#story petals

[peachcitt]

yesterday i went to a hot topic and there was the obligatory cute hot topic employee at the register cashing me out and they had a garfield “they/them” pin on so i said “hey i like your pin” and they were like “omg thank you i love garfield” and i was like “yeah i really… align with his morals.” whatever that means. organic hot topic experience i guess

[hermajestythetrashqueen]

Some costume designs for each arc.

[thebeautyofmysoul]

Through pages, we turn Stories of us intertwined Words like petals fall With every chapter, we write A tale of unyielding love.

[dollanganger-in-the-attic]

Anyone ever think of the parallels between Flowers in the Attic and the biblical story of the Forbidden Fruit?

Like God put the forbidden fruit in the garden and warned Adam and Eve not to eat it- putting the thought in their minds in the first place. And if God is all knowing then he knew they would eat it and just wanted an excuse to punish them. So when they do eat, he punishes them so.

In Fita the grandmother puts the idea of incest in the kids heads to the point of obsessive thought. Constantly warning them against it when they probably never would have come to such an idea on their own. And the whole while, Olivia believes they eventually will commit incest but she just sits and waits for it so she can punish them.

You think this was on purpose? Lets discuss

[slowandsteddie]

Lazy Petals

AO3

Okay. This work is NOT completed. I cannot guarantee an update schedule because only the first chapter is completed. However, I DO have everything plotted out (assuming it doesn’t get a mind of its own) and the goal is to be 50k+ words.

This story is very personal to me. I’ve taken my grandparents love/live story and made it Steddie. The characters are going to be OOC. Just letting you know right off the bat in case that is something you aren’t interested in. Also, this is a No Upsidedown AU.

My grandparents were immediately obsessed with each other, but didn’t date until after they had graduated high school. Which means that while this isn’t a slow burn, it is going to be slower than the stuff I usually write.

I don’t want to give too, too much stuff away. There there is a post where I described the main highlights and asked your opinion on reading it. There is also a poll where I asked if I should start posting before it was finished, and I got a pretty definite yes.

I saved the divider that I plan on using for this series back when I first started talking about it. I have since lost my note that told me whom to give credit to. If you know who made it (or know how to find that information on mobile!!) please let me know.

I think that’s enough of a preamble. Without further ado, here be the CW’s and the first 3,489 words.

Content Warnings: Steve was hit by a car and in a full body cast for over a year - he makes a bowling joke about it, his parents are very distant, his grandparents got very distant after his injury and he doesn’t understand why, Wayne is very careful while babysitting to make sure that no one can accuse him of being inappropriate, mentions of his mom overmedicating him so he’s easier to deal with, mentions of how weak he got from being in the cast. And as always, let me know if I missed anything.

Steve didn’t remember much about that night.

His mother said that it was a blessing and refused to fill in any blanks for him under any circumstances.

His father, however, if he had drunk enough whiskey, would look at the six year old Steve as though he were a much older man and sigh before telling him anything he wanted to know.

Which meant that Steve knew that the car that hit him swerved in order to do so. (He didn’t know if the lady in the little blue car did it on purpose, or if she was a distracted driver. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know that.) He knew that she had to have been going over forty miles per hour because the impact sent him flying at least a dozen feet before he slammed into that bus stop. He knew that the driver kept going and that at least half a dozen people ran to his aid and that one of the women had screamed because he was unconscious and she was so certain that he was dead. His little body was so broken and bloody and they couldn’t see him breathe.

He also knew that his father got to his hospital room before his mother, sweat pouring down the older male’s body as though he had showered in his clothes because he had run there from work. His mother showed up over twenty minutes later, all put together like she had taken the time to clean herself up before appearing. Something his father wasn’t sure if he could forgive her for. (This was one of the few times that his father would express just how much that he loved Steve, and he would carry that warmth with him forever.)

He knew that they had to revive him four times, that they had done twelve surgeries, that they had put him in a full body cast because nearly every bone in his body had been broken, including parts of his spine. He knew that his parents had been told that he would likely never walk again. He knew that a specialist had pulled his father aside to inform him that his brain wouldn’t develop normally after all of the trauma that it had been through after being smacked around in his skull. They’d have to be careful, and that they’d have to understand if he never progressed much past the age that he was now. That he could be in his fifties and still acting five and that there was nothing that could be done beyond what they had already done – remove a small part of bone behind his ear to help relieve the pressure and pray for the best while preparing for the worst.

