#like being from Utah or Maine

[antebellumite]

the variety between some of these mottos is sending me.

[animalnarratives]

why r u pretending to be from iowa on twitter 😭

lying is the most fun a girl can have etc

[riordanverse-crime-cases]

The Di Angelo Siblings: A Cold Case

One early unsolved case that confuses people to this day is the case of the Di Angelo siblings, Nico and Bianca Di Angelo.

They were born in Italy to Maria Di Angelo, Bianca in 1926 and Nico in 1928. Soon after their births, the family of three packed up and moved to Washington, D.C., where, according to friends and neighbors, they lived happily without trouble. Records show that the children were healthy and did well in school, living peaceful lives. People also state that the siblings never knew who their father was, but didn’t seem to mind much, or perhaps they were too young to care. Nevertheless, they grew up untroubled.

However, disaster struck when World War Two broke out in 1938, when the small family left for what was meant to be a short trip. According to an anonymous source, Maria had allegedly been planning to meet with the father of her children, though there’s no way to confirm nor deny that this is what she had planned, nor if the meeting had ever even occurred, for soon after, the hotel they were staying at suffered a severe explosion. 

Allegedly due to a gas leak, the blast caused many fatalities, including to the Di Angelos; Maria’s remains were found blown apart amidst the rubble. 

What makes this case so bizarre is this: Bianca and Nico’s bodies have never been located. In fact, it’s possible they hadn’t been caught in the accident at all—eyewitnesses claim seeing children matching Nico and Bianca’s descriptions being led away by a man in a business suit. The two siblings seemed “completely unharmed” and “eerily at ease”, as if they hadn’t even known about the explosion. Several reported sightings follow the Di Angelo’s path state-by-state, in Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Utah, and finally down to Las Vegas, Nevada, where the siblings suddenly disappear. Investigators have been left puzzled by this case for decades, trying their best to figure out who the man must be, why the children were with him, why they were unharmed.

Some theories suggest that the man was, in fact, the biological father of the children, and he had taken his son and daughter from their mother before the explosion occurred. This may be a plausible explanation, but it raises questions on why Maria wasn’t with them, or why this man—who had been seemingly absent from their lives for ten years—had arrived at the hotel just to take his children halfway across the country. Internet users theorize that he may have kidnapped the children, and Maria was going to report them missing if she hadn’t died in the gas leak. 

Further complicating this case is the fact that there’s zero evidence of either sibling ever being in Vegas. Their medical and academic records stopped being updated from when the short trip began, and the siblings never legally appeared anywhere after that, not in Nevada or in Washington. 

With no reliable leads, investigators have declared this a cold case, and the Di Angelos were declared legally dead in 1952, more than fourteen years after their disappearance. The case was closed, and people stopped looking into it.

However, starting a few years ago, users have discovered that there have been reported sightings of the siblings. Though the children would be well into their eighties by now if they’d even survived, these sightings claim that Nico and Bianca look like they haven’t aged a day. 

These claims would be preposterous if the children didn’t allegedly have the exact names as Nico and Bianca Di Angelo, and they’re allegedly the same age. Conspiracy theorists have a multitude of explanations for this, from the Bermuda Triangle and Greco-Roman myths of Lotus flowers, to space missions and time-warping science experiments performed on the children, but none of these should be considered as evidence for obvious reasons. 

Internet sleuths have discovered that these alleged clones of the Di Angelos were enrolled in Westover Hall, a military school in Bar Harbor, Maine, though they disappeared from school records after December. More reported sightings of the Di Angelos, specifically Nico, have been reported, but authorities dismiss these as fabricated nonsense claims designed to confuse and scare the general population.

Up Next: The mysterious death of Jason Grace—a boy missing for fourteen years.

[she-wolf09231982]

Joe Toye

“The Bunny and The Fox”

Summary: You thought Joe Toye was too scary to even consider a friend, but he proves to be not only a great friend, but also a lover.

A/N: One shot, Mature audience, JoeToyeX!FemMedic, WW2, Female Pronouns, Cursing/Swearing, Derogatory Slurs, Womanizing Comments, Military and Medical Terminology, Inappropriate Nicknames, HBO Band of Brothers References, Mentions/Descriptions of Injuries, Weaponry, Smoking. Angst/Conflict, Smut, *John Wayne/McClintock Movie Quote*, FOREVER FLUFF

@awaterfalls 😁🪖♠️🦅❤️

These stories may not fall entirely in accordance with the TV series timeline. I do not know the real soldiers the actors portray in this series, so please understand I show no disrespect. Some or most of historical events and character interactions in my fanfics are fabricated purely for the sake of the enjoyment of fiction*

~~~~~~~

He always appeared so….serious. His face in a constant state of pissed off and disdain. If looks could kill, Joe Toye (and Johnny Martin) wouldn’t have needed weapons in the war.

You avoided him all through Toccoa. He just seemed like the type to leave the hell alone. But every now and then, you caught a glimpse of him smiling or laughing with the guys.

“Not bad.” You’d think to yourself as you admired his smile.

Since you trained with Easy as a medic, you rarely had an excuse to speak to him unless he was injured. Even then you kept your conversation short and sweet with hardly any eye contact. But with his low raspy voice came a sense of calm while you took care of him. You supposed he seemed friendly enough.

~~~~~~

June 1944 Post D-Day

Orders were given to take Carentan where German soldiers were being sheltered. Carentan was the main crossroad between Cotentin and Calvados where the ally force's tanks needed passage to attack the main objective, Cherbourg.

"Listen up!" LT Welsh shouted. "It'll be dark soon. I want light and noise discipline from here on. No talking, no smoking. And no playing grab-fanny with the man in front of you, Luz. We're taking Carentan. It's the only place where armor from Omaha and Utah Beach can link up and head inland. Until we take Carentan, they're stuck on the sand. General Taylor's sending the whole division."

Some of the men began to grumble under their breath. Everyone started to stir to gather their gear to begin the journey to Carentan.

Walking in a file formation on each side of the road to Carentan. You found yourself walking in front of Toye as Perconte proceeded you.

“Hey Toye, why you always in the middle when we convoy anywhere? Ain’t you ever in the front?” Guarnere teased.

“I go wherever the medic goes in case I get hit, Bill.” Joe responded.

You blushed and dared to sneak a glance behind you. As you did, Toye met your gaze shooting you a quick wink. You quickly look back to the front embarrassed he caught you acknowledging him.

“Awe now look what ya did. You scared her.” Guarnere teased.

You hear some of the guys laugh.

“Maintain your noise discipline.” Winters reminded.

~~~~~~~

"MEDIC!!"

You and Doc on separate ends of the streets trying to keep low to tend to the wounded.

You rush to two soldiers landing on your knees next to them, one on the ground with a trail of blood coming from his helmet, the other crouching over him.

"He's still breathing, help me carry him!" You call out. You each grab an arm of the injured soldier and drag him behind a building.

While you're working on the nameless soldier's head wound, a drug store gets blasted by German artillery not far from where you were, the force from the explosion sending you sideways into the brick wall next to you.

You shake your head to stop the ringing in your ears. Everything you could hear was distant as your vision became fuzzy and dark. You start to smack your ear trying to make it pop so you can get back to your senses.

“Y/L/N! We gotta move! Get up!” Toye’s muffled voice yelled out.

He grabbed you by the arm pulling you up to your feet. You still couldn’t barely see so you held onto his arms for dear life.

“I-I can’t see nothin’ Joe!” You called out to him.

“Ok, come on…UP we go!” You hear him grunt as he threw you over his shoulder.

You feel him trotting to safety while blast after blast erupted all around you. You feel him lower you as gently as he could to the ground against a wall.

“Hey, look at me.” Toye said as he guided your face towards his, “Can you see me now?”

You shake your head, “No, it’s all dark and blurry.” You reply as tears started to stream down your cheeks.

Were you going blind?? Is this it? You’re not going to be able to see your family’s faces? Never see your own reflection? You feel yourself slipping into shock.

“Hey! Stay with me now, ok doll? Don’t cry. Doc’s on his way.” You hear Toye’s voice break through your thoughts.

Doc ducked behind the wall with you and Toye.

“What’s the matta’ with her?” You hear Gene ask.

“She can’t see. Says everything is blurry.”

“Gene, I think I’m going blind. Am I going blind??” You asked panicked trying to reach out for him.

“What happened before she couldn’t see?”

“A shell dropped right by her and she went flying into a brick wall.”

Gene nodded, “That’ll do it. You got a concussion, Y/L/N, you ain’t goin’ blind.”

You released a sigh of relief.

“Joe, can you get her back to HQ? She ain’t no good out here if she can’t see nothin’.”

“I got her, Doc.”

~~~~~~~

Toye got you back to an aid station not long after Easy Company claimed victory over Carentan. You remained there until the following day after your vision returned. As you approached a group of the guys from Easy, you were welcomed with whoops and cheers.

“Hey! Look who it is!” Luz called out.

All the guys turned to find you walking towards them.

“Hey look what the cat dragged in!” Malarkey joked.

The chorus of laughter from the men lifted your spirits.

“Yeah, I look rough, I know. Thanks guys.” You greet.

You looked around for Toye.

“He’s over there.” Luz pointed out as he gestured with is thumb over his shoulder.

“Oh, I just, uh, wanted to thank him for-“ you began.

“-yeah, yeah we know. He’s over there.” Malarkey interjected pointing down the street.

You feel yourself get flustered so you scamper off to where they said Joe was. As you walk through the rubble that Carentan has become, you see Toye standing in a circle with a few of the other guys from Easy. He throws his cigarette butt on the ground, stomping it out with his boot before he turns and sees you.

His face lights up when he saw you walking up.

“Hey there she is!” Guarnere hailed.

Bill met you and extended his hand for you to shake, which you obliged.

“Good to see you, Bill.”

“Glad to see you up and about, doll.” He pulled you in closer, “Someone’s been real worried about you since they left you at the aid station, by the way.” He disclosed.

You pull back and met Bill’s face with confusion. He winked and motioned over to Toye with his chin.

“Go on and say hi to him.” Bill added.

You narrow your eyes at him and smile. You slowly approach Toye as he stood there with his hands in his pockets and smirking as he patiently waited for you.

“Hey, Toye.” You squeak.

“Hey, Y/L/N. Good to see you.” He replied with his signature husky voice.

“Well, if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t be here. Thank you for helping me.” You say as you leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

You hear Guarnere whistle. You turn around and shake your head at him.

Toye cleared his throat, “It was nothin’.”

You both stood there awkwardly until Bill came over.

“Hey, the guys were going to go to the bar that survived the wreck. You wanna join us later for a few night caps, Y/L/N?”

“Sure, if I can find a place to get cleaned up.”

“Ok it’s that little place over there. We’ll all be there around 1900, aight?”

You knew Bill was scheming something for you and Toye. You look at him suspiciously.

“Ok, I’ll see you guys there later.”

~~~~~~~

You breeze through the front door of the pub and begin scanning the room for the familiar faces of Easy.

“Hey! Y/F/N! Over here!” Guarnere called out waving his hand.

You push through the crowd to get to the table where most of your guys were sitting. You catch Toye playing darts with LT Compton, Luz, and Heffron.

“What can I getchya?” Bill asked.

“Oh, whatever you’re drinking, Bill.” You reply.

“Comin’ right up.” He announced as he walked to the bar.

You look back to Toye and catch his eyes looking at you too. He smiled and raised his glass to you with a wink. You smile back and give him a little wave.

“Here ya go.” Bill returned handing you a pint glass of beer.

You cheers and take a hearty gulp.

“Thanks, Bill.” You say as you squeeze his arm.

~~~~~~~

The night was filled with laughter, banter, and taunts amongst Easy. And somehow, your glass kept getting magically refilled by each of the guys. You had to refuse Malarkey’s offer to buy your next round because you felt your head starting to spin.

“Ok, we’ll slow down.” Don chuckled, “But when you’re ready, I got the next one!”

“Yessir.” You quipped.

You turn towards the dart boards and see that Toye had moved. You began to search the room for him and suddenly stop at the bar where he was talking to a local woman dressed in a tightly fit dress.

You felt a distinct sense of dread mixed with anger, but you weren’t sure why. The longer you watched Toye leaning closer to whisper in her ear while she giggled, the more your rage boiled over inside.

“What’s the matter, doll? You gotta look on ya like you’re gonna murder someone.” You hear Guarnere chime in.

You avert your eyes to the floor.

“It’s nothing.” You say quickly.

Bill looked where you were just looking.

“Well ain’t that a son of a bitch. After all the trouble I went through to set you’s guys up, he goes and finds another bird to chat up.”

You look at Bill, “What do you mean set us up?”

Bill looked at you alarmed.

“Oh, well, I thought you knew. Toye over there has got it real bad for ya. Has ever since basic but he figured he never had a chance. I told him you were a catch and that you had a thing for him too.”

