#still wanna name my second daughter iris

[cowgurrrl]

I forgot to mention it in the last ask, but also Sarah and Ellie meeting and holding Sammy for the first time as well🤍

Iris

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Summary: “Sibling relationships outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust.” Erica E. Goode

Warnings: hospital settings, Ellie being unsure, Sarah being the Eldest Daughter, sibling banter, breastfeeding

Joel and Sammy are asleep, but you and the girls are awake. You can't explain why. After over a full day of labor, you think you'd be asleep, but you can't stop staring at Sam. You think you also just really missed your girls. Joel is curled up in the chair next to your hospital bed while Ellie and Sarah are sitting on either side of you, looking at Sam. Sam has Sarah's finger in a vice grip, but you don't think she'd take it back even if the world was ending.

"I can't believe how small he is," Ellie says quietly, and you nod.

"He didn't feel very small when he was coming out." You say, making them both giggle.

"You did a really great job. We're proud of you." Sarah says, and you smile. Sam chuffs in his sleep, and the three of you simultaneously melt in the same exact way down to the sound that leaves you. It's fun to think that although Sarah and Ellie didn't come from you, they still exhibit your traits. After almost three years in their lives, you're able to pick out mannerisms and habits they unknowingly adopted from you way before they started calling you Mom. The realization seems to hit you all at once, and you have to take a deep breath so you don't cry (again).

"Do either of you wanna hold him?" You ask, looking between them. Ellie looks scared shitless, but Sarah, ever the big sister, sits straight up and looks at you with big, puppy dog eyes.

"Can I?" She asks, and you nod.

"Unless Ellie wants to hold him first."

"It's all you," Ellie says without skipping a beat, and you laugh. Carefully, you transition Sammy into Sarah's arms without waking him. You don't have to remind her to support his head or adjust her posture. She does it all on her own. The second he's settled in her arms, she kisses his head and takes a shaky breath like she's about to start crying.

"Hi, Sammy Boy," she whispers. "Hi there. My name is Sarah. I'm your big sister. It's very nice to meet you," Ellie chuckles a little at her big sister's conversation with an infant, but she doesn't do anything to stop her. "Being totally honest, I've never had a brother before, so I don't know how this works, but I think we'll be able to figure each other out. Is that okay?" Sammy shifts in her arms like he's burrowing down for comfort, and she smiles softly. She looks like Joel when she smiles like that. "Yeah, I think that's okay. I love you, sweet boy." You wipe at your eyes and pull Sarah close to kiss her temple. She leans into your touch like a baby herself, and you ignore the pain in your hips so she can get comfortable. Sarah holds him for another ten minutes, taking him in before she looks at Ellie.

"D'you wanna hold him?" She asks, and Ellie opens her mouth, her lips twitching as she tries to find the words. You jump in before her brain can explode.

"You don't have to if you're not ready, but if you want to, I'll be right here the whole time. You're not gonna break him. I promise," you say, and she chews on her bottom lip as she thinks. Finally, she nods and readjusts in her seat as Sarah hands Sam back to you, and you put Sam in Ellie's arms. Her posture is rigid and composed like a soldier as she holds him, and you smile. "You can relax. He's not going anywhere." You say, putting your hands over hers and adjusting her position. She relaxes a little and smiles as she looks down at him.

"I don't have to talk to him or anything, right?" She asks, and you laugh.

"No, you can just hold him if you want." You say. So, she does. She holds him and copies the way he sticks his tongue out or furrows his brows in his sleep. It's her form of love, you think to yourself. Then, slowly and as careful as ever, she reaches out and traces over his features with a gentle finger. You immediately remember the way she did the same with your sonogram pictures and silently watch as she traces the curve of his nose, his eyebrows, his cheek, everything. He doesn't stir or fuss at her actions; he just sleeps peacefully and lets her do whatever. When she's done, she rests a hand over his chest, and you wonder if she can feel his heartbeat through the swaddle he's in.

"He's pretty cool," she says as she meets your eyes. "I like him."

"You just like him?" Sarah asks, and Ellie rolls her eyes.

"Fine, Sarah," she says, over-enunciating her sister's name. "I love him. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Yeah, actually. Thanks so much." Sarah says as Sam begins fussing in Ellie's arms, and Ellie sends her a death glare.

"Look what you did. You woke him up."

"I didn't do shit!"

"Well, it wasn't me!"

"Neither of you did anything. He's probably just hungry." You laugh as you take Sam back and begin unbuttoning your hospital gown. Sarah and Ellie scurry away to give you some privacy, but they stay nearby, even snapping some pictures on your phone of you in all your exhausted glory, feeding your son like it's second nature.

They end up being some of your favorites from the day Sam was born. It could be the way the sun is just peeking behind skyscrapers or the way you're looking down at Sam, but you think it's the beauty of being a mom that shines through. Because not only are you a mom to the little boy latched to your breast, but you're a mom to the girls behind the camera despite not sharing any DNA with them. "Love makes a family," Sarah told you once. "Not blood." And if that's true, you've been a family since long before you married their dad and had their brother. If that's true, you think you must've been their mom in a past life too. If that's true, you must be the luckiest woman in the world to create a family from stardust and blood and from the most valuable thing in the universe— love.

[boreal-sea]

So I like playing Sims 4 Decades/Legacy challenges, where basically you start in 1890 and try to get to modern day. There's a bunch of rules, but I enjoy making it as hard as possible.

My last attempt ended tragically, and I wanna share it with y'all.

It started off promisingly: the two founders arrived as winter rolled in, and though the first winter was brutal with only a tent and some seeds, they managed to scrounge up enough money and food to make it through. The two original Brisbys had a son (Moses) and several daughters (who went off and got married). Moses successfully married a woman named Helen and he and his wife had already given birth to their first child, a daughter named Iris. Helen was pregnant with their second child.

With the onset of winter I did a death roll for everyone to simulate winter illnesses. It didn't go well, and that was the start of the end.

Who was living on the farm as this dark winter closed in:

Grandpa Brisby

Grandma Brisby

Moses Brisby (eldest son)

Helen Brisby (Moses' wife, pregnant)

Iris Brisby (Moses and Helen's eldest child)

As winter took hold, Grandmother Brisby and her son, Moses Birsby both died of illness (aka they failed their death rolls).

In midwinter, Helen gave birth - a son (Fletcher), an heir for the Brisby family. Helen survived the birth.

Grandfather Brisby died naturally of old age as winter came to a close.

As spring arrived, Helen was alone with a newborn and a toddler, several chickens, a cat, and a cow, all depending on her. She was struggling. She was constantly tired and filthy, her enjoyment of life was at zero, the animals were doing poorly, and she needed help. So, she managed to find herself a new husband. Darrin Quentin stepped up to the role of father and everyone was doing very well. As spring rolled into summer Iris aged up into a child, Fletcher aged into a toddler and began to eat solid food, and Helen became pregnant with Darrin's child.

(I play that women who are breastfeeding can't get pregnant. IRL this is not a perfect form of birth control but it does work fairly well).

Now, one thing I've taken from the harder rules is that if I notice the Sims exhibiting symptoms of illness (dizzy head, etc), I do a death roll.

Helen went out to the bee hive - it had been neglected over the winter. She'd never cared for the bees, but there were mites and plenty of honey to collect, so it needed tending. She wore the beekeeper suit just in case. However, as she was walking away from the beehive, she got dizzy... and I had to roll. She failed the roll, and she died while carrying Darrin's child. I imagine this story-wise as she died from an allergic reaction to a bee that stung her as she was taking off the bee suit.

Now Darrin was alone on the farm, and he was actually managing fairly well because Iris was now a child and could help with most of the farm chores, leaving him to do his best in his grief to raise Fletcher... Until Darrin got sick, too. And with a bad roll, he died as well - perhaps from grief. And the game ended because there were no more adults on the lot.

Fun observation: I use MCCC (MC Command Center) to do deaths, because getting a cow plant is a pain in the ass. I was able to see something interesting when I clicked on Helen to set her her to die. The Sims 4 sets pregnant sims to "immortal" while they're pregnant. I gather this means things like fire, repeated lightning strikes, hunger, etc, cannot kill them while they're pregnant. MCCC can still kill them, obviously, it was just a fascinating observation.

[inlovewithalotoffandoms]

Imagine..........Your Dad (Barry) and Your Mum (Iris) leave You, Bart and Nora home alone.

Barry allen x daughter! reader, Iris west-allen x daughter! reader, Nora west-allen x sister!reader and Bart west-allen x sister!reader.

Key: Y/N=Your Name, Y/N=Your Initial, Y/N/N=Your Nick Name.

Summary: Your Dad (Barry) And Your Mum (Iris) leave you, Your sister (Nora) and Your Brother (Bart) home alone to go on date night. The three of you are all doing separate things you and Nora decided to watch a movie. Before you could put the movie on the two of you hard the door bell ring.

Your Mum and Dad were coming out of there room because they had date night.

You: Where are the two of you going?

Barry: We.... I mean me and Your Mum-

Nora: Yes we know!

Iris: Your Dad and I are going on a date.

You: Cute. Where ya taking her dad? Where ya taking her huhh?

Barry: Uhhh......You know what?.......Uhhhh....we better-

Bart: Go? Yeah you really should. So......uhhh, byeeeeeee.

After they went out the door since Bart forced them out, you and Nora shook your heads at him.

Bart: What?! In my defence we are finally home alone, so we can do anything we want. Right?

You and Nora looked at each other and you turned the video on.

Bart: Oh no! Not this again?

You: Yes this again.

Bart: ahhh Come on?! That was one time.

Nora: Still.

Time skip brought you by Barry being geeky.

You, your brother and sister were doing separate things. You and Nora were in the living room while Bart was in his room.

You: Nora?

Nora: Yeah Y/I?

You: Wanna watch 'Thor'?

Nora: You wanna prepare for 'Thor: Love and Thunder' don't you?

You: Oh you love the 'Thor' movies!

She agreed. You were about to put the movie on when you hard a nock on the door.

Nora: Did Mum and Dad say anybody was coming while they're gone?

You: No. You?

Nora: No.

You: You know the drill. Hit the deck.

Nora got down on the floor.

You: Blinds!

While she was on the ground she closed the blinds.

You: I got the lights!

You leaned over the couch and quickly flicked the lights off.

Nora: Here!

She handed you a baseball bat that was randomly on the ground.

You: Thanks!

Few seconds later.

You: Ya got a visual?

Nora: No! Nothin'!

She looked at you from her binoculars.

You: Dang it!

Bart suddenly came downstairs.

Bart: What are you morons doin'?!

You and Nora gave him the 'What the heck' look.

You: Get down you idiot someones at the door.

Bart: Oh crap!

He quickly turned off the lights were he was and got down on the floor. The door bell rang again.

You: Look what you did!

None of you knew what to do at that moment but then,

You: I'm goin' in.

Nora looked at you concerned.

Nora: You don't have to do this Y/N.

Bart: Yeah Y/N/N don't do this please.

You: I have too.

You slowly and silently walk up to the door and looked through the peek hole.

You: Oh thor!

Your siblings looked confused.

Nora: What is it?

You: It's Barts stupid friend!

The two of you looked at Bart annoyed.

Bart: Awww yeah I forgot about that.

You and Nora got up as Bart did as well, the both of you got some pillows and started hitting him.

You: You idiot!

Nora: You stupid idiot!

In the end when Barry and Iris came back you told them the story and all five of you watched Marvel movies and had a great time as a family.

The End.

[bonky-n-steeb]

𝐵𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑇𝐻𝐸

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝚃𝚆𝙾

𝘿𝘼𝙍𝙆!𝘽𝙐𝘾𝙆𝙔 𝘽𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙀𝙎 𝙭 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙀𝙍 | 𝙈𝙊𝘽!𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙑𝙀 𝙍𝙊𝙂𝙀𝙍𝙎 𝙓 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙀𝙍

𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗬:  Your life is as good as it gets. The perfect husband, the perfect daughter, the perfect job. But what you are unaware is that your husband is a deadly assassin and your long-lost friend, now a fearsome mob boss is hell bent on getting you back. But what you don’t know can't hurt you, right?

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦:  psychological disorder, PTSD, domestic abuse, yandere, obsession, violence, cursing. If you find any of this triggering please DNI. Also inform me if I left something out.

ᴛʜɪs ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇᴛᴀ ʀᴇᴀᴅ, sᴏ ᴀʟʟ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴ

My previous account was deleted so I’ll be posting the stories again. I’ll be changing this one, so yeah.

Inform me if y’all wanna be tagged!

You stared at the ticking clock, counting the seconds for his return, while Iris played with her stuffed tiger that her dada had bought for her. Her father was finally coming home after serving for a really long time in the military. Bucky was everything you had wanted and more. 

Though you both had a small and cute wedding when you were way too young, it still was one of the best days of your life. Since the day you had met him, he had been hell bent on joining the army as he somehow felt the need to protect people after what had happened to his father. So, after serving his first term, while you were still a second-year graduate student, he had proposed and you had accepted without wasting a second.  

Soon you had found yourself pregnant, during your pregnancy, he had been there for your every beck and call. You still remembered his face when Iris was born; it was filled with such adoration and love, you knew you wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Iris was literally the female version of her dad, her cute nose, her lips and most importantly her blue eyes; her eyes had played a small role in naming her.

Having a kid and completing your medical residency had been tough, but whenever Bucky was home, he took care of all the housework and kept Iris busy for as long as possible. Just one thing which you didn’t like was all this time he spent away from home and the immense risk that came along with being on active duty. But he wasn’t just your Bucky, was he, he was Sgt. Barnes, too.  

But now as you sat staring at the clock, you feared that when he returned, Bucky wouldn't be the same man he was. While on duty, there had been an explosion and he had lost his arm. Hearing his voice on the phone was enough to tell you that he was broken. You were waiting to take him in your arms and tell him that it would be fine.

Just then the bell rang and you quickly got up and unlocked the door. And there he was, his eyes without their usual luster, filled with unshed tears. As Iris ran towards him, he quickly scooped her up in his right arm. “dada! I missed you s’much” she said kissing his face. You wondered whether she didn’t notice or was simply ignoring his missing arm after you gave her a little ‘talk’ about it. “I missed you too Rissie! I love you my little princess!” he said smothering her with kisses. “I'm a Queen!” she exclaimed. “Alright your majesty. Now may I enter your palace and meet my wife?” Iris pretended to think and then exclaimed a yes.  

“Hey, don’t cry” he said as he dropped Iris down. You hadn't even noticed that you were crying. You quickly wrapped him in your arms and he held you tight, fearing that you might slip away. You both didn’t speak for a long time, you were too busy being buried in each other's neck, but then you felt the moisture collect on your shoulder. As you let go, you realized his dam had broken and he was crying too.  

