, I gotta say I love the 90s Disney soundtracks - Allen Menken's songs at the top of my lungs while I'm driving down the highway or cleaning my house just *chef's kiss*

Mint Tea: How do you relax?

I usually let myself get completely absorbed in something. Whether I put on some music and listen with both earbuds in, or I let myself lie down and read a book, or sit on the couch and watch a movie or tv show. My brain has to be engaged with something at all times, and most of the time I'm engaging with about 9 different things at the same time, but when I want to relax I let my brain get fully involved with one single thing and let the stress and worries of the world melt away.

[dcbbw]

My Masterlist

Aftermath of a Breakup (The TRR/TRH Gang)

Autumn in New York (Damien x Riley, Liam x Riley)

Goodnight, Moon (Driam)

Object of Affection (Liam, Olivia, Riley)

Secrets of Cordonia (various TRR characters and author OCs)

Sunday Brunch

The Commoner’s Wife (Drake x Riley, Liam x Riley)

The Getaway (Riam)

Timing (Liam x MC)

Bagels, Brunches, and Bridges (The NYC AU)

Bittersweet (Drake x Riley, Liam x Olivia, Liam x Riley)

Cartwheels (Riam)

Laxwell (Liam x Maxwell)

Anton

Nightfall (Riam)

Discontent (Liam x Riley)

Apart (Driam, Dallas James, Bryce Lahela) 

Un-Romance AU (Liam x Riley)

The Depeche Mode Diaries

Stormholt (Inspired by Saltburn)

All Hallow's Eve

Gobble, Gobble

Three Christmases

Jolene (Drake Walker compilation) 

Riley’s Happy (Belated) Birthday (Liam x Riley compilation)

Behind Closed Doors (Liam x Riley compilation)

One Step Ahead (Part 5 of Round Robin)

Surprise, Bitches! (Part 12 or Round Robin)

A Trio of Tales

Him & Her (Riley x Liam)

1000 Words (Riley x Liam)

Hazy Shades of Winter (Winter OTP ask) 

Praise the Lord (Maxwell Beaumont appreciation)

Partner Knows Best (Liam x Riley)

???

The Visit

Paul Simon

Get Me to the Church on Time

Watcher

Need

Hostage

Tangled Up in Blue

Walk of Shame

Untitled

Cocktail

Anton Severus x Lena Rys

Kingdom Come

Bastien x Lucretia x Jackson

Bastien Smut Ask

Bastien x Olivia

Little Girl Lost 

Bertrand x Francesco

Old Friend

Bertrand x Savannah

Afternoon Delight

Bradshaw x Isabella (featuring Damien Nazario and Madeleine Amaranth)

The Life We Lived

Pretty Houses

#ChoicesFamilyPotluck (Secret Santa) 

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Desire & Decorum (Ernest Sinclaire x Clara Mills) 

Dawn’s Early Light

Drake x MC/OC

Wine and Whiskey

Applewood

Saturdays in the Park

The Prisoner

Tonight

Drake x Riley, Liam x Madeleine

Couples

Dralivia (Drake x Olivia)

First Date

Pool Party

Unofficial

The Social Season

Marked

Dramien (Drake Walker x Damien Nazario)

Upstate

Pursuit of Happiness (featuring Liam, Anton, Olivia)

Draxwell (Drake x Maxwell)

Brown Eyes Blue

Night and Day

Driam (Drake x Liam)

Anniversary

Beer Garden

Dreams

Handyman

Numbers

Prompt Ask

Slow Dance

The Not-So-Great-Cordonian Bake Off

Coming Home

How Soon is Now? (ask)

The King, The Commoner, The Lady (featuring Riley)

Plans

Almost

Drake x Lucy x Brad

Birthday Girl!

Drake x Riley x Liam (Vegas fling)

Sin City

F!Raleigh Carrera x King of Cordonia

... And I Miss You

Hustle and Flow

Telephone (one shot)

Hana x Madeleine

Together

Justin x Anton

In My Skin

Justin x Regina

Tea Time

Leo x Katie

KingMaker

Leo/Jess 

Taco Talk 

Leo/Liam

The Night Before

Final Respects

Leo x Madeleine

Gone

Leo x Savannah

Commoner

Commoner, Part 2--Secret

Liam x Bebe

The Greatest Mistake

Liam/ Bertrand

Blabbermouth

Liam x Brandy (OC)

Possibilities

Liam x Grant Emerson

Routine

Foreign Soil

Liam x Jilian

Hide and Seek

Liam x Kiara

The Arrangement

Change of Plans (featuring Madeleine) 

Cordonian Duty (featuring Madeleine)

Plans Fall Apart (featuring Madeleine)

Puzzle Pieces (featuring Madeleine) 

Hidden Agenda (featuring Madeleine)

Second Born

Liam x Madeleine 

Fruit (featuring Leo)

Cordial Invitation (featuring Drake x Riley, Ethan Ramsey)

Liam x Maxwell (Laxwell) 

First Dance (Ask) 

Brunch 

Chain Reaction

Liam /MC

Late Night Drink

Liam x MC x Drake

Alternate Ending

Sunrise, Sunset

Liam x Riley, Madeleine

Queen (to be) of Diamonds

Reunion

Liam x Cora 

Happy Birthday, Queen

Memory Lane

Liam/Olivia

Strangers on a Train

Liam x Riley

One Night in Brooklyn

Lib

Playing House

The Dotted Line

One Night Stand

Deja Vu

Prodito (A Secrets of Cordonia AU Tale)