“Oh do I now?” You asked astounded by his response.

“Well, don’tchya?”

“I suppose he’s handsome. Good soldier. But looks like he’s not as sweet on me as you think.” You state as you gesture to Toye by the bar getting disgustingly close to the blonde bombshell.

“Ah, he’s an idiot. He’s just trying to get laid.”

You look at him with daggers behind your eyes. Bill’s eyes widen.

“Uh, what I mean is he don’t care about her, ya know? He’s trying to not think about you because he thinks you’re outta his league.” Bill hastily explained.

“Yeah? Well, I’ll get his attention.” You declare as you storm off towards the bar.

“Ah shit.” Bill mumbled to himself rolling his eyes.

You walk up to a soldier from Fox Company standing a few feet away from where Toye was with his new little friend. You approach the bar and slightly bend over to the surface of the bar and rest your elbows on it. The soldier noticed you right away and a devilish grin appeared across his face.

You look over at him and smile.

“Hey, angel, you’re the prettiest face in here.” He said as he scanned you from head to toe.

You see Toye look over the blonde’s shoulder at you. So you inched closer to the stranger.

“At least someone noticed how hard I worked on my make up tonight.” You say loud enough for Joe to hear.

Toye’s jaw started to tighten. Your plan was working like a charm.

“What are you talkin’ about? You’re a dish!” He returned enthusiastically, “Can I get you a drink?”

“A pint is fine.”

Toye excused himself from the company of his little vixen and approached you with obvious vigor. He stopped so close to you, you can feel his breath on your face.

“You think you should have anymore?” Toye asked in a low gravelly tone.

You were almost a puddle at his feet.

“What’s one more?” You dismiss.

“Hey, buddy, this one’s mine. Get lost.” The Fox soldier warned.

Toye glared at him, a clear warning with his fierce gaze to back off. “Shut up.”

He turned back to you. “You hit your head hard yesterday. You got a concussion, remember? Drinking too much isn’t good for you right now.” He cautioned.

The soldier behind Toye huffed outloud. You bring your face closer to his.

“How about you go on back to your little blonde bunny over there and worry about her?” You say softly staring intensely into his eyes.

You snidely smile and gently push him aside to accept the beer the Fox soldier was holding for you. Toye grabbed your wrist before you could get your fingers around the glass.

“Because I’m worried about you.” He sternly replied.

“Hey, pal, I’m not gonna tell ya-“

Before the guy could finish his sentence, Toye swung and punched him across the face sending him to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“Joe, what the hell is the matter with you?” You bark.

He turned to face you, his teeth clenched and resentment in his eyes.

“Isn’t this what you wanted? You got my attention.” He said raising his arms to the side.

Just then, another Fox Company soldier soared in and tackled Toye. When Guarnere saw Toye get sacked, him and the rest of Easy rushed in, clashing with Fox Company in a battle royalé in the middle of the dance floor.

You grab a bottle of whiskey and force your way into the horde to smash it over the head of one of the opposing soldiers when you suddenly feel your feet swiftly leave the floor, and you find yourself once again thrown over Joe Toye’s shoulder as he rushes out the front door.

You start to push off of his back to look at him.

“What are you doing?? Put me down, NOW! This is completely barbaric! Were you raised by wolves??”

“Shut your mouth.” Toye said sharply.

He wouldn’t cave no matter how hard you struggled. He continued to carry you until he got to the house where you had been staying at with the field nurses. He opened the front door and practically threw you onto the couch in the main corridor.

“You’re an absolute animal, Joe Toye.” You snarled at him.

“Yeah? You haven’t even seen the worst of it yet.” He retorted.

You stood up, only to lose your balance and fell backward on to the couch again.

“Well save it.” You spit back crossing your arms, “You can go now. I’m sure that little dish at the bar is waiting on you.”

Toye furrowed his eyebrows at you, “You’re the only one even thinking about her. I haven’t even given her a second thought since you walked through the door of that place!”

You scoff, “Sure, Joe. Didn’t seem like it when your hands were all over her like a magnet.” You pointed out as you stood up slowly.

“Yeah?” He queried as he closed the gap between the two of you, “You mean like this?”

He roughly grabbed you by the waist and kneaded your hips with his strong calloused hands as he pulled you into him. Your faces so close, you thought he was going to kiss you, but he only hovered over your mouth. You were a deer in the headlights, your words caught in your throat somewhere. You almost forgot to take breath when you started to feel faint, so you took in a deep breath through your nose to recover.

You put your hands on his chest and started to push away.

“What are you doing, Toye?” You manage to say.

He jerked you back into him, slithering his one hand across the small of your back while the other one firmly caressed the swell of your ass. You tried to protest, but your voice betrayed you only allowing a whimper to escape from your throat. This man had you a melting hot mess in his arms and it only made you angrier that he was getting you flustered.

“What? Got nothin’ snarky to say now, sweetheart?” He teased.

The fire inside you began to rise, and you weren’t sure if it was because you were turned on, or pissed off.

“I hate you.” You sneered as you slipped out of his grasp and headed for the staircase.

Before you could lift your foot to take the first step, you feel yourself twirled back around and face to face with Toye in his arms.

*“Half of the people in the world are women…Why does it have to be you that stirs me?”* He growled before grabbing the back of your head to bring your mouth to his.

You wanted to fight back and push away again, but your body fought you, leaning into his body and fisting his uniform jacket to pull him as close as possible to you. You part your lips to allow his tongue to pass and explore yours. You playfully nip at his bottom lip eliciting a deep guttural groan from him. His hands scoured your body as his hips instinctively pushed his hard on against you. You dig your nails into his shoulders as you moan into his mouth.

You pull back, “Let’s take this upstairs.”

Toye only replied with a mischievous grin, then picked you up bridal style to carry you up the stairs. When you direct him to your room, he set you down to secure the door. Right at the moment he turned around, you forced him against the door and hungrily kiss him while unraveling his tie.

He grabbed you by the shoulders swinging you around pinning you against the door with a ‘thud’ then placed his hand around your throat. He tightened his grip enough to make a point he was in charge, but not hard enough to alarm you. You instinctively grab his wrist with both hands as you clenched your thighs together, hoping to get some friction against your core and to prevent the wetness from dripping down your leg.

You hissed through your teeth as a smile stretched across your face. Toye pressed himself harder against you, the bulge in his pants grinding into your pelvis. You slide one hand away from his wrist gradually finding your way to his belt buckle. His fingers around your neck increased their grip.

You ran your tongue along your lower lip. He looks from your eyes to your mouth as a smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth. He suddenly scooped you up from behind your thighs wrapping your legs around his waist and carried you over to the bed, dropping you on your back onto the mattress.

He removed his tie, then with one hand unbuckled his belt all the while staring at you like a starved wolf about to pounce on his prey. You scoot to the edge of the bed and start to unbutton your uniform top. He situated himself between your spread knees at the edge of the bed.

You look up at him through your lashes and smile as you start to work on removing his pants. Your top partially open with your cleavage peaking through, he fisted the front with both hands and yanked the blouse off your shoulders. You wiggle out of the shirt and drop his pants and briefs as he removed his uniform top.

Now you were both ravenous for eachother just yanking off articles of clothing and throwing them carelessly onto the floor. Finally when he slid your panties off, a devilish grin graced his face when he saw how wet you were for him.

He looked at you roguishly as he glided two of his fingers up and down your drenched slit.

“Is this all from me?” His gruff honeyed voice had you melting in his hand.

You nod without breaking eye contact. He crawled over you, caging you in between his brawny arms. As his hardened dick rested on top of your center, he started to grind into you, coating the tip of his cock with your slick between your folds.

You couldn’t help but arch your back, rhythmically moving your hips with his to feel him rub against your clit. Your needy sighs spurred him on, knowing he was making you feel so good.

“Oh my God, Toye-“

“No. No more ‘Toye.’ I want to hear you say my name.” He commanded.

You stare at him.

“Fucking say it.” He ordered.

“Joe…” you breathed as you playfully nip at his lower lip, greedily locking onto his mouth.

He lifted you by the ass and pushed his length through your dripping entrance with one fleeting thrust forward.

You gasp then wrap your legs around his waist, waiting for the ride to begin. Joe unleashed over a year’s worth of pent up rage and frustration from the war onto you, railing into you in almost a deliciously painful pace. He was rough, and aggressive, yet attentive and sensual.

He sat up resting on his heels and angled you closer into him by hugging your thighs against him and driving into you, hitting that spot that had you edging to your finish.

He feels your walls constricting around his cock, and starts to slow his tempo. You look at him with a pout.

All you could manage was a strained, “Why?”

He pulled out and hastily flipped you onto your hands and knees. He reached around your front under your arms once again grabbing your throat with his perfect hand. He pulls you back until your back was flush with his chest.

He guided the back of your head to rest on his shoulder before he turned to your ear.

“You think that fucking Fox Company chump could’ve done this for you?” He hissed.

You feel his grip constricting your neck. You’re so fucked out you can’t help but laugh.

“Fucking answer me, sweetheart. You think that asshole’s got anything on me?” His voice rumbling in your ear like thunder.

You start to pant, your bare chest and peaked nipples heaving from overstimulation and restriction of oxygen.

“No, Joe. Never.” You huffed.

You feel his lips curl into a smile against your jawline. He nipped at your ear.

“That’s right, baby.” He purred before he thrusted you forward on all fours.

He lined his dick up with your slippery pussy and entered you with a sweet push forward until he bottomed out. He plummeted into you, spanking you occasionally while his hips slammed into you.

“My God, Joe.” You moaned pushing back into him so he can get inside you as deep as possible.

“Yeah, scream my name so all Fox Company can hear.”

He had a vice grip on your waist, guiding you back everytime his hips came forward. The slams of his front against your ass grew steadily louder with groans and grunts between the two of you.

His stride began to stagger, and you could feel him pulsate inside you.

“I’m getting close, sweetheart.” You hear his low rugged voice from behind you.

“Me too, Joe.”

“I know, I can feel you squeezing on me. Let go, baby.” He hummed.

He reached around finding your clit and began rubbing hard circles onto the bud.

You close your eyes and focus on the sensation of where his hands were and the throbbing of his cock inside you then hearing his voice roar,

“Come on, baby, let go for me.”

He chased your orgasm until he felt your walls fluttering around his cock. You throw your head back practically howling as ropes of Joe’s cum released over and over again inside you. A guttural grunt left Joe’s lips as he groped your ass to have something to hold onto to steady himself.

Sweat glistened on his chiseled torso while he caught his breath. He snatched the hand towel by the basin next to the bed to clean you up after he pulled out. He plopped onto the bed next to you, pulling you into him to hold you.

You each sigh, content and relaxed in eachother’s afterglow.

“Your little bunny friend is going to be heart broken.” You joke.

Joe chuckled, “Yeah, I have that effect on people.”

You giggled.

“I got my girl right here.” He added.

