#maybe arrange something in local communities?

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, 3x8, Let The Games Begin. Part 6

When we last left the Gilmore Clan, Richard Gilmore was regaling his family about his past as a dirty, dirty freaking man skank. That is, until he met his darling wife.

Emily expressing a rare sentiment and compliment to Lorelai: You know, your father is having a wonderful time. It means a lot to him to share this time with you and Rory. I'm glad you're here.

What Lorelai Hears:

You know what I always say to you, kid. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I mean, we've had to see the balcony where Rory was concieved a number of times so maybe we should just bring this thing full circle. Lorelai pouts that she is bored and she wants to go home. A few moments later, as the fam is touring the grand and lovely halls of the university with Richard playing tour guide, Lorelai keeps looking around for some kind of an escape route, utterly bored and disinterested.

Let's play my favorite game and yours! Why Is Lorelai Gilmore Scowling?

1.. Her father did something beyond incredibly generous for her child, so she is jealous of her child? Again? 2. There is a nefarious brainwashing attempt by her father underway that, if successful, might have her child interviewing at more than one university and everyone knows that if you decided you wanted to go Harvard while in Kindergarten, you can't change your mind, and with Harvard having a nearly single-digit acceptance rate and Rory having virtually nothing to throw into the pot but her grades, Rory is going to be a total shoo in to Harvard. Backup schools are for DORKS. 3. Despite the fact that she just listened to a whole afternoon of happy memories that her parents have from this school, including Yale being the reason Lorelai even exists in the first place, she'd rather sabotage the whole thing just to spite her parents than have Rory attend the same school. 4.She is mad at her father for going "Behind her back" arranging this incredibly generous once-in-abso-fucking-lutely-nobody's-lifetime opportunity instead of telling her directly, even though if he told her to her face that he arranged this interview for Rory, she still would have had a hissy fit. 5. Lorelai's brain is pea soup and she did not consider that Rory might actually like Yale after visiting Yale (not surprisingly, nobody has asked Rory for her thoughts on the matter). 6. Lorelai would turn to dust if she couldn't control Rory's life at every turn 7. She's upset with Richard springing the interview on Rory as a surprise without consulting Rory first and she didn't have time to prepare (fair, but this is Lorelai we're talking about here so you know that's not the whole enchilada) 8 .The whole enchilada

Google sez: Yale's acceptance rate was just under 17% in 2002, while Harvard's was around 11%. (It’s barely half that in 2024) You know, I hear that Lorelai's alma mater, the local community college, is really nice this time of year. Rory's mother and grandparents steamroll her, never asking her what she thinks about anything, while in turn she never stands up for herself or speaks up on her own behalf, and wouldn't you know, the interview is about to happen RIGHT NOW, so Richard attempts to usher his wordless grand daughter right into the interview cave.

For the love of God, Rory. Say something, you spineless jellyfish.

THANK YOU.

You were only delaying the inevitable by not telling Lorelai ahead of time, Richard. Now she's going to have a meltdown in public like a crying toddler who didn't get a candy bar. I hope you're happy. Lolelai: What do you think you're doing? Richard: Trying to get my grand daughter into what I think is the best Ivy League school in the country. Lorelai: She doesn't want to go here! Richard: She doesn't know that yet. Lorelai: You're unbelievable dad, you corner her alone the other night without me there (how dare he) Richard: Of course I did, you wouldn't let her go. I knew the last thing in the world you'd want is for Rory to go to Yale. Lorelai: And why is that? Richard: Because I went to Yale, therefore Rory can't. Lorelai: Oh, the CRAZY REASON?! Richard: You're allowed to feel that way. It's my prerogative to make sure Rory knows all of her options. Lorelai: Calls her father a liar Richard: This is for Rory's own good Lorelai: Rory is going to HARVARD. Richard: We'll see. Lorelai (louder and angrier) NO, RORY IS GOING TO HARVARD! IT'S ALREADY BEEN DECIDED WITHOUT YOU! Nobody "decides" they're going to Harvard or Yale. The only person doing any "deciding" is currently interviewing your daughter. If you selected 1-6 in the Why Is Lorelai Gilmore Having A Temper Tantrum in Public quiz, come on down and collect your prize. Number's 1 and 5 are pretty much implied. Rory is a few feet away being interviewed by a big wig Yale admissions officer, who certainly doesn't know any other big wigs from other certain Ivy League schools that begin with an H, who won't ever hear the story that he interviewed a student whose mother was screaming "SHE'S GOING TO YALE OVER MY DEAD BODY" (paraphrased) and that this student had already "Decided" she was going somewhere else and just wasted his time. The Yale and Harvard admissions guys with Rory's application:

Lorelai's meltdowns are such a bitch to write. There are 5 minutes left in her meltdown.

Only Mommy can do that. Lorelai: accuses Richard of pulling a "Stunt", Richard said he was just trying to avoid an argument with Lorelai. That's cute that he would think that was possible. Lorelai: My whole life you've had to control everything, if you didn't get to control something, then you just didn't deal with it. You couldn't control me, you couldn't deal with me! Ah, Lorelai, I think this is another conversation that would be more suited to a therapist's office than in public.

Lorelai's therapist furiously taking notes off camera (and seeing dollar signs)

Richard: This has nothing to do with you. This is about Rory and her education which is frankly something you know nothing about. You never went to college, you don't know anything about how it works. You want Rory to go to Harvard that badly? So do thousands of other mothers. Yale is an excellent school. The equivalent of Harvard in every way, except one- I went here. I'm an alumnus. That makes it easier for Rory to get in. And if you knew anything about how college works, you'd know this. I'm not leaving Rory's education to chance simply because I might offend you. Her future is more important than her pride. If you don't like that, I'm sorry. And if that makes you angry, what else is new?

That was the one of the best Humblings I've ever been blessed to witness. Lorelai: Ugh, sounds like the my daughter's a loser, Gilmore named sullied, future squandered speech! I'm calling a cab, we're leaving. Emily tries to reason with her, Lorelai states it doesn't matter what anyone thinks besides herself and Rory, even though we're 32 minutes into the episode and not one person has yet to ask Rory what she thinks. Emily: So what if she takes a meeting at Yale? That doesn't mean she won't be going to Harvard. If she gets into Yale that might make her more appealing to Harvard! You're on such a crusade against your father that you haven't even stopped to consider that if Rory went to Yale she could still live at home. Lorelai: She is still going to Harvard! *literally screaming* SHE'S NOT APPLYING TO YALE! Better hope that admissions officer doesn't have his window open. Now I want Rory to get into Harvard and hate Harvard so much that she drops out in the first week or she flunks out in the first semester. Just to crush Lorelai's dreams, nothing more. The mid-way Yale dropout-and-return just didn't give me the same heartwarming satisfaction. You know, I thought Lorelai's freakout in Teach Me Tonight was the height of her insanity and immaturity. This is on some whole other level from the depths of heck. Screaming at your parents for getting your kid's foot in the door at an ivy league school when thousands of other hopeful parents would chop off their hand to give their kid the same chance, can only happen on the special plane of existence that Lorelai Gilmore alone exists on, and we mere mortals aren't meant to comprehend it. And finally, if you chose #7 on the Why Is Lorelai Gilmore Scowling Quiz, you're technically correct, the best kind of correct, because after Lorelai (Rory) exits the interview, one that was seemingly a success, she immediately turns to Richard to chew him out for springing the interview on her last minute and not giving her time to prepare. That is more than fair. And I'm glad to see her standing up for herself. Anyway, I've been writing for like four hours straight? I've gone beyond my Lorelai Limit. It's been real. If you've made it this far, I see you, I appreciate you. Peace out girl scouts. See you in part 7.

[oreramar]

Florist Talk: a flower shop calendar

So I talked about the average day in a flower shop. Now it's time to talk about the average year (usual disclaimer: US-centric, small town sort of knowledge is to be found here. Adjust as needed for a different setting, whether real or fictional; these notes are merely meant to provide grounding or ideas for your writing).

So, Month By Month:

January

Business is basically dead for most of this month.

It's too early for springy colors but nobody wants the red and white Xmas color combo anymore. Floral limbo.

Prep for V-day begins in earnest sometime around here.

Earliest V-day orders might start coming in middle-to-end of the month. Sometimes people think ordering super early means they can get roses for cheaper. This is not the case; they will be charged the price of the roses they're gonna get, not the roses that exist a month before.

February

VALENTINE'S DAY ALL HANDS ON DECK OH GOD SOMEONE HELP US

A longer post will be dedicated to V-day itself eventually. For now, know that there's usually a lull in business immediately after the day itself.

There may be leftover roses. Nobody will want the leftover roses. If your Florbo over-ordered these supplies, they will have a difficult time shifting them. Write a fic and have them donate roses to an elderly care facility or something.

March

Kinda dead for the most part, aside from a little bit of prep toward Palm Sunday and Easter and Prom (see April)

I always make stuff for St Patrick's day but very few people want flowers for St Patrick's day so there's not much point. Maybe this could be different in a community with more people who go all in on St Paddy's.

When there are orders, this is when people start to ask for "springy" flowers.

April

If there are Christian Churches around they might want Easter Lilies ordered in for Easter, and Palm Branches for Palm Sunday.

Sometimes people will ask for flowering mum plants too, usually in white, yellow, or lavender. The wholesalers always seem to send way more lavender mums than any others, like they're trying to get rid of them.

Prom Season - technically can stretch from mid-late March through April. Depends on how many high schools are in the area. This means lots of corsages and boutonnieres. If there's a single big school that's very local then that means one very, very busy weekend spent doing nothing but assembling these things the day before and getting them picked up and paid for the day of. Might make a focused post on these one day.

Secretary's Day / Administrative Professionals' Day - late April. Technically there's a Day for this but it also covers the entire week of that day as well. Businesses and Bosses buy small flowers or maybe candy bouquets for their various Admins. Can get a little busy.

May

Teachers Appreciation Day / Week - early in May, lots of school deliveries.

Nurses Appreciation Day/Week - the next week in May, lots of hospital/clinic deliveries.

MOTHER'S DAY OH GOD OH - oh it's not quite as bad, actually. People get their Mother's Day flowers the entire week before so it's less concentrated. Still a big one.

US has Memorial Day right at the end. This means arrangements made for placing in the local cemetery. Can be busy but isn't usually too bad.

June

Dead business. So bored.

July

Dead business. So bored.

Attempt at July 4th table arrangements. Not many tend to sell.

August

Dead business. So bored.

September

School is back in session, which means that any student, teacher, or school admin staff who has a birthday or anniversary on a weekday might get sent flowers or balloons or candy bouquets or things like that, which means Flower Shop business.

Preferred floral designs shift toward "fall" and "autumny" colors and flowers somewhere between August and September.

October

Not a lot going on specifically, but business still tends to be busier than in summer. Also, despite all efforts, Halloween does not tend to involve a lot of flower orders, which is a real shame because you can do some real fun things with orange, purple, and bright green flowers, and with hot glue strands on twigs to make cobwebs, and with black painted bowl vases to resemble cauldrons...

November

US has Thanskgiving this month and some people want fancy flower and taper candle centerpieces for their tables. A responsible florist will include tags warning people not to burn those candles unattended because while the floral arrangement isn't going to be dry by any means, it is still technically flammable, especially if the candle has burned very low and for a very long time.

December

Christmas also involves fancy flower and taper candle centerpieces for tables. Also like 80% of all floral arrangements are being done in red and/or white.

And that's more or less it. Set your writing appropriately for how busy you want the Florbo to be with their flower job - if the plot demands Florbo have a lot of free time or be very very bored, look at the summer months, or the downtime of early January or late February. If you wish for them to be overwhelmingly busy, set it the week before Valentine's or Mother's day, or pick an April weekend for a local Prom and give them like forty corsages to make on a single Friday. A more moderate or variable day to day structure might be in May, or one of the Autumn months, when there's usually plenty of everyday type stuff to do plus the wild card busy days around big funerals or the like, with random dead days peppered in there.

Happy writing!

[aziraphales-library]

Hi aziraphaels-library!

I have several fics i am mildly obsessed about and they are "What we make of it" and "Or be nice" by charlotte_madison, "Tabula Rasa" and "Clementine" by mussimm, "Demonology and the Tri-phasic model of trauma" by nnm, "Long haul" and "Search and Rescue" by snae-b. Better than many books I read, including award winning ones! Maybe you coluld recommend something as good as these? I love an anxious and off-beat Crowley, and his honesty issues, but do not limit myself to such stories. Thanks a lot!

Hello! The fics you've listed are very well known and popular within the fandom. You should check out the fics on our #fandom favourites tag for more you may enjoy. Here are some more great fics for you...

Summer's End by FeralTuxedo (E)

2095. Britain is a post-apocalyptic wasteland ravaged by droughts, the collapse of civilisation, and hordes of the undead. Despite that, Aziraphale’s life is actually pretty good. He has his caravan, his books, and his work, offering his services to the men who stop by Tadfield on their arduous journey north. One day, a mysterious stranger knocks on his door. Crowley is charming and handsome and he appears to know his way around a vegetable garden. He comes with the tempting offer of a mutually beneficial arrangement. But it’s in Aziraphale’s best interest not to get too attached.

A dystopian cottagecore sex worker AU.

Readings From the Books of Ashtoreth by Quefish (E)

Vicar Aziraphale Bookman has a comfortable life. He lives in and serves the small village community of Tadfield. He enjoys contributing to local businesses, taking walks, and of course reading. His 'guilty pleasure', which gives him no guilt and all pleasure, is a series of novels by one AJ Ashtoreth. But what happens when he reaches out with an innocent bit of fanmail?

It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine by elf_on_the_shelf (E)

After Adam's parents die in a car crash, Aziraphale is forced to start taking care of him as more than just an uncle. Don't get him wrong, he loves the little devil, it's just that he is completely clueless and could rather use some help. In comes Crowley, Adam's new nursery school teacher with his amazing skills in dealing with kids. Could he be the answer to all of Aziraphale's prayers - Adam-related and otherwise? Well, it looks like he might be just that, judging by the weird things Aziraphale's heart seems to be doing whenever he sets eyes on the man. Now, if only the tall ginger returned his feelings...

I Knew I Loved You by AppleSeeds (E)

In September 1999, when his family gets connected to the internet, prospective Marine Biology student Crowley discovers an online forum where he can actually talk to people who share his passion for saving the whales. He begins corresponding with a kind stranger he knows only as Ocean_Angel, and is incredibly excited when the opportunity arises to meet this mysterious person in real life.

As their friendship develops, Crowley shares things with Angel that he can't talk about with anyone else, and Angel's insights help him to explore and embrace his own identity. As Crowley works towards finding a place in this world where he feels like he really belongs, he realises that a big part of the answer to that question might actually be right in front of him. What if where he belongs is with Angel?

secondhand smoke by PaintedVanilla (T)

you're second hand smoke, second hand smoke i breathe you in, but, honey, i don't know what you're doing to me mon chéri

the year is 1990, and anthony crowley is looking for a church in london that might be tolerable. the one he winds up attending isn't exactly such, but he decides to stick around for one reason. said reason happens to own a bookshop that crowley begins to frequent, much to the surprise and delight of anathema device and newton pulsifer, who seem quite convinced that crowley could use something else to focus on besides gardening, their campaigns, and visits to tadfield.