“I love you Bucky bunny” you said playfully. Somehow long back, you had come up with this nickname while watching Looney Tunes; your magnificent brain had somehow morphed Bugs Bunny into Bucky bunny. He pretended to hate it saying it sounded like some porn stars name, and therefore you teased him even more. “I love you too.” he replied staring deep into your soul.

☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎

As you both retired to your bedroom after ensuring Iris was fast asleep, you simply laid in bed without talking. Your hands were quietly exploring the same planes of his body you had travelled a million times over. You hesitated to touch his arm at first, fearing whether he was comfortable with it or not. But as you slowly began to trace the scars, he let out a long breath.  

You wished he didn’t have to suffer this; you wished all went to the way it was previously; you wished that his eyes shone just as brightly as they did before. But that didn’t mean you loved him any less now. Though throughout the day he pretended to be just fine, you knew he wasn’t even close to being fine.  

“Are you going to leave me?” he finally broke the silence. You couldn’t help but give him a confused expression, why would he ask that? “You don’t have to pretend. Not with me. Just say and I'll go. I don’t want to be a burden to you... ” you shut him up by kissing him. “I am not leaving you Buck. I’m gonna stick with you like an octopus.” you said chuckling. “Buck, we’ll go through everything and anything if we are together. I just want you to be happy. We'll make it work; we will find a way. And trust me when I say I love you more than anything.”

You spent the entire night, tangled in each other, telling him how much you loved and cherished him.

☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎

You were tired and your back was aching after performing a long surgery. As you opened the door, you were greeted with the smell if your favorite dish being cooked in the house. As you walked straight to the kitchen you were stunned to see Bucky somehow managing to cook with Iris sitting on the kitchen counter. Though the kitchen was a mess, you weren't going to complaint, all you could see was the blinding happiness on his face.

“Look who is back! Guess what mama bear?” Bucky said joyously. You wondered what was the reason behind his joy. “Daddy is gonna get his arm back!” Rissie exclaimed happily. This wasn’t news to you though. You had talked to Bucky about getting a prosthetic arm and he hadn't been half this excited. Seeing your confusion Bucky responded “Well, I got a call this morning. They are not only giving me my job back but giving me a cool new arm. I'll be on duty again!”  

You weren't sure whether to be happy or sad. You were euphoric about Bucky’s job and arm but at the same time you were worried for his life. “That’s amazing Buck!” you hugged him tightly as Iris slipped between you two. Your eyes were filled with happy tears. He was happy and that’s all that mattered right now.

☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎☮︎︎

FOUR YEARS LATER

You finally had a holiday from your hectic schedule as a surgeon. Iris was off to school and after some pushing you had persuaded Bucky to go get groceries. You wondered what had happened to Bucky. Something had changed after he got that arm, rather everything had changed. He wasn’t lively anymore, he got irritated at small things, stared off absently into space not responding to anything, he constantly looked behind his back, nor did he laugh at any of your jokes, you missed his laughter and that's what hurt you the most.  

Not to mention the horrid dead blank stare he gave you some days, intently looking at your every move like a predator, that thing scared the shit out of you. In the past two years not once you and Bucky had accepted Thor’s dinner invitations. You didn’t have many friends, you just had one, Thor. He was with you since your residency and you both worked together as trauma surgeons. Bucky and Thor had become quick friends too and the three of you went on many double dates. But that was a thing of the past. Now, whenever Thor invited you, Bucky simply came up with a stupid reason to not go. Bucky had become so closed off; he wasn’t the thoughtful and jolly Bucky you fell in love with.

Now that you finally had the house to yourself, you had decided to go on a cleaning spree. Currently you were in your bathroom; busy cleaning with your mop, when you accidentally slipped on some spilt soap water and ended up falling right beside the bathtub, your mop flew up and hit the ceiling tiles, thus displacing them. Suddenly a small diary fell right on your head. Placing your right hand on the ledge of the bath tub, you waited for everything to settle down and cursed loudly. “Fuck you, you goddamning son of a bitch! Everything had to fall on my head! Pathetic!”.  

You saw that you mop as now dangling on the bath tub and that stupid diary which had apparently fallen from heaven knows where was laying right beside you. As you looked up, you noticed the displaced tiles and realized that’s where this must have fallen from. As you picked up the diary you noticed there wasn't any dust on it, so there wasn't a chance that the previous owners might have left something in the false ceiling above. And it definitely wasn’t you, Iris was too small to keep something there; that only left Bucky. But why did he never mention this diary before. What exactly was he hiding?

As you opened the diary, you realized that you couldn’t understand a single word written. It felt as it was written in some highly complex code language. You were sure it wasn’t any language spoken everyday by sane humans. As you flipped through the pages you realized that every page was written in the same format. At the top was presumably some names written in the code and the rest was probably the information of that person.  

You wondered how did Bucky know this language? And why didn’t he ever tell you about anything, heck, he didn’t even mention it. And whose names had he written like it was the most confidential file? You got up and quickly closed the lid on the toilet and climbed up on it. You stuck your hand inside the hollow ceiling above to check if he was hiding something more.  

Your hand caught something and you pulled it out, only to realize it was a laptop. You wondered why he needed a second laptop when he already had one for work purposes in the home office. You took the laptop and the diary and sat down in the bathroom itself, so that if you when you would hear Bucky come you would simply put everything back up in the ceiling. You opened the laptop and saw it was password protected. You decided you would have two tries at unlocking the laptop and if you didn’t crack it, you would simply confront him.  

You first tried out typing Iris's name and her date of birth. But it was denied access. You thought for a minute more and entered your own name and your birthdate. And access was granted to you. You didn’t know whether to be happy that he had kept your name as his password or angry that he had been lying to you about whatever this was. As the laptop opened, you saw various files in it. You tapped on one and it seemed to open on a person’s resume. No, it wasn’t a resume, it was that person’s entire life history. It was like those files the assassins carried in movies with all the information about their target. You wondered what Jason Bourne shit this was.

As you read his name and saw the photos attached with it, you felt as if you had seen this person before. As you scrolled further, it finally clicked. A year before this person, who held a high position in the United Nations, was all over the news due to his untimely death caused by a heart attack. You had absolutely no interest in worldly matters, you already had a million problems on your head so you hadn't paid much attention and had not given a flying fuck. But now suddenly sweat was covering your forehead. You were worried sick as to why Bucky had all this information stored in a secret computer.

As you scrolled further, you almost reached the end of the file and that’s when you saw the video. With shaky hands you opened it. It seemed to be the security footage of that man’s bedroom and its resolution was pretty shitty. For the first few minutes all you saw was the man sleeping peacefully but as the video continued, you noticed it. The window in his room was slowly lifted as a man entered. He seemed to be dressed in tactical gear, his face was covered by a mask, but he was given away by one tell-tale sign. His arm. The metal arm with a red star on it glinted in the moonlight and you knew it was Bucky.

You watched as Bucky quietly walked towards the sleeping man. As he stood near the bed, he produced something from his pocket and bent down. As you strained your eyes, you saw that it was an injection. Your eyes widened as you clapped your hand around your mouth. That man hadn't died due to a heart attack, at least not natural. He was murdered by Bucky!

You opened another file, then another, they all were the same. In the beginning it was the information about the person, then a report as to how they died and then a video. All of them were well known figures; and all of them had been assassinated by Bucky. In one of the videos, you saw him choking the life out of a man with his metal arm and your mind wandered to the many times you would playfully tell him to choke you with the metal arm while fucking you; your hand unconsciously went to your throat at the thought.  

Then you opened a file titled: The Winter Soldier. That was weird you thought, the other files were given numbers but not names. As you opened the file, you realized it was Bucky’s own. Apparently, his codename was The Winter Soldier. Everything about him was stated in that file systematically. His background, his education, his military career and the worst of all, there were your and Iris’s photos too. As you continued to read, you realized he wasn’t working in the military anymore. Four years before, the people who had called him were from an organization named Hydra. The name and symbol itself sent chills down your spine. God, was Bucky so stupid, the octopus symbol itself screamed that Hydra was up to no good.

In the beginning, you couldn’t believe Bucky had gotten such a fancy and technological advanced arm. Looking at it you wondered how much it cost, the material and the functions would make it no less than a few million dollars. Now why would the government spend so much money on a sergeant, not that Bucky didn’t deserve it but you were curious.  

It felt as if he was hiding something from you. But you didn’t as ask as you knew he’d come around and tell you soon anyway. He needed time and you had plenty to give. But he never did. You had asked so many times whether the star was a tattoo of some sort and he had always deflected your questions. But now after reading this, you knew what all this was for. The arm, the pay raise, the irregular schedule, it was all Hydra. And Bucky was a professional assassin, and that too a deadly one.

Your eyes watered and bile rose to your throat as you saw a list, it was all the people he had killed, and the list was pretty big. You quickly placed the laptop besides you and began to puke your guts out in the toilet. In all the panic you failed to notice that a person was holding back your hair and soothingly rubbing your back.  

[hot-caramel-macchiato]

[ Foreign Affairs spoilers post ] 🥲 scroll past this post if you wanna keep living under the rock 😔🤟

i was busy for a whole day so haven’t got the chance to read the final chapter.. until now 🥲 slow poke eats dust i guess 😔

first off. CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW HOT BLAINE IS? 🥺 how i’m crazy for this part?? like the “mg girlfriend” hits me so hard i’m crying— 🥲

everyone’s outfits in this chapter is *chef kiss* 🥵 i noticed every little detail, like that little pin of Ardona flag on Blaine’s suit, Henri’s crown, Zaira’s necklace... omfg everything in this chapter is ✨beautiful✨

i mean we all guessed how MC and their LI will definitely public their thing in this final chapter, but i just didn’t think it will include a very emotional part of LI worried that MC will regret being with them 😭😭😭 i mean my heart broke a little seeing Blaine be so sad and so afraid that he’s gonna be abandoned again, just because his partner couldn’t take the stress...again 🥲

and the end!! THE END!!! 🥲🥲🥲

i saw someone’s post, saying they expected Mom to react more.. shock, when she found out her child’s date is a very unexpected person. and tbh, i agree. especially in my case, being in Blaine’s route. like, literally, Rivals to Lovers 🥲 which be more scandalous love story than that? 🥺 (i still find it funny, the part when Blaine nudges his father to go up and sign the treaty despite the 2 countries are still not allies) 😂

finally, i just wanna say...

i can’t believe Nanny and Queen B get book 2, but not this masterpiece 😔 i mean i can see where it’s going if it continues, and somehow i believe it’s gonna turn into a mini The Royal Romance. so i guess it’s what PB is trying to avoid.

being royalty is sure a popular topic for books, but already TRR and TRH got shit on a lot because of overuse and milking for content. i’m a big fan of TRR, it’s my second book i read when i got the game, but even i got tired and really not looking forward to this last TRH book. i just want peace 🥲 no more fighting bad guys, i just wanna build a family with my husband and my daughter 🥲

therefore, despite this book is great, i wouldn’t want it to become another TRR kinda style. maybe it’s best if it’s a standalone, despite having so many potential to become a series? 🥲 it pains me to say this, but i really don’t want this really good book to be tampered with and becomes another monstrosity, like they way they did with TRR 🥲

imo, this is by far the best book PB had released in 2020 - first half of 2021 (minus the open-for-all VIP books). i’ve never felt so excited to catch up with a book like this one, even with OH on going. book got new point of views, new kind of romance (Rivals to Lovers, LI to bad guy), new problems to tackle, new twists... i love the creativity 🥺 i really hope to see more realistic books like this in the future (yes i’m looking at you Wolf Bride) 🙄

never actually introduced this, but my MC’s name is Iris Potter, First Daughter of Rutherland ✨ just because i felt like this book took place in the European side of the world, like Cordonia, therefore she deserves a Brit name... Potter just popped up in my head, automatically 😂

[lucy-the-cat]

Lover's Curse Chapter Seventeen - Queen of War

Mare

He’s insane. No. I’m insane. I’m crumbling to bits and he’s putting me back together, piece by painful piece. A healer of destruction. A monster of kindness.

He’s remaking me in his own image.

I stagger through the corridor, electricity scorching my bones. I still see him. He’s still sprawled across my bed, eyes to the ceiling as I brand him as he did me. Muttering deserve this, deserve this over and over again until I stop.

Maven has no sense of restraint. No sense of reason. He would have stayed there as long as I let him. Would have thanked me afterwards.

Kissed me.

My knees give out, and I slide down the wall, huddling on the floor. You can be. I won’t stop loving you.

I understand.

I hyperventilate, vision blurring to tears. He thinks this is romance. That I enjoy this in the same way he does.

A part of me does. A part of me wants to watch him writhe in agony, too ashamed to make me stop. A part of me wants him to know how it felt at Harbor Bay, trapped by a merciless lover, isolated from all who could help him.

I shouldn’t indulge that part of me. That part of me would rip the world asunder with her spite. That part of me revels in excess.

The rest of me is sane. The rest of me understands his game. The rest of me has control of my emotions.

I won’t let it be otherwise.

/

“I’ve composed several drafts for you to review.” I slide the papers from his desk to his hands. “I’ll need a few more days to perfect her handwriting, but I can mimic her cadence well enough. I hope you enjoy them. Those insults weren’t easy.”

“Lovely.” Maven folds his arms. “Please get out of my chair.”

“No.”

He twitches.

“I was here first. If you wanted it so badly, you should’ve been sitting in it.”

“You’re right.” Maven hovers in front of me. “Move over.”

I blink. “What?”

“I’ll share the seat with you. Move over.” He’s smirking. “Do you not want it anymore?”

This is stupid. “Fine.” I scoot over, wedging myself against the left arm. “You wanna sit? Sit.”

He hesitates for a few seconds before nestling beside me, tense and uncomfortably warm. “We don’t fit.”

“‘Then get up.”

“You get up.”

“Never.”

“Excuse me.” An attendant pokes a head through the door, brow furrowing. “Your Majesty?”

Maven stills. I point. “His idea.”

He surrenders, grey creeping up his neck. I spread across my newly conquered territory, savoring the plush cushion, the regal frame, the rich mahogany. “My chair.”

The attendant bows, speaking in rushed, uneven sentences. “The guards apprehended a nymph at the gates. She has demanded an audience with you. Should I--”

“Bring her in.”

Crap.

I sweep the drafts into the garbage, heart racing. He frowns. “You want Iris to know about them?”

Before Maven can respond, the doors swing open. Arvens may surround Iris, but they cannot keep her contained. Mud streaks her skin, dress torn to shreds, hair sticky with blood. Whose, I never want to know.

