#so. i have 500 words for today and zero of them are in the right doc send help and maybe mid ol

[mommalosthermind]

I’m a writer! Of course I’m opening a doc to braindump a story that’s approximately five sequels away from the one I’m supposed to be working on.

[nathaslosthershit]

A Pretty Face||Trevor Zegras x Reader

Pairing: Trevor Zegras x reader

Warnings: Very very suggestive at the end but it doesn't lead to anything we see. Also I know no man who would ever talk like this but whatever

Summary: Soft and sweet moments with Trevor

A/n:  I decided to do this cause I really like Trevor’s nose

PLEASE NOTE: I wrote something similar to this on another account I have. But I repurposed the fic cause I wasn’t happy with it. Still am not but maybe I will adjust it again in the future.

Word Count: 500+

You lived for these moments. Where the rest of world means nothing to you. Where you don't have to worry about what's happening outside your window or even outside your bedroom door. You can just blissfully lay down in bed with your lover.

It's been a while since you have had a moment like this. Alone with Trevor in the late morning. Nothing to do and feeling like you had all the time in the world. 

“I don’t ever want to get up if I'm being honest.” Trevor says softly from right next to you. He is looking out the window, facing away. 

“We don’t have to. At least not today. We could stay like this till tomorrow morning if we really wanted to. Might get hungry though” You reply. There are a few more moments of silence till he turns to face you, wrapping a big arm around your waist, pulling you close.

“How long do you think we could ignore our responsibilities till they come busting down our door?”

“I wouldn’t bank on having long.” He laughs at that. 

Mumbling about how you are still too far away despite your chests being pressed together, Trevor sits up and puts you on his lap facing him. Situating yourself in this new position you put your arms on his shoulders and around his neck and just look at him. Taking in all of the features of his face, both big and small. He laughs at the concentration you have while looking at him as well as the uncomfortableness of being assessed so deeply. 

“What’s your final assessment, babe?” he asks, seeing as you look like you came to a conclusion.

“You have the world’s prettiest face. I’m both jealous of your looks and thrilled I get the chance to stare at them any time I want.” You answer, going to cup his cheeks. He blushes deeply and not knowing what to say, he starts to kiss you deeply.

“Well it’s a good thing that I am with the girl with the world’s prettiest face. Couldn’t make a better face for you if I sculpted it myself-”

“Well I definitely believe that. Remember what a disaster the pottery date we went on was? You couldn't even make a pinch pot, Trevor!”

“Can you just let me compliment you without deflating my ego? What I am trying to say is that you are gorgeous, babe. I mean really, my lov-” you cut him off by pushing him down to the bed, giggling.

“Enough. You sound desperate to get into my pants, Trevor.”

“I haven’t told a single lie. But also between the two of us, exactly zero pairs of pants are being worn so I wouldn’t have to try very hard to-” you cut his incoming dirty joke with another kiss. As you two pull away breathless you start to laugh. You both don’t think you could be happier in this moment.

[meaningofaeons]

Hello! Congrats on 500 follows, you deserve it! Can I visit the cat cafe with Gepard to play with a tortoiseshell munchkin + order a hot cocoa? You probably have a ton of other requests atm so feel free to pass!

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈ weathering the storm

⊹ character(s) - gepard landau ⊹ word count - 746 ⊹ notes - gn!reader, meet cute, reader is implied to be part of an affluent/noble family, soulmate au wherein you have a countdown on your wrist until you meet your soulmate (technically until you get within a close enough proximity to them)

⊹ katze's 500 follower writing cat-baret

hiii! thank you so much omg <3 (ﾐΦ ﻌ Φﾐ)∫ I hope you enjoy your "cat cafe date" with gepard, I had a lot of fun with this one!!

It was a cold day as ever on the ever-frozen planet where you resided, but for some reason, it permeated your flesh even as you ran through the Belobog alleyways.

The monstrous footsteps of the Fragmentum beasts were not far behind, and you were not keen to end your days at the flaming blade of the Shadewalker.

However, as luck would have it, you found yourself backed into a corner. You slumped to the floor, pressed against the stone wall.

As though reveling in your terror, the beast's footsteps slowed, brandishing its weapon menacingly as it prepared to swing the blade down upon your head.

You squeezed your eyes shut, preparing for the worst.

Then, a small chime resounded, and your eyes once again shot open.

Your soulmate counter... had reached zero.

As if on cue (or perhaps perfectly so, considering the way the soulmate counter seemed to interfere with fate itself), several Silvermane Guards had appeared, taking care of the beasts with no small measure of ease.

In the midst of them all stood none other than Gepard Landau, who was now right before your eyes. He had frozen the monster before you to ice, knocking it to the ground as it vanished into ash.

"Are you alright?"

A gloved hand reached for you, and you took it with just the slightest ounce of hesitation. A twinge of recognition shone in ocean blue eyes as he spotted you, but even if he acknowledged it, Gepard made no verbal mention of it.

"I'm... I'm okay."

Was... Was the eldest son of the Landaus your soulmate?

"That's good to hear."

His soft smile sent a shiver down your spine, but not the kind that the violent winters of Belobog instilled within you every day.

No, it was... warm. Oddly so. And it was accompanied by a distinct warmth in your chest, as well.

"Um... I—"

Before you could even get ahead of yourself, ask about the counter upon your wrist, the blonde had summoned over a combat medic among the ranks of his subordinates, asking him to patch up your scrapes.

You felt your heart drop a bit.

Right. There were so many guards here... Sure, you hadn't exactly "met" any of them in the same way as Gepard, but soulmate counters had been known to end after only close proximity, not necessarily a full meeting.

Any one of these guards could be your soulmate, and you hadn't a clue which.

"I'm sorry, you were going to say something?" Captain Gepard questioned kindly, still holding on your hand.

Some part of you dearly hoped that it was indeed he who was your soulmate... but with no way to check his wrist, you figured only to relent for today.

You could ask around later... You had friends in the Silvermane Guards. Surely, you could garner the names of the ones present, and discover which was your soulmate that way.

"No... no, no. I'm okay. Thank you very much for saving me."

"I was only doing my duty. Do you live near here?"

"Yes, I live close by."

Gepard nodded. "As much as I would like to ensure your safety myself, unfortunately I must stay and continue patrolling in case anyone else is in danger. I will send some trusted guards to accompany you, so please be at ease."

"Thank you so much."

And with that, you were led away from the kindhearted Captain, questions swirling in your mind, just waiting for answers.

—

"Sir, your wrist—!"

Gepard paused as his fellow guard spoke up, his eyes going wide.

His subordinate was most likely referring to the small gash left behind after the earlier scuffle, but something else had caught the blonde's eye.

Right in the spot where the Fragmentum monster's weapon had sliced his long-sleeved uniform open, his countdown lay motionless on his flesh, all numbers now at zero.

How long had it been as such?! Certainly not for too long, as he had obviously long since met every guard here—

It hit him.

The Captain whipped his head around at once, but you were long gone, likely already being escorted home by one of his many subordinates.

Despite the lack of surefire confirmation, however, Gepard was almost certain he knew precisely who you were. He tried not to let the heat rising to his cheeks show, lest the fluttering of his heart become obvious to all.

"...I suppose I should pay their family a small visit."

[ranhaitanisgf]

Congrats on 2k 🎉. Can I have headcanons of “girl next door” and “going on a date in a flower field” with Senju. And they share their first kiss together. Fluff. Thanks.

— senju kawaragi [akashi] // girl next door // date in a flower field

[𖤐] me after going 500 words over once again lol. i couldnt help it though okay it was too cute to keep at just 1000 words....anywho. thank you for requesting this anon, and i hope the wait was worth it! enjoy my loveliessss xoxo

wc ; 1.5k+

masterlist || 2k masterlist

♡ a big smile stretched across your lips as you hefted open the window in your room; you already knew that your day was going to get better as soon as you saw senju’s face popping out of her own window, waving her arms crazily to try and get your attention. 

“senjuuu, what’s up?”  “do you wanna go somewhere with me today?! i found this amazing place that i think you’ll love!!” 

♡ you immediately agreed; how could you have said no to the excited look on her face? 

♡ she had given you exactly zero details though, so you weren’t exactly sure what to be getting ready for. whatever the circumstances though, you were very excited. sure, maybe it was a bad thing that you were hiding your feelings from your friendly neighbor, but it wasn’t like it was harming anything, so it was fine, right? 

♡ you threw some random things into a bag and hastily fixed your hair, checking your reflection in the mirror to make sure that you look alright. when you were satisfied, you hastily wrote a note down where you were going and stuck it on the fridge, exiting your house and looking around for senju. 

“boo!”  “hm? oh, hi! where are we going?” 

♡ senju groaned at your lack of reaction to her attempt at a sneak attack, grumbling about how you were supposed to act scared as she pulled your cheeks, stretching them out with a grumpy look. you only laughed, her expression being quite cute as she pouted. she eventually stopped, grabbing your hand to drag you over to her bike, handing you a helmet as she preached about how you need to protect your head, (she brushed it off when you asked about her own head, saying that she would probably be fine). 

♡ you reluctantly put on the helmet after her insistence, although you were sure to let her know that next time you would not get on her bike if she also didn’t have a helmet. 

“you’re such a worrywart, (y/n)! do you reallyyy think i would do something stupid and get hurt?”  “yes.”  “what!?”

♡ you tried your best to act completely normal as you wrapped your arms around senju’s waist, but you couldn’t help the giddy smile that came from having physical contact with her, (you were just really glad that she couldn’t see you looking like an idiot). despite the fact that you wanted to pull a little bit closer to her, you refrained, going your best to keep a healthy distance between the two of you while still holding onto her. 

♡ it was a lot harder than you could’ve imagined; all the times she would speed through the light as it was turning yellow made you press closer to her than you were originally intending, but you figured if she asked about it that you would blame it on her driving skills. yeah, that’s it. 

♡ you had absolutely no clue as to where you two were going, and your curiosity increased tenfold when senju started driving out of the city limits. you didn’t ask any questions though, feeling a bit excited at being surprised by something. of course though, you didn’t get your hopes up too much. there was absolutely no way she felt the same about you, so you did your best to squash those thoughts before they could emerge. it wasn’t exactly working. 

♡ after another thirty minutes of driving, senju suddenly pulled over to the side of the road, slowing down and turning the engine off. 

“i almost missed it! that would’ve been bad, but anyways, we’re here! let’s go!”

