#maybe I'll do something nice for her to win her back over <- totally not fawn response

[joyridingmp3]

oh summertime we're really in it now

[lizzieisright]

if you wrote that backstory idk dude maybe i’d kiss you

alpha abby >>

Honestly I wrote it and for some reason it gives me Pride and Prejudice vibes idk idk

alpha!Abby x omega!reader, just two paragraphs of smut (MDNI), alpha!Abby is sweet eventually, mention of heats/ruts, written on a knee without editing, backstory for these idiots.

-/-/-/-/-/-

When Abby meets you she is baffled. It sounds incredibly arrogant but the fact that her alpha presence doesn't do shit to you offends her. Abby is not used to an omega who doesn't try to impress her and she knows she is being the worst fuckboy stereotype but it genuinely throws her for a loop. You just look at her like Abby is not, well, fucking Abby. Like her scent doesn't make you want to arch your back and present yourself for her. 

And listen, Abby is self-aware enough that she knows not all omegas will like her. It's just. It never happened before. And Abby also is not an idiot who will try to win you over or something - yeah, her ego was bruised but that was just how life is. 

The problem with this starts later, when you're paired for patrol. Abby is so used to being bossy and barking at everyone because omegas will listen and alphas won't dare to challenge her; she doesn't really care if she is being polite to you. 

But you care, judging by your raised eyebrows and angry looks when Abby gives you orders like you're her little soldier. 

And then Abby accidentally makes you absolutely fucking hate her, because she grabs you. She tugs you like a ragdoll to get you out of what she thought as a dangerous way, and she ends up with a knife at her throat. 

You look at her angrily and press your knife harder until she gets the hint, and Abby lets you go. 

"Do that again Anderson and I'll kill you. Don't fucking touch me like that." You growl and Abby, instead of being a normal person, frowns and gets aggressive.

"You were going to fall, idiot, I was saving you." Abby huffs and gets closer, daring you to challenge her. 

"I don't need you to save me." You growl in her face, not backing down, and Abby's eyes flash red, because omegas don't speak to her like that.

You stare back at Abby even though it's hard, standing up to an angry alpha with such suffocating presence is very fucking hard, but you're also very pissed off, so you stand your ground even though it physically hurts to defy an alpha, but you don't care about pain right now.

The stare down ends because there's a crack in the woods and you both get alert, looking around. You grab your knife tighter and Abby instinctively moves to shield you, but nothing comes out to attack you. 

So you finish your patrol in total silence. 

That's how you become easily the only omega in the stadium who doesn't like Abby Anderson. The fact that Abby is also extremely attractive and her scent is intoxicating only fuels your spite. The fact that her dick is so good there's fucking competitions to spend her rut with her only makes it worse. 

To be fair Abby looks miserable in pre-rut so you find some sympathy for her. But not after you hear another omega bragging about how good Abby is in bed. Then you're back to despising her. 

Abby's presence is something you have to train yourself to get used to, refusing to get under her influence, but it gets so much easier once you can let her stare you down across the room and be absolutely calm about it. Abby stares at you a lot, especially if she thinks you fucked up, but you stare back and don’t let her win this. It’s not even aggressive or challenging by this point and it feels like some kind of ritual between you two.

Abby, on the other hand, learns to be more nice to you. She is polite to you and she doesn't touch you again. Sometimes you can even have a normal conversation. You hate it, because Abby is not a total asshole of an alpha and you don’t have an excuse to be mean to her, even though you really want to - it’s the only barrier you have to keep yourself from falling for her. But Abby is genuinely trying and not because she wants to knot you, but because she can't stand having you in distress around her. 

For some reason Abby cares for you and your well-being, she wants you to be comfortable in her company, and yeah, this is weird and Abby’s never felt like that, but when she sees how your shoulders relax when she gets closer to cover you during patrol Abby feels like she won this life. 

Then your heat comes. It comes so fucking unexpected you have trouble breathing, panting and chocking on air as you desperately try to make your way to a safe space, because you know all too well what can happen when there's an omega in heat walking around. 

But it's so fucking hard to walk and you feel your slick coming down your thighs and everything fucking hurts because you need an alpha, so you clutch your knife and barely make it to some fucking corner to catch your breath. 

That is how Abby finds you. She caught your scent and all her senses went into overdrive because you're in heat and you're in distress and all Abby hears in her head is HelpHelpHelpMakeitgoawayHelp and she is making her way to you, her eyes are red because she can't fucking control it now, you're hurting and she needs it to go away and make it better-

You're sitting on the floor, panting, and you hold your knife right in front of your face with trembling hands because this is not happening. Abby smells like heaven and this is not happening. 

"Fuck." Abby sighs and she reacts way too hard to your scent, because your distress just got worse. "I won't hurt you, let me help." Abby pleads and you use your legs to get away from her, pushing yourself back into a corner but there's only a wall. 

"Stay the fuck away from me." You growl and clutch your knife harder. "Get the fuck away, Abby."

You're terrified and Abby can't handle it. She's never seen an omega in such a state, and her brain immediately shifts into protective mode. 

"I'm not going to touch you." But fuck she wants to. "You need to get to your room. I'll help you."

"No-no-no-no. Leave me alone." But you feel your arms grow weaker and the pain getting worse. 

"I'll make it better, okay?" Abby's eyes are red and you can hear it. You can hear it in her voice, what she is going to do and you start crying.

"Abby, no please, no. Don't do this." You plead her, but Abby gets closer to you anyway. 

"Relax." Abby says in her alpha voice and you immediately go pliant against your will. Your brain is fuzzy and you feel so much better, the thoughts are only filled with alphaalphaalpha and how good Abby smells and how good her hands feel on your waist and knees and you cling to her like she's a life line. "I'm not going to do anything. I'll carry you to your room and that's it, okay?"

"Alpha." You plead and bury your nose in her scent glands and Abby has to stop and take a breath and it only makes it worse because the air is filled with your smell. 

But then Abby is hit with your terrified teary eyes from a minute ago and she doesn't want to be someone you're so afraid of. So she carries you to your room and hopes your own place will ground you. 

Your place makes it worse for her though, because your scent is everywhere and you're still clinging to her and calling her alpha and she doesn't know what to fucking do.

So Abby does what humans do to cats: she carries to the bathroom and puts your head under the stream of cold water, which actually works and you spit curses at her.

"What the fuck!" You scream and Abby lets you go. You're sitting on your bathroom floor, wet and cold and angry, but your head feels clearer. You look up at Abby, whose eyes are red and she is so tense you see veins on her arms. You tense too: you have no idea what to expect. "Abby-"

"I won't hurt you." Abby growls and you search for your knife again. "I just. I can't leave you." 

And Abby looks almost guilty. It clicks and you feel affection overflowing your heart despite your better judgment - now that your mind is on heat leave you can't fight your feelings. Abby is so deep in protective mode she literally can't move because in her head she is a threat too - you knew it could happen, you just didn't expect it to happen to Abby. 

"Relax, alpha." You tell her to free her from it, and Abby relaxes immediately. "Now can you leave?"

Abby knows it's the right thing to do - you aren't even friends and you're vulnerable and she is a threat whether she wants it or not, but it still hurts. 

"Were you- did you really think I'd do something to you?"

"With alphas you never know." You answer vaguely and honestly? It hurts even more. Abby doesn't want to be that kind of alpha to you. 

What Abby can't stop herself from doing is sitting outside your door like a dog and guarding you during your heat. Your words really hit her and her instinct to protect you skyrocketed. 

And you know she is there, the heavy suffocating scent filling your nostrils as you desperately cling to your pillow, but Abby smells so strongly of protection it actually eases up the anxiety you have when you're alone in heat and you can't bring yourself to go up and tell her to fuck off.

(You're also afraid you'll jump Abby the moment you see her again because Abby is the best alpha you know and right now she is sitting outside your door protecting you)

(Abby sits there for three days and the way your scent is full of safe keeps her sane, makes it all worth it)

After that you awkwardly thank Abby and she awkwardly apologises for scaring you. The ice between you melts and now when you're paired for patrol it is actually fun. It's still strange to have Abby in constant protection mode, but now you find it sweet. 

Now you find her heavy scent comforting and safe and you seek it out every time you're close. Abby is no better, her head fucking snapping in your direction every time she smells you.

So the awkward courting begins. Abby cautiously attempts to care for you, scared to end up with a knife to her throat again, but you're actually way nicer to her now, taking her jacket when she offers, letting her carry things for you, letting her re-check your guns (after asking if she can). Abby feels hopeful. 

Abby asks you out, ridiculously nervous because you can reject her without a second thought, but you actually say yes. 

You go on a date and Abby barely keeps her hands off you, but she gets close enough for your scents to mix and you're not stupid, you notice it and snuggle into her side, rendering Abby speechless. 

She feels like an idiot around you. 

On the third date Abby kisses you and your scent gets immediately happy and you refuse to feel embarrassed about it because Abby smells the same. 

It'd been a month since you started dating and you notice how aggressively territorial Abby gets, how her scent gets heavier and how often her eyes become red all of a sudden. It means Abby's rut is close. 

Abby is exhausted and you do as much as you can to provide comfort for her, desperate to make her feel better. 

"Your rut is coming." 

"Yeah."

"What's the plan?"

"You don't have to spend it with me." Abby tells you, because she is afraid she'll hurt you. Alphas in rut are rough and unrelenting and Abby is not an exception. "Hell, I don't want you to, if it means you'll get hurt. Especially since-" Since you haven't had sex yet. 

You don't know why, but that is just the pace of your relationship and you're fine with it. What you're not fine with is Abby hurting. 

"I don't think you'll ever hurt me. I'd like to be there with you, if you're okay with it."

"You won't be able to stop me."

"Don't threaten me with a good time." You smirk, but Abby's eyes turn red and you feel yourself getting wet. 

"Fuck, sweetheart." Abby buries her face in your neck and you shiver, because her teeth are close.

That's how you end up face down ass up on Abby's bed, getting fucked so hard you'll have bruises just from Abby's thrusts tomorrow, not counting her grip on your hips. The room is so heavy with her pheromones you're almost choking on it, your head is empty except for alphaalphaalpha breedmbitememarkme and Abby's low growling of "mine" at every thrust, her fangs scraping over your neck. 

And you think you can't take it anymore because Abby is relentless, she is rough, but then her grunts start to get louder and her pace gets sloppy - she is close and you spread your thighs because you know what's coming. 

Abby knots you and it's so fucking much, she is big enough as it is and her knot is even bigger but it makes you see stars and you scream her name. Abby growls into your ear and you can’t help but arch into her, submitting to her. 

Later, when Abby catches the break from being insanely horny, she assesses all the damage she did to you and it makes her sad - she doesn’t like the bruises on you. She gently kisses all of them as if she is apologising and you just bask in her touch and care, smelling so happy and satisfied Abby starts to feel better about it. 

Can you sit properly after Abby’s rut? No. Do you enjoy the sting of pain every time you sit? Yes. Does Abby follow you like a puppy to make sure you're okay? Yes.

Abby is still the same intimidating mean alpha but now you like it. Now you watch her stare down alphas who even dare to turn their noses in your direction and you get happy. Abby is possessive as fuck and she makes sure you always have her scent on you and you're no better, wearing her clothes just to make her wear it after you so Abby'd smell like you, but both of you don't rush with the mating bite until a year later when Abby is gently taking you apart during your heat and you sink your teeth into her shoulder.

You cry because you think Abby'll get mad at you (fuck you heat hormones for making you so sensitive, you get so embarrassed later), but Abby kisses you and tells you how happy you made her and how she can't wait to have you sober to give you your mark.

You carry Abby's bite on your inner thigh.

[michinekot]

What do u like about thistle?

I'll start off with his design because it's not so spoiler-heavy.

He's short, cute, a total menace and has the cutest evil grin ever. I certainly have a thing for villains... But also generally, jesters are fun and I usually love their outfits. Thistle is no exception, I love all of his looks (but I'm not gonna look for them all through the manga...) and how different he is after becoming the Dungeon Master. Also, white hair, purple eyes & outfit... (´,,•ω•,,)♡

I must also add, I adore how the author draws elf ears pointed upwards and how expressive her art is. Absolutely amazing, all the angry Thistles are great.

Now I'll get into heavy spoiler territory, I'll go over the ending too:

First off, I really like how he shows his love through "eternity", much like Marcille. Elves who love people of other races suffer because they will undoubtedly outlive everyone else. The way Thistle and Marcille are similar is so great to see... and I think it's great that Marcille wasn't made out to be a terrible, selfish villain and neither was Thistle. Through her becoming the Dungeon Master, we see how much this power changes them.

He meant well and his wish wasn't initially selfish. He didn't even wish for eternal live, just a peaceful one. Of course, the Winged Lion dug deeper into it and the selfish part came to light.

And because no one was aware of the danger, it became absolute truth to Thistle that he's doing the right thing and making everyone happy. His dream was everybody else's dream in his mind. And I think it's nice how much he must've paid attention to the townsfolk needs, because...

He must've done so much to make the Dungeon liveable and safe for the people he cares about. All those traps were to ward off people who (he assumed) must've been just like the ones who came to destroy the kingdom. On the other hand, he saw opportunity in the monsters and had people take care of them like they did with their farm animals. It was unnecessary, he didn't have to do that since they don't need to sleep, eat or drink. But he knew that they weren't happy doing nothing at all and put a lot of thought into the ecosystem (compared to Marcille, which is understandable, but y'know. I think it's great to see the difference since her monsters werent very, uh... thought out?)

It's been SO many years of stagnation, they can't even taste the food or enjoy anything.

He's aware, he'd enjoy a little change of pace too, he's open to it! but the desire to protect everyone wins.

He just... loves everyone so much. His platonic love isn't simple at all. He did so much for everyone. And after losing his desires... I feel like he hasn't lost his love for everyone.

I think that, maybe... he feels like everything was fullfilled? He's been angry and anxious for so long and now there's nothing to worry about anymore. I'm really sad for him, but there's no going back to "normal" after everything. But I'm glad Yaad doesn't hate him. I don't think anyone from the kingdom truly hates him.

Also this page makes me want to cry...... he's holding him so gently and Thistle only looks tired and like he wants to sleep. I hope he finds his place in the new world and lives out the rest of his life peacefully.

I haven't read much of the additional stuff yet, but I also think about Mithrun a lot.

I think Mithrun was extremely selfish in his desires and that's why, aside from them, his eye and ears were taken away. It might be just the demon's will because it wasn't exactly the Winged Lion, but all demons are technically the same one(? from what I understood...). The only desire left within Mithrun was about the demon, but in the end, it still seemed selfish.

But neither Marcille or Thistle were physically hurt after having desires taken from them. The Winged Lion also said something along the lines of "this is for everyone, I want everyone's desires to be fullfilled for all eternity". It didn't like Thistle because he stagnated, but it probably understood him a little bit, since he mostly thought of others. But there was no way to manipulate him into thinking about Anyone outside of the kingdom. Only Laios managed to talk a tiny bit of sense into him... but it still didn't work out.

So yeah, Dungeon Meshi is amazing and I generally love everyone, but Thistle speaks to me the most because... his top priority was protecting those he loves, freeing them from death and pain, living out the life they had on the surface forever. And this feels personal to me- I lost both of my parents and the friends I cared about the most left me. So like, if we ditch all the (totally right) talk about how there's no happiness without pain and such, I get Thistle. He meant well. He's a very well done character. :)

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

Me: don't make Charlie's habit of twirling / spinning Vaggie into a THiNG it can just be CUTE with no other headcanons behind it-

also me: what if Vaggie always loved dancing but took being an exorcist very seriously bc of the whole "learned to trust people on the battlefield" thing so the only time she felt she had an excuse for dancing with a partner was when she called it "training" or "unarmed sparing" and goaded Lute into doing it with her (Lute being Adam's second and Vaggie one of his best girls) (what, is Lute scared of not being able to keep up with her-?)