“They killed him.” Iris’s voice used to be lilting and melodic, like a folk song caught on a breeze. Now, she sounds like a graveyard. Dull. Grey. Lifeless. “I gave them my floods, and they killed him.”

“Wife. So glad you could join us.” Maven’s eyes dance with mirth. “Did you have fun?”

“Father is dead.” Iris punches a wall. “I will destroy them.”

“I’ll take that as a no. Shame.”

“What is she doing here?” Iris jabs a finger my direction. No longer does she eye me with coy amusement. She never will again. “Do we allow prisoners out of their chains now?”

“Her name is Mare, darling. Use it.” Maven crumples a piece of paper and places it near his flamemakers. “Your mother could learn that the Scarlet Guard killed her husband and her daughter. All the better for me.”

“I’ll destroy you too.”

“I’m sure you will.” Maven leans against my chair, brushing aside my hair to stroke my neck. Her gaze burns holes into us both.

“She’s Scarlet Guard. She’d tear our throats without a moment’s hesitation. I forgot that.” Iris stares at the floor as if it could swallow her whole. “I’ve half a mind to execute her.”

He sharpens. “You’ve half a mind, period. She’s my consort now, and you will treat her with respect. Find a guard to play with.”

“I didn’t give permission for a consort.”

“I didn’t ask.”

I squirm. “Do I have a say in this . . . ?”

“No.” Iris narrows her eyes. “Why are you in Maven’s chair?”

“It’s my chair. I fought him for it.”

Maven rubs his forehead. “Don’t ask.”

“Find a use for her, or I will make one.” Iris has no tendrils to curl, but somehow she seems more dangerous without them. “Her head would make a lovely present for Mother.”

Another death threat. They’re beginning to bore me.

“So short-sighted.” He tsks. “You think I haven’t? Think of the narrative. An impoverished Red with Silver abilities, groomed by the Scarlet Guard to kill a king and brainwash another. Rebelling against her commanders once she learned of their evil, she sits at my side for months, friendship giving way to something more. What a beautiful tale.”

I knew this was coming.

It still hurts.

“A boy forced onto the throne too soon, soft-spoken and compassionate, committed to righting the injustices of his ancestors.” Kill me. “Measures lifted. A war ended. And when he falls for a Red, she is declared the equal of any Silver mistress.”

“The manacles are a rite of passage, I’m sure.” I scowl.

Maven ignores me. “This is a propaganda war, Wife. Reds outnumber us, and we cannot allow them to be lured by the Scarlet Guard.”

“Very well.” Her tone is placid. Her expression is not. “Keep her out of my sight. I have limits. Push them at your peril.”

“So do I, Wife.” He ignites the parchment. “So do I.”

She leaves.

Maven slithers beside me, eyes wicked. “Was there something you wanted to do in this chair?”

“You can have it.” I pat his head.

He doesn’t see me fish the letter from the trash. He doesn’t see it as I walk out the room, handing it to a nearby attendant for mailing. And he never read the final paragraph, scrawled hastily as if in a panic.

I pray to Amalese for Father’s safe return. Perhaps a vengeance goddess is the worst to ask, but she understands justice better than anyone else. Far better than my husband.

I miss you.

There is no god named Amalese.

There is no god of vengeance.

But there are justices Iris would ask for. Ones that do not end well for Maven.

[ducktracy]

184. the woods are full of cuckoos (1937)

release date: december 4th, 1937

series: merrie melodies

director: frank tashlin

starring: mel blanc (owlcott, walter finchell, milton squirrel, wendell howl, fox, raven mcquandry), tedd pierce (ben birdie, tizzie fish, andy bovine), sara berner (polly gillette, canary livingstone)

this cartoon gets the honorable award of possibly being the most dated warner bros. shorts in its vast repertoire of cartoons. not to worry! this will be a fun cartoon to unpack—i love delving into the shorts that involve extensive research. learning something new is something that‘s very rewarding to me, and i hope it is to you, too!

a giant ode to the short lived radio program community sing (lasting from 1936-1937), the short chronicles a woodland radio show hosted by a variety of caricatured animals putting on various acts.

iris in to the ringing of a bell. a pudgy, bespectacled owl rings it as he stands illuminated by the moonlight, preaching to all of the woodland critters, ready to start the show. he introduces himself as “owlcott”, a take on commentator alexander woollcott. he “blandly announces” (his words, not mine) the introduction of the master of ceremonies, ben birdie--a bird caricature of radio personality ben bernie, “the old maestro”.

birdie’s caricature is not new to audience’s eyes. the caricature, along with a handful of others, is reused from friz freleng’s the coocoo nut grove from 1936, a short that is very similar in vein to this one. tedd pierce provides birdie’s suave, velvety vocals as he introduces the program, only to be interrupted by the nasally cries of mel blanc. out pops walter finchell, a caricature of bernie’s faux-enemy walter winchell, both of whom carrying a notorious (and fake) feud in the radio-verse. it was common for winchell to interrupt the smooth-talking bernie, either throwing pranks or remarks his way, to which bernie dismissed every time. indeed, a signature tashlin upshot angle reveals finchell dropping an egg on top of birdie, who blocks it nonchalantly with a handy umbrella.

art loomer’s backgrounds for the cartoon are absolutely gorgeous. they’re vibrant in color, very lush and painterly, but remain playful and sophisticated at the same time. they certainly serve as a highlight to the short. and, as always, carl stalling’s scores are a blast to hear--his sardonic, wah-wah rendition of “cause my baby says it’s so” is a jolly juxtaposition to the prior score of “love is on the air tonight”, the latter being the song’s cartoon debut. it would be reused in cartoons such as the daffy doc, whereas “cause my baby says its so” was heard previously in rover’s rival.

birdie introduces a clever squirrel caricature of milton berle, whose routine gets interrupted by a little parrot named polly. polly is a take on eileen barton’s character, little jolly gillette, who was portrayed as the daughter of the show’s sponsor. polly and milton go through their act together, polly bluntly (yet innocently) announcing “my daddy says ya gotta let me sing ‘cause he’s a sponsor!” you can listen to real recordings of their banter here!

volney white’s animation of milton and polly is lively and jovial, constantly moving. milton energetically introduces us to our next star, pointing in the wrong direction and fixing it last second as he gestures towards a bird caricature of country singer wendell hall.

even if viewers don’t recognize the bird’s counterpart, they will most certainly recognize his voice--mel uses his foghorn leghorn voice for wendell “howl”. of course, foghorn wouldn’t debut for another 9 years, but that’s another story. the animation of the raucous bird is fun to watch as he extends his neck and wraps it around in coils around the microphone stand. random? yes, but fun nevertheless.

perhaps even more commendable is the staggering crowd shot that succeeds wendell’s scenes. the crowd is mirrored horizontally, but that doesn’t lessen the blow from how claustrophobic it is. wendell asks the audience to get out their songbooks and turn to page “22... no, page 44. uh, no, uh, page 28. uh, 42, uh, 36, uh, 45...” 

wendell is transformed from an entertainer to an auctioneer, spitting out numbers at rapid pace as his crowd frantically tears through their songbooks. finally, he concedes. “oh, never mind. we won’t use the books.” off screen, the crowd roars in unison: “OH YES WE WILL!” with that, wendell is generously showered with a barrage of books, buried in the pile of rejected papers. the timing of the scene is comedically sharp and energetic, one of the more entertaining acts of the cartoon.

now, for the real song number, lead by goat and bear caricatures of billy jones and ernie hare (would a rabbit caricature be too on the nose?) respectively, animated by volney white. they march out onto the stage--er, tree trunk--and open the curtains to reveal a sing-along to the eponymous song. thus, the camera pans into the lyrics as everybody bursts into the all-too-earworm-causing song number. 

as the crowd, ben birdie and walter finchell all lend their voices to the song, a fox caricature of fred allen sings “swanee river”, clashing with the unity of everybody else. in a nod to friz freleng’s toy town hall where the same routine was executed, a little bunny excitedly coos “ohhhh, mr. allen! you’re singing the wrong sooooong!” the fox bursts into everybody’s favorite Mel Blanc Yell as he repeats a frequent ‘30s catchphrase: “WHY DON’T SOMEBODY TELL ME THESE THINGS!?”

featured in the song is a seemingly interminable cast of celebrity caricatures, all introduced as the camera pans across the screen, each lending their voice to part of the song. some puns require more effort than others (dick powell as “dick fowl” rolls off the tongue better than al jolson as “al goatson”). caricatures include: 

eddie cantor as eddie gander, sophie tucker as sophie turkey, w.c. fields as w.c. fieldmouse, dick powell as dick fowl, fats waller as fats swallow, deanna durbin as deanna terrapin, irvin s. cobb as irvin s. frog, fred macmurray as fred mcfurry, bing crosby as bing crowsby, al jolson as al goatson, ruby keeler as ruby squealer, lanny ross as lanny hoss, grace moore as grace moose, and finally lily pons as lily swans.

speaking of grace and lily, they’re both highlighted as they fight to out-perform each other, seeing who can sing the highest note. tashlin pulls of a rather intriguing camera move: as the pan settles on the two of them, the background changes. it’s a subtle maneuver, but smart thinking nonetheless--especially since the camera extends into a vertical pan. as both women fight to sing the highest note, their necks extend, both of them scaling high into the night sky, harmonizing on one final shrill note. they both crumple back into the stands, exhausted by their efforts. some fun exaggerated animation for sure--one wonders how much further this would have been pushed had this been tashlin’s second stint at WB rather than his first. his speed often rivaled, if not out-performed, tex avery’s.

birdie and finchell have a brief interstitial together before making way for a raven caricature of haven macquarrie (raven mcquandry). his sequence is almost jarringly short, but full of fun drawings and poses--the pose of him standing curtly with his arms crossed is awfully reminiscent of izzy ellis’ work under tashlin and later bob clampett in the mid ‘40s. mcquandry asks “do YOU wanna be an actor?”, parotting the name of his real life counterpart’s show so do you want to be an actor? the audience shouts “NO!” in unison, causing mcquandry to do a take and shrug dubiously. though the scene is only a few short seconds, the animation brings forth some much needed vitality.

next is a penguin caricature of joe penner, singing a hilariously out-of-tune rendition of “my green fedora”. the animation is reused from the cartoon of the same name (notice how he doesn’t have penguin feet!), which was also used in toy town hall. not a complaint, but more an observation--this is by far the most humorous performance of the song yet, sung by blanc rather than tommy bond.

another fun scene with some vivacious animation is a sequence featuring a mule caricature of martha raye (dubbed moutha bray), singing a cover of “how could you?”, which has been featured as an underscore in cartoons such as porky’s badtime story and its later remake, tick tock tuckered. raye’s large mouth served as prime material for caricatures, as we see here. the animation is snappy, fun, and vivid--she finishes her song by “swallowing” the camera, an old trick that beckons memories of the harman and ising cartoons of animation past. 

an interesting trend in the ‘30s WB cartoons is the trend of playing with the iris, whether it was the closing iris out or an iris in between transitions. tex avery would consistently play with the final iris out on his cartoons, whereas directors such as friz freleng and bob clampett would use one as a transition between scenes. here, tashlin uses the “swallow the camera” technique as a segue for an iris in, tedd pierce’s falsetto squeaking “hello folksies!” as we’re introduced to a fish caricature of tizzie lish, a character played by bill comstock on al pearce and his gang.

though tizzie has long faded into obscurity (as has the entire community sing radio show), it’s still quite easy to appreciate pierce’s vocals and mannerisms as he portrays the character. it’s always a joy to hear him doing voices for cartoons--he’s never been my favorite writer on the crew, but he was an excellent talent as a voice actor. his squeaky deliveries, matter of fact deliveries “mix them up... are you mixing? my friends say i’m a good mixer. are you? or aren’t you?” as tizzie haphazardly dumps food items and their respective utensils into a bowl and prepares the meal are nothing short of hilarious. the timing is very well executed and can be appreciated regardless of background knowledge.

after humming a pitchy rendition of “the lady in red” while waiting for her concoction to bake in the waffle iron, tizzie removes the homemade waffle and discards it, instructing the audience “now take the ‘wiffle’ out and eat the iron. you must have iron in your system. or should you?” thus concludes tizzie’s act, certainly heightened in hilarity by pierce’s vocals and timing.

for the final act, ben birdie introduces a possum caricature of louella parsons, the host of the radio program hollywood hotel, which served as a way to advertise upcoming movies by featuring guest stars enacting some of the scenes. here, we have caricatures of jack benny (as jack bunny, the first of his many reoccurrences), mary livingstone (canary livingstone), and andy devine (andy bovine).

tedd pierce voices andy bovine, whose voice burlusqued not only in this cartoon, but to a greater extent in friz freleng’s my little buckeroo not even a year later. devine, a western star, was notorious for his scratchy, shrill voice which was rife for comedic opportunity. indeed, this scene here with pierce’s vocals is nothing short of hilarious: 

the trio chronicle the prodigal’s return, in which bunny and canary coo over their baby son. out of the bassinet pops incongruously large bovine, who shrieks “HOWDY MAAAA! HI PAAAA!”, the sheer volume of his voice enough to blow both of his parents away and out of the scene. and, with that, the scene ends, red curtains colorized from porky’s romance marking the sequence’s end. short, sweet, to the point, and hilarious.

ending right where the cartoon began, the owl caricature of alexander woollcott bids us farewell, the iris closing in on the bell he rings as he exclaims that all is well.

like so many other cartoons i’ve reviewed, this is one that i slowly warmed up to upon rewatching it and typing out the review for myself. i didn’t entirely dislike the cartoon upon my first watch, but it’s undeniably dated and deserves its title as possibly the most dated cartoon. without further research, some of the jokes and caricatures (if not all of them) are difficult to appreciate. the animation has bursts of energy throughout the short, the highlights being the scenes featuring raven mcquarry and moutha bray, but otherwise remains relatively simple and conservative. tashlin does incorporate a few intriguing camera angles throughout the cartoon, but many other entries of his are far more cinematic.

however, despite all of that, this cartoon is not without its bonuses: art loomer’s backgrounds are stunningly gorgeous and rich, and as someone who loves the lush, painterly backgrounds of the 1930s, this is heaven to me. and, as i mentioned previously, tedd pierce’s scenes are great--the tizzie fish and andy bovine sequences are undeniable comedic highlights.

so, if you’re willing to dedicate time to put in the research for this cartoon, you’ll find it’s quite fascinating! i’m certain this was a much bigger gut-buster in 1937 than it is in 2020, but even then, this is a good cartoon for people such as myself who love to learn more information and seek out facts. as a result, i’d recommend it to people who fall into that category. if you’re just someone who wants a good laugh and a leisurely watch, there are more interesting cartoons that lie ahead. you won’t miss much by skipping it.

with that said, here’s the link!