♡ you hastily pulled the helmet off of your head, frantically running after senju as you tried to fix your hair. she had already began the journey to whenever she was taking you, her jogging somehow being a lot faster than your running, (serious, why was she so fast?). 

“we’re here!”  “wait for me, agh, ‘m so tired…woah.”  “right?! let’s go!!” 

♡ you had to stop and do a double take when you finally caught up with her; in front of you was the most wide and vast field of flowers that you had ever seen in your life. the most beautiful sight though, was seeing senju in front of you, waving at you to come and join her. the giddy smile that was on her face as she called your name was making your heart skip several beats, and you could only hope that she didn’t have some sort of super hearing as you walked over to her, trying to keep your eyes on the flowers instead of her. 

“isn’t it awesome, (y/n)?!”  “yeah, it’s super pretty!” 

♡ before you could say anything else, senju had plopped herself down onto the ground, picking some flowers from around her and laying them in her lap, urging you to join her with a blinding smile. 

♡ you hadn’t exactly been sure what she wanted to do in a flower field aside from admire it, but it was obvious now that she wanted to make flower jewelry. over the course of many hours, she did her best to teach you about how to weave the flowers into a flower crown, and how to make bracelets and necklaces. sometimes, she would get over excited and would stop explaining the steps, but she would immediately go back to helping you when she noticed your confusion in trying to copy her steps. 

♡ the day was coming to a close; the sky was filled with beautiful bursts of pinks and oranges, and despite the fact that it was gorgeous, it also meant that you and senju would have to leave soon. 

“aaand, there’s one last thing!”  “oh, what is it?”  “this!” 

♡ from behind her back, senju pulled out a tiny circle of small flowers, woven together to create a ring shape. with no words, she gently grabbed your hand, taking the flower ring and slipping it onto your ring finger. it was taking the most amount of resistance in you to try and not interpret it as something else, but you couldn’t help the quickening pace of your heart and the butterflies in your stomach. 

♡ when you heard senju giggling in front of you, you turned your gaze from the ring to her. you weren’t sure what she was laughing at, but you felt a bit of embarrassment anyways, hoping that you weren’t making a dumb face while you spaced out for a moment. 

“you’re so cute, (y/n)!”  “...don’t say things like that…”  “awh, why not?”  “it could make someone get the wrong idea.”  “i’m not trying to make you get the wrong idea though.” 

♡ the gleeful look on senju’s face was immediately replaced with a serious expression, her eyes suddenly seeming like they were staring into your soul. you swallowed, laughing a little nervously as you tried to figure out what she was saying. 

♡ before you could say anything more, senju had scooched closer to you, her knees moving to rest on top of yours as you leaned back a bit. it was all a little bit more than your heart could handle, and you were sure that if she came any closer you would explode. 

“well, i was more talking about if you said that to another person, they might think something different…”  “you’re the only one i would say that to, (y/n).” 

♡ she had you completely shocked now; your words stopped working. how were you supposed to respond to that? 

♡ senju, apparently, didn’t need any more words from you. her serious expression morphed into a playful one as she climbed onto your lap, pushing you down onto the soft bed of flowers and hovering above you. 

♡ your heart was now beating a million miles a minute, especially with her being directly above you and staring at you with such a soft look in her eyes. you didn’t dare to move; if this was a dream, you did not want to wake up anytime soon. 

♡ without another moment to think about anything else, senju suddenly leaned down right above your face, pausing for a moment and looking at you with a questioning look. when she was sure that you weren’t going to pull away, she gently slotted her lips against yours, seeming a bit hesitant as the two of you looked at each other. 

♡ when you finally realized you weren’t dreaming, you closed your eyes and brought your hand up to her head, threading your fingers through her hair and bringing her closer. senju’s hesitance was immediately thrown out the window at this; her lips moved against yours, feeling velvety soft and warm as her hand went to cup your cheek. 

♡ after a few moments, she pulled away, a warm smile on her face. you had no idea what kind of expression you had on right now; you couldn’t seem to control anything due to the pounding of your heart. senju suddenly flopped, dropping directly onto you and tucking her face into your neck. 

“i’ve been wanting to do that for so long.”

[the-ghost-in-my-dreams]

The Time Bandit

Reality

In one word: Robbed. It was the time. A huge chunk of time just vanished out of sight almost as if he was the time bandit. Actually that is a more fitting description. It is what got me off tilt mostly. He was living a double life and having me think he was one thing but have this other side of him the whole time while trying to get super close. But today is a different story. I am forgetting as much as I can about the time bandit because of the time that has passed. I think I was just so turned off in the end that it is something better lost than anything else. And you can quote me on that. I think it is clear it was the best decision to just forget about Raymond and focus all my attention on the road ahead. Especially when revenge is what he wanted and it is what he got in the end, but the truth was that he had already had his revenge from the very beginning. He just pulled the time right under my feet like... well a time bandit.

To begin with, it was in May 2016 that we met. It was at night and it was for obvious reasons. There was nothing out of the ordinary that was out of place. Neither was the next few times we met. It was just on and off at first. I can't be sure when exactly that it got heavier as in we spent a lot more time hanging out. But it did. Raymond just began to express he wanted to be here at my house pretty much all the time and I had no reason as to why not. I enjoyed his company and I wasn't seeing anyone else so then it went.

I can say the first fight we had, the first big one, was the one that taught me that I am not a very friendly person sometimes, especially when I drink. The event probably messed me up more in the end because I regret a number of things and it is a terrible thing to happen to anyone. By messed up I mean that I think about it till this day and beat myself up for it figuratively speaking. I guess I can speed it up because after that it went downhill. More back and forth fights until after 2020 when I started working at Amazon. I started as a janitor and then I switched to packing on the first floor. During this time we started hanging out and it was alright for a tiny bit of time but then he decided to apply and work with me at Amazon. So let me say this again, I was working there and then Raymond decided he wanted to work with me there. He even put my name on the referral line or gave my number to them one of those so I could get like 500 dollars as a bonus for the referral. I am making it a point because in the letter to the court the Judge said I followed him there to stalk him. Supposedly, I only started working there in order to stalk him but in reality it doesn't even work like that at Amazon. They don't have any stalkers because they are really strict and have a very good policy might I add. Raymond actually got in trouble for some messages saying very evil things I don't want to mention. That is pretty much all she said about the letter, after that I never got the chance to read it. There was more than one letter as well. So basically that letter could of said anything, I have no idea how large this justice system corruption is but it is corruption. I just think corrupt cops are scary but that's just me. So all that time sucked out from my soul like a vacuum until the very end. If I knew then what I know now about back then, I wouldn't even be here. By that I mean I wouldn't be in this hellscape of a timeline that is eternally so doomed. Never be too sure about yourself though, after all no body knows what the future will bring. Sure it might look like a slam dunk but still, why take that chance. Lets keep that chance at zero, and if you got the means do extra.

Extra

I was going to end the journey tonight, and call it quits because it is definitely not like in the movies. Its a lot more lame. By that I mean the high school mentality of clicks is still around. Straight up if its not cool then its not cool. I can't say I want to be a part of it either though. I forgot what point I was going for but it doesn't matter because I discovered something fascinating to say the least, at least for me. That is what I mean by extra. And I did cut it off there because this is going into another dimension! Well almost.

Continued.

[ear-worthy]

Tink Media Delicacies 2023: The Best Podcasts of The Year

It's December. That means Santa, holidays, gift-giving, family dinners, Fox News whining about saying Merry Christmas, and, of course, lists. 

The Best Of... Lists arrive in our inboxes, social media feed, websites, YouTube channels, and TV and radio stations. 

 Sadly, some lists are so short these days. "Best Members Of Congress?" Goose egg. "Best Billionaire?" Nada. Best discount airline? Any airline that doesn't charge for EVERYTHING. Best Conspiracy Theory that has even a third-grade level understanding of Science? Zero.

Last week, on the website of a formerly popular magazine, I spotted a "Best Of...The Best Of...Lists."

Whaaat! A list that judges other lists.

Podcasting is an ideal medium for such lists, simply because there are so many excellent podcasts. Sure, we've all heard about the astronomical number of podcasts. Yet, lost in that meme is a hidden truth: There are thousands of terrific podcasts in search of the right audience. Anyway, an excellent source of Best Of... for podcasting is Tink Media. 

In its own words, Tink Media,"is a podcast growth and ideas company that specializes in podcast PR, creative partnerships, in-app placement, and out-of-the-box strategies that will help your show find its perfect audience. It’s not your job to grow the beautiful show you made. It’s ours."

Frankly, that's adorable and an attractive offer.

So, the company releases an annual list that it calls, "Tink Media Delicacies."

In their own words, Tink Media Delicacies is: "With Bello Collective’s 100 Outstanding Podcasts as our inspiration, we're highlighting the BEST podcasts and episodes that showcase the uniqueness and diversity of the podcast industry. Our goal is to recommend shows that may not be included on other year-end or best-of lists. With contributions from podcast lovers from all walks of the industry — producers, hosts, engineers, marketing experts, and more — we’ve created a platter of podcasts for you to sample." 

In essence, Tink Media recommends podcasts you probably will not see on the Best Of...Podcast Lists floating around in late December. Why? Because Tink Media doesn't follow the crowd. And, it knows podcasting like the back of the Shure SM7B podcast mic. In 2022, the Tink Media Delicacies connected me to shows that have become my listening favorites, such as, All The Wiser, Higher Learning, Banned, A History of Music In 500 Songs, and Today, Explained.

In 2023, I loved The Life Shift, The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks, Maintenance Phase, Skyline Drive, and Weight For It.

There are so many hidden treasures on this list. I've already downloaded several podcasts on the list that I just discovered thanks to Tink's Delicacies. 

Think about Tink Media Delicacies this way. Read the list, then find some podcasts that are hidden gold. Then, meet a few of your know-it-all friends who haven't met a story or recommendation for a restaurant, movie, TV show, or podcast they couldn't top.

Then, hit them with your Tink Media Delicacies discoveries and watch their faces droop in exasperation. You should definitely share Tink Media Delicacies, but not with those smarty-pants, show-off, windbag acquaintances.

Check out Tink Media Delicacies. It's all organic, non-GMO, cage free, range free, dolphin safe, and has been shown to be better for your brain than Wordle. 

[late-nite-scholar]

WIP Whenever! (Thursday)

I was tagged by @mareenavee ! Leaving tags open for whoever would like to participate!