Lute: "This, is stupid."

Vaggie: "It's just like sparring."

Lute: "Then why can't I use a sword."

Vaggie: "The point is learning to read your opponent's body and move with it. A weapon only gets in the way."

Lute: "Or maybe you know which on of us would win in a real fight."

Vaggie: "OR maybe it's nice to practice WITHOUT someone losing feathers over it."

Lute: "Only losers lose feathers. If they don't like it they should start WINNING."

Vaggie: "Just put your fucking hand on my waist and do a box step."

Lute: "A what? Put my hand- where!?"

Vaggie: "Forget it. We'll dance like we're in a damn period piece ballroom scene. You can at least survive spinning me, right?"

Lute: "SPIN you?"

Vaggie: "Just hold up your hand and-"

Lute: "We look dumb enough as is! I'm not making myself look SILLY just so you can do a stupid spin."

Vaggie: "Fine."

Lute: "You need to watch yourself. Exorcist are heaven's first line of defense- we are the divine blades guarding the pearly gates. We need to keep ourselves sharp, focused- If you slip even once-"

Vaggie: "I said fine! I get it! Alright? God let's just, let's just get this over with..."

And then she's in hell, a year or so after Lute grabbed her wrist and pulled her eye-first onto a sword instead of a dance,

and it turns out the princess of hell is an eager and willing dancer, even if she's maybe not the most graceful or easy to follow- but it's the kind of challenge Vaggie loves-

(and not the only thing Vaggie loves)

-especially when Charlie's the one who cleared out a space, put on a playlist, and waved her into the middle of the room so they could laugh and bow / curtsy before making tracks across the carpet-

all of this, even though Charlie's still rusty at dancing, never was into it other much other than as another way to flail around to a beat, and here she is now, seriously trying to remember or learn all the different steps Vaggie shows her

this time it's a waltz

Vaggie's been avoiding waltzes. And sure enough she finds herself spacing out in the middle of it, coming back to the excited sound of Charlie's voice

Charlie: "I think we're doing it!"

Vaggie: "...hm?"

Charlie: "The waltz! It's been ages but, this is about right, right?"

Vaggie: "Oh uh, yeah. You've got it. Told you you would."

Charlie: (laughing) "And I told YOU if we made it through this it'd be because you're so good at making ME look like a good dancer! Even when my hooves keep snagging on the carpet... Even when you're a million miles away."

Vaggie: "Shit. Sorry."

Charlie: "No it's fine! Good practice for me leading!" (leading them onto a new patch of floor) "So! A lot on your mind?"

Vaggie: "Just remembered something, is all."

Charlie: "Waltz related?"

Vaggie: "I wouldn't compare this with that."

Charlie: "Aww, shoot." (pouts) "Well give me a few months and I'll get there."

Vaggie: (chuckling) "Charlie, you're already WAY past the last dance partner I had."

Charlie: "Wow. That bad huh?"

Vaggie: "What'd I just say about you and dancing?"

Charlie: "That at least I'm not totally the absolute worst ever?"

Vaggie: "Yeah no. Try again."

Charlie: (grinning) "I'm better than they were."

Vaggie: "You sure are. Actually trying counts for a lot, honestly."

Charlie: "You make trying things a lot easier." (hoof catches) (stumbles) (vaggie steadies her) "Case in point!"

Vaggie: "We really gotta remember to roll up the carpet next time."

Charlie: "Orrrr you'll just have to go on catching me!"

Vaggie: "I'll do that with or without the carpet."

Charlie: "Right!" (face hot) "Er so, were they clumsy too? Lacking in the whole smooth moves department?" (blushes MORE)

Vaggie: "The moves were fine, the ego got in the way a bit."

Charlie: "Ego?"

Vaggie: (sighs) (rolls eye) "Apparently twirling me would've looked too silly."

Charlie: "Wh- Twirling you?"

Vaggie: "Spinning. Whatever. They cared about that a lot and- I know I know- it's a dumb thing to still be hung up on."

Charlie: "Well I'd be honored to look silly with you!"

Vaggie: (laughing) "Okay?"

Charlie: "Can I spin you?"

Vaggie: "You really don't have to."

Charlie: "So we can do it on three? One. Two-"

Vaggie: "Really it's- watch out, table at 3 O'clock-"

Charlie: "-Wheeeeee~!"

Vaggie: "WHOA- that-" (breathless) "Now THAT was a spin."

Charlie: "Eheheh. Whoops?"

Vaggie: "Oh no, no whoopsing your way out of this one, I'm gonna need to inflict some payback spinning of my own." (grins)

Charlie: "Uh I'm kinda tall for-"

Vaggie: "You ever been lifted?"

Charlie: "I mean when I was a kid sure, but I'm like a foot taller than-"

Vaggie: "On three. One."

Charlie: "-Vaggie you come up to maybe my shoulder-"

Vaggie: "Two."

Charlie: "-not that you can't do anything you set your mind to, obviously! I'm just not sure how-"

Vaggie: "Three."

Charlie: "Hwha- OH!" (gleeful) (laughing) "Ohhh my gosh-!"

Vaggie: (smug) "There's more than one way to twirl a girl across the floor."

Charlie: "Spinning WHILE lifting!?"

Vaggie: "Fun right?"

Charlie: "SO MUCH FUN! Can we do it again!?"

Vaggie: "Sure-"

Charlie: "Ooh ohh can I do it to you too? Can we take turns??"

Vaggie: "Not worried about looking silly, huh?"

Charlie: "No! Why would-" (stops)

Charlie: (stops their dance)

Charlie: "Vaggie, I.... I really don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be silly with you. Or how it could ever be more important than seeing you happy like this."

Vaggie: "...Not everyone's like you, sweetie."

Charlie: "Or maybe everyone just needs to actually see you for once."

Vaggie: "I'd rather just stick to you for now. If, that's okay?"

Charlie: "Always."

(dance resumes, much slower, much closer)

Charlie: "It's, it's okay to miss people too, you know. I know, I mean. How much that sucks. If you, want to talk about...?"

Vaggie: "No. Thanks."

Charlie: "You're missing them though, huh?"

Vaggie: "It's not that. It's just, weird how much things change."

Charlie: "Like dance partners."

Vaggie: "Like your reasons for dancing with them."

Charlie: "....Oh."

(do they kiss???) (i have no idea) (maybe Vaggie just relaxes and rests her head over Charlie's heart) (maybe Charlie tries her best not to think about how hard it's beating)

(maybe somewhere up in heaven, an exorcist with a sword does a box step while training, slips, and slices her target in half in fury when she realizes it)

maybe Vaggie always loved dancing but had to end up in hell before finally getting to dance the way she always wanted to

or maybe

it feels like Vaggie never danced at all, until she had Charlie to share it with

[whymustyouhurtmeinthisway]

Sonic IDW 67 was pretty good, I liked it a lot. No Surgeamy hints unfortunately, and the imposter siblings getting hired by Clutch instead of being a third party's kinda lame (though I'm betting there's a good chance they'll end up rebelling against him). Something I did like a lot was Surge's attitude throughout the whole thing:

Despite seeming like she'd be a terrible actor, she sells it wonderfully by not trying to avoid suspicion. She knows Sonic and co. will be suspicious of her no matter what, so trying to act all buddy-buddy with them would probably make them way more confrontational about her and Kit's intentions. The attitude she instead chooses is less "I've had a change of heart, I want to be a hero and change the world now" and more "Yeah living in Starline's old shack blew chunks and we knew you suckers were dumb enough to let assholes like us live here if we asked, so here we are" which is much more believable (and for good reason, as that's basically the truth of their situation give or take a couple important details). Throughout the entire tour she's constantly pestering Sonic about how letting them in was a bad idea, saying stuff like "Man you've really built up a nice place. It'd be a shame if someone burned it down". When he brings up introducing Surge and Kit to Whisper and the rest of the Diamond Cutters and Amy says that might not be the best idea, Surge's response is basically "What? No, I'm sure Sonic knows exactly what he's doing, this'll go fiiiiiiiine. C'mon big shot, let's see you try to sell them on me, this'll be fun."

Her scene with Whisper was especially interesting, I loved it. The last interaction Surge had with Whisper was beating the shit out of her and kidnapping all her wisps to use as living batteries, so she knew Whisper'd be the most distrustful of anyone there (further increased by the fact that she's much less forgiving than all the other resistance members in the first place). Surge handled the seemingly impossible task of getting Whisper to even slightly trust her the best way possible: make no attempt to do that at all, and in fact tell her she shouldn't. Upon hearing Whisper's flat out refusal to accept Surge and Kit's redemption, Surge bursts out laughing, hands her her wispon, and goes something like "Finally! You're the first one to show a little sense around here! The rest of these schmucks would trust a bear trap if it looked sorry enough for snapping off the first leg, but I can tell you wanna kill me right here and right now. I like you. Here's your gun, if I stay here you could aim it at the back of my head as long as you want. I don't blame you. I encourage you." I love this bit of writing, and it's a genuinely brilliant strategy from Surge, going "You're a lot smarter than everyone else here for wanting to kill me, if you let me live in your base I'll be really easy to kill if you want to." is probably one of the few ways on earth to convince someone who wants you dead to let you live very near them. Also, through flattering her on her superior sense of reason, Surge subtly makes Whisper like/trust her just a tiny bit more, and I feel like she could slowly but surely build onto that more and more until she eventually ends up winning Whisper over. I'm sure her and Kit won't be "undercover" for very long but if they were really in it for the long haul I could totally see that happen. Maybe she inherited Sonic's natural ability to make friends with even one's worst enemies, except she goes about it in a much more fucked up way.

Finally, I really liked the one moment of hesitation Surge has upon hearing that the Resistance wouldn't give her and Kit a single order if they didn't want them to. Though she fully came with the intention of maliciously taking advantage of Sonic and the rest of the Resistance's kindness, she hesitates upon hearing how far that kindness goes. In Surge and Kit's eyes, there hasn't been a single person in their life who doesn't see them as

A: Dangerous targets to kill, or

B: Powerful tools they can use to use to their advantage.

Hell, they know that even the partnership they're in at that very moment with Clutch is an example of B and they still accepted it. But then, for the first time in their life, they're offered a home of their own with a solid roof and good food, rehabilitation and reintroduction to the rest of society, an actual normal life for the first time they can remember, all of it for nothing in return on their part. Amy tells them the Resistance helps everyone in need out of the kindness of their hearts and (though they always appreciate more volunteers) not a single person is required to anything to repay their help, it's all free. For a brief moment you can see Surge drop the shithead mannerisms and genuinely consider the proposition. Her internal monologue isn't shared with the audience, but I imagine it must be very conflicted. She then regains her composure and moves on with the tour as before, but I imagine that moment's gonna affect her heavily in the issues to come, and I'm very excited to see how that plays out.

Anyways, good issue all around, can't wait to read the next one.

[zunniva]

This is a short thing that came to me in a dream 😅😇

Older Eddie, like 40ish.

⚠️WARNINGS⚠️

Sexual content, strong language, both gay and straight sex so if that makes you uncomfortable. Read something else...

THE BET

"Why the fuck would I let you finger me in a RESTAURANT Evan? We've been on like 2 dates... you don't think we should like...I don't know...fuck in privacy first at least?" Lily's annoyed she likes Evan, god she likes him A LOT even. She wants him so bad, but being that level of exhibitionist this early on? That's asking a bit too much! Isn't it?

"What? No one's gonna notice pet. We're in the back, in a corner. Who's going to see us?" Evan smiles that mischievous smile that makes her knees weak, and it's one of the reasons a "good girl " like her even accepted a date with him in the first place.

"Well...to be honest, I wasn't worried about people seeing as much as hearing... I'm bad at keeping quiet. " she blushes

Evan leans in close, whispers in her ear "fuck Lil when you say things like that you make me so god damn hard"

She instantly looks down and yeah the guy looks like he's a bit uncomfortable in his jeans. She moans, feeling her pussy getting soaking wet.

"Please babe, I could make you feel so fucking good" he mumbles into her neck as his tounge plays below her earlobe.

"Oh, I have no doubt about that babe" she mumbles back. She's starting to crumble now. Should she let him?

They're interrupted by a waitress walking up to one of the other tables with a man. He sits down, and the waitress leaves him with a menu.

"Fuck me that's Eddie Munson" Evan says sounding very impressed...or maybe even admiringly. Lily glances over at the man in the dark corner. Fuck he's handsome. Dark curls and a short beard and the most piercing brown eyes.

"Who...is that?" Lily can hear herself sounding completely breathless

"Eddie Munson, THE wet dream of my entire generation! I've wanted him since I was 15" Evan can't take his eyes off the man in the corner.

"Older? Yeah?" she's totally mesmerized. She moved to Hawkins about 6 months ago, so to her, this man is all brand new.

"I'd say 40... Fuck I just wanna go up there and offer him a fuckin blow job under the table, I hear he's hung like a horse" Lily's not sure if he's aware he's talking out loud. But something inside her REALLY likes the idea of Evan disappearing under the table to swallow that gorgeous man's cock. She can even feel her juices starting to pool under her from the thought alone.

"So do it..."

Evan flinches and stares at her. "What..." he croaks

"Do it... go up to him and offer him that sexy mouth of yours. What's the worst thing that can happen? He'll say either yes or no. I bet you don't have the balls to do it" she smiles at him

"What's in it for me?" Evan says, looking longingly at the man.

"He's probably going to let you. If I'm right, I will get a nice show. If he says no...well then I'll fuck you right here at the table. So either way you win"

Evan looks at her. "It sounds very much like you enjoy this idea? Is there a little exhibitionist in you after all?" he grins

Lily takes his hand and guides it under her skirt. His eyes almost pop out of his head.

"Fuuuuuck! All because I said I wanted to give Eddie Munson a blow job under the table?" Evan takes out his hand and licks his fingers "mmmm you taste so good!" he says "Ok you have yourself a bet!" he clears his throat and gets up. Lily can see his cock straining in his jeans.

Evan hasn't a fucking clue what to do now... He'll win either way. But he has a feeling all bets are off if he chickens out, so here goes nothing. The closer he gets to the table where Eddie is sitting, the more jelly like his legs feel. He's there now, at the edge of the table. Eddie is looking at him, with a small smile in the corner of his mouth.

"Hey" the voice alone almost makes Evan cream his pants

"He-ey, I'm Evan" why does he have to sound like a falsetto toad right now?

"Can I help you?" Eddie's voice is amused

"Ehmmm, may I?" Evan points at the seat next to Eddie on the sofa

"Sure, I guess" Eddie chuckles

Evan sits down, his palms feel sweaty, and his voice feels like it's about to break "So...ehmm my girl and I" he waves at Lily "we...or she bet me I wouldn't have the balls to offer you something and have you say yes"

Eddie raises an eyebrow and looks over at Lily. There's a spark in his eyes as he looks at her. Evan gets it, she's stunning. "Ok? The offer?" Eddie's eyes are back on Evan

"A blow job... right here under the table... from me" Evan feels himself blushing like crazy

"What? Are you serious?" Eddie chuckles

Evan nods, swallows and says "I've wanted you since I was 15, Mr Munson..."

