#same thing about our father being a piece of shit who put all of our lives in danger. almost fucking constantly.

[flippedorbit]

i truly wish my mom would tell my sister the truth

[agendabymooner]

colour me your colour || toto w. x ofc (8)

Summary: Tilly Marie nearly loses faith in her passion as she refuses to listen to everyone who told her to quit. Everyone but one. And it’s the man she met years ago at a racing event she didn’t want to attend. Who would have thought that her father’s partial ownership of three brands could take her to the zone of Mercedes and meet the love of her life?

Chapter summary: How do you celebrate your best friend’s P1 and your driver’s P3 without fawning over your best friend’s boss? Hint: you can’t. OR Tilly needs to let loose and having to celebrate Daniel and Lewis’ win showed that.

Content warning: Use of explicit language, Danny Ric and Lewis Hamilton being resident pieces of shit, alcohol consumption (podium wins), Danny’s shoey

Note: WE CAN STILL FORZA THIS FERRARI BABYYYYY!!! My prayers had been answered this weekend. Enjoy xx

masterlist

viii. frisky tilly

Mercedes got the P1. As I wished quietly. 

Even at the very beginning of the season, I’ve always been confident that this was going to be Lewis’ year. He didn’t exactly hide the fact that he’s worked for it. 

It wasn’t just that; he also won his home race. So while Christian and the Red Bull crew are upset that Mercedes took the lead, I certainly am jumping up and down in joy. In secret. I will always be a Lewis supporter first and a girl in a Red Bull jacket second. 

I made sure to tell him that I’d be there as soon as my job was done for the day. By that, I meant that I need to make sure Christian and the other Red Bull personnel are recognizing Daniel’s P3 finish in public, not bitch about Mercedes getting another P1 and P2 — with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas finishing. They’ve landed on the podium.

I’m sticking with Daniel the entire time, my eyes are keeping an eye out for Christian and Vettel in case they need me. 

Waiting patiently inside the cool down room, my hand sticks out a towel in Daniel’s direction. He looks at me with a questioning smile. “Wipe off your sweat. You’ll catch a cold,” I explain.

“Mother Tilly, you’re so sweet,” he coos, but his teasing smile eventually goes away as he thanks me. “You coming out to celebrate later?” 

“Celebrate what?” I ask him, wondering if there’s a party hosted after the race. If there was, I wasn’t told. Or I’m not invited. “I don’t recall Horner telling me about a celebration.”

“Oh no,” he shakes his head before leaning in to whisper in my ear, “we don’t party with the bosses all the time. I’m talking about just anyone that isn't the boss.”

I frown, “You called me Lady Boss more than twice.” 

He wraps his arm around me, pulling me close as he looks at me with a lazy smirk, “We do like to party with powerful women. We all know what’s behind all of that dominance.”

I recoil, pushing him away with a dirty look as he bursts out of laughter. His amusement affects my own as I smile, snatching the towel he dried himself off with and smacking him with it. 

“Such a perverted thing to say, Ricciardo,” I smack him again, this time my hand lands on his chest lightly.

“Between you and Toto someone’s got to give up some control— OW JESUS, TILLY!” Daniel wheezes as I slap him again. If he couldn’t stop speaking, I suppose smacking the air out of his lungs would do it. 

The bad thing about our banter is that Lewis caught onto it. He takes my vulnerable situation as an opportunity to sling his arm around me. “Daniel, what were you trying to tell her again? Look at her, she’s so flushed!” 

“Just because you’re the winner it doesn’t mean you get to make fun of me, Lewis Hamilton,” I try to push him off but he’s giggling and has his arm around me still. Daniel does the same, putting me in between the two of them as they continue to joke around with me. 

It doesn’t take long until they’re called up to the podium to be presented with Lewis’ trophy. The crowd roars in excitement and cameras click and flash. I’m standing at the side, the sight of the top three has me squirming in happiness. Each of them has a bottle of champagne in hand and it doesn’t take Daniel, Valtteri and Lewis long to pop the cork. 

My brain begins to melt at the overwhelming excitement that takes over my body. I’m not sure if this is just a temporary thing, but I know for a fact that it feels so… euphoric. The moment I’m in the haze, my rational thoughts and actions are long forgotten.

Lewis turns to look at the side, gesturing at something that isn’t me. At first I wanted to ask if he’s speaking to me, but a pair of heavy hands settled on my hips as I heard a, “‘Scuse me, Schatz.” 

My head snaps at Toto’s direction as he walks up to celebrate with Bottas and Lewis. The Mercedes Team Principal, as if he’s anticipating it, lifted his chin up as Lewis showered him with the champagne. The alcohol wastes no time to soak his face down to his shirt, him grinning mischievously as Valteri continues to soak him too. 

My brain short circuited for a second, and my eyes involuntarily watched as Toto’s right hand ran through his now-damp hair. I haven’t even paid attention to anyone but him. Daniel had taken this as a chance to drag me to where he was once and showered me with champagne.

“Daniel! What the fu—“ but all I hear is hollering. From the crowd. From the drivers on the podium. From my family, who are standing by the front. I can see Sylvie and Stevie with their phones out, probably taking the most embarrassing photos that will last a lifetime. 

My baby blue button-up is soaking wet, I’m thankful that I never wore full makeup besides from the tube of red lipstick that I bring with me. 

Daniel continues to encourage me to drink, and just to fuck around, my mouth opens up with my chin lifted as Daniel hollers and pours champagne into my mouth. The liquid splatters and the euphoria washes over me. My eyes are trained at Toto for a moment, watching him as he continues to look at his driver proudly before he turns to look at me with a smug smile. 

I can’t even say anything to him, my brain has left. And even if I do say something, Daniel has already beaten me to it by nudging me. 

I grin as I witness him drink champagne on his shoe— they call it a shoey. It’s an Australian thing, I believe. At this moment I wonder what kind of tradition did Britain have. But my brain disappears once more when he offers me his shoe. 

My mind said no for a moment, but what did I have to lose? 

My hand snatches the alcohol-filled wear, cringing at the burning sensation that fills my throat as I wipe my mouth. A grin remains in my lips as everyone begins to clap for the winners.

I can’t help but look at Toto, who returns my look as he winks and smirks. Like he’s got tricks up his sleeve to show. I roll my eyes with exaggeration, chuckling as I mouth, “Congratulations.”

If this won’t make it to the sports headlines, then I don’t know what will. 

[fudanshidoublevision]

Double Vision as a father.

Ray better kill him before Double puts his bloody claws on MC and even thinks of forming a family with them. /j

Dude, no, imagine being his CHILD, i feel sorry for anyone who has Double as some type of...paternal figure, LMFAO.

Experiencing parenthood isn't on my “to-do list”. Plus having a child, on this ECONOMY? I'm good.

Parenting is a humbling experience, my parents had taught me AND told me that. Well, that is certainly my fault because I was the devil reincarnated when I was a kid— but they still call me their little devil so not much has changed I guess. ( ͡°з ͡°)

But in this scenario...even if the circumstances aren't ideal, I believe that anyone can do their best if they really want to, it's not easy. It isn't the children's fault that their parents are so troubled. (meaning, if their progenitor is Double Vision in this case, lol)

I've discussed this with my best friend once, a long time ago and they said something about how Double will view his child as a possesion and extension of himself (and yours too, because he would only care about that kid just enough 'cause you are attached to them), i kind of agree with him. But, I mean? If Double Vision has kids with MC, wouldn't that mean he is fond with the idea of having kids? I haven't mentioned nothing about him being capable of “baby trapping” you because everyone else is disposable to him but you aren't. For all he cares, he only needs to held you tight by your throat to remember that he only needs you, he doesn't want or need someone else. In this scenario, your child was planned and wanted.

Even if you loved your child, he will be uncapable of loving them back the same way you love them but he wouldn't be uncaring, dude is deranged and a major bad influence. Mostly because of the way he is and taking in consideration the fact that his parents were emotionally and psychically absent when he needed them around, it's not an excuse considering how in this similar scenario Ray didn't had NO good-present parental figures on his whole life but wants to try his best, it just kind of explains why he acts and why would he act like that. I'm not saying that Ray would be perfect at parenting a child just a bit better than Double for sure, not gonna lie Double gives me “crazy-unstable uncle” vibes.

He is not right in the head, neither i am but hey, this is not a competition for who's more deranged, so...someone has to be the relatively-stable and emotionally available parental figure. (Meaning, YOU.)

Just sane enough to not make a mini Double 2.0. Who can be worse.

He would care...and “love” (the way he “loves you” is pretty different) his own child his very particular way. Yeah, he would be cruel and a piece of shit to you but just a tiny mean and highly authoritarian towards his child.

me if our kid ever asks me why their father fucking SUCKS at giving advice and why is it always has to end up with someone getting hurt:

"Mini-me, if you ever need adivice, you can open up to me and say whatever is bothering that little head of yours. Keeping some ugly thoughts to yourself isn't good, whatever it is, I'll never judge you and you'll never scare me off....What about your dad...? Eh, he...just isn't the best giving out advice. Some people aren't good with their words...and tend to say things that are bad, sometimes it's better to do...whatever you think is right instead of following what others may "advice” you but you can always double-check with me to know if you are doing the right thing.

Why, you ask? WELL... what about if we just...OH, what if we go out for a bit? Would you like that? I'll buy you whatever you want. ANYTHING! Just...dont tell your dad, okay..."

It's sad but it's not easy to explain to children why their mom/dad/parent acts or behaves “weird” or is incapable of doing things their other parent can do.

Oh well, i believe Double's kid wouldn't question what their dad tells them to do or say because...that's their father, they don't know any better than what their parents tell them.

Double's parental skills aren't the best; he is driven by his own emotions and he is the definition of what impulsivity means. He doesn't care much about consequences and who he might hurt to achieve what he wants and what he NEEDS. (You, again, for example. He obliterated the previous Night Crew members because of your “disappearance”. He may or may not broken someone's bones and mayyybe, just maybe! I think... he threatened some people here and there to get your location.)

I thought that maybe he would use your own child as a weapon to tame you so you'll do whatever he says. Emotional manipulation and conditioning...not even that poor kid is safe from that, Double is VERY MUCH controlling and overprotective. No matter how you behave, he stills wants you but of course, he loves a defiant behavior but he can't deny that he enjoys it when you "make things easier".

After all, parents will do anything for their children, right? Oh well, I'll be guessing that you'll do that for the sake of your child. Sorry if I'm wrong.

It doesn't really matter how that child appeared or how they were conceived and brought to you two to form a family. Those little details don't matter, you'll try your best, right? No matter what. You don't have much of an option if you are with Double, I guess. ಠಿ_ಠ

But I have the feeling that this freak will be overjoyed if the kid, shares your and his blood and genes. Just another thing to reaffirm his ownership over you. I don't think he will be capable of harming his own child, psychically, I mean. Maybe he WILL threaten you and say he'll hurt your kid when you “act feisty” so you'll give up.

