#so i get stuck in a limbo of ‘could this plausibly have happened’

[roppiepop]

This one wip i wrote is only like, 2 scenes long but its SO GOOD why am i not continuing this (the rest of the scenes are beyond my skill level lmao)

[inkedroplets]

⭐️🌟💫

I went back and forth on so many different sections to talk about in depth. I finally settled on this one.

I'd rather not dream at all, Lena thought, thinking of how often even her most pleasant dreams so often turned to nightmares, hoping that the sheer exhaustion she felt would be enough to keep them away. She watched Kara go as she waited for the light to change, too tired to work through everything that had happened, what still had to happen but unable to stop herself from trying. She watched the crosswalk light tick down and got ready to shuffle across when she felt a very light tap on her arm. Expecting Kara, Lena turned around and was more than a little surprised to not see anybody, until she felt another tap on her arm and saw that the culprit was just short enough to limbo underneath her eye line. A young girl with a bright yellow bow stuck in her hair that for some reason looked awfully familiar. "Hi!" the girl said, beaming up at Lena. Lena could only stare as she tried to figure out just why the girl looked so familiar, urging her incredibly sluggish brain to cough up the right memory when it came rushing back a few moments later. You were crying because you ran away from home... The confusion on Lena's face fell away and she smiled warmly at the girl. "Hello, Kara." Hello, Kara. Kara was already half a block away when the sound of Lena's voice stopped her in her tracks. She came to such a sudden stop that the man walking a few steps behind her had to very hastily sidestep around her, muttering darkly as he found his footing and began to walk faster in a bid to put some distance between the both of them, glowering at her, although Kara didn't notice. She was too busy trying to figure out if she had really heard what she thought she did or just imagined it. She stepped a bit off the sidewalk so as not to make other people have to walk around her and listened more intently and picked up the sound of Lena's voice, still standing out front near the coffee shop. How have you been? Kara's brow furrowed and she took a few steps back in the direction she had just come from. Are you talking to me? Kara mused, not sure what to think. She stopped when she heard a child's voice answer Lena's question. I'm good. So is my mommy. Thanks to you. She has a new job. She's inside now getting coffee and hot chocolate for me! I'm glad to hear that and I just had coffee too. With a friend. But it's Superman that helped. "Superman?" Kara said aloud, more confused than ever, eyes wide and her heart pounding. You walked me home. Well... Superman did too. Your mom will be worried if she sees you're outside talking to a stranger, you should go back inside. Promise again that you won't run away ever again? I won't. I promise. Thank you again. You're very welcome. I hope you had a good birthday too. I did! Oh, I wanted to tell you that I really like your helmet. I thought it was scary at first but now I think it's really pretty. I wanna dress up like you for Halloween. Kara swayed where she stood, like a boxer at the end of a very long round. She could feel her stomach twisting in on itself, while the same solitary thought pounded in time with her rapidly beating heart. It can't be true... It can't be true... It can't be true...

I had many, many ideas about how Kara would find out that Lena was the vigilante. And none of them involved Lena getting the chance to tell Kara the truth because where's the fun in that? I think initially I was leaning towards a big dramatic reveal. One during the penultimate chapter would have fit the bill but to drag that secret all the way to the finish line never seemed all that appealing. Kara managing to overhear Lena talking about her double life seemed plausible but the ethics of Kara always listening in never sat right with me. And as far as Kara figuring it out herself... I quite like the notion that for Kara and Lena that they are each other's blind spots. For as smart as they are or the clues that should seem obvious they just don't see them either by accident or design. When Lena ended up helping out the young girl who had run away from home, I had the epiphany to name her Kara. Something that seemed like a throwaway line at the time. Fun foreshadowing to stumble into as a writer. And it fit thematically since Lena unmasked to put her mind at ease and that's how Clark ends up finding out that it's Lena that's been prowling Metropolis and much (much) later how Kara found out as well. Kara hearing Lena call her name from far away seemed like something she would be actively listening for and while she did eavesdrop it was never malicious. I wanted there to be a lot less baggage. With how carefully Lena and Kara had begun to heal their relationship, I didn't want it to be something that could endanger that. They'd come to far for that. It might not seem all that important of a passage but I'm quite happy with how it came out and that Lena's first "fan" just happened to be a girl named Kara.

[nikkiiisays]

we can't be friends

as much as it pains me, i didn't even want to blog about it but it's bottling up inside me, it's been so hard to contain all my emotions

i've been masquerading everything that happened, i keep pretending it never occurred because it would make every wonderful thing true. it's true i did have the best time but it had to end unfortunately. It was a tiny gift from the universe to have a shot at happiness at that everything i could ever want is out there, that it's plausible

but why does it have to be taken away from me?

i know i deserve good things, but time has been long running and i'm still here stuck in limbo. i know that nothing is ever really mine but life is lonely. no matter how confident i am that i can do things on my own, it gets lonely and i don't think i'll ever get used to this feeling. time is quick and someday i'll be the one who won't have anybody left

why is it so hard for me? i hate that i cant control this shit no matter how many books i've read believing to control what i only can it infuriates me that i cant have a shot at this aspect in life.

i'm so lonely, i'm filled with so much love, and i'm here waiting patiently, but how patient do i have to be? will it come when i'm at death's door? where's the fun in that? idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk idk

[seeaddywrite]

the miracle of us || advent day 4 for @roswellprompts

i think this qualifies as actual fluff?? someone tell me if i wrote real fluff?! i was procrastinating on some homework today & wanted to write something & happened to see someone reblog the advent post from roswellprompts, sooo i picked this one & wrote some echo. i hope someone enjoys it; i did! :) unbeta-ed & i didn’t even proofread, so i’m sure typos abound. sorry!

the prompt i chose was max + miracles, & i am like two hours early, oops?

“So you’re really not even going to put up a Christmas tree?” Liz asks, her fingers tangling with Max’s as they lounge on his couch. She’s reclining back against him, legs stretched out along his much longer ones, and the warmth of her skin is bleeding through the thin cotton of her tank top straight into his bare chest. It’s late, late enough that they should both be asleep or risk a long, exhausted next day, but Max can’t bring himself to move and break the bubble of quiet intimacy they’ve created.

Max sighs, a little dramatic, and tilts his head. “Have you been talking to my sister?” he asks suspiciously, enough of a twist to his lips for Liz to know that he’s teasing. Isobel had been over that morning -- and every morning, at least, since his return from the foggy, grey place he still isn’t quite willing to call death two weeks prior. As usual, she’d made a point of reminding Max that the holidays are only a few weeks out, and his living room is practically made for hosting the perfect Christmas meal. Whatever that means.

Liz chuckles quietly, seeming just as loathe to shatter the peaceful moment as Max. “She’s pretty disappointed she couldn’t pout and convince you to have a big party here,” she answers, turning so that she can nuzzle her cheek against his shoulder. “But putting up a tree doesn’t mean that you have to do that.” 

“I’ve never decorated this place for the holidays,” Max admits, shifting in the sofa so that Liz’s back aligns more comfortably against him. “I’ve always spent Christmas with my parents, at their place, so I never needed to. Mom and Isobel go crazy enough with the holly and tinsel for all of us.” 

It’s the truth, though not the whole of why Max isn’t particularly keen on celebrating this year. Not that Liz gives him a chance to try to hide that from her; he’s not sure whether there’s still some residual connection between them from his handprint, or if she’s just somehow able to read him that well, but she sits up and turns to face him, one eyebrow raised in askance. 

“And?” she prompts, certainty that Max had more to say coloring the word. “Come on, Max, you don’t expect me to believe Isobel’s upset because you’re planning on celebrating the same way you have for the last decade, do you?” 

The words hit in one of the tender spots left behind by Max’s absence for the last several months, and he drops Liz’s gaze, focusing on keeping his breath and countenance even. He’s mended most of the fences destroyed by the unwelcome sacrifice he made -- Isobel and Michael still watch him warily when they think he’s not looking, but they’ve both finally begun to accept that Max has no plans of going anywhere anytime soon and don’t seem quite as panicked when he goes for a walk on his own. Alex Manes and Maria both still look a little stunned when he walks into the room, like he’s a miracle made flesh, but thankfully, it never lasts more than a moment or two before they’re back to normal. Valenti is, mercifully, more concerned with the miracles Max can work with his hands, and Rosa is singularly unimpressed with anything he does, so there’s some normalcy to be found if he’s willing to look for it. 

Then, of course, there’s Liz. Liz, who’d been so incandescently furious with him when she dragged him back from the grey place that she had kissed him hard enough to draw blood, then only spoken to him in sharp, Spanish curses for at least three days before her barriers finally crumbled. Since then, Liz has spent every night in Max’s arms, no matter what her days brought, and Max won’t pretend that her steady presence hasn’t been keeping him sane as he stays hidden and secluded in the house. 

And that, the fact that he’s essentially a prisoner in his own home, is the crux of the holiday issue. 

“Max?” 

He looks back up at Liz, sighing at himself when he realizes he’d gone silent for too long again. Max knows he’s developed a tendency to get lost in thought since his return, and isn’t naive enough to think that the habit isn’t worrying the people who care about him. “Sorry,” he says quickly, reaching out to drag his fingertips across Liz’s cheek in a brief caress. “And you’re right. It’s not quite that simple.” He frowns, trying to choose the right words to explain without making it obvious that he’s feeling sorry for himself. “Obviously, I can’t go spend the holiday with my family this year, since they think I’m --” 

“Dead?” Liz supplies, and Max winces. 

He’s avoided using that word in relation to himself whenever possible, and it’s still strange to hear others use it, even though Isobel and Michael had thrown at him like a weapon after Liz’s serums somehow managed to bring him back. “You were fucking dead, Max! We all moved on without you!” from Michael’s lips is one that still haunts his nightmares, despite the apology he’d gotten a few days later. Because the truth is that Michael was right. The world had moved forward with Max for nearly a year. His family, his loved ones -- they’d all grieved and moved on, and now, no matter how happy they are to have him back, Max is stuck in limbo while they all live their lives. 

“Right,” he agrees quietly. “The town, my parents -- almost everyone thinks that I’m gone, and that doesn’t feel like something to celebrate.” Isobel disagrees, of course, which is why Max is even having this conversation with Liz in the first place. It scares her, he thinks, that Max is still so withdrawn from the rest of the world -- he can feel her frustration, her worry, that he’s still got one foot in the grave. But until they find a plausible lie for how he’s returned to Roswell, they can’t risk everyone knowing, and Max has to stay hidden. Stay stagnant.

Quiet descends on them for a moment, the peace from earlier destroyed by Max’s own frustration. He wishes he knew what to say to bring it back, but before he can open his mouth to try, Liz is leaning forward on her knees to take both of Max’s hands between her own. 