[liloscreativeadventures]

You Are Enough

Pairing: Barry Allen/Reader, Barry Allen/Iris West

Summary: Months have passed since the tragic death of Y/N. Everyone is still coming to grips with her death. For Barry Allen, it’s been far more difficult than he imagined. The constant battle of altering the timeline to save Y/N or to leave the timeline alone. So what does he do?

Author’s Note: I am so sorry that this has taken me forever to finish. I have been debating on how to continue with this story. I wasn’t even expecting ‘One Last Time’ to even be as popular as it was. I’m not entirely fond of the way this turned out and probably will eventually edit it later on.

Christmas Day...

Barry Allen groaned at the sound of his alarm going off. As he rolled around on his bed to turn the alarm off, his eyes landed on the photo that rested on the nightstand. A photo of Y/N and him at the beginning of their relationship. Her bright y/e/c eyes shining and her smile making him smile. His arms wrapped around her waist while he leaned down to kiss her temple. It was the last photo that remained framed the night the night that Y/N snapped.

He pulled himself out of bed and picked up the photo. Tracing his fingers over it, he couldn’t help that feeling of being disappointed. The disappointment of never realizing that she had never once complained about him spending less and less time with her. Nor did she ever complain about his relationship with Iris. The disappointment that he had never ever reassured her that she was enough for him and that she was always loved. That he would always love her. He set the frame down before heading to the bathroom to get dressed.

Once he was done getting dressed, he grabbed everything he needed for the day and headed out. Heading out of his apartment, he made a note to himself of the places that he needed to stop by. His first stop being the florist shop to pick up a bouquet of roses. When he stepped into the store, the owner of the stop greeted him with a smile, “Morning, Barry! Merry Christmas.”

Barry smiled and picked a bouquet of roses before making his way to the register. “Morning & Merry Christmas to you as well.”

Barry paid for the flowers before saying goodbye and heading out the store. He made his way to his next destination and found some familiar faces. “I didn’t know you two would be here.” He said as Caitlin and Cisco looked at him.

“She’d be mad at the both of us if we didn’t visit and forgot her favorite time of the year.” Caitlin said, “Do you want me to place the flowers for you?”

“Yeah I definitely understand. And yes if you don’t mind.” Barry said handing her the flowers.

“How are you feeling?” Cisco asked as they both stood around the familiar tombstone that they had been accustomed to seeing now. 

“I still miss her.” He sighed slipping his hands into his coat pocket.

“We do too, Barr.” Caitlyn said as she stood up from spot.

“Is it bad that I just wanna go back in time and change what happened to bring her back? To erase all this suffering that we’ve all gone through. To erase the guilt I’ve felt since the day she died in my arms.” Barry said.

“You know she wouldn’t want you to do that. She wouldn’t want you to change or create a new timeline.” Cisco said.

“I just-I want - I need to have her in my arms again.” Barry whispered, “I know she would be upset at me for altering the timeline but she deserved better than how I treated her.”

“If you decide to alter the timeline, Barry, you have to remember the consequences. Caitlin and I might not be there for you. Y/N might not even know you.” Cisco explained.

“And I know she wouldn’t want that. I just there’s a part of me that needs to make things right.” Barry stated as Caitlin took a step towards him.

She touched his shoulder and whispered, “I may not be fond of what you want to do but if you really need to do this then I support you. Just as long as you promise me two things.”

“Anything.” Barry said.

“Promise to always take care of her. Put her first and love her the same way she always loved you. And secondly find Cisco and me. Convince us that were and are still friends. Let us see her too.” Caitlin said as she felt her eyes watering.

Barry nodded his head hugging her and Cisco, “I promise.”

Christmas Day 2020... 2 years later...

Barry groaned as the sound of his alarm started going off. Rolling over on his bed, he grabbed his phone to turn the alarm off. He looked at the photo that sat beside his nightstand just like had had done the past few years since her death. He sat up to pick up the picture frame and traced his fingers over the photo. God he missed her. “Cisco, I told you it was fine already.” Great now he was hearing her voice in his head.

But her voice continued going on. Was he sure he was only hearing things? “Barr and I don’t mind that you bring someone here with you. It is Christmas after all. The more the merrier.” Y/N’s voice said reassuringly. Barry got up from his bed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. He stopped as shock took over him when he saw Y/N standing there in the kitchen. “Nope he’s still asleep.” Y/N said before her eyes traveled to the staircase to find Barry, “Oh actually he’s awake.”

“I’ll see you both later then.” Cisco said, “Bye Y/N!”

“Bye!” Y/N said as her smile widened, “Morning, Barr! Merry Christmas!”

Barry hesitated before walking over to her. Was it really her? Was she really back? He wrapped his arms around her and smiled into her hair. It was really her. She was really back. He had gone back and altered the timeline to get her back. “You’re really here.” He whispered.

“Of course I’m here. Where else would I go? We do live together right?” She asked looking at him strangely.

Barry smiled and pulled her closer to him whispering, “We do, baby girl. That we do.”

“Are you okay?” Y/N questioned raising an eyebrow at him.

“Everything’s fine. Just had a bad dream.” He said as he felt pressure against his stomach, “Okay that was totally unnecessary to hit me, baby girl.”

Y/N giggled before looking up at him, “That was your daughter greeting you good morning.”

“Daughter?” Barry shockingly asked as she moved his hand over her growing belly, “Can’t believe we’re having a baby girl.”

“Neither can I.” Y/N said as their baby kicked again, “Okay sweetie, we get it. You’re excited that your daddy is here. I swear, Bartholomew, if she is anything like you. God help me.”

He would never tire of hearing her using his full name. He would only ever let her use it from now on. Barry laughed as he lifted Y/N onto their island table so she could sit. Y/N ran her hands over her belly as Barry leaned down to talk to their daughter. “I’m here, baby and I’ll always be here for you and mommy. I love you both so very much.” He said kissing Y/N’s belly as their daughter kicked in appreciation.

“Such a daddy’s girl and she’s not even out here yet.” Y/N said as Barry chuckled before kissing Y/N’s head.

“Well she knows that mommy’s got daddy’s heart so she wants him to know that she’s here too.” Barry said as Y/N looked at him smilingly, “I love you, baby girl.

“I love you too, Barr.” She whispered pulling him closer to kiss him.

Barry wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist. Barry carefully held her so that he wasn’t hurting their daughter. He couldn’t believe it. He had gone back in time to get her back and here she was. And from the looks of it, he was able to find Cisco and Caitlin (he assumed he had found her). Now here he was kissing the most beautiful girl in the world and she was his. He wasn’t about to mess this second chance up. “God, I love you so much, baby girl.” He muttered against her mouth as he felt her smile.

“What do you want, Bartholomew Henry Allen?” She whispered pulling away from him. 

Barry chuckled, “Why must you always assume I want something when I say something nice?”

“Because you normally do. Now help me down, please. My back is starting to hurt and our breakfast is getting cold.” Y/N said extending her arms out to him.

Barry helped her off the counter and towards their dining table where their breakfast was ready. Barry couldn’t stop looking at Y/N. He knew what he had to do.

Later that night...

Barry leaned against the wall by the staircase just observing everything going on. Caitlin and Y/N sat on the couch catching up. Cisco and Harrison were sitting by kitchen island eating and chatting. Joe and Wally were sitting by the dining room table enjoying some of Y/N’s homemade hot chocolate. Iris walked over to Barry and looked at Y/N. “She really makes you happy, doesn’t she?” Iris asked.

“She does. i feel this strange feeling when I’m with her. A feeling that everything is okay and that I can totally be myself with her. No judgements or anything.” Barry said smiling

“She’s really lucky to have you, Barry. So lucky.” Iris said as her eyes flickered back to him.

Barry looked at Iris then back at Y/N, “No Iris, I’m the one who’s super lucky to have someone like her.”

“Was there ever a chance for you and me?” Iris asked as Barry looked at her.

Barry sighed and took a deep breath before replying, “There was a time that I thought that you and I could be something. But now honestly, I don’t think so, Iris. I’m with who I’m supposed to be with.

iris felt upset at his answer but still nodded her head, “Well I wish Y/N and you nothing but the best.

“Thanks.” Barry said realizing that he had something he needed to do, “Look, Iris, you’ll find someone who will love you. It’s not me but just give it time.”

Before Iris could say anything, Barry walked away and headed towards the island table where Cisco and Harrison were. Barry nodded to Cisco, who pulled something out of his pocket. The trio made their way over towards the Christmas tree and where Caitlin and Y/N were sitting. Barry walked over to Y/N and extended his hand out to her. Y/N took his hand giving him a questioning look.

“Y/N, I remember the very first time I saw you. The very first day that you had walked into CC Jitters to grab coffee before you started your work day at the hospital. The way your eyes met mine and from that moment on you had me. Everyday that I get to spend with you is something I cherish because to me you are enough, Y/N. There is no other woman in this world that I would ever want to be with.” Barry said dropping down to one knee as Y/N felt her eyes watering, “So will you, Y/N Y/L/N, marry me?”

Barry opened the small jewelry box to reveal a blue square Sparkle Halo ring. Y/N gasped before the tears starting trickling down her face. She could only nod her head as Barry looked up at her smiling. “Yes, I’ll marry you!” She said mustering the courage to get those words out as Barry slides the ring on her ring finger.

Once everyone left for the night, the two cleaned up and headed up to bed. Barry helped her change into her sleepwear while he stripped out of his clothes. They climbed into bed with Barry holding her close to him. Her engagement ring still on her finger. She was everything to him.

“You are enough.” He whispered kissing her head.

[mamawolfblood]

I see you when I look at her.

Obi-Wan x OC

Obi-Wan Kanobi after the fall of the republic went into hiding. But not alone he was instructed by Iris to watch over her daughter. One night while the daughter is sleeping Obi-Wan can't help but see his old friend.

"Papa you should come inside." The small child called out to a slightly older Obi-Wan. "Meadow you know I'm not your papa." He said softly to the small girl. "Yes you are my papa. You take care of me while mama is away." She said hugging him. Obi-Wan couldn't argue with her. "Come on lets get you in bed." He said lifting her. She giggles wrapping her arms around him. After tucking her in he sat in the chair by her bed. "So what story do you wanna hear tonight?" He ask not expecting the answer. "Can you tell me about my mama?" She asked gold innocent eyes looking at him. They were the eyes of he father a clone. His Comander was her real father. With a sigh Obi-Wan look on the side table and grabs a mirror. "Look into this" He said handing it to her. Meadow looked in the mirror and saw herself confused looks at him. "Papa thats just me in the mirror." Obi-Wan looked at her with a soft smile. "I see her when I look at you. Your red hair, pail skin.You act like her too you also have some of your papa in you. Your eyes are the same as his. I knew them both very well. Iris was a powerful Jedi master. She led her squad into battle like it was there last. For some of them it was. Iris had a kind heart and soft spot for children. She treated her squad as family and tend to there wounds like a mother would. That caused them to refer to her as Mama instead of General. She loved all of her men as family. One day she and your father pulled me aside and told me about you. They entrusted me with you if anything was to happen to them." He said whipping his eyes. The memory of his friends. The small girl crawled over to him and hugs him. "Don't cry Papa I'm sorry." She said making him chuckle. "Yes definitely your mama's daughter. He said holding her. "Your father was my second in command. His name was Cody. He was a good man did what he had to for the mission. He was calm and careful kind. When he first held you was the first time I saw him cry. He would not let you go. The first night of your life was spent in his arms. Honestly was the cutest thing ive ever seen. " He said before looking down seeing Meadow asleep. He sighs not having the heart to move her. "You were a year old when it happen. Iris ran to me when I was about to leave with Luke." He said looking out the window. "She wanted you to live while she went to hunt down your father. She is still alive. I can feel it in the force as I know you can too. She will return to you Meadow. Your father will too." He said before closing his eyes.

[shipersanonymous]

One Hit West

Chapter 5

Author's note:

Took forever!!!! But for a 4000 word chapter I think the two week wait was kinda OK? I hope? Of course as always this chapter will leave you with more questions then you care to have and all building up to the great answer!

Hope you all like it!!

Cliffhanger warnings apply 😉❤️

P.S There’s a bit of a flashback within a flashback here. Hope it doesn’t confuse you! 

XOXO

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

[Iris]

The doorman holds the door open for her and Iris thanks him with a smile as she pushes the stroller in. Her mom jeans hang loosely around her legs, concealing the armada of weapons strapped to them and years of practice allow her to walk without acknowledging the extra weight. It’s an easy enough target, mistaken identity style kill, but she’d rather be prepared then to get trapped with nothing but a rifle. Iris walks into the lift and keeps on her act. Bare hands (except for her ring); large, square shades obscuring her face and a short wig that’s styled into a generic “mom-like” messy bun.

As the numbers on the little screen change, taking her closer to her destination, she finds herself taking deep breaths and completing her transition into her work persona.

Cold.

Cruel.

Calculated.

The transition is almost ritualistic. Usually she switches within the blink of an eye but this evening her mind is pestered by memories of the night before…

“Iris,” her father greeted calmly, without turning his head towards her. His relaxed attitude aggravated her further and she found herself forcing deep breaths in order to stay as composed as possible.

“Where’s my daughter?”

“Upstairs, fast asleep, but…”

Iris stopped in her tracks.

“…before you go up and get her…”

Joe put his cup down and stood up to face her for the first time.

“…you owe me an explanation.”

“I don’t owe you shit,” Iris spat, and turned around to ascend the stairs when her father’s bellowing voice stopped her mid-step yet again.

“Don’t you dare turn your back on me Iris!”

“Or what? Huh?” She challenged, her cool seeping out of her with every passing second.

“What are you gonna do dad? In a matter of hours you’ve attempted to kill my daughter’s father then kidnapped her. How are you planning on topping that off?” Iris kept her voice down out of fear of waking Nora and having to face questions she wasn’t as yet ready to answer.

“What were you doing at the casino?” He asked, ignoring her question. Iris looked at him incredulously then let out a half-hearted chuckle and answered:

“I felt lucky, thought I’d have a go at some poker.”

“I’m going to ask you, one more time. What? Were you doing? At the casino?”

“I already-”

“Iris.” Joe’s tone came out as a warning and he turned his head to the side, closing his eyes shut like a man trying to hold back an outburst.

“Hasn’t that boy ruined your life en-”

“No dad! He didn’t ruin my life, you did! You ruined my life when you kicked me out!”