I'm actually posting something different today! This is original stuff, a little scene I've been working on for a project I want to expand from a shorter piece that I've kind of mentioned before. Now that it has a happier, non-horror ending, the characters keep wanting to do more stuff. So I'm tinkering with ideas for expansion.

It's about 500 words. Names are redacted for the most part (and I took out some spoilery bits) just cause I'm not quite ready to put that out there (but there is at least one person on this webbed site that may recognize them!).

cute picrews are the best! Look at these two!

***

The woman pushed up her glasses and smoothed her hair before bringing her hands in front of her and squeezing them tightly together.

L stepped forward, reaching his hand out. “I suppose you already know if’n you're [redacted], but I’m L and it’s real fine to meet ya.”

The woman’s bottom lip trembled. “You have to be. Your profile matches exactly. But your name is (L). Your father didn’t care for that, I see.” 

“Pappy never did tell me that. I only ever been L that I know of.” He paused. “If’n Pappy done come from this city, then how come he ain’t never talked like it? Cause he always talked like I do, but none of y’all do.” 

She sighed. “I assume he was using it as some sort of disguise. When he left, he didn’t want to be found.”

“Why not? Was he… was Pappy a criminal?”

“No. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you everything I know, I promise. But your father was not a criminal, I promise you that. Even if I did hate him for taking you away.” But she looked beyond him. “But where are my manners? We shouldn’t leave your friend just standing there.”   

“This do be M.” As M shook the woman’s hand, L smiled softly. "She’s my wife." 

"Wife? Oh, that's lovely! I’m so glad to meet you! I’m Beryl.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Where are you from, M?”

“I’m Fleet Folk. Formerly Mid-Atlantic Fleet, but L and I run solo, now.”

“Oh, that is brave! I’ve heard of Fleets, that is a tough life, especially by yourselves.”

“We do well at it.” M shrugged, but her hand slipped back into L’s. Something about this put her on edge, and she needed the safe feel of him right now.   

“Do you two have children yet?" 

"Gosh, mama, we ain't had ‘nuff time for all that! You done gotta give us a bit!" He laughed nervously, holding tighter to M's hand. 

"Have you two done panels yet? What's your compatibility? Any problematic markers? Because we have a lot of great options here in the city. Things have come a long way in the last decade or so." 

"Panels?" M's voice rose. "Do you think just because I'm Fleet I'm some kind of inbred?" 

"What?" She blinked, before smacking her forehead. "Wait, panels aren't common up top! Of course. I'm so sorry! They're so normalized in the city people usually do them before a first date. To ask is no stranger than asking where you met or what color you're thinking of painting your nursery." 

She looked a bit lost as her words ended, and M swallowed her irritation. "I know you didn't realize. But there are… stereotypes about Fleet Folk. The joke is you get a panel for your Fleet partner to see if their father is their uncle once or twice over. Or some variety of that." 

"But… but Fleet genetic diversity is almost negligibly different from the general surface population… and that difference is only from an extremely small number of outliers… it's statistically zero… But I'm sorry, M. I never intended to imply something so cruel."

She smiled wanly. “You didn’t know. But we shouldn’t spoil things with a little misunderstanding. And you two should be talking, not me!”

“Ah, of course!” Beryl flustered. “It’s all just a bit overwhelming, I guess. But yes, I would like to start off on a good foot. Let’s start again.”   

[uselessheretic]

some fast facts about archive of our own:

which are available through their public budget which you can find here

ao3 spends no money on legal services. the idea that ao3 needs hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight for fanfics rights isnt true. of their budget, only 2.5k is allocated to their legal funds and they spend none of it

from what i can tell theyve never actually assisted anyone with dmca in a way that would necessitate paid work. the majority of their legal advocacy is them occasionally writing a letters. theres other things, but none that require compensation and, specifically, none that require legal aid. the chair of the legal team even said that its simple to address a dmca. you can get the same advice on reddit, but also, i dont see anything of them even needing to give this advise out kdndsnsnsn

they make a shit ton of money from donations in 2020 they received 862k of donations!!

most of their money goes to servers (which is expected) with 2020 costing them 284k in servers for ao3. they actually came under budget tho where they expected the servers to be 383k!!

the section where the second most amount of money is used is,,, on fundraising. to be fair and transparent half of fundraising costs are just transaction fees, but thats a buckwild thing to see as the second priciest cost

theres other misc expenses like general administration is 40k i have no idea what a "professional service" is but thats 13k (im sure its smth useful btw its just a funny term)

anyways the total expenses for 2020 was 425k

the total amount raised was though was 862k

the total unused funds then comes out to 475k

so a nonprofit with a profit of 475k. not allocated to anything specific. its just there somewhere i guess

from what i can see theres zero word on what the excess will be spent on. we know it isnt legal funds though bc theres specifically a legal budget which is 2.5k and hasnt ever been used.

i dont get whats complicated about this but apparently that fact is confusing so

ao3 made a profit of 475k in 2020, however, this isnt used as backup for legal funds which we know because they have a literal budget that specifically points out what fund they keep on store for legal. which they have never used.

anyways they did say they would update ao3s servers and put 100k to that but that doesnt address the extra 450k bc thats actually a lot less money planned for the servers this year in comparison to last

actually the whole budget is kinda funny because ao3 in 2020 actually spent less than their planned budget!

they planned for 562k and only spent 425k

they made a net income of 475k!

not as in they fundraised 475k and had 50k leftover. they fundraised 862k and had more leftover than they spent in the first place

AND THEY STILL CUT THEIR 2021 BUDGET BY 200K?????????????????????????

their budget for 2020 was originally 562k, they only used 425k... and in 2021 their budget is 365k?? literally 200k less?????

and like its a nonprofit?? and theres so many things that can be fixed on this site which they have ample funds to do so

ao3 still has the INVITE SYSTEM if you want to sign up for ao3 today 10/15 youd need to wait until 10/27 to receive an invite bc they only send out 500 a day.

a site that makes 862k with a profit of 475k cant even have a proper registration process??

[useless-catalanfacts]

I wasn't going to make a post about this, because it's a very stupid conspiracy theory and I wouldn't expect people who follow this blog to believe it, and what's happening in Ukraine and Russia is more important. However, Spanish media is taking this way far, so I think I should address it at least as a warning.

Spanish politicians and right-wing media has been saying, with zero proof, that Catalans are Putin's infiltrators in Europe. This makes no sense, Catalan people have nothing to do with Russia. We are only normal people carrying on with our lives, like anyone else. Even leaving aside the fact that you can't assume a whole culture to agree with a political leader, people in Catalonia have been protesting against Russia's invasion of Ukraine since the very beginning, many people are taking in refugees in their homes and the society is mobilized to send at first food, first aid and clothes, and now money to humanitarian aid to Ukraine. If someone is in favour of imperialistic states invading their neighbours and not respecting their independence, let me assure you this is NOT the majority of Catalonia.

There is NO reason to point at us more than anyone else in the continent, of course nobody has shown any proof of these words. They're only saying it to feed the rhetoric that Catalan people are enemies of Spain and have to be more controlled. Today, Dolors Montserrat (spokeswoman of the right-wing Spanish nationalist Partido Popular to the European Parliament) has said that the European Commission should "investigate all the interferences of Putin in Europe, as well as the interferences of Catalonia". Spanish nationalist politicians will point at any enemy, left or right, and try to say Catalans are related to them in order to justify even more censorship and political repression in Catalonia. They take advantage of people's fear of the war to make their power and control grow bigger.

But ah, it always comes down to the same, doesn't it? This is the article that El Español (one of the most read newspapers in Spain) has published today:

For those who don't speak Spanish, the title means "Is Abramovich Catalan? The letter that would prove that the Russian descends from Iberian Sephardis." And the subtitle means "The document that El Español | Portfolio has found is dated in 1940. It's in the Jewish archive of Oporto [Portugal]. The oligarch's ancestors would have left Portugal in 1497, maybe having arrived from Girona." (Girona is a city in Catalonia).

Abramovich is a Russian rich man, owner of the English football club Chelsea and close to Putin. Spanish media is spreading this document where his ancestors are supposedly traced back to the year 1497, where they lived in Portugal. And maybe (only maybe) the ancestors of his ancestors could had moved to Portugal from Girona. And what do they chose to highlight? That this oligarch is Catalan, because some his ancestors from the Middle Ages might have been Catalan.

Let me propose an alternative title for this article: "Newspaper so antisemitic and Catalanophobic that it uses documents from over 500 years ago to blame an entire culture for the actions of one person who might or might not have had ancestors from there."

(Here is the link to the article, if you want to read it for yourself.)

By the way, this is not an April Fool's joke. Spain celebrates April Fool's in December and the article has been published today, April 2nd.

It's no surprise, remember that some years ago they said that the Roman soldiers who killed Jesus Christ were Catalan 🤦 (when Catalonia would still take centuries to start to exist after the fall of the Roman Empire).

So all I'm saying is, as with everything, please think twice if you receive this kind of propaganda, and don't blame entire cultures for things that have nothing to do with them because this feeds into hatred and oppression. Catalan people in Spain already face enough censorship, political repression and prejudice, don't let fascists and their friends use this as an excuse to be even more restrictive.

[chaosangel767]

Pyrrhic - Angst

Fandom: Ikemen Revolution

Prompt: Pyrrhic - A victory won at to great of a cost

Tw: Major Character deaths, Angst 

Word Count:1735

The air is bitter and cold matching the mood of the group of people gathered in front of the Civic Center. A large cloth is draped over a monument and the clouds are heavy. No one in the crowd is smiling, and while there are hundreds of people in the crowd, there is no cheerful sound, just hushed whispers. Three men mount the stage next to the cloth. The two Kings of Cradle and the record keeper, all dressed in formal wear. The little noise of the crowd dies away as the Record keeper starts to speak into the crystal mic. 

“Citizens of Cradle, today marks the day one year ago that 75 people gave their lives to protect Cradle from the shadows and ended the 500 years of fighting and bloodshed.” Blanc starts to open the ceremony, his voice solemn as he begins to speak, the two Kings on either side of him had lowered heads, grief from the day one year ago still fresh in their minds. 

“Today we remember these brave souls who risked everything they had to make sure that Cradle continued on. Today we remember Zero the Ace of Hearts, Fenrir Godspeed the Ace of Spades, Seth Hyde the 10 of Spades, Loki Genetta the Cheshire Cat, Alice the second…” There isn’t another sound in all of Cradle as Blanc rattles off the names of the 75 people that died, everyone’s head is bowed, the first row of the crowd is dedicated to the officers who fought, the deaths still fresh in their minds.  