Double Vision wouldn't be jealous at all of his child if they take all the attention from his most beloved possession off him because they aren't simply a bit of a threat to him and that kid is just trying to bond with you, i don't think Double would even bother to get in between of the parent of his kid and his child. Unless it is to annoy you or just be insufferable, as usual.

I like the idea that he underestimates what his child is capable of doing, lol.

For my own mental peace, i didn't added details like “what if your child had abilities?”. Because I have the feeling Double will be up to NO good with that little piece of information.

But let's just sit and think about it, either way, if your child is an ability holder or not, doesn't really matter if Daddy Double is around. Anything is possible and who is he to deny his child's wish to follow his daddy's step? Villainy, I mean, lol.

He would be overjoyed and proud his child wants to be a villain, like his parents. Well, he still is a villain and MC is not longer in the business because of Double, LMAO.

If you'd like to enter a more dangerous territory well, what if his kid wanted to become a hero? Not even an option, haha.

It's not like they have one, being a villain or just a regular citizen, no child of Double is going to become a hero on his guard. He will be very open about his distaste on the wish of his child wanting to be a hero, he might be ticked off by that.

Maybe he is usually cold-headed when he interacts with his own child, I think it's enough with him having you in edge constantly, at least he wouldn't behave or treat them the same way he treats you. Even though, there are times that his patience runs thin (when annoyed or angry, not entirely directed towards his child) and could say some concerning things that his child may take to heart.

Parents knows best, I've heard from a certain someone say before.

Now, what if that child grows? Woah, they are going through the terrifying, horrifying, traumatizing, horrible phase of adolescence! Amazing, worst years of my life! ᕕ( ՞ ᗜ ՞ )ᕗ

They are slowing growing into becoming an adult, they might realize how different everything looks when you are a bit...mature, you become more aware of what's going on around you. They will notice about how some behaviors from their parents aren't normal and not what they seemed, I'm specifically talking about Double Vision but you get it.

Maybe they will develop a rocky relationship with you but I believe that no matter what they will still love you and care for you, maybe you'll become their favorite and appreciate more the way you cared for them, who knows. Maybe they will hate you because you didn't tried enough and had to choose Double Vision as their shitty dad (I think it's for the best if they didn't know the reality of your situation 😁), they will grew and distant but who knows...?

About Double, I have the feeling that for their own sake they'll ignore his dad's existence as much as they can, Double is aware of that and doesn't care that much but I won't deny that he might be annoyed by that and oh NO! They ended up being just like you and Double is going to pick on you for that and even say that is your fault why they hate him so much.

Maybe it's for the better if your kid ended up being more like you rather than Double.

Double is an only child so i believe that he'll only want one single kid but I don't think he would be opposed of having another one but MAYBE, just maybe, no!

But there's something I believe that everyone can agree on and that's on the fact that Double looks so fucking HOT with grey hair.

And oh my FUCKING God, his gloves? You can see his tattooed sleeves and his neck? I feel like a Victorian man seeing a woman's ankles for the first time. I want to break his senile back.

Conclusion, could you have kids with Double? Absolutely, will he be a good dad? Questionable but most likely, not. I think he might be like his parents, he exists but he isn't a reliable person for his kids, it's kind of difficult to come a conclusion because he is so complex to me, my opinion on him is always ever-changing.

OH YEAH, you and your child might be the only ones besides some of your family members who probably meet him wayyyyyy before, a long time ago, that know his real name. It isn't that relevant but one of the most important things a kid has to know it's their parents name and last name, right? Not that Double's real name is going to be used as much as you might think.

I wrote this solely because I had a dream where Double Vision was my uncle and he lived on my grandparents backyard??? Sick and I just wanted to post this because I spent three days of my life writing this and then chickened out.

This post in particular wasn't proofreaded (at all) by my friends that usually encourage to post my dusty drafts.

I hope you liked it, I might add some things to this post in the future...

Anyways, Haley bae is next. Maybe even Binary Star because I think having kids with him sounds scary, if you are aware of WHY ARE YOU having kids with him on the first place (canonically speaking).

How would Double actually act if he ever had a kid: /j

I had this video on repeat playing in my head while writing this.

[toxicyaoibeliever]

Idk i dont want to like, make a character or media analysis bc i do not think I'm smart enough for that but i do have thought that feel like i HAVE to share Falsettos is my favorite musical of all time and so of course i seek fanfic and fanart and fanworks in general of this piece of media. And while Modern!AU are not my thing i do like the occasional fanart. BUT

I just do not think that Mendel and Trina would be together in modern times. I do not believe they are the perfect pairing and i do not believe they are this super healthy super cute ship. I'm not even sure Trina truly loves the guy at first

I think, musical-wise, she was attracted to him, maybe she even liked him, but she married him because she felt like she had to.

Its literally spelled for us in Trina's song (reprise)

And for doubts that I've been feeling, I'll ignore them when I can

Loving our lives (Mendel) vs Liking our lives (Trina)

Our hands were tied. My father cried "You'll marry!" We married! (abt Marvin)

It's hard to put my thoughts into words, especially bc English is not my first language. But what i want to say: Trina married the first time because she had to. She was maybe pregnant by then or had lost her virginity or something. Then, she was a single Jewish wife in 1788. Can you imagine how hard that probably was? not only that but her ex-husband is also gay. So the second time she also had to marry. She was raised to want the perfect life

She was raised to want this. And so, when another man appeared, who wanted her despite being divorced, already having a child, and having STDs, why would she say no? Even if she didn't quite love him, even if she wasn't sure about the marriage, she knew chances like this would be hard to get again. So she left her feelings aside and said yes. What other choice did she have?

And sure, i do believe she learned to love Mendel. Maybe not the same way, i do think Mendel will always love her more, but i think she learned to be happy with what she got.

But i don't think is fair. I think in modern times she would either not have married Marvin, and if she had then i don't think she would have married Mendel, even less that quickly

I like to imagine modern Trina being happy single. Being a working woman, having friends she could confide with, being content with herself, and taking her time. And having good sex. Because my god, that woman deserves good sex. Not even in her second marriage did she get the sex she deserved

idk, this was a rant, obvs, and not a super well thought and shit. i just wish people would be more into Trina. I just feel like people think way more abt Marvin and Whizzer and leave the women to be basically their cheerleaders

Don't get me wrong, Whizzer is my fav character but... i just wish the fandom would at least put a little bit more thought into the women on the show

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Sip the gossip (drink till you choke)

Sip the gossip, burn down your throat

When Jingyi, Zizhen and Sizhui joined Jin Ling at the newly opened bar near Jinlintai after the discussion conference, last thing they expect was to find him frowning so deeply that he appeared murderous, fingers gripping his cup hard enough to crack it.

"You okay?" Jingyi asked as he flagged down a waitress for some more wine and snacks. "Did someone mess with you or something? I can pretend I'm drunk and beat them up for you."

"No." And Jin Ling eyes darken even more for a moment, his attention drawn somewhere else. "Shut up and listen."

Everyone focuses in on the conversation happened at the table to their right. Two men, one fat and the other stick thin, draped in so much fake jewelry that their skin was beginning to turn green.

"Heavens, what is this world coming to?" The fat one shouted, downing a large cup of alcohol, "Inviting that disgraceful murderer to the discussion conference as if he hadn't been the one nursing Wen dogs all those years ago! Such scum to share space with us, fine people! Why don't they invite other criminals too?! My brother's been locked up for decades for an accidental killing, he deserves to be heard more than that Yiling Laozu!"

"And he's being so liberal around Hanguang-Jun too!" The skinny one completes, finishing his own wine jar and ordering another, "Such whorish behaviors, even for a cutsleeve! And nobody dares say anything! Not even Zewu-Jun! He lets them do whatever, I bet he'd say nothing if they began fucking in the middle of the conference hall!"

"Disgusting! Who does he think he is, flaunting like he doesn't have our families' blood on his hands?! I should just kill him myself and rid the world of that evil again!" The fat one shouts, hitting his fist against the table loud enough for the dishes to clank together. "And burn down that monster of his too, the Ghost General! My God, a Wen dog allowed among us! Treated the same as us!"

"You're telling me! He acts all modest and innocent, but we all know who he's killed! How does Sect Leader Jin tolerate his existence? His father must be rolling in his grave!"

"His mother too! The Yiling Laozu killed her, yet her son is acting so familial with him! Even Sect Leader Jiang says nothing! What kind of an uncle is that?! Did he not care about his own sister at all?!"

"What could he even do? The Lans coddle the Yiling Laozu like he's their most prized possession! And Sect Leader Jin's just some brat that got put on a throne, what does he know? I bet the Yiling Laozu is manipulating him and waiting to take over the Jin sect himself! Isn't he in the body of one of Jin Guangshan's half sons? It would be the perfect pretext!"

"I don't know how everyone is okay with all this! Didn't we risk put lives storming the Burial Mounds decades ago to kill the Yiling Laozu?! We're all supposed to protect him and love him now?! Ridiculous!"

"You know everyone else thinks the same! But they're too scared of the Lans! They've gained so much power recently, all those new disciples they've adopted out of nowhere... orphans! And they're taught by the Yiling Laozu... how does Lan Qiren tolerate this heresy?!"

"Terrible, terrible world we live in! Imagine, me, a sect leader, getting scolded by some Lan junior! All because I said-"

"It was because you are a prejudiced, small-minded, overly privileged piece of shit that became so insufferable someone had to speak up." Jin Ling loudly intervened, unable to take anymore of the tirade. He walked up to the neighboring table and delighted in the horrified looks of the two men. "And you should be glad it was a Lan and not me because as bratty as you lot think I am, I am equal parts as powerful and I could have had you sent into the dungeons with a look."

"If you insist on being detestable in public," Sizhui started, icy anger in his eyes that looked so much like Wen Ruohan's that the two men nearly got war flashbacks, "make sure the people you speak ill of aren't within earshot. This is a bar, and alcohol is being consumed here. Inhibitions are lowered and emotions run high." And he draws his blade out of its sheath just enough for the glare to shine in the men's eyes. "It would be most unpleasant to ruin this establishment's new furniture with bloodstains."

"And anyway," Zizhen added, smiling dangerously, "not everybody is up for hearing all this vitriol. If this is how you think of your generations' most respectable and most powerful members, you must not be that intelligent or useful to maintain relations with either. My father will be hearing about this, what is the point wasting our sect's resources for the likes of you?"

"I'm nowhere near as elegant as my friends over here, so heed my warning. Talk shit of anyone from the Lan sect, which, mind youm includes Senior Wei and the Ghost General, and I'll have you delivered to the Lan sect's punishment quarters myself. Hanguang-Jun will gladly take care of the rest after, and I'll thoroughly enjoy watching." Jingyi spoke, his voice so low and threatening that it made even his friend's skin prickle with fear. He also took the wine jars off the men's table and sent them a glare. "This is for the trouble. On your tab."