"First, it's Eddie. Second... you better get down there before the waitress comes back to take my order then. "

"I... what? Yeah...oh fuck... yeah right" Evans brain malfunctions, he WANTS him to suck him off! He disappears under the table, thanking his lucky star that the tablecloth is floor-length. Now he's kneeling between Eddie Munson's legs, and his brain can't make sense of what to do next

"Well, go ahead, he's all yours." he hears an amused voice from above

His hands feel shaky as he runs them up Eddie's thighs, closing in on his fly. He unzips the pants, and Eddie discretely pulls his pants down, boxers and all. A MASSIVE erection hits the underside of the table, and Evan thinks he's going to pass out. It's even better than the rumours. His hands now move on their own grabbing the throbbing cock. He strokes it a few times before he moves in closer and wets his lips. God, even his crotch smells good, he thinks before he opens up wide and takes the head in his mouth. He plays around the head with his tongue, and he hears that Eddie hasn't got the easiest of times up there. Maybe he's actually doing good? "Such a fucking good mouth" he hears Eddie mumble and a hand comes down and grabs his hair

At the other table Lily is going insane. Evan actually DID dissappear under the table, so is he really sucking that God of a man's dick right now? She can't help it. She lets her hand slide under her skirt. She's a fucking mess, she's definitely leaving a wet spot on the upholstery. She's staring at Eddie's face. He's starting to show signs of pleasure. Wow...Evan must be doing a good job! It looks like Eddie's having a real good time. Suddenly Eddie's eyes meet hers and there's a surge of something. He motions to her to come over. Wow, shit... She gets up, fixes her skirt, and walks over. At the same time, the waitress comes over as well.

"So what can I get you, Mr Munson?" She says

Eddie clears his throat. "I'll have the steak and a beer. What about you guys?" He's looking at Lily, she's at the table now

"Oh, we ate before you came in, thank you though" she smiles at the waitress. "I left money for the tab at our table. Me and my boyfriend just wanted to say hello to Eddie before we left" Wow she's quite the actress Eddie thinks, and fucking gorgeous. The waitress looks a little confused than turns and looks at the table they had been sitting at

"Oh, yes. I didn't recognize you at first. Was everything to your liking miss?"

"Yes, thank you. Everything was great." Lily just wants her to leave so she can find out what Eddie wanted from her. The waitress smiles and goes over to their table, takes the money and the tip Lily left and leaves to give the kitchen Eddie's order. Lily looks down at Eddie

"Please... Mmmm...have a seat" he groans

Lily sits down beside him. "Why did you wave me over here, Eddie?" She smiles

"If I'm not mistaken, this belongs to you?" Eddie mumbles and lifts the tablecloth. Lily's eyes meet Evans, as he's almost at the hilt of the biggest dick she's ever seen.

"Wow!" She breathes. She can't help it she squirms in her seat. This is the hottest thing she's ever seen. She knows Evan swings both ways. He told her so on their first date.

Eddie leans in, places one hand on her thigh. He whispers in her ear, "What's wrong sweetheart, you seem bothered. Feeling left out?" Lily's staring at Evans head bobbing up and down on that gorgeous cock. He locks eyes with her, he heard what Eddie whispered. He nods at her.

Lily turns to Eddie

"Yes..." she moans quietly. Eddie's eyes go black as his face lights up with a devilish smile.

"Panties off , right now" he growls at her, sending shivers down her spine. She wiggles out of her panties and puts them in her purse for now. Eddies hand wastes no time running up her thigh towards her wet pussy. She looks down at Evan, his pupils are blown. He's sucking dick like his life depended on it at the same time as his eyes are fixed at what's happening under her skirt. "Roll your skirt up so I can get to the good stuff" Eddie mumbles, Lily looks around. She's still not sure about this public thing. But this corner is even more private than theirs were, and she's not visable from anywhere because of the massive table. She does as he asks and he purrs "Good girl" at her, making her even wetter. His hand reaches her slit and he chuckles softly "well, well, well...looks like your girl here likes what she's seeing...Evan was it? Fuuuuck you're good" his other hand grabs Evan by the hair again. His fingers start inching their way in between Lily's folds, sliding effortlessly in her slick. She lifts one of her legs and puts her foot on the sofa next to her so he can really touch her. Evan lets Eddie's massive dick slip out of his mouth

"Fuuuuck Lil, you're so God damn sexy" he pants. Eddie looks down at him

"Fuck yeah she is, and this pussy...wow I'm almost jealous you get to hit this all the fucking time" his fingers has found their way in to Lily now, and the most obscene wet sounds fill the air. Lily is trying so hard not to scream, this is so good. She moans, louder than expected. Eddie just chuckles. He looks down at Evan

"Ok, here's what were gonna do. I wanna finish my meal but I also wanna finish in or on either one of you. You two go to the hotel down the block and get a room, I'll pay. Then you decide which one of you, and in what way I'm going to fuck you until you scream! Deal?"

Evan looks up at Lily, she meets his stare and they nod "Ok, deal" Lily says out of breath as she was very close to coming on Eddies fingers. She NEEDS to feel this man inside of her again.

"Great, see you in a little bit. Here's my number, text me what room and I'll be there asap" Eddie writes down his number on the back of a business card as Evan crawls out from under the table. Lily fixes her skirt, smiles at Eddie who just winks at them. They see him adjust himself and pull up his pants before they leave the restaurant, Lily with her panties still in her purse and Evan with an aching hard-on.

They smile at the waitress as they leave and head out to the parkin lot.

"What the FUUUCK!" Evan says as they get in the car "is this happning Lil? Like is this happning to you too or am I dreaming?"

"No...no you're not. I do belive our first sexual encounter is going to be WITH Eddie Munson. And can I say... I get the hype... OMG Evan"

"Right?! But like...we both fuck him right? I mean sharing is caring?" Evan smiles at her and Lily gasps with the thought of Evan getting nailed to the bad by Eddies massive dick

"Yes, absolutely yes! If you're ok with it I am" she says, sort of surprised at herself for being so open minded about sharing the guy she's just started dating with a 40 year old God of a man.

They get to the hotel and they get a room. Evan texts Eddie which room number they have and then they sit down on the bed. At first there's a bit of an awkward silence, but then Lily thinks to her self 'Fuck this' and she gets up and takes off all her clothes. Evans eyes almost pop out of their sockets

"Wanna join me here stud?" she smiles and holds out her hand to him. He takes it and she pulls him to his feet. She starts kissing him and unbuttoning his shirt. "Get naked and let's give him a show when he walks in" she purrs. Evan does as he's told. He strips down in a flash, cock slapping his belly as he pulls down his boxers. It's leaking pre-cum from earlier. Lily lets her hand slide down and stroke him. "He seems so left out, poor thing. You want me to pay him some attention" she whispers. Evan just nods. Lily smiles and gets down on her knees infront of him, strokign his cock. Which isn't a bad size either, it's just not a monster like the one who will join them in a little bit. She takes him in her mouth and lets him slide down her throat. She's been blessed with a next to non existant gag reflex. It takes A LOT for her to gag on anything. She doesn't stop until she feels his pubes tickle her nose, Evan is moaning like a mad man already, he's grabbed her hair, helping her set a pace.

"Fuck Lil, you're amazing, I wanna cum down your throat so bad. But I wanna fuck you as well, slow down a little" he moans and she does. She lets him out of her mouth and continues licking the shaft instead all the way down to his balls. She sucks one in and lets her tongue play over the roundness.

"Fucked many men his size?" she smiles at Evan as she strokes his cock

"I don't think anyone fucked many men his size" Evan moans in anticipation

"Then maybe I should warm you up a bit" she says with a husky voice and Evan chokes on his own saliva

"What" he coughs "you'd...finger me?" he says

"Of course, I don't think that monster would fit if there wasn't some warm up work done to your ass first" Lily steers him back to the bed making him sit down. She straddles him and lets her soaking wet slit slide up and down his shaft "how about it? You want me to?" she whispers

"Are you real?" Evan says "but hell yeah I want to" Lily stands up again and he crawls up the bed to make himself more comfortable. She lays down between his legs and he pulls up his knees so she can get to his ass.

"Look at that, so pretty" she says smiling at him before she leans in and lets her tongue play on his asshole. Evan lets out a coarse moan. Lily puts two fingers in her mouth and covers them with saliva, then she slowly presses them against his waiting hole. Slowly, slowly inching her way in. Then she starts fucking his ass with two fingers, then three and just as she's about to try for four the door to their room opens.

"Well fuck me, you're wasting no time are you?" they hear Eddies voice

"I'm not done warming him up for you, come fuck me first" Lily moans as she gets to her knees pushing her ass out at Eddie.

"Oh hell yeah" he says and they can hear him undress. He walks up to the bed, and Lily's shivering with anticipation for what's to come. That cock...inside of her. Eddies calloused hands strokes her ass "so fucking soft, what an ass...and look at that pussy. My God how are you not buried in that all day long?" he says to Evan

"We...we've never had...sex" Evan moans as Lily is trying for finger number four now

"Wait? What?" Eddie stops "You're not a couple?"

"We've just started dating, we haven't gotten to the whole fuck thing yet. But we agreed this is a perfect first time" Lily says looking back at Eddie and wiggling her ass at him "please come fuck me now" she mewls

"You're sure? Both of you" he says and they assure him they're on the same page "well then, don't mind if I do" Eddie smiles and gets on the bed. He grabs Lilys ass and leans in letting his tongue slide from clit to ass in one go she squeals under him "oh that horny for me huh? You sure you're ready?" he's got his massive cock in his hand letting it slide through her folds up and down teasing her

"Yes...fuck yes" Lily's going crazy she just wants something, someone to penetrate her NOW!

A soft chuckle behind her and she feels the tip press against her hole, OH GOD, he's huge. It's almost painful but in a good way as he slowly fills her up. "Such a good fucking girl taking me sooo good" he growls as he hits bottom. He slowly starts moving after a short pause to let her get used to him. "God your pussy is amazing" Eddie moans as his pace quickens, Lily can't handle more now. She's been so turned on for so long now she crumbles and screams out the most intense orgasm she's ever had to that day. "Wow... didn't think you could get tighter but that's intense sweetheart you almost took my dick off" Eddie chuckles behind her as she comes back to reality. She's still four fingers deep in Evan who's squirming in front of her, his dick oozing pre-cum on to his stomach.

"I better pull out babe, or you'll shoot your load before Eddie gets a chance with you. I want you to cum in my mouth as he fucks you" Lily moans and the two men let out a guttural sound each, like that's exactly what they were imagening.

"I'ma be pulling out of you aswell sweetheart, or there won't be anything left for that sexy ass" Eddie mumbles and she feels him slip out of her, the emptiness is almost saddening. "Turn towards me" Eddie says in her ear, she turns and stands kneeling facing him. He takes a hold of Evans feet and just pulls him down on the bed like he's a feather. "Now then, lets see if I can make you scream as well" Eddie says with a dark sultry voice making both Evan and Lily gasp. Eddie grabs Evans legs and puts them on his shoulders, grabs a bottle of lube he must have had with him. He drenches Evans asshole with the lube "wanna help me get in to place there sweetheart?" he looks at Lily who's just mesmerized by the sight of Evans glistening asshole and the enormous cock waiting to enter. All she can do is nod, she leans in, grabs Eddies cock and carefully help him find his way in to Evan. Evan is writhing thinking to himself that soon he'll wake up and this would just be another wet dream. But the cock slowly inching it's way in to him feels real enough, oh GOD it feels good. He looks up, in front of him he sees Lily's pink pussy. He grabs her ass and pulls her down on to his face, he starts eating her out like she's the last meal he'll ever have. She screams out with pleasure slumping forward. She takes his dick in her mouth, she did say she wanted him to finish in her mouth. This is the perfect place to be, getting her pussy eaten, seeing Evan getting his ass filled by a monster cock and also getting to suck him while it's happening. This is almost too good to be true.

Eddies hit bottom now and is standing at the edge of the bed breathing heavily trying to be careful, knowing very well his cock isn't for everyone to accommodate. "Such a nice ass, so warm...so tight....ok if I move?" he moans

"Uhu" Evan mumbles in to Lily's pussy. It's stretching like he's never felt before but the pain is bareable. Eddie starts thrusting slowly, Evan moans loudly into Lilys pussy making amazing vibrations to her clit. She screams again as another orgasm takes her, she comes to quicker this time. Continuing her oral games with Evans dick. Soon she feels the pulsating that tells her he's so fucking close now. "Fuuuuuck Lil...I'ma blow" he moans and she feels the warm spurts fill her throat. She swallows as much as she can and the rest she licks up from his stomach. Eddie is wild-eyed from the show

"Fuck that was hot, I'ma cum very soon...where do you want it?" he huffs

"Let's share babe" Lily gets off Evans face and looks down at him smiling

"Of course" he pants

"Sweet Jesus, who are you people" Eddie groans as he pulls out of Evan and watch the two slip off the bed and kneel in front of him. He grabs his dick and strokes it feeling that amazing sensation as he closes in on orgasm. He roars as he squirts time after time on their faces . When he feels there isn't a drop left in him he has to lay down on the bed. He's completely spent...this was...NOT what he was expecting from a normal night out. The two on the floor giggle something about washing off and that they'll be right back. He just waves at them...there are no words right now. A few minutes later he feels them crawling in to bed next to him

"So Eddie...wanna make this a regular thing?"

[quackle]

If there’s a third season in the future, what do you hope to see?

Mine are:

1. More Mkulia. And they somehow find a way to gain control of their team.

2. Raj and Wayne got separated into two teams, I want to see how they deal with their own team and their thoughts of compete against each other.

3. Add two more characters and make it 3 teams with 6 person.

4. An unexpected villain arc for a originally good character and let them win. (I kinda want to see Damien got one after he knows Total Drama well enough.)

gonna ramble about my s3 wishes under cut. i'll probably come up with more as the days go by:

i just think we deserve a girl vs girl finale. too many missed opportunities for one. i need to see girl success.

i love julia, but let's give the main antagonist role to someone like, oh i dunno, the contestant who has sworn vengeance on this cast during both of her eliminations maybe? (i'm looking at you scary girl. keep your word! make it to the dang merge and make their lives hell! i've written an analysis for you and everything!)

i don't even care if nichelle wins anymore (and that's saying a lot coming from me), but can we PLEASE just PLEASE get her to the merge at least? i am so sick of people calling her niche-L like STOP 😭 can we TRY with her character instead of making it into a gag? just a little attempt?? for me??? (as you can see, i am staring hard at the only two contestants from this gen who didn't make the merge in both seasons)

give us a challenge at night. give us a swimming challenge. give us alt outfits. give us new settings. give us some creativity and fun. we deserve it. the island is cool but imagine if we were quite literally anywhere else. your ratings will peak.

i would also like to see the hockey bros on separate teams, especially after wayne has seemingly gotten over his fear of being on a different (hockey) team than raj. it would be interesting for their characters imo!

no central romance plot i BEG. put that big binder AWAY. not saying we can't have a romance plot (i think they can be cute and nice!), but let's just make sure it isn't the central plot or i'll lose my mind <3

make mkulia canon you cowards. i know i just said no central romance plot but like. we can still make this a subplot if we try hard enough.

i need more drama in total drama. like. let's make the drama STICK instead of having it rushed and solved in the span of an episode. long lasting tension leaves the audience gagged and wanting more. if we gotta make longer seasons then so be it! (oh how i miss the longer seasons...)

if y'all don't make emma and bowie talk next season like........... do not separate the besties like this! bring them back!

and speaking of my fav white girly—we need her to get some plot. i do not ever want to see her eliminated the way she was ever again. that was heartbreaking!

if we can't make a world tour/musical season happen again, first of all, BOOOOO THAT SUCKS, and second of all, can we at least squeeze in a musical episode? i gotta hear them sing, i'm sorry... my musical phase is never-ending i fear

you know that one intern? the one with the really good design? it would be soooooo cool if they made her a contestant to fill in a contestant quota or something. it would be sooooo cool 😇 don't you guys think it would be sooooo cool?

[whichuniverseisthis]

Ok so, I have a headache and nothing to do with my time, so even if I don't usually do these things, here's my predictions for td's next season. I'll put the characters in alphabetical order because I don't really have a ranking.

Axel: ... I don't think she would be the kind of character that would win? Based on older seasons, the winners after Island and Revenge were usually people that got at least halfway through the first season, so idk. I can see her making it to the merge, maybe even make it to the last few episodes, but I can't see her winning.