“I think you’re looking at it the wrong way,” she says earnestly, squeezing his fingers until Max looks up and catches her determined gaze. “Maybe everyone doesn’t know it yet, but you’re alive, Max. And I know that this is going to sound crazy, since you’re supposed to be the optimist in this relationship and I’m supposed to stick to the science -- but the fact that you’re here right now, holding my hand? Talking to me, after bringing Rosa back and dying yourself?”

Liz’s voice is soft, and full of wonder as she speaks. As if her brain and determination weren’t at least ninety percent of the reason that Max had made it back. “That’s a miracle, Max,” she continues, bringing his knuckles to her lips and kissing them once, tenderly. “You’re a miracle. And that’s something to celebrate.”

Heat suffuses Max’s cheeks and ears, and he shakes his head vehemently. “You made that happen, Liz,” he tells her, tugging her in against his chest and wrapping his arms around her waist. “The only miracle in my life is you.” His lips press against the crown of her head, and Max ignores the way the soft strands tickle his nose in favor of breathing in her familiar rose-scented shampoo. 

Max knows that most people on the outside looking in at his life might argue what he’d said. They’d see his powers, his superhuman healing hands and his supposedly god-like abilities, the fact that he’d brought a girl back to life and somehow defeated death himself, as evidence that he can work miracles. But the fact of the matter is that Max isn’t a god. He’s not a miracle, or a miracle worker. He’s an alien, one who’s going to have to fight the desire to heighten his powers by killing for the rest of his life. Everything remarkable that he’s done is tainted by that truth. 

At heart, Max is just a man, in love with a woman who’s more miraculous than anything he could ever do. 

“You are such a sap,” Liz teases, relaxing into his embrace with a contented sigh. “But I’ll let you get away with it because it’s late, I’m tired, and you’re comfortable.” There’s the flutter of lips at the base of his neck, and Liz shifts until Max is all but cradling her against him, supporting most of her weight. “But just -- think about it, okay? A tree? It’d be nice for us to be able to celebrate together, even if it’s just the two of us after I see Papa and Rosa. I won’t even tell Isobel, if you don’t want me to.” 

Max huffs a laugh and gives into the impulse to stroke her hair with his fingertips. “I think she’ll notice when stops by to visit,” he points out pragmatically. “And I’ve never been very good at keeping secrets from her. We can do dinner here for Christmas, if anyone wants to come. It’d be nice, to have everyone here at once.” Less lonely, at least for a night. And Max had to admit that some lights and decorations might make the house feel more like his again, after so long elsewhere. 

Liz smiles sleepily up at him and presses a clumsy kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Christmas with the family we chose,” she murmurs. “And maybe Christmas Eve with just the two of us, to celebrate the miracle of us.” 

This time, it’s Max that snorts. “And you say I’m a sap!” he teases, tugging at a long strand of hair near where it fell onto her back. 

Liz hums contentedly, nuzzling back into his chest and finally allowing her eyes to close. “You love me anyway,” she says on a yawn, and Max is hard-pressed to feel any of the disconnection or isolation that seemed so all-encompassing earlier in the evening. 

“I do,” Max agrees in a whisper, and reaches out with his power to turn out the lights. As he drags a blanket from the back of the couch to cover them both for the night, he spares a glance to the empty space in the living room where Isobel had stood, insisting it was perfect for a tree. 

Maybe this Christmas wouldn’t be what he was used to, and maybe the sting of missing his parents and his freedom would hurt, but Liz is right. Max has plenty to celebrate, this year.

[clumsybookworm18]

and my burden to bear is a love (i can’t carry anymore) | pt.2

Jossam + Ghost AU

Summary:  After the events of Blackwood, Josh’s ghost is stuck in limbo. Sam is the only one that can see him (much to her chagrin) and has to put up with his ghostly persistence. Who knew that even in the afterlife he could be so annoying.

[Read on AO3], Moodboard, part 1 / 3 / 4

Josh watches.

Whoever said death was peaceful was full of shit.

For him, death was cold. It was lonely. It was boring as fuck.

After the monster- Hannah- squashed his head, Josh didn’t immediately realize he was dead. The first few days had been the worse. It took him awhile to notice he wasn’t hallucinating. That his friends had made it out of the mountain but he didn’t. And that he never would. Not alive at least. 

Needless to say, Josh didn’t like to dwell on his current circumstances. 

He had tried to communicate with the others. Had wanted to make them understand that he was still here. That he wasn’t really gone. But nothing worked. 

Josh refuses to believe he sucks at being a poltergeist. Completely unacceptable. Joshua Washington, son of horror mogul Bob Washington, did not suck at scaring the shit out of people. If anything, his prank on Blackwood proved exactly that. Even if things turn out the way he wanted at the end. 

Finally, he has the inherent ability to scare the shit out of people that comes with the territory of being a ghost and these assholes don’t even let him have a go at it. Even Chris didn’t react when Josh tumbled over a few stuff at his place. The dude survived a night in a mountain full of supernatural creatures and still doesn’t believe in ghosts. His friends- if he can still call them that- were the worst at getting haunted. That was the only explanation.

She was an exception.

Josh watched as Sam roamed around in her room, preparing for the day ahead of her. She moved slower now, her movements heavier, as if there were a weight pressing in on her. That energetic edge she had about her gone. 

Sam was the only one that actually interacted with him. Even if she thought he was a hallucination and ignored him most of the time, it still didn’t change the fact that she could hear him, that she talked back to him, and as recent events showed...

She saw me. 

Josh was still processing it, trying to figure out how the fuck he did it. He was still learning what he could do, trying to understand how to manipulate his surroundings. He knew the basics, of course. It was the things that took more… concentration, to say the least, that were giving him trouble. Like a child who has already mastered their gross motor skills but was still honing their fine ones. But if Sam saw him then Josh must be doing something right. 

He still couldn't believe it, after all these months…. He remembered the shock and grief on her face, the panic creeping into her eyes. It wasn’t exactly the reaction he was aiming for- at least not from her- but it was better than nothing. 

Josh goes to stand behind her as Sam plops down in front of the dresser mirror, both of them looking at her reflection. Her pale face stares back at herself, and unknowingly at him, her hazel eyes bright but hollow above her sharp cheekbones. Her lips thinned as she tried, and failed, to gather her hair into a bun, the blonde strands slipping between her fingers. It had been months since The Big Chop, as he likes to call it, but it was still too short, barely beneath her chin now. 

He recalled the feel of his thumb brushing against the nape of her neck, the way her long waves tumbled down her naked back. How his fingers threaded through the soft tresses, savoring those rare moments Sam decided to let her hair down. Both literally and figuratively.

Again Sam tried to amass her hair, letting out a sigh when the strands fell back to her face.

Josh thought it suited her.

Giving up the fight with her hair, Sam strode over to her armoire, yanking open the doors, her hands pushing and pulling the clothes as she searched. Josh tried not to react as she walked right through him. It still freaked him out a bit when people do that. 

It was frustrating. Watching as she wasted away. Not able to do anything about it. Reduced to a useless presence, a mere bystander watching from the sidelines, useless to help her like he couldn’t help his sisters.

So Josh being Josh did what he was best at: run his mouth off. 

“Going out today, are we?” he teased as Sam kept aggressively rifling through the clothes, pretending she couldn’t hear him. “I wonder what could be so important that put moping around in your sweatpants on hold.”

Sam didn’t answer him but Josh already knew. He’d seen the text Emily sent her last night, asking Sam to meet her for brunch this morning. Good. She needed to get out and distract herself. As delightful as those creepy paintings of hers were, Josh was bored of watching her being cooped up all day. 

Besides, he enjoyed watching her squirm when he chattered her ear off in front of other people, trying to keep her features on line and her scowling to a minimum everytime he says something to deliberately provoking. It takes a lot to get on Sam’s nerves, oh but once he does, it’s so worth it. Just because he’s dead doesn’t mean he can’t have fun.

Sam clenched her jaw but still didn’t acknowledge him, her search becoming more vicious. Every once in awhile she’d pull something out, only to frown at it and put it back in. 

Josh smirked, peering over her shoulder. “Look at you, actually making an effort to look like a lady.”

Sam abruptly stopped her ransacking. Slowly, she pulled a dark blue sweater- his sweater. The one he left the last time he stayed over. He’d left that morning on a haste, eager to get back to Blackwood, his plan already in motion. 

He had been a fool.

Her hand brushed against the soft fabric of its sleeve, the touch feather light. Her other hand glided down her necklace, finding purchase in the key resting atop her breastbone. Blinking furiously, she swept it aside just as brusquely as when she stopped, before finally pulling out a long sleeved dress and slipping it on. 

He found it fascinating how Sam could put moments like this aside as if nothing happened, yet still clung to what happened in the mountain. Letting it consume her. It had been over half a year now, and she was still a ghost. 

The irony wasn’t lost on him.

The fabric of her dress slid over her shoulder as she bent over to tug on her ankle boots, her collarbones jutting over the loose collar. She was so thin. So damn thin. Had she noticed how much weight she’d lost? 

Does she even care? 

Sam kept going on her gloomy way, oblivious to his worrying. When she was already halfway down the hallway she paused, half turning, those hazel eyes searching. 

Josh crossed the space between them. His gaze raked over her face, looking for some kind of recognition, a sign.

Look at me. He begged silently at her. I’m right here. Look at me. 

Sam shivered. Her eyes flickered over to where he was standing, and for a moment, just for a moment, something like hope dared to flare in his chest.

 He wanted her to know. He wanted her to see. He was here. He never left. 

Just as fast as it happened, her gaze slid right over him, unseeing. 

The feeling in his chest sunk, instantly swept by a spark of frustration. 

The lights flickered. Once. Twice.

“Freaky...” Sam whispered to herself. She opened the door, throwing another look over her shoulder before walking out. 

Josh wasn’t going to stand on the sidelines anymore. 

***

  She couldn’t sleep. 

It was going to be one of those nights, it seemed. Full of tossing and turning, sleep failing to come to her as easily as it did before. The frustrating thing was that she was actually tired- so tired. Had spent all day fighting the immense heaviness that now lived inside her. But as soon as her head hit the pillow…

Sam sighed sharply, pushing the covers away. A lick of cold went down her spine, sliding along her bones. She ignored the way it made her skin prickle. At the implication of why, exactly, she was so fidgety. 

It had been a few weeks since the Josh incident, or whatever it had been. She hasn’t told anyone about it, nor she planned to. Hell, nobody even knew that she could hear Josh talking to her in the first place. Not her mom. Definitely not her friends. They already worried enough.

 For something she had come to consider as a minor blip, Sam had been going around the matter a lot. There were a bunch of plausible explanations for why she’d seen him. Stress. Lack of sleep. Maybe she had smelled a bit too many paints that day. Maybe she had a brain tumor. Or maybe- 

You’re overthinking things.

Sitting up and turning on the lamp by her bed, Sam grabbed the diary stowed away on her bedside table for times like this, already full of entries and drawings that typically wouldn’t be in a diary of a girl her age. 

So what if Sam saw him- or thought she did. She hears his voice in her head all the time, which lately had been more insufferable than usual. She was making a big deal out of nothing. 