Joe looked down adoringly at you with your head on his shoulder, sensing his eyes were on you, you look up at him. He gently kissed your lips, then rubbed his nose on the tip of yours.

~~~~~~~

[yellowbunnydreams]

Bunny Ears (Part 24) ~William Afton X F! Reader~

~This is my formal apology to anybody who cried over the last chapter, I'm sorry! If it's any consolation, I cried writing it.~

��･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Want more or something different? *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Tag List: @ruh--roh-raggy @h4nluv @sleepy---head @do-double-g @confiscated-peaches-main @dij-ology @viviennemuerte @robin-the-enby @shari-berri @randymeeksisafinalgirl @hallow1090 @aponia-yue @likoplays @dilflover-3 @oak-leafs @phd-in-fuckery @weirdoartist21 @nicolezghostz @fauine @emmbny

Sorry if I missed you on the tag-list!

CW: Minors DNI, (18+ ONLY), Female Reader, legal age gap (Reader- 20's, William - 30's), divorce/processing divorce, Afton being a sarcastic hot ass, grumpy x sunshine. Faz-Fuck TM, scenes of making out, soft dom! Will, grinding, teasing (sexual), discussion of kink, drinking

You woke up curled up in William's sheets, holding onto his pillow and eyes opening to find it vacant aside from yourself. Confused as you sat up and rubbed the sleep from your eyes before the door pressed open and you watched a very focused Vanny holding a tray in her little hands as she tried not to spill the contents onto the bed spread, smiling as she noticed you were awake.

"You're awake!"

"Good morning to you too little lady." You smiled, making Vanessa giggle as you took the tray from her and let her climb onto the bed before placing it down, looking at the small bowl of cereal that she picked up, leaving you with bacon, eggs and toast.

There was a gentle knock on the open door and you smiled even brighter as William walked in, his hair tousled and looking half-asleep himself still, carrying a tray in one hand and keeping the other behind his back as he leaned over and placed a kiss on your forehead.

"Good morning, bunny." The nickname he gave you still made your heart flutter as you felt your cheeks heating up, unable to help yourself as you watched how his clothes sat against his body as he sat down besides you and shuffled closer.

"Good morning William." Giving him a kiss as he balanced his tray on his lap, curiously raising an eyebrow as to his hidden hand.

Pulling it from behind his back, he produced a bouquet of sunflowers, blue hydrangeas and yellow roses. Making you gasp and bring your hands to your mouth as you looked up at him, eyes watering as you gently felt him lean into your side, your hands moving to gently take the flowers and touching the petals like they might suddenly break as he wrapped his now free hand around your shoulders and held you close.

"It's not even my birthday, you didn't have to-"

"I wanted to. I haven't gotten you flowers since our first dates and...I wanted to surprise you."

"The breakfast as my idea!" Vanessa informed you rather loudly between bites of cereal, making you laugh at the small girl's determination to have her efforts recognised.

"Yes, apparently it's my solemn duty to make sure that you're treated like a princess this morning." William put on a serious face before it twitched into a smile, unable to keep his serious expression around you as you leaned your head on his shoulder and kissed there.

"Well, I don't think I can say no to that can I? What time is it anyway?" You asked, picking up your fork and beginning to eat slowly.

"Plenty of time before the both of us are due in work, unfortunately."

Work, you had totally forgotten that you were scheduled at Freddy's, and the thought of it sent your heart plummeting through your stomach. Unsure of how everybody would react to you coming back after the previous day's sudden announcement of your relationship to what felt like the whole of Hurricane, hell the whole of Utah as far as you were concerned. Swallowing a little thickly, you cradled your beautiful flowers against your body in a little comfort, William saw the little motion and held you closer to his side as he sipped the coffee he had brought up for himself.

Breakfast was finished all too soon, and you had to get a cab to your house to grab your uniform whilst William dropped Vanny off at Henry and Sarah's house so that she could take Vanny back to her mother. But you were feeling your stomach twisting and flipping as you stood in your uniform in front of the familiar smiling bear logo and neon lights that had yet to be turned on.

Taking a deep breath, you headed inside, feeling your heart beating quickly inside your chest as everybody inside turned their head towards you, you knew it was the same reaction you'd had a thousand times whilst working, but what made you feel like you were going to throw up was the sudden pause in the chatter that permeated the staff in the morning. Gripping your bag close to your body, your eyes flickered down as you headed towards the back to find out what your work assignment for the day was.

Hearing the whispers beginning again in your wake, your eyes watered as you tried not to listen to any of them, afraid of what you might hear as you went through the employee's only door. Placing your bag into the small cubby that was available for bag, adjusting your hair, vest and purple ribbon bow in the dusty mirror as you tried to take a deep breath and calm yourself. Putting on a brave face and smile as you turned on your heel and walked back out.

"Well, we know how somebody got the job at least." Garrett scoffed as you re-emerged, making you look at the floor as any confidence you had falsely put up slipped and your smile wavered.

"Shut the actual fuck up Garrett."

"Yeah, jesus christ, just because you can't get laid."

"You really got to shit on them like that?"

You were surprised as several voices piped up to your defence, and you looked up to see most of the people who had been near to the spotty young man frowning heavily and inching away from him.

"What? It's clear that she did something to get into their favour! I mean maybe she took bo-" Grinning as he spoke, only for you to see Stacey walking up to him, jabbing a finger in his chest.

"Finish that thought and you're going to get your head fucking kicked in." Stacey spat, continuing to push her finger into Garrett's chest as he held up his hands in defence, still smiling and laughing.

"Like you could reach. Anyway, I bet Afton got his he-"

"Well, this was certainly not what we expected to come into this morning." The voice of Henry Emily snapped everybody too, seeing his green eyes darting around and assessing as everybody on the staff held their breath slightly. Looking like somebody had performed a magic trick in front of a dog, whilst the taller, broader figure behind him looked positively murderous.

William and Henry had arrived.

Nobody moved for a second before the two large fry cooks you had never really spoken to moved quickly, grabbing Garrett by the back of his uniform, and picking him up, much to his scrawny, flailing protests as they headed towards the front door. Your heart beating quickly inside your chest as you opened your mouth to protest.

"You're going to apologise to Mr. Afton now, and then to," you heard your name, blinking as you realised that they had set him down in front of William. Holding Garrett in place with a vaugely threatening aura as the staff came together.

The women starting to congregate around you, gently touching your arm and offering a few soothing words as your eyes watered. You thought that they would all think like Garrett, he had voiced your worst fear in coming in that day, but you felt the rest of the staff's support as they glared his way. The guys moving towards William and Henry, clearly riled up by the fact that the scrawny barely-adult had run his mouth.

"Garrett....Why don't you follow me to the office?" Henry offered after a moment, gesturing towards the back offices as Garrett scoffed, rolling his eyes at the kindly smiling man.

"Mr. Emily, I don't -"

"Oh, it wasn't a fucking request. Get in that office, now." Everybody paused as they heard Henry swearing, watching him place a firm hand on Garrett's shoulder and guiding him towards the employee's only door, nodding to the little gaggle of girls that had gathered around you. "Excuse me ladies, you shouldn't have had to hear that from me." All but dragging what you suspected was soon to be your former co-worker into the back.

There were a few beats of silence before one of the guys clapped William Afton on the arm, making him jump slightly and frown before you heard the low murmur of voices.

"Congrats Mr. Afton."

"Yeah, you're a lucky guy! Not many girls would have a guy after saving them from falling flat on their ass." Causing a bit of laughter from the group of guys and watching as William began to relax, smiling a little as he glanced at you over their heads, offering you a softer, more warm smile.

"So...who started this little crush cycle then?"

"I bet it was when he asked for ID."

"No way! It was totally sports day!"

"Come on Mr. Afton, settle the bet!"

"I'm not settling any bets for you lot. Unless it's about how many children I take out at the next sports day." William chuckled, earning a cheer from the guys whilst you were still being fussed over by the few other by the ladies.

Stacey pushed her way to the front of your own little crowd, her eyes wide and watering as you felt yourself being pulled into a tight hug, giving her one back as you laughed softly.

"You're almost as bad as Henry, you know that right?" You giggled, making your friend hug you harder before holding you at arms length, lip trembling as she tried not to cry.

"I can't help it! You're too cute! Both of you are too cute! Oh god at least I haven't missed much...have I?"

"Well...we have matching bracelets?" You offered, bringing your wrist up to show the silly purple plastic one with the Spring-Bonnie charm as William seemed to escape from his own circle and head towards you, smiling warmly, clearly a little flustered from the attention.

"YOU HAVE MATCHING BRACELETS?!" Stacey wailed, holding onto you and making you laugh as William rolled his eyes behind her, reaching over to place a soft kiss against your head, much to the delight of the ladies.

"I swear you're a tiny Henry sometimes. Are you sure your last name isn't Emily?" He asked Stacey, sending her into a million and one questions and vauge threats about if he broke your heart or hurt you in any way.

You supposed you had two families now. The Afton family and the Fazbear Family.

The phone rang in William's ear as he sat in his office, sighing softly and waiting for the supplier he was calling to pick up as the door to his office opened and you entered. Making him smile broadly, running his hand over his beard as he gestured for you to come in by curling two fingers in quick sucession. Smiling at you softly before he quickly scribbled down a note on his desk and hung up the phone. Leaning forwards onto his elbows as he rested his chin on his hands, eyes sparking behind his gold glasses in the same way they had when he had bitten at you when you first came into parts and services what felt like a lifetime ago.

"Well, to do what do I owe this pleasure?" He rumbled, making you smile as you stood infront of his desk, your hands conspicuoisly behind your back as you rocked back and forth on your heels.

"Well, sir, you seemed like you needed to eat something." William groaned as you called him 'sir', feeling his chest tighten as you looked so sweet in front of him. You raised a slight eyebrow at the noise.

"So I've been sent dessert before dinner?" An almost growl to his voice as he heard your own breath catch slightly, feeling pleased with himself that he could fluster you so easily.

You produced a pizza box from behind your back, making William laugh as you set it on the desk, his fingers opening it up as the smell hit him and he realised just how hungry he was. He had only had a coffee that morning, and the extra calories wouldn't kill him, only develop his dad-bod further which he had heard no complaints from you about. He decided to have fun with you though and sat back in his chair with a sigh, hearing the office chair creak under his shifting weight.

"If I only had the time, I have to finish this paperwork and I can't exactly get my fingers greasy and then handle it..." Making you raise an eyebrow at the comment, feeling your own smile widening slightly as he ran his thick fingers through his greying hair. "I guess you'll have to feed me, bunny."

"Well I feel like I'll drop it onto your paperwork if I do, sir." Hearing a little growl under his sigh as he made the same 'come hither' gesture towards you, the office silent aside from a quiet fan as you stepped around his desk. Yelping as he ensnared your waist and pulled you onto his lap, making your cheeks flush badly as he shifted you so that you were sat on one broad thigh. His hand remaining on your waist as he looked up at you, raising an eyebrow and trying to maintain a serious expression.

"Now you won't drop it on my paperwork, and you get to be a good little bunny and keep me company too." Whispering in your ear and making you shiver as he picked up his pen again and began to pull over his paperwork whilst holding onto you.

You picked up a slice of pizza and brought it up to William's mouth. Giggling at the absurdity of sitting in his lap and feeding him whilst he worked away on parts orders and technical specifications that went way over your head, which only made the older man raise an eyebrow at you before he carried on silently with his work. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, rather simply a comfortable lack of things to talk about in the moment.

As you fed him, he would occasionally shake his head and you would take a bite. Leaning against him and occasionally squirming in his lap to stop yourself from falling off, earning a small squeeze around your waist as you did so.

"You have sauce on your lip, Mr. Afton." You said after a while, making William blink and place his pen down, leaning back in his chair with you and smiling slightly.

"Oh do I now?" That playful spark in his eyes making you smile.

"You do sir, can I get it for you?"

"Please." You smiled and complied, leaning in and kissing him slowly. Sensually as your tongue darted across his lip to catch something that didn't exist, you simply wanted an excuse to kiss him.

William's grip tightened on your waist as he groaned into the kiss, responding in kind as his tongue slipped into your mouth, eliciting a soft gasp from you and an almost posessive growl from him as his other hand rested on your thigh and stroked over the material of your work pants lightly. Both of you moving slowly before parting for breath.

"I think I got it, Will." Giggling as he looked up at you after a moment, seeing him smile as he placed his forehead against yours.

"Do you know how much you drive me crazy?" Chuckling as you pulled back and looked at him quizically.

"Oh?"

"Oh is right, little bunny. Coming in here, pressing my buttons without knowing what you're doing." He growled, making you smile and look at him with a raised eyebrow and cocked head.

"I did?...How?" You asked, earning a gentle tap on your nose as he leaned back in his chair, running his hand through his hair.

"Think about it, work that brilliant, pretty mind of yours."