“I gave you an option God damn it! It was your decision to walk away!”

Iris couldn’t believe her ears. To this day her father still thinks that the alternative to her packing her bags would have been the better choice.

“I’m not in the mood to have this conversation for the billionth time. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to get my daughter and go home.”

“Where is he?” Joe demanded, once again paying her statement no mind. His ability to hear what he wants to when he sees fit never fails to surprise her.

“We both know I’m not going to tell you. I didn’t save him just to have you kill him.”

“So you were interfering with my hit?”

Iris sighed, tired and exasperated.

“Yes dad I was. Is that what you wanna hear? That I was doing what’s right for my child like any good parent would? Do I have to explain how this works since clearly good parenting is a language you forgot the minute I told you I was pregnant?”

She regretted the words the minute they left her lips but it was too late and the grave expression that fell over her father’s worn features told her that she’d pressed the mother of all buttons.

“Get out,” he growled under his breath.

“Gladly. After I get what’s mine,” she answered without letting her regret show through.

The lift dings on her floor and Iris pushes the empty stroller to apartment number 64, the very apartment she pretended to be scouting a week before as she took notes of the building’s important features: emergency exits, security cameras, fire alarms etc. That’s how she knows that the hallways are monitored with cameras while the apartments are kept safe with motion detectors.

The stair ways are dead zones and are basically the least secure places save for the automatic locks on the doors that can only be opened with access key cards. The stairs are also the only way to reach the basement and that’s where the screen room is located. Not that she needs any of this information. Her father has a Loyal in almost every building in the city. These are people that either owe him, work for him or are too afraid to test him and therefore grant him any and all means of access into a number of places. Apartment buildings, restaurants, entertainment destinations, tourist attractions – you name it. And all she needs to get in is her red ruby ring. It’s a simple stone, common enough not to draw suspicion if worn by many and yet unique enough to be used as a distinguisher. Although in her case the red makes it special. The rest of her father’s hit family have rings with much the same design but their stones are green emeralds instead. Red rubies are reserved for those with the last name West.

They were her mother’s favourite gem stone.

The walk up the stairs threatened to bring back memories she didn’t need roaming through her mind at that very moment. Memories from before. Before loss turned her father in to a cold hearted killer. Before she saw the way his face changes just before he pulls that trigger.

Before she became him.

Iris walked into her old bedroom, all the details giving her a sense of Déjà vu. It was all exactly as she’d left it, from the positioning of the furniture to her high school photo frames (considerably emptier than they were when she still called the room hers), to the paint on the walls. It was like stepping into a time capsule of some of the greatest moments of her life…

Her freshly painted toes wiggled in the air as her feet rested (crossed at the ankle) against the wall. The still hot curls in her hair, cascaded over the edge of her bed like a water fall and she passed the time with a book in her hand. Getting dressed with three hours to go seemed like over kill and even though she was excited to see Barry, she wanted the moment to be perfect.

Perfect didn’t include her looking sweaty in a wrinkled dress. So she practised the art of patience as she dove into the third of the Twilight books. A knock on her door drew her attention away from Bella’s latest inner turmoil and she asked the visitor to come in. Barry’s fresh shaven face popped into her room, his hair neatly slicked back and as he stepped inside, the space was filled with a deliciously masculine scent. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets as she took him in, pressed suit with a bouquet of sunflowers in his hand, ready to go and earlier than ever.

He was up to something.

“Barry what are you doing here so early? We’re not supposed to meet for another three hours!” She asks, putting her book down without saving her page, she’d already read it three times any way, she’d be able to find that page with just a few flips.

“I just couldn’t wait to see you.” He smiled, though she noticed the glimmer of nervousness in his stare.

“But - ” Before she had a chance to finish her sentence Barry dropped down on one knee and Iris felt herself grow pale.

“Barry? What are-”

“Just, hear me out ok? I know that we’ve only known each other for a year and that we still have a life a head of us – graduation and college and work - but Iris the truth is, within our first week together I already knew that no one would ever complete me the way that you do,”

“Barry,” was all she could whisper out as she tried to keep her tears in. She was shocked out of her mind and had no idea what to think but her heart felt every word that slipped out of his mouth.

“I love you Iris,” he said as he reached into the bouquet and pulled out a tiny red velvet box.

“And I know that we’re too young to get married, but I can’t stand the thought of a possible future without you. Which is why I found a compromise.” He opened the box and inside rested a single silver band with tiny red jewels imbedded into it.

“This isn’t an engagement ring, not yet anyways, but it is still a symbol of my promise to you. My promise to love you, be there for you, support you and take care of you for the rest of our days. And someday, hopefully soon, I promise to replace this ring with a much more permanent version.”

Iris found herself struggling to breathe and if it weren’t for the fact that she was still standing paralysed in front of him she might have thought her legs had magically disappeared because she couldn’t feel them. She couldn’t feel any part of her body except for her roaring heart.

“What do you say Iris? Will you take this ring as a symbol of my promise of forever?” he asked and at that the tears made their debut on her yet to be made-up face. She nodded, unable to speak and covered her mouth with her left hand as she slipped the delicate piece of jewellery on her right hand’s ring finger. Barry rose back onto his feet and she half laughed, half sobbed as she noticed the moisture in his eyes before she pulled him into her and hugged him tight. They parted a few inches, just enough for him to lean into her and offer her a tender kiss.

“I’m guessing this means that she liked it?” came Joe’s voice from the door way and the young couple took a reprieve from their embrace to look at him, though they remained in each other’s arms.

“Dad?”

Joe smiled and folded his arms over his chest as he leaned side-ways against the door frame.

“And I thought I had a hard enough time gift shopping for you, but this young man right here second guesses everything when it comes to you. This was the longest jewellery hunt in the history of man.” He commented with a chuckle and a look of fondness directed at the youth before him.

“Wait a second, so you knew?” Iris asked.

“I kinda asked your dad for help shopping for the ring,” Barry admitted, sheepishly.

“Right after he asked me for permission to give it to you and promised never to break your heart.” Joe added proudly, there was nothing Joe loved more than a respectful young fellow with good old fashioned morals. Except of course if that young fellow happened to look at his little girl like she hung every star in the sky. That was reason enough to have his old heart smiling for the rest of its beating days.

Because she’d found someone who would love her as much as he once loved his wife.

“Hold on to this one baby girl. He’s one of the good one’s”

“I know,” Iris said, her twinkling gaze glued onto Barry’s just before he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers.

Her eye’s drifted briefly to the jewellery box on her vanity table and almost as if she had x-ray vision, in her mind’s eye, she looked past the white jewelled exterior and could picture the ring where she’d left it. Hidden from herself at the very bottom. Almost as if she we’re trying to bury the memories and emotions that came with it.

The whiskey burns its way down her throat and warms her up from the inside out. It’s the only thing she currently feels as she waits for the tiny buzz of her watch.

Beep – beep.

There it is.

With one last look at the city she downs the rest of her dry drink and turns around to make her exit, grabbing the diaper bag and travel seat that rested on the couch. Her “busy mama” act has her power walking to the nearest stairway exit where she uses her access card to disappear from the cameras view. The stairs offer her all the privacy she needs to slip out of her baggy sweater and jeans to reveal the black leather, skin tight suit she has on underneath. Her weapons are still carefully attached to the sides of her legs.

Iris pulls on her gloves and ankle length trench coat then whips off her wig and reaches down for a gun as she gazes at her watch. A door on the wall to her left opens up to a storage closet that she uses to hide away her baby seat and diaper bag then up the stairs she goes, screwing on her silencer as she takes the stairs two at a time. All the while she takes deep breaths and pushes down the last of her humanity, the last of her thoughts of her baby girl.

Her focus shifted from the Pandora’s box on the table to Nora’s sleeping figure. Cecile, who was seated on the edge of the bed beside Nora, looked at Iris and smiled sadly. Iris’s heart went out to her, she was the only one who could get her father to feel anything other than hatred at the world since her mother’s passing and yet she couldn’t get him to be the old Joe, the Joe she deserved.

“How long has she been asleep?” Iris whispered, kneeling down beside her bed and stroking her daughter’s hair gently. All at once the action soothed her every insecurity and it felt like discovering how to breathe a new. She leaned in and planted a tender kiss to the child’s warm forehead and breathed her in.

She smelled like home.

“Not long. Go ahead, take her, I’ll help you out with her chair.” Cecile whispered back, smiling sympathetically. Iris thanked her with a smile of her own and shifted so as to slowly lift her daughter up. She was careful not to make any violent or miscalculated movements, almost like she were handling a rare doll made of glass.

But the caution was needed.

Nora curled into her mother’s arm burying her face in Iris’s chest and no words could describe the paradoxical feeling of fear and security that came with having her baby in her arms. With one arm under her daughter’s knees and the other supporting her back, Iris walked down the stairs and out the door towards her car, her father paid her no mind as she left and she did her best to ignore the sting his lack of attention injected into her.

“Thanks Cecile.” She said once Nora was safely strapped in and her chair tucked away in the trunk.

“Not a problem, and don’t worry about your dad. He’ll come around.” She said.

“Not if he keeps hating on everyone with the last name Allen,” Iris pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone.

“That name, it’s taken a lot from him.” Cecile tried to reason with Iris and the other woman’s eyes seemed to say ‘form us’ though she dared not speak of her loss. It hurt too much to think about.

Iris wouldn’t budge. She knew better. She knew that her father didn’t know the half of what he’d lost, of the nightmares she attributed to that name. And with the way that things were going he would never know. Not from her mouth anyway. So as she steps into her car she responds:

“Not me, he pushed me away all by himself.”

The jog up the three flights of stairs help circulate the adrenaline in her system so by the time she steps out into the hallway of the 28th floor she’s fired up and ready to strike. She takes calm steps towards apartment number 81 and stands in front of it like she’s ready to knock. With a subtle movement she tucks some stray hair behind her ear, flashing her ring at the camera and a few seconds later, the red recording light dies out.

She’s got five minutes.

Her actions gain a certain fluidity as she turns back towards apartment number 83 and knocks as gently as she possibly can. A tall man with a 6 o’clock shadow and a head free of hair answers the door. His dress shirt is half undone yet still tucked into his black suit pants, under different circumstances Iris might have stopped to allow herself to take him in but her mind is elsewhere and she’s still pissed about last night. She needs to blow off some steam. His seductive smile slips from his lips when his eyes land on Iris giving away that he was expecting someone else.

In his confusion he asks:

“Who the he-”

But Iris has no time for chit chat. Before he can blink, she’s moved into the apartment, closed the door behind her, pressed her weapon against his forehead and pulled back the trigger. Pieces of cerebral tissue redecorate the space behind him and he falls to the ground, painting the white tiled floor with blood. Iris approaches without hesitation and stairs at his wide eyes with indifference.

“Your wife sends her love,” she says before firing two more shots. The hit brief she got requested that this be staged as a crime of passion. Hence the foreign gun and overkill. Some poor unfortunate side piece is about to get some major jail time while the “weeping” widow cashes out the prick’s life insurance. All’s well that ends well in the game of hearts. Iris discards the weapon on the floor and walks out with a minute to spare. She sees the numbers above the elevator light up as it brings a passenger closer to her and she smiles, assuming that it must be the unsuspecting mistress. Just before the lift reaches her floor she walks back out into the stair way and follows it down to her disguise with a reassurance that a few seconds later the cameras rebooted and set the perfect trap.

…

[Barry]

Earlier today…

It’s a weird feeling, waking up in a strange bed at a strange house and yet somehow feeling completely at home. This notion haunts him all morning as he stares up at the white ceiling and tries to make sense of it.

Maybe it’s the thought of it being her house. Or the fact that her scent lingers in every little corner of the place. Maybe that’s why it all seems so strangely comfortable. Like getting to share her little secret.

Getting to be her little secret.

Yet, as good as that all might sound Barry can’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach, the dull ache of his heart’s every thud. The gut twisting sensation that she’s hiding something from him, something life changing. He plops one hand underneath his head and sighs. It’s mid afternoon and Barry is wasting his day away in bed. He tried to do a little cardio, made some breakfast, read a page or two but every action put him down a path of what ifs.

What if Iris were there? Would he be making her breakfast? Would she be reading him a passage from the book as he poured her coffee? Would she be wearing one of his old t-shirts and chuckling when he pressed a random kiss to her cheek?

Sigh.

More questions without answers.

It’s times like these that Barry normally turns to his brother. Bart is most definitely the most rational of them both. Barry always thinks with his heart despite his superior intelligence but Bart always finds a way to act with rationality. They always joke that their personalities came with their middle names. Bartholomew “Barry” Henry Allen took after their father, flexible mind but much too large a heart. Bartholomew “Bart” Harry Allen took after their ‘uncle’ and legal guardian Harrison, kind at heart but ever the critical thinker. It’s a trait that Barry, at times, envies in his twin brother: the ability to disconnect from emotion in favour of science. Barry can’t bring himself to do it.

He always wears his heart on his sleeve.

The sound of keys turning in the lock draw Barry’s attention back from his differences with his twin and he turns his head towards the sound while listening intently.

“Can we get the purple tights and my STAR Labs sweater aunt Anissa?”

A young girl seems to ask and the innocence in her voice brings a smile onto his face.

“’Course you can baby. Since your mom forgot to pack your clothes this morning you get to pick what ever you like.”

That voice is unmistakable. It’s definitely Iris’s favourite cousin Anissa. Barry hasn’t seen her since that random run in, a year after the break up…

It had been a year since he’d last seen her. Their anniversary was drawing near and he hadn’t so much as glimpsed her across the street or bumped into her at the grocery store. It was hard but nothing compared to those first few months.

The confusion as to what could possibly have gone wrong. The multitude of questions without answers. The heart ache, so strong at times he’d wake up in the middle of the night fighting for breath. He’d sunk into a depression so deep that his uncle had him seeing both a psychologist and psychiatrist. He’d been prescribed antidepressants and moved to England because a “change in scenery” would do him good.

All it did was provide him with enough isolation to feed his loud mind. So during the brief Christmas break, when Harrison summoned him back home, Barry made a habit out of wondering aimlessly about the streets of Central City. He blamed his sleeplessness on the time zones but he knew better. A good night’s sleep hadn’t formed part of his routine in a while. Power naps and unhealthy amounts of coffee were what kept him afloat in college.

In England he’d found an escape in his academics, burying himself in pile after pile of literature. Completing assignments way ahead of the due dates and prepping tutoring material to help a few nameless faces after class. So when the holidays came around he suddenly found himself spoiled for time and with nothing else but his neglected heart ache to occupy his mind.