The record Keeper stood in front of Cradle with an even voice and a calm demeanor, but he can still see the bloody aftermath the central quarter was in after the fight. The tower had figured out the plan at the last moment, and ambushed the unexpecting armies, a huge explosion went off injuring many of the citizens of Cradle and destroying a lot of the Central Quarter, Cradle’s famous inventor was still recovering. Blanc looks into the crowd where Oliver Knight was sitting, his face was scarred with the aftermath of the explosion and his arm had finally been released from its cast after months of trying to heal it.

Blanc looks over to where the King of Spades is standing, glancing down at the floor of the stage, pain and grief evident on his face. The image of a second explosion in the Forbidden forest fresh in his mind, Ray watches helplessly as Alice jumps in front of the armies with her kind smile and not an ounce of fear in her face. She managed to cast enough of a barrier over most of Cradle, negating the magic explosion and casting out the innate magic users in Cradle, saving their lives. The grieving King finally looks up, his gaze landing where his best friend and partner in crime would have sat, the vacant seat tears a hole in his heart. He looks down at his clasped hands, still seeing the blood that drenched his uniform. It should have been me. He quietly thought, remembering seeing the pain his best friend was in after taking the hit for his King. “Cradle needs you boss, it's not your time” Fenrir’s choked words and faint smile seared in the back of Ray’s head, his heart heavy as he remembered the fading magenta eyes. It wasn’t your time either buddy. You should be here causing chaos, it's hard to run Cradle without you. 

Ray shifts his gaze to his right, eyeing the second King of Cradle, the King of Hearts, who is standing tall, not a hint of emotion on his face, but under the cold mask there swirled a turbulence of regret, grief and anger. He gazes steadily across the crowd, thinking how only a few officers know the full scale of the war. The civilians only know that there was a group of terrorists and criminals who launched an attack on Cradle and that both armies and the sweet, caring Alice helped fight off the criminals, no one knew that the criminals were in fact the Magic tower, that is the secret the Army must bear alone. He should have been more careful and maybe the magic tower wouldn't have found out what was going on. He remembers the cruel smirk on Amon’s face as he made Lancelot watch the explosion from the tower, the way the smoke rose from the central quarter. Lancelot looks down at his hands, burns and scars covering his hands from where he lost control of his rage and collapsed the tower, taking the mad leader and disciples with him.  

Lancelot’s eyes drift from surveying the crowd to landing on his forever injured, but Faithful Queen. Jonah sat straight and proper as ever, not letting an ounce of shame fill him. The brave Queen had managed to find Lancelot and covered him from the explosion, costing him his legs, but saving his King. Jonah still acts like his usual self, only in the darkness of night does he let down his walls and reveal how frustrated he is, it is all his fault. He needed to save his King, he should have been there earlier and the tower wouldn’t have collapsed. Jonah meets the King's eyes and the two exchange a darkened gaze. 

The Jack of Hearts has jade eyes cast down to his belt where his fallen protege’s sword now lays. He runs his fingers along the hilt, not sure how to process the memories and pain he is feeling inside. The memory of his student taking the hit for him still makes his blood run cold. Taking one of his pristine white gloves off he runs his bare fingers against Zero’s blade, the cold metal does nothing to quell the aching in his heart. The gentle demon is no longer gentle, the kind smile he once wore no matter the situation now is a grim line on his face.  I should have told you how much I cared. I should have protected you more.

Next to the Jack of Hearts is the forever drunk medic, Kyle. His topaz eyes hold more sorrow, and everyday his heart grows a little heavier. He should have tried harder, if he was better at his job so many lives wouldn’t have been lost. He looks down at his hands, they should have been clean of bloodshed, but they hold more bloodshed than anyone in Cradle. He clenches his fists, turning over his hands and hiding them in his sleeves. I wasn’t good enough to save them, I am not worthy of saving anyone anymore. His eyes unfocused, he pulls a bottle from his pocket and takes a drink, the burning taste of alcohol slides down his throat and he hangs his head, still being haunted by the lifeless eyes of his friends. 

A man sits between the two armies, pain showing in his one eye. Harr Silver, the new leader of the Magic tower. Harr has barely spoken a word outside of Tower business since the fight. He was the one who gave Alice the crystals telling her it would help enhance her power, how was he going to know she would sacrifice herself? His eyes lower to the ground as he sees her body bathed in light, he should have known, her soul pure and selfless. He should have stopped her from absorbing the explosion. He looks down to the simple crystal around his neck, the crystal he gave her, the one she could have used to save herself, but instead she chose to save Cradle. The second crystal on his necklace belonged to his young apprentice, the one whose mischievous mismatched eyes he would never see again. He runs his fingers along the crystal, should he have helped them? If he helped them with the barrier maybe one of them would still be alive. 

Sirius the gentle Queen of Spades sits next to the quiet wizard and looks down still seeing the blood from the fallen Seth on his hands. If he had only been a few minutes faster, then Dalim wouldn’t have stabbed him in the back. Sirius clenches his hands and grits his jaw against the tears at hearing Seth's final strangled words apologizing for betraying the black army running over and over through his head. Sirius clenches his hand tighter, noticing the scars on his arm and seeing the invisible scar on his stomach from the fights, he looks up to the sky. Seth, I am so sorry, I should have been faster. 

Next to Sirius sits the quiet Jack of Spades, Luka. The shy and aloof Jack was now even more shy and aloof, he runs his unit and still cooks dinner, but he no longer seems to care about much else. He doesn’t enjoy cooking as much as he did when Alice was here to taste his food, her smile lighting up the kitchen as she helped him think up new recipes to try. Every night he still trains, his time asleep even less than before, his dreams plagued by the one he never said goodbye to, the one who should have been sent home. He can hear her words the night before the battle, when they argued about whether she should fight, the determination in her eyes as she demands to help. Cradle is my home now, I couldn’t possibly leave knowing you guys could get hurt. When you care about people it hurts to see them hurt. Luka fights back the tears escaping his vision, he traces the necklace in his hands, the one he gave her. He wasn’t strong enough when he needed to be and now she was gone. His amber gold eyes find their way up to the sky as he thinks of his friend now flying high. 30 days wasn’t enough time with you, eternity wouldn’t have been. 

 The 7 officers all look to the brand new memorial, to the names of the fallen. Cradle won, Cradle was safe, but the cost of the victory was high. The lives lost that day gave Cradle the ability to move on and live. The love paid the way for us remaining to love our families, laugh with our friends and spend our days doing what we loved. The war was won, Cradle was safe, but was the cost of victory worth it?

[gumnut-logic]

Callisto (Full Prologue)

Prologue Part One - Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 | Bit 4 | Bit 5 Part Two - Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3

When I first started this story, I was of two minds whether to put all of the prologue at the front or scatter it throughout the fic. I started with 700-odd words of it and drove into the body.

It fast became obvious that I really needed to build a lot more into the prologue as the OCs were empty shells and I needed to explain the story behind them and why Jeff is so determined.

So at the end of Part Two, I stopped and went back. This is the result. Nearly 5000 words of Jeff Tracy landing on Mars. It can stand as its own story, but it definitely leads into the planned events for the novel, Callisto. Either way I hope you enjoy it. Be aware that the first 500 words or so may be familiar as they were part of the original version. Don’t worry, the rest is new.

Of course, many, many thanks to @tsarinatorment​ @scribbles97​ and @janetm74​ for all the amazing support and help with this fic. Plus @onereyofstarlight​ my go to science officer on this voyage. You guys are absolutely amazing and I couldn’t have done this without you ::massive group hug::

Now this is done, I can finally go back to writing the novel chronologically. I have to say that this is going to be one hell of a ride.

No warnings needed.

-o-o-o-

2033

 “Another boy?”

Jeff grinned. “Yeah. Another one.” He couldn’t help but stare at the photo that had landed on his screen as a good luck token from Earth.

He did of course, know about Lucille going into labour the night before and it was for that reason he hadn’t had the sleep he probably should have pre-history making Mars landing. But honestly, to get this signal from that little blue planet a good eight months away…his heart swelled…his beautiful baby boy had a shock of red hair that screamed their Irish ancestry down through the hundreds of years since their family had left the old world.

Lucille sat holding him, looking tired but ever so proud. Her dark hair was tied back and the sparkle in her eyes brought a lump into his throat. Her mother, pink hair and all, sat beside his wife holding his two eldest boys on her lap. Scott had his hand on Virgil’s arm as the now second youngest reached over towards his baby brother, a frown of concentration on his face.

“He’s beautiful.”

Jeff startled a little. Berry was breaking regs and leaning over the back of Jeff’s pilot couch, her straps unfastened. The cockpit was pretty snug in the lander, most of the room taken up with safety equipment and interfaces, leaving little for the padded personnel support.

He shot an eyebrow in her direction and she smiled a dare back at him. The astrogeologist wasn’t one for breaking the rules, she just liked to taunt him a little.

Ju, in contrast, was checking her harness was secure a second time. “Creating your own crew, Tracy?” Her auburn eyes smirked at him. “Aiming to replace us?”

He grinned. “Could be.” Dare he mention that his four-year-old eldest could already name all the controls in this cockpit? His grin widened. “But we can’t replace the first person to set foot on Mars, now can we?”

Berry snorted, a little abashed. But it was, after all, her part to play once they made touchdown. The words had been rehearsed, the order of exit decided. For very specific reasons, the first human on Mars was going to be Kate Berrenger.

Berry had worked her ass off to make this mission a reality. Her specialisation onboard was astrogeologist, but honestly it was far more. The woman was talent on legs. It was she who had designed much of the equipment they were deploying on the surface, she who had hunted and gathered the funding, she who had put in the sweat and tears to make this work. And Ju wasn’t far behind. The two of them were quite a powerhouse pair. Jeff considered himself and Lee lucky to have been chosen for this mission. Of course, he’d known Berry for a very long time, worked with her for most of it, but it wasn’t a given that the team that had helped populate the moon would also be the first on Mars.

“Given how many life support pods we’re dragging down there, I bet your boys could drop by in about thirty years or less.”

“You gonna put your money where your mouth is, Berry?” The thought was tantalising. Not to put pressure on any future careers – Lucy would kill him – but he would hope that at least one out of three might follow in his footsteps.

Maybe?

He turned around and opened his mouth, only to be interrupted. “Major Tracy, tell your team to secure. Two minutes to separation.” Sinclair was his usual grumpy, nervous self.