Bowie: Of course he can't win anymore, but with the importance he has for the Total Drama franchise as a whole, I can see him being a Duncan kind of character, always getting far into the season. Not farther than top 5 or even just the early merge, though.

Caleb: Yeah, I can see him being the new Justin, hopefully with more of a brain. I don't think they'll put him on the same team as Bowie again, otherwise one of the two would get out right away, and I don't see that. He could maybe work with Julia? Since he's one of the few who hasn't seen her real self. In that case she'd probably get him out once she doesn't need him anymore.

Chase: Eugh... Either he gets eliminated early on or he gets far, no in between. I don't completely hate him, but I'd prefer him getting an early boot so that Emma can get her time to shine without him.

Damien: As I've said, I think he could be an option for the winner spot, but it all depends on how it plays out with Priya. If they give them the relationship to develop he can do it. I do think it would be funny if he came back after watching all the past seasons and being even more of a nerd.

Emma: As I've already said, if she gets rid of Chase early on, she has a good chance of winning. She did great in the one episode he wasn't there. But if they keep it going, they'll annoy the public AND the other contestants.

Julia: (I'll always love having a character, a villain even, with basically my same name) Well, she's the villain, she's meant to go far. The real question is: is she Action!Heather or World Tour!Heather? Because there's a huge difference there.

Millie: I can see her being an early boot this time around, because people will be afraid of her friendship with Priya, probably. Either she gets on a different team from her and the others will think she's helping her, or they're together and the others will think Priya is more useful to the team.

MK: Look, I love her, and she has a LOT of potential. If she ups her social game, she could very easily become the new main villain, kinda like Courtney in action. Also she has whatever it's going on with Julia, so there's that. I can see her making it to at least the final four. Not a winner, though.

Nichelle: Kinda like Axel here, I really can't see her making it much farther than in season one. Of course she could have the thing where "I wanted to be a better person so I practiced", but it really depends on how much time in canon will have passed between the two seasons. If it's, say, two months, then she could have it, but if it's just two weeks or something... Definitely not.

Priya: Ok, I can't see her being a super early boot for the eventual relationship with Damien and because she'd probably be useful to the team, but I can't see her getting over the early merge either, kinda like Bowie. She's strong, but she can make mistakes, and as soon as she doesn't get immunity, I can see Bowie and Julia getting rid of her right away.

Raj: This is a difficult one. Him and Wayne are competent competitors when they need to be, but especially Raj has so many red flags for his relationship with Bowie?? And I'd hate for him to go before Bowie again, but I see Wayne going farther than him if they (hopefully) split them up for the teams.

Ripper: ...Yeah, I can totally see him being the first boot this time. I don't hate him, and he was kind of... nice, trying to help Millie in the final in his own twisted way, but I can't see him adding anything else to the cast.

Scary Girl: Hot take, but she's way too overrated. I like her, I really do, but I've seen so many people saying she should win, and I'm like?? No?? She's literally a new version of Izzy, and if Izzy didn't win, than she shouldn't either. I can actually see her being an even earlier boot than she was in season one, or an early merger at most.

Wayne: Basically the same thing I've said for Raj, but without the red flags. I can totally see him making it far, maybe top 5? I'll see.

Zee: He's so freaking unpredictable, damn it. He's either a weird winner like Owen or a late pre-merger boot, I think. I can see both outcomes, really.

Holy shit, that's it. I've probably done a lot of writing mistakes, but it's 11pm here, and I am TIRED. But yeah, that's kinda my opinion after watching too many prediction videos that I couldn't bring myself to agree with. If someone wants to tell me their own opinion I'm always open to listen.

[crescentblossom66]

The Dance Competition

Today was a day much like any other normal day in Dead Bird Studio. DJ Grooves was recording his movies like always, Conductor was screaming so loud he could hear it all the way on his side of the studio, like always, his actors tried their hardest, but things weren't going the best,.like always, Bow Kid and Hat Kid stormed through the doors to his side of the studio...not like always.

The two girls screamed and yelled, seemingly not in agreement like they usually were. They stopped in front of him, both gesturing around wildly, while screaming something about dancing, moves, and music, that was pretty much all he could gather, listening in stereo was very difficult, even he hadn't mastered that yet.

“Darling, darlings, calm down.”- He tried attempted to get the two girls to calm down and finally they stopped arguing after hearing him speak, “-One at a time.”

Bow Kid started to speak, still glaring at Hat Kid, “Hattie here doesn't believe that my dance is better than hers, I practiced all week!” The other girl crossed her arms.

“And I practiced 2 weeks!” Hat Kid turned her head away from Bow Kid and looked at the tall penguin. “You're the only one that we know that can tell us whose dance is better, so we came here.” Hat Kid explained.

“Ohh, a dance competition, eh, I could totally dig that.” One of his penguins came over after overhearing the conversation. Others joined in as well and soon he had to alien kids and a swarm of his penguins begging him for a dance competition. He contemplated the idea for a moment and decided that it would indeed be fun...maybe he could use the idea for a movie.

“A dance competition? That's a great idea, darlings! I was starting to get bored with all this monotony. Penguins, help me set this up!” He received a bunch of 'yeah!' and 'yes, boss' replies and he and the moon penguins turned their set into a small dance floor.

As it was deemed unfair for him to compete, because he'd win easily anyway, DJ Grooves was deemed the judge.

The first contestant was one of his moon penguins, who showed a breathtaking flamenco, in all honesty, he had no idea that one of his penguins knew how to actually dance something like that nice Spanish dance.

He was even more impressed by a group of his penguins that performed the an upbeat salsa. Even Hat- and Bow Kid clapped for the moon penguins, who seemed to have the time of their lives.

Next up was Bow Kid, who incorporated a bunch of twirls and jumps into her free style dance, she ended her performance with a cartwheel and posed by bending forward a bit winking and showing the peace sign. The moon penguin were all excited and clapped loudly whistling and praising her choreography.

Hat Kid, unlike bow Kid showed more of an Irish looking tap dance and a few spins, a back flip and a split in the end, forming a hear shape with both hands, and giving a wide smile

“Bravo, darlings, bravo!” DJ Grooves was impressed with all the great performances he witnessed today, the monotony of the day all but forgotten.

“Excuse me! You guys call that dancing?!” A vent above them suddenly opened and the red-hooded girl the two girls had fought in that lava castle entered the room. “I'll show you a REAL dance!”

Bow Kid and Hat Kid looked at each other, wondering how Mustache Girl heard about what they were doing. Both, however, were intrigued and cheered for her friend.

DJ Grooves was about to send the blonde girl away, but considering that both of the girls cheered her on, he decided to let her participate, if they didn't hate her after what she had done, then she couldn't be all that bad, right?

To everyone's surprise the red-hooded girl showed an amazing break dance, with flawless execution and ended it by crossing her arms and smiling smugly. “There! That's a real dance!” She blushed and her confidence seemed to turn into unexpected shyness after everyone cheered for her. She obviously hadn't expected that.

“That was stunning, darling! Where did you learn that?!” She looked to the ground and blushed, and got shocked when Hat- and Bow Kid hugged her.

“Hey! Careful!-” She didn't seem to mind the hug too much, only shoving the two girls away a bit to breathe. “I-I taught myself. It was the only thing the Mafia couldn't take away from me.” She looked a bit sad after so Hat Kid and Bow Kid took her hands and spun her around with them in a circle until she smiled again.

It was obvious who won that competition.

@majormeilani I kinda rushed this one a bit, but I hope it cheered you up, if only a little.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s8e23 sacrifice (w. jeremy carver)

are we gonna make nic cry (it's a low bar but s7 finale managed to not make it)

JODY It's not a date till I've cried.

we're definitely leaning into full on bad guy crowley this season. i liked when he was more ambiguous. maybe he'll help, maybe he'll fuck everyone over. dragging jody into it, now. all right

not me feeling more emotional about bobby's scrapyard than i did about seeing actual-bobby again

CROWLEY Nice try, squirrel. Moose is doing these trials. Moose signs. DEAN No, no. He's not signing anything until I read the fine print. [SAM yanks the pen from DEAN] SAM I can read it. DEAN Hey, you wanted me here. I'm here. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let him screw us even more. CROWLEY What's this? Trouble in paradise, boys?

crowley's turning into a bit of a caricature. too much of a good thing maybe

DEAN I can do this all day, 'cause you know what? Damn, it feels good! But sooner or later, you're gonna have to face it -- you're ours. Which means that your demon ass is going to be a mortal ass pretty damn quick. CROWLEY [to SAM] What's he mouthing on about? SAM You're the third trial, Crowley.

a) ignoring any bitch implications b) you know i really dislike torture but even i got a little vicarious satisfaction from dean punching him c) i've got a hodgepodge of demon dean/mark of cain nebulous plot awareness that's on the horizon but no idea how they come to pass, so my mind keeps wandering wondering if this or that is related. focus!

CASTIEL Yes. Would you say that you're looking for, uh, a partner in crime... ...or, uh, someone who's into nurse role-play and light domination? DWIGHT Brother, it's 10:00 a.m. on a Tuesday.

sir, this is a wendy's

lovely shot but it feels like the shiny happy people version of s1 true detective which is on the brain because of this video of a deleted scene i posted a bit ago which is just (gorgeous) extended moody atmospheric location shots of coastal louisiana set to appropriate music

SAM Honestly, for the first time in a long time, it feels like we're gonna win. I'm good.

TAKE IT BACK, SAM.

dean's just trying to help!

the sick damp puppy look is just too precious for words. dean, give him a hug and some soup

lovely lovely. even more true detective s1 vibes (that season of that show was one of the most beautiful things... southern gothic atmospherics off the charts. ugh. i made an edit with it and hannibal because the rust cohle is will graham is rust cohle of it all)

true detective s1e2 seeing things

DEAN Anything? You've been gone long enough. CASTIEL No. There was one female, but... DEAN What? CASTIEL ...I don't think she was female

heavy sigh. transphobic jokes are evergreen

followed up by dean being flabbergasted for .. 10 seconds? that the cupid love match thing was two men. fuck you, show. i know, it's nothing new. but back to back, i'm exponentially annoyed

and i'm so disinterested in this heaven business i'd never looked up naomi's actress. she was sam carter on sg1! totally did not recognize her without the blonde hair. i didn't watch a ton of sg1 but enough to be quite familiar with the mains

stargate sg-1 amanda tapping as samantha carter

anyway. back to sam being half dead and abaddon smoking out (was it red? they did this with crowley too and i wasn't sure it wasn't just the lighting on the black smoke)

again the twilight/zombie looks good on him

this crowley thing.. this whole girls (tv series) speech his voice is higher pitched and the accent changed? what is going on

and are we supposed to be feeling something about crowley crying and wanting help from sam with asking for forgiveness? the time given his speech and music says yes, but my brain says excuse me what now. offering his neck up like bella, mushy music swells

DEAN Metatron lied. You finish this trial, you're dead, Sam. SAM So?

glad i knew that was coming

okay so i've watched this whole church scene several times now trying to figure out why it's not hitting any emotional buttons. padalecki is working his ass off and doing amazing and i'm getting nothing from jackles, subsequently i'm feeling not much of anything. did they break my emotions? which is extra weird because the text of this conversation is like.. romantic catnip? should be breaking and remaking my heart and yet...? just for a hint at the end the music reminded me of the expanse and THAT made me feeling a little something. so, like a broken record, i'm blaming this partially on the musical score.

SAM Look at him. Look at him! Look how close we are! Other people will die if I don't finish this! DEAN Think about it. Think about what we know, huh? Pulling souls from hell, curing demons, hell, ganking a Hellhound! We have enough knowledge on our side to turn the tide here. But I can't do it without you. SAM You can barely do it with me. I mean, you think I screw up everything I try. You think I need a chaperone, remember? DEAN Come on, man. That's not what I meant. SAM No, it's exactly what you meant. You want to know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down. I can't do that again. DEAN Sam -- SAM [beginning to cry] What happens when you've decided I can't be trusted again? I mean, who are you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel, another -- another vampire? Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother just –

like this really should be stabbing me in the gut and it's just not and it is such a shame because really, padalecki is doing so good with it. damnit, show, what did you do

DEAN Hold on, hold on! You seriously think that? Because none of it -- none of it -- is true. Listen, man, I know we've had our disagreements, okay? Hell, I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels. But, Sammy...come on. I killed Benny to save you. I'm willing to let this bastard and all the sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you. Don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you! It has never been like that, ever! I need you to see that. I'm begging you.

"don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you" like hello, feelings, this is insane, where are you

the only part that worked for me is the little handfasting moment

do not to get to see this soft smile very often

DEAN Just let it go. SAM I can't. It's in me, Dean. You don't know what this feels like. [DEAN wraps a bandanna around Sam’s cut.] DEAN Hey, listen,we will figure it out, okay, just like we always do. Come on. DEAN Come on. Let it go, okay? Let it go, brother. SAM Hey, Dean. DEAN See? [ SAM Breathing shakily then Sam doubles over in pain. DEAN brings SAM outside the church. ] DEAN Sam? I got you, little brother. You're gonna be just fine.

calling him brother and little brother in one go

apparently i've forgotten already how cas and megatron left things in the time i spent trying to wrap my head around my (lack of) emotional reaction to the church thing. ah right, it was a spell, needed castiel's grace. that's why it's raining angels

the music, the effects.. this all hit the right notes at least. reminded me a smidge of stranger things with the music and rain and the car and ominous things happening in the sky.

see, imagine this show, but with the music of stranger things. like, really well done music cues, not just bad generic weird fake rock blues whatever and classic rock because we have one character note about his musical preferences and we're gonna ride it into the ground. i'm so bitter about the music in this show letting it down! lol

so why did fandom glom on to the spelling of cas? since it's pronounced cass. and is cass in the captions and scripts. having never heard it but seen it a bunch, i assumed it was going to be pronounced caz. cass too feminine?

(for the record one tear came from the expanse-like musical cue and i don't think spn gets the credit for it. i'm stunned, honestly)

so sometimes, i will admit, i have a kneejerk dislike - or anger, of something that seems irrational considering my shipping preferences. like, in 2x11 playthings and sam honestly looks like he's about to kiss dean, i was mad. i felt like they were baiting this thing that would never go anywhere, i was pissy about the gay jokes in the scenes prior at the front desk. now with separation and seeing 6 more seasons, i see how they actually have often stuck to this plausible deniability romance dynamic between them and made it more textual without making the impossible full commit to gay incest on the CW.

i don't think that's what's going on with me and the church thing because i'm not like freaked out->upset->pissy, i'm just... not feeling it. super weird

trying to keep a list of the horrifying results of castiel's attempts to do the right thing.... there's just so many 🤪

[kryzobi-wan]

The Sound of Mandalore

Chapter 6/20: "And I'll Sing Once More"

Read on AO3:

<;< Chapter 5

“It really is nice to be back here, Duchess Satine. I had forgotten how lovely it can be,” Merrik was saying as he and the Duchess made their way back to the prison from Sundari Palace.

Satine stopped and glanced around at their surroundings, at the perfectly manicured trees and bushes that grew in the palace gardens. They were practically the only bit of greenery that could be seen.

“The city? Well, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” she said dismissively. Not to say she didn’t love Sundari. It had its own splendor apart from nature that felt like home after all these years. “I certainly do miss Kalevala though at times,” she admitted.

Merrik remained silent, but was suddenly standing much closer to Satine than she had originally thought. He looked at her strangely, expectantly.

“Oh, you mean me?” she spoke, stepping back half a step. “How… kind of you.” She tried to look flattered, she really did, but she was sure her face betrayed her in this moment.

“Is there something wrong with that, Duchess?” Merrik asked, stepping closer again.

“No, I—”

“You know, you’re so busy these days, Satine, it’s no wonder you haven’t visited your home world in so long.”

Someone really ought to teach this man some manners, cutting her off like that. She started their walk again, perhaps at a brisker pace than before.