Siren's Song by Kedreeva (T)

Crowley, a lone siren, calls a ship to wreck upon his reef, but finds when he meets pirate captain Aziraphale that sirens are not the only ones able to lure another creature to their heart's desire.

- Mod D

[sillypiratelife]

Is there an au where Zoro, Nami and Ussop all went to the same orphanage and met there and became family there? No? Now there is.

It was not a bad orphanage per se, poor but run by good people in a good town. The adults around would try to take at least one kid to their houses regularly to teach them stuff, give them hobbies, help them integrate with the community... Instead of an orphanage, it was more of a big house for kids to stay and eat because their families were too poor or the adults responsible for them were in bad condition.

That's how Zoro would spend so much time at Koushirou's dojo, why Nami and Nojiko would practically live with Bell-Mere. It's also why Ussop was there, 'cause his mom was sick and she was making sure he had a place— a family to stay with after she was gone.

Which means that Zoro, Nami and Ussop were together to witness Kuina, Bell-mere and Ussop's mom deaths. That's how Nami and Ussop took to call Zoro big brother and started to rely on him to fight their bullies or mean people. Nami would be the one sent to take Zoro home when it was time to eat dinner. Ussop was the one who would lie to cover their shenanigans.

And then they met Luffy.

They met him in the summer. He was there to attend high school with them. It was a summer full of misadventures that united them. Luffy was their best friend, all of them. Luffy had his own family they learned, so it'd feel wrong to call him brother. Nami and Ussop stopped calling Zoro big bro because they were ashamed as teens, but it'd come back whenever they were truly scared.

They all had their reasons for leaving the town.

Nami was secretly reuniting money to help the town and the orphanage get rid of the local mafia. Zoro wanted to compete in bigger tournaments to reach his dream of being the best kendo fighter out there. Ussop wanted to travel the world and become a brave adventurer like his dad. Maybe for the sake of the au, let's say that "pirates" are less about the sea and more about adventurers finding treasures. So much is the same as in the manga, I think that way it's better.

On the other hand, Sanji, Chopper, Kaya, Vivi and Robin all went to the same prestigious middle and high school.

Which was the place rich problem children or very talented (genius) middle class people got sent to. If you were a rich orphan, if you were considered a burden by your rich parents, if someone wanted to protect you from the very law or even criminal organizations, if you were smart beyond your age but didn't have the money, that's where you went.

Kaya and Chopper met first because they took the same "future medical school" classes. Robin, Vivi and Sanji were all under a sort of protection program. Robin's mom, Sanji's mom and Vivi's dad make the necessary arrangements for them to be accepted. The benefit? No one could touch them until they were out of high school and then, they would be old enough to protect themselves.

Of course Chopper is years younger in this au and Robin is way older, but that's justified under the pretenses that Chopper is a medical prodigy and Robin got rescued when she was already older, so to give her some more time they enrolled her in the very first grade they could. It helped that all the others have an assigned tutor based on their personal skills: Kureha, Igaram, Zeff, for example. Robin sort of learned for everyone she could and took just a few courses at the time, learning as much as she could. That made her advance kinda slower than the rest, but prepared her way more.

They met for lunch and study sessions, sticking together because the others rejected them for being too weird. The order in sibling consideration became Robin > Kaya > Sanji > Vivi > Chopper. Here Sanji is a hopeless fool for romance but not a pervert and he complains a lot about the "sibling system". Everyone knows it must have something to do with his past, so they quickly "kick him out" of it. They still consider him their sibling, but they won't mention it anyway. In return, Sanji accepts in silence that they see him as a brother, thankful they don't call him that.

Three very smart and influential sisters, their adopted genius little brother and the way they all befriended. Perfect balance.

Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Ussop graduated two years before the others, because their fancy school was the type to make them egress with a basic college level. Team small town then moved to the big city and rented an apartment close to fancy school by total accident. BOOM worlds collapse together.

Now, if I had a name for this au...

[dropbear-sims]

Welcome to Mt. Cavaro! Pt. 1

This mountain plateau was once nothing but a small seasonal hunting town. Over the last 50 years however, developers took notice of the potential of this location and now, it is a bustling upcoming town. Families and sims have moved in droves to start business opportunities or to take advantage of those who are. Some however, are just enjoying the quiet scenic views and good people.

Simply explaining and showing the Community lots in each of my districts. Business, Entertainment & Residential. I will be showing the Families in Detail in Pt. 2

The Business District

Businesses:

Flast Luxury Dealership | The dealership for those who want to impress their neighbours. Fancy, reliable and with the Flast signature of quality. The Luxury Dealership is for those who only want the very best automotives.

'New You' Salon & Spa | The luxurious Salon & Spa on the edge of Byrn Street. Need a haircut? A new makeup look? A massage? Maybe you just want to spend some time relaxing in the sauna, It's here at the 'New You' Salon & Spa

Gemstone Gallery Jewellery | Need a gift for a lover? Want to buy yourself something nice? Gemstone Gallery has a wide selection of the top-quality jewellery, with options to fit any budget.

Great Times Party Supplies | Everything you need for your next big bash of a party! Weddings, birthdays or when the parents are out for the weekend!

Polar Caps Creamery | In need of a tasty cold treat on a hot day? Or a cold treat on a cold day? (We wont judge). Come down to Polar Caps to get a delicious gourmet icecream! Or serve yourself to a nice, overly processed soft serve!

Mt. Cavaro Real Estate | The main (and only) spot to purchase your new home in the lovely Mt. Cavaro. Owned by Mr. Rodney Flast, its where many suspect the majority of his fortune originated.

Mountain Rescue Pet Centre | A sanctuary for all pets in need of a loving home and Sims who need supplies for their furry friends! Opened and funded solely by Velma Aster.

Hobby Land | Muhammad and Siti Saad love their creative endeavours, and thought they should share that with the rest of Mt. Cavaro. There's a large variety of hobby items ready for purchase!

Health Plus Pharmacy | Dr. Sato's very own pharmacy that has everything you need for your ailments.

Flast Furniture | This massive warehouse holds every new and in-style piece of furniture you could ever want. Come take a stroll through our kitchen and bathroom sets, you'll leave wishing it was your home! Have a chat with our friendly staff and discuss possible home renovations.

Cavaro Family Grocery | A new development built by Ahan and Navya Bhatt, a massive gamble that paid off- its now the 'One Stop Shop' for all things your household needs regularly!… to the dismay of the local monopoly, Rodney Flast.

Speedway Motors | Ahan and Navya Bhatt's first dip into the world of business owning, buying an old rundown shed and turning it into a Car Dealership! It only has cheaper locomotives but they still run fine!… most of the time.

Spark Electronics | Need a Phone? Computer? Speaker? Spark Electronics has everything a Sim in need of a good electronic item!

'The Look' Clothing Superstore | The most popular department store for clothing in Mt. Cavaro! So popular it's run all of the small indie boutiques and rival brands out of town. I guess having great prices and a wide selection does that!

Reel N' Sons Fish Market | For the past 20 years the Reel family have been catching and selling their fresh fish here every Sunday.

Cavaro Natural Arrangements | A small shutdown florist that has been recently revamped by Velma Aster, her once buried love for plants and flowers reignited.

Bub N' Co Children's Superstore | The absolute hub for all essential baby, toddler and children's items. Everything you could need is right here!

Misc:

Community Lots that aren't a business inside the business district:

Cavaro Community Centre | The newly renovated community centre is now open! The once old and dingy town library is stocked with new books, a new computer lab has been opened and with government funding, the employment office has been revamped. All with a new cafeteria on the second floor!

Fit & Fast | Fit & Fast is the best spot to get your workout on! There's a wide variety of machines and amenities.

Cavaro Garden & Parklands | This quaint little park has a community garden run by the local gardening association, if you ever want to grab some delicious fresh veggies and fruit it's all completely free! Too the side theres also a quaint wedding area, the perfect setting to say 'I do'.

The Entertainment District

Activities:

The Colosseum Casino | Feeling lucky? The Colleseum Casino is for both the casual evening and the (habitual) high rollers, try a game of cards, or perhaps the slots?

Cavaro Performance Lounge | Think you've got the guts to go on stage? This cozy lounge is for anyone who wants to watch or be a local talent! No need to bring your own equipment, the lounge is already stocked with all instruments and microphones!

Valley Fine Dining | The Valley is newly revamped! Don't worry however, we still keep our 5 star rating for quality, cuisine and service! The dining spot for sims with cash to spare! I downloaded this lot from:

I changed quite a bit about this lot to make it fit the vibe and aesthetic of my hood, but this is a great remodel!

Cavaro National Museum | Have a love for history? Want a day out activity? The National Museum is full of historic relics from the past. Current open exhibits: Ancient Sculptures & Fossils

Cavaro National Gallery | An Extension of the National Museum, this location has Art Pieces from all over the globe, featuring some of the best and upcoming artists of the past 5 years!

Bowling Time! | Who doesn't love a game of bowling? This colourful alley is great for a night out or afterschool activity! Competitions each Sunday!

Boxing Roo | Go the Roos! Go the Roos! Want to have a drink, watch the game and show your sporting pride? Boxing Roo is a cozy little bar for all sport lovers!

Cavaro Community Pool | For all those hot summer days or practicing for that big competition coming up. Free entry on weekends and toddler swimming lessons available all week.

In Motion Dance Studio | Dance lessons on wednesday and thursday from 5pm. Recruitments for the dance troop on Saturday 10am. The best spot to practice or perfect your next routine.

Game On! Internet Cafe | Internet being shoddy? Want to group up with some friends, drink some coffee, eat snacks and play your favourite games? This is the place! PC's loaded with SSX3, The Sims: Bustin Out, FIFA 08 and Spore!

Film House Cinema | Watch the biggest current blockbusters on the big screen! Help yourself to the concessions (for a horribly expensive price) and relax in the comfy new recliner seats!

8-bit Arcade | Nerd sims unite! The best spot to play games until your curfew, all new arcade and pinball machines have been installed, all machines set to 1 simoleon!

District Basketball Court | The best spot to shoot some hoops and vs your friends.

The Hare's Foot | I wouldn't exactly call the Hare's Foot the fanciest (or cleanest) Bar in town. Happy hour is 8pm! Also… make sure to wipe down the photobooth seats before sitting.

Lil' Putter Minigolf | Wanna Impress 'The Boss'? Wanna 'impress' your friends? 6 Holes included each with their own theme and decor!

The Drip - Retro Beanclub | Are you an absolute coffee snob? An alternative music snob? Well The Drip is for 'real fans', no normies allowed! Now selling our own Beans!

Svensson Homestyle Bistro | Opened by Lars Svensson, this bistro is for all those casual nights out with the family or a modest meal with the one you love. Featuring homely recipes you'll remember without having ever tasted! 'Homestyle' is in the name!

The Rhythm - Disco Skating | The Rhytm is the best spot for a nice family activity, or a cute date idea. Listen to the 70's disco and skate away! New Skaters welcome aswell, classes each tuesday!

The Pink Flamingo | The Pink Flamingo is the hottest spot in Mt. Cavaro, new music, good drinks and open pretty much 24/7. If you want to dance and drink the night (or day) away, the pink flamingo is your spot.

Sky High Park | A VERY normal park… for very unsuspicious bubble blowing- Nothing else, juuuust "bubble blowing".

School of Art Creative Studio | Want to practice your creative skills with a bunch of like-minded sims? The SOA Creative Studio is the spot to be, there are pottery, music and painting classes!

Lasting Connections Courthouse | If the weather isn't on your side, or you just want an indoor wedding: the Lasting Connections Courthouse will be your first choice. Stocked with everything you need to throw an awesome wedding party.

Misc:

Community lots that aren't entertainment/activities in the Entertainment District:

Empty Lot | Simply an Empty lot I have no idea what to fill with, will put in something when I get an idea.

The Residential District

Cavaro Residential Sports Oval | Soccer games each Friday at 5pm! Ages 6+ teams available!

Lil' Ones Family Playground | Simply a small playground for children.

Misc Lots

(Lots that are not in any district)

Mt. Cavaro Fishing Club | The Mt. Cavaro Fishing Club has been around since this place was simply a small hunting town. There's also a cozy little campsite if you want to spend the night outdoors! Or a cabin if you do not.

'The Tip' | Simply the garbage tip for all of Cavaro. No trespassing!.. Unless you're good at tresspassing. (Who knows, there might be some good stuff to scavenge).

(I dont know why the ground is pink, it is normal grass lol)

Cavaro Memorial Cemetary | A place to remember the Sims of the past. You may not want to visit after dark, there have been rumors of people seeing the sims who should've been long gone. I downloaded this lot from:

I changed a few things, such as swapping out the trees and adding more pavement.

Apologies for not taking Screenshots of the exterior/Interior of each lot, I didn't want to bog down this post TO much (Even though I believe its already pretty beefy. I simply wanted to share what community lots are in my hood. I will be playing this town rotationally and posting what happens, if that interests you I'd love for you to follow this blog and join me on this journey :)

[jellyjays]

MK1 Whiplash AU

yeah, i'll think of anything, won't i....

anyways yes i'm talking about the whiplash with jk simmons. the jazz movie. the parallels between andrew / fletcher and reiko / shao was too much for my brain to handle.

to be truthful, the thought that led to this AU was "reiko would be a fucking incredible jazz drummer i feel it in my soul" and then i thought about whiplash and then i exploded.

so uh. more under the cut?

so to outline this AU:

reiko was orphaned at like 8/9. the foster system is kinda fucked, and he lashes out constantly at the foster parents who try to help him, scared and alone and traumatized from seeing his parents' death. he gets placed in a halfway house for 'behavioral issues' and it just so happens that this halfway house has an old drumkit in the basement. it's somewhat rudimentary, but it has everything you might need.

reiko, with no other option, sits at the thing one night and picks up a pair of sticks laying around. and from then on, that's his outlet. he relies... heavily on it. it's every waking moment that he's not in school or sleeping or eating. he's at the drumset, practicing. playing over the songs in the vinyl collection, playing over the songs in his ipod. every bit of music he can get his hands on, he's playing over it, mimicking what the drummers he can hear do.

the vinyls in the basement are all old jazz. a wide arrangement of it, from blues to latin to bossa nova to new orleans parade, but it's all jazz. that's what he grow up with, on, that's his formative influence. buddy rich, jo jones, art blakely, tony williams-- the drummers on these old vinyls are his heroes.

by the time he's in high school, his 'behavioral issues' have toned down massively-- he is largely fine. as long as you don't separate him from the drumset. he hasn't moved from the halfway house-- protested STRONGLY at being separated from both his drumset and the vinyls. by protested strongly i mean he nearly attacked some people over it.

when he's in high school, he joins the jazz band freshman year. he's in it every year until graduation.

this story starts, though, when a guest clinician-- dr shao kohn-- shows up to work with the band in reiko's sophomore year.

dr kohn teaches at the local community college, but is highly regarded across the country. he's professor of jazz studies and director of the highly prestigious auditioned jazz ensemble at this community college.

upon seeing the INCREDIBLE talent and potential of reiko during that clinic at the high school, shao invites reiko to come join the jazz ensemble at the college. he's young, but if he can make time in his schedule for it next school year, he'd get the chance to really challenge and prove himself.

reiko does. and starting 1st of august that year, he's giving his early mornings and late evenings to rehearsals with this ensemble and individual lessons with dr kohn. he's giving everything he fucking has to this band, and it shows. he's improving at rates he never had before, he's better than most college players doing this for a career.

and shao keeps pushing for more. and reiko keeps striving to fucking give. more, more, better, better.

to be truthful, he would probably be failing all his classes if it weren't for raiden, the only kid other than maybe kung lao who'll put up with him at school. raiden tutors him in the subjects he's falling behind in (all of them really) so he doesn't get held back or something.

all the while, shao pushes reiko for more, better. he's never satisfied, and that is not acceptable in reiko's eyes. he's never had someone he wanted to impress before, an adult he actually cares for the opinion of. and fuck, does he find he cares. he cares a lot. he's trying so hard to meet expectations, he's falling apart at the seams.

i don't know how i'd want this whole thing to end, but. i hate shao and i like happy endings so. shrug.