“Roger that, Orbiter Control.”

He glared at Berry and the redhead bit her lip with a smile, green eyes dancing, before sitting back and strapping herself in preparation for the sequence.

She didn’t stop smiling though.

“So watcha gonna name him?” Lee prodded him with his eyebrows from beside Jeff.

A last glance at the photo before he returned to separation prep, fingers tight in his gloves. “Are you going to remember this one?” An eye in the engineer’s direction.

“Sure.”

Running his fingers over the controls, Jeff ran through pre-flight. “Name my eldest.”

Lee grunted, his eyes darting away. “Not important right now.” A flick of a switch. “I’m green across the board.”

“A-ok.” Jeff ran through the last sequence of checks…and ran them again…for luck. “Orbiter Control, we are green for separation.”

“Roger that, Cornerstone. Separation in sixty seconds on my mark.” A breath. “Mark.” Another pause. “Good luck.”

And the countdown began.

Jeff ran his eyes over everything again. The great ship that had journeyed so far from home was preparing to split in half. The lander at the top of the vessel was to pull away from the orbiter and its massive propulsion engines to begin the historic descent to the Martian surface. Eight months in space, so much preparation time and so many sacrifices before that, had all led to this moment.

History in the making.

His eyes combed the readouts watching like a hawk. The computer had control, but computers could only do so much.

Still green across the board.

Quiet, his fingers touched the screen where the photo had been. “John Glenn Tracy.” A breath. “His name is John.”

Displays shifted as the countdown hit zero and machinery grunted. The Cornerstone drifted apart from its propulsion module and floated free far above the red of the Martian surface.

Jeff eyed his instrumentation and sent a prayer to his family back home.

Today was an important day.

-o-o-o-

Lee watched Jeff side-on as he clicked his helmet into place. Taylor was a realist and he knew he wouldn’t be here without the crazy pilot.

It was Jeff’s drive that had gotten them this far. It was like riding a rollercoaster of determination and outright luck. From the Airforce, through space training and their sojourns on Alfie, Lee had tied himself to the man’s coat tails and hadn’t looked back.

God, it had been fun.

Jeff Tracy was a tsunami that crashed through everything and took everyone with him.

And Lee went willingly.

When they had been chosen for this mission it was a dream come true.

The countdown dropped to zero and machinery clunked as the lander separated smoothly from the orbiter. She drifted momentarily before the computer engaged thrusters to push her gently out of orbital alignment.

“We are five by five for atmospheric entry.” The words he uttered were almost rote after so many practise simulations back on Earth.

Atmospheric entry on Mars was considerably different to entry on Earth. Terran atmosphere was more like soup in comparison to the barely-there Martian atmosphere. Still made for a warm entry though, friction was friction after all.

“Trajectory achieved.” Jeff’s voice was confident and firm. As always.

Lee eyed the computer readouts, mentally ticking off procedure as the lander dipped into the outer reaches of the atmosphere and shifted to its entry interface.

Forces wrapped themselves around Lee and his body responded. After so many months of weightlessness, this was going to be a challenge.

“Ready for deceleration burn.”

The landing module sported early entrance stage retro thrusters designed to slow the vehicle to reduce the friction on the spacecraft’s skin. A new innovation that had proven essential in many return trips to the moon in preparation for the creation of a habitable dome on the satellite.

And here they were attempting to do something similar on Mars.

Cornerstone shook as her thrusters engaged exactly on time.

The craft roared.

Lee revelled in it.

“Three minutes to subsonic.”

“I really hate this bit.” It was barely heard above the commotion.

Lee snorted to himself. Ju was an astronaut in every sense, but she had a thing regarding atmospheric entry and the microscopic bits they could be exploded into if something went wrong.

“We are on track, Ju. Not a thing to worry about.” His voice reassurance itself, Jeff could sell the moon cheese if he so felt like it.

“Orbiter to Cornerstone. Tracy, we have a problem.”

Lee blinked. Sinclair’s voice was ominous.

“Orbiter, detail?”

“Cornerstone, weather has kicked up on the landing site. We have a developing dust storm. Looks to be a big one.”

“Orbiter, we are fixed for descent. Please advise severity.” Jeff’s tone was frustrated and Lee couldn’t help but echo it.

Data landed in Lee’s console and while Jeff continued to monitor their descent, Lee examined the situation. “We have a category five dust storm developing over the landing site. Orbiter is right, she looks like she could actually do some damage.”

Mars dust storms were generally all gust and no guts. The air density and pressure forced storms that were dramatic to look at, but generally little more than a windy day on planet Earth. This one, however... “It’s an anomaly.”

Jeff’s eyes darted from his console to Lee’s, grey eyes assessing the data. “Ju, your opinion?” They had to make the decision fast. Altering their trajectory now was possible, but fuel was precious. Any extra used now narrowed their safety margin for later.

The meteorologist’s fingers darted over her board. “Unusual strength, I agree.” Lee glanced in her direction as she frowned. “But Cornerstone should be able to handle it.”

“‘Should’ is not a good enough assumption, Zhang.” Jeff was frowning. The lander’s retros cut out as they reached a safe enough velocity to manoeuvre and Jeff’s hands curled around the yoke.

Lee’s finger darted over his board and brought up the outside cameras.

The red planet stretched out before them, her slightly blue tinted atmosphere contrasting against the rust of her surface.

That surface was churning.

Ju was outraged. “How the hell did that develop in the time it took us to separate from Orbiter? She was as calm as a sleeping baby!”

“I don’t care about then, I need now. Zhang, recommendation!”

The woman grunted. “I say go. If you think you can handle it. It is well within Cornerstone’s specs. Your decision, Major.”

Jeff’s lips thinned, his eyes darting across the readouts. A moment and he hit the comms switch. “Orbiter, we are go for landing. We’ve come this far, might as well go all the way.”

“Tracy, are you sure?”

“Humanity never got anywhere taking it easy.” He glanced at Lee. “Hold onto something.”

Cornerstone began her turn, orientating her nose to the sky so her retros could lower her safely to the Martian surface.

Or in Jeff Tracy terms, ‘spinning so she could park her ass’.

As if reading Lee’s mind, the glint in Jeff’s eyes was something to both be wary of and to celebrate.

Out of the four of them, Jeff was the most reckless, the most daring. But as he was the pilot, it sometimes called for it. Jeff had already saved them from becoming just another crater on Earth’s moon by pulling the most unconventional manoeuvre ever seen on the satellite when a landing thruster misfired on approach. The craft had shot off on a completely unpredicted vector that would have ploughed them into moon dust...if Jeff hadn’t reacted as fast as he did. He flipped the craft with its remaining three thrusters and, shedding the majority of their velocity in an energy dump that had Lee’s stomach on the outside, planted their craft like a sack of potatoes.

They had landed roughly, but they had landed alive and Lee was still amazed his friend had been able to do that.

So, if they were going down in a cloud of red dust, Lee was quite happy to have Jeff at the controls.

Not to say that Lee himself wasn’t handy with a spacecraft. He had his own experience to be proud of. He flew, but his realm was more the mechanical. He was here as back up and maintenance.

For those times the Tracy fix wasn’t quite enough.

A sigh. He eyed the billowing clouds below as they rapidly approached. They were history in the making. Whatever happened here today would be taught in schools for decades to come.

He had faith in Jeff. They would land, Berry would take those first important steps on a new planet, say the rehearsed words, and join Neil Armstrong in the halls of fame.

But first they had to get there.

-o-o-o-

Jeff swallowed as the cloud of dust loomed beneath the lander. Numbers scrolled across his console. The computer should be able to handle most of it. Its programming was solid. Lucy had made sure of it.

The thought of his beautiful wife...little Johnny.

Dust swelled and wrapped around their craft and visibility became...bad.

Cornerstone shuddered.

Mars dust was a bastard of a thing. Ever so fine and carrying a tiny electric charge that on occasion interfered with instruments.

This was one of those occasions.

“We have blackout on three primary sensors.” Damn. Two others flickered, the screen fritzing a moment.

His fingers darted over controls in an attempt to compensate for the data loss.

Lee was muttering beside him and stabbing at his board. “Rerouting to back-ups.”

Their screens flickered and cleared somewhat.

Numbers plummeted.

Beyond the blinding dust the digital readout that marked the surface of the planet approached.

Far too fast.

Retros crucial to start the landing sequence did not fire.

Shit.

It took seconds for him to compensate and move to manual, but that was enough for the craft to fall many more metres so, when he did manually trigger the burn, they were lower than they should be.

Cornerstone roared as he pushed more energy into braking.

“Lee, we need primary thrust or we are so much pancake!” Her four landing thrusters were not slowing them enough. The math in his head was churning out a fatal result and their history-making attempt was fast turning into a shitfest. “I need that power now.”

“You have it.” Short and sharp as Lee’s hands darted over his console.

On Jeff’s board the main thruster icon lit up.

It wasn’t meant to be used this way. The main thruster was for launching. It was far more powerful than they needed to land. But if he didn’t slow Cornerstone, she was going to take on a big red rock and lose.

The computer ran calculations and spat numbers out at him.

“Firing main thruster.” The icon flashed, Cornerstone roared and g-forces wrapped around all of them and squeezed.

No one said anything for the second of burn that slowed their descent ever so rapidly. Everything shook, the ship’s superstructure groaning.

Jeff’s eyes tracked their velocity, counting down as the surface of the planet rushed towards them. Visually they couldn’t see it. Virtually it looked ready to slap them in the face.

But the main thruster compensated, slowing the craft just enough for the landing rockets to do their job.

Jeff killed the big one and concentrated on the landers to take the last of their speed.

Cornerstone slowed. Five hundred metres. Four hundred metres. Three hundred metres. Two hundred metres. One hundred metres. Landing struts deployed. Fifty. Thirty. Twe-

The whole ship slammed to a stop, its structure groaning and tilting for a second before righting itself. Alarms began shrieking, red lights flashing all over his board.

What the hell?!

The readout had them stalled nineteen metres ‘above’ the virtual surface. Virtual was obviously not lining up with actual.

Another metallic groan and the ship tilted slightly again. This time it stayed tilted. No doubt a landing strut had taken the brunt and folded.

One red light screamed at him more than the others.

Beside him, Lee confirmed his fears. “We have a fuel leak.”

Shit!

He was unstrapping himself even as the craft groaned again. Something sparked not far away. Lee was a split second behind, listing the reason for the malfunction. The exterior hull, and the mangled landing strut responsible.