It took a few moments of thinking, finding yourself a little flustered after his comment before looking back at William and trying not to laugh as you looked into his eyes.

"Do you...you like being called 'sir'?" You asked, earning a squeeze and a wolfish grin as he tipped his head to one side, shrugging nochelantly.

"And what if I do, little bunny? What if I liked hearing you call me that from your pretty little mouth when we're alone?" He asked, humming softly as he watched your expression. He knew you were slowly being eased into it all, and he didn't want to overwhelm you with it all, especially since he knew he had a lot more ideas of things he wanted to do to you in your shared bed in his room.

"Is it just hearing it from me?"

"Only you, my love."

"Then I guess that's acceptable, sir." You decided to tease him slightly, unsure of what about it make William tick, but the growl and the warning squeeze you recieved on your thigh sent butterflies through your stomach.

"You're playing dangerously, bunny, I have a lot of thoughts going through me right now."

"Show me?" You asked, a mirror of the day you sat on his workshop bench and removed his wedding band with your teeth.

His grip tightened on you as he easily scooped your leg up and wrapped it over him, making you wobble at the sudden movement. William forced you to straddle his waist ans you could already feel how much he strained against his slacks under your ass as he reached up and undid the bow around your neck.

"You're hard." Heart pounding as he looked up at you with darkened silver eyes and his lip curled into a playful snarl. One hand expertly undoing buttons on your blouse as the other moved to your lower back and held you there.

"I've had a beautiful, wonderful woman sat on my lap for the past while. Treating me like she wants to, pushing those little buttons I wanted to keep hidden from you a little longer. Are you surprised, you little minx?" Growling as he shoved your blouse off of one shoulder and began to kiss up the skin between your collarbones. Feeling his beard scratching at his skin and occasionally nipping at you as he made his way up to your neck. His hips thrusting up into your core and eliciting little gasps from you that drove him even more wild.

Your arms wrapped around him and cradled his head against your skin as he found the point between your neck and shoulder that sent sparks up your spine. Grinding your hips back against his and gasping as you were rewarded with the the feeling of his teeth against your skin, nipping and sucking as he held you against his hips. The hand that had been undoing your blouse moving into your hair and grabbing it a little roughly as he marked up your neck in little bruises, listening to each whine and pant that fell from your lips with a thrilling chill down his spine as he enjoyed teasing you.

Eventually, William left your neck and smashed his lips to yours, his tongue bullying it's way into your mouth, allowing you to taste each other as you moaned into it. Feeling his hips still thrusting against you, head reeling as William pulled away and left little strands of saliva connecting your lips as he sat back in his chair with a wolfish grin. Looking at the mess he had made of you.

"Why...why stopping?" Your head was spinning, and William chuckled as he leant in to give you a gentle kiss, buttoning up your blouse for you and retying the little bow as you kissed him back breathlessly.

"Because of that, bunny. Can't have everybody out there thinking I've fucked you so well you can't even speak." Chuckling more as he placed a kiss on your nose, fixing your hair carefully and looking you over to make sure you were presentable. Your cheeks flushed an additionally deep shade as you realised you probably sounded like a mess as he looked at his watch.

"I promise bunny, waiting will be worth it though, okay? I love you."

"I love you too, William. Even if you're a teasing ass."

"You started it bunny, my babygirl, but I am certainly not going to turn down playing." Biting at you like he had the first time he met you, making you blush and shake your head as you smoothed yourself out and headed for the door, blowing him a playful kiss as he smirked and blew one back, shooing you out playfully and shaking his head as he sighed and tried to focus back on the paperwork on his desk, rather than the taste of you on his lips.

You somehow managed to get through your shift without being killed off by the thought of what William had done to you in his office. You knew you were going to get him back eventually, but you knew something about him now that you didn't before, and hadn't expected if you were honest with yourself.

You hadn't gone to William's house after work, claiming the need for a shower, which was true as much as he protested that you could use his, and secondly, you pointed out that you had to do some washing and actually wear clothes other than your uniform and the ones you borrowed from him. He wasn't thrilled about it, but you smiled at how pouty he got that he couldn't drive you back to his house and keep you for a while longer.

A knock on your door disturbed you from your thoughts, forcing you to get up and answer it, hair wet from the shower, wearing William's college hoodie and baggy sweatpants as you opened the door, smiling at Sarah Emily as she held up a bag which bulged with goodies.

"I brought wine!" She sang as she stepped in, making you groan and shake your damp head.

"You know I'm not much of a drinker, Sarah, and please tell me how you're getting home if you've been drinking?"

"Shush, you're sounding more and more like a mother every day! Henry dropped me off and is picking me up when I give him a call. I figured today was a good day to bring wine and have a girlie chat without the kids around." She grinned, glancing at your neck and her smile widening as she suggestively raised an eyebrow. "And it seems like William got a hold of you."

"What?" Slightly spooked by the comment, you felt your cheeks flushing and consciously covering the dark hickeys that had formed on your neck as Sarah giggled.

"That was practically William's signature in college. Henry told me William had a....thing... for biting, although, now you're a big girl and getting into those kinds of activities, the proper term is a biting kink." Placing the bag on your kitchen counter and bringing out a bottle of white wine and a bottle of lemonade, pottering around to find two glasses for you.

"So...William has...this...kink?" The word felt unfamiliar on your tongue, and you had images of William choking on whatever air there was if you asked him about it without any context.

"Oh probably quite a few, and you probably do too, you just don't know it yet." You swore your cheeks burned even more at Sarah's comment, taking the white wine spritzer she had poured for you gratefully taking a sip to give you something else to focus on. "How did the lingerie go down?"

"Yeah...I think one bit of it survived." Chuckling as Sarah gasped and playfully smacked your arm, shaking her head and waggling her pale eyebrows playfully too.

"So what I'm hearing is, if you get more that might might break?"

"I..I'm thinking of maybe asking him to pick out something he likes?"

"You know William far better than you think you so, he will go feral for that."

The two of you burst into giggles as you sipped your drinks, making idle chatter about the week so far and how adorable it had been to see the girls out playing together. As the sky got darker outside and your face began to hurt from laughing and smiling with one of your new found friends, you thought about how different your life would have been if you hadn't gone to Freddy's that day and asked for a job.

How if you hadn't fallen for a prank, you might not have met William Afton.

After Sarah left and you said hello to Henry as he picked her up, slightly tipsy, you decided to get down to the project you had brought the stuff for. Opening a cupboard and pulling out a sewing machine, blowing off the dust and coughing as you made sure it was all in working order. One of the many fixations of a hobby you'd had over the years and never quite put to use.

Quietly, you hummed to yourself as you picked up the bags of fabric and began to outline a pattern. Measuring and double checking everything to make sure it would fit perfectly.

You hoped William liked it, at the least. Working away on something that had been playing on your mind for a while.

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

Anon linked to a fundraiser for Andrea, a trans woman, UU minister, and veteran, and her wife Wren, a genderqueer veteran, who are currently homeless along with their three cats. While they are working with the VA to get approval for housing assistance, they're in need of funding to get back on their feet; you can read more and support the fundraiser here.

littleredreadinghood linked to a fundraiser for kirkaut, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and is in need of help with medical bills. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

like-the-midnight-sun linked to a fundraiser for a close friend, a queer, trans, and multiply-Disabled writer who has just lost their job and needs to pay a steep phone bill to reactivate their service so they can look for work. You can give via paypal here or via Chime to nachonaco.

Anon linked to a fundraiser for crazywolf828, whose grandfather, one of the household's main income sources, recently suffered a broken hip and is currently in a rehab center; they need help with medical bills among other things. You can read more and reblog here or give via ko-fi here. (The page does pop up a "possible NSFW comment" warning window but there's nothing NSFW on that page.)

Anon linked to a fundraiser for Vinn, a disabled nonbinary person who is raising funds to move away from Utah, where being a queer person is becoming steadily less safe, to Michigan, where they have a place to live with their partner already set up. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

like-the-midnight-sun and her wife are multiply marginalized people who don't feel safe in the US anymore; they are fundraising to move to somewhere in Europe, probably Norway or Sweden, where they will be less likely to experience violent persecution. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

like-the-midnight-sun and her wife are also hoping to get temporary assistance with a vet bill before they go out of town; the appointment is the day before payday and they won't be able to cover it until they are paid. They need a loan of $150 that they can pay back; you can give (with repayment on March 30th) via paypal here, via Venmo to ARZinzani (9980), or via Chime at $Nassun-0428.

Recurring Needs:

thelastpyler is raising funds to help with food, transportation, and replacement IDs after being robbed; you can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

[bestanimal]

Round 1 - Phylum Rotifera

(Sources - 1, 2, own work, 4)

Rotifera is a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic animals, commonly called Wheel Animals or Wheel Animalcules. Many are an important part of freshwater zooplankton.

Rotifers are common in freshwater throughout the world, with a few marine species. They range from 50 micrometres to over 2 millimeters, though most are around 0.1 to 0.5 mm long. Boasting a large amount of diversity, some rotifers are free-swimming, others move by inchworming along the ground, some are sessile and live inside tubes of gelatin attached to the substrate, and some live in sessile or planktonic colonies (seen in gif below). Rotifers are great little recyclers, feeding on detritus, dead bacteria, algae, and protozoans, eating particles up to 10 micrometres in size. They are also prey for many animals, including copepods, fish, bryozoans, comb jellies, true jellies, starfish, and tardigrades. Their fossils have been found in Devonian and Permian fossil beds.

Rotifers are sexually dimorphic, with females always being larger than males, if males of the species even exist at all. Male rotifers’ main lot in life is reproduction: they do not usually have a functional digestive system, and many are already sexually fertile at birth. The female has one or two ovaries, and releases eggs through a cloaca. Male rotifers have a penis which they either insert into the female’s cloaca, or use to inject sperm straight through her skin. Most species hatch as miniature versions of the adult. Females grow rapidly, reaching their adult size within a few days, while many males do not grow at all. Their lifespan lasts from a few days to a few weeks.

This poll also includes the parasitic Acanthocephala (4th image), or “Thorny/Spiny-headed Worms” which was once considered to be a discrete phylum but have since been found to be highly modifed rotifers, so I am including them in this phylum. Acanthocephalans have complex life cycles, involving many hosts.

Propaganda under the cut:

If you’ve ever done freshwater microscopy you’ve probably seen one of these little guys.

Rotifers are a major food source for many species and also contribute to the decomposition of organic matter in soil.

Because they’re so good at recycling detritus, rotifers are sometimes used in fish tanks to help clean the water.

One species, Cephalodella vittata, only lives in Russia’s giant Lake Baikal.

In 2021, biologists were able to restore bdelloid rotifers that had been frozen for 24,000 years in Siberian permafrost!

Some acanthocephalans cause acanthocephaliasis in humans. The earliest known infection was found in a prehistoric man in Utah, dated to around 160 BC.

[flagsnshit]

BIG FLAG NEWS ! ! !

The Great American Flag Revolution is in full swing! Not a month after Maine chose a winner, the state of Illinois has announced a flag redesign contest, which will be open from the 3rd of September to the 18th of October.

Currently, the flag of Illinois is a simple white banner with the state's seal in the center, and the word "ILLINOIS" underneath.

It's not the worst state flag, not by far. It's actually a pretty neat design, and kind of similar to the emblem on the flag of Mexico. But Illinois' seal was deliberately designed to look similar to the seal of the USA, making it look kind of generic, like this could be the flag of really any state. I was going to say that this flag doesn't really scream "ILLINOIS," but alas, it technically does. Nonetheless, it's not a great design and I'm glad they've realized it needs an update.

Interestingly, in 1918, to celebrate the Illinois' first hundred years of statehood, a centennial flag was designed, and it actually slaps:

The centennial flag was designed by Wallace Rice, the same fellow who was responsible for the flag of Chicago, which also goes hard and is probably one of the most iconic municipal flags in the country, if not the world. The 21 stars on the centennial flag represent the 10 northern states and 10 southern states at the time of Illinois' admission to the Union, as well as a big one for Illinois itself. The centennial flag is popular among Illinoisans and some propose making it the flag of the state. Most redesigns for Illinois I've seen incorporate some elements from this flag.