[aro-bird]

The Alienation of being a Filipino Aro

There's a kind of cultural alienation that comes with growing up aromantic and no I'm not just talking about how most aros and arospecs would note experience relationships the same way an allo person would.

I'm talking about an isolation away from community and culture that becomes apparent when you really sit down and think about it. A sort of disconnect from your community not for the fault of your own but just by the mere fact that most of society didn't even know you could possibly exist.

I'm Filipino. In the Philippines, romance is an inseparable part of culture. It's not only liked by many as a concept and theme in their stories and discussions, but it's put on a pedestal. It's a pedestal that I could never achieve.

Most media references romance to some capacity. Children's media would have a lot of focus and emphasis on a romantic subplot even if that shouldn't be the main focus of the story. TV shows for adults, even if it should have little to do with romance like game shows, would make references to romance as a universal thing.

Despite the Philippines being one of the top producers of movies, you'd probably have a hard time finding anything that isn't romance save for the few horror films and the occasional comedies and action movies that constitute maybe about 3 movies a year out of the dozens made by the industry. Even indie films have a huge focus on love, romance, and relationships with the extremely few being dramas that drag or depressed the audience. Don't get me started about how 99% of music is about love and loss.

Outside of media, Filipinos are extremely romantic and not just exclusively with their partners. PDA is everywhere and is even encouraged. It is not uncommon to see students at school holding hands and cuddling on campus being tolerated and even celebrated as long as they don't kiss in front of a teacher. This would be fine if people weren't force to participate in it.

From early on in elementary school, children would exchange gifts during Christmas as they sing out loud "I love my Monito/Monita, yes I do!" as they play secret santa, with gifts exchange between kids of two different genders being met with typical romantic teasing. It's a pretty common question in playground discussions to ask who your crush is and if you didn't had an answer, you would be called a liar if they don't outright call you weird.

Friendships with someone who isn't your own gender (heck even friendships with someone who is of the perceived same gender too) are often met with romantic teasing and ceaseless inquiry. Even people you've only talked to once, without any indication of goodwill, or even positivity, gets you years of teasing and harassment from school boys that think they're being cute. Some of these people even thought it appropriate to drag me into a "chain booth" where they would tie me up with another boy in class just to tease me. The fact that this is seen as something romantic let alone acceptable is beyond disgusting.

Even adults push this narrative of romance and relationships to the point that you probably couldn't last a single day in school without teachers talking about the woes of romance and love to try to seem hip with the kids. Poetry nights arranged by language arts club are filled with desperate cries about their beloved and love that could never be which extends not only to the artistic events of the month, but even just the casual school-wide assembly. Poems that portray the unresponsive as a bad guy, as the heartless who dares not return affection. It was all alienating.

What happens to a person whose entire existence is not seen and not only not seen but dismissed entirely by the community? What happens to a person who can't find themselves in their own local media? To the person who can't relate to their community and peers? To the person being pressured to desire something that doesn't make sense to them? To the person being forced to be something they're not? All by their community and culture?

It's different for everyone, but in my case, I looked to somewhere else.

I found comfort in foreign media that didn't feel like it was talking down at me for not pursuing romance. I found comfort in English communities that didn't harass me and forced me to conform to an idealized romance. I found comfort in a place foreign, outside of the Filipino culture that does not have room for people like me.

This has made me avoid a lot of Filipino media, discussions, and communities even online. Why should I seek out a place that would fundamentally misunderstand me? That would alienate me and make me feel unhuman just as it did while I was growing up? That would pressure me to do things against my will?

It was empowering to find a community outside the community. It was as if I had found a secret club that understood me more than the people I knew for literal years. It was welcoming and warm and nice. Until things felt... off.

I look at this new community, this community away from community and realize something that has been bugging me for a good few months now.

This place also feels alien.

Discussions here may not revolve around a constant stream of love, romance, relationships, and heartbreak, but they are in a language spoken that's foreign to me. Not that the words being typed in English is the problem, no, even the shows back home speak loads of the language. It was something else.

The discourse was alien. The discourse was American.

Most of the discussions and the media around being aro places it squarely in the west. I've noticed that I even try to lessen my Filipino-ness at times when I would discuss my aro experiences despite the two being quite intertwined. I felt a bit of embarrassment just even thinking of bringing it up since it felt out of place. This didn't feel like the appropriate time to discuss this, but if not now, then when?

Discord servers, although international, are mostly filled with American aros and if not Europeans. Major blogs and resources are run by westerners who primarily discuss western issues and discourse. Those that try to cater to a more general discussion about aromanticism feels hollow as culture and community is stripped to its very basics to avoid alienating everyone else.

Now I'm typing this all out to reflect in it further. I'm still at this awkward place in figuring out how to handle these ideas. The reality that I'm not truly a part of my Filipino culture as someone aromantic, and the reality that I'm a foreigner to the aromantic community as a Filipino still messes with my brain.

I want to be clear, this is no one's direct fault. It is definitely more of an issue that a person only encounters when they don't fit the larger culture's idea of the standard, whether it be being an alloromantic Filipino or a western aro. I am not calling for all of the aro community to make space for me specifically just because I feel weird and awkward as a Filipino and I'm not calling on all Filipinos to keep checking on their amatonormativity just because I can't relate with their gushy romance.

Either way, I guess I have to try my best to create spaces for myself and open the discussion on both sides. Maybe I would finally start to feel less alien in my own skin.

[nikarie5]

How to win at extracurriculars - Snippet

General rating: General audiences, reference of mild pining but no boats afloat.

Cast: Olli Halli, Cole Reyes

Description: Headcanon and set-up at end, because it makes more sense there to me(?), but essentially, the new rookie gets assigned to a veteran lineman for the Lions' annual fall team-building and community engagement activity... which happens to get Percy extra credit for math class.

Big thanks to @lumosinlove for the characters, @noots-fic-fests for organising, and @hazelnoot-analyst for organised archiving :) -- "Bear right over crest. Bear right over crest? Where? Where is the bear? How do they know it will be standing right there when we all drive through this section of the stage?”

“No, Cole, there is no bear. That is a driving instruction.”

“It would be a lot more fun if there were a real bear.”

“Somehow, I think arranging for that surpasses even the Lions’ budget for team-building and community events.” “How do they figure this as a team-building and community engagement anyway, it’s just two or three of us alone in our cars? Plus, I guess some Lions’ staff manning checkpoints.”

“I guess one of Coach’s kids, maybe Charlie?, did something like this a few years ago for a math class, and offered to keep doing it for extra credit and getting his drivers’ license faster. Then Percy picked it up and built it into a fundraiser, and combined it with driving lessons so that he could get a learner’s permit at fourteen, or something like that? I dunno. All I know is, somehow, we end up doing this each year the weekend before the season opener. Coming up to an intersection, need the next instruction rookie.”

“Stop, T, right.”

“You sure? The sign says dead end.”

“Hold on. No. Stop, T, left. Sorry Olli.”

“Geez, they sent us a D-man who doesn’t know his right and left? Caray.”

“Geez?”

“You’ll pick it up. Loopsisms are contagious.” -- In which the Gryffindor Lions organisation sponsors a small car rally through the fall foliage each year. Rookies get assigned to co-drive for veteran linemen, ostensibly as team building. Community members can participate, students from local high schools get extra credit in their math classes for participating, juniors can get some extra supervised hours towards their driving license, and a good time is had by all. Loops and Moody used to get really into it and go all out with silly competitions like frisbee tosses or apple bobbing at their checkpoint. Nat and Lily would drive around delivering coffee to checkpoint teams, while Sirius would pretend to get lost so he could keep returning to the PT checkpoint multiple times throughout the afternoon. Winning community team gets to join a team dinner at Sid’s.

[writerunblocked]

Bullet Proof Heart: III. Acceptance

Synopsis: Anya accepts her fate as Tommy Shelby's future bride as the Rosenthals get even worse news on their patriarch's condition sending the local Jewish community into a frenzy to help make his incoming death easier. Anya finds out something about herself and about Tommy. Maybe being Tommy Shelby's fiancée isn't the worst thing in the world.

Trigger Warnings: Death and dying, cancer, allusion to smut, but no actual smut.

WC: 4426 

Bullet Proof Heart: Read Part 1: The Arrangement here. Read Part 2: Out of the Bag here

Anya was staying after school to get some grading done before she went back to her place to pack. She’d found out that she’d be leaving her parent’s house and moving in with Tommy, much to her family’s horror. 

The conversation that her family had when Abe got back before heading back to his place. He’d come clean to everyone about the shortchanging and how their dad had taken the fall for him, unfortunately, Anya's fate was sealed. She would be Mrs Thomas Shelby, and that made her sick to her stomach. 

But what scared her the most was that she loved Thomas Shelby, and had since the moment she’d opened up to him about her ex. How he held her and let her talk about it, how he told her of the war and what happened in the trenches and how that on the nights she wasn’t here in his bed sleeping soundly next to him, he was brought back to France and the memories of the tunnels. She knew that a man like him wasn’t capable of love, but here she was madly in love with one Thomas Shelby. He was the first thing he thought of when she woke up and the last thing she thought about when she went to sleep at night. She wished it didn’t have to be like this, unfortunately, it did. 

“Anya,” she heard her friend and colleague Emma say. “Are you alright?” 

Emma and her and known each other since they were children. Emma was the daughter of Irish immigrants from Dublin and the two women grew up right next to each other and had squealed in delight when they got the job at the school together. They always said that they’d be at each other’s weddings, but they both didn’t realise that Anya's would be so soon. “I’m moving into Thomas Shelby’s home,” she whispered. “I need to pack, I move in this Saturday.” 

“You’re brother couldn’t get you out of the marriage then?” She asked. Anya shook her head ‘no’, tears in her eyes as she thought of what was in store for her for the rest of her natural life. Even when he died, and it would most likely be before her, she’d still be known as Thomas Shelby’s wife. “When Tommy Shelby says ‘it’s you’, then it’s you. I knew what I was getting into when I took that job at the Garrison, I just didn’t realise it would go that far.” 

The staff at school looked the other way when it came to her second job at the Garrison. They knew she was sleeping with Thomas Shelby, but no one said anything. Now, her after-hours activity with Thomas Shelby was a bit too difficult to ignore. Especially the days he came to pick her up in his fancy car that none of the staff would be able to afford. 

“Parents won’t even talk to me unless they have to. The kids don’t laugh and joke anymore, it’s so terrifying for everyone,” Anya sighed. 

“Do you love him, Anya?” Emma asked. Her green eyes looked into Anya's blue ones. 

Anya nodded her head. “I do,” she said. “I have since that night,” Anya told Emma what that night was like. Emma was in amazement at what she’d just told her. 

She saw a side of Tommy that no one ever saw. A man before the war, a man before Grace’s betrayal. “I wonder what he was like before the war,” she sighed. “I’ve never asked. I don’t remember what Abe, Dan, Jakob, and Asher were like before the war.” She was fourteen when they came back, and fifteen when they got the medals for their service to the Crown. However, they never understood why there was a Monarchy in this day in age. Russia got rid of theirs ages ago. 

The two women grabbed their stuff and walked out of the building, Anya looked around to see if anyone was following the two of them. A wave of relief washed over her when she realised no one was there. “Where are you headed?” asked Emma. 

“The Garrison,” Anya sighed. “Tommy asked me to meet him there.” 

“Good luck, Anya,” Emma said. 

In fifteen minutes, Anya was able to get to the Garrison only to find that it was only Tommy sitting at the bar. “Hello, Anya,” he said. 

“Hi, Tommy,” she said. She put her things in Tommy’s office and went behind the bar. She poured the two of them a glass of whisky. “What do you want.” 

“Your brother visited me last night,” Tommy said. 

“And you heard the full story,” she said. “And yet my fate’s still sealed. I’ll be Mrs Thomas Shelby by the end of the year.”

She shivered at the thought of it. She knew she was older and needed to get married, but she’d always hoped that it would be to someone not like Thomas Shelby. Even though she loved him, the man wasn’t able to be in a monogamous relationship. He’d be cheating on her for the length of their marriage. “And is that a bad thing?” He asked. 

“Seeing as you’re not the type of man to stay with one person and that I’m being forced into this marriage—you can see why I have reservations about this,” she sighed. 

“You seriously think that?” He asked. 

She nodded her head. “Though you might not be seeing Lizzie Stark anymore, I’m sure there are other women that you’re seeing besides me.” 

“Believe it or not, Anya, I’m not seeing anyone besides you,” he told her. 

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I highly doubt that,” she said. “You’re Thomas Shelby after all. You have a bit of a reputation for sleeping around.” 

“Not since that night,” he said. 

“What night?” Anya asked, hoping that it was the night she fell in love with him. The night she told him about her ex who was stalking her. 

“The night you told me about how your ex followed you around town. I’ve sent men looking for him and he’s to be brought to me when found,” Tommy said. “Something changed that night and I realised I love you.” 

Anya sat there in shock. ‘I realised that I love you.’ She took a deep breath and tried to speak, but she was speechless. Anya didn’t know what to say. “I love you too. Since that night as well. I thought you couldn’t love me back, but—” 

Tommy got up from where he was and passionately kissed her. She kissed him back as well. The two of them looked at each other and smiled. “I love you, Anya,” he whispered. 

“I love you too, Tommy,” she laughed.

Anya was led into Tommy’s office. He shut and locked the door, but they didn’t think Arthur would come in. He took off her dress, bra, and panties, and she ripped off his clothes. He pushed he onto the desk and wrapped her legs around him. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You’re mine, Anya,” he said. “You belong to me.” 

“Yours,” she whispered. “I’m all yours, Tommy. Make me yours.” 

After they were through with each other. Anya sat on the settee in his arm. He covered her up with his jacket because he realised she was cold. She laid her head on his bare chest, something she’d done many times before. But this time it was different, they had told each other how they felt. 

“How are you, love?” He asked her.