“A shame, really,” he continued, keeping in step with her, “A woman should be able to enjoy the finer things in life instead of dealing in the nasty business of politics all day long.” He let out a sigh as if these thoughts were some great burden to his mind. “Still, I do appreciate your help with the incident on Kalevala that called you back to me.”

“Yes,” she responded uneasily, glad for the slight change in subject. “I admit I have grown increasingly more concerned by the activities of Death Watch. That was the third attack on a planet in our system in as many weeks.”

Merrik sent what must have been intended as a comforting smile toward Satine. “Don’t you worry too much, my dear,” he said, placing a hand on her arm. “I am sure that very soon they will be of little concern to you.”

-.-.-

“Another slice of uj cake, Mr. Ohnaka?” a young servant asked, holding up a tray of the fruity, nutty dessert.

The pirate grinned from within his cell. “How many have I had?” he asked, holding his hands over his belly.

“Six,” she answered.

“Ah, better make it an even seven.”

As the prison worker passed a sliver of cake through the slot in the door, Senator Merrik and the Duchess approached, shaking their heads at the audacious smuggler who already seemed quite comfortable in his captivity.

“Still eating, I see, Mr. Ohnaka?” Satine’s voice floated through the wide-open chamber as she and Merrik made their way to Hondo’s cell for questioning.

“The service here certainly lives up to what all the other pirates say!” he answered, far happier than any prisoner should look.

Merrik spoke up next. “Hondo, before we officially sentence you for running spice through Kalevala, is there anything else you’d like to state on the record?”

The Weequay sank to his knees, shuffling closer to the cell door. “Just that I am truly, truly sorry,” he said, making a real show of the apology. Crumbs of uj cake fell from his shirt. “I saw the opportunity and couldn’t resist, although I do wish I had been able to procure a team for the competition on Hosnian Prime. Curse my inability to pass up a business opportunity!”

Satine rolled her eyes. “Noted.”

The Duchess and Senator turned to leave, but Hondo, true to character, would not stop talking.

“Perhaps, it does not have to be a total loss, though…” he said, rubbing his hand on his chin in thought. “I do have other business to get back to—all completely legitimate of course.” His words fooled no one. “Maybe we could strike a deal—I borrow your protectors for a week, and when they win the contest, the earnings could be used to, er, settle my bond. What do you say?”

“That would be if they win,” Satine pointed out, as if she would even consider the bargain in the first place.

“A risk I am willing to take! Why do you think I came to Mandalore of all systems? That fighting spirit is in your very bones!”

Satine huffed and spun around, thinking of nothing but her peaceful Mandalore. This pirate would not corrupt what she had worked to build.

As if he knew what she was thinking, Hondo pleaded, “Oh come on, a few decades of peace cannot stamp out millennia of warrior blood! They may not use them anymore, but I know your guards possess exactly the skills I am looking for.”

Merrik, to Satine’s shock, responded, “Perhaps he has a point, Duchess. It could be nice to remind the galaxy that Mandalore is not some defenseless system ripe for the taking.”

The Duchess was not nearly as comfortable with the idea as the Senator seemed to be.

“Besides, it may cost more to feed that pirate for the length of his sentence than he is worth,” Merrik added with a laugh.

Satine hummed, amused despite her negative attitude. “I will consider it,” she answered coolly, turning to walk away. Merrik began to follow.

“That is all I can ask of you, thank you Duchess Kryze,” Hondo finished.

With one final nod, the Duchess left along with some guards, discussing something with them in private. Tal Merrik, however, hung back a moment.

“I did not think a man like yourself would have his eyes on the title of Duke Consort, Senator Merrik,” Hondo spoke, finishing off another bite of uj cake and licking his fingers.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Merrik answered in his best impression of being caught off guard by the accusation.

Hondo waved his hands, sitting back on his cot. “Nothing, nothing. Who am I to judge whatever exploits you are engaged in? Power, riches, maybe even the chance to enact some changes to Mandalore! I see why you might be interested...”

The Senator sneered, his back still turned. “Indeed.”

-.-.-

When Satine returned to the Palace, she paused at the sight of one of the young Royal Guard cadets, who appeared to be snooping near Korkie’s room in the hall. She watched her for a moment before asking, “What are you doing?”

Her sudden appearance caused the girl to startle.

“Oh! Duchess Satine!” she began, “I was just looking for—” Her sentence trailed off at the sight of the Senator, who had finally caught up with the Duchess. She saluted him, the movement revealing a small Shriek-hawk symbol on her bracer.

Satine eyed her suspiciously. “Can I help you?”

The girl squirmed. “I come bearing a message for Senator Merrik. Prime Minister Almec would like to speak to him.”

Merrik shifted his gaze to Satine before stepping forward to the cadet, accepting the comm from her hand. She looked nervously between the Senator and the Duchess, stuck frozen in place.

“Alright, you’ve delivered your message. Now I must ask you to leave.” Satine’s rigid coolness carefully hid the disdain she felt toward the young woman. As she ran off, the Duchess turned to Merrik and said, “Did you see the symbol on her arm, Senator?”

Merrik looked up, placing the comm carefully in his pocket. “I am sure it is nothing but a sign of the teenage rebelliousness that all youth possess. She’s just a girl, after all.”

“Yes,” Satine pursed her lips. “I’m sure you’re right.” Her eyes remained trained on the cadet as she disappeared down the hall. Despite her words, she shared very little faith in anyone showing the slightest bit of sympathy for Death Watch. Girl or not, Satine was the Duchess after all. Vigilance was the name of the game on a planet prone to self-destruction like Mandalore.

Silence filled the space between them for a moment or two, and Satine made her way to one of the palace’s balconies without another word.

Merrik followed, taking up the space beside her where she leaned on the balcony rail. “Mandalore is committed to neutrality, as am I,” he assured, “A few young Mandalorians who think they understand politics do not pose a threat to our position.”

Satine turned on him. “I do not wish to underestimate a terrorist faction, Senator,” she countered, venom in her words. “You’d do well to ensure that you don’t either.”

Thoroughly chastised, Tal Merrik remained quiet for a while, while Satine allowed the view from the palace to cool her temper. She couldn’t help but think of another young girl who she had lost to Death Watch long ago. Outrage turned to melancholy, and now she wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

“I apologize, Duchess. I did not mean to offend you.” Alas, he was still here. “I simply think there are more important matters to attend to at present. I still wish to discuss a few concerns I have with the Senate.”

Satine did not seem to hear him.

Merrik leaned in closer, studying her features with concern. “You seem a million parsecs away, Satine, I hope you are not too rattled by what was said. What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

Her eyes had glossed over, seeing not the city in front of her, but the one that had existed before it—a people at war. Bloodshed. Families torn apart, even her own. It sent a shiver down her spine.

“I see the world I love, disappearing, I’m afraid…” she responded in a moment of candor.

Merrik placed a firm hand on her shoulder, drawing her eyes to him. “Mandalore will stand strong, Satine. Do not be afraid.”

The pair stood silent for a moment longer, only the sound of distant airspeeders and loud voices filling their ears.

Until, that is, the voices turned into shouts and a cacophony of other sounds, which approached the balcony rapidly. That was when Satine saw it. There, jumping from floating platform to floating platform, was Obi-Wan and the children. They each carried wooden staffs, swinging them wildly as Obi-Wan shouted instructions to them.

“Jump, Lark! Well done! Now watch out for the bottle!” Just then, Greta threw one of many plasteel bottles at Lark from a pile in her arms. Lark batted it away easily.

“Alright, quick, everyone! Get Master Kenobi!” Chas called out, leading the charge with the five oldest kids to start whacking Obi-Wan with their sticks. Giggles filled the air while a grinning Obi-Wan tried to fend them all off with his own stick, to no avail. He was overwhelmed, pushed to the edge of his platform just as he made eye contact with—

“Satine?!”

His exclamation drew the children’s attention to her as well, and their faces lit up with joy. Shouts of “Duchess Satine!” or “Auntie Satine!” erupted around them as they waved to greet her. In the chaos, and with Obi-Wan distracted, Tamra was able to land one final blow just a little too far south of his stomach, sending him reeling backward and over the edge of the platform.

Satine jolted forward with concern for the Jedi before stopping herself. Obi-Wan, having used the Force, pulled himself over the railing of the balcony, looking just a little rattled. His mouth curled in an embarrassed half smile.

Another round of giggles sounded as the kids watched him clumsily find his footing on the ground. They soon followed, leaping down and landing deftly in front of Satine, who looked slightly less than pleased.

One look at her raised brow and folded arms told them all they needed to know. The smiles instantly left their faces, and they lined up obediently, falling completely silent.

Satine shot Obi-Wan a look before turning to the children. “As you may have noticed,” she said, her voice unsettlingly calm, “we have a guest. This is Senator Tal Merrik.” She hid her embarrassment well as she swiveled to address the man from Kalevala. “Senator, these are the children, and of course, my nephew Korkie.”

“Good to meet you all,” he answered with a nod.

Satine’s took in each child’s appearance, sweaty, pink cheeked, and doing a dreadful job of hiding the fact that they were out of breath. “Inside. Get cleaned up,” she ordered. The kids scrambled to move, but she stopped them before they could get too far. “Leave those,” she commanded, referring to the staffs they each held.

One by one, they turned back to drop the wooden sticks into a pile on the ground, sending one last look to Obi-Wan who shifted uncomfortably. He started to follow after them, but was halted by the touch of a hand on his arm. Satine.

Merrik was the one to break the awkward silence, excusing himself to go check in with the palace guard. After he left and it was clear Obi-Wan wouldn’t immediately run off, Satine let her hand fall back to her side, fingers clenched tightly into a fist.

It was to be a standoff, then.

Obi-Wan kept a carefully neutral expression on his face as she stepped closer, surveying him seriously.

“Am I imagining things, Master Kenobi, or were my children just performing death-defying stunts high above the streets of Sundari?”

Pointedly ignoring the fact that she had called them her children, he cleared his throat. “It’s possible.”

“And were they fighting each other with wooden sticks on top of all that?” she dared him to answer.

His response came out more confidently than he felt. “Yes, Duchess.”

Satine took a deep breath to hold back the immediate angry retort that was bubbling in her chest. Once she had steadied herself enough, she spoke in a low voice, “I thought I was clear where the priorities were for their studies, Master Jedi, but perhaps I was not.”

“You were, Satine, however when we finished their required studies, I figured it would not hurt to have a little fun.”

The Duchess barked a mirthless laugh. “Fun, you call it?” she said, quickly getting more heated. “Danger is the word I might choose. Have you lost your mind? Fighting is not supposed to be ‘fun,’ Obi-Wan, that is not what I have worked so hard for all these years.”

Obi-Wan rose to the challenge, stepping closer to her and barely restraining his own temper. “Well, I’m sorry, Duchess, if I wanted to turn some much-needed self-defense training into something a little more pleasant than the imagery of warfare and actual bloodshed.”

“By putting my children in very real danger?!”

“Of course not, Satine, do you really think so little of me? I was watching them carefully, if one fell, I would catch them immediately.”

Satine wanted to tear her hair out. “Apologies if I don’t have complete faith in your ability to sense impending danger around you, Jedi—or perhaps you’ve forgotten the time you dropped me in a swarm of venomites?”

“I think you’ll remember that you were being very distracting at the time!” Obi-Wan defended loudly. He took a breath, calming himself again. “Look, the children wanted to learn, is that so bad?”

“They never wanted to before,” she responded, put out.

“They never felt like they could ask you before!”

At that, she looked up, a sad sort of glint in her eye. Obi-Wan stepped closer, his voice dropping back down to a much gentler tone.

“You look out for them when you are here, Satine, and yes, they have the Protectors to keep watch over them as well… But don’t you want them to know how to stand up for themselves if the need arises?”

Satine sighed. “I don’t want to hear about this right now,” she spoke, wishing to never have to think about those possibilities again.

Or the fact that her kids apparently didn’t feel comfortable sharing their feelings with her.

“Korkie is almost a man, now, Satine,” Obi-Wan continued, “If you hold on too tight, you might wake up one day and realize he’s run off to pursue what he was never allowed to before, and in an uncontrolled environment with no protection. And Lark, did you know she gets Force visions? Nightmares that plague her nearly every night? What about Greta? She tells me her Clan is allied with Death Watch, exposing her to violence already at her young age! You cannot shelter these children from the truth, or from the Force. It flows through them as it does me and you, and they have been given a gift in their ability to harness it.”

“Enough!” Satine shouted, “I will hear no more of this.”

Silence settled over them once more, and she pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose in hopes of relieving the pressure that was building behind her eyes.

“I think you should go,” she spoke quietly, not meeting his eyes. “I’m sorry, but I think you should go back to—”

She froze as a sweeping melody backed by steady drums began to echo through the halls and into the open air of the balcony.

“What is that?” she asked, a faraway look in her eyes. She recognized it.

Obi-Wan did his best to mask the hurt in his voice as he answered quietly, “The children learned the Mandokar to welcome you and Senator Merrik back to Sundari.” He knew he was walking on eggshells now. “It was in one of their history books, I thought it might be a nice way to…”

But Satine was already walking away, drifting airily into the palace halls and following the music into the open throne room. When she arrived, she saw the children swaying steadily to the tune playing on a holorecording, their movements serene and flowing.        

The protectors had lent their metal staffs to the children for their demonstration, and all except the two youngest slowly twirled them in sync. Greta and Tamra simply mirrored their actions with no weapon in their hands, smiling up at their peers.

Satine watched in wonderment, her mind drawn back to a time when she did these same motions with her sister, Bo-Katan. Even further back, to her Father and Mother teaching her the steps, the meaning of the dance, the history. And then to a quiet moment on a lonely planet when she taught a much younger Obi-Wan the dance, an effort to center herself and restore peace to her troubled heart.

Did he remember? Did he know what it meant to perform the Mandokar for someone else, the immense honor it represented?

Was he lying about getting the idea from a history book to save face?

The way he deliberately avoided her gaze made her wonder…

In a sort of daze, she walked to her throne and pulled her own beskar staff out from a hidden place behind it. She bowed and joined the group, easing into the movements without difficulty.

The shock was plain to see on each and every one of the children’s faces, but they did not waver in their actions. Instead, they all performed the Mandokar to perfection, and Obi-Wan’s eyes shone a little at how beautiful she looked. He would never acknowledge such a thing, of course, but still…

The dance sped up as it neared the end, and when the last move was completed, they stood frozen in their final position for a moment. Satine looked close to tears, completely overcome by emotion and memories, and she slowly turned to look at the children with a watery smile on her face.

“That was wonderful, all of you,” she said, crouching slightly to pull them into a giant hug. The children dropped their staffs immediately and rushed to her, grinning from ear to ear.

Obi-Wan—meanwhile—looked away, fighting the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. He was glad he had at least connected them in this way before returning to the Temple. Perhaps his work here was done.

“Satine, what a wonderful welcome this is! You didn’t tell me your children are skilled in the martial arts!”

Obi-Wan’s heart dropped at Merrik’s causal use of Satine’s name with no title. But he shouldn’t care about that, should he? No. Bowing his head, he took his leave to give them all some privacy. He’d been told to get packing. Might as well start now.

“I am honored by their gesture,” Merrik was still speaking, bowing deeply to return the favor to the students. Satine, however, wasn’t paying any attention to him. She was still gazing off at where Obi-Wan used to be.

“Don’t go away,” she told the children, smiling once more at them and brushing her hand against Korkie’s cheek.

She rushed to the hall where Obi-Wan disappeared off to, in the direction of his chambers.

“Obi-Wan!” she said to stop him, standing a fair distance away from him. “I—I was unfair to you before… I apologize.”

The Jedi’s eyes met hers, and even from far away he could perceive the sincerity conveyed in them.

“I shouldn’t have gone against your wishes,” he said in apology, “You are a pacifist for good reason, and I should have honored that.”