If Illinois does go through with changing its flag, (which will be up to a decision of the General Assembly sometime this year or next), it will be the most recent in a wave of flag redesigns around the nation. Most state flags are unoriginal and/or poorly designed, with more than half of them being just the state seal on a monochrome field, a design loathed by flag enthusiasts everywhere and known very unaffectionately as the "seal on a bedsheet."

There are 25 of these. These flags are not only soulless, but also completely useless. Seals are not legible from a distance, especially waving on a flagpole. Furthermore, seals are symbols of the authority of a government, not of the people, making them kind of inappropriate for a civil flag.

Luckily, the states seem to be slowly realizing the importance of well-designed flags, and now they're redesigning in droves. Mississippi, Utah, Minnesota, Maine, and now Illinois have all redesigned their flags in the past five years, and many more are considering it. I both hope and believe that I will live to see an America with unique, colorful flags for every state.

[dontbesoweirdkira]

Where to buy lingerie?🥀 Girlhood Tips #1 🥀

Whatever happened to wearing beautiful undergarments while prancing around our rooms? One of the staples of being youthful is now seemingly dead and gone. I love to whine down in my fabulous undies and sway to my favorite songs.

Hopefully we can bring this tradition back! To help kick start this, I’ve compiled a list of size inclusive lingerie brands from cheapest to more pricier items.

(If you guys want more options or help please let me know! I'm a chronic online shopper😭)

$

(1-20 USD per set/item)

AliExpress

Ali express stores is the absolute cheapest option for both price and size…yall already know it's fast fashion most times but some reputable brands from them are (IEUHIA, Wriufred, ChenFa Store, and Aiangelaquin official store)

Not much to elaborate here but they usually have a XXS-XXL

Cannot link the stores but just search up by the shop name.

FreetheFrillies

Handmade undergarments shop based out of the United Kingdom, features both religious and Victorian imagery on their clothing.

Sustainably at a reasonable price is one of their main concerns and they take pride in hand sewing each and every one of their items before they are shipped to you!

Material includes cotton, satin and elastics.

Sizes ranges from UK8/10 to UK16/18

ShopCryBunni

Small indie early brand ran by a student in Salt Lake, Utah! Very simple designs usually solid color or floral garments with a small bow or a flower on top. Very affordable.

Shipping is quick and punctual usually taking 2-3 days on average inside of the US. Internal customers can take up to 2-3weeks.

Sizes range from xxs-L US standard and does not make custom sizing outside of that at the moment.

$$

(30-70 USD per set/item)

AKAMYDINH

Small fashion label based in Saigon, Vietnam. They repurpose factory scraps and excess to make their brand as sustainable and ethical as possible! Their lingerie is simple solid colored bikini style sets with a frill finish. Occasionally with a cherry, bow, or floral embellishment.

XXS-XXL is the sizes offered with a additional custom sizing upon request!

70% of their items are made to order while the other 30% is made by fairly paid seamstresses.

Quick and helpful customer service with an outstanding 4.8 stars. Definitely recommend if you’re looking for simple yet ethical clothing.

Besos Biquinis

Famous tik tok brand that is known for their super cute vintage day of the week panties packs!

Their other items are more expensive like the 100+ range but most of their undies are $40-70 USD

Sizining is XS to XL usually. However, only going up to L in bottoms. Biggest cup size is C-DD cup without band specifics.

Unsure about custom sizing but I’d assume not? It’s always worth it to email! :)

Cute packaging and great customers service from what I’ve hear they also send out PRs soooo….if you have a big following definitely worth checking them out

ShesArMermaidCat

An absolute classic in the coquette community! She makes Dolores haze inspired garments with bloomers and cupcake style tops. The sets are usually solid colored or gingham! Perfect for the more modest Americana girlies.

She’s a gem and has amazing communication. You can also request a custom piece or size.

Each and every set is made to order and is handmade right out of California. 10/10 definitely recommend this shop for every Lolita!

FeelingVaugeVintage

Exotic dancer style lingerie brand. This is for the girls who are secy workers or love that style of lingerie. Much more form fitting, skimpy and trashy which I love and I know there's girls who love it too!

Handmade brand based off of esty who is always running sales. Currently offer 20% off when you buy two and 30% off when you buy three! Great deal an already cheap brand.

Sizing is a standard S-L but with any handmade brand just message the seller and ask if they can make a custom size just for you ;) they are a very sweet and punctual seller and they have well over 16,000 sales and a 4.8 star! Definitely recommend!

PurrfectPineapples

Cruelty free lingerie brand based out of Chicago, Illinois. The underwear is all pinup, vintage rockefeller style. Using vintage prints and designs. The embellishments are simple and usually lace or bows. Most sets include bra, panties, and a garter belt for about 60ish USD which is amazing tbh!

This brand is handmade to order and does take custom orders/sizing. The wait time is anywhere from 2 weeks to a month at most for an order.

Great customer services and many ways to pay including klarna payment plans.

(80-100+ per set/item)

$$$

Malicious designs

Handmade sustainable brand that sells tons of babydoll and lolita style clothes. This business is ran by Sheana Hinesley and is a fairly popular place to shop both on Depop and Etsy! They use standard sizing US S - L and is open to doing custom sizing

I do own an outfit for them and well made and I do think it’s worth the price! Fair warning is that shipping takes. 3 months to a year….. And at times their communication is less than the standard.

Would mainly suggest either buying second hand or through their Etsy for the best experience possible!

International shipping plus esty allows payment plans soooooo

Buttress and snatch.

A handmade and sustainable brand that sells 60's american style lingerie with beautiful craftsmanship. Most of their items have bows, rose, or lace embellishments which are a must for any lolita! They are based in the UK with international shipping. The cup sizes goes all away up to a. 36E/40DD and the bottoms up to a size UK18!

For the more adultish sexy girls they do have see through and fully lace garments. For the girls love the environment they have a line of items that are all made out of 100% recycled cotton shirts! How cool.

The brand also has great customer services and can do custom sizing if needed. If you’re ever worried about size conversion please shoot them an email.

They also have a one cup bra for support for anyone that needs that which I think is absolutely amazing. Definitely worth a look.

Love for lemons 🍋

Extremely well known sister brand of Victoria’s Secret that has absolute gorgeous pieces. Their pieces are packed with laces, frills, and florals! Perfect for a more mature, classy coquette.

Unfortunately not as size or comfort inclusive as our last pick but they do have sizes ranging from. XXS-2X and the cups can go up to a big as 38DDD but unfortunately that’s usually for select items such as teddies :/

One the bright side items such as garters, shoes, skirts, and swimwear is available compared to other brands. International shipping is available as well as sales and discounts. P.s. there’s a sale going on for $30 USD on select items.

Good customer services with no custom sizing however you should always mail before buying if unsure! I’d still pick lemons over Victoria’s any day! Tea.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

More than 10,000 books were banned from public schools in the 2023-2024 academic year, nearly triple the number from the previous year, according to preliminary findings from PEN America, a group that advocates for freedom of expression. PEN America recorded 3,362 bans nationwide in the 2022-2023. It will release the final count for the 2023-2024 school year later this fall, along with an Index of School Book Bans and a detailed analysis of the content of the banned books. The preliminary results were released Monday as Banned Books Week began. “In part due to the targeting of sexual content, the stark increase includes books featuring romance, books about women’s sexual experiences, and books about rape or sexual abuse as well as continued attacks on books with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, or books about race or racism and featuring characters of color,” says a PEN America press release. The main forces behind the book-banning movement are state laws and groups and individuals that claim to espouse parental rights as an excuse to remove books from shelves. Iowa and Florida, both of which have laws that enable book bans, accounted for about 8,000 of the book bans in 2023-2024.

Iowa’s law prohibits books with any depiction of a sex act, and this has been interpreted to ban books with any content related to sex or gender, and the law also contains “don’t say gay” language that has been used to ban LGBTQ+ content. The statute went into effect in July 2023, leading to thousands of titles being banned in the 2023-2024 school year, up from just 14 in the previous two academic years combined. Under Florida’s law, which became effective at the same time, any book that is challenged has to be removed while it’s under review, and this “has been linked to a significant rise in book bans during the 2023-2024 school year,” PEN America reports. New laws in Utah, South Carolina, and Tennessee are likely to lead to increased book bans in the 2024-2025 school year, the group notes.

According to PEN America, more than 10,000+ books were banned during the 2023-24 school year. Iowa and Florida are responsible for around 8,000 of the book bans for the 2023-24 school year. A large portion of the books banned feature pro-LGBTQ+ and/or pro-diversity content.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Book bans have increased nearly 200%. Florida and Iowa are partly to blame

[quakerjoe]

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right.

Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything.

[daisychains111]

incorrect chb camper quotes but it's actually just my sister's quotebook from Twitter

Disclaimer: This post is gonna be LONG AF

Percy: "Ahh, die quieter"

Clarisse to Silena: "Do I look majestic?"

Will: "I live in America. Cultures?... casserole"

Nico: "At-home lobotomy"

Baby Nico to Clarisse: "You look like Harry Potter, You just need a scar black hair, different clothes, and to be a boy. "

Annabeth:"I don't know if I have enough sanity for 2 Holy books"

Leo: "I've seen titties before....not really in person, but yk"

Annabeth: "Do you have ears?"

Jason: "I kinda wanna work at Taco Bell"

Piper: "I've never been passive-aggressive in my life"

Will to Apollo: "There's no batteries in my butt Dad I'm not a robot"

Clarisse: "I'm not upset I don't hold grudges"

Ares to Clarisse: "I don't like your clothes it forces me to look at you"

Frank to Leo: "It's not 'drip' it's stupid"

Travis to the whole Hermes Cabin: "I'm the Rizzington bear... like Paddington bear but Rizz" (after his 1st date with Katie)

Nico: "I love Olive Garden, I wish Italians were real"

Rachel: "Come on, you guys stop trying to cockblock the view"

Katie: "If people can smoke weed in the middle of the day, then I can drink chamomile tea"

Rachel: "You don't want to piss me off I'm witewally a werewolf"

Piper about Jason: "All my friends are boys, and one just died... he would have made a great bridesmaid"

Frank: "I was doing a silly but the funny didn’t land"

Jason: "Why am I white"

Rachel: "I am not a whore, I am a celibate queen!"

Drew: "It's not the fashion statement that you think it is"

Nico about the Ares Cabin: "They're gonna call you a slur, but they're gonna be really nice about it"

Piper to Annabeth: "If we both think it, it's not bitchy"

Grover: "I'm just gonna write a paragraph or two about global warming"

Annabeth"I have like a 7th-grade reading level!!! (this is impressive when you're dyslexic)

Jason: "Dude I love yoga"

Will: "They say that Utah is the promise land"

Kayla: *explains what a text-fic is to grandparents (Apollo)*

Clarisse: "Put that on your Twitter!" *points knife at me*

Travis: "Do you eat?"

Katie: "...um yes?"

Travis: "Oh, I mean do you want to eat." (when he asked Katie out the first time)

Hazel: "That's not gonna change my heart. That's just gonna make me cry!"

Alabaster: "I wanna find someone somewhere to impregnate and then steal the baby......Where's your Twitter, that was kinda funny"

Percy about Leo: "I would spoon that man so hard"

Frank: "The closer I get to nature, the closer I get to being a werewolf"

Apollo: "I feel like Jaba the Hut"

Rachel: "It's because you ate girl dinner"

Apollo (same convo^)"I fell asleep, and I woke up, and I ate a girl dinner, and I didn't feel that good"

Percy: Don't mind me just cleaning the ocean" *hand angrily on hip*

Will to the Stolls: "Although my bellybutton was once my mouth I don't want soda in it!!"

Connor: "Look at how majestic I am"

Clarisse: *gasps* *throws uno cards* "This is communism at its finest, and I hate your life." *Is losing* "All I'm doing is humoring you now. There is no reason for me to play anymore." *throws cards* *again*

Nico: *passes out*

Will: "We need to take you to the doctor like right now."

Nico: "No fireworks are more important than my health"

Leo about Percy: "That's a pretty boy right there... if we were in prison, it's over."

Kayla when Will came out to her: "Slay motherfucker"

Annabeth: "I hope to not run over any old ladies...old men are fair game tho."

Percy: "Main characters get bullied, Jesus....yep!"

Leo: "What if I was an astronaut!!!!"

Travis: "Banana, Banana, Meatball"

Clarisse: "I am going to break your toe shut the hell up"

Katie to Connor: "I hope you get bullied in high school."

Clarisse about Leo: "This guy's a fuckin goober"

Clarisse: "What did you do to your sweatshirt? Did you get hungry?"-Grover: *sighs*

Nyssa (Hephaestus kid) to Leo: "Dont hurt me. I'm Batman!.... You better not tweet that"

Kayla to Apollo: "It's called multi-tasking Apollo! "

Apollo: "It's mother to you"

Clarisse: "I could fight God and win"

Percy: "So you wanna fight rn"

Clarisse: "No, I'm good"

Jason; "You look gang"

Leo: "What? I look gay!?!?!"

Jason: "You look straight, but nice"

Leo: "Oh... thanks!"

Apollo to Rachel"Lie, deny, cry, and for good measure be a raging slut."

Silena: "There's all kinds of nature out here"

Katie: "Live, laugh, love, low iron"

Annabeth to Piper: "Keep backing up...Cuz you have a fear of commitment

Lou Ellen to Katie: "Does your knee affect your shoe size... or are your feet just that small??"

Travis: "The amount of testosterone in me, peanuts are allergic to me!"

Leo: "I'm cracked up on feeling sexy"

Connor to the whole Hermes Cabin: "The "10" of us? our parents sp*rm pets"

Apollo about Athena: "OH gods, a single mom"

Apollo about Kayla's dad: "I cheated on myself with a man"

Malcolm about Athena: "She's a mom boogie woogie woogie"

Nico: "I cried at Chick-fil-A the other day"

Nico: "Live, laugh, lobotomy."