“Amazing,” she smiled looking up into his blue eyes. “You?” 

“Amazing,” he whispered. “I love you, Anya.” 

“I love you too, Tommy,” she whispered. He leaned down to kiss her. “But what are you going to do with my ex?” She asked. 

“Kill him,” Tommy responded. “The fact he follows you around’s something I know bothers you.” Tommy wrapped his arm around her and she didn’t protest. “Go get yourself a nice dress.” He said. 

“Why?” Anya asked. 

“You and I are heading to the races,” he said. 

“The races?” She asked in shock. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Buy yourself something nice.”

“I don’t have the money,” she said. “We’re saving up for my dad’s funeral.” 

“I’ve got it,” he said. He handed her over £20 and she was amazed. “Buy something red.” 

“Why red?” She asked. 

“Because it brings out your eyes,” he said.  

She went to leave for the door, but Tommy stopped her. “You’ll be staying with me for tonight.” 

“I need to get back to my parents,” she stated. “My dad’s doing worse.”

“How bad is he?” asked Tommy. 

“Most likely the end of the month the doctors say,” she said. “Thank you, by the way for paying for him. It means a lot to me that you’re doing this for me. 

Tommy nodded his head and the two of them walked out together. People made way for the two of them on the street. “Hello, Shelby,” someone said. 

Anya kept her head down as she looked at the pavement. She could feel all the eyes on her, and even though she was used to it by now, she still felt nervous. And that was because she was with Tommy. He wrapped his arm around her when she ran into one of her kids. 

“MS ROSENTHAL!” Henry called. He ran up to her. “Ms Rosenthal, my mum wants to talk to you.” 

“Is everything okay, Henry?” She asked. 

“It’s about your father,” he said. He looked at his rundown house, he didn’t live too far from where Anya lived. “Wait a moment, let me get her.” 

The twelve-year-old friend of her nephews ran into the house and brought out his mother, a small woman by the name of Dorothy Levi came out. “Oh, Anya, glad I caught you. Can you come in?” 

“Uh, I needed to get home to see my father,” she said. “My fiancé also needs to be getting back.” 

Mrs Levi looked at Tommy and gulped. Her face turned white and she muttered a silent prayer in Hebrew. Henry looked up at Tommy and also gulped. He stood by his mother, hoping that she would protect him from the most powerful man in Birmingham. “S 'iz ams. Di shmueus zenen ams!” (It’s true! The rumours are true!) She quickly regained some of her composure though. “You both can come in, it’ll be quick.” The four of them quickly went inside where her fifteen-year-old daughter Rachel was sitting at the table doing cross stitch work. 

“Rachel,” her mother asked. Rachel got up from her needlework and looked at Tommy and Anya. “Will you put the kettle on for Mr and Mrs Shelby?” 

Rachel quickly nodded her head, quickly moved her needlework out of the way, and then put the kettle on. She grabbed the tea bags and the cups and waited. Henry gathered around as well. “It’s Ms Rosenthal for now,” Anya smiled sweetly. “We still haven’t settled on a date.” 

“Oh,” Mrs Levi said. “Well, congratulations then.” 

“Thank you,” Anya smiled. No one needed to know how her engagement came about. She still wasn’t wearing a ring yet. 

“When did it happen?” She asked, eyes still on Tommy. 

“Two weeks ago,” Tommy said. 

“Mazel Tov to both of you,” she said, though her expression screamed to her that she was in pain and feared for Anya’s life. Both women knew that no one was safe once they became entangled with the Shelbys. Both women knew that Anya would most likely die in the crossfires of a war that the Shelbys had either started or had gotten dragged into the middle of. 

Tommy was confused as it what it meant. Anya budded in. “It means congratulations,” she said. “It’s Hebrew.” 

“Oh,” he said. “And you speak that.”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s my second language. What we all speak around here is Yiddish.” He nodded his head. 

“How’s your father?” Rachel piped. Everyone looked over in the direction of Rachel who was sitting on the stairs with her brother fiddling with her needlework. “He’s a nice man, I’m sorry for what’s happening to him. Do you know what it is?” 

“Cancer,” Tommy responded. “He was hit hard in the War and the gas got into his lungs. He doesn’t have much longer.” 

Rachel and Henry seemed visibly upset. Everyone loved her Dad, he was a nice man. “He’d always give us sweets,” Henry sighed breaking the silence. Tears stained his doe-brown eyes. “He’d play with us and he was always a good listener.” 

One thing that everyone knew about David Rosenthal was that he was willing to be a surrogate dad to all the kids who had fathers who died in the War. He had known these men and wanted to make sure that his friend’s kids were okay. Mrs Levi’s husband Aaron had died in the War, leaving behind a six-year-old daughter and a one-year-old. A nice man all around, so it was no wonder everyone was distraught when they found out that Mr David Rosenthal was sick. The look on the Levis’s faces showed that finding out the man had cancer was even worse than saying that he was sick. At least if he was sick he could recover, with Cancer, not so much. It was a death sentence. 

“That damn gas,” Mrs Levi muttered. “How much longer.” 

“Doctor’s estimate around a month,” she said. 

“How’s your mother?” Mrs Levi asked. 

Anya went through the routine questions after this and answered the same answers as she did with everyone. ‘Her mother was holding up as to be expected.’ ‘It still hasn’t sunk in to Gal and Noam that their grandfather was dying’. The lie of ‘My brothers and I are doing as well.’ And the final answer of ‘If we need anything, we’ll let you know.’” The same monotonous answers to those questions on repeat daily. It was getting draining to them all. 

She hated how people handled her with kid gloves ever since they found out the news about her father. There would be a new layer to that when people found out who she was engaged to.  

“Oh,” Mrs Levi said. “Before I forget, Anya.” She handed Anya some rugalach, a crescent-rolled pastry that she could only assume was filled with chocolate. Something that was her father’s favourite.

“Thank you, Mrs Levi,” she smiled. “My father will love these.” 

She nodded her head and pulled Anya into a hug. She whispered in Anya’s ear, “es iz gelt far ir takt avek in dort. loyft, loyft azoy veyt fun dan vi du kenst.” (There's money for you tucked away in there. Run, run as far away from here as you can.) 

“aun hot meyn mshpkhh gehrget? di eyntsike vos shpirt zenen di kinder, ikh ken nisht loyfn, s'zenen aumetum aoygn,” Anya responded softly. (And have my family killed? The only ones spared are the kids, I can't run, there are eyes everywhere.) 

But she took the money anyway. She had her hiding place so that she did have some extra money to escape if she did need to. Anya and Tommy walked out of the house and Anya politely nodded to Mrs Levi. She could see the neatly tucked envelope disguised as a note to the family, but she was now worried for Mrs Levi, who could very well be next on the Shelby fit of rage. She didn’t want that to happen to Rachel and Henry. She didn’t know how she’d deal with having to look Henry in the eye every day in school knowing she was the one who caused his mother to be murdered. 

“Everyone around here’s worried about you,” Tommy pointed out. Anya nodded her head in agreement. 

Anya sighed. “And can you blame them?” She asked him. “You’re Thomas Shelby after all.” 

“You’ll soon be Mrs Thomas Shelby,” he said. 

“And some people think it’s my downfall,” she quipped. Opening the door, she was greeted by her mother who was slaving over a pot of chicken soup. Gal and Noam were engrossed in some game, and her brothers were in their father’s office talking in hushed tones. 

Her mother was the one who greeted them first. “Mr Shelby,” she said. “Come take a seat, I bring out vodka for you.” 

“Do we have any whisky?” Anya asked. She knew that they probably wouldn’t, but it was still work the ask. Tommy preferred whiskey to vodka. 

“Yes,” she said. “It’s Irish.” 

Mum probably bought it because of Tommy. Anya thought. 

Tommy nodded approvingly and took a seat. Anya quickly got up and looked at the soup, instead of noodles mazoh balls were in it. Her mother must’ve really been stressed if she made matzoh ball soup instead of chicken. Stirring it, she looked over at her father’s office where hushed voices speaking Yiddish were to be heard. The men were speaking in hushed and hurried tones as if they would be overheard. 

“Auntie Anya?” asked Gal. Gal looked exactly like her late mother. She’d inherited her mother’s curly blonde hair and light blue eyes that were the same colour as Tommy’s. She and small eyes, thin lips, and a small stature. Every day she looked more and more like her mother who had died of Influenza three years previously. She also inherited her mother’s sweet nature and disposition, but there was a mischievous, rebellious, and loyal streak that her father Abe had in his youth. 

“Yeah,” Anya responded looking down at the little girl who also bore a striking resemblance to her and her mother as well. 

“I’m hungry? When’s supper?” She asked tentatively. Her eyes went to Tommy.  

“Mr Shelby?” She whimpered. She bolted behind Anya who looked at Tommy and sighed. Gal was also scared of meeting new people, something she’d also inherited her father’s side of the family. “What’s he doing here? Please don’t kill my daddy.” 

“What gives you that impression?” Tommy asked. 

“You’re a ‘ganger’,” she said. 

“Gangster, Gal,” Anya corrected. “He’s a gangster. And he won’t hurt your or your dad. I won’t let him.” 

“I don’t hurt kin,” Tommy assured the girl. “Your wonderful Aunt here is my fiancée.” 

“I don’t see Auntie Anya getting married,” she announced as a matter of fact. Anya scoffed. 

“You’ll see me in a wedding dress by the end of the year,” Anya said. “And maybe one day you’ll do the same thing when you’re a bit older than me.” 

“I’m thirsty,” she said. 

“I’ll get you some water,” Anya smiled. 

“I want vodka,” she said. 

Anya looked at Gal and sighed. She was exacerbated. “Gal, I love you, but with dinner.” 

“Uncle Isaac gave me some!” She grumbled. The little girl pouted and crossed her arms, obviously annoyed that she couldn’t get the clear liquid that traumatised every Eastern European when they were younger. 

“Uncle Isaac’s Uncle Isaac,” Anya said. 

Her mother’s head peaked out from the other room. “Anya, can you help me for a moment.” 

Gal looked at her grandmother and then back to her Auntie, horrified that she’d be alone with Tommy. Anya leaned down to Gal’s level, “He’s not going to hurt you. He doesn’t hurt kids.” Gal nodded reluctantly, trusting her Auntie. Anya turned to Tommy and asked: “Will you watch Noam and Gal while I help my mum with a few things.” 

“Of course,” Tommy said. 

Anya walked away and into the room with her mother where the alcohol and a few other things were kept. 

Tommy had to admit that it had been awhile since he’d had to do something with a little kid. Sure, he’d helped raise Finn with his Aunt Pol and older brother Arthur, but it had been a while since he had to deal with kids. Noam, a boy who was the spitting image of his father, with jet-black curly hair yes, olive skin, and brown eyes that screamed ‘trouble maker’, looked at Tommy with distaste. “You’re the one marrying, Auntie Anya,” he said. 

“Yes, I am,” Tommy responded taking a seat next to the boy who was playing cards. Noam glared at him and Tommy had to do everything in his power not to shiver, that was the same glare that his father, Abe, had that sent many people shivering from the iciness of it. “What are you playing?” Tommy asked. 

“Poker,” he said. “My cousin Ben taught me how to play it. I was going to play with Uncle Asher”   

“I like poker,” Tommy said. He hadn’t played in a while, but he’d normally play with his brothers. Maybe a few other higher-ranking gang members or his uncle Charlie would play with them as well. But due to business, they never got the chance. But he missed playing. Tommy remembered back to the Trenches where one night he played the game with Asher, who had learnt it from his American cousin named Ben. He would later go on to meet Ben briefly when his unit arrived in France. 

“You know how to play?” Gal asked sitting down beside Tommy. 

“Yeah,” he said. “Your Uncle Asher taught me how when we were in the trenches.” 

Noam and Gal looked at Tommy in shock. “You served with your uncle?” 

“I served with your uncles and your dad,” Tommy sighed thinking about how lucky he was to have made it home. Home to see his Aunt Pol and little brother Finn. Back home to meet and get married to Anya. “We were all kids then.” He sighed. 

“Dad doesn’t like to talk about the war,” Noam sighed. 

“Do you want to start a game while we wait for your family?” Tommy asked. 

Noam nodded his head and dealt them in. Gal sat beside them playing with a stuffed tiger he saw Anya have one day after they were done having sex and watched them interestingly. 

“Why doesn’t Daddy talk about the war?” Gal asked. 

Tommy hesitated to answer her. Tommy had spared Finn the details of the war, being only Gal’s age when he came back from France. “We saw a lot of things,” he sighed. He thought of the cannon fire, how men no older than him lay among the wreckage of the French Countryside. The Somme and Verdunne were littered with the bodies of men who had their entire lives ahead of them. His Aunt Pol had told him one night that ‘it was a miracle that you all made it back from France.’ And she was right. He remembered on the train ride back to Birmingham from London and how the five Rosenthal men and the three Shelby men all came back alive and David voicing it. The rest of them nodded. He remembered coming home and seeing men changed by war and the shell shock that came with it. 

He thought of how Arthur often acted out while Tommy and Finn had flashbacks in their sleep. How Tommy used Opium for years and then switched to Cannabis later in life. He thought of Danny Whizz-Bang, real name being Danny Owen, who would later be killed because of a flashback. The flashbacks were so violent that he’d cause damage to property or people that he got the cruel nickname.

He closed his and took a deep breath, thinking of telling them how in France Abe had held off a group of German soldiers, killing them in the process while Tommy was able to get word to the others in the tunnels that there were soldiers and to alert the commander. When the group came back, the German soldiers lay dead on the ground. Abraham Abel Rosenthal looked exhausted, but he’d fended off a group of soldiers. He’d saved their lives in the Trenches. Tommy returned the favour a year from then, also saving thousands of allied lives in the process like Abe had done before him underneath the tunnels. 

“I’ll tell you guys when you’re older,” he said. “I’ll also let your father tell it in his time.” 

Noam muttered and continued dealing in, placing wooden blocks between the two of them. The concentrated look on his face reminded Tommy of his late mother Sarah, who died three years before. He remembered losing his mother at a young age as well. And he could see the toll that it took on Abe every time he’d interacted with the man. 

“They always say that,” grumbled Gal. 

He remembered the same conversation he had with Finn all those years ago about this very same thing. He knew that Abe had this conversation with them before. “When you’re older,” Anya said. “You playing Poker?” She asked. 

He nodded his head. “Asher, do you want to join in?” 

“Sure,” Asher said, stunned at how good he was with the kids. The way Tommy was acting with them, it stirred up something inside her that she hadn’t felt before.  

Anya had always loved kids, other people’s kids mind you. She loved her niece and nephew and she loved being a teacher. She had never felt the inklination to have them though. Now, looking at Tommy, she thought differently. Maybe she could have a family. Now, that inkling was now coming through. 

“They’ll have to come over,” Tommy said looking at Anya. 

“Where?” Anya asked. 

“Our place,” he said. “You spend a lot of time with them. My place is closer to school, they’ll be able to get there quicker.” 

“We get our own room?” asked Noam in shock. 

“I’ve never had my own room before,” Gal whispered. 