That’s when the endless drives around the city became routine. He’d managed to convince himself that he was simply trying to pass time but he knew – he felt – that in reality he was looking for her.

Iris.

It was on one of these drives that he ran into Anissa. With no where to go, Barry found himself at a 24hr convenience store, roaming through the aisles of all things comforting and deadly. On his way to the freezers he glimpsed a familiar profile in his peripheral and stopped mid step. Low and behold there she stood, with a tin of powdered milk in her hand and a shopping basket filled with baby supplies. The tin she held grabbed all her attention so she didn’t notice Barry approaching till he was a few steps away and asked:

“Anissa?” She startled, which was expected, but when her face turned towards him it didn’t instantly flood with recognition and a drop of sympathy. Instead her eyes widened and her face paled with fear. Without warning she dropped her basket on the floor and took off running. He chased after her, too desperate to pay the questioning looks any mind.

“Anissa wait! Please!”

But she didn’t slow. Instead she knocked down a stack of canned food in an attempt to leave the tin of milk that was still in her hand. Barry chased her outside but couldn’t catch up to her. So eventually he stopped and simply watched her make her escape. Jennifer, her younger sister, was in the car with her and she seemed to have a baby in her arms…

Barry remembers wondering who’s baby was in the car that night. Now, doing the math, he realises that it could have been Iris’s little girl. Which leaves the question: Where was Iris when her cousin was playing house with her daughter?

“Do you want to get any books while we’re here?”

“No it’s OK. I’ve read all of these already. Mom promised she’d take me book shopping on my birthday anyway. I can wait till then.”

The little girl’s voice held a note of sadness at the mention of her birthday, but a sadness brought on by hope. Almost as if she wanted to believe that the statement was true but knew otherwise.

“Does that mean you’re not coming to see aunt Jen and me? You know she’s been working real hard on your surprise.” Anissa tries to cheer the little girl up, all the while Barry listens intently from his new vantage spot behind the door.

“I like cup cakes better the next day. Aunt Jen can just put them away for me.” She answers, by the sound of it she seems distracted.

“Cupcakes? Who said anything about cupcakes?” Her aunt sounds surprised.

“Come on aunt Nissa. I practically live with you and I know you barely get enough time to bake. I also know that you only get one bag of flour to last at least five months if the expiry date permits and only get enough chocolate chips to cover one batch of pancakes or cookies when you feel up to the task. That being said, last week you bought a fresh bag of flour, a dozen more eggs when you already had in your refrigerator and enough chocolate chips to either make three batches of cookies or aunt Jen’s double chocolate cupcakes. You’re out of shortening so that can only mean you’re making cupcakes. Conclusion: aunt Jen is making me cup cakes for my birthday.”

Barry’s jaw drops and it isn’t till he sees his own shock reflected on Anissa’s side profile that he realises he’s stepped out of his hiding place. His ears couldn’t believe what they were hearing so he subconsciously walked towards the sound of her voice only to find that the person giving out such a detailed explanation is in fact a little girl.

Her back is to him as she’s sorting through some clothes in a drawer and her hair is done in two loose fish braids that disappear into the back of her wheel chair.

“Are you sure you’re five?” he blurts out, unable to suppress his own shock and startling them both. The little girl manoeuvres her chair so that she can face him and Barry feels his mouth go dry as he takes in her face.

He’s suddenly lost in her little green eyes.

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

oohohoho you just opened the deepest can of worms on the planet

-mod dave, who wrote a fucking ten mile essay

first off, addressing the second anon, no theyre all humans. h., half humans at least. cause yall know me i fucking love my humanstuck aus off my ASS

(that would be funny as hell though. a troll from space walking into a camp on earth going “I AM THE SON OF ONE OF YOUR EARTH GODS. BITCH” like... holy shit)

so first things first their parents. im gonna lay this out, the beta kids and trolls are all greek (EXCEPT sollux hes roman cause his parent has no greek equivalent), and all the alpha kids and trolls are those gods roman equivalents (,,EXCEPT dirk cause he kinda balances sollux being roman out). i havent figured out how thatd happen like 16+ times yet cause in the percy jackson books theres only ever been one instance of two siblings of the same godly descent being greek and roman respectively in HISTORY so like.. i guess th. i guess thats just not a problem in this au

anyway this gets really long so im gonna talk about the beta kids and trolls cause i havent elaborated on the alphas at all ((peep the tags if you wanna see their parents though))

johns the son of zeus, rose is the daughter of athena, dave is the son of apollo, and jade is the daughter of demeter. they were all raised in their respective states, all had to come to new york for various reasons. jades been there the longest, shes been there 9 years and shes been on a couple quests. her biggest accomplishment so far is how she protected the camp from this big vicious angry hellhound that got past the barrier. naturally the girls fluent in Dog Training, so she steps up and instead of trying to kill this thing, she reaches out and tames it as fast as she can. it ends up actually working, and ever since that day she, her cabin, and the camp have a whole bodyguard sleeping right outside the demeter cabin! hes her steed in battle and hes a Very Good Boy. and his name is becquerel

johns the newest kid at camp, he has no idea who he is or why the fuck his school got attacked or why in the hell those anemoi thuellai were so fixated on him or HOW in the hell he absorbed the lightning one threw at him and ended up fine,,, hes just a big mess right now. a big enough mess that when he got claimed by literally zeus, no one else was around, he shrugged it off as some basic magical happening, and he stayed in the hermes cabin far longer than he should have cause no one! fucking knew he got claimed! by zeus of all people! dumbass. he ends up figuring it out though. like an off-hand mention about how this “weird lightning thing appeared above my head a couple weeks ago, haha weird right?” once he figures it out he realizes “hey i might be able to fly” so he sneaks off into the woods to try it. he succeeds fairly quickly but god almighty everyones face the one day the dude just yote himself off a small cliff without warning,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

dave and rose are really tight, theyve been there roughly the same time length, and since their cabins are across from each other they just bother each other all the time. daves the resident Doctor even though he really doesnt look it cause hes got the apollo powers. apollo is the medicine god. so if you wound your stupid ass in battle daves in the ER room patching you up with his glowy hands. rose on the other hand is a very good strategist. shes one of the only athena kids ever recorded to actually have a power - telekinesis. she has no idea how she developed it, she thinks its from birth, but it freaks her out. shes training it though.

so the beta trolls, are also all human(ish). aradias hades kid. but i pulled a pjo trope on her based on one of my favorite characters (im not saying for spoilers, but if you recognize the situation, You Probably Know Who Its Based Off) and aradia died. her mom, the handmaid, had been pulling some Shady Ass Shit and ended up getting herself killed, but aradia tried saving her and ended up going down with her.

so handmaid gets sentenced to the fields of punishment in the underworld, and aradia gets sentenced to elysium, heroes paradise. shes like “no i want my mom to be okay” so they take that away from aradia and they put them both in the fields of asphodel, the neverending grey space for Not So Good But Not So Bad people. her mom becomes a shade (shadow spirit, no human resemblance), as all people do, but aradia. doesnt? and she gets dunked in the fucking river lethe and if you dont know what that does it erases your memory. so she just. comes out of the river like “hello? wgat tae fukc goin on??” but she still remembers one thing. there was an “a” in her name.

tavros is the son of hermes, hes just kinda taken on the role of backup counselor for when the actual cabin counselor is out. hes in a wheelchair, but he also has prosthetic legs for when he needs to actually stand up and fight. hes really good at it too. also catch him in winged converse cause he Owns Those and Uses Them To His Advantage. hes trying his best to keep focused on the camp, cause aradia was his childhood friend, he misses her a whole lot, she never got to camp in the first place. and to his knowledge, shes still dead.

sollux is a janus kid. thats a problem cause janus is roman, and this is a greek camp. he grew up with dave, he showed up with dave, hes been at camp as long as dave. but hes been unclaimed since he showed up so he thinks hes unwanted by whatever parent he has. he knows hes a demigod, he got through the camp barriers, so what the fuck is wrong with him? he also feels shitty cause hes shit at the greek lessons, he cant read a lick of it which literally every demigod without exception should be able to do, he cant name any gods- well, he can, but.. he gets their names mixed up. why does he keep calling poseidon “neptune”? and he has a much, much different way of natural fighting than other kids. they slice, he jabs. he wasnt taught to jab. 

karkat is an aphrodite kid with vitiligo, and to make matters worse, hes ace and on the aro spectrum. to make matters WORSE, the aphrodite kids are kinda notorious for being really shallow, really materialistic, and really mean. karkats been dubbed the “runt” of the cabin, he gets made fun of for his spots to the point where he uses make up and magic to conceal them. worst of all? hes the kid of the goddess of love, for fucks sake. being reminded that “loveless people shouldnt be able to stay in this cabin, mom must have made a mistake claiming you” is kind of.. a blow to the self esteem. long story short he hates aphrodite for claiming him, and would have rather stayed in the hermes cabin. but he eventually goes on this big quest thats vague as fuck right now but Its The Main Plot, he ends up proving to himself that hes worth something and that his siblings are wrong, and my FAVORITE LINE IN THE WHOLE THING i came up with is HIS when he deals a final blow to some big monster: “REMEMBER MY FACE THE NEXT TIME YOU REINCARNATE. MY NAME IS KARKAT VANTAS, I’M THE SON OF APHRODITE, AND LOOKS CAN KILL.”

nepeta isnt anywhere near developed as others are unfortunately, shes a daughter of ares and shes really really good at hand to hand combat. shes small but she leads groups of people in things ranging from camp volleyball games to actual literal wars. shes a tough little shit

kanaya isnt really developed either, i have yet to figure out most of her powers too actually, shes a daughter of iris, the rainbow goddess though. (blatant reference to both kanayas vampirism and. h. her. sh. es ga. gay) ONE THING SHE CAN DO THOUGH is iris message at will without water or drachmas so really shes just everyones go to cell phone and its fucking hilarious cause people just come into the cabin like “KANAYA I NEED TO TALK TO [X]” and shes like “You Better Fucking Pay Me I Am Not Your Personal Cell Phone”

terezi is the daughter of nemesis and she has this really peculiar power she hasnt really gotten the hang of yet. she has synesthesia, so while she cant see she can smell and taste the colors of her surroundings and its really helpful. sometimes though she gets messages from her mom. they dont even come as dreams half the time, they come as almost a different plane altogether. tez has the power to literally tip the scales, pretty much. and when she gets like that, she can see. shes not on earth though, shit on earth stops when shes like that. shes just kinda In Her Own Head, i guess? and in her head she holds the two scales in her hands. she is the arms of the scale. and depending on which one she lifts up, she can literally alter the fate of the battle or happening thats going on By Herself. once she chooses she just whooshes back to real life though and nothing has changed. the only downside? it takes a LOT of energy and cant be exploited for little things. her one thing on her bucket list is to tap into said powers while getting something from a vending machine so like three things will fall out but it hasnt happened yet and shes upset

vriskas a daughter of tyche, the luck goddess, come the fuck on you knew i was gonna, i havent really elaborated on her either and im upset about that. but hey now you get a break from all those fucking paragraphs

equius is a hephaestus kid, and he kinda stays in the background. hes a range fighter, he spends a lot of time in the forge, and even though its been a project looooong since forgotten, hes been excavating the tunnels under cabin nine for years. by himself. he has no idea where they lead, but dammit hes gonna find out where. he has no idea about a certain bunker in the woods though...

gamzees just there for a fucking laugh tbh hes a son of dionysus and i love that cause hes the god of wine and parties and insanity. usually gamzees just zoning out somewhere hes Not supposed to be, and hes not affected by the maenads FUCKED UP BULLSHIT that goes down the forest sometimes. also hes so fucking scared of tavroses wing shoes he tried them on once while he was high and JESUS CHRIST

eridan is the son of kymopoleia, a SUPER obscure goddess. lets just say dont fuck with eridan cause his mom is the goddess of violent sea storms,

and naturally, feferi is the daughter of poseidon. cause who the FUCK else would she be the daughter of. WHO. NAME ONE GOD

OH AND JUST CAUSE I FORGOT CALLIE AND CALIBORN ARE SATYRS IN THIS AU. CALLIE HAS PAN PIPES. and caliborn still has a gun

[platonicone]

Devotion - Story of the Oracle and her Shield

Chapter 29 - Friendship

Why do we confide in others? I wonder…

After braving the snow, they finally came to the haven by a thawed lake. The mountain arch with a deep opening created a nice shelter from the arctic wilderness. The depth of the arch prevented any wind or snow from entering the enclosed space.

“Looks very cozy,” Aranea stated, looking at the haven.

“At this point, even a coffin would look cozy,” commented Squall callously.

“Let’s go get some dry branches before it gets any darker,” she suggested. Squall nodded, and they both got busy gathering wood to burn.

They collected branches and various pieces of wood and dumped them at the fireplace. They huddled around it and tried to start the fire by rubbing stones.

“Oh fire, discovered by cavemen, useful even now,” she commented as a spark from her stone ignited the fire.

They sat as close to the fire as possible without getting burned. She warmed her hands and place it on her face to spread the warmth. Squall leaned in closer to the fire to bask in its warmth.

Once the sun set, the darkness took over. Without any city lights nearby, everything was covered in the thick blanket of darkness.

“I am glad we made it before the demons came out,” she said, rubbing her hands.

“Ya,” he sounded uninterested.

She gazed out into the darkness and her eyes could barely identify any shapes.

“Is this how the world will be if darkness takes over?” She wondered.

“Probably.”

“Is everything okay? You seem distracted,” she noted.

“Just, lots of things going on, that’s all.”

“Wanna talk about it?” She offered.

“No,” both of them said simultaneously. Aranea laughed his predictability.

“You can tell me anything. I am your friend,” she said, leaning closer.

“I know. I don’t want to burden you with my problems,” he replied, averting her gaze.

“Seeing a friend in trouble and not being able to help them is also a burden,” she stated calmly.

“You remind me so much of her,” he commented.

“Her?”

“In my world, I had a friend who stood by my side through thick and thin. She would go out of her way to help me at my slightest discomfort. Even though I never did anything for her, she never left my side.”

“She sounds awesome.”

“Ya, she was. It’s a shame that I don’t even remember her name or her face. But I think she was very intelligent, compassionate and very beautiful too. She even had her own fan club if I recall it correctly.”

“Makes me wonder why was she friends with someone like you?” she said, poking fun at Squall.

“I don’t know. She had no reason to,” he replied, adjusting the wood to keep the fire burning. “Once she wanted to talk about her problem and I told her to go talk to the wall.”

“Wow, you are such an ass. Did you at least apologize to her?”

“I don’t think so. It’s one thing I regret the most. I never treated her right or ever told her how much she meant to me,” he revealed, staring into the darkness.