Drew about Thalia: "She has no friends and a dead brother."

Katie: "I wrote fanfiction on my i-pod touch"

Lacy to Leo: "Was it a tech? or was it a human?"

Will: "Live, laugh, love, tampons"

Kayla: "Die, cry, hate, condoms"

Aphrodite to Clarisse: "Do you like being a girl? You just always wear pants"

Percy: "Chill I know how to make conversations I have Rizz"

Will: "What! no! cow!"

Frank: "Fvcking knock it off seriously you guys are acting like children!!"

Travis to Lou Ellen: "Yesss pussy-pop you slayed"

Ashlyn (Hermes kid): "Chick-fil-A is mid, Taco bell is where it's at"

Percy during tlt: "You couldn't even buy a gumball with that shit (drachmas)"

Percy (same convo ^): "A quarter? You could buy a gumball with that shit"

Nico: "Your soul and your money!"

Tyson: "You've seen fishes, fishes move fast"

Leo to Frank: "What the fvck is a kilometer"

Leo making fun of Frank: "Mua ha ha ha I'm Canadian"

Percy: "Jesus didn't give up his life he gave up his weekend"

*as seen at 2am in the Apollo Cabin*

Gracie: "You're discriminating against me"

April (the token straight): "It's cuz she's gay"

Will: "We're all gay."

Nico: You don't have any slurs about you."

Leo: "No because I'm perfect"

this was fun to make lol....there will probably be a part 2 but like far in the future. if you made it this far I love you....also if you don't recognize names it's bc I deep-dived Wiki to find canon names for each cabin.

If y'all want one-shots based on these TELL ME I NEED STUFF TO WRITE ABOUT

[laundrybiscuits]

Eden actually likes her name. When she thinks about the muslin-draped horrors she could’ve gotten stuck with, like poor Suzie, she feels guiltily glad she dodged that bullet. If she’d been the one who had to shoulder the impossible burden of being named Suzie, who knows how she might’ve turned out.

Eden is a word that could go a lot of ways. It’s almost as good as Lilith or Isis or something. It’s the kind of name that could be sexy, in the right hands. The kind of name you could say on stage: ladies and gentlemen, introducing the one and only Eden—

That’s where the picture stalls out, though. Eden Bingham is pretty awful, no matter how you spin it. She wants to pick a stage name like some glamorous Hollywood actress, but she hasn’t decided exactly what she wants yet. She thinks it would be real elegant to pick something French, like…like Verne. 

There’s a battered paperback tucked under her mattress at home, where sticky, prying little fingers can’t get at it. She’s not a fast reader, but she’s read it about a million times by now. Sometimes when she can’t sleep, she’ll take it out and just squint at it in the moonlight, tracing her fingertips over the faded elephant on the cover. It’s a story about some guy who was so bored he decided to travel all around the world, and nobody stopped him. He could just go. He didn’t have any kids or anything that he had to take care of or look after; in fact, there was some guy whose whole job was to look after him. 

For a little while, Eden thought about borrowing the main guy’s last name, but Eden Fogg sounds kind of old and stuffy. She could take the French valet’s name, but she’s not completely confident she knows how to pronounce Passepartout, and she’s terrified she’s going to say it wrong and nobody’s going to take her seriously ever again. 

The author’s French too, though, and his name seems a lot easier to handle. So, lately she’s been looking in the mirror and saying Eden Verne, hi my name is Eden Verne real quiet to herself, just testing it out. She’s not sure about it yet, but it’s definitely better than Eden Bingham. 

Eden Bingham is just a handful of years away from Edie Bingham, who spends her time looking after a house full of kids and wears shapeless floor-length dresses. But Eden Verne could be someone who travels and wears exciting makeup. Eden Verne drinks and swears and smokes, and she never has to deal with kids ever again. Beautiful, sophisticated men and women alike despair for love of her, but she never lets anyone stay more than a night. 

Anyway, she doesn’t have to figure out if she can carry off Verne yet, because the stupid boy she followed halfway across the country introduced her to his friends as Eden Bingham, so she never got the chance to decide if she was going to say something different. She probably wouldn’t have, but—maybe she would. Maybe. She’ll never know.

The thing with Argyle fizzled out pretty quick. He’s cute, and making out with him is fun, but he doesn’t ever seem to want anything real out of life. Eden can’t understand him at all, and worse yet, she’s pretty sure he doesn’t understand her. When they’re high, they communicate just fine giggling about the cosmos, but that’s not enough. She’s sure there’s supposed to be more, even if she’s not entirely sure what that means.

She broke up with him on an impulse, and sometimes she regrets it. He’s a good guy. He’s not like any other guy she’s ever known. He’s willing to drive clear across the country, which is what she liked about him to begin with. Maybe that’s as good as it gets for her.

But she can’t take it back now. It’s not even that she thinks he’d say no, necessarily; she just can’t handle the idea of trying to walk back something like that. She’d die of humiliation before the words made it out of her mouth. 

So Eden’s just here, in Hawkins, staying in her ex-fling’s best friend’s step-dad’s spare room because it’s still marginally better than having to hitch home to Utah. Argyle is planning to drive back to California in a few weeks, so she’s going to just ride with him then. In the meantime, she’s going to have a nice, quiet vacation in Indiana, doing whatever it is Midwesterners do in the summer, and then she’ll go home and nothing at all about the life of Eden Bingham will have changed.

[joltning]

@fishfingersalad it’s almost 2am but i can’t sleep and ts probably only going to be seen by like 5 people anyway so let it rip

this au started out as a self indulgent pocket sized au that I ignore as all my aus do…..then I couldn’t sleep and started imagining things im good at that. it started as an au I could do ship focus on and well I love lore I guess. despite all this the main story still focuses on my blorbos. maybe I will make a storyline for the main cast, if I can imagine things again

one day, all across (abridged) America (this is why I made that carolina/puerto rico/dc post btw), 50 children, each for 1 state, pop up at the same time, with varying ages, mostly tween years but with some variation up and down. while some are humanoid creatures, others are completely monstrous and lack sentience. however, they all share one common factor: a tag identifying what state they came from. The majority of the sentient ones assume this is their name, and that’s why they run with it.

conspiracy theorists and cryptid fans nationwide take notice of a bunch of shit happening overnight and develop “The 50” list. depending on if it’s commonly agreed upon what monster you are and if it’s commonly agreed upon what state you’re from, you’ll be ranked higher or lower on the list, with, of course, the highest ranking being the most sought after and hidden. Most of the higher tiered creatures are humanoid; it’s easier to blend in if you don’t look out of place

i forgot to mention Btw it’s like. myths and legends and shit too. i mentioned york being the pied Piper I also think the implication that the pied Piper is a monster is funny. also only one monster per person and

ofc my blorbos…….Everyone run now!!!! Ohio has just moved to a new city yay go girl But her coworkers are fucked up!!! There’s this bitch Sherry that she may or may not have a crush on and like her two little friends who absolutely know that. but Watch out there’s a freaky green man It’s Georgia her old friend Georgia. they were their first freelancer friends but geo Loves making deals for souls slash servitude slash their power slash take over the world slash he doesn’t know what souls are and neither do I. but they gotta be normal and not fight in the office.!!! And fight outside of a Walmart at 2 instead. he’s kinda bad at it though which is why only Ohio cares.

anywya Sherry keeps running into Ohio and Georgia fighting and you know Ohio’s kind of like. well if you see her when she’s not masking you’ll probably go insane huh. so Ohio has to keep wiping her memories and Sherry’s getting CRAZY deja vu.

this is so stressful Good thing Ohio’s got her trusty friends Iowa and Idaho!!! They’re causing chaos somewhere else but she’s always texting them and video chatting. hopefully they can meet up again soon!!

Utah is a paranormal investigator and currently georgia’s only the only person who’s currently made a deal with him. he’s made past deals but Ohio scared them off by ‘Do Not Be Afraid’ing them. it’s either that or they have to get killed lest the green fuck get too powerful and Ohio would rather not do that thanks. utah doesn’t even get anything in return he just wants to know wtf is going on tbh. Georgia stays at his apartment because he’s a squatter I guess

well That’s too bad I guess I can’t share any more because they’re just plotpoints. hey do you wanna know what the other freelancers are

Ohio: Angel (duh. So low because when she spawned she was literally in the middle of a bunch of people and blinded them with her corporeal form)

Georgia: Demon (the devil but literally this time. manages to be a little higher due to being able to teleport short distances. Stayed a little too close to home base, though.)

Iowa: Harpy (kept flying in the air like a dumbass everyone fucking saw him. denialists claim it to be a big bird. and they’re right.)

Idaho: Werewolf (he didn’t know until a full moon came out. oops.)

Carolina: Siren (keeps the bad singing voice.)

York: pied piper….

Wash: Shapeshifter

Florida: Alien (when he came on the fated day he rode in on a meteor instead of plopping in, breaking off the state from the rest of the US. its highly debated on whether or not the meteor itself was the creature.)

Maine: Bigfoot (but he shaves his whole body every day so he just looks like a big guy)

Connie: Kitsune

Wyoming: Fairy (despite being obvious, no one fuckinh lives in wyoming so he just flew far away immediately. fucks up the rankings of others by being spotted far away from his state.)

North: The Sandman (Both spawned across from eachother at the 2 state’s borders. They immediately declared eachother twins.)

South: Mare/Dream Eater (Their high ranking is very dependent on the confusion on which twin is which, since they work together to sleep and then feast.)

Tex: Ghost

you may see here I did not include Utah Did I forget No No No (kinda) I have an idea for what he is but i don’t intent to reveal it ever really. idk how id incorporate that. jsut know I searched really hard to find a creature that wasn’t a ghost that disrupted electromagnetic fields so that every time he went ghost hunting the machines would go off causing him to assert there was a ghost there. but no alas I did not find that

ok tahts it I think. for now. maybe. if you have any ideas for this background fucks wise or rnbs wise I would like them. for meThanks goodnight im gonna pass blout Out Out

[comicglitterr0909]

As a community we NEED a fic where William actually gets arrested at the end, like imagine a romantic reader x Afton thing and he confesses his love and reveals his truths, and at the end it’s like, reader was actually a cop and your under arrest, and it ends w William saying I would have got away with it too if it wasn’t for you meddling- you get it. :)

I FELT REALLY BAD FOR NOT RESPONDING TO THIS FOR AWHILE, BUT IVE BEEN RLLY BUSY WITH WORK AND SCHOOL. SO THIS IS THE FIRST PART, IM MAKING THE SECOND PART RN AND I LEFT YOU ON A SMALL CLIFFHANGER RN ITS OKAY THOUGH. ALSO ITS ALREADY 2.9k+ WORDS SO I NEED A PART 2.

No because that's such a good idea though too and even though I’m a massive simp for William I think he definitely needs to be humbled. THE MANIPULATOR GETS MANIPULATED WHILE ALSO READER KINDA SIMPING FOR HIM IDK I COULDNT HELP IT it still ends the way u want though >:)

Also I'm naming this "Playing with Shadows" idk it feels right.

Stuff to know: Cursing, a lil obsessiveness, reader following “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss” mentality, reader is an fbi agent cuz idk felt like it, kind of a more creepy tone to it, this is taken place before Freddy’s is abandoned and before any of Williams kids die, but his wife is gone cause shes not important >:D

Being an FBI agent, you get your fair share or surprising things that you see. And when I got assigned to go to a small town in Utah, investigating a pizzeria, I’d say it was surprising, but that would be the least of my concerns. After arriving there, I was finally informed on what my entire job would be for the next 3 to 4 months. 

My boss takes me into a private room, I sit down in front of his desk, he grabs a file, his eyes graze over it until he sighs looking back at me. “Agent y/ln. Your job is complicated, I won't lie to you. It will be an extreme mental challenge, but you're the best to do this.”

“You must first get a job interview with a man named William Afton. He is the owner of a restaurant named Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. After you get the interview you must also get the job, as a waitress there. Simple enough, but then, you will have to seduce him. That's the tough part, we believe he is responsible for the murder of 6 or more kids. We chose you not only from your skill set, but also because you look very similar to his ex-wife. He has 3 children, if you start getting along with them it might seem more attractive to him, your main goal. Get him to fall so in love with you, that he confesses the murders.” 

And with that the case that would affect me more than any other, starts.

The day of the interview, it's pouring down rain outside, there are only a few cars parked outside of Freddy’s, the sound of music can be heard from outside. I walk up to the door, opening it, my eyes scanning the room. There isn’t much, it is a tuesday though, the first things I see are two parents trying to get one of their kids to leave, and the second is the giant ass animatronics on stage, well 3 of them are on stage, another fox looking one is playing with a kid. Well it would have been nice if they told me about some creepy animatronics but whatever. After looking around for a few seconds a man approaches me, he’s tall, probably 6 '4 or 6' 5, with glasses. “William Afton, you must be y/n y/ln, here for the interview?” He says to me, offering his hand for me to shake. My boss never told me what he looked like, they tried not to tell me anything about him, they thought that it would be too suspicious for the highly intelligent serial killer if I accidentally slipped up and said something about something I “didn’t” know. Either way I return the smile, shaking his hand firmly.

“Yes that's correct, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” Y’know if you ignore the fact that he is probably a psychotic, narcissistic, serial killer, then he’s actually really hot. At least it wouldn’t be that repulsive seducing him. “Follow me then and we’ll get the interview started.” I take the chance to glance around the place once more, noticing his eldest son, Micheal, leaning against the wall rolling his eyes at his brother who was crying. The fbi showed me pictures of the children so I knew which ones to try and interact with. I followed him into his office, seeing only one family photo, it had his ex-wife in it, I do actually look a lot like her, huh. 