Abe looked into Tommy’s blue eyes. Tommy could tell then and there that he had the oldest Rosenthal sibling’s approval. As well as her entire family’s approval. “And now you will with…” Abe trailed off. 

“Your Uncle Tommy,” Tommy said without thinking. He felt confident being ‘Uncle Tommy’ to Noam and Gal. He cared about them because Anya cared about them. He always smiled at their names and saw them around town with Anya who would often sneak them sweets and other treats. He remembered throwing the ball back to Noam when he was playing in the streets with a few boys from school with a couple months to go. He smiled when Gal would be around town with Anya, clinging to her and hanging on to her every word. Anya smiled and nodded as she complained about her brother. 

“Do you want to stay for dinner? We have a lot,” Chaya asked. 

Tommy nodded his head, happy knowing that this would go as smoothly as it could possibly be.

[sweet-pea-channie]

Forbidden Love - S.S. AU PT.4

Author: @sweet-pea-channie​

Words: +8.3k

Warnings: angst, anxiety, fluff, smut, fingering, oral (f receiving), unprotected sex (obviously since this takes place in the 1600′s), multiple orgasm (god I’m not so good with warnings)

A/N: Part four of Forbidden Love for you guys! This series is coming to an end :( only one more part! I’m super sad since I really love this. I hope you guys enjoy this part as much as I did writing it!

Do you want to be added to the taglist? Let me know!

Masterlist - Series Masterlist

"Come on, Y/N. Today is a special day! Maybe there's one for you this time," Xena said as she laced up your dress. 

A sigh escaped you, and you looked at her through the mirror in front of you. "I don't feel like it anymore, Xena. Why are the men here so different?"

"Well, I don't know what kind of men there were with you before, but no men in the world are as charming as the ones here in Monaco."

Yes, that's right, Monaco. Queen Claudia had sent you all the way to Monaco. Almost 7000 miles away from your old home, the ship you were traveling on was docked and with a small bag of food and a few coins you were sent off the ship. One could think that you were now completely lost. You didn't know anyone here, you were in a foreign country, and especially in a country where they didn't speak your language. But the letter that you held tightly in your hand was the spark of hope for you. 

You couldn't believe it when your father put the letter in your hand. After all, it was a letter from King Noah himself. Even less could you believe what you read in the letter. You only dared to read the letter on the ship that first night after you had made sure that no one saw the letter. After all, everyone on the ship knew that you were banished from the country by the queen. However, they didn't treat you that way. The sailors and women were very kind and treated you like one of them. 

So, when you first set foot on the land of Monaco, you walked from the harbor into the city and made your way to a small pub. The last meal on board was already somewhat longer ago, and your stomach growled diligently. Once in the pub, you tried to communicate with what you had been taught on the ship. After all, the weeks on the ship had to be good for something. 

Alone in a corner of the restaurant, you unpacked the letter from Noah from the bag and looked at it closely. You had read it almost every evening to understand what it was about, but now that you were really here, you had to read it again very carefully.

Y/N

I am sorry for what you had to go through and that I could not be there. Your father came rushing to me and told me what you might be facing. I am writing these lines to you now to make your future life a little easier. I can tell you one more thing in advance. I have known all along about you and my son Stiles, or rather suspected it, until I discovered you two once during my daily walk through the garden. Don't worry, if I had minded, you would have been gone much sooner. But I saw how happy my son was when he came back from your meetings, and how happy he was always when he could see you. 

After I got sick, he wasn't doing well at all, but you were the one carrying his hope. You helped him look forward and make him happy again, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don't know how Stiles would be doing now if you hadn't been there for him. 

I am even more sorry that you have to leave us and your loved ones. 

I will arrange everything so that you will come to Monaco and not to Morea, where she would probably prefer to send you. I have good contacts in Monaco and will clear your name there. In the envelope you will find other letters from me, which you will give to certain people on the spot. They will then arrange everything for you. 

 First go to the restaurant directly on the road leading to the harbor when you arrive and fortify yourself. There you will get to know the traditional local food. This is important so that you are familiar with it. Ask the waitress for Beatrice, the seamstress. She will tell you how to get there. This is your next stop. Give her the letter with her name on it. She will know what to do. 

 She will get you a nice dress, you can tell her your favorite color, and she will take that into consideration. Don't worry about any expenses. I will take care of that. I don't want you to feel bad. 

 Please take care of yourself, I will do the same here locally with Stiles and your family while I still can. Maybe our paths will lead back to each other. 

 Until then, take care, Lady Y/N. 

 Noah.

Still, up to that time you were very confused about the choice of words he had made in his letter to you, Lady Y/N. You couldn't understand what he meant, at least not until you arrived at the tailor Beatrice.  

You handed her the letter from Noah, which she read before taking you to the back of the tailor shop. There, as Noah's letter also said, you were given a dress of your own. But not one that you already wore every day. It was one of the beautiful dresses like the ones worn in the castle. You had chosen an olive-colored dress with dark, almost black ornaments on it. 

 "You seem to have been very special to Noah, Y/N," Beatrice said as she laid a hand on the dress and made the final alterations while you sat in the chair next to her in your old clothes still. 

"Except, he didn't really let on," you replied, watching her diligently. 

"Not for everyone, he would do what he does for you. It's not for nothing that he awards you the right to be a lady-in-waiting to the future Queen of Monaco." 

"He does what?" you asked in amazement, getting up from your chair. "He can't just do that, can he?" 

"He's the king of New Spain. His kingdom is very big, one of the biggest on this side of the world. He has all the power to make that happen. He doesn't want your life to get any harder here, now that you've lost everything. Come here, read his letter to me." And she was right. Noah had just given you the right to be a lady-in-waiting at the castle of Monaco to assist the future queen. 

You could hardly believe your luck, even if you were not yet in a position to consider yourself lucky. And so you found your way to the castle. 

The queen had already been waiting for you and received you as warmly as no one had ever done before. Beatrice had given you a few tips on how to behave from now on at the castle and, shortly before you set off, gave you a small chest that she had stowed away with her. 

"For the bad days, Noah said." And you couldn't believe your eyes again because the chest was full of gold coins and jewelry. 

"You don't want it to look like you're poor. You've come from one of the biggest castles in the West, and you shouldn't leave the impression there that you hadn't been a simple kitchen worker at the castle before."

Well, and that was all almost over 2 years ago now. In the meantime, you were a woman who grew up as someone you could never have imagined before. You maintained the title you had received thanks to Noah, and so you became one of the most popular ladies-in-waiting of the daughter of the Queen of Monaco.

Adela, the princess, was quite a bit younger than you and was only now at an age to enter into marriage, but the years you were able to spend with her left a great mark on you. The other ladies of the court were also younger than you, and so you had become the strongest of them. They envied your cooking skills, even though you had never needed them here. But when you spent the days in the garden, and you could tell them what was growing here and how long it took until the vegetables were ripe, they were always surprised by you. 

No one could figure out your secret. You and Beatrice made sure that no one ever found out. Even though you were with her in the tailor shop more often than some of the others from the castle, no one seemed to notice anything. Beatrice also once made sure that a letter from you was returned to the castle, but so far, there has never been an answer. Perhaps your letter never arrived, or Claudia got hold of it before it could reach Stiles or Noah. Or maybe Stiles never wanted to answer, after all, he had been king for over two years now and ruled the land with his wife. The thought of that broke your heart again and again. But the distance between you made it easier to forget all that. 

That was all summed up in a nutshell when you arrived here at the castle. Since then, a lot of things have happened here. Adela, of course, wanted her ladies-in-waiting to be in happy hands, and so she made it her business to find suitable men for you, Xena and Charlene. But every man who entered the castle looking for a wife didn't seem to be right for you. After all, they were all not Stiles. 

"I think that's a rumor, Xena," you laughed, turning to her, now lacing up her dress. Today was Adele's 17th birthday and her future husband had made his way to the castle with plenty of men at his side. Adele had high hopes that one of them might be something for you or Charlene, since Xena was already in steady hands. 

"And what about Lord Archie? He was a very charming man, too, wasn't he?" she threw back, seeing the grin on your face. 

"He was, indeed. I wouldn't have chosen to marry him otherwise." 

"Too bad he fell in the battle for Jardin," Xena sighed. "Your children would have been beautiful, I'm sure!" 

Lord Archie came to the castle with his troops to assist the king in a battle about a year after you arrived in Monaco. Lord Archie was originally from France, so since the alliances with France were close, the king had a good chance. He also won the battle, but not all the men came back. Among them was Lord Archie. He had died in the battle shortly after asking for your hand in marriage.

Once again you were devastated, not as much as with Stiles, but that was also a setback for you. Since then, you had actually sworn to yourself that men were nothing for you. They brought you nothing but heartache, and you didn't want to go through that again. 

"At least he left you something. Imagine if he still had siblings, you wouldn't have any of that." 

"But that doesn't do me much good if I end up alone again. All that money doesn't replace a person you used to feel something for. Imagine Henry dies now and leaves you all his money... how would you feel?" you asked Xena.

"Hmm, actually, I don't want to imagine that. I'm sorry I said it that way. I know you had someone back home that you had to leave behind. But why can't you just go back? Everyone at the castle would be happy to see you again," Xena asked again. She had asked you many times why you couldn't go back. And several times you told her that it was more complicated than you thought and that you would be better off here. 

"You know that. It's complicated. All the court ladies decided to leave after the princess died. It just wasn't the same anymore. And that's how I was able to meet you guys! And look at us, now we're the best friends someone could imagine," you replied, slinging an arm over her shoulder. 

"Come on, let's pick out some jewelry from my box, I'm sure it will make me feel better and more beautiful. Maybe then I'll have more confidence and find someone I like today." 

"That's a great idea, Y/N!" exclaimed Xena, hurrying over to your treasure chest that Beatrice had given you back then, which originally came from Noah. 

Xena was always surprised at the contents of your chest and couldn't believe you were in possession of such a thing. That showed her how popular you must have been at the castle. Xena and you went to pick out some suitable jewelry for the event before heading to Adela's, who was already waiting for you. Charlene was already in her room, helping her into her dress. But when the two of them saw you, they let out a short squeal of delight. 

"You look so fabulous! I'm just the supporting cast now!" 

"Oh nonsense," you denied Adela's statement. 

"It's your day. It's your birthday today! All eyes will be focused on you, believe me." 

"I know one pair of eyes that will definitely be focused on you the whole time... and that's Richard's. I'm sure he can't wait to marry you!" added Charlene. 

"Are you nervous about the wedding night yet? About... you know what, when everyone has to watch you?" 

"Yes," Adela confessed, lowering her head. You couldn't imagine how great the pressure must be when the first time you were a princess, the whole castle was watching you and could really hear every single move and sound. "Every day the pressure gets higher and higher, and I'm afraid of doing something wrong."

"Well, you can't worry about it. I'm sure Richard will make sure you're as comfortable as can be," you told her, also helping Charlene get ready now.

"That's easy for you to say, you've been through all this with Lord Archie," Charlene sighed, not knowing of course that you'd already had your first time with Stiles.

"I have a harder time finding someone for that, remember. Most men are looking for a pure and not yet disfigured young woman," you added. 

"I'm sure there will be some handsome men there today. I've already heard that the Prince of France is sending his cousins. And a little birdie told me that one of them is looking for a mature and experienced woman. He has already heard about you, Y/N, and would like to meet you today," Adela almost whispered, winking at you. "I think the carriage has already arrived. I can't wait to see who's among them." 

"Then let's hurry up, so we can receive them quickly!" cheered Charlene and set to work diligently. 

And in no time you had helped Adela get dressed up for her birthday. It was funny to see it all from a different perspective. You used to stand in the kitchen and slave all morning and noon for such events, just so the others could shovel their stomachs full. And now you were the one who could shovel the food into yourself. You appreciated all the more what was put on your table, and you also made sure to always thank the kitchen helpers should you encounter them in the courtyard. The princess had liked it very much that you were like that. It showed her what a big heart you had, and not how most at the castle treated people by titles. 

So, you set off for the great hall, where the chatter was already very loud and rang through the halls of the castle. On the way there you met numerous guests who already expressed their congratulations to the princess and had a short conversation with you. So, it took a while until you finally arrived in the great hall.

The atmosphere was excellent. Music was already being played by the musicians from the harbor, and the guests were already drinking the excellent wine from France that had arrived at the castle a few days earlier and had delighted everyone. For a moment, you could almost forget that this was actually not your life. 

When the eyes fell on you, space was jerkily made for the princess to proceed to her parents, with you by her side. Adela smiled at the guests and waved to some of them before she was with her parents, who embraced her and congratulated her one more time in front of the guests. 

"Thank you all for coming out in such great numbers! I am very happy to welcome you all here. Once again, we will celebrate my birthday together before I enter into the act of marriage. Therefore, I am glad that my fiancé Richard is also here at the castle today to celebrate with us, after he was successful in bringing more troops in Andorra to our side," Adela testified and smiled at Richard, who was standing on the other side of the hall. Adela uttered a few more words before officially releasing the buffet and mingling with the guests.

Naturally, the first place she went was to Richard, the prince from Andorra. Charlene, Xena and you followed her there, of course. Richard also greeted you and began to have a conversation with you, while he kept looking around as if he were looking for someone, which of course Adela noticed immediately. She turned her head as well, trying to spot someone. 

"Who are you waiting for?" 

"For the gentlemen from France. They were here in the hall once before, but then excused themselves to go to their rooms. I think they will arrive here again any moment," Richard replied.

"Oh, I'm so excited about that," Adela was pleased to hear. "Maybe there really will be someone for my friends this time. I can't even look at it anymore that Charlene and Y/N are still alone." 

You rolled your eyes in front of her and shook your head. Adela knew for a fact that you weren't desperate for a man. One last time, Richard stretched his head before whistling loudly and drawing attention to himself by waving to the men. You all turned and watched as the men approached you with smiles on their faces. 

"There they are." The men came closer and closer to you, and Richard pushed past you a bit to be able to say hello to them first. 

"Men, that here is my beloved fiancée Adela," he introduced Adela and pushed her next to him with his hand on her back. Adela greeted the men and then turned to you with a look on her face that showed you shouldn't be so shy. 

"It's nice to meet you. I have already heard a lot about you. May I take the liberty of introducing you to my ladies-in-waiting, Charlene, Y/N, and Xena." You smiled at Adela before casting your gaze to the cousins of Prince Francis of France.

From right to left, you looked at them all and stopped at the last one with your gaze. Your eyes snapped open, and your breath stopped, your heart began to beat furiously, and not from excitement. No, only one person could trigger that feeling and that was Stiles. 

With an innocent look, he stood in front of you and pretended not to know you. He reached out his hand and introduced himself to you by the name Stephan. And for a brief moment, you weren't sure if it was really Stiles standing in front of you or not. But the two light squeezes he gave your hand while you were still holding his showed you that it was really him. 

A soft gulp escaped your lips, and you had to fight not to start crying here and now. Stiles could feel it too and the features on his face changed quickly, but he couldn't let on that he already knew you. So, he was forced to let go of your hand, so you could introduce yourself to the others. Adela was talking to the men, but you didn't even notice. You were just too shocked by the fact that Stiles was here in the castle of Monaco, presenting himself as a cousin of the French prince. 