And yet the feeling of being watched never went away.

Wait, why am I still racking my brain over this? And when the hell did it get so cold in here?

As if summoned by her thoughts, a deep voice drawled, “And here I thought you’d be catching up on some z’s right now.”

Ah, there he was. The bane of her existence.

“Can’t sleep?” 

“Go away, Joshua.” she said, not really in the mood to deal with this bullshit tonight. 

He chuckled, the sound low and soft. “Joshua? You must be really pissed.” 

��Am I? Gee I hadn’t noticed.” 

“So grumpy tonight, Sammy.”

Sam scowled and kept scrawling stubbornly on her diary. Maybe if she ignores him, he’ll go away. 

Another chuckle. “Can you at least tell me what’s got your panties in a twist?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. Not real.

“Saaaaam.” he went on. 

Silence.

“Sammy.”

Sam still didn’t answer.

There was no quip from him this time, and Sam almost sighed in relief but kept her mouth shut instead, trying to bask in the seconds of peace that, somehow, she knew wouldn’t last very long. 

She startled at the caress of something on her ankle, letting out a curse as her back slammed with the headboard. 

“I figured that would get you to stop ignoring me.”

She lifted her eyes, immediately regretting her decision as they zeroed in on the source of her distress.

Sprawled on the foot of her bed was Josh, head propped up by a hand and smirking.

[icarus-imagines]

FallenAngel!Hikaru Hitachiin X Female!Reader X Angel!Kaoru Hitachiin -Part 1-

Can u do a fallen angelx female reader xangel

Word Count: 4,810

Category: Ouran Highschool Host Club

Limbo and everything corresponding to death is said to be a lonely and sad place. But is it truly?

~To Be Born Together, Is To Die Together~

-Part 1- -Part 2-

“No one needs to know.”

“You’ll get in trouble with the Boss,” a voice sighed out a little exasperated, but not entirely against the idea his elder brother had proposed. “But you don’t quite care if you do, don’t you?”

They nodded to their younger counterpart, agreeing. "Why should we care if he never finds out?"

With a tilt of his head, earlier bewilderment disappeared and upon his face came amusement. Of course, his elder brother with come up with a plan like this. It was so befitting of him to do such a thing. "Are you saying we should keep it a secret?" they asked, just to clarify what they meant. "You know how he will react if we do such a thing. It may not necessarily go against your instincts, but it does mine. I will be punished more severely than you."

"Of course," they replied, with a smirk, knowing they were alike yet different in many ways. He had already thought one step of ahead though just in case, for who would he be if he had planned something and not come up with a backup as to not get entangled unwantedly? "We just have to watch our steps and we should be fine. As long as we are quick and swift we should be fine." They waved their hand as if to dismiss the credible thought that they would take a wrong step.

"Such an intelligent brother I have," they laughed.

"Well, I am you."

"Oh, how could I forget?"

∆

Unbeknownst to you, powers beyond your control were lurking.

You were a simple human. One with a simple life. Simple family. In all contexts of your life, you were just...well...simple. Nothing exciting ever happened to you. Nothing out of the ordinary to cause your train to run off its tracks. People around the world would desperately wish to have a gift of a normal life, but not you.

You wanted something to happen. You wanted the passionate excitement that life could offer yet never seemed to do so. Adventure of the thrill is what you desired more than anything else in the world. But even when you did try to venture out, try to defy its wishes, something always miraculously blocked your once clear path.

For example, that one time you had planned a visit to (C/n). You had bought the tickets, you had packed, and you had been the most excited you had ever been. You had taken precautions with everything. Following the silly rules like not stepping on cracks to step your mother's back, never cross the path of a black cat on the street, and all the other superstitious people had devised could be true but truly were not. To be careful was to be better than sorry.

Against all odds, you wanted nothing to get in your way, just this single time. Yet, against your will, something had happened and you never got the chance to fly to (C/n).

The plane you had planned to use had supposedly been suspended due to an anonymous tip that it was going to be hijacked by terrorists. So instead of enjoying the fresh air of (C/n), you were stuck in your bed with the free week from school you had gotten taken off, watching some Netflix shows.

By terrorists.

Out of all the reasons for a plane to be delayed and eventually cut off.

It was just your special kind of luck.

If you didn't know any better you would have held the assumption that God or the Devil himself were personally handling your affairs. Whether it was held with good or bad intentions was something you had never figured out, but in all your years of living, you took it as some kind of twisted blessing given to you when you were born.

With the giant refund of money the airport had given you, stapled with an apology of the unwanted inconvenience, you enjoyed yourself in your home city of Tokyo, Japan.

Having a free week to yourself was still something that lifted your spirits. While you did have more than enough time to yourself due to your parents being important and wealthy people in the city, you still felt better. You were always surrounded by your friends from Ouran High School, their chatterings of minuscule things like what dessert they enjoyed most or which Host Club member they wished could date them, even just for an hour of the day.

You remembered though, the one day you had finally decided to see what the ruckus was that surrounded the Host Club, when you had been given a sorrowful greeting.

Never would you have imagined that the day you had decided to get some excitement in your life was the day the Host Club had suffered not one, but two heartbreaking realizations. It was the twins, the ones that had been given the title of 'Little Devils', who had both decided to leave this world.

Suicide.

Conjoined suicide.

The worst thing about it all was that they had left without a world. The other Host Club members, who had all been more than close with the duo, had confessed that the two had never given any signs to the fate they led themselves too. They had been acting like their normal mischievous selves, pranks and all the day before they had been found dead in their house together. Not even a note had been left, or a post on a social media to pinpoint their reasons behind their actions.

You still thought about it. About the day you, no matter how much you tried to convince yourself you didn't, had caused their deaths. It was a plausible idea for you. Why else would they had done it? It had to be you. The girl with a blessing that had turned into a curse.

Curse.

Yes, you had this curse. And thanks to you two people you had never met had died. Taken their own lives because you couldn't stay away from the mere idea that you would finally be able to touch something that could bring you even just a single ounce of excitement.

You had killed those two boys.

Killed those twins.

You had killed Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin.

∆

"What about her?"  Kaoru's white wings shimmered in the light of the lamp posts that had been turned one in the turning of late afternoon to early evening.

Hikaru's own wings, acknowledged to be bigger display but pitch black, ruffled for only a second in dissatisfaction. "No, looks too uninteresting," he huffed, watching as the woman his brother pointed out walking down the street.

Her face was caked with too much makeup for their liking, since they enjoyed a more natural look more than anything. The same went for a woman's overall personality. If they made any assumptions about the woman who had walked by, they both knew her personality would probably not meet their standards in many aspects.

It was harder than they thought, to actually find somebody that both met their preferences, but agree to have them tag along. Consent was needed for a contract to be formed. So while the idea of this had been a good one, the work they needed to put forth was more than they had thought they would need.

All they wanted was a woman who wasn't afraid to show her true self out in public. Plus if she agreed, consenting to their conditions, and them to hers, it would cement the bond. They didn't think it was something so hard to ask, but it was apparent that it truly was.

Leisurely walking along a street in Tokyo that offered a strip of all assortments of stores like cafes, pastry shops, and ones offering clothing, Hikaru and Kaoru tried harder to find somebody suitable. They hadn't much more time to look. Sundown was fast approaching which meant not only would people be dispersing to return to their safe homes, but their boss would question why they would be out so late.

Through the throngs of people, they walked, simple disguising magic making it easier for them to navigate their ways without being sighted by any watchful eyes. More than around a hundred woman had been cast aside. It was not that they were picky or anything, but every time they had thought one could be suitable, a man, a child, or the like would be tailing after them. While they had their own standards of what they wanted, they needed a woman who was not attached. If somebody was tied to them it would make it harder for all them to interact. Two men were enough for a woman. They would get more than jealous if a third man was already vying for the attention of the woman they wanted.

So with feet almost touching the floor from wings that had grown tired, the wondered if they should try tomorrow instead. Maybe, somebody, tomorrow would fit what they wanted. It wasn't too big of a shot to take. They would both get the rest they needed and give them more time for a better plan to find who they needed for their contract.

Just as they had both agreed upon meeting tomorrow in the morning they saw somebody that looked more than perfect.

You.

The girl wearing a pretty (F/c) sundress that hugged your figure, paired with pretty (S/f/c) sandals. You looked happy and bright in the middle of tired looking individuals. In the glow of lantern posts and a few lanterns from more traditional shops, you looked heavenly.

What a convenience for you to be heavenly, granted who they were.

∆

Surveying the shops around you, you smiled gleefully. Today had been a stress reliever. After your stops at a pastry shop to try out a new special, nothing had ruined your day. You knew nothing could make your day go wrong. Absolutely nothing.

But you internally said those words too much too quickly for a random stranger bumped you with their shoulder as they tried to pass. With a sneer, they yelled a, "Watch where you're going!"

Replying with a, "Sorry, sir!", you wondered what his problem was to warrant such a foul mood in such a happy place like this.

Continuing on your way you excited from the main street of shops with a turn to the left. Clutching the bag that hung over your left shoulder you knew you couldn't let the strangers crabby mood ruin your own. So plastering on a smile upon your face you walked casually back in the direction of where your apartment resided.

Halfway there though you had the itching feeling somebody was watching you. The most terrifying fact about it was you felt more than one pair of eyes on the burning themselves into the back of your head. It horrifying you more when you turned your head to look over your shoulder while walking to only discover nobody was behind you. The whole street was deserted and with the lamp posts casting odd shadows over the asphalt paved road you had a feeling something was more than wrong. But turning to look straight again you had to hold onto the belief that your curse would protect you.

Unfortunately, the first time your curse was deciding to take off was the day you actually needed it to be working.

With a shriek, you took a quick step backward at an odd angle and tripped. Strong pains throbbed in your right ankle and your butt as you fell to the ground. Your hands also hurt too, the rock and rocky plains of the road digging into your open palms when you braced for impact.  

The two figures above you had once had pleased looks on their face, but they both quickly morphed into worry when you took the unprecedented fall to the ground. They both seemed to forget that they had been stalking you for they both took a step forward.

Your eyes though had closed shut, the sting of your palms combined with the throbbing in your ankle causing you much plain to your displeasure. Wincing, you open your eyes when one spoke. Looking up you see one of them kneeling, offering you their hand.

Despite initially believing they were kidnappers or something of the sort you fought against it. What kind of kidnappers or murderers would they be if they were being so kind as to help you off the ground when they had frightened you? Maybe it was your nature to be kind peeking through that made you hold onto the belief they were good people and didn't mean to cause you harm.

So accepting his kind gesture you rested your significantly smaller hand into his own. He heaved you up slowly until you got your bearings with you once again. The pain in your hand still stung the littlest bit, but it was the more concerning injury that was your ankle that had your attention.

"Thank you," you said softly, your voice appearing meek and small. Dusting off your sundress lightly, you look up and can’t help but let your mouth open a bit in surprise. Before you can stop from speaking you blurt out one word: “Twins.”