He motions me to sit in the chair in front of his desk, while walking to sit on his own. “So y/n, tell me what brings you here for the interview? Why here?” Oh right, what was I supposed to say, shit I forgot, good thing I was in theater as a kid, improvise. “Well, I really love the atmosphere of this place, even though being a waitress isn’t everyone's dream job, I think for now it would be a safe and fun job to have. I also am really good with kids so it's a plus to have them around.” Hell yeah theater kids for the win. He nods at my answer, thinking for a bit then writing something in a notepad he has, I see his gaze focus on the picture of his wife and kids then back at me, he narrows his eyes. Oh he definitely caught onto the similarities in our looks. 

“Y’know what y/n, I think I’m just getting a really good feeling about you, how soon can you start?” Either my improv is so good I should retire fbi and become an actor. Or the plan is working insanely well, and he misses his ex wife so much that having me around could take his mind off it. I really wish it was the first option, it's definitely the second. “Wow! Thank you so much sir! I can start tomorrow if that’d work?” He grins standing out of his chair, I do the same and shake his hand again. “Sounds perfect.” He walks me out of the building, his hand on my shoulder, to most it would be a friendly gesture. But when you know the blood that's been on his hands, you can’t help but have chills running down your spine. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, y/n” He says, his eyes looking straight at me, it was terrifying because when I looked back into his eyes I saw nothing, but it felt like he could see everything in my eyes. I force a smile, waving and quickly walking to my car, driving away to my little apartment. I could barely sleep, my mind kept returning to the same look in his eyes, the same way a lion looks at its prey. I’m an FBI agent, I shouldn’t be this shaken by another murderer, but it just felt different, almost out of this world in some weird way, I guess it just didn’t feel real. But it was. And that’s the scary part. The other scary part was the feeling of being watched, I knew that my FBI friends were watching on cameras, only checking on me with texts, just in case William was stalking me. And that's what it felt like, the feeling of someone watching me, but I couldn’t do anything about it, I was supposed to encourage it actually. This is my job anyways, I’m safe and I’m not going to let some ,oddly attractive now that i think about it, creep scare me. So after giving myself a pep talk I was finally able to get some needed sleep. 

I woke up to the annoying ass alarm going crazy, I immediately shut it off, it was a mental battle to not just go back to sleep. When I got out of bed, the feeling of being watched was gone, which told me that William was most likely watching me last night, never gonna get used to that. After I get ready, put on the mini mic that records any conversations I have, and make myself look like a potential murderers ex wife, I head out the door, ready to start my “new job” at a totally wholesome children's place.

When I get there and walk through the doors I notice William was waiting for me, he smiles welcomely and pats my back. “y/n! So great to see you, are you ready to start your new job?” I smile back at him, at least it seems like he's in a good mood today, not a creepy kill all mood. No wait, he’s still probably in that mood. “Yeah, I’m really excited, thank you again for hiring me, I appreciate so, so much Mr Afton.” “Ah, you're welcome! I think you’ll be a great addition to have around.” He leads me towards the kitchen where a sleep deprived male teen who looks like he’s high, (he is) is lazily defrosting pizza dough and another worker, some 60 year old Betty is cutting and putting ingredients into containers. Basic pizza prep. When I walk into the kitchen, Williams hands still on my back, the 60 year old looks up and HARD glares at me. Bitch. I think Wiliam saw how hard Betty or whatever was glaring at me, so he tries to lift the mood. “Bethenny, Aaron, this is y/n, they are our new waitress so you don’t have to keep bringing the food out yourselves!” Bethenny, I was close enough. She looks more like the child murderer. “Hey.” Aaron says, even though he’s high, he looks pretty nice, he’s smiling at me. I wave at him politely while Bitcheny is still glaring at me, not saying a word. “Alright team! Well get to know each other cause y/n’s gonna be here awhile!” That's condescending, oh well. I try to be nice and smile at Bigassbetty and she has no reaction besides looking away and going back to chopping up vegetables. William finally takes his hands off my back and says good luck while walking back to his office. “Hey… guess I should introduce myself, my name is Aaron, it's nice to meet you.” Aaron says coming up to me with a friendly (high) smile. I greet him, trying to be friendly, and trying not to be repulsed by the strong smell of vape coming off of him. “Hey, i’m y/n, it's nice to see a *friendly* face.” I say, glaring at Betty while saying friendly. “Oh haha yeah, don’t mind her, she's just some grumpy bitch.” I laugh with him and Bethenny rolls her eyes.  We keep talking for a bit while I try to help prep the kitchen before Freddy’s opens. Once it does, a surprising amount of kids come in, even more surprising because it's Wednesday. 

Food quickly starts getting made, along with kids screaming and laughing and running around. I bring my first pizza order over to a table, smiling nicely at anyone who looks at me, getting mostly smiles back. A few hours pass and I finally get to hang out . It's not that hard, it's just bringing food to people and trying not to kick children who get in your way. As I’m bringing food to a table I notice a woman who looks a lot like me walk in with three kids, pushing them in with an even more bitchy look than Bethenny and leaving. Oh shit, those are Aftons kids. I put the pizza down, checking my watch, perfect timing, I'm on break now, which means I need to try and interact with the kids. I got a little information on some of the kids, I know Micheal is the oldest, he's a punk and a rebel, and he’d probably follow me around like a lost puppy if I offered him a smoke and talked to him about star wars, easy enough. Evan hates Freddy’s, so I’d probably need to comfort him and try to calm him down, make him laugh and cheer him up. Then Elizabeth, I could probably act like I found a barbie and give it to her saying “I couldn’t find the owner.” All pretty easy, hopefully. 

I decided to try and talk to Micheal first. I figured if the other siblings saw him laughing and talking to me, it would make it easier to talk to them. I waited for Micheal to get tired of his crying brother, as he walked outside. I quickly grab a smoke from my bag and head outside, I see William watch me with an intimidating grin as I wave at him and go outside. Once I get out their Micheal is already side-eyeing me, obviously suspicious and wary if I would snitch on him for smoking, that's until I pull out my own and quickly light it, I glance at him seeing his suspicion fall and his face become more relaxed. I noticed he doesn’t his lighter isn’t working, great for me. “Need me to light it for ya?” I say smiling at him, offering my lighter. He grins and nods. “Yeah, thanks” I nod and cup my hands over his cigarette, quickly lighting it as we both stand outside silently smoking. “So you're the new waitress here right?” I’m glad he started the conversation, to be honest I had no clue what to say. “Yeah, just got here today, I’d say it's going pretty well.” He chuckles while taking a puff of his cigarette. “Hah, just wait till the weekend, it's like hell, way too many kids in one spot.” I grin, “It gets worse than this?!” I say jokingly as we both laugh a bit, I see he has a star wars shirt on. “Who’s your favorite star wars character?” He smiles wide, clearly excited to talk about it. “Oh definitely Anakin, what's your Princess Leia or something?” He jokes. “Hell no (your fav star wars character)  is where it's at.” (If it's Princess Leia, sorry lmao). We stay out there for 10 minutes until we walk back inside, discarding the smokes, and continuing to argue about star wars while inside, which is good because William sees me talking and laughing with him. After my break ends I go back to working, occasionally stopping to talk to Micheal, and like I said he’s basically following me around all day. At the end of the day, I help clean up the kitchen a bit, the only three kids left are Aftons. Micheal looks like he’s waiting for me, clearly already attached to me, guess I’m good at my job. I can’t help but feel bad though, if we do catch William, these kids will hate me. It's all a part of the job. I finish cleaning walking out where William greets me with a big smile, I kinda wanna see what he looks like when hes not smiling, because its really fucking creepy that I haven’t seen him do anything but smile. “Y/N! You did great today, I was right, you make a perfect fit!” I see Micheal nod in agreement, William also sees that, somehow he seems even more happy and smiley than just a moment ago. “Ah I see you have met my brilliant son Micheal! He’s quite the kid eh?” God he really is obsessed with trying to make me their new mom. “Yeah well he certainly knows way too much about star wars.” I joke, Micheals face heats up with embarrassment. “Hey! I can like things!” He laughs and I laugh with him, William doesn’t take his eyes off me, he looks like he’s thinking, deciding something, and whatever it is, is about me.

The smallest son then comes up to me, Evan, and just holds onto my leg, wrapping his arms and legs around my leg. I raise an eyebrow and awkwardly laugh, not knowing what to do. Micheal starts laughing really hard, and William is chuckling. “Evan, let's get off of y/n now eh kid, they’ve got places to be.” Evan pouts and holds tighter onto my leg. That's when I start laughing, Elizabeth grins evilly and takes the chance to run over and grab my other leg. William and Micheal start to try and pry them off of me, we are all laughing. Like a family. I lose my balance and stumble back, falling, the kids both instinctively let go so they don't get hurt, before I can fall on the floor William catches me.

Look I know he’s a child murder but with a 6 '4 sexy tumblrman catching me like that, I'm gonna blush a little. And he lifted me back up like it was nothing, I love a strong man. WOAH pause, I am not gonna fall for a killer. Wait, there is still a small chance this could be a misunderstanding, no, I have to remember how creepy he is, like I get bad vibes from him. Then again I get bad vibes from all men. “You alright y/n” Oh shit right, I forgot where I was for a moment. “Yeah haha, thanks, at least we got them off right?” I grin and laugh with them all. Evan tugs on William's pant leg, motioning for him to bend down so Evan can whisper something to him, William does so. He starts laughing and stands back up. “Evan was wondering if you wanted to come have dinner with us sometime.” I smile and nod. “I would love to!” The family lights up, all of them smiling. “How about tomorrow, can’t you just close Freddy’s a bit earlier Dad?” Micheal suggests. “That's a great idea kiddo, how does that sound to you y/n?” The plan is working perfectly. Well, almost perfectly, I’m getting attached to this family, even the guy who might be a murderer. I part of me is wishing, that its all a misunderstanding, that some other fucked up guy killed or took those kids, that this family is perfectly fine and I could fit right in. But the other part of me knows I need to stick to the job, and that fucking sucks. 

“That works perfectly, I will see you all tomorrow!”

And with that I wave goodbye to the Afton family, before driving back to my apartment, staring at the ceiling before somehow falling asleep. 

ALRIGHT GUYS ILL TRY AND GET PART 2 OUT ASAP 😭

[horizoncountdown]

For those that are curious, this is the Real World Horizon location map that Count uses, done by jesuscuervo on Reddit.

See under the cut for more information.

Real World Horizon Map (Speculative)

The Embrace proper is just the valleys and lakes between Pike’s Peak and Cheyenne Mountain, the core of the Nora Territory. Here, I placed each village in a valley respective to the location of Cheyenne Mountain but moved a few things around so it would not be too crowded.

The Outer Sacred Lands – outside the Embrace proper – contain several outcast camps. I had the Nora Territory expand across the Grand Mesa and Gunnison National Forest. Brom’s Camp is located over the Black Canyon of the Gunnison as it is depicted in-game, while Rost’s Hovel and Grata’s Camp are located on the hills/mountains closer to the Embrace.

Valleymeet; the neutral land between The Sacred Lands and the Carja Sundom is based on Maroon Bells, CO in-game. However, I mapped it out to include all of the White River National Forest within Valleymeet.

Hunter’s Gathering the main settlement in Valleymeet would likely be would be located on the Roaring Fork Valley near Woody Creek. That is the largest open valley in the area and the path through which the present-day CO-82 passes could work as a main throughway between the Nora and Carja lands.

Shivering Watch, following CO-82 the mountains narrow into a canyon south of Glenwood Springs (not Glenwood Canyon). The canyon acts as the chokepoint and border between the formerly Nora lands and the Carja Sundom where Shivering Watch and The Daytower are located.

Two Teeth Camp is depicted as being on Maroon Peak in-game. However, it is built over the ruins of the Smuggler-Union Hydroelectric Plant, which is further south in Telluride, CO. I kept Two-Teeth in the southern location so it acts as a second buffer between the Sacred Lands and the Sundom.

The Carja Sundom; is where the game took the greatest artistic liberty. The game depicts the heartland of the Carja Sundom south of the Colorado River (Lake Powell specifically); however the real-world locations depicted within The Sundom, the area its geography is based on (Eagle Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks), and the route Alloy travels through suggests the Sundom is actually located north of the Colorado River in the real world. Thus rather than having the Sundom’s heartland located in the Colorado Mesa, it would make more sense to place it in the already fertile Price and Green River Valleys in Utah. This way I was able to keep Meridian in Eagle Canyon and Sunfall in Bryce Canyon. Thus Sunfall is actually southwest rather than northwest of Meridian. The Carja Sundom would extend across most of the Western Slope in Colorado into most of eastern and southern Utah. With Shatter Kiln (Provo) as its northernmost boundary.

The Sun-Steps – are the first region of the Sundom that Alloy encounters on her journey. In-game it stretches from Arches National Park to what appears to be Horseshoe Bend. However, Horseshoe Bend is too far south for it to make sense as the border, so I have Morning Watch located further north on another bend. Since river bends can form anywhere it is not a stretch to think there is a new bend somewhere else. Over all the Sun-Steps correspond to the Grand Valley in CO.