Time flew by when Adela was talking to them, but it felt like an eternity to you. You didn't know how to handle the situation. Should you talk to him normally, or ignore him to avoid attention? But your questions were answered for you as Stiles deftly stood next to you and whispered softly in your ear. 

"Meet me outside the parade rooms." Stiles turned away from you again and apologized to the princess. She smiled briefly at him and walked through the crowd, then finally disappeared from your sight. As soon as he was gone, you could feel a tightness in your chest, the same one you felt when you had to leave the castle and leave Stiles behind. It felt like a renewed heartbreak, even though Stiles was still here in the castle. 

You never expected to see him again, the chance would have been there, but if it was, then definitely not here in Monaco. You had least expected that.

You could feel the tightness in your chest getting worse, and you were also having some shortness of breath. Xena, who was standing next to you, saw that you were not well. She put a hand on your shoulder and asked if you were okay.

"I think I need to go out for some fresh air. The dress is about tight today," you replied, trying to smile at her.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"That'll be fine. Thank you, Charlene. You guys enjoy the party without me already. It’s not going to run away. I'll get something out of it too," you assured her, apologizing to the others still standing around you. 

Your feet carried you out of the hall faster than you thought possible, and as soon as you left the hall, you sprinted off in the direction Stiles was heading. Your head was completely empty, not a single thought was in your head, the only thing you wanted was just to be with Stiles. 

So with your dress in your hands you ran through the corridors of the castle. Your footsteps were currently the only ones to be heard far and wide. You took the next corridor to your right and stopped where you were because at the end of the corridor he was standing. Stiles turned and looked at your face before a smile spread across his. "Y/N."

Another sob escaped you before you let out one last sprint and jumped right into Stiles' arms. Stiles wrapped his arms tightly around your body and spun you around in the air, while you wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed your head into his neck. You couldn't get a single word out while you held him so tightly against you. The only thing that escaped your lips were the sobs that could be heard now and then.

Stiles carefully let you back out of the ground, but didn't dare to let go of you. He put a hand on your head and rested his cheek on your head. A tear escaped his eyes as well, because he also couldn't believe his eyes that he was holding you in his arms again. He didn't think it was possible to ever see you again until his father had told him where he had taken you on his deathbed.

"Please don't let go," you murmured, hugging him even tighter than was actually possible. Stiles shook his head and just enjoyed the moment, noticing how slowly your heartbeat returned to normal, and you loosened your grip on him a bit. He took advantage of the moment and held you an arm's length away from him to take a good look at you.

With his hand, he stroked your cheek once gently before you rested your head in his hand and closed your eyes for a moment. "You're still just as beautiful as you were then."

"Stiles," you whispered, opening your eyes again. "As happy as I am to see you again, what are you doing here?"

Stiles looked around once to make sure no one was there, but it was all too risky for him anyway. He didn't want to endanger your life again. "Can we go somewhere less disturbed?"

You nodded and took his hand in yours before making your way down the hallway of your rooms. "I can hardly believe you're really here."

"Believe me, it wasn't an easy way to get here," Stiles replied, squeezing your hand tightly once as he followed you through the halls of the castle. "I couldn't believe it when I found out where you were supposed to be. And even less could I believe it that you were now standing before me as a lady-in-waiting. How did you manage that?" 

"Wait," you whispered, opening the door to your room. The guard in the hallway had seen you, and Stiles, too. But for him, it was one of the Prince of France's cousins, so no need to worry. You let the door fall shut behind you and sealed it so that no one could disturb you. Stiles had let go of your hand when entering the room and looked around your room once while you stopped at the door to watch him. 

In the meantime, he found his way to the wooden chest that you had taken from Beatrice at that time, in which all the gold and jewelry had been hidden inside. "This belonged to my father," he said, stroking the chest. "This is where he carved his initials. How did you get it?" 

"I think I need to tell you from the beginning for once, don't you?" you asked, walking toward him. Stiles nodded cautiously and reached out his hand to you. You took his hand in yours and pulled him completely towards you to hug him again. He put his arms around you and exhaled loudly once to release all the pressure he had the last weeks. 

 "Let's sit over here," you said as you pulled away from him and pointed to the small sofa next to the wood stove, which was still off. Stiles nodded and sat down first, followed by you. But before you could sit down next to him, you ran again to the wooden chest and took out the letter he had given you. 

"I owe it all to your father," you began, handing Stiles the letter from his father. He took it from your hand and read it quickly before his eyes turned back to you. "He made it possible for me to live here." 

"I expected anything when he told me you were here at the Castle of Monaco. I thought you'd be back working in the kitchen or something. But then the men in France had told all these stories. You know, Lord Archie was a very well known and liked man there. They were devastated when he was killed in battle. But they told about this young woman who was waiting for him in Monaco and kept mentioning your name. I knew then it could only have been you," he said, putting the letter aside to take your hand in his. 

"I'm sorry, Stiles. I didn't expect to ever see you again. And somehow I had to move on. Archie was a very nice man who promised me a lot of things," you apologized to him. 

"You have nothing to apologize for, Y/N. If I do, I do. I should have gone in search of you much earlier. But I didn't get the information about where Father had sent you until recently. I've always been firmly convinced that Mother had her fingers in the-" 

"I'm sure she still thinks that to this day," you interrupted him. "I'm sure that if she had found out where I was, I wouldn't be here anymore. Especially not if she knew I was one of the ladies-in-waiting here at the castle. Please convey my deepest thanks to your father for this." 

"Father is dead," Stiles replied curtly. "He first told me where you were just before he died. As a result, I immediately made my way here."

"I'm so sorry about that, Stiles. But what about Caroline? What about your mother? What if they find out where you are?" 

"I gave a good reason to my mother why I'm traveling, she certainly won't question it," he replied. 

 "And Caroline?" you asked. 

"Caroline recently bled to death giving birth to our son. Neither of them survived the birth." 

"Oh, God, Stiles," you exclaimed, slapping a hand over your mouth. "I'm sorry to hear that." 

Stiles nodded and looked down at the floor for a moment. "You know, I've tried all these years to forget you and build a future with Caroline. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself love Caroline. It was a slap in the face that I lost my wife and my son in one day, but I grieved much more for my son and not for Caroline because she just hadn't meant to me what she should have. And while she was lying there on the bed, completely bleeding to death, I couldn't help but imagine how I would have felt if you had been lying there. I would have been devastated. That's why, please tell me you still feel the same way about me as you did then." Stiles looked at you again and squeezed your hand to somehow get a reaction out of you. But you were too shocked. Of course, you could have thought that was the only reason he had come here. Stiles wouldn't have come all this way if he didn't still have feelings for you. "Please say something, Y/N," he begged you. 

"Stiles, I..." you started, stopping yourself when you noticed a tear running down your cheek. Stiles saw it too and wiped it from your cheek with his thumb. He kept his hand on your cheek as he did so. "I don't think a single day has gone by that I haven't thought of you." 

Stiles smiled at you and tucked a strand of hair behind your ears that was hanging in your face. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you look with your hair down?" 

"You've never seen me with my hair down. We were never allowed to wear it down in the kitchen," you corrected him. 

 "Just accept my compliment," he whispered, coming closer and closer to your face. 

"Thank you," you finally replied when you could already feel Stiles' breath on your face. 

"I need to hear it, Y/N. Please tell me you still love me as much as I love you," Stiles begged you just before his lips touched yours. He wanted to hear the words from you first, he wanted to be 100% sure that you still felt the same way about him. 

"Yes, Stiles, I still love you," you breathed out with a smile on your lips. Stiles exhaled in relief and finally closed the distance between the two of you. His soft lips touched yours and instantly the feeling of warmth permeated you. No matter how long it had been since you last saw Stiles, your body still responded the same way it had before. 

You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer to you. Stiles smiled into the kiss and wiped his tongue along your lower lip. You granted him entry and felt him fighting with his tongue against yours. When it finally became too much, and you had to catch your breath, you broke away from him and rested your forehead on his to take a deep breath. 

"You've still got me wrapped around your finger like you used to do," Stiles whispered, detaching himself from you completely by standing up and holding his hand out to you. You didn't know what he was up to, but you took his hand and stood up. 

"I think I deserve a dance with this beautiful woman in front of me, don't you think?" 

"What, here?" you laughed, looking around your room. 

"No, in the hall with the others. I'm going to show all those other men out there what a beautiful woman I have by my side." 

"Okay."

The evening couldn't have gone any better. You had an amazing time with Stiles. You spent almost the whole evening dancing, experiencing everything you never could. Even your friends could see that you enjoyed the evening very much with Stiles. But, as it was bound to happen, the time had come for the men to leave the country again. 

Stiles and the men had spent two full days here at the castle before the carriage would leave the next morning to return to France. Those two days were when you spent most of your time together. As good as you could, at least. Everyone had their obligations at the castle that they had to fulfill, but Adela gave you most of her time off whenever she saw Stiles near you. 

The last evening was approaching, and you were getting ready for court. The queen had organized some jousting and shows to be held outside and since it was already quite cold, you had to dress warmly. 

There was a knock at your door, and you quickly wrapped the robe around your body. It was probably just Charlene or Xena, but you couldn't risk anyone seeing you lightly dressed. So carefully, you opened the door and let out a relieved sigh when you saw Stiles standing outside your room door. 

"Come in," you smiled at him and opened the door completely for him.

"Shouldn't you be outside by now?" he asked as he closed the door behind him and walked after you.

"I was a little lost in thoughts," you admitted, disappearing behind the movable wall to finish changing. Stiles nodded, though you couldn't see it anymore, and thought about how best to put his thoughts into words. But he was too distracted when he could make out your silhouette through the partition.

Stiles struggled with himself for a while, but then couldn't resist his lusts. He had been holding back for the last few days, knowing that the chances of convincing you of his plan wouldn't work out that way. So, he slowly crept behind the partition to you and put his hands on your hips. 

You had already put on the bodice and were about to lace it up, but you stopped when you noticed Stiles behind you. At first, you thought he was going to help you, but after noticing that your bodice was loosening again, you knew it was going to go in the completely opposite direction.

"Stiles," you breathed out softly in a warning tone. 

 "Yes?" he asked, opening your bodice wider and wider until he could slip it over your arms, and it fell to the floor. 

 "We need to get out to the others." 

"No one would notice if we were missing," he murmured, pressing soft kisses to your shoulders that were now free. The white blouse you wore underneath was off-shoulder, showing your cleavage, which Stiles couldn't see from behind, though. You put your head slightly to the side to give Stiles more space, although inwardly you wanted to fight against it, as you really didn't want to waste any time. 

"Adela will definitely notice if I'm not there," you said. 

"Adela will be sitting with Richard at her parents' side. She won't notice. If someone does, it's the men you've wrapped around your finger," he whispered, next making a move on your skirt, which you had already tied tightly. 

As the cord slowly came undone, Stiles turned you around. He opened the skirt fully and helped you step out of the large robe. Without continuing to fight it, you just let him do it. After all, you too craved some tenderness from Stiles. "Bit unfair that you're still fully clothed."

Stiles smiled at your choice of words and took a step back to remove his coat. You watched him take off one piece of clothing after another until finally, he was still standing in front of you in his pants. His body had evolved over the last few years. He no longer looked like the young 17-year-old you once knew. Through all the training with the sword, Stiles had gained muscles and became broader and more masculine. A sight you couldn't resist, anyway. 

You held out your hand for him, which of course he immediately reached for, and pulled him behind you. On the way to your bed, you walked with him past the door and locked it to make sure no one would disturb you. Stiles grinned when he heard the lock and pulled on your hand, causing you to turn around and fall against his bare chest. 

He looked down at you and pressed his lips together before moistening them and lowering his head to place his lips on yours. The kiss was gentle and tender at first until you wrapped your arms around his neck. His hands traveled down your sides until they stopped at your back, just above your ass. You deepened the kiss and moaned as his hands ran further down, holding onto your ass.

Stiles let his tongue slide over your lips and explored the inside of your mouth. You pulled back, but Stiles couldn't stop. He placed wet kisses along your jaw, down your neck until he stopped just above your collarbone and began sucking there. You leaned your head to the side and closed your eyes while running your fingers through his hair. But the loss of his lips on yours was too strong, so you took his face in your hands and threw your lips roughly on his. Stiles moaned slightly, but immediately kissed you back.

His hands fumbled with the blouse you were still wearing, and so you pushed him away from you again to pull the blouse over your head and put it on the nearest object. Stiles admired your body, and you could see the sparkle in his eyes.

You threw yourself against him and wrapped your arms around his neck, pressing your lips firm against his. Stiles grabbed your ass again and made you jump into his arms. His hands were holding you up as your legs were wrapped around his body.

This was so different from the last few times you slept with Stiles. There was so much more at play here. It was more dramatic, more exciting, and there was just so much more emotion.

Stiles stumbled to your bed and threw you on it before he hovered over you and slipped between your legs. His crotch was grinding against yours while he kissed you all along your neck. You arched your back and Stiles slipped his hands under it. 

"This need to be off, too,“ he mumbled and slipped his fingers over the seam of your underwear. He threw the article through the room before he went straight ahead and put his lips around your left nipple. 

You couldn’t control yourself anymore while he pleased your tits, so you fumbled with the cords on his pants. Stiles pulled away and got back on his feed to get his pants off. Once it was off, Stiles got back on the bed and slipped between your legs once again, but you grabbed onto his biceps and wrapped your legs around his waist to turn you over. 

He was surprised but smiled as you straddled his waist and stared at his body, You grinned and bit on your bottom lips before you lowered your head and ran your tongue from his happy trail all the way up to his neck. 

"Oh my god,“ Stiles mumbled and jerked his hips upwards, which caused you to shriek. You sat back up straight and smiled at him before he flipped you over again. He held your face as he kissed you fiercely and at that moment, you knew that you really needed him. 

While your tongues played together, you wrapped your legs around his waist again and pressed your throbbing core against his growing bulge. "Stiles,“ you moaned through the kiss. "Please, I need you.“ 

Stiles broke the kiss and placed his lips on your belly button. You arched your back and ran your hands over his bare back. His lips trailed down to your lower stomach, where he stopped and looked up at you. He spread your legs apart and held your inner thighs while he kept looking at you. 

"Please,“ you begged and pushed your hips further down on the mattress. Stiles didn’t hesitate and put his lips around your clit. Your hands gripped the white bedsheets while he pleased you. Your breath quickened. He slipped one of his fingers through your entrance and pumped slowly. 

"More, Stiles. I need more of you,“ you moaned. 

"As you wish, m’lady,“ he replied and pushed a second finger down your core. He began to scissor you until you yelled out his name and squealed when his pace quickened while he sucked your slit again. 

You whimpered slightly, unable to form words. You could barely process what he was doing as the knot inside of you unraveled faster than ever, Every muscle inside of you spasmed, juices spraying from your core and coating his fingers and the sheets. His thrusts eased as he rode you through the orgasms. He pulled his fingers out of your pussy and licked them clean, while he never broke eye contact. "I can’t get enough of you, Y/N. I need you so badly.“ 

"Then what are you waiting for?“ you breathed out, still trying to catch your breath after the orgasm. Stiles ripped his underwear down his legs and kissed you again. He grabbed your hands and held them above your head as his cock slid along your folds, slipping in without any help. You moaned out loud, his lips disconnecting once he was hilt deep.