Both their amber colored eyes, like sweet honey, widened in some sort of dumbfoundment. You clamp your mouth knowing you must have insulted them, but before you can open it again to explain yourself they react first.

“Pppffttt,” their bellowing laughed rings in your ears and if had not been for you confusion you would have joined in with their merriment.

After a few seconds, they catch their breath, one ruffling their shared messy auburn hair in the process. They are so identical you are unsure how someone would ever tell them apart. One thing you did notice was the parting of their hair was different though. The one standing to your left was parted to the right while the one on the right was the opposite.

“Sorry for laughing,” the one on the left, who was also the one who helped you up said, “but then the realization on your face was too hard to go against.”

The one on the right joins in, but he seems to have a rougher exterior and doesn’t seem to care much for boundaries or the like. “I have to disagree,” he says, a smirk on his face. “The look on your face was priceless when you noticed.”

“Ya, I,” you said nervously, tucking a stray piece of (H/c) hair behind your ear,” I was just surprised. I’ve never seen twins before. I was going to see a pair a week or so ago, but it never came to be.”

“You were going to see twins?” The one on the right asked, confused as to why seeing a pair of twins would be set up like a meeting.

“Yes,” you said sheepishly.  “Have you heard of the Ouran Highschool Host Club?”

They glance to each other for a second, a glance that holds something you don’t know in it, before looking at you. They offer a few nods of confirmation and you continue on even though you are a bit suspicious with that look they gave each other.

“Well, I have had this curse since birth, per se, and I-”

The both stopped you momentarily and you were in a daze when they spoke together. “Curse? What kind of curse?”

You went on even though you thought it both cute and impressive for them to blend their voices so perfectly together. “I always guessed it was supposed to be a blessing, but after living with it for so long and knowing its effects I believe it’s more of a curse than anything else,” you started to explain as they listen closely, even leaning in a bit to catch everything you tell them. “It makes my life normal. Every time I seek out anything even just a tiny bit exciting something happens and I never get to experience it.”

You go on to explain a few instances to give them more insight into the dilemma you were always stuck in. Even the short story about the missed vacation that was too crazy to ever be a real thing.

“So one day, after my friends had been badgering me about the Host Club for weeks, I decided to go. I thought I would be okay, I could have just a little bit of fun for once in my life. But it wasn’t meant to be…” you murmured, eyes downcast. “The day I had arrived the most horrible thing had happened. All the member were in despair. Girls all around were crying their eyes out. Even the most strong and stoic like Ootori-Senpai and Morinozuka-Senpai, were inconsolable… Two of their members had mysteriously committed suicide. The oddest thing was they never left any reason behind as to why they did such a thing.”

Looking up you stare into their face. Tears pricked your eyes, obscuring your vision for a second and you could have sworn their expressions showed guilt, but you didn’t dwell on the thought though. Wiping the tear away you stood a bit taller, trying to act like you were alright even though you felt empty inside. Hands clasped together you stared deep into their eyes.

“It’s my fault.”

“What is?” they said together, though it seemed more forced than anything else.

“Their deaths,” you said arms crossing so you could hug yourself. “My curse must have done this...there is no other explanation for them to do something so drastic. So spontaneous with no reason whatsoever...I-I,” your voice was cracking and even though you had met these boys only around twenty minutes ago you felt you could trust them, “I killed them….

I killed Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin.”

∆

You had not the faintest idea of why they were not reacting. They just stood their normally like you had simply told them your friends favorite color was blue. Their faces were the same, identical as they already were, morphed into frigid looks of guilt.

“Do you…,” you felt a bit of anger rising in your voice at their barely changed reactions, “do you both even care I killed them? I killed two boys I had never even met because I wanted to be selfish and have fun? They had their whole lives ahead of them and I-”

“It wasn't you,” the one on your right said first, then joined his left twin brother for the second part. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“What do you mean?”

The twins stood for a second contemplating on if they should leave. Erase your memory somehow and let you live your life without knowing you ever met them right here. They had both forgotten about the contract they wanted to create with you. What had ensued was bigger than both of them and right now they cared more about your wellbeing than them having a new toy to play with when they got bored of the regular occurrences of most humans.

The one on the right and looked at the other. He was shaking a bit, trying their hardest to not show their emotions. He knew he had to be brave for his younger brother, but this is where they split. He wasn’t like his younger brother. He wasn’t as good at being level-headed and well put together. The younger knew this and offered his hand. Tangling them together in a tight grasp.

Squeezing his hand, he looked up at you and spoke for both of them. “We are those twins. Hikaru,” he titled his head as a signal to his brother on the right, and finally himself, “Kaoru.”

You were stunned, body stock still as you stared at the tall twins with blazing amber gemmed eyes. “But that’s impossible, they-well you both-died,” you said trying to rack your brain for an explanation to all of this.

How was it possible for them to be those twins when they had died? They had found the bodies, they had had a funeral and gone through with everything. Even if it was a fake death, they couldn’t be that good and gotten away with it to run away. And if it was to run away...what were they running to? Their life was perfect as it was. What was so imperfect about it to cause something so irreversible?

“We came back,” Kaoru said first.

“But back in a limbo state,” Hikaru said second.

“What do you mean? I don’t quite understand.”

They glanced at each other before they revealed one of their deepest secrets.

Blinded by a white light for a few seconds you guarded your face with your hands. Soon it calmed down, growing dimmer and dimmer by the second. Removing your hands, gradually you began to understand the meaning to their words.

Hikaru was a Fallen Angel.

Kaoru was an Angel.

Hikaru’s wings were obsidian, majestically dark like the colour of a starless night in the middle of winter.

Kaoru’s were a complete contrast, wings of brilliant powdered white, light like the colour of the glimmering stars in a summers night.

You didn’t ask the reason behind their differences in afterlife species. You simply chalked it up as actions after they had died. To meddle in those affairs was a story for another day perhaps.

Both of their wings were big, though Kaoru’s swept the floor further than Kaoru's and intimidated you just a bit. You should have felt fear at the knowledge of this but you felt lighthearted. They are dead, yet they are more alive than they ever have been. So much had happened since they left the Earth to return and linger in their home called limbo. A place of mystery and superstition to humans of the modern world.

“Why reveal yourselves now?” You asked, wishing for questions to your compiled answers. “Why to me? You both committed suicide, but you seem to hold no regret. Do you not care about your friends? Do you-”

“We do care about them,” Kaoru answered, knowing his brother would burst and not be able to take the pressure on his shoulders. “We just couldn’t take seeing the person we love slowly fall for someone else. Fall for someone she swore she would never like as anything more than a friend.”

Hikaru looks up, his amber eyes burning into you own watery (E/c) orbs. “It’s torture you know. Witnessing something like that happen. It’s one of the worst things to ever have to go through,” his voice is deeper than Kaoru's, not only naturally but because you know this is the truth. This is why they had done what they did.

They had both fallen in love with the same girl.

A girl who didn’t share either of their feelings.

A girl who had chosen someone else instead.

“So, you made a pact…,” you stepped closer to them, their powerful auras from being otherworldly, swirling around your smaller figure in a way that made you serenely calm upon contact. “To be born together is to die together.”

They must have felt immense relief at your understanding and positive answer. While taking one’s own life was something that hurt others more than yourself, it was based on reasons. On causes that created effects. Building blocks stacked too high and then sharply hit, to have them all crumble upon the floor.

“We know,” Hikaru said softly, we may have hurt the ones we cared for. But the pain was so great, we couldn’t help but do what we did. We can’t take it back and don’t want to. What has been done has been done.”

Kaoru nodded in agreement, wings moving subconsciously for a moment. “Death, while people depict it as lonely, is more than what we had imagined. It’s truly fun. We go where we wish, We do what we like,” he said with new excitement. The earlier depressive state had begun to lighten and be replaced with thoughts of better things. “We can prank humans and not get caught no matter how obvious we are. It’s not too bad when you have somebody by your side to always be there for you.”

Kaoru turned to Hikaru and they both smiled mischievously, though warmth and loyalty shined through it all. To see them so happy made your heart soar. Death to them was the next great adventure to them. It was not sad. It was no lonely. It was what they needed to let themselves and heal their broken hearts.

“But what about me,” you wondered, laughing at your next thought. “Were you going to prank me?”

“Maybe~,” they drawled together taking steps toward you. Hikaru snatched your right side while Kaoru snatched your left. “We initially wanted to form a contract.”

“A contract?” Your face was growing hotter by the second being between these two handsome boys.

“Yes,” they said. “A small contract. Nothing too extreme.”

“We wanted to find someone to play with,” Hikaru said. His words were very like him that you didn’t break out in a sweat because of it.

“Someone to keep additional company. They would get some benefits too though,” Kaoru finished.

“So if you held a contract with me, I would be able to give you conditions?” Your eyes wandered from Hikaru and Kaoru's as you spoke, wanting to give them both your full attention rather than staring at one the whole time as not to be rude.

“Yes,” they say in unison. “You already meet ours.”

“So,” said Hikaru.

“What are your conditions?” Kaoru said.

~To Be Continued~

[gaasaku-fanfests]

Toda una vida (A whole live)

Title: Toda una vida (A whole live) Author: arethaatrahasis Rating: K+ Word Count: 4228. Summary: A whole live between Gaara and Sakura. Warnings: Fluff, Mental Diseases. PWP Author's Note(s): Hi! :) I hope you like this OS, first of all I tried to stuck with your prompts, but English is not my mother tongue and with some of the prompts I got scared, so I decided this (?) I don' t know if you would like this, if yes YAY! and if not lie to me please, but a read a OS that was about 50th prompts written like this one and I thought: that will do. So, I tried to include as much prompts as I could that you gave to me, and the others I invented them. I'm not sure that this whole thing has a plot, and I hope, really hope, to not deceive you. While you read, I’m sure that you will find some mistakes, grammar and vocabulary, but I'm human and I'm not perfect (and a terrible procrastinator that has some social problems that don' t allow her to ask for a much needed help).

(Additional note: Mild SasuSaku. Eventual character death. But not tragic. @arethaatrahasis​ As promised, I edited it for you; you should see the differences clearly.😊💕)

Prompt chosen: AU (in order of preference: career (adult), college, high school) Partner: darkcivet [pinch-hitter]

 #1. Highschool.

The first time they see each other it’s in high school. People says that the first impression is what matters. Well… Theirs wasn’t the best.

 #2. Scared.

Sakura was really scared. She was fourteen years old, she was young, innocent, and scared as fuck.

She was watching her best friend, Naruto, fighting with Sasuke, his platonic love, another guy. He came from another high school, in Sunagakure.

They were in an exchange… In an exchange of fist.

Sasuke was knocked out and Naruto couldn’t hold it for much longer, but also the other guy seemed pretty bad up. So, she did the only thing that she could do, call a professor.

 #4. Cry baby.