“But you were right,” Satine admitted. “They are Mandalorians, even the foundlings. And they have the Force. It is only right that they should know how to use what they have to defend themselves in times of trouble.”

Obi-Wan nodded and it fell silent again. For several moments, they just stood there, avoiding each other’s gaze.

Satine’s voice came back in a quiet, wistful tone. “I haven’t done the Mandokar since—since I taught you, all those years ago.” Obi-Wan looked up at that. “I had forgotten…”

She seemed to lose herself in that thought, no more words left to speak. Obi-Wan felt that the longer he stood there, the harder it would be to leave, so he took this as his opportunity to go. He moved to descend the staircase that would lead to the wing where his quarters were, but didn’t get the chance.

“Master Kenobi—” she stopped him again, “Obi-Wan… I want you to stay.”

Those words… Part of him wished she’d said those same words to him years ago, but they meant something different now. He couldn’t think about it. Wouldn’t think about it.

“I—I ask you to stay.”

Fighting back a relieved smile, he finally spoke. “If I can be of any help, Duchess—”

“You already have,” she assured him, her smile genuine. “More than you know.”

-.-.-

Chapter 7 >>

[booperbeanv3]

IDK IF I COUNT AS A MUTUAL BUT PLEASE INFORM ME ABT THE AU YOU SPEAK OF,,,,, I’m running out of writing ideas (lie)

basically it's a teen-sitcom-style modern au. title is a work in progress but i've been thinking of writing out myself bc i just think it would be really funny

tankoubon kinda thing with a backing plot [when will the gays get together] but it's mostly just banter: the novel

ages are. idk yet but susato is probably early to mid teens and kazuma/ryuunosuke are late teens [they're deaged bc the 7 year age difference would mean either susato is super young or asoryuus are too old for funnie teen shit]

protag/pov chara is susato bc i think it would be funny. the story starts at some sorta out-of-context asoryuu bit and the whole "freeze. let's rewind to the ACTUAL beginning" thing happens

[exposition below]

a few weeks ago kazuma came back from school after the speech competition he was preparing for for a while. he is absolutely livid. sorta at everything, mostly himself bc he flubbered up the last bit and "Will Forever Bear The Shame On His Shoulders" [basically normal canon]

he starts ranting about how his "guaranteed win" is now no longer guaranteed ["oh that's a shame you're very clear and reasonable about your opinions" "ik susato but let me finish"] and that instead of him some... guy ended up getting the lead instead

this. didn't make him mad actually. he just felt really intense during the whole thing

like yeah he had a good speech and the way he spoke was pleasing to listen to. he has a smooth way of speaking that goes really nicely over the ear. but seriously? he would've totally done better if he didn't fuck up

so then he's like "there is something about him that's sticking out to me and it bothers me because he is [quite literally] SO boring. he bothers me so much and every time i pass by him i have this urge"

"to what?"

"to... i don't know. i think i hate him"

cue susato internal facepalm. "maybe talk to him about it"

"yeah i'll give him a piece of my mind"

and cue next day after school where he does the stupid "why do you speak like that" and ryuu even stupider goes "it's a hobby. speaking fast" and they instantly gel and kazuma never brings ryuunosuke up to susato again until he suddenly comes to their house

to kazuma it's cool bc ryuunosuke wants to see his sword or w/e hey look susato SOMEONE thinks i'm not clinging onto old hopes

but susato is like. "isn't this the guy you wanted to maim and kill two weeks ago"

back to the present. that's all i have down that's clear

i imagine that susato and rei would have regular talks about random things. school, home, other friends, kazuma. eventually this distant fruitiness will ping into susato's head and she'll bring it up to rei

this starts a tumbling snowball where as asoryuus develop more and susahaos keep chitter chattering kazuma and susato realise they gave the gay to each other

they always had suspicions about the other but never themselves

kazuma probably figures it out first though and after that susato is like "shit maybe i do like rei" and then is like "but i'm not a pretty bishounen charmer! how will we ever be more than friends" and pov Susato Goes Masc [ryuutarou]

i literally have no idea what to do with ryuutarou but i'll figure it out

other funny things to include:

ryuunosuke has archery club outside of school on weekends and falls asleep with the guard on hence why he wears it all the time

karuma still exists and is old as balls. idk if kazuma still carries her around all the time bc i don't think you can wave big swords around school hallways [regardless on its family heirloom status] so it's probably in his room somewhere perfectly cared for and regularly used for training

this is 70% of the reason why he has no friends [he is feared or made fun of this is a 50/50 divide]

susato is still a devout fan of herlock sholmes, legendary british detective who is still alive bc yuujin is. there'll probably be a chapter where he comes to [country] and she's super excited and gets her books signed while ryuunosuke casually goes "oh yeah we're good friends he stumbled upon us when asougi passed out" and yuujin is super super casual with sholmes and yeah her dad fucked herlock sholmes

"were all those business trips to the UK because you were fornicating with mr. sholmes answer me honestly"

lastly i imagine asoryuus and susahaos share the same link about super Super gay best friends [ryuu and rei] and their oblivious partners [kazuma and susato]

that's all i have planned. susato would be a wingwoman but honestly kazuma seems fiery enough to stumble into this whole thing by accident and make a whole plan on how to maximise ryuunosuke time bc "the intense feeling hasn't gone away and i need to look through things further" and oh. ohhhhh it's because- pov relationship blossoms.

susahaos are a little more blurry but i want to make them important too it is GUARANTEED [literally susato is the protagonist]

yeah

[therubyreader]

My Review of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

See a full list of my book reviews here

*Disclaimer: there will be spoilers later on in the review*

Review Word Count, non-spoiler: 538 Review Word Count Total: 1,391

In the second installment of a "books that tumblr recommended me" I bring you a review of Shadow and Bone. I was going back and forth on reading this book for a bit but I finally caved after the fandom has essentially invaded the "for you" section of my dash because tumblr saw I liked Lockwood and Co. (the show, I haven't read the books) so two plus two equals four and here we are. I did also watch season one of the show after I finished reading the book so I'll be making brief mentions of it in the spoiler part of the review but I'm going to make a full post comparing them (maybe).

This book is about a teenage girl (because they always are) named Alina Starkov who lives in the fantasy country of Ravka (inspired by 19th century Russia) which has been split in half by The Fold, a realm of darkness filled with flying man-eating monsters, called volcra, that divides the country between east and west and is extremely deadly to cross. So, of course, our main character has to cross it, as a mapmaker for the army she and her battalion? comrades? crew? alongside her childhood best friend, Mal, a tracker in the army. Of course things must go wrong and Alina discovers she's a grisha, one of the various people of Ravka who have magic powers, and she is whisked away to the capital to begin her training and adventure ensues.

Despite the fact that the "chosen one teen girl" trope is overdone, which at the time of publishing (*checks notes* 2012) was super common and not at all annoying like it is now, the book was actually very enjoyable. My main complaint being the author not really explaining things, I know the book is told in Alina's point of view and she already knows these things, but we do not and in my attempt to get answers I googled things and accidentally got spoilers for the rest of the series. Nothing major, just enough to annoy me, but we wouldn't be having this problem if concepts were explained a little more thoroughly. Besides that, I think the world building is extremely cool and unique, there really isn't any fantasy media out there inspired by 19th century Russia, especially any I can name off the top of my head, and it's nice to see a fantasy world inspired by countries that aren't England. Also every not-Ravka country is well developed and unique which I enjoyed and it's something that fantasy series tend to lack and to the extent it's done in Shadow and Bone.

If you've been on my page before you know I tend to love books that involve magical powers and monarchies so this was 100% up my alley. I would like to thank the people of tumblr for essentially bullying me into reading the series, peer pressure works kids. If you're tired of the typical fantasy books on the market then this one is definitely for you, it combines all of the elements that make up the YA fantasy genre but with enough unique elements where it doesn't feel cliche or really like anything else on the market.

Spoilers Below!!!

Before I start complaining I do want to say that overall I did enjoy the book. It was definitely up my ally and honestly a very good starting point for the rest of the series. I've noticed in some YA books of this variety that the first book is usually just meant to establish the series and the author puts all of their effort into setting up the rest of the series without putting much thought into telling a story, this book doesn't do that at all. Even in the points where Alina is just trapped in the Little Palace she's doing something to actively advance her story, learning to use her powers, trying to win the favor of the Darkling, coming to terms with her own ideas of belonging, etc. It isn't empty narrative that is meant to hold us over until the last act of the book and then we get the real action for a couple of pages before we're inevitably told to wait until the sequel for more. I love how Alina goes on a journey, not just in the physical sense, but in the emotional and mental sense, we can see her grow and change as a person as the book goes on and it's deeper than just her becoming powerful and confident in her power, the opposite happens. It's something refreshing, Alina sees the full extent of her power in a negative way, she becomes a murderer and is more like the Darkling which scares her, we see a balance of her coming into herself both the good and the bad which makes her a great character in my opinion.

Speaking of the Darkling, when I tell you I was convinced this man was good despite his darkness powers and name, just proof how amazing the writing is. As Alina is manipulated so is the reader and I honestly didn't even realize it, even after Baghra told Alina to get out of the palace I still wasn't convinced he was a bad guy, it wasn't until he literally destroyed a whole town that I was like "hmm maybe he's not the best person". The way he just knew how to get into Alina's head and convince her that he loved her was honestly so evil in a way we don't see villains do in most books especially books of the time. The bad guy is a bad guy very openly but this dude managed to convince quite literally all of us that he was cool and nice quite literally until the end and I applaud the writing.

That being said, this book is a product of its time, unfortunately. I mean this in respect to Mal and Alina's love story because let me tell you, I am not convinced. The show did a good job of making the two pinning idiots who genuinely care about each other while the book shows Mal as some emotionally constipated, over protective guy who doesn't realize that he loves Alina until they're separated. I quite genuinely don't see how Alina can actually love him in the book, he sucks so much, and since I'm reading book two while writing this he has only gotten worse. And the thing is that I know they're end game because, again, product of its time, and also I might've accidentally come across a minor spoiler (see above as to why) and I'm mad about it. Like, Alina, baby girl, you have options, there are men who genuinely care about you (I hope, I'm not done with book two yet but I have hope this dude doesn't suck like Mal). The worst part is that if I had read this book around the time it came out I know I would've been rooting for Mal, because all male love interests were written like he is and also because I was 12 and easily susceptible to book propaganda. I am genuinely happy that the show rewrote him to not be such an ass, at least he doesn't go around sleeping with multiple girls and then has the nerve to tell Alina he had always loved her. In the show he actively pushes away advances and at least looks like he cares because in the book he's barely a friend when we first meet him.

Aside from my deep seeded hatred for Mal, I do recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the genre and wants a bit of that 2010s nostalgia, this is the book for you. Especially if you want to watch the show which is somehow worse at explaining what's happening and also the plot is a little strange (if I find the willpower to write a comparison post I will) and my friend who's watching it without having read the books first is struggling. The only thing the show has going for it that's better than the book is Mal, show Mal beloved. The rest is mediocre in comparison but I digress. I give this book a nice walk down 2010s memory lane but better (mostly (except for Mal)) out of ten.

[luveline]

Hi! Could I maybe please request reader taking care if drunk Remus and he keeps saying things that embarrass her or something? No pressure if you don’t want to!

hi tysm for ur request I hope this is okay! <3

"Remus!" you cheer, having finally spotted him in the mess of the party, sequestered in the kitchen with his school friends. 

He perks up at the sound of your voice, all big smiles and pink cheeks. "Dove! Where have you been?" 

"Where have you been? I went to find the bathroom and you disappeared." 

"I was winning a game of beer pong," he informs you, matter of fact. "Oh my god, what the fuck. Did you get prettier?" 

"What?" you ask, giggling. 

His hand comes up to your face, big palm warm on your cheek. "You look so cute." He turns to his friends, tugging you by the shoulders. "Guys, doesn't she look amazing?" 

You flush and smile at people you don't know and then, thankfully, James and Lily where they're sitting, James in a big chair and Lily in his lap. James smirks, Lily looks pleased for you. 

"Did Sirius put love potions in the drinks again?" you ask. 

"Nope!" Lily says, too cheerful. 

"He did put firewhiskey in the beer pong cups, though," James says. 

"And then I lost on purpose," Sirius announces, appearing from the patio doors smelling of cigarette smoke and expensive cologne. 

"You guys are evil," you say, just as Remus ducks in to kiss your cheek. 

"He didn't lose on purpose," he refutes in your ear. "I'm just amazing." 

"Yeah, you are," you say fondly, smiling up at him. You wrap your arms around him in a hug and glare at Sirius over his shoulder, hoping it says what you're thinking. Stop messing with my baby.  You know he doesn't know how beer pong works.

"You smell really, really nice," Remus says, nose in your neck. 

You close your eyes, embarrassed by his very earnest, very public display and declaration of affection. There's a wave of snorting and smug giggling from his group of friends that you ignore. Poor baby. They won't forget this anytime soon. 

"You smell good too, Remus," you tell him, rubbing his back. 

He seems in good spirits despite the sheer amount of alcohol you imagine to be in his system right now, only slightly wobbly in your hold. You kiss his neck quickly, one then twice, feeling a little sorry for him. He’s so smart, and yet lacks any common sense when it comes to Sirius, who is evil enough to change the rules of any drinking game for personal gain. They’re both too competitive.

He pulls away and his smile is blinding.

"How do I smell?" you hear Sirius ask. 

"Like an ashtray," Lily says, deadpan. 

"You wanna come dance with me?" you ask, trying to save him from their teasing. 

"I'll do anything with you," he says. Jesus Christ. 

You pull him from the kitchen and into the crowded living room. It's much darker here, louder, still Remus reckons you're pretty as a peony and twice as soft, hands on your waist. You curl your arms around his neck and dig your face into his chest. 

"You're fucked," you tell him, face aflame from his waxing poetic. 

"What?" he shouts over the music. 

You peer up from his chest and aren't surprised when he kisses your forehead tenderly, totally at odds with the jumpy pop song filling the room. 

"Your eyes are really pretty," he says, lovelorn.

You pretend not to hear him, chest burning as you realise this is an all night affair. 

"Did you hear me? I said your eyes are really pretty! You're so beautiful, love!" 

You make a panicked sound and tighten your arms around his neck, almost throwing him off balance as you hug him close. He strokes your hair, mumbling, "Was it something I said?" 

[johnkrrasinski]

started from a call

full masterlist

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x female!reader

Word count: 3,610

Warning: angst with a happy ending! that's all.

Summary: written for @wkemeup's 9k writing challenge with the prompt "character a leaves an embarrassing, drunk message on character b’s voicemail and spends the rest of the night trying to discreetly delete it from [b]’s phone." inspired by a bit of ross and rachel from friends too. you found out from steve that bucky was in love with you in high school but after he returns home with a girl in his arm, you cancelled your plans to tell him how you feel. will you and bucky have your happy ending?

a/n: please like, reblog and leave a feedback. :) enjoy!

"Alright, I'll see you tonight. Bye." He leaned against the kitchen counter and hung up the phone with a grin on his face. "You hear that, Sam? We're going on our third date tonight." He threw his phone up into the air and caught it so casually without spilling a drop of his coffee sitting on his right hand. "Looks like I'm getting that 300 bucks soon."

"Hey, easy. You ain't going to that date yet, who knows? She could bail on you. It doesn't count if the date doesn't end well."

"Oh, but it will. I just gotta turn on my charm and next thing you know, we're already meeting the parents stage."

"Meeting the parents? That's a big step from you, Buck."

"Hey, I'm a man of my words. If I said that I'm going to change this year then I'm gonna stick to it."

"So Leah isn't just a one-time thing to get 300 bucks?"

"Maybe yes, maybe no. We'll see how tonight goes. But one thing's for sure is that I'm getting that 300 bucks."