He waited a few seconds until he trusted into you. His hips met yours each time he thrust deep into you. When he’d gotten in a few thrusts, you began to get adjusted to the rhythm. The harsh sounds of skin slapping against skin filled the room, your ears absorbing every groan he made. 

You moved in sync, your hips grinding up to meet each thrust, resulting in a new degree of pleasure being achieved. Stiles let go of your hands and pushed your hips down on the mattress. "Stop doing this, or I won’t last long.“ 

You grinned and wrapped your arms around his neck. He worked up to a desperate pace. Stiles’s heavy breath fanned across your neck as he continued to thrust forward. "So good,“ he mumbled, words barely making it to you through the heavy breathing. 

You were reaching your second orgasm slowly until he stopped and slipped his dick out of you. You stared at him in disbelief and looked at him shockingly. He grabbed your hips and pulled you over until you were straddling his hips. "Come on, show me what you can do.“ 

You grinned at him and slowly sank down on his cock, until he was deep inside of you. The new position resulted in his tip colliding against different spots as you began to move your hips. 

You let out a squeal when his finger brushed against your swollen nub. The other hand moved to grasp your hip, helping you to rock your hips against his. His one hand squeezed your side while the other played with your clit. Fingers digging into your hips, he began to pound up, reaching an even deeper point inside of you. He was definitely chasing after the high you were both craving for. 

Hitting that one spot every time and rubbing on your slit, Stiles quickly had you hanging on the edge of your climax. He pounded deeper and faster up to you. A continuous stream of curses fell from your lips as he found the perfect angle that had your entire core feeling as if it were on fire. It took another few thrusts until you put your head back and rolled your eyes as you came, walls clenching around his length. You screamed his name as Stiles continued to carry his rhythm. 

Stiles cursed under his breath, and he began to shake. His motions grew sloppier and messier as he approached his orgasm. He pulled you down to him for one final kiss, knowing he was about to burst. 

 His cock twitched against your walls, his groan lost on your lips. Streams of hot, white cum filled your walls, his thrusts easing, so you could ride out his orgasm. His hands stopped your hips before it got too much for him, and you crushed him completely. With his cock still inside you, you both caught your breaths until you pulled him out and laid down next to him.

"Come back with me," he murmured against your temple as he gave you a kiss and pulled you close to him. 

 "Stiles," you breathed out softly, hiding your face in his chest. You'd been afraid he was going to ask that, and though there was nothing else you'd rather do, you knew it wasn't possible. 

"It's not that simple." 

"What's not that simple about it?" he asked. His voice was still tender, there was no hint of incomprehension or anger. 

"Your mother. She would never understand all this. Don't forget that I've been bonded forever. I can't just come back and have a life together with you. I-" 

"I think you're forgetting that I'm the king now, not my mother. I don't care what orders and rules she created back then. My mother is looking for a new wife for me and once again I can't marry someone that's not you. I can't, Y/N," he interrupted you, stroking your back. 

You looked up at him and gave him a soft smile while trying to find the best words. "My life couldn't be better right now, Stiles. Of course, it would be even better if I could share it with you, but I can't. Here I am a recognized person, so many paths are open to me. Back home, I can't do all that. Even if you are the king, you can't change the fact that I am really just a simple kitchen servant." 

"But you are not a simple kitchen maid. You're much more than that," Stiles argued with you, pushing off the bed slightly by leaning on his forearms. "I don't want to leave you here. I don't want any of those men out there making a pass at you." 

"If you really love me, Stiles, then you'll understand why I can't come with you. As much as I'd like to, I can't, I'm sorry," you replied, resting your hand on his cheek. "Please forgive me." 

Stiles exhaled loudly and shook his head with his eyes closed. "I thought that I didn't have to leave here alone. Is there really no way you could walk me home?" 

You pressed your lips together and shook your head carefully. Meanwhile, you could feel tears forming in your eyes. "I'd love to come with you, but I can't. I have everything I need here, friends-" 

"What good are your friends when I'm miles away from here?" "They help me patch up my heart when you leave again," you replied, wiping away the tear that was now running down your cheek. 

Stiles sighed and laid back on the bed before hugging you close. "Then at least let me spend the last few hours with you, like our paths won't part again." 

"Okay." 

As the first rays of sunlight shone through the windows of your room, Stiles rubbed his eyes and stretched out his arms. He wasn't ready to leave the castle and Monaco without you, and he was sure he'd try anything again to get you in the carriage with him. He turned around with a smile on his lips and saw that the bed next to him was already empty. 

He quickly looked around the room, hoping to see you standing somewhere, but you were nowhere to be found. He quickly jumped up and reached for his underwear until he found the parchment on the side of the bed where you had been lying in it until recently. He grabbed it and stroked once over his name that you had written there. 

Even though he knew exactly what to expect in the letter, he smiled. After all, he had never received a letter from you before. You were always too shy to make a mistake in writing. 

Stiles 

When you wake up, I will be long gone. Please forgive me for leaving you alone, but I can't watch our paths part again. That's why I've decided not to be there when your carriage leaves our yard. I have been thinking about it all night, and I think it is best if we see each other for the last time with the memory of how we spent last night. 

Please don't be angry with me for not being able to come with you. But I think once some time has passed, you can understand me. 

Get back home safely. 

Maybe I will hear from you again. 

I will always love you. 

Y/N.

Taglist: @woahcrowley @spideysimpossiblegirl   @allisonargentswifey8  @roxic93 @stiles-stark  @mxnsonsbabe @cvrliie @uk1y0​

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

Fun Facts Tag

Sidling in on the open tag left by @blind-the-winds. I've only heard of Margaritaville through Wheel of Fortune, and it truly seems like an ideal setting for a corporate horror story.

Gently tagging @halfbit @girlfriend-champion @k--havok @thatndginger @pga-books @careful-fear @digital-chance @likegemstone @rosellemoon @sam-glade @words-after-midnight

(Some warnings for brief mentions of Life Stuff, namely death in the family and personal anxieties.)

A scent you love:

Garlic. Maybe it makes me a bad vampire ally, but I love the stuff.

What's something you're looking forward to this week?

The local in-person writing group I'm somehow the organizer of now. We meet on Saturdays at a big coffeeshop with a secret staircase hidden behind a sarcophagus. I've met a lot of cool people who, contrary to long-held beliefs, don't seem to find me too annoying.

What's a book you're currently reading?

Not counting various projects by other writblrs? The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society by Eleanor Janega. She co-hosts a very entertaining medieval history podcast, amongst other things.

What's a game you're currently playing?

Lots and lots of Hades still. Mainly just trying to get the last few achievements. Think I might replay Hollow Knight soon.

What's the most recent movie you watched?

Waxwork (1988). Was very pleased to find this for free on a streaming service. It's bad horror of the fun variety with a premise I like, and it's extremely horny in a way that feels genuine and refreshing. Like, it has Dracula and the Marquis de Sade, plus zombies, werewolves, and the mummy. How could it not be fun?

Are you watching anything on TV or listening to any shows?

Currently The Bear, My Name is Earl, and What We Do in the Shadows. My partner and I like to jump around.

Favourite season?

Fall/autumn. Usually the worst of the heat is over, I can break out my leather jacket and costume hoodies again, plus soup and baking.

What's something you've learned recently?

That I'm not as doomed to be alone and handle everything myself in a crisis as I'd feared. My dad died suddenly at the end of June, and I found myself having to drive across like five states to handle arrangements for that, plus rush to move into a new place to take care of my mom who has dementia. A lot of people, from family to strangers, helped make those things happen. Not so much for the love of me maybe, but just out of human decency, which is enough. I'm still working on being better at fostering connections with people and communities, but it's nice to know these things aren't beyond my reach.

Have you had any water lately?

...Homemade iced tea. Look, at least I'm weaning myself off the diet sodas. And I do drink water with Liquid I.V. in it pretty regularly. That has to count.

[toadallytickles]

How would you suggest getting involved in the ticket scene? I want to participate but am nervous and don’t know where to start 🤭 I’m also from southern Ontario and figure you might have tips for how to dip a toe (or a foot) into that world

Hey there! Welcome to the community! Clay @clayticklish and I are in southern Ontario too! There is a great general kink community in this area! We regularly attend Guelph-KW-Cambridge area kink events; there’s monthly munches and play parties! I like meeting people in group settings, and Clay is open to meet people one-on-one! Maybe we can arrange a small meet-up, or meet at a munch if you’re local!

There is a private Canadian tickle Discord Server! I can get you in touch with the host if you’d like!

Fetlife is definitely a hit in southern Ontario; you can see all the local monthly events happening, and the ones we’ll be attending! You can also join tickling groups to get more involved!

I think you’re already doing a great job creating a blog and reaching out! Feel free to check out my past answers on getting involved in the community! I hope you find something helpful! :)

Tips on joining the tickle community

How to approach people in the community

How to be approachable in the community

Finding Canadian tickle events + members

#Canada tickle community

[bethyyoung]

We don't have to talk

of where we go from here

Introducing... Beth Young

| Soundtrack | Living Space | Style

Age | 45 (April 25) Originally from | Beckley, WV Previous community | ?, West Virginia Previous job | Occupational Therapist Community job |  Inventory Manager / Council Living Arrangements | Small home near the market (Arrived in May 2042) Family | Colin (younger brother) Identity & Orientations | Cis Woman, Demi-everything

TW: Mention of blood, allusions to parental death

Mr. and Mrs. Young, in the grand Nuclear Family Tradition, had two children 18 months apart and were done with family expansion. Beth still laughs to think of how traditional it all had been. Girl Scouts, bake sales, softball, summer vacations to sensibly-planned locales.

Cursed with Gifted Kid Syndrome, things largely came easy to Beth. She was what teachers called "a pleasure to have in class", what her dad called spunky, and what caused her mom to call her, "a little firecracker". Quick to smile and instinctively inclusive, Beth was a light that other kids flocked to.

She still believes, to one degree or another, that her natural shine left Colin no choice but to live in the shadow it cast. She spent no small amount of time trying to make up for it; to share her circle, defend him from others, to spend as much time with her brother as he'd allow.

Despite the usual sibling tiffs, Beth and Colin were close, and she considered it a compliment when Colin asked to stay with her after his graduation. A few friends tried their hand at flirting with Colin, but nothing ever lasted. They'd wrongly assumed Beth would play matchmaker, not understanding that - under her cajoling - Beth respected her brother's autonomy too much for that.

So the years passed. Moving - homes and jobs and friendship circles - and Beth had settled into a pleasant life.

Then a routine visit at her parents' place went right to hell, and the world seemed to be quickly following. From their front yard she'd called 911, confusedly answered their question about bites, about "containing the threat". and agreed to go home and stay there. She'd barely gotten back and washed the blood off her skin when Collin showed up with his RV.

Beth hardly had time to appreciate the role reversal - it took this for him to suddenly become the leader? He convinced her that sitting in her apartment was no solution - they had to move.

But Beth knew it couldn't just be them alone forever. People need people - they couldn't solve every problem between the two of them. And sure, the first try didn't end well - but you can't write off everyone because of one bad experience... right?

Headcanons |

Beth and her brother's cat don't get along. While there are no outright hostilities, the peace is uneasy at best. Beth thinks Winter just dislikes having competition for Colin's attention.

Diagnosed with ADHD in young adulthood, Beth is sorely missing her medication these days.

Colin definitely brings out Beth's more mischievous, impulsive side. It's like she's a teen again; goading him into socializing, into taking chances and coming out of his shell. Maybe she'll reflect on that should she ever feel settled enough to leave Survival Mode.

Thinks it's silly to hide your true self at this point. Everyone could die any second, why would someone wanna go out being inauthentic?

That said, she doesn't go out of her way to share what happened with her parents, or what more she's done to survive since. Keeping parts of your past to yourself isn't the same as disguising your personality.

Now, Beth is an educated woman, but it doesn't mean she can't break out a good old Appalachian idiom should the moment strike just so.

Never wanted kids, something her mother frequently argued with Beth over.

One Tattoo: A song lyric on her left shoulder

Wanted Connections |

The Neighbor (1/1) - She used to live in an RV near the solar panels and yours was the closest residence. @vallaurent

| Personality Traits | Confident, Extroverted, Impulsive, Inclusive

[be-side-my-self]

Banana sweater

This pattern was shared on the old server. So, because it still takes forever until I'm finished with the next part of "Life continues after the adventure" but I also joked that since Laura is learning to knit in that stories her making this to prank Travis would be a cute little fic. For Christmas. As a present?

I'll probably upload it at a later time to Ao3 but only after I finished the next piece and I probably reworked it a bit. xD

Rating: M - for lots of sexual innuendo Relationship: Travis Hackett/Laura Kearney Tags: humor, sexual innuendo, a little bit of angst, they want each other but for some reason can't do anything about it, the reason is me, I'm the asshole in control, older man/younger woman, slowburn, mutual attraction, original characters, fluff, of course there is fluff, Travis has a big dick, Lauras pov, food, eating, Wordcount: 1958

Not Beta read! Sorry for any mistakes! I have no idea what I'm doing!

It probably helps to know the the other stories but I think this is fine alone too.

Laura is in North Kill for a year now and is the assistant of the local vet but will soon finish her studies. She is part of a small crafts-circle that the old women of North Kill use to chat and have some fun. The town is mostly filled with old people, young one leaving the town as soon as possible.

After Laura's return she and Travis became friends and their relationship moved so far that they often share their evenings, falling asleep together on the couch in Lauras apartment. But nothing happened between them yet.

All Hacketts except Bobby are dead, all counsellors survived in this timeline.

Finally the story after the read more!

---

"Hey, Ladies! Look at this!" Mrs. Gauthier came into the city community center, just as Laura was helping Mrs. Waldmann preparing another pot of coffee in the little corner kitchen. 

Mrs. Gautier put down a couple of printed pages. Laura couldn‘t see much but that it was a knitting pattern and taking in the reactions of some of the women it was probably something perverted. Laura hurried with her task and then walked over to see what some of them were laughing about while others shook their heads.

It was called a banana-sweater but it could be obviously used for something else too. Laura laughed. It was actually quite cute with the little button. 

"What do you think, Laura?" Mrs. Gauthier was still smirking as Mrs. Waldmann walked up to the group too.

"Bananas have it all. Hammocks in summer, little sweaters in winter…" Laura shrugged and Mrs. Gauthier laughed about that little joke. She then collected the papers again. 

"My granddaughter sent it to me, asked me to make a few for a bachelorette party. Her best friend is getting married."

"That is so nice!" 

Laura returned into the kitchen corner to get the coffee and also to avoid any possible upcoming questions about when she was going to get married.

Sometimes it felt like she had adopted a bunch of grandmas when she joined this crafts circle.

Nonetheless…

When Laura returned to the table the women had already arranged some of the treats and helped themselves to some of the drinks.