And, while he couldn’t remember the absolute agony that he must have been in. He did have the descriptions that he used to tell his father. That there was lava in his veins and his bones were shards of ice cold glass threatening to tear him apart completely. His father had only told him that part once, with tears in his eyes. “There wasn’t anything I could do to help you, boy. I couldn’t take the pain away. I would have died to save you even a fraction of that.”

That was one of the few times that he could remember his dad hugging him. He had been so careful and gentle while pressing his face into his hair. He inhaled deeply and he cried. And Steve had done his best to hug him back despite the plaster that made it near-impossible to move his arms at all.

At first, Steve had thought that it was really cool to be stuck in bed all the time. He didn’t have to do anything. That got boring within a week and he still had at least a year ahead of him where he was meant to stay in bed unless he was in the bathroom or at a doctor’s appointment.

Even eating in bed, something that had once been unacceptable and even punishable before, lost its novelty pretty quickly.

He liked having his mom read him notes from the teacher and his classmates. He liked her reading him his homework assignments and writing down his answers for him so that he would still be on track. It made him feel like an important man, like his dad was going to be, with a secretary.

The thing is, though, that he really missed going outside. He missed playing in the woods outside of the trailer park where he lived. He missed going to his grandparents house with the pool and the stairs that he’d probably never be able to walk again. He could climb them, though, after the cast was removed. He was pretty sure. He might not have a lot of muscle left at that point, but that would just mean that he was lighter and had less to have to move anyway.

When Steve brought that up to his mother, her lips would turn into a very tight, thin line and something he couldn’t name would flash in her eyes. “You are not going to go to that house any time soon, young man. It’s best to let those ideas go.”

“But I miss Grandma Marty and Grandpa Pete, and they won’t come here,” he whined.

“The Harrington’s won’t come to the trailer park and you know that.”

“We’re Harrington’s too,” he’d say defiantly.

She’d leave the room at that. Effectively ending an argument that they had had multiple times before. But what else did Steve have to talk about? He didn’t really have anyone else to talk to either, other than their neighbor that he had taken to calling Mister Wayne.

Wayne was probably a few years older than his dad and lived alone in a trailer that had always seemed so lively despite the quiet man who lived in it. He always had the tv or the radio on when he was home and Steve lived for that. Because his window was always cracked open for the breeze, which meant the sound could drift to him as well.

It was better than the quiet of his house that only seemed to get broken up with arguments and slamming doors. He was so used to it, but he still flinched every time and did his best to pull the blanket over his head as though that would muffle the sounds.

Sometimes, Wayne would come to his window and read him a book that his own nephew liked. The Hobbit. Steve fell in love with the adventure of it, and Wayne never seemed to mind reading him the same book over and over, a few pages at a time while he smoked.

More often than not, Wayne was the one who came over to babysit once he noticed that Steve had been left alone. He never once complained about it, never once gave someone else the chance despite all the ladies who would come over with food. And wine for his mom, when they could spare it.

Sometimes, Wayne would talk about his nephew. He was a scrawny kid, a few years older than Steve, named Eddie. Had a dark mop of long curly hair, and eyes that always seemed to have mischief in them. They’d like each other, Wayne was pretty sure, and he’d introduce them the next time that Eddie came to visit.

Steve would want to ask when that would be, but he never did. He had Mister Wayne and that was more than enough for him. His dad was staying later at the office, trying to prove that he deserved that promotion that would get them the hell out of the trailer park, without his parents' money. His mother was getting into yoga and book clubs, and Steve was being left alone a lot. Because, what kind of trouble could he get into when he was stuck in bed? Besides, the neighbors could hear if he shouted for anything and Wayne seemed very invested in making sure that he was okay.

Steve never knew why the older man made sure that his curtains were always wide open and that his light was on so that others could see that he was reading to him, or talking with him, from a chair that was always at least three feet away. Maybe it was so they would know he wasn’t alone? He wasn’t going to ask about it, not wanting to chance scaring away the one adult who never raised his voice at him, who never abandoned him when things got hard like his grandparents seemed to.