They nodded and quickly scampered off.

The four friends began laughing and high-fiving each other immediately after, sharing alcohol and memories the entire rest of the night.

[shadowqueenjude]

For Day 1 of @ruhnweek Family

Ruhn had just met his little sister for the first time.

She was still young, far younger than him in fact, but it was clear that she was the spitting image of their father, from the wine red hair and amber eyes, down to the sharp cunning brows. She even spoke like him, with that same arrogant tone dripping with a little derision. But while the Autumn King was a first rate prick, it was clear that Bryce had a good heart; like him, she must have got it from her mother. A pang went through Ruhn’s chest at the thought of his own mother, content to remain with a monster who cared nothing for her, siring a child with another woman, a human no less. For someone who was so obsessed with maintaining Fae strength and the Fae bloodlines, this showed downright disrespect to his mother Lorin.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the Autumn King to realize that his daughter had inherited all of his mannerisms and all of Ember’s characteristics that had driven him mad. Ruhn felt a smug bit of satisfaction seeing the teenage girl defy him, a smugness that quickly faded when she ran out crying.

“You couldn’t wait until the second meeting to start being an asshole?” Ruhn snapped at his father, surprised at his own bravery. Judging by the way Einaar’s brows rose, he was surprised too. “If that little spat was enough to make her run out crying, she is not suited for the Fae world.”

“She’s just a fucking kid,” Ruhn hissed. Then he shoved out of his chair, hauled his sword over his shoulder, and stormed out. He knew his father would probably punish him later, but he didn’t care. His sister was more important.

He sped-walked through the halls, shoving past the guards at the doors, finally finding the youngster running a little ways from the entrance.

“Bryce! Wait!” Bryce turned around, her honey eyes wide as they took him in. She smiled slightly. “Brother.”

Ruhn could see her eyes rimmed red with tears, hear her heart racing a mile a minute, and tried to think of something to comfort her.

“Sorry about our dad,” Ruhn said. “He’s a little grumpy when he hasn’t had his tea.” He snorted. “He’s allergic to tea.”

Bryce let out a weak laugh at that. “How did you live with a man like that?”

Ruhn shrugged. “I have really good friends. I spent most of my time there from my teen years onward until I finally moved into a house with them. Seems one thing we all have in common is shitty fathers.” Ruhn rolled his eyes. Then he closed the distance between them, offering his hand. “Trust me, if that walking talking piece of trash hates you, it means you’re doing something right.” Bryce took his hand. It was surprisingly sturdy, and Ruhn felt a few callouses on her hand too.

“That blade is really pretty,” Bryce said, pointing to the metallic bronze knife with a sapphire encrusted hilt on his left hip. Ruhn had forgotten he even had it. It was far too ostentatious for his taste, a remnant of a boy who’d liked to flaunt his wealth before he grew to despise it. He pulled it out of its sheath, offering it to Bryce. “Want it?”

Bryce’s mouth dropped open. “You’re serious?”

“Hell yeah.” Ruhn put the knife back in its sheath and tossed it to her. “Catch.”

Bryce caught it in one hand, pulling out the knife and tracing fingers over it, admiring it. “Wow. My first knife.”

Ruhn stared at her with surprise. First knife? How could that be? She seemed like she could handle herself, like she had experience with weapons.

“It has always been guns for me,” Bryce admitted, answering Ruhn’s question. Ah. “Well, guns are much faster and more efficient, but knives and swords look cooler,” Ruhn said. Damn, that probably sounded stupid; he shouldn’t have said that to a teen-

Bryce chuckled. “That’s definitely true.” She looked him in the eye, smiling. “Wanna show me around Lunathion?”

Ruhn internally sighed with relief that he hadn’t fucked shit up with his sister yet. “It would be my absolute pleasure.”

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Light on the Darkside - Chapter Twenty One.

Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty

Tag list - In the comments. Please DM to be added/removed.

Words - 3,849

Warnings - 18+ throughout. Topics cover depression, suicide and eating disorders. Minors DNI!

“Babe, if you get glue on my seats, your arse is getting slapped. Or bitten.” 

Ella’s lips pursed, slowly curling into a grin as she looked out from beneath her lashes at him. “Don’t you threaten me with a good time.” 

He chuckled filthily, very much looking forward to having a night in a hotel with his wife, where he could make as much noise as he liked while having sex with her, all while feeling the long, dark red false nails she was glueing on shredding his back to pieces.  

“Just you wait, princess. You’re gonna be sore.” 

“What are you two grinning about?” Lyra suddenly spoke from the backseat, removing her headphones to detangle the wire, Freya asleep next to her (as per the usual with any car journey lasting over fifteen minutes) and Zara reading while her i-Pod blared.  

“Nothing your ears need to be picking up on,” James confirmed, unable to keep the smirk from his face. 

“Is this about auntie Andrea accidentally answering the phone while she was... you know... with uncle Steve this morning?”  

He barked a laugh, still entertained at her gaffe of rolling over on her phone and ending up giving James a live action rendition of her sexual howling, only aware of such after hearing his voice boom “G’won, Ands! Give it some, darlin’!” from the phone’s speaker. Lyra only knew because she’d walked into the kitchen at the same time her dad was relaying the hilarity to her mum. “Nah, not about them.” 

“Old people shouldn’t be having sex still, it’s disgusting,” she snorted, her eyes then rapidly flitting between her parents. “Wait. You two don’t still... do you?” 

James shared a side eye with Ella, unable to fully bite back the wide grin. “Number one; we’re all late thirties and early forties, not dead. And number two; you know when we ask you to keep an eye on your sisters of a Saturday morning? Guess what we’re doing?” 

There was a pause, Lyra curling her lip in the exact same way her father did too when he was displeased. “Ugh! So that means you were doing it this morning? That’s so wrong!”  

“What?” he exclaimed, his laughter filling the car. “How’d you think you three got here in the first place? Massive amounts of banging your mum, innit.” 

“Dad!” 

“I’d do it more often if I wasn’t so busy.” 

“Dad, stop it!” 

His laughter only escalated further, Lyra frowning deeply, Ella hiding her face behind her hands. “Okay, enough mortifying our eldest, baby,” she finally spoke, reaching to squeeze his thigh.  

“What? That was tame compared to what I could have said,” he shrugged, snorting again when Lyra made a whining noise in the back. 

“Are we far from auntie Mary’s? I don’t mind getting out to walk,” she bargained, James gesturing around himself with an outstretched hand. 

“Yeah, monster. Pedestrians are a real common thing on the effing motorway, ain’t they?” he snorted. 

Putting her headphones on again, she frowned heavily. “Why’s my dad have to be like this?”  

“Because I’m shitting awesome!” he chuckled, not that Lyra could hear, the sound of who he recognised to be black metal band Satyricon blaring loudly through her headphones again. At least two out of three of his offspring had picked up his taste in music. No prizes for guessing that the second was Freya.  

Although Ella’s tastes had changed drastically over the years, now listening to a whole host of alternative music as well as her beloved dance, the black sheep of the family where music was concerned was most definitely Zara, being a little pop princess. The other two, though, they lived and breathed metal.  

It also gave their eldest severe bragging rights with her friends, her little group of die-hard metalheads all amazed over who her dad was, and who she got to hang out with backstage at festivals every summer since she’d been a baby. There weren’t very many twelve-year-olds who could boast that they’d sat on the shoulders of Nergal, frontman from extreme metal band Behemoth and good friend of her parents, while watching their dad on stage at Hellfest.  

Ten minutes after leaving the M6 and they were pulling into the new-build estate on the outskirts of Glenfield in Leicestershire, where Mary now lived. Even though she was no longer in Warwickshire, it was actually closer, just half an hour up the motorway from their home in Atherstone.  

Pulling into her driveway, the lady herself opened the front door with her usual huge, beaming grin, padding out in her slippers. “Where’s me kids?” she announced, receiving three huge smiles after opening the back of the truck, unclipping Freya from her car seat and bundling her into a hug. “Hello, my little peach! Hello!”  

“Auntie Mary, I made fire!” 

“Ya’s never did, pet! If we gave you matches, there’d be nothing left, like!” she laughed, tickling her. 

“I might’ve let her put lighter fluid onto the fire pit yesterday when I was burning a load of old wood,” James confirmed, scratching his chin. “She might’ve sprayed on a bit too much, innit.” 

“How big were the flames?” 

He snorted, still entertained. “About four and a half feet.”  

She threw her head back, laughing hard as she imagined it, James moving to give her a hug and kiss. “Eee, I meant to ask ya’s, how’s ya mam getting on at the moment with her hip?” 

“Finally got a date for the op. I’m taking her up there on Tuesday morning for the pre-surgery meeting and all that.” A life of activity, especially horse riding and running around an arena for eleven hours a day while she’d taught others how to ride had left Alice with an issue in her left hip, with it being decreed she would need a full replacement.  

“Well, give her me best won’t you, sweetheart. I know how it is with having both of mine done,” Mary spoke, greeting the other two girls with warm cuddles and kisses, Ella too. “Now, have ya’s got time for a cuppa, or are you shooting off?” 

“I will, and yeah, we’ve gotta shift off, unfortunately. Need to get moving before we get stuck in piles of weekend traffic.” James confirmed, moving to begin taking the girls bags from the back of his truck. With their parents hugged goodbye, the kids all ran into Mary’s house, ready for a weekend that usually involved films, lots of sweets and camping out with her in the lounge. As for her parents... 

“Right! Let’s go do this, babe! Let’s go eat too much, drink too much, and I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much sex, but let’s give a shitting good go, innit, Mrs. K?” James spoke as soon as they got back into his truck, waving goodbye before roaring off, motorway bound.  

Their next stop was back the way they’d came to collect Steve and Andrea, the four not seeing the sense in taking two cars on the same route when they lived so close by. As soon as James saw his best friend’s wife emerge from the house when they pulled up twenty minutes later... 

“Alright, porn princess! Should have charged me by the minute for that this morning!” 

Andrea hid her face, Steve guffawing behind her. “Oh, fuck right off, James!” 

“What? Sounded like you were giving the old man a right good seeing to! It’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it!” 

“Oi, less of your mouth, sunshine,” Steve warned, sliding back the cover on the rear of the truck and putting their bags in. “I’ve already had one gobby shit to deal with this morning!” 

“Wolf?” It usually was their youngest, the five-year-old child exactly as mouthy as his father was capable of being.  

“However did you bloody guess?” he spoke, climbing into the back of the truck and clipping his seatbelt in. “So, I’ve took ‘em up Sainsbury’s this morning to get them snacks and stuff on the way to their grandmas, and we’re waiting in the queue when all of a sudden, he shouts ‘look daddy, it’s Batman!’ I’ve turned around, yeah, and he’s pointing right at this poor Muslim woman wearing all the garb,” he began. 