The Rules

Dead in the Water

Catch and Release

Liam x Riley x Hana

Vegas

Cordonian Arrangement

Liam x Riley x Drake x Hana

Cold Heat

Liam x Zira 

Keep You Safe

Madeleine

The Party’s Over

Maxwell x Erin 

Matchmaker

Maxwell x Kiara

Getting Well

The Wallflowers

The French Chef

Maxwell x Riley

Acquittal

Miscellaneous

Year End Resolutions

Moodboards and Magazine Covers

Appreciation and Updates

Trouble at my Door

Stranger (A Royal Roulette fic) 

The Witch Hunt

Smorgasbord

Birthday Waltz (Bratwurst Challenge, Part 2)

Open Heart (Ethan Ramsey x Casey Valentine x Harper Emery)

Sister Someone

Falling

The End is a Start (Bryce/Casey/Rafael)

Family (Bryce/Keiki)

Girlfriend (Bryce x Casey Valentine)

Original Content (#Not Choices)

A Day in the Life (Victoria & Gilbert)

First Week in January 

Talisman

The Escort (Lizzie x Ronald)

The Year of Our Lord (#LoTD submission) 

Suburban Housewife (???)

American Thanksgiving

Red Pill: Perspective

MLK Day

Penelope x Kiara

Beach Party

Perfect Match

Trudy Sloane

The Morning After

Three’s Company

Rashad x Genevieve

West Coast, East Coast

Riam (Riley x Liam)

All things Riam

Rules of Engagement

The Papers

TRR/TRH Crew

Lunch, Interrupted

Grief

Dumblr

The After Party

Remixed--The Social Season

Remixed--The Social Season, The Journey Begins

Streets of New York

TRR/Character APPRECIATION

Runaway (Day 6)

Taking the L (KLAW Day 1)

Birthday Fics 2020

So many wonderfully talented writers, so many wonderful stories

The Best Days (a Liam Story)--@ritachacha

The People of Valtoria vs The King of Cordonia--@bbrandy2002

Lighter Things--@burnsoslow

In the Shadows--@sophie-and-shizuku

Food Fail--@bebepac

The Night We Met--@a0719

Happy Birthday, Robin--@hopefulmoonobject

I Almost Do--@loveellamae

Liquid Courage--@cocomaxley

Bodegas--@sirbeepsalot

Birthday Fics 2021

Ghost (@ao719)

The City of Oaks (@bebepac)

The Incident (@burnsoslow)

The Severus Boy (@sirbeepsalot)

Ode to a Writer (@phoenixrising308)

Liam Moodboards (@queenjilian)

Birthday with Yoo (birthday art 2022)

So Many WIPs (as of 08/30/2019)

Year End Inventory (as of 12/19/2019)

Six(ish) Sentence/Sneak Peek Sunday (1/19/2020)

Coming Attractions (as of 2/6/2020) 

First Quarter 2020 Inventory (4-12-2020)

Progress Report (4-16-2020)

Sneak Peeks (5-7-2020)

WIP Wednesday (5-13-2020)

Sunday Sneak Peek (5-31-2020)

Six Sentence Sunday (6-7-2020)

Six Sentence Sunday (6-21-2020)

WIP Wednesday (7-15-2020)

Sixish Sentence Sunday (8-9-2020)

Sneak Peek Sunday (8-23-2020)

WIP Wednesday (9-2-2020)

Q3 2020 Inventory

WIPs Folder Tag (10-8-2020)

Six Sentence Sunday (11-1-2020)

WIP Wednesday (11-11-2020)

2021 WIPS (1-2-2021)

Six Sentence Sunday (1-3-2021)

Six Sentence Sunday (4-4-2021)

WIP Wednesday (6-16-2021)

Six Sentence Sunday (6-20-21)

WIP Wednesday BBT&T Edition (6-30-21)

WIP Wednesday NSFW & PSFMA Edition (7-14-21)

Thursday Teasers (8-12-2021)

From the Vault (12.21.21)

Tuesday Teasers (12.28.21)

Coming Attractions (3.4.22)

WIP Wednesday, The Sit on It Edition (3.9.22)

Six Sentence Sunday, The Not What You Were Expecting Edition (4.17.22)

Six Sentence Sunday-The Day Late Edition (5.1.22)

Six Sentence Sunday-The “Hurry up and Write” Edition (6.12.22)

Six on Sunday (7-24-2022)

Sunday Snippets (8-7-22)

Sunday Snippets  (8.21.22)

Sunday Snippets (9.25.22)

Sunday Snippets (10.2.22)

Sunday Six 2.26.23

Sneak Peek Sunday 4.9.23

WIP Wednesday 5.3.23

Sneak Peek Sunday 5.14.23

WIP Wednesday 5.24.23

Sunday Sneak Peek 7.2.23

Sunday Sneak Peek 7.23.23

Sunday Six 9.24.23

Sunday Sneak Peek (Bueller, Bueller? Edition) 10.29.23

WIP Wishlist 2024

WIP Update 5.27.24--Holiday Treats Edition