Months went by like this. His parents not being home, his grandparents not even calling about him, and Wayne doing his best to fill in the difference despite his own job. The other neighbors would come on occasion, but Steve was very sullen with them where he would laugh with Wayne. That didn’t deter them from coming over as he would have liked, and begrudgingly he found himself becoming friendly with a few of them.

It was the beginning of summer when Steve was finally able to get the casts removed. His father took him to the appointment, and he tried to not be disappointed that his mother wasn’t there at first. By the time he was wheeled out to the front of the office, though, his mother was sitting where his father had been.

He did his best to not look at himself. He was pale and scrawny and kind of stinky from not being able to wash himself properly because of all the plaster that had basically covered him for over a year. Most of his bones had healed great, according to the doctor. He wouldn’t know because he still hadn’t looked.

His father came back from wherever he had been, paid the bill with tight lips, and then took Steve out to the car. His mother helped him into the seat before covering him with a blanket that he was grateful for. It wasn’t that he was cold, he just didn’t want the chance to look at himself yet. He wanted to do that when he was home, where if he broke down and cried, no one else would know. Or, he wouldn’t have to see them knowing in any case. And that was enough for him.

They stopped for ice cream on the way and Steve asked for a small strawberry cone. Strawberry wasn’t his favorite, but it was what Grandma Marty had all the time, and he missed her even though she didn’t acknowledge him anymore. Wouldn’t answer his calls, wouldn’t call him back. He didn’t even know if she got the letters that Wayne had helped him write.

When they got home, Wayne wasn’t home. Not for the first time, Steve found himself deeply upset by that. He’d never voice it. Adults had responsibilities outside of him. And he knew that he only got about an hour with Wayne a day, maybe two if he was incredibly lucky.

His father came to help him out of the car, because he had more muscle if Steve should happen to fall. He clung to his father’s arm with all the strength that could muster as he walked like a baby giraffe toward their trailer. Well, he called it walking. It was more like wiggling his lower spine and hips while throwing his legs forward. After maybe five steps like that, he found himself being lifted into his father’s impatient arms as he was carried the rest of the way in and sat on the couch.

“Thank you,” Steve said instead of complaining about not being able to use his legs. He had wanted to walk, to prove that he could.

His father simply grunted in response before going to the kitchen to grab a drink. The same way he always did when he was home for the night.

His mother was inside a few minutes behind them, having stopped to talk to a neighbor briefly. She looked at Steve on the couch and tilted her head at him with a calculating look in her eyes.

“Would you like a bath?”

“Yes, please.”

This time, Steve did get to walk on his own two feet to the destination. He was leaning heavily on the wall, almost gripping on to it with one hand as he practically threw himself forward. He was breathless by the time that he got to the bathroom and pain seemed to radiate out through his entire body, starting at his tail bone.

“You can have some meds after your bath,” his mother said gently. “And I’ll get you your refill before dinner, okay? So you don’t have to worry about running out.”

Steve didn’t think it was time to refill his medicine yet, but he didn’t question it. His mom was on top of it. He was a kid who lost track of time a lot.

He sat on the toilet and he watched his mom prepare the bath for him, knowing that she would only let him have the water a little above room temperature. His skin was sensitive and the steam wouldn’t be good for him with the medicine that he was taking. He couldn’t even have hot food without the steam making him nauseous.

Carefully, he was pulled back to his feet and stripped of his clothes before he was helped into the tub that seemed to be more bubble than water. He sat down carefully, wincing a bit as he did so, before letting himself lean back in the water that felt warmer than it probably was because of his weakened, cool skin.

He sighed in contentment as his mother washed his body for the first time in what seemed like years. He was nearing seven years old and thinking about years in the past, it would make his dad laugh if he shared that thought with him, an idea that made him smile.

His mom washed his hair, tilting his head back and using a hand to make sure that no soap got in his eyes that he had squeezed tight. He got to play in the bubbles for a few minutes, his dad standing at the door as his mom got him some comfy clothes and a towel.

It was his dad who dried him off and helped him get into his clothes.

“Thank you, Daddy,” he said softly. He knew he was expected to thank his dad for everything he did that was above and beyond, which meant he ended up thanking him for everything.