A rupture in the external hull. Hell.

Jeff undocked a diagnostic pad and slapped it on his belt.

Martian gravity made itself known. So many months without its native pull, Jeff’s body protested the sudden movement, but they didn’t have time. Precious fuel was escaping.

He hit the ladder leading out of the cockpit at a run, feet locking around the struts and his hands pushing him down. The whole sensation of gravity, but only a third of Earth’s was baffling. His body caught between expectations and stumbling along the way. Ultimately, he partly fell his way down through the access ports, hands grabbing at the railings barely preventing him from colliding with each deck.

Cornerstone’s fuel tanks were attached to her four landers, with a fifth fueling her main launcher.

It was number three that was the problem.

His boots hit decking and he scrambled for the airlock. Beside him Lee had a toolkit and they both barrelled through the door sealing it behind them.

The pumps cycled and the pressure dropped, their suits shifting with the change, and then the elevator was lowering them to the ground.

As the doors opened, they were faced with a wall of swirling dust.

Jeff did his best to ignore it but it fast became a problem. The maintenance tab in his hand was directing him to climb ladders up the side of the vehicle, but he could barely see the tablet, much less the ladders themselves through the red dust.

“Stick close, Lee. I’d hate to lose you in this.”

“Right behind you, Jeff. Wouldna want to lose you either.”

It was simple, but reassuring nonetheless. Fumbling, he found the landing strut. It was skewed in a way that even in the thick swirling haze, he could see was far from the right angle for correct support.

Hooking a foot into the lowest rung, he snagged his friend and urged him up the ladder ahead. If anyone was going to save their asses in this situation, it was Lee.

If Jeff could land it, chances were Lee could fix it. The man could jimmy two sticks and a rubberband into whatever was needed. Hell, he’d done almost exactly that on the moon at least twice.

This was just another challenge. Jeff had landed them, no matter how roughly. Now Lee would be able to fix it.

Jeff clung to that maxim.

But the question wasn’t about skill, it was more about whether or not they were going to damn well be able to see what they needed to see in order to do what needed doing.

Red obscured everything. The speed it was all flying past spoke to his earth senses of gale force winds, but the pressure on his suit was little more than a windy day.

Not enough to affect the spacecraft.

Mars was obviously educating them early that this was not Earth. Not in any way shape or form.

Their clamber up the strut was partly a blind one, but they made it to the damaged side of the craft. Through a mixture of touch and virtual readout, it became clear that the outer hull had buckled, forcing the inner hull into the fuel tank. Most of it had held, but there was a small microfracture and the pressure differences were bubbling solid state fuel into gas at a rate that, if it didn’t deplete the tank, would likely cause an explosion that would solve all their problems with a history-making finality.

Jeff climbed up beside Lee as he fumbled at his tool kit. The tank was dislodged off its mounts, something they would need to remedy later, but it was still inset from the hull.

Jeff put his body in position to block the main flow of the dust and wind, jamming himself up against the still warm hull of his ship.

A little less dust swirled over the bubbling crack and Lee didn’t hesitate. Before Jeff could blink, gell bondtape landed smoothly over the area, the engineer sealing it with an electronic nudge from a set-wand. The electricity lined molecules up like soldiers and locked them in place bonding them to whatever the tape was adhered to. They had used the same stuff on Alfie two years ago when one of their habitats had tried to make one with the lack of lunar atmosphere.

An extremely simple solution for a very dangerous problem.

His heart, still adrenalin-fueled, refused to believe the danger was over.

As if reading Jeff’s thoughts, Lee smirked at him through the haze. “Never leave home without it.” A sigh as he ran a gloved hand over the seal. “This should hold for the short term. Once we are sure the strut is stabilised, I’ll give it a good going over. Hopefully, we can lose this storm in the process.”

Jeff would have liked to claim it couldn’t blow forever, but both of them knew Mars storms could be unpredictable and last for months if they so chose to.

Lee ran a scanner over the strut’s connection to the launcher. How the hell the engineer could see the readouts, Jeff didn’t know.

For all future excursions to the Red Planet, Jeff was going to recommend helmet based heads-up displays.

“She’s safe for now. A little bent, but she isn’t going to fall over. Hopefully, once we get out some of the heavy lifting equipment we can bend her back into shape if we need to.” Lee stood up. “Hull patching is going to be an ass, though.”

Jeff’s lips thinned and he dropped a hand onto his friend’s shoulder. “One thing at a time. We’ve got this, Lee.”

Lee grunted. “How the hell do you keep spinning the optimism, Jeff?”

A snort. “What? You’d prefer doom and gloom?” He shuffled back towards the ladder. “That’s it, Lee, we’re never leaving this god forsaken rock. Welcome to your new home.” He raised up his hands and as if the gods declared him some kind of Moses for that very moment, the dust clouds parted as if they were a red sea of sand. Sol, so much smaller this far away, poked its weak light through the hazy atmosphere and lit up the bare red rocks of their temporary home. While on one side, the billowing wall of dust storm swirled on its way, on the other red mountains rose up to a weak blue-red sky.

Lee shifted down beside him. “You know, I figured you had an agreement with the gods of physics, but isn’t this a little ridiculous?”

Jeff was too captivated with the view to respond.

Cornerstone was on the plateau they had been simulating for months on end. She stood tall and proud, if a little crooked and pinker than her promo shots.

“We made it.” The words fell from his lips.

Lee clung to the ladder beside him. “Yeah, that we did.”

Sunlight flickered weakly in the atmosphere and a gust of wind dragged more dust across the view.

Jeff shifted. “We better get inside before that mess starts up again. Take advantage of being able to see where we are going.”

Lee didn’t respond immediately, his eyes combing the jagged horizon. “Thanks, Jeff.”

A frown. “For what?”

“Getting us here.”

“It was a group effort, Lee, you know that. Couldn’t have done it without the team. Couldn’t have done it without you. Hell, you just patched a hole that could have blown us up.”

Lee grunted.

“Are you guys going to hang outside all day, or do we have to guess the sitrep?” Berry’s tone was tight.

“Roger, Berrenger. Situation secure. On our way back in.”

It wasn’t until they reached the elevator that he realised exactly what had happened.

And who he was.

By the doors, protected by the shadow of the lowered module was a single footprint that hadn’t been blown away by the wind.

“Aw, hell.”

Lee, as always, stepped up beside him. “Yeah. I guess that makes you the first man to walk on Mars.”

-o-o-o-

Ju was furious. “It was Kate’s right to be the first!”

The vacs in the airlock had sucked everything off their suits to the point Lee was surprised his hair wasn’t standing on end despite the helmet.

As it was, his hackles were somewhere near orbit as they stood in the conference room that doubled as a mess. “And what exactly do you think we were supposed to do? The ship was going to explode.” It was simple to Lee. Sure, he was all for equality, it was a given, but they would’ve been all equally dead if he and Jeff hadn’t done what they did.

“You didn’t give us a chance!”

“I’m the engineer here, Zhang. There wasn’t time! The decision was made and we are alive because of it.”

“Then why weren’t you first, Taylor? Why the hell was Tracy even out there? He’s not the engineer!”

Beside Lee, Jeff straightened. “Standard procedure, Zhang. We work in pairs. If you think I was going to let Lee go out in that on his own, you’ve been serving while wearing a blindfold.”

The short, dark-haired woman stepped up to the Major, her eyes fiery. “It was Kate’s place in history and you stole it!”

Lee flared. “We did what was necessary! This was not a publicity grab, for Christ’s sake! It didn’t even occur to us until we were returning. It was about saving our lives, Zhang. How can you possibly think it was anything else?”

“Because it always is.” She waved a hand at Jeff. “Always the hotshot. Always the first. Always the hero. Do you ever think, Tracy? Do you ever think about those you barrel past?”

Jeff glared down at the meteorologist. “I will not apologise for my achievements, Zhang. This was an honest to god accident.”

“Due to decisions made by you.”

“What the hell, Zhang?!” Lee pushed forward. That was taking it too far.

“We should never have tried to land in that dust storm. We should have waited it out.”

“You said we could take it!”

“But it wasn’t my decision, was it?” Her tone was a positive hiss at Jeff.

“Screw you, Zhang-“

“Taylor!”

“Jeff-“

The man was still the damn tall walking wall when he wanted to be. “Lee, stop.” He glared at Ju. “I will not apologise for my command decisions either, Zhang. What was done, is done.” His stance softened as he turned to Berry.

She had been ominously quiet the entire time.

Jeff sighed. “I’m sorry, Kate.”

The red-haired astrogeologist straightened away from the bulkhead, her arms still folded across her chest. Lee had always liked Berry. She had her head on much straighter than Ju ever did.

Ju was like a terrier with a bone.

The bone variety today was definitely Jeff-flavoured.

But there was only kindness in Berry’s eyes as she looked up at the Major. “This sucks, Jeff, it really does.” She looked down a moment. “But it is what it is and I guess it was what it was meant to be.” A shrug. “I suppose I’ll have to settle for third on Mars. Still pretty momentous, I think.”

“Kate, it doesn’t have to be that way.” Jeff took a step towards her. “It’s not official. It was a stupid repair. We can do the ceremonial step onto the planet anyway. No one has to know.”

Her head tilted to one side. “So, the ship miraculously healed itself?”

“Berry-“

She closed the gap between them, placing a hand on his arm. “Jeff, honestly, it’s not what is important here. You took the first step. We still have plenty of others that need to be taken. My ego can keep.”

Zhang flared again. “Kate, this was for women-“

“Ju, enough. It doesn’t matter! Humans have just landed on Mars, for god’s sake. I would have thought we would be a little less worried about the gender of the person taking the first step and more worried about the fact we did it without blowing up.”

“It was supposed to be you.” Ju wilted in defeat under Berry’s glare.

“Well, it was Jeff, and I think he is no less deserving than any of us.”

Jeff’s voice was quiet. “Are you sure, Kate?” The use of her first name was a rarity for the major, there was a friendship between those two almost as long as the one between Jeff and Lee. Hell, if Jeff hadn’t met Lee’s sister, Lucy, the engineer wondered what might have eventuated in that department.

Not that he had ever had to worry about that. Jeff was a complete sop for Lucy. His sis had the man wrapped around her little finger.

If that made Lee feel just that touch more protective of the crazy pilot, then so be it.

Kate straightened, her shoulders strong. “I’m sure.” Then her lips curled up a little. “Besides, my lines were so much more elegant than ‘Stick close, Lee. I’d hate to lose you in this.’”