The pink haired girl was a cry baby.

Gaara was starting to get sick of her. Crying won’ t solve anything, and the horrible noise of her sobs was starting to get on his nerves.

He detested to agree with the Uchiha boy, but god was she annoying…

 #5. Birthday party.

The next time they see each other was in Naruto’s sixteenth birthday. She immediately recognized him, how could she not? The red hair, his eyes declined with kohl, the weird tattoo on his forehead… She had to warn Naruto.

“Hey, Naruto. Naruto… ¡Hey!”

“Hey Sakura- chan, what’s up?”

“I think someone sneaked in your birthday party.” Naruto looked at her and blinked in confusion.

“Who?”

“That boy over there, the one with whom you get into a fight with Sasuke- kun two years ago, do you remember?”

The blonde looked at the same direction as her and when he spotted the intruder he started to laugh.

“Sakura- chan, he didn’t sneak in, I invited him.”

“What?!” Asked her louder than she intended. “Why?!”

“Easy he shrugged nonchalantly. He is my friend.”

“He is your… What?”

Sakura couldn’t understand why Naruto would befriend someone that that had wanted to punch him to death. However, she didn’t have the time to tell that to Naruto, because he, quickly as lightning, grabbed her by the arm and started to pull her towards de red-haired guy.

“Sakura- chan talk to him! You will see that he is really a nice guy!” She preferred to be burned in hell.

 #6. Sorry.

Sakura was her name. Honestly, he didn’t remember much about her, only that the fight started because he pushed her and that she couldn’t stop to crying.

He sighed and looked at her, she was visibly uncomfortable standing there with him, he could swear that she was here against her own will, Naruto probably compelled her to be there, and she was desperately looking for an excuse to get the hell out of there.

She was polite enough to not run away without a plausible excuse.

“I apologise.”

For the first time in that party, she looked at him intently in the eyes, he could appreciate confusion and curiosity dancing in her orbs.

“What for?”

For the fight of two years ago, and for having pushed you. I shouldn’t have done that. So, I apologise.

She bit her lower lip, clearly insecure of what to say, or what to do. But finally, she spoke.

“Why did you do that?”

He knew that she deserved some answers, however he wasn’t ready to tell the whole truth, not yet at least.

“I had anger issues.”

“And how did you solve it?”

“He couldn’t tell if she was just curious or nosy.”

“Pills.”

For his surprise she laughed, not at him, or for what someone had said about him, she laughed because of him, for something that he had said. He was startled… and amazed, that felt… nice.

 #7. Message.

Hi Gaara- kun! :)

It’ s me, Sakura. I asked Naruto for your telephone number, I hope you don’ t get angry with us :P By the way, if you are free tomorrow afternoon we can go to the Science and Natural Museum here in Konoha.

If you want, you can ask Temari and… uh… Kankuro? if they want to come too. I won’ t ask Naruto because the last time I visited a museum with him we almost got banned from there for life.

If you can’ t because you are returning to Suna have a safe trip!

See you soon XOXO

 #8. Awkward.

He felt awkward.

He was enjoying himself quite a little in the museum, but his new acquaintance didn’t stop talking. And he didn’t know what to do, was he supposed to talk back? To ask her questions? To tell her to shut the fuck up?

However, her explanations were interesting, she knew a lot. And he was enjoying that she treated him like a normal person, like if that incident of two years ago didn’t even happen.

But he was amused. He liked how her eyes sparkled when they saw the dinosaurs’ skeletons, or when her nose wrinkled when she didn’t like the Neanderthal part for being “too poor and bad explained”, or when she watched for a solid thirty minutes a giant pendulum clock that worked thanks to gravity.

He discovered that they have interests in common, like reading, she liked romantic novels, but like him, she also read historical, science- fiction and crime.

He felt a nice feeling, different of the one that he felt towards Naruto, but it wasn’t disgusting at all. maybe it was because it was a girl, or because she was different from his blonde friend. Who knew. So, he finally decided to not overthink about it and flow with the conversation, situation, her and everything else on that afternoon.

Nevertheless, he still felt awkward.

 #9. Time.

They barely saw each other in two years. They kept in contact thanks to messenger and another social apps.

And in that period of time, they finally thought of each other as friends.

 #10. Accident.

Naruto and Sasuke had had a terrible accident, they were both in the emergency. All their friends and families were in the hospitals’ waiting room. He came all the way from Suna only to support Kushina and Minato… And for Sakura too.

She was a mess, she couldn’t stop crying, he was afraid that she will collapse in any moment.

But he couldn’t do anything, he could only wait, wait for news, for the doctor, and pray, pray to a God, who he didn’t believe at all, that his best friend will be safe and well.

He needed comfort as much as she, so he slid his hand and grabbed hers, she didn’t reject him, and squeezed his right hand letting him know that she was thankful and that in her way she was also there to offer him support, comfort and shelter.

He sighed. It would be the longest hours of their lives.

 #11. Confession.

It wasn’t a normal accident.

Sakura needed to confess this, and she knew that Gaara will be the only one who won’ t run with the juicy gossip.

“I mean… Yes, they were both riding a motorbike and something happened and that’ s why they are here but… It was Sasuke’ s fault… He… He has been frequenting bad companies lately. Naruto and I tried to stop him… But it was useless, he won’t just listen to us. And… And that   night Naruto and I tried to confront him for the last time and… And everything went so… so wrong…”

She started to cry again, however Gaara didn’t make a move to comfort her. He already knew all of this, not thanks to her, but yes from Naruto, he had helped him to investigate Sasuke’s new friends. But he couldn’t tell her that.

“It was my fault… All my fault… If I haven’ t pressured Naruto to go and confront Sasuke anything of this would have happened…”

He exhaled and refused to look at her, he felt as guilty as her for Naruto having lost his right arm.

 #12. Beginning.

They were in another party. But this time Sakura and Gaara chatted freely and there were no bad vibes at all. Naruto and Sasuke had left the hospital a few days ago, and their families decided to throw them a welcome party.

Gaara was happy for Naruto, despite losing one arm he was still as cheerful as always, and that nearly close to death incident had helped him to start dating Hinata Hyuuga.

He was happy for him, but he thought that Uchiha Sasuke didn’t deserve all of this.

“Hey guys I have the biggest announcement ever!” Cried Naruto who was standing on a table

“You all know that Hinata and me are now dating, but there’ s a new couple in town! Finally, Sasuke and Sakura are dating!”

All the crowd cheered while Sakura blushed and Sasuke seemed as emotionless as always. No… Gaara thought, he didn’t deserve this too.

 #13. Pub

“I hope Uchiha- san would have come with you guys too.” Gaara tried not to laugh at how false Temari sounded.

He still has a lot of rehabilitation to do… Besides, in his… rebel phase he really skipped studies, so he has a lot to catch up to…

Sakura didn’t explain anything further, and they didn’t ask.

A few months have passed since that party where Naruto announced the happy couple. Nevertheless, the communication between the pink haired girl and he had abruptly been put in a limbo, they speak but not as frequently and freely like before the accident, and Gaara suspected that Sasuke and the insane necessity of Sakura to please him had something to do.

He didn’t want to be here, he didn’t feel so well, he was afraid that he could snap in any   moment, Shukaku didn’t shut up.

He shouldn’t be there in the pub… The lights were annoying him.

 #14. Snap.

It was like seeing a blood lust monster. Sakura couldn’t understand what she was seeing. Gaara, the boy she came to know, the one that didn’t think less of anyone, who was respectful, patient, whose hobbies were doing puzzles and yoga, that boy was trying to kill three boys.

She didn’t know why he was doing this, or how this happened, she wanted to cry, to cry, run and hide from everything and everyone, but he was her friend, so she decided to be brave and save him from getting in jail.

 #15. Avoid.

“Sakura- chan is persistent.”

Naruto was in his room looking through the window. He understood that after one episode he needed time to recover and readjust to the world that surrounded him.

Now Temari and Kankuro knew how to treat him after one of those, so Kankuro didn’t shout or made any loud sound, and Temari brought him a bowl of boiled rice, a cup of orange juice and his pills.

“I don’t want to talk to her right now.”

He closed his eyes and started to feel how the pills made their magic. He barely could hear him. He heard how Naruto sighed and he heard how he moved uncomfortable next to the window.

“Gaara… She tried to stop you.”

“I remember everything, Naruto, it’ s not how it used to be. I don’ t snap so often anymore and I can remember almost everything when I have one of my episodes.”

“Gaara…”

“Please Naruto…just… Just let me sleep… I’m tired…”

The last thing he thought before he felt into unconsciousness was that Sakura couldn’t be present if he snapped another time.

 #16. Look at me.

“Gaara… Gaara! Sabaku no Gaara look at me!”

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her. The crazy woman was shouting in the middle of the street. Everyone was looking at them, and she seemed furious, this time it was him who was scared.

“Why the fuck are you inviting me?”

Oh… She was really angry, she was swearing, she never said the four-letter words if she wasn’t furious or scared as fuck.

“I’m not.”

He was lying, and she knew it, she looked at him and bit her lower lip.

“You are afraid to hurt me like the other time, don’ t you? I understand, but if you would listen to me…”

“No. Listen you to me, Sakura. I’m schizophrenic, Sakura, schizophrenic. You cannot get in middle every time I have a crisis, on a day I might kill you. I appreciate your necessity of saving every fucking living shit that crosses your way, but this is the real live and you are not prepared to control me when I’m having one of my episodes.”

He could see how she shifted uncomfortable and he saw the marks of his finger in her pale neck. He would remember for the rest of his live how he tried to strangle her.

“You still don’t know which business I do have here in Suna, do you?” He blinked confused for the abruptly change of subject.

“No.”

Then go to the stadium at 6 p.m., don’t be late. And if after what you see you still want to put some distance between us, I will not argue, ok? I think it’ s better if you see it.

He didn’t understand a thing, but if with that she would act with more common sense around him, he would be there gladly.

 #17. Boxing.

Holy shit Sakura practised boxing. When she said that she had come to Suna because she had some business, he didn’t think for a second that her business was competing in the Suna’s boxing tournament.

He was amazed, she almost won. She arrived at the finals, but the other competitor was better, it didn’t matter anyway, the next year surely she would win.

“You stayed ’til the end.”

He was waiting for her in the exit. Nobody but him went to cheer her, maybe she wanted to keep this a secret.

“You did great.”

That was his response, he indulged himself to smile a little, and she sat down next to him.

“I understand what you were saying earlier, but about last night… I wasn’t prepared, I admit that I don’t know how to act when you have a crisis, but I’m strong enough to not get killed.”

“I know.”

They were in silence for a few minutes before Sakura started to speak again.

“Then, this crap about distance and not wanting me to get hurt is over, isn’t it?” He laughed and looked at her.

“Absolutely.”

“Fine, because if you turn to do something like that again te voy a a dar una ostia que te va a molestar el cielo pa’ dar volteretas.”