Free Heap – located within the Sun Steps is Free Heap, an Oseram outpost set up to provide construction material for Meridian. If they are mining for industrial materials from the Old Ones, it would make the most sense for Free Heap to be located on or near Grand Junction CO, which is the largest settlement in the area today.

Gatelands – form the eastern half of the central Carja Sundom. Unlike the rest of the Sundom, this region is relatively easy to map out since most locations have an obvious real-world reference corresponding to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

Lone Light had to be relocated since Horseshoe Bend is much further downriver in reality. I placed it in a smaller bend upriver.

Gatelands Bandit Camp - I depicted the Bandint Camps as neutral/independent enclaves within the Sundom, the Gatelands Camp being the largest one of these and corresponding to the entirety of Arches National Park.

The Jewel – the central heartland of the Carja Sundom appears to be based on Monument Valley in present-day Utah and Arizona. However this location would be rather out of the way from Aloy’s journey and it doesn’t fit some of the locations depicted within the Jewel itself (mainly Meridian, which is located in Eagle Canyon). Thus, I thought it made more sense for it to be centered on the eastern Green River Basin along the present-day Carbon, Emery, and Wayne counties. This way Meridian remains in Eagle Canyon and the Spurflints in the San Rafael Reef. The Spearshafts would be a new formation (not present today) somewhere in Canyonlands National Park.

Rustwatch – in-game the Shadow Carja territory is north of the Jewel across from Daybrink (Lake Powell), however since The Jewel is no longer located south of the Lake, Rustwatch and Sunfall are now southeast of the Carja heartland. But Sunfall keeps its location in Bryce Canyon.

The Southern Frontier – in-game Kestrel’s Perch is defined as a fortress built by the fifth Sun King Zavarad as the Sundom expanded north of Daybrink (Lake Powell) into Rustwatch. However because in the real world, Lake Powell is south of what I’ve defined as the Carja heartland, this frontier is now south of Daybrink and Rustwatch.

The Mountain Frontier – Call of the Mountain doesn’t really give many references on where Rising Light and the main route of the game are located, except that it is mountainous and – for the most part – densely wooded. So I opted for the Sundom to have a “Mountain Frontier” along the Wasatch Range. Because the world of Horizon is likely set in a warmer and wetter Earth (due to rising sea levels), the Bonneville and Lahontan Great Lakes have been resurrected east of this range. The former of these acts as The Sundom’s western border and provides the precipitation and rainfall necessary to create forests and jungles in the Colorado Plateau.

Shattered Kiln – a bandit camp near the northern reaches of the Sundom, as in-game it is based on Provo Utah near Maker’s End (Salt Lake City).

The Daunt; the southwestern corner of the Carja Sundom corresponds to Zion National Park. However, Zion is relatively small to fit all the in-game locations. In-game, Zion National Park appears to be the same size as the entirety of Southern Nevada or the California Central Valley. To fit everything in, I extended The Daunt to include the entire Virgin River Basin in Washington County Utah.

Barren Light would then be located with St George, Utah where the Virgin River (and the I-15) cross Bloomington Hills.

Chainscrape and the Redhew Quarry, the Oseram settlement within the Daunt is located along a bit upriver from Barren Light.

The Claim; the Oseram territory is not depicted in-game, however, Pitch Cliff and Free Heap are two Oseram settlements near their border with the Carja Sundom. It is stated that their territory is north of The Sundom and west of The Cut, so it likely corresponds to Idaho, specifically the Snake River Basin.

Pitch Cliff is likely located along the Roan Cliffs, and possibly very near the border between the Claim and the Sundom.

The lands between The Long Roam, the Claim, and the Carja Sundom form an unclaimed region around the present-day Uintah Basin. Oseram traders travel through it and the Carja might have sent some raiders across it, but it remains mostly unpopulated. I shaded this area pink as the Carja might claim it but likely hold no direct control.

No Man’s Land - is the border between the Carja Sundom and the Tenakth Clanlands. No Man’s Land borders are not well defined in-game, but they seem to correspond to the northern shore of Lake Mead, specifically the area around the Overton Arm where the Virgin River meets the Lake. The overall location works for a real-world equivalent, but a few things get shuffled around for them to fit.

Jagged Deep; the eastern bank of the Virgin River was tenuously controlled by the Carja Sundom. What remains is Riverwatch, an abandoned fort on the banks of the Overton Arm, and Jagged Deep an abandoned mine that is now delved by Oseram adventurers. The Carja Camp on the west bank of the Overton Arm is the furthest west Carja settlement.

Eastern Lie & Deadfalls are the westernmost Tenakth settlements closest to the Cajra and Utaru borders, which have been taken by Regalla’s Rebels. In fact, most of the Tenakth side of No Man’s Land is occupied by the rebels.

Spinebreak; in-game Spinebreak is located on the southeastern border between No-Man’s Land and the Tenakth Clanlands proper and built under the ruins of a present-day highway tunnel. The issue is that there are no tunnels – or logical places to put a tunnel – between the Overton Arm and Las Vegas (the Stillsands). I thus place Spinebreak further north on the Virgin River Canyon acting as a second border between Barren Light and the Tenakth camps.

The Utaru Tribal Lands; the Utaru settled in the lands surrounding the Western Grand Array (WGA), which they named Plainsong.

Plainsong, although the WGA is based on the Very Large Array in New Mexico, the VLA is very far from Aloy’s path and the in-game geography. Furthermore just like the Nora take their name from the NORAD Facility and the Tenakth take their name from the Tenth Task Force, I suspect the Utaru take their name from Utah. Thus it is likely that the WGA is not the VLA but rather a new array built somewhere in Southern Utah, between the Carja Sundom and the Desert Clans. With this in mind, I placed Plainsong on the Cedar Valley and worked from there.

Stone’s Echo – Stone’s Echo is an Utaru outpost near the Stillsands, just past No Man’s Land. I placed it along the Meadow Valley Wash, which would likely be a tad more fertile than in the present day. Because we are dealing with what I expect is a warmer and wetter climate due to rising sea levels (and AETHER’s supercell storms going haywire).

Riverhymn – On the northern edge of the Utaru lands lies Riverhymn; the second largest Utaru settlement after Plainsong. In-game it is located in a fairly mountainous corner. So it is likely located near Frisco Peak with the river that passes through it being the Beaver River. However this river flows in the opposite direction that is seen in-game, rather than flowing south towards Plainsong, it flows north into the Sevier Lake.

·Due to the wetter climate, it is possible that the entire Bonneville Basin is once again flooded and Lake Bonneville acts as a boundary between the Utaru, the Carja, the Oseram, and Tenakth Desert Clans but the game map does not go that far north. Regardless I thought it be cool so I opted to depict it as such.

Tenakth Desert Clans; the Desert Clans inhabit most of Southern Nevada. Their territory reaches the present-day Great Basin National Park in the northeast and the Shining Wastes (Death Valley National Park) to the West.

The Stillsands; southwest of the Utaru territory, is another semi-contested region (it is within the Tenakth Desert Clan territory but both major settlement Camp Nowhere and Hidden Ember are Oseram). This is pretty simple since it corresponds to Clark County NV, with Hidden Ember clearly being Las Vegas. I originally had Devil’s Grasp be located in Barstow CA, but opted to place it closer to Las Vegas in Primm.

Dry Yearn; is the easternmost region of the Clanlands. It contains Arrowhand, the second largest Desert Clan settlement, and Restless Weald. It is fairly easy to place since Restless Weald is based in Caliente, NV. With this in mind, I placed Arrowhand over Crystal Springs, NV, and the Dry Yearn Camp just north of Restless Weald.

The Greenswell; is the northernmost region of the Desert Clanlands; it is also the least arid region of the Desert Clans. Part of this can be attributed to the supercell storms, but I also opted to have the core of the territory within the Great Basin National Park, which is a very green area within the Nevada desert, which further explains the area’s climate.

Scalding Spear; centrally located in the Nevada desert, the capital of the Desert Clans is located on the present-day Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project.

Shining Wastes; is an arid mostly flat expanse of land, which for the most part corresponds to Death Valley National Park. The only problem is that Death Valley is not particularly flat. I included Death Valley, now filled in with a saline lake, within the Shining Wastes but placed the main settlements located further north within the Nevada Desert (which is mostly flat).

Runner’s Wild – a small region in the Desert Clan territory, Runner’s Wild corresponds to Mammoth Lakes in California and acts as a border between the Desert and Sky Clans.

Salt Bite – north of Runner’s Wild this region borders Runner’s Wild and the Greenswell, it is clearly based on Mono Lake in California and the geography easily fits into this location.

Memorial Grove; although the Tenakth are divided into three warring Clans (and Regalla’s Rebels), the Memorial Grove acts as a capital / neutral ground for all three. The Grove is located on a museum and military base – specifically an airforce base – south of Mono Lake. The base does not exist in the present day but could be located anywhere in the Owens Valley. I paced it on Independence, CA (fitting name). Like other areas on the map, the Owens Valley is also much more fertile than in the current day.

Tenakth Sky Clans; northwest of the Memorial Grove the Sky Clans make their home along the Sierra Nevada, specifically Yosemite Valley and the Sierra National Forrest. Not many changes here, but it doesn’t seem like their territory expands much further north than Lake Tahoe (unless it is not depicted).

The Bulwark; the capital of the Skyclans is based on Sentinel Dome in Yosemite Valley, I kept it here and based the rest around it.

Sheerside Mountains; are based on the Sierra Nevada, the region itself corresponds to the northern half of the Sky Clans’ territory. I took Sheerside Climb to be the pass from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite and assumed Bonewhite Tear and the other settlements would be located along CA Route 120 and the Tuolumne River.

Stand of the Sentinels the southern region of the Sky Clans appears to be based off the Sierra National Forest. Its major settlements follow a pass from Mammoth Lakes to Tide’s Reach (possibly Fresno CA, see below). This suggests that the major settlements are located along the San Joaquin River.

Tenakth Lowland Clans; like the Carja Sundom, the Lowland Clans pose a huge conundrum. The Lowlands seem to consist of the foothills of the Sierras along Kings Canyon National Park and the Sequoia National Forrest towards a coast. This suggests that California’s Central Valley is flooded due to rising sea levels. If this is the case it helps explain why The Long Coast (Bakersfield) is a coast and not inland.However, if this were the case there should be a long peninsula formed from California's Coastal Ranges. But this peninsula is completely absent from the in-game map. Furthermore, Tide’s Reach appears to be based in Oakland, but it is geographically located at the foothills of the Sierra National Forrest. This should be impossible; Oakland would be located on the aforementioned “peninsula” between San Francisco Bay and the “Central Valley Sea”, but this peninsula is nowhere to be found on the map.

I tried my best to come up with a creative solution.

Raintrace – as in-game Raintrace is based on Sequoia National Forrest, Lowland Path and Fall’s Edge are located along CA Route 180 and King’s Canyon, which provide a direct route from the Memorial Grove to the rest of the Lowland Clans’ territory. Fenrise is further south on Isabella Lake where the Kern River valley provides a connection between the Desert Clans and Lowland Clans’ territories.

Tide Reach – I relocated Tide’s Reach to Fresno, CA which is now along the coast of the “Central Valley Sea”. I opted to have it based on Fresno since it provides another large present-day settlement where to base it, and more importantly, it is directly on the path Alloy would take from Stand of the Sentinels. Since Alloy can’t swim from Tide’s Reach to the Isle of Spires (San Francisco) it makes sense to place it further away from the island than Oakland. SF Bay is large, but not large enough for there to be a storm that wrecks Alloy’s raft. To make the route Alloy takes a bit more logical I also broke up the Coastal Ranges north of the Salinas River into an archipelago. I considered sinking the entirety of the Mt Diablo Range, to provide a direct route from Tide’s Reach to the Island, but I thought that would be too much.

The Long Coast – in-game The Long Coast seems to refer to the Pacific Coast, but as already mentioned it also refers to the ruins of Bakersfield CA. Thankfully a flooded Central Valley means we’ve gained a new coast. Thus the Long Coast now refers to the western coast of this inland sea. Thornmash, in-game coordinates suggest it is located near Tracy, CA. but I placed it a little further south on this coast so it forms a triangle with Tide’s Rach and Raintrace Rise and so it is not too close to San Francisco.

Cliffs of the Cry – as in-game the Cliffs correspond to Big Sur and the California Pacific Coast. I opted to have Raintrace West located on the Cliffs (close to San Luis Obispo) since you travel from it to the Zennith Base.

Isle of Spires; is straightforward San Francisco, which is now an island. Alva describes San Francisco as an archipelago, so this helped me further justify the breakup of the Coastal Ranges. Although I realize that such geologic shifts would likely destroy the city of San Francisco itself. This is the suspension of disbelief in a world that has a volcano appear on Yellowstone and New Zealand sink beneath the waves.

Zenith Base; originally I thought about having it located in Monterey however it is south of Tilda’s Mansion, which is in Big Sur. It then seemed fitting to place the Zenith Base in Vandenberg Airforce Base instead.

The Burning Shores; it is LA, which like San Francisco is now an archipelago due to tectonic activity and rising sea levels. This is pretty much explained in-game.

Fleet’s End is located somewhere in the Baldwin Hills, which are now the main island of the “bay”

Pangea Park / Londra Productions is described as being on a peninsula. Because it is partially based on Dinseyland (or Universal Studios) I’ve opted to keep it in Anaheim. To make Anaheim a peninsula I’ve flooded the San Gabriel Valley in the north and Newport Beach in the south.