Sam and Bucky made a bet as their New Year's resolution that Bucky would never go on a second date with any girl or remember to call her in the morning after a wild night. His commitment issues had given him a reputation as the player in the gang. It wasn't a new thing anymore to anyone that when they visited Bucky's place in the morning, they would see a girl with a dopey smile and slightly ruffled hair walking out of his apartment, giddy that Bucky just made a promise to call her later.

You, Natasha, Wanda, Sam and Steve were hanging out at Nat's place. The six of you had been friends since college. You, Nat, Bucky and Steve had known each other since high school and the four of you kept in touch despite going to separate universities. You met Wanda when you went to NYU and Steve met Sam while he was in Harvard. Long story short, after the four of you graduated, you and Wanda lived together as roommates and even started your own bakery business. Steve and Bucky lived in the same building as you and Natasha and Sam lived nearly alone. They were too independent for roommates. Don't even start on Natasha and how much she valued her personal space. That's how the six of you ended up here, gathered at your place on a Saturday afternoon.

"Are you gonna pick her up tonight?"

"Of course. Gonna clean up well, bring her some flowers and knock on her door at 7 pm precisely. Which girl isn't gonna fall for that?" Bucky walked over to the couch you and Nat were sitting on and leaned on the headrest, his arms caging both you and Natasha.

You didn't say anything nor did Natasha because she knew about your feelings for Bucky. Despite never feeling that way about Bucky in high school, your feelings changed a week ago after learning that Bucky used to be in love with you but never had the courage to tell you. That's why he never had a girlfriend during his high school years and he wanted to take you to prom and confess his feelings to you but he was too late. Another guy had already snooped in first.

You were his first love but it wasn't reciprocated until now. That's why in college, he learned how to get over you and slept with as many women as possible because he felt like he lost four years of his life of finding the one. He never intended to be a player and feed girls empty promises, it just kind of became his way of dating. He was too afraid that no one could live up to you yet he enjoyed being with women. Hence, the bet.

The day you found out from Steve about Bucky's past feelings for you while playing truth or dare, you immediately wanted to call him up but Bucky was out of town for a few days and as soon as he was back home, he had Leah in his arm. Your heart was crushed. Wanda told you that it would probably last for a few days and that he'd eventually be single again but you totally did not expect this thing to turn into something serious. You loved Sam with every fibre of your being, he was like the big brother you never had, but you wanted to curse him for making that bet.

So you just rolled your eyes and stayed silent throughout this entire conversation, even though your heart felt like it was being stabbed over and over again. "Alright, I gotta go. Got a big date tonight. I'll see you guys in a few hours." Just like that, Bucky walked out of the room without knowing the pain his words caused you.

The next day you were sitting in your bed watching The Notebook in your pyjamas because you were too heartbroken to do anything productive. It was Sunday so you could just have a whole day to yourself and do absolutely nothing but cry. Wanda knocked on your door bringing a plate of cookies and she had a pitiful look on her face. "y/n? Sweetie? I made you these cookies, they might make you feel better." Sometimes you thank the stars for bringing her into your life.

"Thank you, Wanda. You're so nice to me." You know you probably sound like a hormonal whiny kid but everything made you cry at the moment.

"Do you need anything else? I know how it feels to get your heartbroken, trust me. When me and Vision had a fight and we didn't talk for days all I wanted was to curl up and never leave my bed, so in case you need anything, I'm here." She offered you that warm smile of hers.

"No, all I want right now is to just eat these cookies and go back to my film, thanks Wan."

"Okay, I'll be outside." Your pity party was interrupted when Nat arrived in her leather jacket and burst into your room.

"Get up, you are taking a shower and you're getting that face beat."

"Natasha, what the hell? Leave me alone."

"Y/N, listen to me. I got a date for you. His name is Scott and he's a real nice guy, he's funny, he's a good friend of mine and he is really smart. He is so much better than Bucky, I promise you. Now c'mon, I already told him that you are meeting him tonight at Stark's restaurant at 7."

You whined, doing anything you can to get her to leave you alone with your tears and your cookies but you knew that once Natasha set her mind on something, there's no talking her way out of it. Damn that woman with her determination.

"Y/N, c'mon! Wallowing all day isn't you. I know you and what's good for you. That's why I found you a great guy who will charm you so good that you will forget Barnes even existed. You can't let him win, y/n. If he's going to be happy with someone else, then you better show him that you can be much happier with other people."

You stared at her, trying to absorb her words. There's some wisdom in that. You're not the type to cry over a guy, not even for even Bucky Barnes. So you let Natasha drag you to the shower and asked Wanda to do your hair when she does your makeup. She chose an outfit for you, a dress that was not too sexy but chic enough to leave a good first impression.

Scott was early to the restaurant and he looked elated to see you. He was wearing a grey suit with no tie and he had a really exuberant smile on his face, the type that drew people easily. You could see why Natasha called him a nice guy.

"Wow, sorry, I just- didn't expect you to be this beautiful."

"Ah, thank you, Scott. Have you been waiting long?"

"No, not at all. I just arrived here like five minutes ago."

The night went on and Scott did most of the asking and talking, you answered each question curtly with forced enthusiasm in your face and body language. You weren't even listening to half of the things he said because your mind kept playing images of Bucky with Leah and how you heard from Sam that the date went well so he lost 300 bucks. You kept thinking about Bucky and Leah and how they would probably get married and have kids and live in the suburbs with a golden retriever while you'd still be single and you'd compare every man you meet to Bucky. Maybe it was your karma for not reciprocating his feelings in high school.

Five glasses of wine and you spent more time nodding than talking. Honestly, all you wanted to do was to just go home and go back to The Notebook because their love story was much better than your love life. Scott woke you out of your daze, "Natasha told you that I was cuter than this, did she?" after you gulped your sixth glass of wine.

"Oh Scott, I'm so sorry. It's not you, it's me. I know it sounds cliche but it's just... I'm not in a place where I'm looking for a boyfriend. You are a really likeable guy and I swear, if we had met at another time, maybe I would be a better date but right now, I just- I have someone else in my mind." You sighed, it felt like a relief to get that off your chest.

"Is this guy... an ex-boyfriend?"

You chuckled, "no... He wishes."

Scott nodded, "look, I don't know what your situation is but I've been through a divorce and it's never easy. But eventually, you'll be fine. You can't see it now because you haven't had closure." Then it was as if the bulb above your head was turned on.

"That's it.  Closure, yeah. That's all I need. Okay, give me a minute. I'm gonna call him now and I'm going to get my closure."

Scott sat there watching you comically trying to find your phone in your purse and tapped on Bucky's contact number. The normal you would be sweating with every ring but intoxicated you had no worries in the world... For now.

"This is Bucky. Can't pick up right now, leave a message." Beep.

"Hello, yes, Bucky! Or James, should I call you James? I always thought Bucky was a weird name. Anyways, I'm just calling to tell you that I am fine and I am on a date with Scott. And speaking of dates, I just gotta tell you that I'm happy to hear that your date went well. And that, my friend, means that I am over you. That's right, I'm over you. Tell Leah I say hi." You said sarcastically.

You hung up the phone and threw your phone back into your purse. You felt like you just won a chess game.

The next morning you decided to sleep in because your heart was pounding and you could barely sit up without feeling like you might fall. You were supposed to be working at the bakery but since you owned the bakery, Wanda let you sleep it off until you recover. You couldn't remember anything from last night, how you got back to your apartment was a mystery. You tried to put the pictures together, from being forced to go on a date, meeting a guy named Sean? Simon? Sebastian? Scott! Yes, Scott. You ordered your meals and then... Nothing, it was all blurry. You weren't even sure if anything happened at all after eating your meals.

The apartment was empty because Wanda was working at the bakery and it was just you with your hangover pills. Bucky came to your apartment without knocking because Wanda told him on the phone that you were home. He greeted you with a smile and asked about your date.

"Uh, let's see. I think there was a restaurant, I know there was wine. And there's a guy, Scott and pretty much that's all I can recall."

Bucky made a yikes face. Seeing the state you were in, he could do the math (of the wine you had). You probably enjoyed the alcohol more than the guy. What a doofus, he thought. If he was the one going on a date with you, you'd definitely remember every detail from last night.

"Leah's downstairs and I'm taking her back to her place but I left my keys here last night. Have you seen it?"

"No, check the drawers. Maybe Wanda put 'em there."

"Ah, okay." He opened the drawers and found the keys to his bike.

"Did we... Speak on the phone last night?"

"Nope, my phone was dead and I didn't charge it all night so I haven't really checked it. Why?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just... Never mind. My memories are a bit hazy right now. You should go, say hi to Leah for me."

Bucky nodded as you walked back to your room to go lie down. Your question reminded him that he should probably check his phone now because there could be work-related messages but the first thing he heard was a voicemail from you. "Oh, y/n. I got your message!"

That instantly stopped you in your tracks. Your eyes went wide and you froze. You immediately turned around and ran to grab his phone away from him. Bucky had a confused look on his face, "who's Scott?"

"Oh my God, no, Bucky, give me the phone. Give me the phone!" But it was already too late, he was already halfway through your voicemail and by the time you successfully snatched his phone out of his grasp, he had already heard every word.

Bucky stood there dumbfounded, he needed time to process everything you just said to him. "What do you- what do you mean you're over me?"

"Oh, God... Alright, um- lately, I've um- sort of, have... Feelings for you." You never had to chase a guy or confess your crush first so this felt new and my God, it was nerve-racking.

"You have feelings for me..." He said it as if he was convincing himself that his ears got it right. Bucky couldn't believe the words that just escaped through your lips, for years he had dreamed of this moment. Though never did he ever want you to make the first move but adolescent him wanted to hear you say what he'd been wanting to say to you too.

He didn't say anything for what felt like minutes and you couldn't decipher his thoughts from the look on his face. "I need to sit down," he pulled one of the dining chairs and leaned on his side in a defeated posture.

"Bucky... Please say something." You alerted him in a hushed tone, not wanting to startle him than you already did. But he didn't. He was lost at words. What the hell was he supposed to tell her?

"Look Bucky, I'm sorry for telling you this way but I had to. I just- I've been wanting to talk to you about it since you came back to New York, well- actually, since Steve told me but-"

"Whoa, Steve told you?!" He interrupted.

"Yeah, it just accidentally slipped when we were playing truth or dare..."

"Okay well," he stood up from his seat, yet he still couldn't look you in the eye. "I can't do this right now, Leah's waiting for me downstairs and I gotta go." He basically ran out of the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving you alone.

Once your hangover had begun dissipating, you decided to help Wanda at the bakery and took the night shift. She must've been exhausted from managing the bakery alone while also helping the employees in the kitchen so you told her to go home and leave it to you. The bakery's usually slower at night.

When it was nearing closing time and your employees had gone home, you decided to clean up and turned off the lights and checked everything one last time before locking the door. The bell above the door dinged and you were slightly annoyed because who the hell comes to the bakery at this hour?

"I'm sorry we're clo...sed." It was Bucky. He stood there in a black coat, with an expression you still couldn't figure out. "Bucky, what are you-"

"You have no right to tell me that you've got feelings for me." His tone was harsh, he never spoke that way to you or anyone... Ever.

"What?"

He walked closer to you, maintaining his gaze, "You can not tell me that you've got feelings for me now when I'm doing well with my life and Leah..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I was in love with you for years! Years, y/n! And you never said and did anything and now when everything's going well you're ruining it!"

"I am ruining it?" You repeated the question because you couldn't believe what you just heard. How dare he said those hurtful things to you.

"Yes! I was doing fine with Leah and now I don't know what's going to happen with me and her anymore..."

"Yeah, well, I was doing fine before I found out that YOU were in love with me and never had the balls to tell me!" You did everything you could to not cry, you hated crying in the middle of an argument.

"Hey, it's not like I didn't try. There were your ex-boyfriends and your dates and I had to move on. I couldn't wait forever! And now, now you're too late."

"Oh, so what? You're just gonna walk away and pretend that this never happened?"

"Yes, I'm going to do exactly that and I'm going to go see Leah." He turned around like he did earlier in your apartment and left you alone once again with your heartbreak.

"Fine! Go ahead and see Leah because I don't give a fuck about cowards like you or whoever you sleep with." You slammed the door and tried everything you could to not have a breakdown here because you really hated letting an argument hurt you. You sat on one of the chairs where the customers would sit and you hid your face with your hands and cried.

Not because you just lost an argument but because of what Bucky said and it felt like you had lost Bucky before you even had him. Now there was no hope left for you and Bucky, things were too complicated.

You didn't know how long you had cried there, alone, in the dimmed lighting of your shop but after you felt like the tears had dried, you wiped the traces of your tears from your cheeks with the back of your thumb. You stood from your seat and was ready to go home. You couldn't wait to eat some leftover pizzas, take a warm shower and cry into your pillows until you fall asleep.

But when you were about to leave, you saw Bucky standing on the other side of the door, watching you through the windows with a softer expression on his face. You opened the door and Bucky instantly grabbed your waist and kissed you as if his life depended on it.

You gave in to his kiss, letting him pour every desire and yearning into your lips for as long as he wanted. You grabbed his face because you wanted him impossibly closer and you shut your eyes, letting your guard down. Because it was Bucky, and you'd known him for as long as you could remember and you both deserved this moment.

Bucky eventually pulled away until both of you were running out of air. You were breathless from his kiss, you never knew he was such a good kisser. (It's Bucky and he's had a lot of women on his bed, of course, he was excellent at it. Who were you kidding?) But now that you've had your own front-row experience, you felt a tad of possessiveness at the thought of sharing those lips or any part of him with anyone else.

"I couldn't go back to her knowing you are here alone and I had thrown away what I've wanted for as long as I could remember."

"I'm glad you came back." You pressed your foreheads and you rested your hands on his chest. You could get used to this.

"I hope it's not too late to say this but, y/n y/l/n, will you let me take you to dinner and see a movie after maybe?"

"I wasn't the one who said it's too late," you halfheartedly teased him.

"Shut up, so is that a yes or a no?"

You bit your lip and nodded, "yes. Definitely a yes." You stared into his ocean blue eyes, so deep and beautiful, you could easily get lost in it.

"y/n y/ln, I'm going to put all of your ex-boyfriends to shame."

"Hm, we'll see about that." You put your arms around his neck. Then a thought crossed your mind and your smile faded away, "what are you gonna do about Leah though?"

"I'll talk to her in the morning. Let's take you home now, yeah? It's getting late."

You bit your lip and nodded, "okay."

Ninth grade you dreamed of popular jocks and athletic seniors, but little did you know that, sometimes, the one who sincerely loved you was the book nerd who loved The Hobbit a little too much.

[bechloeislegit]

Is This Real Life (Or Is This Just Fantasy?)

Chapter 1 - Chloe Walks Away

Author’s Prompt: Two years ago while recovering from a stroke I had several moments where I didn’t know if what was happening was real or just something I imagined. This story kind of touches on that. I hope it doesn’t confuse the reader too much; although if it does, you’ll know exactly what I went through. This is set during the time of PP2.

“This place is sweet!” Stacie said as she followed Beca and Chloe off the Bellas’ bus.

“It's nice, right?” Chloe asked.

“I need to find somewhere to charge my laptop,” Beca said, looking around. “How'd you hear about this place anyway?”

“From yours truly,” a voice said from their left. “Hello, Bellas.”

“Aubrey!” the girls squealed, rushing to hug the former Captain.

“Okay, girls,” Aubrey said, pulling back from the group hug.

Emily remained standing in front of Aubrey with a big smile on her face, shivering with excitement.

“Hi!” Aubrey said. “You must be Emily. Chloe told me about you.”

“Hey, hi,” Emily said.

Aubrey smiled and looked at the Bellas. “Welcome to the Lodge at Fallen Leaves, where Fortune 500 companies send their employees to build their teamworking skills.”

“You run this whole place?” Stacie asked. “Impressive.”