Steve was carried back to his bed, something that he would have whined about if he wasn’t so tired and in so much pain. He was tucked in and his mom came to give him some toast and juice to take his pills with. He knew he was only meant to have one, but he took both that his mother gave him anyway. He washed it away with grape juice and half of the slice of toast she had brought him.

“Thank you, Mommy,” he murmured.

“Get some rest, love,” she replied while kissing his forehead. “You had a big day today.”

Steve nodded in agreement, wishing that it could be that easy to just let the sleep overtake him. He closed his eyes as his mom left the room.

His father checked on him once a day, his mother gave him two pills instead of one, and made sure he at least had breakfast and dinner. One of the neighbors made sure he had lunch and new puzzles to work on, new toys to play with. Steve would wander around the trailer as best as he was able, and Wayne would read to him before he went to bed.

Days turned to weeks like that.

One day, Wayne wasn’t at work and both of Steve’s parents were gone. He wandered over to his bedroom window and opened it wide.

“Mister Wayne, if I can get to the front door, can you help me out?”

His walking was still unsteady and stairs were very difficult for him.

“Are your parents okay with you being outside?” Wayne asked sympathetically.

“Uh. Dad said I could as long as I either finished my puzzle or put it up first.”

Wayne gave him a knowing look. “Okay, you little hellion. But only because I know you’d hurt yourself trying to do it anyway.”

Steve beamed and closed his window most of the way before making his way to the front door. It was a struggle to unlock the door because of the latch chain, but he managed. Wayne was waiting there for him with an unlit cigarette hanging between his lips.

“Getting outside used to be easier,” he sighed before reaching out.

“Maybe it’s the weight of knowing that you’re doing something you shouldn’t be,” Wayne teased as he picked Steve up and set him back down on the ground.

“No idea what that means, but thank you for helping me pass the stairs.” Steve grinned widely, the dirt and grass squishing slightly beneath his toes. It felt so good.

“You’re welcome, brat.”

Steve giggled before doing his version of walking. He took maybe ten steps, very much aware of how closely he was being watched. His breath came a little harder from the effort, the times between walking so close together. Shakily, he sat down as carefully as he was able. Movement caught his attention and made his head snap up to look toward Wayne’s trailer.

“You gotta ghost!” He exclaimed.

Wayne laughed at that, shaking his head. “That’s the nephew I’ve been telling you about. He’s staying with me for awhile. Treat him like a skittish cat until he’s used to ya, and I’m sure y’all would be good friends.”

“Eddie,” Steve said happily. “Can he come out so I can meet him?”

“I’ll send him out after I smoke my cigarette,” he said as he put more distance between them before lighting up.

“Thank you!”

Steve laid down flat on the grass, spreading his arms and legs out as much as he could without the pain becoming unbearable. It wasn’t very far, but he didn’t care. He got to grip the green strands in his fingers. He got to feel the light and heat of the sun soaking into his skin and settling into his bones. He was beyond convinced that the bright yellow thing in the sky was much more healing than the meds that made him feel tingly from his head to his toes.

He must have fallen asleep like that, because next thing he knew he was being awoken by a toe nudging his shoulder. His eyes flashed open and he was met by the most dark, beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen.

“Uncle Wayne said you just got released from the mummy’s curse.”

“He said that?”

“Well. He said your name was Steve and you just got a full body cast removed a few weeks ago.”

“That sounds more like him.”

“So…What happened?”

“A lady tried to go bowling with me and her car. The only pin she knocked down was me.”

Eddie snorted. “Shoulda planted your feet more firmly, she woulda gotten a strike.”

Steve’s lips tugged into the widest smile that he had ever had on his face. “My parents don’t like it when I joke about it.”

“Parents are stupid.”

“Yeah. How long are you stayin’?”

“As long as I can.”

Steve hummed in thought. “You any good at reading out loud?”

“Depends. What book?”

“The Hobbit.”

Eddie’s entire face lit up, his huge smile showing off the chipped front tooth. “My favorite book in the entire world? Yeah, I’m pretty good at reading it out loud.”

“We should read to each other. I have troubles with some words, but I am trying.”

“I’d like having someone to read and play with.”