“A burqa,” Andrea filled in. 

“That’s it, one of them! And he wouldn’t shut up about it, fucking Logan chipping in an’ all, asking her if they could go to the bat cave! Thank fuck the woman in question thought it was hilarious, said it was nice to be profiled as a superhero rather than a terrorist for once. Nah man. Them kids. Fucking mortify me every second of the day!” he laughed, James exploding as he turned right at the end of the road. Wolf was nothing if not complete hilarity.  

“That’s top grade funny, man,” he began, wincing a tiny bit thereafter. “I feel bad for that woman, though. Poor bird can’t even dress how she wants to without being accused of all that bollocks. I bet Batman really did make a welcome change, innit.” 

“Nothing will ever beat Freya and that poor woman who’d had her arms amputated, screaming ‘are you the Venus de Milo?’ at her across the beach in Newquay,” Andrea began to hiss, her scream giggle filling the car. 

Ella turned with wide eyes. “I have never been so bleedin’ embarrassed by her mouth. Thank god the woman found it as hilarious as she did!” It was indeed lucky that most people understood the innocently unfiltered nature of children. At the mention of the event, James and Steve roared, the former remembering how he’d had to abscond to the sea to have a few moments to laugh it out. He’d been impressed, though, that at two years old Freya had remembered the name for the famous armless statue.  

A drive of four hours got them to the capital, the four checking in at their hotel before hopping in a black cab to get over to Camden, where the food festival was taking place. 

“How’s them fleas doing, dickhead?” James spoke over Snedders’s shoulder, kissing his cheek as the drummer turned to eye him disapprovingly.  

“My fleas are pedigree, I’ll have you know, Jim,” he replied, giving his mate a big hug in welcome. “Happy birthday for Thursday, you old bastard. Here, Nell got a round in, for once.” 

“Oi!” his new wife exclaimed as she released Ella from her hug of greeting, passing James a pint while pointing at Snedders. “Gonna catch a fist to the chops for your mouth, Liam.” 

It was still bizarre, hearing anyone refer to him by his actual name. Snedders, Sneds, flea circus, or uncle Ginge, as James’s kids liked to refer to him as. “Aw, Jim mate, there’s a place over there doing a challenge. If you can finish the Carolina Reaper chili fries, you win a hundred quid and your food for free. Said to the missus as soon as I saw ‘em, I said, our Jim’ll be up for that.” 

James nodded, grabbing Ella’s hand. “Easy fucking money, my friend.” Taking their drinks with them, they all walked over to the truck in question, James requesting the aforementioned fries.  

“I think you’re about to lose a hundred quid,” his wife spoke, eyeing her husband with a grin. “He eats phal curries and doesn’t even flinch.” 

The man heaping chilli over the fries smirked in a way that should have made James feel much more worried than he did. “A phal scores one point two million on the Scoville scale. Carolina Reaper’s are at one point six million. Best of luck, buddy.” 

Taking the fries, he dug the fork in, eating the first mouthful with relative ease. Then the second. That was when the spice kicked in. “Shitting hell, that’s a bit warm, innit?” 

Blowing out a long breath, he frowned, continuing to eat. “Mother fucking hell, that’s proper aggressive!” His friends all laughed, never before seeing him react in such a way to spicy food. 

“Good freakin’ god,” Ella chuckled, “has my baby met his match?” 

“Never!” Another mouthful was forked in. 

“I think the wife is right, mate. Is the cast iron stomach about to be defeated?” Steve spoke, wiping a tiny bit of the sauce from the side of the tray and popping his finger into his mouth. His eyes nearly exited his skull. “Nah! What the fuck? Oi mate, did you get that from a fucking volcano?” he cried at the vendor, coughing, quick to down half of his pint.  

“I can finish!” James vouched, another mouthful going in at he felt his face beginning to bead with sweat, turning to Ella. “Wanna try a bit, darlin’?” 

“No. Big time no, baby. You enjoy it,” she spoke, shaking her head in wonder. The things he put himself through. Truly, he didn’t need the hundred pounds, but James being James, he wanted the bragging rights. Even though his mouth felt like the epicentre of a blast furnace. 

“Mate, your arse is gonna be like the gates of hell tomorrow morning,” Snedders chimed, hardly able to believe he’d finished half of the food already.  

“I’ll worry about that then!” On he continued, a few people gathering to watch until much to the disbelief of the people who had served him the meal, he finished it entirely. It was not without feeling like his head was about to explode, though, the meal perhaps the most painful he’d ever eaten.  

“Here, bud, have that. Well done!” the vendor spoke, handing him a glass of milk as well as five twenty-pound notes, the small assembled crowd applauding his success. With the glass of milk downed, his mouth began to tingle a little less, James heading to the toilet portacabins to wash his hands and mouth, making sure he had every last trace of spice rinsed away.   

The rest of the group chose much less violently spicy foods, Ella almost choking on hers as she attempted to take a bite of the chicken gyros stuffed flatbread. 

“G’won, gorgeous,” James nodded, “you’re used to wrapping your mouth around way bigger things than that!” 

“What, before she got with you, Jim?” Steve couldn’t help but chirp, grinning widely as Ella’s laughter failed her attempt at a bite. James gave him the death glare, as standard. 

“Shut your hole!” she pointed at her husband. “And you!”  

“What?” Steve chuckled, “just sympathising with your plight, honey!” 

Ella grinned, winking. "Don't you worry, mate. I married very well in that respect.” 

Her husband beamed, aiming a raised middle finger at Steve. “That’s fucking told you, innit?” 

“How’s your mouth now?” she asked, Steve distracted by Andrea bringing him a drink.  

“Like I’ve got a fuckload of angry bees stinging my tongue, but getting better.” he admitted. God, it really had been a painful eat. It tasted amazing, though, he had to admit. The full entourage had arrived with them after a further hour, Jane and her husband, Sam and her boyfriend, as well as Dan (hilariously with a girl he’d picked up on the train down there) and finally Gaz and Hester.  

Of course, her dalliance with Steve had ended the moment he’d become acquainted with Andrea, and with Gaz and Jane never being anything more than a one night stand all those years ago, eventually the pair had struck up a connection, marrying five years before and now with their first child on the way.  

“Sorry we’re a bit late, Jim,” Gaz began, greeting him with a hug, “had to pull over about five times on the hard shoulder so this one could honk her guts up!”  

Yes, Hester was suffering severe morning sickness, which she felt to be a very unfair description since with her, it could often last all day.  

“Bit queasy, eh, Hest?” James spoke, kissing her cheek. 

“Oh god, darl. I feel like death. But I’m here, raising a glass of pop to your status as a forty-year-old!” 

“Stop shitting reminding me.” he muttered, Hester laughing as she held a soft hand to her tiny bump. While she gravitated over to where the other women grouped together, Steve and James decided to have a little fun at her husband’s expense.  

“Telling ya now, mate,” the former began, swigging his pint of Guinness, “you will never know rage like that of your wife in labour. It ain’t beautiful and it ain’t serene, no matter what they tell you.” 

His eyes widened a little. “Seriously?” 

“Oh, yeah,” James began, pointing at Ella. “The number of times she threatened to cut my bollocks off with the first two. They get vexed and I’m telling you, man, you will be enemy number one for knocking ‘em up in the first place, innit.” 

“Hold on,” Gaz spoke, scratching his head, “didn’t you say it was great with Freya?” 

“Yeah, yeah with her it was fucking over and done within a few hours. Proper speed birth. We were in at 5am, the destroyer of worlds flies out four hours later and by five in the afternoon we were on our way home again. But that was just her. Thirty-nine hours with Lyra and nineteen with Zara. Screaming, shouting and blood everywhere. I lost the feeling in my right arm for two weeks from where she bit down on it, but you gotta do what you gotta do, mate.” 

He gulped, his friends absolutely falling to pieces laughing. “Just giving you a heads up an’ all that!” Steve spoke, gripping Gaz’s shoulder and giving him a little shake. “And then, my friend, then there’s everything that comes after it! Ya get roughly twenty minutes of sleep at any given time when they’re babies, all while being shit on, pissed on and thrown up on by the new tiny overlord of the house.” 

“And you can forget being able to have any relaxing time, like taking a bath on your own unless you go after they’ve gone to bed,” James added, shaking his head. “They have no clue over personal space so they will dive all over you and kick you in the balls. How Freya ain’t fucking neutered me by now, I dunno, man.” 

Steve laughed hard, licking Guinness foam from his top lip. “She still throwing herself in with ya, yeah?” 

“Yeah! Get a fuckload of bath toys lobbed at my bloody head, stood all over, hair fucked around with. Only time she’s bearable is when she’s knackered and then she curls up on my chest and falls asleep. Then I’m stuck there in the bath with the chaos of the night fast asleep, and I can’t call for Ella or I’ll wake her up. So, I’ve gotta try and get out, not drop the wet child on her fucking head, get her dry, pyjamas on, put her in bed and then get back to my stone-cold bath for all of five minutes before she wakes up and comes steaming in again, gabbling her nonsense.” 

“See, that isn’t putting me off much, because Freya is a fucking riot. I’d love a girl if she was like her,” Gaz spoke, laughing as he remembered the various escapades of the tiny demoness of darkness. 

James pointed at him, arching an eyebrow. “Everyone says this, but living with the right honourable princess of doom is another matter entirely. With the screaming and the using my back as a trampoline, kicking me in the dick and yanking my hair, the bathtime invasions, trying to get in the bedroom when I’m trying to get in her mother, the wailing fits, hiding my keys so I can’t go out without her, trying to assemble her own murder of crows by yelling at them at five in the morning, yanking my piercings out, colouring in my tattoos, threatening strangers with witchcraft and in general, being more mental than anything I saw when I was sectioned!” 

Steve and Gaz were in hysterics by the time he took a deep breath after rattling off the list. “But you wouldn’t change her for anything, right?” the latter spoke.  

Change the destroyer of worlds, the commander of the army of the dead? “Nah mate. She’s top grade amazing.” 

“Threatening someone with witchcraft, shit, that’s quality!” Steve guffawed, James nodding vigorously. 

“Didn’t like being smiled at by the nice lady in Sainsbury’s, so screamed that she would, and I quote, ‘do a black magic on you!’ while I’m just standing there, face palming myself to death and trying to think of ways I can shut her up. Ain’t easily done. Even if you cram a lolly in her gob, she’s still loud. It’s just muffled noise.” 

How time had changed the men. Twenty years before and they’d have been standing there talking about women, usually. Now there they were, married fathers, chatting happily about their kids. “Still, though, nobody beats Wolf threatening to blood eagle that fella at the zoo for telling him not to try and climb into the lion enclosure.” 

Steve threw his head back, booming a laugh. “Yeah, and me carrying him away by the arse of his jeans, explaining that it isn’t eight hundred AD and he ain’t a Viking either.” 