“Thanks!” Aubrey replied. “I realized I had a knack for barking orders and bending people's will. So I made a career out of it. Which reminds me,” Aubrey’s smile fell and she started yelling, “Fall in line, Bellas!”

“She ain't changed,” Cynthia Rose mumbled.

“No slouching! No straggling!” Aubrey continued. “I see you, Jessica.”

Jessica slumped her shoulders and hurriedly joined her Bella sisters in line.

“It is with great sorrow and regret that I had to watch our once proud organization become a national disgrace!” Aubrey walked down the line and glared at each girl, stopping at Fat Amy.

“Can I have the keys to the minibar?” Fat Amy asked.

“Zip it,” Aubrey told her. “The Worlds signifies a shot at redemption. You don't have a chance at winning until you find your sound again. You have totally lost your harmony! So, for the next two days, you will be doing everything together until you regain it. Ladies, get ready to be transformed. You are surrounded by the strength of your fellow Bellas and the support of a proud female tradition. And a few dozen bear traps. So don't stray too far from the marked paths.”

The Bellas look at Aubrey and then each other.

“Okay, great, let's go!” Aubrey yelled.

“All right,” Chloe said with a bit too much enthusiasm.

“Well, maybe I'll just go to my room for a hot shower,” Fat Amy said. “Maybe get a little foot rub.”

“Fat Amy, there are no guest rooms for you,” Aubrey said.

“Then where are we staying?” Fat Amy asked.

Aubrey smiled and had them follow her to a clearing, where there were two tents.

“You’ll need to put up your tents,” Aubrey said. “You’ll be camping out.”

After spending a few hours putting both tents up, the girls stood back admiring their handiwork. Suddenly, they heard a cracking sound and jumped when a tree fell onto one of the tents, destroying it.

“Now what do we do?” Ashley asked.

“You’ll have to all share one tent,” Aubrey said. “I suggest laying head to foot so you’ll have room for all of you.”

Later the girls are in the tent, ready for their first night of camping.

“I don't understand camping,” Flo said. “We're voluntarily living like dogs.”

“This is the worst,” Beca grumbled. “The air we're breathing right now is at least 90% fart.”

“That reminds me,” Fat Amy said, rolling over to stand up. “I need to see a man about a horse. Did anyone happen to pack a spare roll of toilet paper?”

Fat Amy is at the flap of the tent and looks back at the girls.

“Or a moist towelette?”

“Nope,” Jessica said.

“Anyone have a T-shirt,” Fat Amy inquired. “Size extra-small? No? Okay, side of the tent it is.”

Fat Amy leaves and Beca rolls over to face Chloe.

“What are we doing here?”

“We're bonding,” Chloe responded as she reached up and pushed a stray piece of hair off Beca’s forehead. “You seem so tense. Do you need a back rub?”

“Several body parts are rubbing my back right now, thank you,” Beca deadpanned.

“You know, Beca,” Chloe whispered. “We're very close, but I feel like this retreat is really gonna let us discover everything about each other.”

“Is that right?”

“You know,” Chloe continued. “One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't do enough experimenting in college.”

“You're so weird,” Beca said.

“Thanks,” Chloe said with a big smile.

“I wanna go home,” Beca said, rolling over so her back was to Chloe.

The Bellas were still trying to get comfortable and kept shifting around.

“Were you touching my goodies?” Stacie asked, pulling up her eye mask to look at Cynthia Rose.

“Yes,” Cynthia Rose responded.

Fat Amy’s voice came from outside the tent. “Guys, I just need some help. Can you sing something? The pipes are a bit blocked.”

Chloe started singing Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn; the other Bellas sans Beca joined in.

“What kind of white shit is this?” Cynthia Rose asked, looking around the tent.

“Thanks, Chloe,” Fat Amy called from outside the tent.

~~ Is This Real Life? ~~

Early the next morning, the girls were awakened by Aubrey yelling, “Up and at 'em, Bellas! Come on! Let's go! Let's go! Let's wake up! Let's do this! Come on!”

The girls slowly rose and made their way out of the tent. “Pick up the pace, girls! Come on!”

Once all the Bellas were out of the tent, they got in a line and looked at Aubrey.

“Today we are going back to the basics,” Aubrey began, “to re-learn how to sing as a group, while also enduring death-defying team-building trust exercises.”

“What a great idea!” Chloe exclaimed, earning a glare from Beca.

“Okay, so let's begin,” Aubrey said and led the girls to their first exercise.

~~ Is This Real Life? ~~

A few hours, and several team-building exercises later, the girls were harmonizing and singing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

When they finished Aubrey clapped her hands and said, “Great. Okay, that was two steps away from being almost fine.”

“Sorry, but what are we doing?” Beca asked, looking at Chloe.

“We're rediscovering our sound,” Chloe responded.

“Are we?” Beca asked. “'Cause it feels like we're just singing songs that would never go in our set.”

“Beca, come on,” Chloe said.

“No,” Beca said. “None of us know how to beat Das Sound Machine, but I know it's not gonna be by doing this.”

“This is just an exercise in finding harmony, Beca,” Aubrey said. “Sometimes you have to break things down before you can build them back up again.”

“I've got more important things to do!” Beca exclaimed.

“What could be more important than this?” Chloe asked.

“Nothing,” Beca said. “Forget it.”

“No,” Chloe countered. “You don't think that we haven't all noticed you've been a little checked-out lately?”

“Come on, Beca,” Fat Amy said. “Just tell her.”

“I heard that,” Chloe said, glaring at Beca. “Tell me what?”

“You misunderstood me,” Fat Amy said. “I clearly said rumpcheckapersmellin.”

Chloe threw a confused look at Fat Amy.

“Listen,” Fat Amy said. “I don't want you guys to fight. You're Beca and Chloe. Together you're ‘Bloe.’ And everyone loves a good bloe. So...”

“Okay, you really want to know?” Beca said, turning to face Chloe. “I've been interning at a recording studio and a legit music producer wants to hear my work. God forbid I have something going on outside this group.”

“Okay,” Chloe said. “So why would you keep something like that from us?”

“Because you're obsessed!” Beca yelled. “You all are. We're graduating, and the only person thinking about life after the Bellas is me.”

“What is so wrong with being focused on the Bellas?” Chloe asked. “The Bellas have been my family for seven years.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you're too scared to leave!” Beca shouted. “Sack up, dude!”

“Girl fight!” Cynthia Rose yelled out.

“Okay, so you've been lying to us for the entire year,” Chloe said, her face red with anger. “And now you're just gonna flake out on us? When the Worlds is right around the corner?”

“My God!” Beca yelled. “Enough about the Worlds! I can’t...I'm out of here.”

Beca turned and started walking away from Chloe.

“Okay, so you're just gonna leave now?”

Beca looked over her shoulder at Chloe as she yelled, “We all have to, eventually, Chloe!” Beca started walking away again. “It might as well be now!”

“Beca, wait!” Emily called out.

“If you all knew what was good for you, you'd follow me,” Beca told the Bellas as she continued walking.

“Beca, the signs!” Emily yelled.

Suddenly, Beca was jerked up into the air and was now hanging in one of the traps Aubrey had warned them about.

“Oh, my gosh!” Emily called out.

“No, Beca!” Fat Amy screamed, running to stand under Beca. “Beca!”

“What the hell?” Beca cried out. “I'm stuck! I'm stuck! I'm seeing spots! I'm seeing spots!”

“Well, well, well,” Chloe said, looking up at Beca with her arms crossed over her chest. “Look who needs our help.”

“Not cool, guys!” Beca yelled down at her.

“No,” Chloe yelled, dropping her arms to her sides with her fists clenched. “What's not cool is you taking out your frustrations on us!”

“Really?” Beca said. “That's what you're gonna say to me right now?” The net shifted downward, causing Beca to yelp, and scream, “Help me! I'm dying! I'm dying!”

“We need to get her down!” Stacie yelled.

“We need a ladder!” Fat Amy said, looking at Aubrey.

“No,” Aubrey said. “We don't believe in ladders.”

“What?” Fat Amy asked.

“They suggest a corporate hierarchy that is counter-productive to my team-building program,” Aubrey explained.

“What kind of operation are you running here?” Fat Amy asked. “Seriously, this whole place is, like, full of booby traps! And guess what? Boobs should never be trapped! Unless it's for support if you have lower back issues.”

“Okay!” Beca called out. “If I'm about to die, I'm sorry! I didn't mean any of that stuff I said. Chloe, I love, um, all of you! I love all of you awesome nerds, and I love being a Bella. I'm just so stressed out right now.”

“She can’t even tell me how she feels with her so-called dying declaration,” Chloe thought to herself. “I’m done!”

She had enough so Chloe turned and walked off in the opposite direction, not bothering to wait around to make sure Beca was saved from the trap.

“Chloe?” Beca called out to the redhead; Chloe didn’t even slow down. Beca then said, “I’m sorry.” As she watched Chloe continue to walk away from her and the Bellas, she whispered, “I love you.”

Beca felt tears come to her eyes and wiped them with her hand.

“Don't worry, Beca,” Stacie called up to her. “We're gonna get you down! Come on girls, get into formation. We can do this.”

“Let’s do this,” Flo said.

“Fat Amy,” Stacie called out. “Come on!”

“Yes!” Fat Amy said. “Let's focus. Work together as a team.”

“Don't worry, Beca,” Stacie said. “We got…”

Beca suddenly screamed as she fell to the ground, knocking Fat Amy, Stacie, and Emily to the ground with her.

“Oh, thank God,” Beca said, laying where she landed.

“She's alive,” Fat Amy said.

Beca and the girls stared up at where Beca had been hanging to see Lily putting a knife in her waistband.

“I sleep upside down like a bat,” Lily said.

Beca suddenly jumped up and limped over to Aubrey.

“Did you see where Chloe went?”

“She went in that direction,” Aubrey said, pointing towards the woods.

“I have to find her,” Beca said.

Beca started to limp off in the direction Aubrey pointed.

“Beca, wait,” Stacie called out, causing Beca to stop and look back at her. “You’re hurt. You need to get checked out.”

“I have to find Chloe,” Beca said, falling as she took a step to continue going after Chloe.

“Beca!” Stacie yelled as she ran over and dropped to her knees next to Beca.

“You won’t get far on that ankle,” Aubrey said, kneeling next to Stacie. “Let us take you to the camp nurse and have her check you out. When she’s done with you, we’ll all go looking for Chloe. Okay?”

“Yeah, Beca,” Emily said, standing behind Aubrey with the rest of the Bellas. “We’ll all help find Chloe.”

Beca looked off in the direction Chloe had walked and then looked back at the Bellas.

“You’re right,” Beca said, her shoulder slumping. “But, we need to find Chloe and fast. I don’t want her out there all night.”

“We will,” Aubrey said. “I promise.”

“Thank you,” Beca said.

“She’s my best friend, too,” Aubrey said quietly.

“She’s so much more than that to me,” Beca said, as tears stung her eyes. “I just have to tell her.”

~~ Is This Real Life? ~~

Chloe had continued walking, not even looking back when she heard Beca scream. She walked to the outskirts of the woods and followed a trail she saw. She doesn’t know how long she walked when she realized she had no idea where the trail led, and it was getting darker as she went further into the woods.

Chloe stopped and looked around; she realized she was lost.

“I’ll just turn around and go back the way I came,” Chloe thought.

Chloe turned and started walking back. She again walked for quite a while but was still in the woods. She stopped again and looked around. It was getting darker and she was suddenly frightened.

“Help!” Chloe yelled. “Somebody! Anybody! Help!”

Chloe started walking again. She hadn’t gone very far when she tripped over a large tree root and fell to the ground and rolled down a small hill. She had the wind knocked out of her and remained on the ground.

Chloe must have blacked out and when she came to, she wasn’t sure how long she laid there. She sat up and looked around to get her bearings. She saw a large looming shadow off to her right and decided to walk toward it. She was becoming more and more uneasy as the wind had picked up and she could hear thunder in the distance. She quickened her pace.

As she got closer, she realized the thing she saw was a cabin. She rushed to the door and it opened as soon as she turned the knob.

“Not a moment too soon,” Chloe mumbled as heavy rain started to fall.

Chloe closed the door and jumped when thunder boomed outside. A lightning flash lit up the cabin and Chloe looked around.

“This must be one of the cabins that belong to Brey’s lodge,” Chloe thought.

Chloe pulled out her phone but found she had no service. She tapped her flashlight app and turned it on. She noticed a light switch by the door and flipped it a couple of times, but nothing happened.

Chloe searched the cabin and found a food pantry stocked with canned goods. She also saw a wood-burning stove in the corner of the kitchen; next to it was a stack of wood.

Before she did anything else, she checked to see if the cabin had running water. It did and she let out a squeal of excitement. She washed the dirt off her hands, wincing when the soap got into the scratches she received from the fall she took.

Chloe continued to be startled every time the thunder boomed. After cleaning her hands and her scraped knees, Chloe continued to search around the kitchen, finding a small pot, some soup, and a can opener.

“I guess it’s soup for dinner,” Chloe thought. “That’s if I can find a way to light the stove.”

Chloe rummaged through the drawers and found a grill lighter; she flicked the switch and lit the flame to make sure it worked. She then managed to get the stove fire going and placed the pot of soup on to heat.

While she waited for her dinner to be ready, she lit a fire in the fireplace. Once it was going, she stood and warmed herself by the fire. After a few minutes, she went into the kitchen to search for a bowl and spoon and found some candles. She lit a few and placed them around the cabin.

The fireplace gave off a bit more light than Chloe had expected, so she sat on the small sofa and ate her soup.

Chloe’s thoughts were on Beca and she wondered if she was okay. She felt bad for walking away when Beca was in danger, but she needed to remove herself from the situation because she was angry at Beca and didn’t want to unload all her frustration toward Beca on her; especially in front of the girls.

Chloe was hurt that Beca didn’t tell her about her internship. Fat Amy knew about it, why didn’t Beca tell her? They were supposed to be best friends.

Beca had been so enamored with Kommissar, the leader of DSM, that Chloe’s competitive nature got the best of her. She knows she’s been a bit over the top with getting ready for Worlds, but the Bellas’ very existence was at stake. She couldn’t let them be disbanded and not do something to stop it.

But now, in a moment of honesty with herself, she knew she was competing with the DSM woman for Beca’s attention, more than she was trying to keep the Bellas together.

Chloe wiped a tear from her cheek. She almost fell back down on the sofa when she stood. Her body ached; she took the empty soup bowl into the kitchen. She then grabbed a candle and made her way slowly down the hall toward the two doors she had noticed earlier. She opened the first door to find a bathroom. She left the door open and used the candle to search the medicine chest.

“Perfect,” Chloe cried out when she found a bottle of pain pills.

She checked the second room and saw it was a bedroom with a set of bunk beds. She also noticed it was chilly, so she grabbed the blankets and a pillow from the bed, carrying them back to the main room with her.

She laid the bedding on the sofa and checked the time on her phone.

“Nine o’clock,” Chloe exclaimed. “I wandered around in the woods longer than I thought. I wonder if anyone is looking for me? I’m sure Brey will send out a search party for me in the morning.”

Chloe noticed the rain had quieted down. “I guess I should get some sleep,” she muttered.

Once Chloe got settled in her makeshift bed, she lay there staring into the fire. Her thoughts were of Beca and why she was so upset with the way Beca acted around Kommissar. She was Beca’s best friend and she was worried about her. That’s all it was, right?

“No, it’s not,” Chloe muttered.

Chloe turned over and then thought about Beca keeping her internship from her. Why did Beca tell Fat Amy, but not her? That part hurt almost as much as the way Beca acted around Kommissar.

“I guess that’s what happens when you fall in love with your best friend,” Chloe thought and wiped a tear from her eye. “God, I just wish I could tell her.”

Chloe sighed and turned to stare into the fire again. The flames dancing around hypnotized Chloe and she was soon asleep.