“Oh, uh. Playing is hard for me right now. I’m still trying to get my strength back.”

“It’s okay. We read The Hobbit, we gotta have a pretty good imagination. We can pretend to play.”

Steve blushed and looked away. He never had someone his own age willing to work around his limitations before.

“I heard about a game with dice where we can talk out stuff and the dice decide how well it goes,” Steve said suddenly.

“Dungeons and Dragons!” Eddie apparently decided that he was tired of standing because he flopped down next to him at that. He rolled around in the grass before eventually settling on his side, propping his head up on his hand. “I can find a way to make that work with just two people.”

“Oh.”

“Turn that frown upside down, friend. I like a challenge. We’ll make this work because it sounds like fun.”

Steve beamed.

Taglist (let me know if you want added or removed! I was just trying to get who I remembered to seem interested!):

@estrellami-1 @eriquin @epiclazershark @morganski-19 @ellaelsinore @y4r3luv @valinwonderland @thespaceantwhowrites @jackiemonroe5512 @spectrum-spectre @princessstevemunson @ghost--enthusiast @gothwifehotchner @kas-eddie-munson @auroraplume @salisbury-at-the-stake @currently-steddiebrainrot @finntheehumaneater @marshmellowpaint @littlewildflowerkitten @perseus-notjackson @sapphirecobalt-1 @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @gloomysoup @anne-bennett-cosplayer

[bonefall]

a field guide specifically about the creation of the clans and stories about the early clans would have been SO COOL but no we spend an arc with clear sky

on that note tho are there any cool legends the clans share about the beginning of the clans in BB?

If the writers go 5 minutes without saying Clear Sky smells nice they will die

COOL LEGENDS BB!CATS HAVE ABOUT THE DAWN ERA:

Generally, stories from this time are heavily mythologized. It is the era of legends and high fantasy, with its founders being remembered as abstractions more than real cats.

So ideally I'd love to tell arcs where every appearance of the founders in StarClan is like seeing angels. Monstrous, powerful beings that are more elemental than feline. Then, suddenly, you get to go back and see them before their appearances were twisted by generations of fantasy.

The Red Squirrels and the Gray Squirrels (Pishkaf om Chakchak) A ThunderClan myth, especially popular after the exile of SkyClan. The story goes that the wretched gray squirrels once decided to persecute the humble red squirrels. So the red squirrels appealed to Thunderstar to save them, but Skystar decreed that might makes right, and refused to manage the gray squirrels in his territory. It's treated as a kitten story, a parable about the importance of managing one's territory and defending things with low threat level.

Bumble Mumble and the Rogue of Rot The Clan cat version of a tower of babel story. It's the story of an unnamed rogue who steals the kittens of Turtle Heart and Bumble Mumble, killing Turtle Heart in the process. In response, Bumble lets out a mournful wail that strips the Rogue's words away and scrambles language forever.

Sun Shadow Steals the Sun The story of One Eye's defeat, slowly morphed into a cute tale about why you can't stare at the sun. The legend goes that One Eye was unbeatable, wearing a pelt that could not be scratched, even as all the founders united to defeat him. Sun Shadow realized that the only thing that could defeat him was the power within him, and so he challenged him to "show all of his might." Through this, his flesh was burned, but he gained a power above all. He guards this now as the sun itself, but would have to give it up to the next person who defeats him in a staring contest. So don't look!

Snake Claw's Serpents Newest one I'm still working on; but once upon a time, in his hatred of serpents, Snake Claw slew all of them from the deadliest adder down to the most defenseless slowworm. But without snakes to fear coming into their burrows, all the prey hid there, and all the cats of the Clans went hungry. He begged StarClan to return the serpents, and they agreed-- but he would need to craft them again, from memory. He spun his hate into love, but each one still came out endearingly wonky. It's why a grass snake has no venom, a slowworm's tail can fall off, and some adders are green. And most importantly, it is why "Snakes" (serpent in Clanmew, "Sis") have scales despite being "Worms." He forgor.

That last one's still changing though, I think it's very cute but I also want to make sure to put Snake as a character rework before the fun legend I want him to have, lmao.