He didn’t understand a thing, but he could feel the threat in her words.

 #18. Demon.

“I call him Shukaku.”

They were having dinner and finally he was being honest with all his problems, only Naruto and his brother and sister knew that the voice had a name. Yes, he was schizophrenic, but if he took his pills and followed all the instructions that the psychiatrist had told him, he wasn’t dangerous at all. Of course, he had good and bad days, but like everybody.

He calls himself the sand demon. Sakura swallowed and smiled.

“It’s fitting, since you live in the desert, you know?”

She laughed, and he couldn’t stop to notice that even with a purple eye and hers lips broken she looked beautiful.

 #19. Congratulations.

Hey,

Congratulations for having entered in the medicine school. But it’s not necessary that you send me a picture when you start practising with corpses. Thanks.

I will try to visit you this summer, Temari thinks that we don’t know that she is dating Shikamaru. I hope that she will stop pretending because she will stop being so grumpy.

Gaara.

P.S.: I WON’ T SAY XOXO

 #20. Break up.

Sasuke and I broke up.

Sakura was sad, but not as sad as she should feel. She knew that she had been pinning after Sasuke for ten years, however after two years almost dating, she couldn’t stand it anymore, her relationship with him wasn’t what she was expecting absolutely. She tried to feel bad, but she couldn’t.

“I feel so guilty…”

“I already told you,” Sakura Gaara spoke from the phone trying to not sound as pleased as he was for the news. “You can’ t save everyone, as a future doctor you have to learn how to live with this, there will be times that you won’ t be able to save someone. And that’ s fine, you are a human after all.”

“I still feel bad, what can I do to ease the feeling?”

She tried hard not to cry, but some treacherous tears slid down her checks.

“Talk with me.”

She laughed and so she did.

 #21. Spanish.

“I have really humble origins. I studied in Konoha’s high school because of a scholarship, my parents couldn’t afford pay it.”

“Is that where you learned how to speak Spanish?”

They were on the phone, they almost talked every day, and that one he decided to ask her what she said that night after the boxing’ s tournament.

“No, I’m pretty bad at learning languages, I know how to speak Spanish because the woman who used to take care of me was from Spain, it’ s been almost four years that she retired and returned to her homeland. She did swear a lot, gods, what was really useful because neither my parents or teachers never knew what I was saying.”

They both laughed, and Sakura continued speaking.

“The exact translation of what I told you that night would be: I will blow you so hard that the sky will bother you to do somersaults. It sounds more threatening in Spanish.”

“I agree.”

 #22. Move.

She was complaining that she had no one in Konoha, that all her friends seemed to leave her behind, and she hated that. All of them had already finished their degrees and now they were looking for a job, working or starting they knew family, Ino and Sai were expecting their first child.

And she was stuck in the longest degree of all, she loved medicine, but she felt alone. So, the suggestion come easily to him.

Why don’t you move to Suna and end your studies here? You won’t need to pay for rent, you can stay at my place, you know the house is big for the three of us.

She thanked him and said that she appreciated the offer but that moving won’t solve anything. Despite all of this she called three days after asking if the offer was real and that if he and his siblings were ok with that the following semester, she would be doing it in Suna.

 #23. Wedding.

Temari and Shikamaru were marrying. Sakura was happy for them, they were meant for each other. It was hard returning to Konoha after almost one year of studying abroad, but she didn’t feel as bad as she thought she would feel. Sasuke had a new girlfriend, Karin, and honestly, she was happy for him, for the first time in years he seemed genuinely content.

When the music started to sound, she got up and looked to the church’s entrance were Temari, Kankuro and Gaara were standing, the blonde woman decided that her two brothers will accompany her down the aisle.

Temari was beautiful, but she couldn’t help to blush fifty shades of red t how good Gaara looked with his tailored suit.

 #24. I love you.

It was rain season in Sunagakure.

Sakura thought that she would never come to love the desert, however she was deadly mistaken. She adored the desert, because love… She was in love with Gaara, and it was then that she realized it.

They were sitting comfortable on the sofa, she had a cup of hot tea in her hands and he was just showered and his hair was still wet. They both were reading, and only the noise of the rain could be heard, Kankuro wasn’t at home, they were alone.

She said the words without giving it much of a thought.

“I love you.”

 #25. First.

Sakura was his first in everything, he was a virgin a terrible inexperienced, she was not.

Their first kiss was in their rooftop while they were seeing the sun setting in the desert. The first time they hold hands as a couple were when he took her to a concert, she didn’t want to lose him in the crowd, their first date was in Suna’ s greenhouse…

Gaara was amazed at how wonderful his life had become since Sakura was his girlfriend.

He knew he sucked the first time that they made love, she simply smiled and said that he only  need to gain experience, and he told her that if she was up to teach him, that he wasn’t really a good student, but for her he would make the effort, she laughed and kissed him, she laughed at hers unique and amazing way, the one that used when she was with him. And was then when Gaara said the words for first time.

“I love you, Sakura Haruno.”

All their first times were amazing for both of them.

 #26. Elope.

They eloped.

Temari and Naruto were terribly angry about it, but they did anyway. As natural as Sakura had been saying “I love you” the first time, the “yes” had come also naturally when Gaara proposed.

“Let’ s elope.”

She just licenced and had two weeks until she had to start her stage in Suna’s hospital. They had money, and they wanted, they didn’t need anything else.

They travelled to the Land of the Rivers, she bought the first white dress that she saw in a store, and he wore his favourite jeans. The rings were bought in the cheapest jewellery, and nobody aside of them, the officer and God were witness of their wedding.

The honeymoon was there too. They did some sport, they laughed, they made love, they shared silences filled with love, they started to plan their live together, and on top of all they were happy.

 #27. Children.

It’ s Gaara who after three years brought up the subject of having children of their own. He finally had a steady job, as did she. They have compatible schedules, so they will both be able to take care of the child, Kankuro finally moved out and they had some savings, he really wanted to have a child.

And again, without thinking much of it, she said yes.

 #28. Fault.

She, they, tried to get her pregnant for a year, but they didn’t succeed. She felt like a failure. She cried every day, she barely sleeps nor eat, she was losing weight and Sakura started to only get off their home only to get to work. Gaara was concerned, so he suggested that they went both to the hospital and made a prove, to see what was happening.

“I’m fine! Shouted her when she received the inform. I’m perfectly fine! Then why I’m not conceiving?!”

“I know Sakura, it’ s not your fault, calm down, it’ s not your fault. It’ s mine, I’m sterile.”

 #29. Adopt.

After that they didn’t talk about children for a solid month, until Sakura came up with an idea.

“Why don’ t we adopt?”

 #30. Shinki.

His name was Shinki, and he was the oldest boy in the orphanage. He had autism and that’ s why nobody adopted him, it wasn’t a severe case, but it was obvious that the child had something, and nobody wanted to adopt him.

However, Gaara and Sakura were different, they weren’t like everybody, and after four long months, they finally and officially become Shinki’s parents.

 #31. Family.

They become a family, a family of three, they thought about adopting another kid, the world was full of kids who needed love, but finally they decided to not to. Instead of this they gave money every month to the orphanage and participated in the public events that it organized.

Sakura found that this wasn’t the family that she had planned having when she was a child, but she wouldn’t change a think all that she had overcame had brought here to this point, where she was happy with Gaara and Shinki, they were the love of her life, and she was theirs.

Everything was like it had to be, it was perfect.

 #32. Part.

They grow old together, they had fights, they had love, they had crisis, they had a family, they had everything they ever needed.

Shinki left home and married a man, they always supported him, and he had the job of his live, he was a biologist that studied the fauna’ s desert. And he also adopted two beautiful little girls from his same orphanage.

Gaara and Sakura grow old together, and with old it came also death, Gaara was the youngest of them both, but also, he was the first to part away. He did in his sleep, Sakura woke up one autumn morning and realized that Gaara wasn’t breathing, she cried because her best friend, the love of her live, had gone without her.

It was between sobs that she noticed that there was a fine smile in his lips, and for the first time in his life Gaara seemed to be, finally, completely, at peace.

[pandalandalopalis]

Wilford “MOTHERLOVING” Warfstache

So here’s my take on the video, cut into two major points (with sub-points):

Take 1. a) Abe died and is in Hell.

Wilford puts it perfectly when he asks Abe how it’s possible that someone could survive a bullet to the heart. The answer is: he didn’t. We see that as soon as Will points that out, Abe begins to bleed again in the place that he had shot him originally.

Abe can’t remember how long it’s been since the events of Who Killed Markiplier. He can’t remember specific details, either. And this isn’t apparent to him until Will points it out. Often, in media, Hell will be portrayed as a torturous loop - for Abe, this is scouring the globe for the man who killed shot him, forever. When he finally finds Colonel William/Wilford Warfstache, he is unable to take him into custody, and unable to reach the goal he is so desperately trying to accomplish.

Possibly the House from Who Killed Markiplier sucked in Abe’s soul when he died, which is why Abe is stuck in a Hell-like environment. We know that the House has a sort of limbo-world that We experienced in WKM, where we saw Mark first (”It’s not fair, is it?”), and then Celine and Damien - so a more fleshed-out version of this could be plausible. 

b) Wilford can visit Hell / is an allegory for the Devil.

When Abe finds Will, it’s actually him. Will is in the middle of his spiraling into madness (finally has the name “Wilford Warfstache”, the tips of his moustache are pink, he’s losing his memories but hasn’t completely lost all of them yet). While in this Hell, Wilford is able to manipulate time and space, such as when he hears Abe’s thoughts/puts his own thoughts into Abe’s head, or when he’s able to teleport. (He also can’t be shot or hurt.) Will also mentions events that happen in the future, as if he’s not experiencing the loop linearly or chronologically. Perhaps the events he mentioned (like the reference to Murder on the Orient Express) are part of Abe’s Hell-loop. Maybe Wilford confuses events in time because they are in a loop, and things that happen in the ‘future’ may have already happened before in the previous cycle.

Take 2: a) The Wilford Warfstache that Abe captures is actually Darkiplier, who is covering for Will.

When Abe is pointing his gun at Will, we see in the background that there is an exact copy of Wilford Warfstache, escaping out of the club as Abe holds the first Will hostage.

Might I mention that after Abe glimpses Will dancing on stage for the first time, he becomes lost and squished in the crowd. He has to shoot his gun to get the crowd to disperse. During this time, Dark (who is heavily intertwined with the House and is also likely able to visit the Hell-World) could have made note of Abe’s appearance and switched places with Will. Wilford is able to escape, while Dark stays behind and does a very convincing imitation of his friend.

The best evidence I have for this is the glitch that happens when “Wilford” takes Abe from his office back to the club. Also notice that Wilford’s accent drops briefly, slipping into a deep, steady voice that is signature Darkiplier. 

b) Darkiplier is the real allegory for the Devil.