“Squall, we humans are very resilient when it comes to our survival. However, our hearts are very fragile, it needs to be constantly reassured of love and hope. That is why is so important to tell someone how much you appreciate them or how much they mean to you,” She advised.

“You are right. I should do it more often,” he admitted.

“Everyone wants to be needed by someone. If you can make someone feel needed, you have done a good job,” she added.

“I know, but I have a hard time expressing myself. I’d rather show that I care about them through my actions than say it.”

“Even if you show it by actions, it is still important to say it sometimes,” she countered.

“Why?”

“Because it feels good to hear it,” she replied.

“I guess.”

“Aranea, thank you.”

“For which one? There are too many things you owe me for,” she said jokingly.

“You are one person who does not hesitate to tell me when I am wrong and I appreciate it. Sometimes you need an outside perspective to realize your mistake,” he confessed.

“I will always be at your service if you ever want to be insulted, scar-face,” she stated with a smile. “You are welcome. That’s what friends are for, to cover each other’s weaknesses and improve each other. If as a friend, I don’t help you identify and correct your mistake, then what’s the point of such friendship?”

“Friends like you are rare to find, so thank you for being my friend,” he said earnestly.

“Someone is taking my advice to heart. I like it,” she smiled.

Silence took over again as neither of them said anything.

“So, you gonna tell me what’s going on between you and Luna?” Aranea initiated the conversation.

“Nothing is going on,” he deflected her inquiry.

“That’s not what Luna said,” she stated, shaking her head.

“What did she say?” Squall asked with a glint in his eyes.

“Everything. From the day you meet till now,” she recalled.

“If she already told you everything, then there is nothing more I could add to it.”

“She told me about your journey from her perspective. But I am more interested in hearing your side of the story,” she stated her curiosity.

“Why?”

“Because I am curious. Because we have a lot of time to kill. Because I want to know why you risked your life like that. Because I want to help Luna. Do you need more reasons?” she listed.

“I guess not,” he shrugged.

“So, spill it.”

Squall took a deep breath and began.

“I gotta admit, after hearing all that, I am #TeamLeon. I think you two make a cute couple,” she giggled.

“Stop it,” he said, getting annoyed.

“Oh, come on now, just admit it,” she urged.

“Whatever.”

“You should tell her how you feel,” she suggested.

“Nothing will ever happen between us. She loves Noctis and will marry him someday. I will go back to my world once I take her to Altissia. That is how our story ends,” he remarked in a grievous tone.

After some solemn silence Squall spoke again, “Aranea, can you do me a favor?”

“Ask away.”

“Please help Noctis the best you can,” he stated, humbly.

“Wait! What?” she was taken aback. “You want me to help Noctis? Why?”

“Because Luna loves him. To see him fulfill his duty is her dream. Even though I might not be around to see it, I still want her dream fulfilled.”

“You do know that I don’t like Noctis, right?” She checked.

“Yes, I do. But I also know that you won’t let me down,” he stated.

“Urgh. I have so much pent-up frustration with him. Can I fight with him once and let it all out? Obviously, I won’t break his bones or anything,” she complained.

“Fine, but will you help him after that?” he asked.

“Yes, I promise.”

“Thanks.”

“You are so weird,” she said, shaking her head.

“You would have to be more specific than that,” he advised.

“It’s like you are going out of business because of a competitor, but you still want to make sure that they get all your customers once you are gone. Why?” she wondered.

“I am not doing it for him. I am doing it for Luna. I want her to be happy, even if it's not with me. Her happiness lies with Noctis.”

“What about your happiness?” she inquired.

“My happiness is in seeing her happy,” he replied sincerely.

“Why do you love her?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied honestly.

“For someone so pragmatic, I thought you would know why.”

“Love is irrational by nature. You can have reasons to like someone, but you don’t need a reason to love someone. You just do.”

“Never thought you to be a hopeless romantic,” she said with a chuckle.

“I would like to think that I am pragmatic romantic.”

“There is no such thing as that. Now you are just making things up,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Isn’t that how the language was invented? Someone came up with some words and gave meaning to it,” he defended.

She just gave a facepalm in response.

“Your turn to speak.”

Aranea narrated her childhood, growing up in Niflheim, joining the military, and her rise to being a Commodore. One thing Squall could notice was that she was fiercely loyal to Niflheim.

After hearing her story, Squall asked, “Who was that little girl on the train? I saw you playing with her in Tenebrae as well.”

That question caught her off-guard.

“Oh, she is, um…” Aranea seemed to struggle to come up with a coherent sentence. “She is a friend’s daughter.”

Squall scrutinized her. She knew he was on to her.

“I thought you are were not allowed to keep secrets from a friend,” he stated, calmly.

Aranea sighed before speaking. “As a soldier, we sacrifice our body for our nation. Let’s just say that there is more than one way to sacrifice your body.”

“Oh…” it suddenly dawned on Squall on what she meant. “She is your—”

“Yes, she is my monster,” she interjected before he could complete. “Her name is Solara Aldercapt Antiquum.”

“Aldercapt?” his eyes widened.

“She is the granddaughter of Emperor Aldercapt. After the prince’s untimely death, the Emperor was left without an heir. However, they had preserved the DNA of the prince. I volunteered for the sake of my country. Only Emperor Aldercapt and I know of this secret. Now you know it as well.”

“I promise to take this secret to my grave,” he responded earnestly.

Aranea nodded in appreciation.

“She is my world. I want to keep fighting for a better future for her sake,” she said, as fire danced in her iris.

“You are lucky, Aranea,” Squall spoke softly.

“Why?” She asked, taken aback.

“Many people find a reason to die for, but only a few find a reason to live for. I am happy you found that reason to live for.”

“It was unexpected at first, but I finally found my reason to live. Even if the world goes dark, I’ll keep fighting for a better future.”

They chatted at great length about Aranea’s past. Talking with each other kept their mind away from hunger and cold. They continued to chat till dawn.

They heard engine noise coming in their direction. “They are here.”

A sense of relief washed over them when they heard that voice.

Within seconds Biggs and Wedge came into view, riding their snowmobile. Biggs waved at them and Aranea waved back.

They rode back to the ship on their snowmobiles. A medic on-board checked on them as soon as they entered the ship.

As the ship descended toward Tenebrae Aranea approached Squall. “Here, you should keep this,” she said, handing him something.

He looked at it and was shocked to see it, “Frozen tear! Why are you giving it to me?”

“Think of it as a token of our friendship. Keep it safe until I ask for it.”

“Yes, I’ll keep it with me so I can return it to you someday.”

“Good.”

The airship lowered and the hangar door opened. They said their goodbyes and made their way to their respective home.

Next Day

Leon did not see Aranea the next day at all. He assumed that she must be busy with her duties and taking care of her monster. He went for a stroll with Gentiana as usual. The healing camp was over the number of pilgrims was significantly less now. They could finally walk without bumping into each other. He had hoped to see Luna, but she had requested her meals in her room.

Next Day

A loud banging on the door woke up Squall. He stumbled his way to the door, “Biggs?”

“Sir Squall, Lady A has been captured by the Empire and she has been branded as a traitor," said frantic Biggs.

Hearing that, Squall was wide awake now. “What? How?”

“We don’t know much detail, but I got an SOS from her on our secure channel. We traced her signal, and her last location was in Zegnautus Keep, Gralea. The Empire will execute her if we don’t rescue her soon,” he pleaded.

Author's notes:

So, what do you think about this chapter? Are you #TeamLeon or #TeamNoctis? Let me know in your comments below. If you don't have much to say then at least say 'Hi' so I know someone is reading this. It would really brighten my day. Thanks :)

[lucaporter]

Quarantine Prompts | Seventeen Prompt: You write part one, and I'll write part two. Challenge: You have to write it on a character of my choice, and I write my part on a character of your choice. You choose: Luca Porter I choose: Atti Reeves !!! 

“Ooh, yes! Yes, just like that!” 

“Shh,” Luca grinned, thrusting himself into the random girl he’d brought home that Saturday evening, “Shh, shh.” 

After another couple of seconds, he finished. He hoped she had too from their foreplay earlier, but if he was being honest, Luca really didn’t care. She was just some random girl he’d met at the bar. The bartender, in fact. Her hair was dark, long, and silky. Though, it was actually a little sweaty now. Her frame was petite, she wasn’t all too tall, and she had two birthmarks on her chest. Her eyes were brown, but a dazzling light brown, and her lips turned upwards into a smile without her even trying. She was beautiful, that was for sure. 

With his index finger twisted around a strand of her hair, he realized just how much she looked like Brianna. And thinking back to last weekend with another hook-up, she did too. Even the one before her did as well. And the one before all of them. Whew. Instantly, Luca twitched at the thought and sat up. Now, the girl in his bed, (Ashley or Amanda maybe?), was a reminder of who he was missing, who he’d been missing for so long - Brianna. Luca longed for her. She was the closest thing to true love he’d ever felt before, and he wanted to experience everything with her. They had their hot and steamy moments, and they had their fights. He was pretty corny and always wanted one of those moments where the couples fight and then kiss in the rain, but it never came. Instead, Brianna left Luca high and dry, and he’d been finding her in random girls ever since. 

“Ahem,” After only a couple minutes Luca rolled off his bed and put on his boxers, “Can I drive you home?”

She seemed confused, “Right now?”  “Yeah, my daughter wakes up sometimes with nightmares,” He lied, “I’ll drop you off wherever.” 

“...Fine.” She hurried to get her jeans back on, and then they were off. 

Luca ended up dropping her back off at the bar - that’s where her car was. He found out her name wasn’t actually Ashley or Amanda, but Avis, and he complimented her on it as they shared one last kiss before she disappeared into the night. Luca watched as she made it into her Honda Civic safely, and then she hit her Juul and pealed off quickly, kinda as a “fuck you” to him, but also kinda not. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t care either. He just kept on thinking about Brianna. 

With the half dozen beers he had in his system, he was tempted to call her. Though, the last time he’d drunk called her didn’t go too well. She called him stupid for being drunk in the middle of the day with Iris probably around, and though she had every right to say that, it still stung him. So, instead of calling Brianna, Luca called his next best option - Atticus. He knew it was roughly 2:30 AM, but he still wanted to have a couple more beers and drone on about Brianna to his best friend. When Atti didn’t pick up Luca’s first, second or third call, he decided to take matters into his own dumbass hands. Luca parked his car in front of Atti and Rae’s new house, looking at the gate that scaled around the entire property. It was crazy to see where Atti had gone - the heights and successes he’d soared to. A part of Luca could’ve been jealous, but he truthfully wasn’t. Atti brought him along for the ride when he could, and that was enough for him. 

Luca tried to open the gate, and when he couldn’t, he decided to just climb over it. Did I mention he was still a tad tipsy? “Damn it,” He mumbled under his breath, falling into Rae and Atti’s yard, “Rich ass motherfucker.” 

As soon as he got semi-close to the house, motion-activated lights flashed on him, and moments later, Atti, disheveled and a whole lot confused, opened the front door. 

“Aye, aye, hi buddy! Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” Luca put his hands up, that corny smile of his falling onto his lips, “I just wanna have some freaking beers with my boy!” 

Atti shook his head, “At 3:00 in the morning?”  “Uh...” Luca invited himself in, patting Atti on the shoulder, “Yeah!” 

[maikatc]

black sun tale but it’s the original first draft i wrote back in seventh grade like three or four years ago

and yes, i mean the entire 2k words of it, unedited too

Hyhqwv

“I wonder what’s going on right now,” I was in my living room couch and checked out the latest news on YouTube from my black laptop. New York City has been going wild on the internet lately. There have been pictures and videos of dead bodies and people proclaiming that they saw monsters. News stations are even going on saying that deaths are occurring at random places with no evidence for a reason. The subway, buildings, even some at the theme park. The unknown cases are causing major panic for most, parents aren’t even letting their children go outside. 

“I don’t think anything will happen today,” my dad replied to me while he was in the kitchen. 

“And you probably just jinxed it,” I continued scrolling through the page, skimming at the titles until I found something. The headline said Children Are Not Safe Anymore. I clicked on the video, there was a dead small girl inside a house. She looked like she was only five years old. No injuries at all. The babysitter said she was in the kitchen while the child named Alexa was in her bedroom playing with her dolls. Apparently, Alexa was the daughter of a new model, Lumi Katsmann, and she was too busy to have much time with her. I suppose she kept the little girl inside like most would but now there’s no certainty that would work. 

I went on my phone to see if Twitter or Instagram has anything. When I turn on my phone, there was a text notification from Sora. Saying that I was late 

Sora has been my friend since middle school because of me being the first person she met. She’s nice, but does have a bit of a temper, doesn’t really matter though. When summer began, we planned to meet up the day after she comes back from her summer trip, July 2nd at 3:15. 

2:31

Sora: Jackson, you’re late

Jackson: But I thought you said at 3:15

Sora: I said 2:15

I scrolled through my phone all the way until I got to when we planned the outing. As I looked at the conversation, I realized that she did say 2:15. Well shit. I got up from the couch I was laying on, my legs wobbled from not standing up for a few hours. All I had on were bowers and a T-shirt I used when I sleep so I decided to change clothes. 

“Are you going anywhere,” I forgot to tell dad. 

“I’m just meeting up with Sora at the park,” I spoke while rushing to get myself ready. I put on a white shirt with black stripes, blue jeans and a pair of Nike shoes. Before I left, I grabbed my phone just in case something else happens today and went off. 

“Bye dad.”

“Be careful Jackson.”

“‘Kay,” as I close the door. 

I turned around to go to the destined land, the park. Sora would be a bit moody when I make it there for being late but I guess I should tell her what’s been happening lately. She would at least be intrigued, she’s interested in mystery. I know enough things about her that people would think we’re childhood friends, but we’ve only known each other for five years. Now thinking about it, we’ve been together for a long time. I remember in freshman year, I even got interested in her, but I knew things would get awkward between us, especially if something bad happened. At the end, I decided to not say anything, eventually the interest faded away. Now, everything’s chill and we’d hang out every few days or so

Some good breeze was passing through me while walking. The weather said this was one of the best summer days ironically. Aside from that kid’s death, perfect weather , good time of relaxing, it has been an enjoyable day so far. And now I’m about to be at the park.

Wrgdb Eulqjv Wkh Ixwxuh

It’ll be a few seconds before I make it to the assigned area. It was more silent than usually, no sound at all really. I stood as I got to the entrance. The breeze flew throughout knocking some leaves off the trees while I saw something terrifying.

Blood.

Dead bodies.

Sora’s dead body.

Right in front of me.

Impaled.