[cerealmonster15]

I love the first years

[sealixirfairytales]

The Garden Kingdom on tapas

[world-of-wales]

CATHERINE'S STYLE FILES - 2019

20 MAY 2019 || The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, along with their children, visited the 'Back to Nature Garden' at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

[her-penetrating-soul]

━━━━━━⚘ᥫ᭡​᭄∘˚დ━━━━━━

🤍 ‿"When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?"⁀🤍

Ralph Marston

━━━━━━⚘ᥫ᭡​᭄∘˚დ━━━���━━

[frenchfry99]

Yo turns ur cats into an old sappy punk rock couple!!

Iris and Forrest Petals!

Had those in my pocket for a while but didn't really know what to do with them,,, Saw @evillillad 's metal au and wanted to revive my sillies!! I love the ideas you come up with for this one!!

Lineup of Iris' band! Just a concept for now tho, might add one more member later! ❀

I feel like Poison Garden would be a more old-style hard rock/glam rock/glam metal band at first , but Daria as the youngest would bring more modern elements into their music. They love to experiment with genres so it's really welcomed!

Annie has been a close friend of Petals for a long while, knowing them almost since childhood, so she was all up for Iris's idea of creating a band

Oh to be two old punks raising your silly cats together 😔😔 (though they're not even that old, somewhere around early/mid 40s). Young and reckless in their past, Iris and Fozzy are now loving and supportive parents of two lil rascals. Old softies from your neighborhood who act like parent figures to pretty much anyone younger than them hueheh

I don't have quite much for Forrest now but he's definitely a certified malewife lol

Billy and Lilly are absolute lil gremlins in any au and in this one especially

[celestialspark]

Changed the lineart after the first page

Just had to make this scene from the After Story of my current story "Pages and Petals" into a little comic because it was stuck so much in my head~

I do plan on making a few more for the story but we know my motivation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But at least I'm not only writing but also drawing again thanks to my fixation on this story!

Thank you for reading ♥

[geat-26]

Hi

So...I have an oc, a lemon oc. I really like her. She has no history yet, she doesn't even has a name but I wanted to show her anyway <3

Love her SM 💖🍋✨

[slowandsteddie]

WIP Wednesday…

…with a twist!

For every note that this post gets, I will write one paragraph in my current Big Project! (If this gets under fifty notes, I’ll write 2-3 paragraphs per instead of just one.)

I just posted the first part of Lazy Petals here and on AO3. I’m not very far into the second part, but I’m hoping to change that.

On Thursday, I’ll reblog this post with my favorite paragraph/scene as well as a word count for the day.

Also… I’m not posting this like 3 hours before midnight PST because I’m excited about this idea.

ETA: put replies! Even just a dot. As many as you want!! Go crazy with it!!

[meatriarch]

better not catch anyone worshipping the ground that jesse walks on if he becomes a playable character too considering how long HES been supposedly missing like i better not see all these asshats on twt screaming crying throwing up over him when in the same breath they were up in arms about gun making it canon that maria survived and is alive,

[bonefall]

Crap sorry for the double ask but I forgot to bunch this with the last one, do you think Petal would mother Clear Sky’s kits? Not out of any romantic affection but more out of “I’m really devoted to your cause and am willing to do anything to show that, to show how loyal I am”

I feel like Petal is the most obvious choice here... but honestly I just don't *want* that.

Petal (now Petal Claw) is so interesting in canon, with how devoted she is, but also how VICIOUS and grudge-holding she can be. She's a good mother to the children Clear Sky wanted to murder, but I really like the idea that it was just because she had to.

If she was a neglectful mother, they'd be killed for "mercy". And in BB, I like the idea that those kits were GIVEN to her as a reward for her constant loyalty. I just find it really interesting if she's a bit of a "wire mother" who keeps them alive but not coddled.

And... unfortunately, Clear Sky is going to be reducing this next mate to an object a lot. Someone he bosses around, who Thunder Storm is really going to feel like is too nice for this. Someone who spoils Tiger and Pale a lot, out of love but also because they're Clear's kids and it's the only way she has more status than others around her.

Basically I have a specific and kinda sad role in mind for this person. I feel like I'm wasting Petal if I do this to her, when someone else WITHOUT personality could use this more.

Falling Feather, maybe? Jackdaw Cry's sister?