While Will may be able to visit the Hell-World, it seems that Dark may run this world. Mark mentioned in his explanation of Who Killed Markiplier that Darkiplier is comprised of Damien, Celine, and the House. It would make sense, then, if Dark sort of became the figurehead behind the House and its Hell-World created to house (pun non-intended) the souls that die there.

(Evidence Honourable Mention: The theme from the end of WKM started playing during the tail-end of Wilford “MOTHERLOVING” Warfstache. You know the theme. The really sad one where we look into the mirror and see Darkiplier staring back at us? The one where Dark cracks the mirror and leaves us behind? Arguably Darkiplier’s theme?)

So what do we think about this? Thoughts? @markired?

[mysteriescomeinthrees]

EPISODE 2: Hurricane Jordan Pines is coming - Jordan Pines

girl what the actual fuck was that like.... Eve was ROBBED ok. Absolutely positively robbed! *Sighs* ok here we go Episode 2: Not All Fear Is The Same https://voca.ro/13U2UMQI90Qm

So we lost the puzzle challenge, and I’m so fucking conflicted because we kinda lost due to Coulee’s mistake which gave us penalty points. So I’m caught in this mindset of not wanting Coulee to be punished for that because it was an honest mistake but I also don’t feel good about someone else going home when it was that mistake that made us lose in the first place if that makes sense it just wouldn’t be fair, also I’m working with Coulee because we wanted to avenge Eve and kick ass and this genuinely is just such a bummer. Also y’all I don’t think you understand how like complicated this is because of the trio twist. Because every decision you make and everything you say can reflect on your trio in some aspect. You say something that rubs someone the wrong way it could go back to your trio and fuck one of them over the next time anyone of them isn’t safe. 

ok here’s plan: I will say I got a medallion if asked about the bay and THATS IT. I’m taking all advantages with me and I ain’t telling a soul, not even my trio. Cause these girls talk too much. Then Imma get the tea from Andrew and see what’s happening on green. And then I’m gonna size up the other two groups to see who’s ready for war on Ozarks. Streets say Jabari is still in the sunken place and is still being loyal to Henry but that’s ok. That just means there’s an opening and I’m looking for recruits- any takers 😏

So we of course didnt try our best but it didnt matter thanks to my advantage. On the offside that could mean that eve or another ally could be in dnager, I have made friends with jinx and henry right away and am trying to win my tribe over despite the whole amount of issues roxy brings. I love her to death but she made enemies way too early in the game especially in the way this game is formatted. only the the social survive 👑

Coulee is in danger for really messing up the challenge and even though normally that would be a plausible way to go I can't afford this like literally I worked to hard ve doing this all by myself and alone. Currently I'm doing everything in my power to make sure coulee stays and we get another day.

going back to my my montenegro roots and submitting one sentence confessionals as a bare minimum. anyways eve baby you will be avenged white women are wild

  also if coulee goes home today truly y'all are gonna see a bitch on a war path.

if i decide to wake up.

I feel like I’m gonna get first boot on my tribe after the stunt that Sarah pulled cause she voted out Eve whom is jabaris friend, whom is my tight tight ally on this tribe. But we won the challenge so it’s fine. I got a vote expose advantage last cycle I forgot to mention! Roxy has told me that Sarah and bodhi are her nemises and those are like my two closest allies and she knows that like wtf.

I 1000% tell Andrew too much and it's 100% because I'm just used to talking to him in my host chat This was way less of an issue with Asya and Isaac when I played with them because they only hosted me once and weren't super interactive If Andrew doesn't fuck me over then they've 100% joined the list of people that I will always work with in an org Sarah has already made that list because I am a dumby Pretty blonde girl said "Call me daddy spice" and I said "Yes pls" Wait if Andrew joins that list then literally half of that list is in this game That would be insane there's no way Andrew is gonna join the list then I'd be stuck with another atomic situation where bodhi and Ali didn't get along and I asked to be voted out partially so I didn't have to pick sides WHAT IF I HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN SARAH AND BODHI I WILL SIMPLY DIE

I have 5 min to submit this hehe so here’s some random shit Literally eve was SO PUSHED sarah RESPOND to me pls omg you just got 5 votes last tribal and I wanna change that and be allies but you gotta respond PLS Andrew is an angel hello? Love him so much and they’re so sweet to talk to and we’re so far always on the same page? LOVE Autumn is literally a bestie but we already knew that didn’t we! Cindi also a bestie omg literally I hope we don’t go to tribal because I could see it being either Cindi or sarah that goes and Cindi going would NOT be it for me

Hello, this is a mandatory confessional. I am feeling decently on my tribe as I have been playing my social connections to try to start relationships. I have my eyes set on kai a bit at the moment as someone who I want out sooner rather than later, nothing against kai, like he seems like a very cool person who I definitly get along with, but his trio scares me in this game as a big agent of the unknown and I would rather not have to deal with their gameplay in the later parts of this. I feel pretty shitty tbh cause coulee is someone I like a lot and could definitly see a game relationship being strong but she fucked up hard in the challenge and no one is willing to budge on the issue. Let it be stated here first, i tried to get it to be kai but people said jordan pines no thank you. So im gonna hold my trigger finger on kai a little longer and buddy up to him some more so hes not sus of my actions. but mark it down if the joyita boat goes to council again I will drown his ass because hurricane jordan pines is coming and people best be putting on some life jackets or they are going down.

joyita wins immunity all six of us are final three ☺️😔☺️😔

Safe again!! I have been in limbo because I’ve been at school and training…hopefully it stays this way though?? I’m worried about Carson tonight and Sarah’s idol play really put 101 in the spotlight. But if Carson votes out Kai- they may just keep losing 

Fuck working full time I’m at work rn LOL but uhm we won immunity i wanna kiss jinx on the mouth I will die for jinx and roxy said she wants to work w me bc I gave roxy permissions to spam me more to come at *checks watch* idk when I get off work ig 

The game is progressing 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1125554073

[one-night-story]

They Told Me I Was Lucky To Have My Chance With You (Poe Dameron)

Atera had not left her hallway in nearly a week. General Organa had sent her concerns, but Atera dismissed them, claiming she needed a week to just work and no one would bother her there. Leia, only slightly suspicious, let the subject rest there.

The real reason Atera hadn’t left was because one of the mechanics had comissioned one of the non-X-Wing compatable astromechs into being the bearer of one problematic plant.

Mistletoe.

Jess and Snap had fallen victim to it on day one and Atera didn’t think two people could get so red. Karé and Jess were next and Jess was equal oppertunity. Then there was Seren and Rey and both were as bumbling as pre teens. Finn and Rose were caught yesterday and Atera was convinced that Rose was going to pass out.

So she figured that if she stayed here, the droid wouldn’t catch her, or Poe, and all would be fine. This was an effective strategy and while she missed a lot of what was going on around base, this was the only way to avoid her untimely fate.

Though, she had to admit it wouldn’t be that bad. It was Poe Dameron after all. The best kisser she knew. But she didn’t wanna think about that. It was more about the embarressment of it all rather than the experience. She settled on this being a plausible enough reason to not venture out of her hallway. And it suited her fine.

Until BB-8 played dirty.

One would think that a droid couldn’t play dirty, but one would be wrong. For BB-8 was the best at this tactic. Shortly behind was R2. BB-8 did it quite simply. He came screaming into Atera’s hallway, beeping up a storm.

“Hang on, hang on, what’s going on? What did Poe do?” Atera asked trying to make sense of what the droid was trying to communicate. BB-8 slowed down but was still beeping frantically.

“Poe’s injured on the airfield?” Atera asked. BB-8 shrieked again and started tearing out of the hallway. Atera got up after him, running along. In retrospect, she should’ve known it was a trick, but it the moment, she was freaking the fuck out. She ran after him and was out on the airfield, halfway to where Poe’s X-Wing was when Poe jogged to meet her.

“Ter, you alright? Did something happen?” Poe asked, ever concerned about her rather than his own well being. He was holding onto her arms, much like he had when they first met.

“Me? Are you okay? BB-8 was beeping up a storm, something about you being hurt.” Atera said, scanning him for injuries. Something clicked in both of their heads and the looked over to see BB-8, Leia, Karé, Jess, Seren and R2-H14.

The mistletoe droid.

Atera glared at BB-8. She just got played by a droid.

“Dameron, remind me to have words with your droid.” Atera muttered. Poe chuckled.

“Duely noted.” He said. Atera looked to the pilot who, despite her best efforts, had been running rampent through her head all week. Poe shot her and electric grin and pulled her closer than she already was. “You’re okay with this right?” He asked.

“Shut up and kiss me Dameron.” Atera said. Poe did, kissing her with all he had. They heard the cheers of their mini crowd and both flipped them off. When oxygen became necessary, they parted. BB-8 chirpped and beeped at their feet.

“Not cool BB-8.” Atera said.

“Kinda cool BB-8.” Poe said with a laugh. Atera hit his arm which just got him to laugh more. He slung his arm around her shoulder. “C’mon Ter-Bear, let’s go grab a drink.”

“As friends?” Atera asked. She was starting to hate this limbo they were stuck in.

“Nah, we’re not friends, nor have we ever been. Because friends don’t kiss me like you do.” Poe said. Atera blushed but pecked his cheek.

“Alright, then obscure lovers it is.” Atera said. Poe laughed and kissed her temple.

“Obscure lovers.” He said. The duo walked to the base’s cantina, BB-8 chirpping and beeping at their heels about mom and dad.

[chrisfromorlando]

February 17

I wasn’t looking forward to today because I had been sick the day and a half prior, and I didn’t know if I trusted myself to drive home after a closing shift when I had barely stayed conscious only one day before. Still, I slept magnificently before my shift, so things seemed to be turning around.

When I got to work, it wasn’t long before one of my coordinators told me that my costume wasn’t on the right way, even though I had thought it was, and that I needed to step aside and fix it. I had to hide in a closet while I was supposed to be getting ready for the day just so I could fix my clothes.

Afterward, I had to wait for an assignment due to another [person in my role] not showing up in her location after 15 minutes, and I nearly got deployed there myself before reminding my coordinator that I wasn’t even supposed to be in that part of the park today. So not only was I still in assignment limbo, it was already 20 minutes after my start time and I wasn’t even ready to go, let alone ‘out.’

Then before I even left my base, I discovered a totally unfamiliar technical issue and had to run back to fix it. The same coordinator from earlier essentially chewed me out for spending so much time ‘not working,’ but thankfully another coordinator stepped in and reminded him that I had to spend several minutes waiting on the resolution of The Case of The Missing Cast Member. 

Luckily, my first deployment was something really fun: I got to go hang out with a particularly funny character. That was a really, really good assignment. But it turned out that I had actually been following an incorrect procedure and got told that about a quarter of the way through my set. By the same coordinator from earlier.

Long story short, when it was time for me to go on break, I had another technical error that meant I couldn’t switch out until a coordinator came and resolved it. So I basically delayed my break by 20 minutes just by accident.