Her brunette hair dyed with blood.

What happened?

What caused this to happened?

Why is everybody dead?

Their guts are even showing.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

I see something over there.

It looks big.

It looks like

A Chinese dragon.

It has claws.

They’re covered in blood.

Buried in blood.

Run.

Run.

Run!

RUN!

I ran as fast as I could in the wish of survival. A girl, light brown hair, walk past me, walking to where it was. 

I stopped. “Don’t go there! You’ll get yourself killed!”

She paused her walking and turned around. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine,” she smiled while her hazel eyes glistened in the distance as she continues to the land of demise. 

I have no time to save her, she would die either way, so what’s the  point? She chose to go there. It doesn’t matter now.

My mind was in survival mode, the side of humans which doesn’t make them think heroically in the shows. Reality is different, we’re selfish in this mode, you do whatever to survive. People probably don’t except this fact, hell, even I don’t like to except it sometimes, but one day they have to. 

I was running through the streets. Bumping into people the entire time. Looking at me like they should. I looked like I saw the depths of hell and ran like a madman. I didn’t care, I saw something that could’ve killed me. I was getting tired, I needed to rest. I was about to come up to an alley, I turned to the dark surroundings, sat down and closed my eyes for a second. 

“Wow, how ironic you came here,” the voice sounded like a kid’s. I opened my eyes, Nike shorts with bright green sneakers. Looking up I saw more of the child, white shirt with a few stains, a black hoodie with bright blue highlights, half zipped. I wasn’t sure if they were a boy or girl. Their black hair was droopy and went down to the middle of their neck, but by the voice, I’m guessing it’s a boy. What really caught my attention was his eyes. The left one was only a deep sea blue, somewhat rare but still normal. Then there was his right eye. There wasn’t even a pupil or iris. It was silver in background but covering most was a design that looked like a black sun.

“Alleyways are popular here aren’t they? And you came to the alley where I live,” I looked around and saw it was decorated a little bit. A calendar and a few papers on the wall which contains drawings that each said ‘accomplishment’. There was even a small dream-catcher.

After a few seconds, I noticed, “How old are you?”

“Ummm, I’m about to turn thirteen soon, but don’t think about messing with me,” he was definitely lying. He was much shorter than me and his voice was barely deep. He seemed like he was in around the end of elementary school. What questioned me was that he was saying he lived in the alley. He was too young, he’d die. “Wait a minute, what’s that on your forehead?”

My black hair covers the majority of my forehead, but it looked like he saw something there. He began to reach it with his hand. 

“What do you think you’re doing,” as he split the front hair. His face started looking surprised, confused, but had some excitement.

“Woah,” he smiled,” you’re one of us,” he turned around and paused for a second to think. I was in confusion the entire time. Who is he? Why is his eye like that? What does he mean by one of us?

“Let’s go,” he grabbed my hand immediately and got me up with incredible strength for his size.

“Hey Aladdin! I have defeated the dragon th-,” then appeared the girl with light brown hair.

Phhwlqjv

“Wow, finally we found somebody else,” the girl has a yin-yang T-shirt and blue baggy shorts, nothing that revealing, but there was something black poking out of her chest.

“Who are you people,” how was she still alive,and she said she defeated that thing. Why did she call that kid Aladdin? That’s a fictional character, who would name their kid Aladdin?

“Glad you asked! We are Black Sun Tale! We are people who have special abilities and defeat these monster, creature things. And you’re apart of it!”

“What,” These people are insane. How am I apart of this? I thought to myself.

“You didn’t explain everything Annette.”

“Why don’t you call me by Belle?”

“Because your ‘code names’ are stupid.”

“I think they’re cool,” she said in a pouty face

“They’re fairy tales!”

I saw them bicker at each other for the next two minutes until I had enough, “Can you explain to me what is going on? I don’t know who both of you are and somehow I’m a part of this group? Why?”

“Well-” the girl called Annette started speaking until the sun-eyed boy stopped her.

“Let me do this, explaining it with your peppy attitude will make him think we’re insane.”

“Fine,” she said with crossed arms.

“Okay, so see my eye? Well Annette-”

“Belle!”

“Whatever, Belle, has a black sun mark too. Show it.” the so-called Belle lowered her shirt to show a black sun mark on the top of the left side of her chest. 

“And if you look at your forehead, you have one too. Oh and for a bit more detail, we have three members so far and I’m the leader.”

“How are you the leader.” I questioned him. I didn’t believe a group that defeats creatures that kills would be a little kid.

“I was the one who got this stuff in the first place and found all of you guys. I’ve also been though some traumatising shit, how do you think I’m living here? My family kicked me out? Why the hell would they do that,” his voice filled with anger, it looked like he was about to cry.

“Can you calm down. Look sure I’ll join whatever you’re doing. I just have a few more questions.”

Belle came into the conversation, “Um sure. What do you wanna ask?”

“Well you said that there are three members right? Well then who’s the third member?”

“Oh! Well, um, uhh she’s not that active with the group lately. She’s the youngest in the group, turning twelve in two weeks, but she’s, what do you call them, oh, a shut in. She was to be somewhat hyper like me, and she annoyed Aladdin even more than me because of her being a fangirl over stuff like anime and such. Now, she’s consumed by the internet and almost never goes out. She also sleeps more at day than she does at night, but I think she’s Aurora, or Briar if you like the book more, from Sleeping Beauty!”

“Second, what are your real names?”

“Oh fine, since you’re in the group. I’m Annette Jasofy, Aladdin’s name is Ayu, he never told me his last name for private reasons, and Briar’s is Roselle Karzen. Oh I forgot to ask, what’s your name?”

“Jackson Bardsly,” I wasn’t hesitant, they were younger than me, they couldn’t do anything. “Lastly, how old are you guy’s?”

“I’m fourteen, Aladdin-”

“Ayu!”

“Yeah yeah, he’s twelve and Briar is as I said, eleven. And we’re wondering about your age?”

“Seventeen.”

“Thanks, I can’t wait to see your power, so Aladdin what do you want to do now?”

I didn’t notice but Ayu was observing the whole conversation. He had a bored look but still had a bit of curiosity in his eyes.

“I don’t know, shouldn’t we let the newbie choose,” he spoke with a somewhat sarcastic tone but looked at me. 

“I would like to meet the third member,” Ayu looked at me with a face that said he did not want to go there at all, “but I think I’ll  go home… My friend was at the park.”

It was silent, even Annette wasn’t sure what to say. Ayu then grew dejection on his face. He walked up to me slowly and raised his arm to my shoulder. Having small tippy toes and eyes down to the ground. 

“It’s fine, you can come here anytime… We’ll help I guess.... And don’t worry, something like that happened to me too,” he was quiet at first but by the end he was smiling with some hope in his eyes. 

After we said our goodbyes, I left to my house. Unsure of what to tell my dad, and thinking of what to do tomorrow. Should I just stay home and be on my laptop all day? Or should I hang out with those kids. Questions flying all around on what to do.

“I’m back, Dad.”

“How was your date?”

I froze for a moment, thinking back on what happens, but I about that aside.

“First of all, it wasn’t a date. And… Nothing really happened.”

[dc-marvel-imagines]

Whatever It Takes - Nora Allen x Reader x Barry & Iris

Summary: Nora West-Allen, daughter of Barry and Iris...and little sister to you. After growing up without her father and then losing her big sister to a different cause of events she goes back in time to get a chance to see her father once more only to find her big sister as a teenager currently.

Nora arrived during your parents ‘second’ wedding, and when it was revealed of who she was it was a shocker. You don’t remember having a younger sister at all currently you were an only child and learning how to use your powers too.

However for Nora, it was kind of weird to meet her big sister at such a young age, then again it was still nice to see her even if she was younger due to her disappearance in the future she was from.

But as of right now Nora had to tell the truth, the truth that she wasn’t stuck here in the past but wanted to stay because...Barry never comes back and you...you die ten years after she was born.

Using the thing on her arm she shows the true paper article.

‘25 Years Later - Flash Still Missing’

“Dad doesn’t come back?!” You asked shocked. “That’s not all...” Nora frowns.

Raising her hand she swipes to the side and another part of the paper is shown.

‘(H/N) Dies In Battle, Fighting Meta-Human’

“I die?!” You asked. “Ten years after I’m born you try so hard to keep the name Flash alive...but in the end, you die. You were my hero, when things got tough you’d return and pick me up...and when I lost you, it hurt so bad.” Nora explains.

Barry and Iris look at one another shocked, they still remember what future you did for them in the past when you saved Iris, Nora was just like you...going back in time to meet the one parent each of you grew up without.

“I know this is weird sis but I...I just missed you so much and I wanted to meet dad, get to know him like you did.” Nora says. “Whatever it takes we’ll change the future then.” You reply smiling. “She’s right, we’ve changed things before we can do them again when the time comes,” Iris says.

You smile and nod your head, heading out Barry and Iris hang back and confront Nora about this deciding it might be good to tell their youngest about what her older sister did in the past.

That there might just actually be hope.

“You know she becomes the biggest hero in your place dad,” Nora tells. “I have no doubt, but you need to know something,” Barry says. “What is it?” Nora asked. “Your not the first child to come back in time to meet one of us...” Iris says. “What do you mean?” Nora asked, confused. “(Y/N) once came back from a future where Iris was dead...she came back in time to help save her,” Barry explains. “But why doesn’t she remember?” Nora asked. “Because back then she went into the Speed Force to keep our world in place...and she’s here now because I became pregnant with her while her future self was helping us,” Iris says. “So this kind of thing has happened?” Nora asked. “Kind of, but don’t put blame on her...the (Y/N) you knew doesn’t remember what she did for us,” Barry says.

Nora didn’t actually blame you for it, she was actually kind of relieved that she wasn’t the first to do something like this, to her it must’ve been selfish but the fact her big sister did it before she was born.

“So I’m kind of like her?” Nora asked. “In a way yeah.” Barry chuckles. “Cool, I always looked up to her.,” Nora replied.

After that, the family went out for a movie night and if meta-humans happened the three went together having some good times as a family even as they came up with countless ideas to defeat the enemy.

||A/N: Kind of a spin-off from ‘I Will Save Mom’ series, not sure if I’ll continue this since I wanna see what happens to Barry first before I “Maybe” make a part 2 for this so yeah might have to wait if you wish for another.||

[sanvitheartificer]

Fic author meme!

Tagged by: @charmandhex and @everqueen12; thanks dears!

Your name: Sanvi! 

Fandoms you write for: Mostly the Adventure Zone, a bit for a few others. I get inspired for different fandoms all the time, but being in a fic writer discord has helped me hang on to inspiration long enough to actually do something about it. 

Where you post: Mostly ao3 @ https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanvitheartificer! I used to post on fanfiction.net, but that was Long Ago and probably embarrassing. Tbh even my ao3 is embarrassing, so.. yes. Also I guess tumblr, occasionally? I feel weird posting on tumblr bc i don’t do oneshots often and other stuff is unwieldy to post on tumblr.

Most popular oneshot: I guess it depends on how you count one-shots? “fourteen-thirteen”, which is a Umbrella Academy fic, is unlikely to ever be finished and it’s technically one chapter, but also the story is bigger than one chapter even if it’s not a story I’m going to tell. “endings alone”, also for UA, is in second place, and that’s for sure a one-shot! I got those published right when UA was booming so that’s why, I think. 

Most popular multi-chapter story: deffo ‘how seven idiots stole the light of creation’! A silly TAZ fic set in an ostensibly modren age which is basically just an excuse for me to write mysteries and falling in found family love. It is pretty big in scale!

Favorite story you’ve written: See, I’m torn between seven idiots and Pokemon Balance: Bronze. Bronze is one that is soothing for me, that it even exists, and I’ve done some very cool art for it, and I love my worldbuilding for it. and I’ve been retroactively Nervous about ‘seven idiots’ for months now, for a variety of reasons! but like, i cannot tell you how many nights I’ve spent grinning my face off working on seven idiots and figuring out the plot twists, and it’s the farthest I’ve ever gotten into a story that big. It’s a really cool story and I can’t wait to finish it. 

Story you were nervous to post: Hmm, I think I was nervous to post ‘endings alone’, which involves several different neo-pronouns? but i was also filled with a huge ‘fuck-you-die-mad-about-it’ energy, too. usually i’m Really Hyped when i’m posting things, tbh, overwhelming any nerves. 

Do you outline: Yep! It’s often the first thing I sit down and bang out. I’ve recently started doing a thing where i outline just before i write something, like, outline a scene and then later go back and tie the scenes together, and that’s been working really well! But I think with longer WIPs, that fits into the skeleton that I create with Big Outlines. 

How many of your stories are complete: Um. do u mean ‘abandoned’  ...the real answer is, a solid six, with a few edge cases of ‘i guess you could probably count that as complete’? A lot of those are... hoooo boy. old writing. and none of them are more than one chapter. 

How many of your stories are in progress: Also a complicated answer, as it turns out! On AO3, I definitely plan to finish ‘seven idiots’ and ‘pokemon balance: bronze’, eventually, and I hope to finish the ‘forgiveness in seven parts’ series eventually, which is really just seven different parts of one story.  ‘The Woods’ is ancient and basically drawing mostly from the first season of Young Justice, which is to say it has an audience of Me Only, but I’m still a slut for codependency and poly and my caricatures of those characters and all the reasons I started writing it, so it may possibly get picked back up!  Hoooowever, the only thing I am actively in the process of writing for right now is an unpublished TAZ fic... Coming soon: About Lup and Davenport bonding and Merle and Lucretia bonding during the Stolen Century; working title, ‘father-daughter day!’ It’s very cute, and should clock in about 10k. Progress is slow but steady. 

A oneshot prompt from Charm! 

Evil Overlord Lucretia AU!

Finishing 'seven idiots’ and ‘bronze’ and maybe even ‘forgiveness in seven parts’!

Some other stuff on the backburner: i’d love to do more brainstorming for pen pals au, which was a back-and-forth tumblr thing that i contributed to a bit yyyyesterday I think. Really want to write some fic for The Strange Case of the Starship Iris, the Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Prachett, possibly Girl In Space, and Fate and the Fablemaidens, though I don’t have any well-formed ideas for them. 

Do you accept prompts: Mmmmm I’m gonna say no not really. it’s hard enough to get myself to write the stuff I wanna write. I... yeah, prompts are not a way my brain can work. 

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write: I’m really fucking excited about all my projects but I am dying to get into Evil Overlord Lucretia; it’s just a super cool story and it has a bomb playlist already and I love it a lot. 

Tagging: @cakeandpi, @simplyaskeleton, @shadow-and-purgatory, if you wanna! <3