Jeff snorted and shrugged. “If I’m going to make history gotta make sure my best friend is with me.”

Zhang made a disgusted sound and stormed out of the room.

Shoulders dropping, Jeff sighed. “Guess I need to work on my phrasing.”

But Lee was too wrapped in the moment, a little too proud and grateful to care. “She’ll live.”

The grunt from Jeff reminded Lee that they still had months to share living quarters with the fiery Ju.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her.” Berry squeezed Jeff’s arm before reaching out to Lee as well. “Thank you, both of you, for getting us down safely. We’re on Mars, guys. Let the party begin.”

The smile in her eyes was honest and ever so heartening.

-o-o-o-

Next

[timothyjimothy74]

Smirk Part 1 - Matthew Tkachuk ft. Brady Tkachuk

A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first post and I’m pretty excited about it so please let me know what you think and if I should turn it into a series!

Summary: You run into the Tkachuk family in St. Louis and there is a lot of chirping.

Word Count: ~900

Y/N could not remember the last time she was this excited for anything. She moved back home to St. Louis after she graduated college about a month ago and surprisingly hadn’t gone to Ted Drewes once since she’d been back. She was saving it for a rainy day. 

And today seemed as rainy as ever—the Blues had just been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round and she needed their famous frozen custard more than ever. She felt kind of lame going by herself, but her need for ice cream was greater than her fear of looking weird.

Y/N was so excited that she almost didn’t notice the entire royal family of St. Louis standing a few people in front of her in line. But that curly mop of hair was enough to draw her out of her daydream about the cookie dough she would soon be having. She could recognize those curls anywhere. When she wasn’t cheering on the Blues, she was cheering for former Blues players and the kids in the NHL from St. Louis. And here were two of them right in front of her. And Big Walt was with them.

She started to panic a little. She desperately wanted to talk to them, even if it was just for a brief hello, but she certainly didn’t want to be the kind of fan that interrupted them eating.

“Hi ma’am. Welcome to Ted Drewes. What can I get you today?” The worker had to ask a few times before it got Y/N’s attention.

“Oh hi, can I please have a medium twisted caramel? Thank you. Have a nice day!” Y/N said as she ordered.

She spotted the Tkachuks waiting for their ice cream and cautiously walked over to the table they were sitting at.

First making sure she wasn’t interrupting any conversation, she slowly started talking. “Hi guys, I’m Y/N. I’m sorry to interrupt you, I just had to come over and tell you guys that I’m a big fan.” She turned to just Matthew and Brady and said, “I hope we get to watch you guys win the Cup next.”

Walt was the first one to respond, “Thank you so much for the support. It means a lot to us.” He smiled, looking like he genuinely meant every word. Brady nodded and started to thank her as well before Matthew spoke over him.

“So, if you’re a fan of all us, which one of us do you think is the best player?” He smirked, looking as full of himself as he did on the ice.

There was zero hesitation when Y/N replied, “It’s Keith, no question. Talk to me if you ever score 500 goals and 1,000 points.” Y/N smirked right back at Matthew.

The three of them laughed, but no one laughed quite as hard as Walt. “I’ve been trying to tell them that for years, but they won’t listen to me. Would you like to sit with us, Y/N?”

“Sure, as long as it’s okay with you guys,” Y/N said, looking at Matthew and Brady, who both nodded their heads.

She sat down between Brady and Walt and across from Matthew. One of the workers at the counter called out that four ice creams were ready and Brady went to get them.

“This one yours, Y/N?” he asked, holding up hers.

“Yes, thank you,” Y/N replied.

“You only got a medium? Seriously?” Matthew asked, partly appalled that Y/N hadn’t gotten an extra-large like the three of them and partly just trying to be a pest.

“I’m not trying to get a huge barrel like you three,” Y/N replied, smirking at him again from across the table.

Again, everyone laughed, but this time Walt snorted. “You are a way better chirper than Matthew, Y/N. Do you want to replace him as my child?”

Brady was quick to chime in, “Yeah, sorry Matt, you’re getting voted off the island. I like Y/N much better.” Brady and Walt laughed again and Y/N joined in.

Matthew ignored his dad and his brother’s jokes and made eye contact with Y/N. He looked at her for a long time and then smiled. Y/N smiled back briefly, but quickly looked away because she was afraid to come off weird or creepy.

They all sat and ate their ice cream peacefully for a few minutes. When they were finished, Walt asked if Y/N wanted to take a photo and she said yes, thankful that it seemed like Walt could read her mind.

They all stood up and Walt asked another customer to take their photo. Y/N gave them her phone and they all squeezed in together, put their arms around each other and smiled. Y/N was in the middle with Brady and Matthew on her left and Walt on her right. Y/N was very aware of Matthew’s arm around her waist and his glance in her direction. But the moment was over as soon as it started.

They separated and Y/N got her phone back and showed them the pictures.

“Make sure to tag us If you post one of those pictures. I have to follow my new sis,” Brady said and laughed.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll invite you to the next big family dinner instead of me,” Matthew chuckled.

“After how much she out-chirped you today, the least she deserves is a nice meal,” Walt snorted again. “It was nice meeting you, Y/N! Have a great day,” Walt said.

“Bye, Y/N!” Matthew and Brady said in unison as all three turned and walked back to their car. Matthew turned around and smirked at her again before waving. She was beginning to really like that smirk.

Part Two

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

okay I gotta go to bed bc I'm losing my mind at how many of these from 99-00 are clearly written by, like, actual children and it's tripping me out to think about the concept of those same people as adults today completely unaware of some random lesbian at 1am in May 2021 wheezing over their 500 word story about Kerry casually revealing deep personal trauma to Lydia with zero prompting BUT ANYWAY

LET'S TALK ABOUT RECURRING THEMES IN CORDANO FICS FROM THE 02-04 ERA (MY SPECIFIC AREA OF EXPERTISE) disclaimer this is all lovingly teasing in tone, I am recognizing that these things are nearly all patently silly but this is NOT intended to mock any of them

- Mark is dead because that's convenient to everyone I guess, sometimes the author tosses a crumb my way and lets Elizabeth have some feelings about that but mostly it's just easier apparently if we kill him off EMBRACE THE OT3 I YELL THROUGH THE FABRIC OF TIME BUT NO ONE EVER LISTENS

- GRETEL IS DEAD???? THIS IS ILLEGAL WHY DOES EVERYONE WANT GRETEL GONE SHE IS A GOOD DOG AND DID NOTHING WRONG EVER IN HER LIFE

- alternatively Gretel is not dead, but the author clearly doesn't know what to do with her so when she's "onscreen" she's always sleeping or otherwise conveniently out of the way. Romano honey I think your dog is in a coma

- Romano gets sick and for some reason this means he has to spend like two weeks recovering from the flu at Elizabeth's house because he apparently needs someone to tell him when to take Tylenol. this is always accompanied by SHOCKING REVELATIONS about each other's habits outside of work and, like, personal interests?? BFFs just don't talk I guess :(

- Romano has so much angst. no for real he has, like, all of it. Elizabeth's canon distress at always "being the strong one"? never heard of it, here's ur new weepy boyfriend wow it's great you don't also have things to be a little broken about!!

- we work at a hospital but conveniently this story that takes place over like a month never has us AT the hospital............ I see you authors of 20 years ago and I agree medical scenes are hard 😔

- Ella is either always with a babysitter OR latching on to Romano immediately because he is Canon Good With Kids, Remember That (this is a problem that could be solved if we ever set any fics BEFORE s8 instead of after, but those are EXTREMELY RARE (see: first point))

- .......Romano is weirdly dominant, uh, physically. this is patently false, the man LOVES when people prove they can one-up him. also look me in the eye and tell me again that Elizabeth "control issues" Corday would be into that hfjdjgkdkg NO can you IMAGINE. I only ever skim explicit scenes because hello sex-repulsed ace here but this happens EVEN IN THE SMOOCHING SCENES... blease

if you noticed the connecting thread through all of these is a focus on Romano, you are correct! often at the expense of my beloved, despite her being the other main character. WHEN THOSE BEAUTIFUL FEW WITH EQUAL FOCUS AND GOOD CHARACTERIZATION HIT THOUGH........... swoon

anyway in conclusion ot3 rights and give Gretel more screentime in fics 2k21

[mikaharuka]

Last Lines... for Jan 7, 2023

Well, today was my travel day from my parent's place back to my place, so I've been busy and offline, but I have returned in time for the daily posting! And also the other mentions I've noticed. Anywho...

With my 500+ words/day resolution, figured I'd continue posting the last part of whatever I wrote the previous day because 'fun' and 'accountability'... so here I am! Fair warning, though, that these are basically zero-edit, raw-draft lines :)

[From Prithvi]

Unfortunately, the voices of the shrine’s guards and maidens eclipsed that peaceful murmur with their never-ending whispers, turning their faces whenever Beau so much as looked in their direction. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait very long before a pair of women - a shrine guardian and a shrine maiden - stepped right up to him. Though both women still carried a slight trace of caution in their faces, there was a firm resolve seated within both their expressions. 

The maiden was calm and composed, as she directed Beau to follow her silently through a long corridor. The guardian, on the other hand, wore her negative feelings quite openly and kept her harsh gaze upon him, flicking her eyes between him and the rest of the corridor around them.

[littlx-songbxrd]

A gift to the queen who deserves all 500 of her followers :) I wanted to write something for you as congrats, I hope you like it :))

It's a fairwell/chenry high school au loosely based on west side story since I was watching it earlier today

Charlotte sighed with relief when she finished with the last bit of homework. She cannot believe they weren't allowing her to leave her room, even going so far as to stand outside her door and at the bottom of her window. The brunette wondered if that was how every princess felt before they were rescued, trapped and alone, waiting for someone who sees them beyond their beauty and status.

'If only he would come.' She thought sadly. There was a knock at the door, no doubt it was Tatiana coming to talk about how much she hates the preppy sophomore, Will. "Come in." Charlotte said, barely loud enough to be heard. A pretty brunette girl came through the door instead of the demon in the shape of a 14 year old girl. 'Tessa?' She thought, 'why is she here?'

"Hello, Charlotte." Tessa said with a smile. "I was just talking with your guardian, Benedict, right? I told him about our project for science." A message from Henry. Oh he did come save her after all!

"I had completely forgotten, I'm grounded right now so I don't think I can go.."