Anyway, my next assignment came soon after. I had the same problem as earlier, and I ended up staying for only 10 minutes before being sent to the indoor location. 

The indoor location... certainly kept me busy. That’s for sure. I was supposed to be there until 10:30, and I was definitely never bored! I helped a Turkish family retrieve some lost property, which took up most of my time. My coworkers got stuck with trickier interactions, and I did not envy them at all. A really sweet girl who lives in the area actually stopped in to pin trade (she and I have pin traded -- in that exact spot, as it happens! -- at least three or four times before; she lives in the area and is an Annual Passholder) and it honestly brightened up my night a bit to see her again, especially since she recognized me. 

So I thought it was going to be fine and dandy closing in that location (I’ve done it before), but guess whose turn it should be to close that particular night but...

the coordinator from earlier.

And yes, talking with him again was... frustrating. He pointed out my earlier mistakes, and then told me that I shouldn’t repeat a certain mistake I made, which he found out about indirectly after the fact.

And... here’s where it gets frustrating. The particular ‘mistake’ that he told me not to repeat was an instance of me making magic for a guest: a really nice elderly guest whose birthday it was, and who was really enjoying her trip. I surprised her with a free [specific thing that we sell, that is super cheap anywhere else] and she and her husband both appreciated it.

Well, the coordinator said not to do that anymore, despite later in that same interaction, doing the same thing for someone else – for the purposes of making magic. So that probably begs the question of, why didn’t I just tell him that it was for magic reasons?

I lied. I said that I gave the woman the free item because she and her husband were cranky and stressed. I’m not happy that I had to lie, but I felt that it was the thing that made the most sense in that situation: I could come up with a plausible scenario about it and it would get me the least yelled at (because, for someone as new as me, giving someone a free item is a very plausible and very common elsewhere in Disney thing that cast members can do as a guest recovery!)

Here’s the thing: when he confronted me about it, I knew that I had made I mistake, but I didn’t think that at the time. I knew he was going to say that that “making magic” – aka, magic that had not been preapproved – was not something I could do without a coordinator’s permission. 

But the whole point of our job is to make magic for guests. And the thing I gave the woman is very, very cheap to create. I should know, I used to make them myself. I have also only done this on rare occasions before; it’s not like I hand out free stuff like Oprah. Given that one of my other coordinators had previously told me to make magic for our guests as I wanted to (more or less), and that we have a log of items we give away for guest recovery purposes, I honestly didn’t think it would be an issue in any sense (moral, policy-wise, etc.)

And you know what’s extremely frustrating? At OldJob, we literally had a budget for “shrinkage” (aka shoplifting and damaged goods) built into our company’s annual budget. It was something they prepared for. The way that the coordinator was telling me why giving guests free things is bad (”We’d be out of business if we just kept giving away free stuff,” which is not exactly the anarcho-socialist inferno that I was creating by giving a grandma a free small thing), you’d think Disney couldn’t handle it.

But, uh, I think they can.

So that was a frustrating and somewhat disillusioning end to my day. I’m writing this on the 18th/early 19th, but I am at least heartened by having good shifts next week, with nicely interspersed breaks.

[oficytheft]

Finding His Way Out of the Time Stream: < Chapter 5 >

Leonard nearly got up and walked away when Sara sat down across from them with that shit-eating smirk on her face that reminded him way too much of the look that Lisa got just before she decided to mess with him, he could almost hear her before she even spoke. "Aw, look at the cute couple." The smirk almost seemed to expand into a grin at the 'I'm actually going to kill you' glare that came to his face. It's a good thing his gun was broken because if he had it he just might actually kill her.

He felt Mick's leg shift against his and let the glare fall from his face as he calmed his mind, deciding that instead of responding to what she said he'd find out what she wanted to talk to him about. "Since your already here anyway, what did you want from me Sara? I have things I need to do, seeing as it took all of what? A week of me being dead for one of you all to let Palmer break my gun?" Never mind that that blunder was on Mick, he felt the other bang his knee against his own in annoyance about the gun being brought up again. They'd thought he was dead, he guessed if he had been he'd rather it get ruined than have someone else use it. He never really was great at sharing.

"I want to know how you opened one of Cisco's portals onto the ship, and I also want to know how your alive Leonard. You've been dead for a year and a half-" Leonard froze for a second when she said that, not focusing for a moment on what she was saying well he registered that Mick had thought he was dead for a year and a half. "-and Gideon says that your frequency matches this dimension so it's not that you're from a different earth. You're just somehow still alive." The portal thing was new to Leonard, he hadn't realized he'd opened one. Honestly? He thought that he'd just made himself appear out of the timeline and onto the ship, but then again he had been pretty out of it when he was watching time. He didn't answer Sara right away, both because he was trying to find answers himself and partly because he was annoyed with her and kind of wanted to see how long he could stay silent before she pushed him.

He felt Mick's elbow bump against his arm though and finally spoke, he might not have a lot of answers but he supposed he could tell her what he did know. "I don't know, after the explosion I woke up and I was floating in this limbo. I think it was somewhere between the Temporal Zone and the Time Stream, I could see things happening if I focused on people I had a connection to but pulling myself out? Not as easy as watching people's lives float on by you." He remembered projecting himself onto the ship when Mick was spiraling into a self-destructive hellscape that he was sure was going to end with him dead, he'd almost managed to pull himself out then. Maybe he would have been able to if he wasn't more focused on pulling Mick out of his spiral than he was himself out of the limbo he was in.

"Gideon said that you had an active meta-gene that wasn't there before, Martin's theory is that the Oculus explosion activated a meta ability and catapulted you through time. From what your saying seems plausible enough, maybe you got stuck in between because the power was new and you don't have control of it yet." The theory made sense to him, but if he was honest? He really had no idea, he had been so out of it when trying to get back to the real word that he didn't remember much outside of when he'd nearly broken through the first time.

"I don't remember a portal, I don't even know how I knew how to pull myself out. All I knew was that if I focused on-" he paused for a second and sent a hard glare Sara's way as a warning against making jokes before finishing. "If I focused on Mick hard enough whatever power I have now started pulling me to the edge of wherever I was and back into the world. It felt like my brain was on fire from over-processing, couldn't do much more than follow my survival instincts." Sara didn't make any kind of remark about his admission that focusing on Mick had helped pull him out of the timeline. Mick's response however was to press his leg against his some more as he worked on the last few bites of his food.

The woman next to Sara spoke up then, he recognized her; she'd been talking to Mick a couple of the times he'd been able to visible manifest himself to Mick. Leonard would never admit that jealousy might have been a partial motivator to allowing him to be able to even do that in the first place when it seemed like she and Mick might be getting closer. "What I don't understand is how it took you so long to pull yourself out, why only now were you able to do so?"

It was a fair enough question, but Leonard didn't answer at first as he ate a bit more of his food; after taking a sip of his water he finally responded. "I almost managed to pull myself out sooner, back when you first ended up on the ship. Mick was spiraling and I was trying to reach him but I only seemed to be able to manifest myself enough that he could see and hear me. Probably should have focused more on wanting to get out than wanting to make sure he didn't wind up dying before I could. After that I blacked out and when I came to I reached out again and then woke up in the medbay."

He wasn't exactly surprised when Mick slammed his hands down on the table and stood up before speaking seeing as he was angry, but he also couldn't say he was expecting the anger to begin with. "Are you tryin' ta tell me when I thought I was goin' crazy that was actually you haunting me like some kind of time ghost?" Leonard stretched his leg's out a bit, almost annoyed at the lack of contact when Mick moved. " Exactly." No point explaining himself, Mick was gonna be annoyed either way it seemed. "Unbelievable!" He moved and stormed away to the fabricator, got himself a six-pack, and started back towards his room.

"So are we done here?" Leonard stood up as he asked the question, not really caring one way or another if Sara was done with this or not. He was done with this, and he was going to go see what had Mick in a huff about what he had said. Leonard didn't think it was all that big of a deal, even if it did bother him the others never really had the greatest opinion of him anyway. Why should it matter if Stein thought he was crazy for a day or two?

"Yeah, sure. I'll have Ray get the pieces of your gun together so you can work on it when you're ready." Leonard didn't bother responding, instead lifting up his hand up and giving a slight flick of his wrist as a 'later' as he made his way out of the Kitchen. He entirely ignored Stein when he tried to stop and talk to him and say how wonderful it was to see him again. He didn't care one way or another if the professor was glad he was back, he was back whether he was or wasn't happy about it.

When he made it to Mick's room he tried just opening the door rather than knocking, apparently he'd told Gideon to let him in if he tried because it worked and the doors slid open for Leonard to go inside. He spotted Mick sitting at his desk with his beers, seemingly having already downed one and moved onto the second. Leonard couldn't help the twinge of annoyance, he could always tell when Mick wasn't in a great place-he was a lot more dependent on alcohol when he was close to a mental break-whether minor or major. He pushed the beers back on the desk and leaned against it facing Mick with his arms crossed when he reached him, effectively blocking his easy access to more of them. "You know I hate it when you spiral instead of talking to me, just look where that got us in 2014-or after 2046 for that matter."

"I ain't spiraling!"  Mick knew better than to think that he would buy that and Leonard knew as much, he was glad he kept talking instead of making him push the issue harder. "If I'd realized was really you...maybe Ray or the Professor could have figured something to get ya out sooner..." He'd had a feeling it was something like that, so often it was Leonard pulling Mick out of trouble? The other always seemed to be harder on himself than Len liked when he failed to do the same.

Leonard uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off the desk, moving to sit on Mick's lap with his leg's on either side of his hips and his arms resting on the other man's shoulders. He was glad that the desk chair seemed to be plenty sturdy enough as he heard Mick drop the empty bottle in his hands onto the area rug under the chair without a care and felt his arms wrap around his waist. "As far as any of you knew I exploded in a fiery blaze of heroism saving you from certain death." He didn't emphasize it to make Mick feel guilty, he emphasized it to make it clear that Mick being the one who would have died if he didn't was the only reason he'd put himself in that position instead. Any of the others? He would have let them die in his place no problem, even if he might have been just a bit upset if it'd ended up being Sara. "None of you had any reason to think I was still alive, I'd say the idea you were hallucinating was more believable than the actual truth."

He couldn't even tell if Mick was hearing what he was telling him, the half-focused half-dazed look in his eyes as he listened to Leonard speak told him that just maybe sitting before he spoke wasn't the greatest plan. Mick nodded at what he said, at least acknowledging that he'd heard him as his hands trailed up Leonard's back until he could reach the back of his neck and pull him in for a kiss. Leonard didn't even try to pull away, he'd missed this and he was sure Mick had to. Even with their falling outs and the on-again-off-again nature of their relationship? The most time they had stayed apart before The Fire which caused a 10 month break was 4 months. At this point? It'd been at least 2 years for Mick if you didn't count his time as Chronos, it only felt like maybe 4-5 month for Leonard. He was going to need to remember to bring this up again later, because obviously they were done talking for now.