"Mrs. Gauthier, is it okay if I sit beside you and also try this pattern?"

"Of course!"

"What do you need this pattern for?" Mrs. Miller asked her question showing how much she liked to gossip. 

"I have a friend I want to prank next time I see them," Laura smiled thinking about it. 

"A small friend that is keeping you company on lonely nights?" It was Mrs. Collier asking that question with a smirk. Her friend Mrs Miller laughed along.

Laura smiled and shook her head and then winked. "No, I mean a real human friend. Surprisingly I have them." 

Not that Laura would ever admit that she also had a "little friend" that she maybe or maybe not had gotten at the store last time when she was with her mom for Thanksgiving. Not like she could get one in North Kill or order one. 

People would know. And she needed one. Fingers were nice and all but recently… that little friend wasn’t small. 

Laura got to work. She had a banana to dress.  

— 

"Laura, why does this banana have a little…" 

Laura glanced out of the kitchen to see Travis stare at the fruit bowl that was standing on the living room table. His expression was exactly what she had hoped for. 

Utter confusion. 

"It’s a sweater!" Laura managed to sound chipper and didn’t laugh at his questioning glance towards her and returned to the kitchen, keeping an eye on the scrambled eggs. "I made it at the crafts meeting!"

Laura had to shout a little to make sure that Travis would hear her. 

"Uh huh…" 

"Little sweater before I start with a big one for you!"

"A sweater… for a banana?"

"Yeah!" 

Laura could hear Travis step up into the doorway to the kitchen: "And since when did you put fruits on the table?"

She turned towards him, with her best innocent smile in place. 

"The other women told me that I should eat more fruits and who am I to not listen to the council of the wise ladies of North Kill?" 

"Two oranges and one banana with a sweater?" Laura had to turn back to the stove in an attempt to hide her smile. 

"There is also a pear and two apples under those…"

Travis walked out again but not without answering. "Sure. You stick to that story, ma’am." 

Taking a deep breath to not either start shouting or laughing, Laura turned off the stove and grabbed two plates and put some bread into the toaster. He was right of course. The placement was very deliberate. She wanted to prank him. Cause a reaction. And she had gotten one. Maybe there was more?  

While waiting for the bread Laura got the ketchup and two bottles of beer from the fridge. 

It gave her the chance to look out and see Travis glaring at the offending fruit bowl. Finally he reached for the banana and apparently compared it to his hand. There was a small snort and a calm "it’s smaller" and Laura hid away before he could see her sneaking glances.

What was that about? He couldn’t mean…  

Suddenly the toaster finished heating up the bread, causing Laura to yelp.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah! I‘ll be out with you any moment."

Taking a deep breath, she put everything on a tablet and walked to the couch and put it down on the table while Travis moved the fruit bowl to her desk. 

Finally they sat down, Laura started one of the many Christmas movies. 

"When you start with that sweater for me please make sure that it is big enough. I would hate not to be able to wear it because of my size," he grabbed his plate.

Laura halted in her reach towards the ketchup bottle, glancing towards Travis who looked way too nonchalant. He returned her look with a perfectly neutral face and nodded toward her plate. "Aren’t you hungry?"

What the fuck? This was not how it was supposed to be! He was not supposed to be the one teasing her! 

"Of course I would take your measurements before I start with such a big project!" She added ketchup to her toast and bit into it. 

He snorted at that and also continued with his meal and drink. 

Great! Now what?! 

She had known that Travis was big! You can wake up with a dick poking you only so many times before you start to guess the size. 

But if he really was bigger than that stupid banana… the fruit was bigger than her toy! 

God!

How the fuck was she supposed to look at him and not think about his dick?! It had already been a struggle before. She was way too aware of her attraction. Well, she would just have to deal with it… 

She glanced over to him as he was slowly eating his toast now ignoring her and way too focused on the movie. 

Damn him! 

She would get back at him. Eating and listening to the movie with only half an ear she glanced over to the fruits and then had an idea. 

After they finished Laura decided to also take everything back into the kitchen and then came back with a can of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. She then walked back to her desk. 

"Do you want some fruit?" 

"No, thanks." 

Laura grabbed the banana and sat down with her loot, slowly undressing the fruit and then opening it up. 

She then cuddled up to Travis who she could see from the corner of her eye, watching her with some curious attention. She had to move away from him again to grab the cream to add it to the tip of the banana and added some of the chocolate just to make it not as obvious. For the same reason she decided against basically deepthroating it. Also she actually wanted to enjoy the treat. 

And that she did, bit into the fruit and actually the only thing missing was some ice cream but she would have to get up for that again and laziness finally won. A joke should only go so far. But it was delicious and it had been some time since she had eaten a treat like that and so she let out a low moan. 

Laura realized that she couldn’t see any reaction Travis might have had right now but that wasn’t even the most important part right now. Still, a little bit more teasing would be fun. So, she turned to him and caught his eyes rushing from her to the screen and a slight blush on his cheeks and ears. 

"Want a bite?" 

"No…," his voice was hoarse and he had to clear his throat. "No, thank you." 

With a smile and being sure she won this round Laura cuddled back into Travis side, both cream and sauce between them and she continued to eat her dessert, adding mostly whipped cream and moaning from time to time. 

"You know fruit is not very healthy when you add that stuff," Travis glanced down at her just as she was licking some cream off the fruit and then biting a piece off again. She could hear him inhale.  

"You know I know that but also that I don’t care. Last chance to get a piece!" Laura got out the last piece of the fruit and threw the peel on the table and added cream and chocolate to then hold it up to Travis, not expecting him to actually eat it. 

But he did. And before she knew what happened he moved forward and for a short moment her fingers were in his mouth and there was a short suck and lick on her thumb. And… fuck! What the fuck?! No fucking way. 

"Yeah, it's good. I’ll take one next time too."

Now it was on Laura to exhale the breath she hadn’t known she had held. There was only one way to react to this: angry laughter. 

"Eww!" Laura laughed and wiped off her hand on Travis shirt, doing her best to ignore how his chest felt and not remembering the times she saw him without shirt. "You’re disgusting!" 

"You keep forgetting that I’m a big brother and an uncle! I basically helped to raise four children."  

There was a short and awkward silence, the movie completely forgotten by now. Laura put the cream and sauce back on the table to then return to Travis side and cuddle into him, trying to be as close as possible and mumbling a "I’m sorry" into his chest. 

He laid both his arms around her, pulled her closer and planted a little kiss on the top of Laura's head. She really liked that feeling. Would have been nicer  under different circumstances.

"No, I’m sorry. I should not have said that." 

"I fear it will always be between us in the end…"

He hummed in agreement but kissed her again. A way to say it was fine, that it was the past but it would still always be there. Only one of the four was still around. 

Laura sighed and turned her head to the screen, getting into an even more comfortable position. 

"Well, today I learned that I won’t win in a prank war against you."

"That is smart of you to figure out."

"Because I am smart." "Yes, you are."

They stayed silent for a few moments and glancing around Laura saw the banana sweater lying nearby and grabbed it to hold it up to Travis. 

"Just so you know, it is one size fits all. Or most… bananas that is." 

Again there was a neutral look, and raised eyebrows. He took the little knitted piece and pulled it over three of his fingers and stretched them as a test. 

Finally he glanced down at her: "Most." 

"Oh, shut up!" She grabbed the piece and threw it on the floor, feeling laughter vibrate through his chest. "I’ll knit a banana pattern into your sweater!" "Whatever it turns out to look like, I’ll wear it. As long as it’s not too small."

Laura smiled at that, finally looking at the screen and relaxing further and enjoying the evening. 

[stagkingswife]

hello! i find that there is a lot of info out there about reaching out to a deity for worship but im curious about tutelage that you mentioned? im feeling drawn to the idea of reaching out to apollo for divination tutelage and i would loove to hear some tips and tricks on how to start and how to uphold such a relationship? what amount of energy is needed vs traditional worship?

It’s been a pretty rough pain week and change over here in Stagland, and Tumblr lost my work on this ask not once, but twice. So I appreciate your patience on this ask. I hope this response is as good as I think the first attempt was!

If you’re looking to read about tutelary spirits you may not find anything depending on where you’ve been looking. If you’ve been looking just on social media and in the “New Age Spirituality” section of book stores it’s not a popular term there. Try looking at academic publications, particularly in the Anthropology of religion, Folklore, and Classics realms. That’s the world that the term comes from. In the academic field of Classics the term tutelary spirits is most often used to refer to patron/guardian/mentor entities of particular places, cities, or even individual people. You may also find some helpful information in ethnographic studies of various shamanic practices around the world. I know JSTOR, Google Scholar, and the local college library aren’t the place everyone starts their research, but for this subject that’s where I would recommend.

As for tips and tricks, that’s a little bit harder… I’m oathbound to not discuss the details of most of what I Oisin taught me in our time together as master and apprentice. I’ll try to paint a vague image for you from which you can extrapolate and still answer your question.

It’s not clear from your ask if you already have a relationship with Apollo, but if you don’t I would recommend striking one up. I had worshiped the entity that I would come to know as Oisin for a few years before he took me on as his apprentice. We had a very solid relationship before any tutelage began, and I think having that pre-established trust is very important. This isn’t likely to be true of all spirit mentors, but Oisin was not a gentle teacher. He would often give me difficult or vague tasks or tests with little preparation or context and expect me to figure it out, sometimes with the help of an ally or guide, but often alone. It sometimes made learning feel like a series of dangerous adventures and perilous quests in the Otherworld. Here’s a retelling of one example of such an adventure that I was allowed to write up. This worked fantastically for me, and I can’t say if this was a lucky match in learning style and teaching style, or him knowing that I would respond well to it. But I feel that it was critical to this process that I trusted him before he ever set such a test or task. I never doubted that I was supposed to learn from these tasks, or that I would be able to manage whatever he set me, no matter how daunting it seemed.

Having multiple reliable communication methods with your teacher is also something I would highly recommend. If you aren’t confident in multiple methods of communication maybe that is something you could add to your “lesson plan.” My line of thinking is that this is going to be a long and important relationship, you don’t want to put all of those eggs in just one communication basket. You’ll want ways of communicating symbolically, directly, and of confirming and checking those first two.

For me being Oisin’s apprentice was a much bigger commitment of energy and time than worshiping him, or even being his spouse. He was an exacting teacher, and expected a lot from me, and I was prepared to give my all. I swore my oath to him because I knew he could teach me what I wanted and I was prepared to go to whatever lengths he asked to get what I wanted, and because I already trusted him. This doesn’t have to be the case, you can arrange schedules, limits, and boundaries with your tutelary spirit, just like any other entity - I just chose not to. There may be spirits who are “my way or the highway” when to comes to teaching, learning from them will be a bigger commitment than worshiping someone on your own schedule in your way, but there’s no way of knowing an entity’s teaching style until you approach them about the subject. Luckily there are a lot of entities who can offer divination tutelage, so if the first one you contact isn’t a good match you can try others! Find a mentor that works for you and what you need.

[sorryxsimon]

Is that JOSHUA BASSETT? No, that’s SIMON STONE. The 21 year old LIGHTNING MOON - GRIZZLY WEREBEAR OMEGA MALE is a MUSICIAN. If you ask their friends, they’re known to be CREATIVE & HUMANE, but beware, they’re also known to be ANXIOUS & APPREHENSIVE. Their friends also say that they’re into PRAISE & BODY WORSHIP but don’t you dare trying GORE, BATHROOM PLAY, & BLOOD with them.

Basic Information

Name: Simon Gregory Stone

Nickname: Si (pronounced Sigh)

Age: 21

Species: Werebear

Moon: Lightning Moon

Secondary Gender: Omega

Pronouns: He/him

Occupation: Musician

Pack (born): Rose (dame), Adam (sire)

Appearance

Height: 5'10

Weight: 138 pounds

Build: lean

Hair Color: Dark brown

Eye Color: Brown

Tattoos: A small cluster of music notes on his left wrist

Piercings: None

Distinguishing Features: Hair (curly as can be most days)

Personality

Positive Traits: Creative, Humane, Humble

Negative Traits: Anxious, Apprehensive, Circumspect

Sex

Kinks: Romance, Praise, Body Worship, Hair Pulling, Vanilla

Anti-Kinks: Gore, Vore, Ageplay, Anything under the bathroom umbrella, Feminization, Anything that could present a danger to himself or his partner

Safeword: Crescendo

Biography

TW for violence

Music has been part of Simon's life for as long as he can remember. From the lullabies his parents sang when he was young to singing along to the radio countless times. Picking up a guitar or sitting on the piano bench at the local music store, relishing in the feeling of belonging. Like he was meant to be here with the guitar in his hands or with his fingers on the keys.

He looked forward to making the bell above the door ring after finishing his homework. He could not wait to learn new songs on each instrument. Maybe he would give writing songs of his own a try some day?

It was thanks to these frequent visits to the local music store he strengthened friendships with two kids in his class. Grant Sullivan and Jake Richards. They already knew of each other through their town's small supernatural community, but music played a great role in bringing the three of them together.

Forming a band was always a wild idea. Something to joke about. After all, the three of them were just goofing off and performing mostly covers. They had ideas for original songs, but those were carefully hidden away in a notebook.

Until one summer, a classmate reached out in a panic. The DJ for their graduation party had backed out at the last minute. Rumor has it that the trio only needed a few moments to look at each other before they agreed to play. One request to play at an event became three. Three requests to play became seven. It wasn't long before their summer was booked and they needed to come up with a band name.

Then some of their performances ended up on social media. Attendees were loving the covers they did of beloved songs and sharing the recordings with friends who sent them to more people. Fact or Fiction had gone viral!

While they were working on their original songs one afternoon, the trio received a phone call. A record label wanted to arrange a meeting and that could only mean one thing. Their hopes were confirmed when the meeting ended with an offer to sign the band.

Of course, nothing could have prepared the band for what came next. Betrayal.

Three years after the ink dried on their contract, they performed at an award show. One of music's biggest nights! When they checked into their hotel after attending some after parties, a member of their security team crept into Simon's room and attempted to attack him. He did manage to stab Simon, but thankfully Grant and Jake showed up just in time to say goodnight. Jake tackled the attacker while Grant helped Simon up, started healing him with spells.

It turned out the now former security team member was a hunter. One who had somehow learned Grant, Jake, and Simon were members of different supernatural species. While they likely would not have to worry about him for awhile, the three of them could not help but fret over the other possibilities. There was a real risk of the band being dropped from their record label and having this dream come true end abruptly. Not to mention the risk of other hunters they don't even know about possibly having this information.

They needed a safe place to stay. Where they could get their thoughts together and recover from this revelation. Only one place came to mind - New Haven.

As far as the record label and their fans are aware, Fact or Fiction is taking a brief hiatus to take care of their mental health. They will miss this dream job, one they are incredibly lucky to have. However, their present and future safety is the issue weighing on their minds. The trauma of that night still haunts the three of them. Returning to touring and making music can wait. The safety of Grant, Jake, and their fans from all walks of life is infinitely more important to Simon. There is still healing to be done - a process that will hopefully come easier while Fact or Fiction is here in New Haven.