Indeed, the tiny versions of them where, whether Steve or James truly wanted to admit it or not, chips right off of their blocks. Hearing his phone beep, the latter pulled it from his jacket, opening up a picture message from Mary. There they were, the three little people who his heart thrummed endlessly for, covered in cake batter and beaming widely.  

He kept it to himself that he’d only been gone from them for six hours, but already, he missed them. Becoming a father was one of the best things he’d ever done, after the happy accident that was Lyra’s conception, making him a dad much sooner than he expected he would be at twenty-seven. Since then, the urge to breed had collared him strongly, to worship his wife’s body as he spilled into her, gave her another two babies, that urge still existing within him.  

They’d said they’d stop at three, and mostly he was content with that, but there was nothing more beautiful to his eyes than seeing Ella pregnant. She’d glowed with sheer radiance throughout each of her pregnancies, thriving as she’d carried his daughters, James unable to keep his hands off her. Nobody thrived on sex quite like a horny pregnant woman.  

Except maybe two parents who found themselves child free and drunk later that night, James ducking down and throwing Ella over his shoulder as they walked across the quiet hotel foyer.  

“Been a while since I’ve thrown you over my shoulder, Mrs. K,” he chuckled, smacking her bum and pressing the button for the lift to descend.  

“It’s throwing me around the bedroom I’m more invested in the idea of,” she spoke as he stepped in, placing her back down on her feet. 

Leaning to her, his lips pressed soft to hers, hands roaming over her hungrily. “Yeah. You can definitely count on that, innit.”  

[abandonedaccount1234]

MY THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 7X08

First off: RIP RICO PRIEM. There needs to be better safety precautions and LAWS put into place, not just contract negotiations, to ensure the safety of all cast and especially crew. No one should have to die to see our favorite show get made. We can week a few weeks/months between episodes if that is what it will take. Our little weewoo show is not more important than people getting home safe.

-honestly, tell him how it is Amir. Bobby affected more lives than just the 148 he took. As much as I love his growth and how he’s healed, the trauma extends past his victims into generational trauma that will probably be felt for several generations.

-it’s so emotionally jarring sometimes to see fun loving bobby who’s worked hard to piece his life back together. and then also remember, he’s the cause of 148 lives being taken. like....how does the man have a job? he would not experience the same treatment of the freedom he’s been allowed post apartment fire if he was a man of color.

-i love how the characters are flawed and not perfect people.

-MAY GRANT where you been my baby

-Athena/Bobby goals 🥰

-so bobby comes from a long line of abusive alcoholics and has been a people pleasing emotional therapist for most of his life, good to know. good. to. know.

-i haven’t personally been too fond of the whole amir’s gonna burn the building down because it kind of plays into stereotypes of black men being violent and unable to work through their emotions in a healthy way.

-i do think race aside, it’s a possibility but after tonight’s episode, it’s not something i wanna be dead set on or right about because fighting fire with fire is not good for anyone involved, no matter how much gut wrenching pain they’ve caused you.

-i mean the cartel is a storyline they haven’t touched on before. i wonder what’s next? bridge collapse? plague outbreak? eddie being demisexual?

-side note: that guy’s flowing long hair is actually so pretty

-his mother should have stepped in more

“you can keep your amends, i didn’t ask for it. it doesn’t mean a damn thing to me.”-oh damn damn DAMN they got me crying on bridgerton day AGAIN

-oh please don’t tell me bobby learned how to cook out of trauma of almost burning his house down because he had to take on the role of his mother after she left his alcoholic father

-Bobby Nash? Nah. Bobby BURNT.

-Get up Amir! Don’t die! You’ve come too far! (in the wise words of my father: a black man can’t ever catch a break, can he?)

-is he actually a ranch worker? don’t trust a man with a truck you don’t know kids. DONT DRINK THE WATER. ITS GONNA KNOCK YOU OUT.

-of course the guy with the car WAS HIS GRANDSON

-did i not just tell you to not take candy from a strange man you just men in the middle of nowhere?

-BOBBY NASH DOES HIS OWN STUNTS

-ommercial break mantra to calm myself: athena will always find you, don’t worry. do what you gotta do to survive guys.

-back to bobby/amir: i think it’s important for bobby to meet someone who can’t forgive him for what he’s done, who no matter how much he’s grown, will never be able to see him apart from the trauma and pain he inflicted. it’s more realistic.

-Who Can It Be Now? Song by Men at Work

-Bobby’s dad dies in an alcoholic accident after he verbally assaulted him for being a kid who was left on his own to figure things out is INSANE TIM MINEAR SHIT.

-i don’t think he’s alive anymore bro...

-is bobby can drop to his knees and pray or something?

-welp he dropped to his knees

-poor little bobby

-NOT HIM BLEEDING ALL OVER THE SCRAPBOOK WHAT IN THE WORSE THAN EVAN BUCKLEY TRAUMA IS THIS SHIT WTF THAT’S UNCALLED FOR NO WONDER HE BECAME AN ALCOHOLIC JESUS CHRIST

-stay alive by matt alder

-I hope Amir sticks around. I like him. He keeps things emotionally interesting. I needed a good cry.

-commercial break thoughts: where tf is charlie now? i didn’t realize how much older he was supposed to be

-BIG PROPS to the makeup team

-i like this new girl, hope we see her again. her hair is flawless.

-acting pro peter krause

-“i live my life just trying not to make anything worse”

-michael jamal warner. incredible work tonight my man.

-what in the offbrand huge hulk loke tommy/buck/eddie are those firefighter dudes

-DONT DO IT LITTLE BOBBY YOU ARE A CHILD WHY DID THEY LEAVE HIM ALONE

-I WAS RIGHT THEY TRY TO BURN BOBBY’S HOUSE DOWN WTF I WAS RIGHT I BET ITS THE DAMN CARTEL

[plasmaandsandstorms]

Sunday, 11.03.2281 - 6:17PM

(The audio log begins with a quiet sigh, followed by the pop of a cork and the sound of gulping before, at last, Lydia speaks.)

So...it was a trap, based on my Pip-boy's chronometer I've been at the Sierra Madre for...five days. In that short time I slept maybe once, the rest I spent juiced up on adrenaline and jamming stimpacks into my arm every half hour. Some crazed asshole, father Elijah of the 'brotherhood of steel' slapped an explosive collar on my neck and forced me help with his idiotic heist to rob the casino. He'd even put together a little crew, a Nightkin, which is apparently a type of 'Super Mutant' spawned from something called 'FEV,' which indicates to me that I was correct in considering them to have once been human. Anyway, he had split personality disorder, the obedient 'Dog' and the controlling 'God' were the splits. Thankfully, by the end of things, I was able to help them realize their similarities. Dog and God are no more, something new is there...he doesn't recognize me but had a feeling that I'm trustworthy.

There was Dean Domino, as well, he's some old singer from before the War. Real piece of work, he was trying to do the same heist as that old bastard during the Pre-War age. Blackmailed some poor actress named Vera Keyes into getting with a guy named Sinclair, makin him fall in love with her and so on and so forth. Stupid...petty bullshit. Anyway, I did what I could...he survived so here's hoping he figures his shit out and lets go of the past. Ugh, that fucking phrase, 'Let Go' I have heard it more times than I care to at this point. It seemed to be the whole goddamn theme of this little excursion, if it had a theme. Hm, interesting way of thinking about it. Anyway, the last member of our little team was a woman named Christine. She was mute when we met, Domino had locked her inside an Auto-doc, just one of many things that make me wonder if I shouldn't have just blown his brains out. Anyway, I got...kinda attached to her but she stayed at the Casino after everything went down. Elijah is dead, with the others' help I was able to take down the turrets and kill him...he never even got to see the inside of the Vault he'd been so desperate to get to. The despair on his face as the last of his life drained out of him will be a memory I hold dear for a while yet. The vault was impressive though, full of useless gold bars and pre-war money...tons of gear too. Nothing I needed, I'd found all I wanted in the villa around the Casino. Including this snazzy little stealth suit, it's pretty solid stuff for being light armor so I'll definitely be keeping it. That and Elijah's Gauss rifle...and his robes. I took everything off of him before making a run for it out of the casino, the area the vault was in was blowing up and I just barely made it out. Thankfully, once I did, the explosive collar deactivated and I tossed it into the fountain as I ran through the gates. Turns out the place I got snatched from? It's some old Brother Hood of Steel bunker, that's what the symbols on the walls are. So, it'll be my secluded little home now. There's a radio too, used to broadcast the sierra madre's call, but now? Now it's just Christine's voice, which is Vera's voice now, speaking to me a last goodbye. Maybe I'll go back one day to be with her, but for now? For now, I am going to sleep good and hard in the comfortable bed Elijah left me...inside this secure bunker that he no longer needs. He couldn't let go. But I could. Oh, and one more thing...he and Christine mentioned a place called the Big Empty...and another courier who had a score to settle. I think it's the same one Mr. Nash mentioned, the one who gave up the job so I could have it. I wonder what the story is there...but I get the feeling I'll find out. (The audio log ends with a long yawn from Lydia, then silence.)

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Can I ask you to write (if you feel like it and have free time, I don't want to sound imperative/demanding) a ficlet/next chapter of Blood Brother about the meeting of children with Lyle and Zdog, which you mentioned a few posts earlier?

I love the original story with all my heart but there is something special about this one shot, I totally can't stop thinking about it since I read it. I think the best thing here is Spider's quite rebellious (idk what to call it) character and how he protects his brother. The whole basement scene made me feel close to tears. I really admire your skills and creativity, and i hope you have a nice day/night 💕

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I was super proud of the basement scene when I wrote it so I'm really happy it's been so well received.

And yes I will gladly write about the boys meeting Uncle Lyle and Auntie Z 💞

########################################

     Miles and Hunter were laying on the living room floor engrossed in their homework, their father sitting over them supervising, when rustling noises and the faint sound of chatting alerted the family. Miles immediately jumped to his feet and looked to his father for direction. The man waved him off. “It’s nothin’ Junior. Just your uncle and auntie comin’ up for a visit.”

    “Our what now?” As far as Miles knew neither of his parents had siblings. Or at least siblings that they kept in contact with.

    “They’re some of my old squad mates. My right hand man Lyle Wainfleet and your mama’s best friend Savin Zdinarsik. Z-dog for short. They’re coming up to see how we're doing. Bring us supplies and all of that.”

     “Like what Pa,” Hunter asked, sitting up to innocently stare at him.

      The father had to chuckle. His soon to be thirteen year old thought he was being so casual with his question but the anticipation was written all over his face. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” Hunter pouted over that answer. His Pa bent over and playfully ruffled the boy's hair. Hunter glared at him with all the ferocity of a kitten, incredibly annoyed, but too cute for his Pa to take seriously.

     Still laughing at his youngest Miles Sr stood up, motioning for his son’s to follow. “Come on boys. Let’s go say hi.” 