"Nonsense," Benedict's first born, Gideon, said stepping into the room. "Father says as long as Gabe and I accompany you, you can go. There better not be any boys working on this project."

"Of course not, Gideon. No boys."

Gideon smiled and winked, "let's go then." 'Does he know? Is he helping me-' "Get all your stuff for the project." 'He does know! He's helping me escape!' She realized.

Charlotte packed up the small amount of stuff she had with her quickly. Tessa told Benedict that since it was Friday they were going to stay up late for the project,  and then stay the night at Tessa's house, he asked if any of us minded Gideon and Gabriel staying the night as well, just to 'keep an eye on their 'sister''. Tessa said that they could sleep in the guest bedroom, and that she would feel safe having two tough guys in the house since her parents are in New York for a business trip.

Charlotte almost started crying when they got in the car and headed towards Henry's. Gideon and Gabriel were also leaving, Gideon turned 18 a few months after Charlotte and had been subtly making himself Gabriel's proper guardian. Henry had pulled them aside and told them his plan, that he loved Charlotte and wanted her to be safe from Benedict's control, Gideon could tell he was telling the truth and offered a deal, he'll get her away for good but he has to let him and his brother stay with them at Henry's weirdly large apartment.

She rushed out of the car and up the stairs to Henry's apartment, knocking rapidly in excitement. He answered the door and almost fell down by the force of Charlotte's hug, he squeezed her tightly, mumbling about how much he loved and missed her. If she wasn't crying before she definitely was now, she pulled away to look at him, he was her favorite sight.

Henry felt his legs shake, going numb again. "Lottie, help me to the couch please."

"Of course, my love." It was a running joke that she would carry him like a bride wherever he needed to go, which ever led to him breaking down and apologizing about not being strong enough to make her feel like the queen she is, Charlotte kissed him to shut him up because she thought it was utter nonsense.

She picked him up with not too much difficulty and laid him down on his favorite couch, the bouncy one with very ugly colors and patterns on it. He pulled her on top of him and kissed the top of her head, the brunette rolled her eyes playfully and grabbed the blanket that was hanging over the side of the couch.

She tried her best to put it over them but eventually Henry just had to do it since he was at a better angle than her. She heard Gideon and Gabriel come in, and Henry telling them to put their stuff in the two bedrooms that shared a bathroom and 'Lottie's' stuff in his. The brothers said goodnight before going into their rooms, Henry turned on one of those old movies that he liked, she could feel herself falling asleep, finally safe in her genius' arms.

"Can't wait to marry you.." She mumbled too tired to have control of her words.

Henry didn't even stiffen at the thought of marrying her, instead he smiled and kissed her forehead. "Tomorrow, that way he can't take you away again."

Charlotte couldn't believe this was her life now. Henry's parents and his friends' parents were involved in the candy and food business, and Benedict, who had adopted Charlotte when her parents died, was a food critic and kept trying to shut them all down. There wasn't anything wrong with the food, he just didn't like them. She remembers meeting Henry for the first time, at his moms' diner downtown. That was her mom's favorite place, she went there every year on the anniversary of their deaths.

Henry had just started working there, though his parents were worried seeing as the physical therapy was helping his legs much. Charlotte thought he was beautiful in his little apron. She got the same thing everytime she went, and she started going back more often just to see him, so he remembered her order.

Everytime she came in, he was quick to start her order before she's even seated. He wanted her to know that he remembered her. They got closer and closer during their visits at the diner. She once stayed from noon to almost one in the morning to help him with his shift because his legs weren't cooperating very well that day.

Charlotte wasn't expecting to see him at her new school when Benedict moved them so he'd be closer to work. They had every class together and got even closer, even going as far as adopting the new group of freshmen coming in with Gabriel when they were juniors. That's when things went south.

Henry's legs were getting worse, confining him to a wheelchair for most of the day, not to mention Benedict found out about them. He moved all her classes and grounded her and forbid her from seeing him, he used some not so nice language when describing Henry's condition and the fact that he has two moms. Charlotte was devastated, how could he do this to her after she had everything he ever asked with zero complaints or hesitation! But even during the torture that senoir had started out with, they still saw each other, she still went to the diner with Gabe and Gideon, and she still helped push his wheelchair around regardless if she would be late for class.

But he was her genius, he found a way for them to be together, and without resorting to violence or running away illegally to where Benedict could just get her back easily. Henry was her person, her happy ever after. And even though she didn't like the way fairy tales portray women, he always made her feel like Belle, beautiful and smart, kind and nurturing. Charlotte couldn't care less about their troubles, she was just glad they were getting their happy ending.

I WAS SAVING THIS FOR WHEN I FINALLY HAD TIME TO READ IT CORRECTLY AND IT WAS BETTER THAN I EVER COULD HAVE IMAGINED

IM FEELING A LOT OF THINGS RN MOST I CAN RECOGNIZE IS AMAZEMENT

THIS WAS SO GOOOD!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH HENRY AND CHARLOTTE MODERN AU HIGH SCHOOL SWEET HEARTS

AND ITS BASED ON WEST SIDE STORY?????

THAT WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MUSICALS GROWING UP???????

.......also does this mean i can hc henry as one of the sharks?

......bdjdndbfnndd Is He ErNestO NoW?

THEYRE GETTING THEIR HAPPY ENDING

I LOVE HOW THIS IS ALL PLOTTED WITH BENEDICT BEING A FOOD CRITIC AND THE INTEGRATION OF HENRYS CONDITIONS

GABRIEL AND GIDEON HELPING >>>>

GIDEON LOOKING TO BE GABRIELS GUARDIAN STOP

TESSA HELPING NOPE THIS IS

Put this in my grave

Yes I mean ALL of it

THANK YOU I LOVE AND I ADORE IT

[zewninz]

Dialogue Prompts #2

(italic/bold-colored texts = different person)

1. I only have one emotion and it’s anger. Last night you drunk-texted me a hundred heart emojis. Out of anger.

2. I don’t have time to explain how wrong you are . . . actually, it’s going to bother me if I don’t—

3. *name*, I started seeing someone. As in dating or hallucinations?

4. You know what 'fine' stands for? Fucked up, insecure, needy, and emotional.

5. Hey, *name*, I just got home. Where are you guys? The hospital . . . What? Why? *name* swallowed a watermelon seed. So? It’s not like it’s going to start growing in their stomach. . . . we’ll be home in ten minutes.

6. Today, I'm going to show you how not to be a noob at Fortnite.

7. Can we please stop saying the word 'sugar daddy'? Glucose guardian.

8. Have you ever considered . . . not breathing?

9. Guys, there's a monster under my bed and it's really ugly. Honestly, fuck you.

10. I've spent far too long doing this damn makeup to start fucking crying right now.

11. Everyone, hold your horses! Hold them close, cherish them— What? I don’t know, I haven’t slept in three days.

12. I love your eyes, but I love my eyes more because without mine, I can't see yours.

13. Take me to art museums and make out with me. But they said to not touch the masterpieces. That was the smoothest shit I've ever heard.

14. I look at *name* and I just . . . it's like when the Grinch's heart grows three sizes.

15. Question is; do I stay in bed or get out of it? Both. You get out of bed and get in mine. Why are you suddenly so smooth, I—

16. I can't talk to cute people, okay? I don't know how to fucking flirt!

17. Do you guys realize that we never stop tasting our own tongues? How about I taste yours for a change? That was smooth as fuck.

18. How many fucks do I give? Oh, yeah, zero. Therefore your comment is irrelevant.

19. Fuck you. If you want, go ahead.

20. Being single sucks. Maybe we should just marry each other.

21. I'm going to shower. Pfft, I don't get an invite?

22. I'm no longer a human being. I identify as a chicken nugget.

23. What's your favorite thing about me? Probably your smile. Seriously? Okay, fine, I love how you can kill a man in only two seconds.

24. My microwave is smarter than you.

25. Aside from cooking, what basic life skills do I not have? Oh, *name* . . . I’m not sure we have time for that.

26. Alright, guys, this doesn't have to be a big deal. Whoever ate my muffin, come forward and all will be forgiven. *nobody does* Smart. You knew I would never forgive you.

27. They’re tiny mints that live in a plastic prison. . . . I said let’s talk TACTICS.

28. I think your cat wants to kill me.

29. I can't believe we're finally here, I never thought we'd make it. Oh, for fuck's sake, my driving isn't that bad.

30. You don't need to kill off any more brain cells.

31. On a scale from 'Damnnnn, Daniel' to 'Fre sha voc ado', how are you feeling? It's between, 'It's an avocado, thanks!' and 'how did you defeat Captain America?', but as a solid answer I would say, 'I don't need no degree to be a clothing hanger'. How about you? Probably 'road work ahead'.

32. My number one rule is ignoring everything you said.

33. Why do you guys hate each other? We do not! It's just . . . if you offered me 500 dollars to stab him, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd do it for 5 bucks.

34. Shut up, your IQ's probably lower than a fly's.

35. Water can solve many problems. Want to lose weight? Drink water. Clear skin? Drink water. Get rid of someone you hate? Drown them. *name*, no!

36. Sorry, the wind must've blown away all my fucks.

37. When life gives you lemons, you— Squeeze them into your enemy's eyes as you watch them suffer in agony, while you squeeze more lemons so they can't see. *name*, no!

38. I wouldn't call it stalking, more like far distance admiring.

39. I accidentally ate *name*'s muffin . . . how much time left do you think I get to live? Ten. Ten what? Nine . . .

40. You're going to burn in a very special level in hell—a level they reserve for child molesters, animal abusers, and people who talk at the theater.

41. Don't break someone's heart, they only have one. Yeah, break their bones. They have 206 of those.

42. I'm listening to you, I'm just not paying attention.

43. You fell and hit your head. Do you remember anything? Uh . . . only the ambulance ride to the hospital. That wasn't an ambulance . . . But I hear a siren? Oh, that was *name*. He was screaming all the time. I was worried!

44. Oh, but sweetheart, you already look like a fool.

45. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, are you awake yet? Fuck off. That sounds like a yes to me.

46. Since my dog likes you, then I guess I like you too.

47. Alright, *name*, what does a yellow light mean? Slow down. No, it means ‘speed up, red is coming’.

48. Why did you two stop? Keep flirting.

49. You’re useless. Not totally. I can be used as a bad example.

50. I'm sorry, did you just order fifty pieces of McNuggets for here, for all yourself?

(I don’t own any of these. Credit to their respective creators. I simply made a list.)