     They stood outside for only a few moments before two figures came strolling out of the foliage, one a broad bald man, the other an incredibly fit woman with a mohawk. They both broke out into wide grins at the sight of the family. “Holy shit,” Lyle exclaimed as he quickened his step towards the house, “would you look at you boys! It’s only been two months but you both already changed so much!”

      Hunter cocked his head to the side, “you’ve seen us before?”

      Lyle’s expression became awkward, “yeah, but y’a know the circumstances were a little different,” he laughed nervously, “I’m not surprised you don’t remember. You were both kinda…asleep.”

      “Were you the one who rescued me?” Hunter asked, putting the pieces together.”

       Lyle’s nerves melted away at the word “rescued” instead of “kidnapped”. His smile returned even wider than before, “yeah kid I was.”

     “Oh, thank you,” Hunter exclaimed, bouncing a little in place.

       “You’re welcome kiddo,” Lyle turned his attention to the eldest brother. “Look at you! You actually look like a boy now without those pussy braids,” Lyle roughly ruffled Miles' hair. The teen took the teasing in good stride, rolling his eyes, but with a faint smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

       “Alright, alright. My turn already,” Auntie Z said, pushing Lyle out of the way. She paused in front of them drinking in their image. There was something so sad and tender in her eyes yet happy at the same time. She turned to the boys’ father, “god they look like her don’t they.” 

       All three members of the family felt their hearts swell. Miles Sr proudly pat both of his sons on the shoulder, “they sure do. They sure as shit didn’t get this good lookin’ from me.” The adults all laughed while the boys smiled awkwardly. “How ‘bout we head inside. I’m sure you two want to rest, grab a bite, unpack…”

      “We do” said Lyle. He had a wry grin on his face that instantly told the family he was up to no good, “but we have a surprise first.”

       The boys’ eyes lit up, “a surprise?” “Like what? “Where is it?” “Is it in your backpack?” “Show us!” “What is it!”

       “Boys! Stop talkin’ over each other.” Their father fixed them with a stern look, instantly quieting his sons, then turned his attention to his comrades, “I’m sure whatever it is it can wait for a couple more days.” Miles Sr gave a subtle glance to the soon to be birthday boy. Hunter didn’t notice, too focused on his aunt and uncle.

       “No can do boss,” said Z, “this isn’t exactly the type of thing you can keep waiting for long.”

       The Colonel was instantly suspicious, “what did you two do?”

        Z and Lyle’s confidence never wavered, “follow me.” Z beckoned them forward. Miles and Hunter rushed ahead eager to see what they had been brought. Their father trailed behind annoyed. They only had to walk a few feet into the tree line when they saw it. The brothers gasps, racing forward, sinking to their knees to pet the excited border collie puppy that was leashed to a tree. 

      Their aunt and uncle beamed down at them as they watched the kids play with the pup. She jumped into their laps, licked their faces, rolled over so the boys could rub her belly. The boys were shrieking with joy. “She’s so cute!” “How old is she?” “Does she have a name?” “Did you really get her for us?” “Do we really get to keep her?”

     “Boys what did I just tell y’a about talkin’ over each other.” All the attention turned to Miles Sr. At the look of exasperation on their fathers face, the boys sobered from their excitement.

      “Papa….” Hunter called, making sure he looked as wide eyed and pitiful as possible.

       His father sighed, “Hunter don’t you start…”

      “Papa please…” said Miles every bit as pleading as his little brother. 

      “Miles not you too…”

       “Please Papa.” “Look at her, how can you say no to this face.” “We promise we’ll take good care of her.” “Yeah! We’ll take her on walks…” “…and feed her…” “….and give her baths…” “…and pick up her shit…”

      “Alright alright, quit your begging already.”

       The woods became quiet as they all waited for the fathers decision. Z was the first to break the silence. “We thought it’d be good for the boys to have a little extra company.”

       “Yeah!” Lyle said, “a friend..”

        The Colonel scoffed, “what do they need a friend for. There’s two of ‘em!” The brothers both shrank inward, bracing for the inevitable no. Their father noticed and lost some of his fire. “God, do you two have to look so absolutely pathetic? You’re killin’ me here! Or maybe I’m just goin’ soft. Keep the damn dog I don’t care…” His son’s where wrapped around him in an instant 

      “Thank you, thank you, thank you Papa!” Hunter's face was buried in his father’s torso, muffling his shouts of joy.

      “Thank you so much Pa,” Miles said, tucked under his father’s chin.

       Miles Sr squeezed his sons tight, “anything for you boys.”

[lifetimeoftired]

Tacking on to my other post about Vergil/Lady, there’s another interesting canon moment, that now that I’ve actually gone back to watch, that really got me.

In the cutscene in the post-second Vergil fight where she accuses Vergil of forcing Arkham to do this, he looks mildly annoyed and a bit disappointed. But note, he only attacks her once. She interrupted his fight with Dante, which annoyed him and that’s why he attacks her, but he pauses and takes the time to call her out specifically for believing Arkham. Sure sure, he could just be being dramatic cause he hates the guy, but this is also the same man Vergil just ‘killed’ because of “fondness” for his daughter when the guy has been leading him around to the thing Vergil wants and this was almost entirely Arkham’s plan anyway.

If we put our shipping googles on here for a minute, and consider Vergil’s pov, he might have been jealous of her. We know he hates Arkham, hated him the entire time from how he was constantly glaring at the son of bitch anytime he spoke. Part of that is the fact that he knows Arkham murdered his wife to become a devil. And this is Vergil! Mommy issues central! No doubt Vergil absolutely despises Arkham for killing his wife, and is just using he supposedly saving his daughter as an excuse to kill him for that. Also, he no doubt hates the idea that Arkham has any softer feelings towards his child (because maybe, his own parents were more complicated than he wants to believe), if he even believes that Arkham actually did. And if he did believe, for just a second, that Arkham actually cared about her, he most certainly wondered, in those few moments, why Lady was so damn special? Why did Arkham still choose to care about his daughter but his parents didn’t care about, him was something wrong with him? How come Arkham couldn’t a father to HIM? Then imagine his disappointment when he realizes Arkham manipulated Lady. To what end? He won’t know for a few more seconds, but he goes right back to thinking ‘lol Arkham’s a piece of shit, glad I killed him’. 

And maybe, he sees something in Lady that’s like himself. Someone abandoned, someone unloved who lost everything too soon. Angry, lashing out, doing everything to put the wrong right and make it so that she’s never vulnerable again. Going so far as to challenge something so far above her, she could never succeed because she must.

And then there’s Lady. She does stop, right then and there. She could’ve chosen not to believe Vergil. After all, there was no reason for her to believe him. He’s a demon! She just learned he was possessing her father and made him do terrible things! Except, she does believe him. She could just be thinking about how Arkham being possessed doesn’t really track with what she knows. She could be questioning why she’s even trusting Arkham in the first place. I like to think, that she sees that he’s honestly, genuinely disappointed in her. He says, ‘you really believe that?’ and she actually considers what he’s saying because, that’s not the reaction of someone who ‘won’ the manipulation chess game. Something I think she’d be well versed in, seeing as Arkham is Like That and it no doubt slipped through into his every day personality.

Obviously Dante/Jester interrupts so we’ll never really know how they would’ve reacted to after this exchange, but I like to think he would have let her walk away. Might have even told her, in his pompous way, that things were about to get bad and she should save herself while she could. She obviously would’ve called him a dick, challenged him, and I do think he would’ve killed her. But only because if he didn’t go all out, he would be ashamed of himself for not showing a worthy opponent respect. 

[queenimmadolla]

to be fair, I don’t think anyone said writing about cops in itself is wrong, HOW a character is portrayed in the source material(or written about in fics) matters, Jim Hopper is a good example - he’s the least cop cop out there. He also breaks the law all the damn time. But it’s the sexualization of police and what they do is. Modern day police has its origins in slave patrol, there’s nothing “not deep” about that. As a black person who grew up in a black neighborhood in Brooklyn and have had less than pleasant interactions with police for doing something as simple as standing around, and have family members unfairly in the system, I take issue with this.

Idk about AUs but the topic I’ve seen come up is around Joe Kerry’s upcoming character who I believe is a cop in the south, who’s religous(father is a priest), and comes from a conservative background. We don’t know anything about what he’s like and some black people/poc are rightfully voicing their hesitance around white people being extremely exciting to write about him and sexualize what he does, with a lot of backlash from white writers. I personally don’t feel safe as a black stranger things/Joe Keery fandom member to voice my view on this not on anon bc I see how the white writers have reacted. But It’s completely fair for poc, esp black fandom members, to feel a certain way or hesitation around it and for white people to consider the implications.

Excellent points, but not quite what I was referring to. My statements are directed towards those speaking on behalf of the POC and black people when they are not involved in those communities to frown upon Cop!AUs when the most they know and have been involved with about police brutalization is what they might see on tiktok and hear from individuals not adversely affected by it. Yes, it is correctly a negative connotation to them but to equate fucking some character in a cop car or being seduced by a character turned cop─who has not been written to have brutalized or done anything fucking wrong btw─for an AU to black people being brutalized by cops and POC facing harassment and discrimination by cops in REAL LIFE is not the hill white people want to die on. If this should be the case every single character with a position of authority that they admire should not be so. This is not only ignorant and offensive, it is very damaging white savior behavior. They wreck an area they're not staying in and we'll have to clean up their mess.

As for Gator, I have already said my piece on him. I'm not writing for him (probably won't actually just because I probably won't have motivation) until I watch the show to confirm he's not racist. Once we get confirmation, I'm fine with it. it's the same thing as any other character, until we see them on screen─they all can potentially be racist. It sucks, that's the struggle we face (because I actually was starting to like Billy and felt like i understood him until they revealed that he was racist last minute, that's the shit we're put through) and I think it's stupid because we don't need to be traumatized in fictional shit since it's so often displayed on our tv screens in the form of news reporting on what we face in REAL LIFE, if we're not already going through it ourselves─which, unlucky me, I have and am.

[bluwavez]

im kinda curious about the boys' opinion on jinhwa, mydol, being transferred to a new company for the third (!!!) time (stormedia -> angelico -> flowerbank -> mydol) and also what is their relationship with han since he is part of the directors of their new company.

"As the single Stormedia survivor, I'm very grateful to be at Mydol, and I'm grateful for Jinhwa even if he was trying to rig me out during The New Wave," Jisung chuckles. "It seems the only guy who knows how to manage us is Jinhwa, so..." He shrugs, looking off to the side with a small grunt. "It is what it is, you know? I'm just glad to not be a nobody anymore. That really sucked. God, that was so awful. Yeah, I really appreciate Jinhwa never giving up on us."

"Han is half-managing us at this point. I think he gets a bit power-hungry sometimes, but he's still my best friend. We went through a lot together, so his agitation doesn't get aimed at me," Jisung laughs, a beaming smile on his full lips. We go out every Friday for drinks. I love that guy."

Jacob sucks air between his teeth at the question, smacking his hands against his thighs with a sigh as he squints ahead of him, clearly deep in thought. "None of us wanted to go to Flowerbank. Like, none of us were for that. I was happy to still be with the same company as my sister, but...I really thought that was it for us," Jacob admits with a soft chuckle, "I thought we were gonna disband under Flowerbank, which none of us wanted. These guys piss me off almost every day, but the thought of being an idol without them? Horrible. I have to be grateful for Jinhwa."

Jacob crosses his legs, clearing his throat. "He's very flawed, but he's done a lot for my family. He took care of my sister and my siblings when I couldn't. I have a lot of respect for Jinhwa despite his...flaws." His words contain a lot of caution, his dark eyes flicking from the ground to the camera as he talks.

He scoffs when Han is mentioned, his eyes widening with a dismissive grunt and wave of his hand. "That fuckin' guyyy...He's alright. 'Cool, he's back around, I guess. I don't talk to him much when he's on set."

"I kinda see this contract buying as us going home," Noah explains with a warm smile. "I know my dad isn't perfect. He's done some things that aren't..." The man uses his hands to finish his sentence since he can't find the words to describe his father, "But he's a good man deep down. He's always cared about DeepDive and our success. That's all we can ask for, right? Plus, I like working with my dad. He's my dad," Noah shrugs, leaning back in the chair. "I love Mydol staff, love the company, love the freedom...Can't be mad."

"Han is cool now that he's a business guy. He seems to be more...laid back? Kind of? I don't know. He seems happier to be behind the scenes and bossing us around. He's worked a lot with the creative direction and our management. He was in the studio with us a lot. I think he a bit of a perfectionist, though," Noah explains with a small laugh before putting his hands up in faux surrender, "I'm not the one he bitches at, though. He likes my work."

Kiwoo shrugs, unenthused to be answering the question. "As long as I get paid, I don't care. I don't care where we are--Ah...I would hate to be under JYP. I would leave the group if we were under JYP," Kiwoo rambles, looking up as he messes with a ring on his finger. "It's genuinely whatever to me. I'm just happy we're still together and still have public appeal after being locked in a basement for nearly a year. I don't really have positive thoughts on Jinhwa. He sucks as a person but I'm not here to be his friend, so-" Kiwoo shrugs with a clear of his throat, looking off to the side.

"Han can get fucked. I don't like him," Kiwoo answers bluntly, giving an agitated smile at the mention of the man. "He's a controlling piece of shit that is still mad I got more lines than him because I'm better singer...Yeah. 'Super happy to be working with him again. I'm living my absolute best life under Mydol if you can't tell."

"Well, I was never under Stormedia. My mom would've pitched a fit if I went to that garbage hole. I know Mydol is different from Angelico but," Blue gives a look at the camera, a knowing smile on his lips before laughing with a shrug like we should know the answer. "It's Jinhwa. In my eyes, we're under Angelico 2.0, so not much has changed. We're currently the best-performing act under the label, which I'm scared won't last if Jinhwa, you know, does what we all think he's going to do. Whatever. He's cool when he's managing us properly. I don't care about what he does in his spare time."

Blue makes a face when Han is mentioned, grunting in disinterest with a dramatic sigh. "He needs to loosen the fuck up. He suddenly acts so big and mighty because he's on the board of Mydol, as if he didn't suck Jinhwa's dick to get there. Be fucking serious. Ugh! He yelled at me when we were filming My Ego because--Oh! Oh! I needed to "look nicer" What the fuck are you even talking about? Are we listening to the same song? He's just getting his revenge on me for beating his ass on The New Wave. Such a loser."

Woojin looks a bit defeated before putting his hands out as if to say "What can I say?" forcing himself to smile before forcing a laugh. "I mean...I'm not that excited to be under Jinhwa again. How could I be? Look at his company roster. Hyerim is there and, like, that's just..." Woojin sighs, looking up at the ceiling before chuckling bitterly and shrugging again. "That sucks! But I don't want to leave these guys again. I didn't want to leave the first time. I'll just suck it up. She's not our manager this time around, so I guess it's not that bad. It could be worse."

"Han is cool! He's very helpful!" Woojin says excitedly, nodding at the mention of the man. "He's kind of like my mentor at the moment. He's really helpful, and, yeah, I'm glad he's around again. He picked me to take his place, so it's really cool to be able to work with him in this kind of dynamic. I appreciate him a lot."

Finn looks around before shrugging. "I really don't give a fuck. I'm not even trying to be different or edgy when I say that, like, I serious just don't give a fuck. I think Donald Duck could've bought our contract from Flowerbank, and I would've done the splits. They were so ass. Do you how ass you have to be for me to be happy to see Jinhwa, Son Jinhwa, again? Holy shit, dude. Go back to business school–No, actually, just retire. No. Just quit. You're that bad." Finn rants, talking with his hands animatedly, shifting in his seat as he does so, sniffling before shaking his head. "I'm not a Jinhwa stan though. He sucks, yeah, I know. He should've be fucking people half his age. That's gross. He's gross. I just work with him," Finn explains to the best of his ability.

"Han is whatever. He touches my waist too much, and his creative direction irks me a bit, but he's easy to talk to. I'm glad he's nepotismed his way into a high position, though. Good for him. Hope he doesn't, like, use that power for evil or something," Finn says offhandedly, puckering his lips at the thought before chuckling softly, "That'd be crazy."

[folkoreluvr]

Return of the dragon | chapter four: it’s a wonderful lie

Thomas Mann was proving to be a real pain in the ass. He was supposed to be a nobody, someone she spoke to once then never remembered but he was intent on sticking around. They had gone on a few dates and he was a nice guy just not for Grace. In truth she found him boring and mildly irritating. He rarely elected to aske her questions due to him being too busy dick riding her father. I fucking hate my dad she thought. She found he lacked passion and adventure and creativity, he was quite content to stay where he was born and live the same life as his dad and never be original. There was nothing inherently wrong with Thomas it was just that she could never even picture herself liking him let alone be her husband, if she would ever want one.

So when he called her on a Wednesday afternoon and said he was taking her to a diner he likes she was intrigued. Fancy restaurant dates were never her thing and she loved American diners. He had rolled up in a red Lamborghini and driven her to a small diner on the outskirts of Manhattan. It had dark blue walls and shiny leather boots. Memorabilia of all decades decorated the walls and in the corner was a mahogany jukebox. Grace was ecstatic, this is what drew her in. she couldnt care less about fancy dinners and expensive gifts, she wanted individuality and she found it far more meaningful if someone learned what she liked and made a charming date she would adore them forever. He led her to a booth In the far right corner and sat across from her. They made small talk about their weeks until their food arrived. When grace was halfway through her burger he cleared his throat and looked at her expectantly. She glanced back confused and put the burger down with a small frown on her face.

"I actually brought you here to talk about something, away from the paparazzi and listeners." Now she was even more confused.

"is everything okay?"

"my dad wants me to marry and expects me to have kids in the near future and well I know yours does too and I was hoping we could work out an arrangemen-"

oh her heart dropped. He didnt actually like her and had no interest in actually forming a connection. why would he Im me.

"Im sorry but no. I have no interest in any of this" she watched his face drop and his hands fall to his lap awkwardly before she put the pieces together. "who is she?"

"what?" got you the look on his face confirmed her suspicions. He didnt look shocked he looked caught and  mentally she patted herself on the back for being so smart.

"the girl youre in love with. I take it that if you marry her your cash flow stops because your dad wants you to marry someone higher up, someone like me."

"yes but be honest grace your dad expects the same. Have to marry someone he approves of someone he picked. Were both stuck in this I thought you might help me. We would be married only to the public and our parents but in private we could do as we wished."

"I dont want to marry you or anyone"

"but-"

"look, we could pretend to be together for our families sake and find a way to convince our parents it wouldnt be good for us to marry. Ill get my dad off my back and you can search for a woman in a similar predicament to you, Im sure there are many"

"thank-you Grace really"she smiled at him for a second then sunk her teeth back into her burger

Fuck my life

At dinner that Saturday night Grace told tony about how she and Thomas were now in a relationship and watched him nearly jump for jump for joy, she probably would have felt bad about lying to him if he wasnt such a dick. She had a feeling Pepper already knew however, she didnt exactly seem convinced and was oddly quiet the rest of the night. She had walked grace to the elevator to their pent house and kissed her on the cheek.. 

"I only want you to be happy" she said quietly and Grace just smiled back and hugged her goodnight.

———

"alright now that the boring shits over I have something to announce" tony stark had said to the team, some looked exited like Sam, others grimaced like Bucky or Nat or simply sat their bracing themselves, like grace was. If her father decided to announce her new relationship status in front of the team and in front of Loki especially she would probably punch him straight in the jaw and hope it breaks. "the avengers team is having their first every pool party. An actual pool party and not a few drunk people swimming in their underwear like its high school again"

"who did that in high school" Steve asked with a confused look on his face forgetting not everyone on the team went to high school in the 1930s

"I did" Grace smirked.

"you were home-schooled?" tony said with a look of confusion.

"and yet I was invited to every teenagers pool party in Manhattan"

"moving on" he mumbled "its an avengers thing for team building but Sylvie is welcome to come she was now officially living in a spare room at the compound" Grace still couldnt get the strange sense of déjà vu out of her brain every time she looked at her.

"could I bring Thomas, he would love this sort of thing" this was her key to selling their relationship she mentioned casually that he swam in high school and loved the pool and did her best to pretend like she hadnt read that in an interview article at 3 am the night before.

"of course you can" she caught Loki rolling her eyes as she smiled at her dad.

"I thought this was for avengers not riff raff" he really was a ginormous prick.

"the stark family always makes exceptions for things like boyfriends" and she paused and looked him up and down "psychopaths apparently too" a satisfied smug grew on her face as she watched Thor hold his brother down to prevent him for leaning across the table with a dagger in hand. She truly loved pissing him off and since he often started most of their fights Grace felt he deserved it. She only wished he would look less attractive glaring at her.

"perhaps,"Steve interjected "we can all use this as a way of working out our grievances with each other and stop trying to kill each other" the last part was said in emphasis as he glared at Grace and Loki, both of which did not seem pleased.

"oh come on its hardly my fault hes got such a rod up his ass."

"nor is it mine that the only person willing to be with her is the most dull man in the universe"

"fuck you Loki"

"Kunta" he mumbled at her in old Norse

"LOKI" Thor bellowed at his brother.

and thats meeting adjourned Thor marched Loki out of the room and grace watched and rolled her eyes until she stormed out too.

———

A loud rummaging awoke Grace from her sleep, it was coming from the bathroom and for a second she debated leaving it and hoping nobody killed her in her sleep. Begrudgingly, she got out of bed and slowly walked towards the bathroom. She opened the door as quietly as she could but to her disappointment it was only Loki. He looked up and saw her in the mirror and glared at her reflection.

"oh goodie youre back" she murmured sarcastically, he rolled his eyes and continued dabbing his arm with a rag. Upon further inspection she saw that he had injured himself which was odd because it was nearly impossible but she only took pleasure in his suffering. He removed the now crimson rag and she saw just how grim his wound looked. “that is disgusting” she cringed and Loki looked impossibly more irritated.

"Im perfectly well stark dont you worry"

"isnt that disappointing. You woke me up and I find out our not even dying"

"its 10am why were you asleep?"

"fuck off I had a late night" he rolled his eyes again and threw the bloody rag in the bathroom bin.

"out with that boring man again stark? You may be you but surely theres someone else who wants to be with you." She walked out of the room and slammed the door shouting "bye asshole I hope you bleed out"

[kemptburg-news]

-"Are you out of your mind?!" 

Gabriella sighs at the loud echo coming from the hall. Putting away her newspaper, she leans back in her seat, waiting for the worst.

Milan storms into the office angrily. Cole was behind him, but the door was slammed shut in his face when Milan went in.

-"What is it?"

Gabriella puts on her best poker face, playing with one of her red dyed braids. 

-"You know what the fuck is", Milan hisses, slamming the table. "Why on earth did you say that shit? Why didn't you tell anyone you were going on the news?!"

-"I have just as much authority around here as you do, Milan. Care for some tea?"

She observes his face for a moment. His eyebrows are furrowed and there are deep wrinkles on his forehead. When he doesn't respond, she walks up to the kettle regardless. 

-"Bullshit-"

-"I don't have to tell you what I do. We are equals, you are not my superior"

-"People think I'm lying", Milan sighs, taking a seat on the couch. "All because of you"

-"People thought you were lying before, too", Gabriella corrects him, tapping her foot as she waits for the water to boil. "I fixed your mistake. You will thank me later"

-"Fixed it? You made me look like an idiot"

-"You made yourself look like an idiot. An accident? Seriously?", she huffs, putting on a sarcastic tone. "Oh yeah totally, everyone mutilates dead bodies when they find corpses just laying around during snowstorms. It's human nature!"

Milan grumbled something under his breath. "I had a plan, dammit.. you shouldn't have interfered"

-"You are forgetting something, Milan", Gabriella insists, but remains calm. "This is not the same time as when your father was leading this place. We have the news, and the internet. People will know when you try to bullshit them"

She places teabags into two cups. "You can't do the same as he did, because you aren't him"

-"I am not trying to be that asshole", Milan spits, clearly offended. "I am trying to-"

-"I know, but you look like an idiot while doing so"

Gabriella turns around, facing him. Her face is relaxed, but she is angry, that much is clear. "I've seen people accuse you, and even Cole. Stop putting that poor guy in those situations, dammit. You and I both know it wasn't a soldier who killed Jack Pott" She is silent for a moment. "You and I both know it was the same guy as all those other murders"

-"I know", Milan sighs. "But we managed to tone the media attention down on those. It's not our fault Kemptburg has a bigger population, and a more engaged journalism team"

-"Exactly" Gabriella pours the hot water into the cups. "But don't you understand what this means for us? We haven't caught the guy yet, and they are moving to a different town"

Milan gulps. "I know. I suppose they didn't like the lack of attention on their other.. art pieces"

-"Correct" Gabriella takes a seat next to Milan and places their tea to cool down by the window behind them. She makes sure to close the blinds there, too. "But I changed the way the media looks at you. You're no longer the idiot who denies a clear murder. You're more sympathetic now. Don't you prefer being the poor bastard in denial about a soldier you lost, than being a dumbass?"

-"I still think you should have told me before you went on the news", Milan sighs. 

-"I, uh, I take yer calm tone as a sign things went well?" A blonde man peaked through the door.

-"Dammit Cole, fuck off"

[allofmytoxicity]

A/N; I’m so sorry this is late, life has been... eventful to say the least, and I also was pretty much fully busy unless I was sleeping on Sunday, so yeah... anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Synopsis; After all of the vents of today, Kaitlyn’s anger reaches a boiling point and she takes it out on Sybil.

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5 / part 6 / part 7 / part 8 / part 9 / part 10 / part 11 / part 12 / part 13 / part 14 / part 15 / part 16 / part 17 / part 18 / part 19 / part 20 / part 21 / part 22 / part 23 / part 24 / part 25 / part 26 / part 27 / part 28 / part ...

Story Masterlist  

Words; 1473

Rage is a Monster Inside

27th June

As we reached the main doors of the Castle, I could do nothing but grab onto Jameson and feel like I never needed to let go. To be honest, it was what I needed at that moment as the rage for Father, and Sybil built up inside of me and would soon be released on the witch that was my sister.

Jameson then slowly released from the hug as I sniffled and released as well as a feeling I could not describe set in at that moment.

“I’ll always love you, you know that right?” I say as the tears start again on both sides.

“I know, and I’ll always love you too. Your sister put us in an impossible situation and you chose the best way out, so before you go thinking that this was your fault, it wasn’t, and neither was it mine,” Jameson said as he took my hands in his.

“On the note of not doing things to ourselves, you are enough, always remember that. I don’t want to somehow end up with both of us in a pit of depression, so don’t drown in your heartbreak either,” I say as we slowly step outside as we say our final ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see you later’s’ for at least a little while.

“Same to you then about the depression pit, don’t drown in it,” Jameson says as I laugh at his statement.

Slowly and gently, we say our final goodbyes as a couple with a dance and then a soft kiss at the end, just to make this feel like the end of one of our casual dates. Like it wasn’t the end of our relationship.

As I watch Jameson leave, I let the tears flow more freely and then turn, the rage finally reaching boiling point as I start to run up to Sybil’s room, red in my vision.

{----------}

As I march in and slam the door open, and then close, I spot Alice sitting on Sybil’s bed. The rage dulls slightly as I try not to rip Alice’s head off, but the rage still ever-present.

“Where’s Sybil?” I sharply say to Alice as she turns to where the loud banging of slammed doors came from.

“In Father’s study. She asked me to wait here for her so I could help her do her hair,” Alice says, a questioning look on her face “Why?”

“I’m going to kill her,” I say as the door opens again and Sybil walks through.

“YOU!” I yell, and then lunge at Sybil and then start to punch her a few times before eventually being pulled off by strong arms.

I look around and see Xander holding me back as Alice helps Sybil get up off the floor, while Sybil has a very prominent bleeding nose.

“Let me go,” I grunt at Xander before lunging at Sybil again and trying to strangle her before being pulled off again by Xander, who has a harder grip on me than before knowing how easily I jumped out of his arms to get Sybil again.

“LET ME GO!” I yell out as Xander drags me across the room, further away from my piece of shit sister, while trying to prevent me from committing murder.

“No, no, no, I’m not letting you commit murder on my watch, Why do you want to kill Sybil so badly anyway, I know she takes the piss but-” And at that moment I escaped from Xander’s arms and ran across the room to try and kill Sybil again.

I managed to get to her and started punching and kicking her as Xander tried to pull me back, but this time I was stronger before I yelled at Sybil “YOU BITCH!” and then started to full-on punch her again as the attempts to pull me off of Sybil were weakening as the power in Xander was running out.

“You broke up my relationship to get what you wanted! THERE! I DID IT! ARE YOU HAPPY!” I yelled out before I grew tired and just tried to just start hurting Sybil in any way I could, but Sybil had enough energy from the beating I had given her to flip me, so she was the one on top punching me now as Xander tried to help get her off of me as my vision soon became blurry and my mouth soon filling with the coppery taste of blood as I tried to get out from the position I was in.

Slowly, the noises I was hearing, like Alice screaming and Xander trying to get Sybil off of me soo became a dull ringing in my ears. My vision soon became filled with just black dots. It was from there that it all went black and space and time became unknown things for at least a while.

{----------}

I woke up with a start and had a very tight feeling in my chest. I was pushed back down as my eyes squinted to adjust to the lighting in the room, and as I looked around I saw that Sybil had clearly managed to knock me out by the medical attention I was getting, along with Xander taking up his usual position in my room after I’ve done something like being knocked out, in a chair in the corner, worried.

“Hey,” I manage to get out as my throat feels like it’s on fire.

Xander rushes over, not making the normal clinking sound like when he has armour on. Clearly, someone had forced him to go home and change.

“Hey, Katie. Do you need water or anything?” Xander says as he grabs a cup with a straw in it and I nod, so he brings the cup closer to my face and I drink the water.

“Where are my parents?” I ask, wondering if they even knew about Sybil and I’s brawl.

“They’ve come and gone about every thirty minutes, switching between here and Sybil’s room,” Xander says as I slowly sit up in bed.

“I’m guessing she told her sob story and now Mother and Father believe her and not me?” I ask, knowing that when not explained by a neutral party, it could seem like anyone’s fault.

“No, your parents got Alice and I to say what we saw and then got Sybil to tell her story. She said you were planning her demise anyway and then took the chance to kill her then. I know you didn’t. With what Alice and I said, along with what your Father knows already, you’re both going to be in trouble, but Sybil will be the only one receiving punishment, meanwhile, you’ll get a hard talking to,” Xander said as I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“I can see you’re very glad about that,” He says as I chuckle, finding my voice again so I could reply.

“Yeah. For a long time, Sybil was seen as ‘little miss goody-two-shoes’ whereas she knocks her sisters out if she has the power to pin them down, and blackmails people on a daily basis,” I say, remembering all the times Sybil had hurt me. The newest one hurting the most.

“What did you mean about Sybil breaking up your relationship?” Xander asked, clearly already having thought up answers but waiting for the definitive one that was correct.

“Sybil caught us earlier. Jameson and I. While we were down at the lake, she wandered down, caught us, started to try and blackmail us, and pushed me into the water, that’s why I was wet, and then I said I would tell my Father about my relationship with Jameson, and of course, as predicted, he broke us up,” I said while trying to contain the tears.

Xander just hugs me. He hugs me as he knows how much Jameson meant to me, and the fact that was taken away, he could probably only imagine about a tenth of what I feel. The endless sadness. The constant reminder that he isn’t there and you’re not allowed to see him anymore.

He eventually pulls back and looks me in the eyes before starting to speak.

“Look Katie, now I know you think this is a stupid nickname, but you need things like this now. I stocked up the secret freezer in your room with double chocolate ice cream, as well as getting out all your really comfy clothes to wear. I know you miss him, and I know you’re mad at Sybil, but you can’t just go punching her, even though you have reason to do so. Just don’t fall into a bottomless pit, okay?” Xander says and I look at him, a sad smile gracing itself upon my face.

“Okay.” I say and then Father walks into my room.

“Mr Evermore, I think you should go.”