#the grady bunch

[orgonongurlz]

BOO!! im alive!!!!!! heres some chips i havent posted on here yet <33

[permanently-stressed]

The main keeper series can end but I hope Shannon keeps giving us novellas focused on background characters even after it ends

[genericdragon]

Buncha Gradies I drew last year but forgot to post lmao

[mask131]

November is usually my Shining month, and so I want to bring forward again something I have been repeating for a long time now but that I don't see being picked up a lot by people. A detail that is well-hidden inside the Doctor Sleep movie, but that makes the piece even more infinitely appreciable and shows it was made by true Shining fans.

And this detail is... the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel.

Now, when this bunch appeared during the final scene some familiar faces could be spotted. Grady of course, the Injured Guest from the "Great party, isn't it?" scene, the Twins, and of course the Woman of Room 217 -sorry, 237. But there are other faces there - seemingly random people in fancy outfit just for the sake of it. People were confused as to who these people were...

But all you have to do is look at the end credits. And you have a big surprise.

The familiar faces are confirmed to be the ghosts we always thought we were, or to correspond to famous ghosts of the original novel. The twins are confirmed as Grady's two daughters, while the woman in the white dress (not on the picture above but you can her in the scene) is Mrs. Grady. Meaning we have the whole Grady family as ghosts. The woman of room 237 is confirmed to be indeed Mrs. Massey, just like in the book ; as for the Injured Guest (only referred to as "injured guest" in the original scripts of The Shining), the sequel decided to make him Horace Derwent. Meaning he likely can switch between a young/attractive and older/more gruesome form, just like Massey's ghost, since in the original movie Derwent was clearly seen though not named in the scene with the man wearing a dog-bear-like costume (the script confirms it is supposed to be a dog costume though).

Alright, but what of the others? Now this is where things get interesting! The bald man to the right of Grady? That's Vito the Chopper. Yes, the Vito the Chopper from the novel by King, the mafia boss who got his head blown off in the Presidential Suite - as for the two men near him, they are his two bodyguards, Victor T. Boorman and Roger Macassi. Also from the book. These three characters are actually an Easter egg for those who read the book (and we know from the original treatment of Kubrick's movie that the criminal paradise-era of the Overlook and the murders at the Presidential Suite were originally supposed to play a big role in the cinema version of the story too).

But things get even better with the last ghost of the group. He doesn't appear in the picture above either, like Mrs. Grady, but you can notice him during the scene, a large man right behind Mrs. Grady when the ghosts first appear (he is played by Marc Farley). And the ghost's name, as revealed in the credits is... James Parris.

Now, fans of the novel might wonder "Wait... Who's that? I don't recall reading about him". And indeed, you did not! At least if you just read the regular version of the novel! James Parris is however a true character of the Shining, a true victim of the Overlook Hotel, a character written about and invented by Stephen King... But he is part of the deleted prologue of the novel, "Before the Play". You know this prologue that was not part of the published novel but was released in various TV magazines several times, and then finally re-added to the main novel in the collector Cemetery Dance edition of "The Shining"? You must have heard of it - even before the Cemetery Dance release the prologue was going around the Internet, published on small fan websites and discreet literature blogs...

And James Parris was, according to the first part of this prologue (detailling the building and creation of the Overlook... and its first victims) the second owner of the Overlook Hotel. A man that was touched by the same obsession and madness for the hotel that had overtaken Watson's grandfather (the actual builder and first owner of the Hotel), and, if I recall well, ended up dying of a heart attack on the hotel's garden-grounds (near the topiary beasts if I recall well, but I am not too sure, I haven't read the prologue in a while).

So all of that to say - not only did they bother placing an Easter Egg for the fans of King who had read the original book ; but they also placed an Easter Egg for those that knew of or had read the Before the Play prologue, which most regular fans of the novel never even heard about! If this isn't commitment to researching your source material, I don't know what is!

[queenpiranhadon]

- Runaway, AURORA

ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛꜱ:

𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖑𝖛𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖘

𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖗 𝕮𝖗𝖔𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝕳𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘

𝕶𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖚𝖐𝖎 𝕭𝖆𝖐𝖚𝖌𝖔𝖚 𝕭𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖍𝖉𝖆𝖞 𝕰𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖙

𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞𝖇𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝕰𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖙

ᴋᴇᴇᴘᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴏꜱᴛ ᴄɪᴛɪᴇꜱ:

⟢ May I Have This Dance? ⎸⎸ Sandor x Grizel Oneshot › Grizel finally takes Sandor on that dance he owed her.

⟢ You Must Be Lost ⎸⎸ Sokeefe Oneshot › Keefe asks Sophie if he’s still the guy he was all those years ago.

⟢ His Friend ⎸⎸ Neverseen! Grady x Black Swan! Edaline Oneshot › Grady stops repressing his Talent and instead works to make himself more powerful alongside the Neverseen. But all actions have consequences.

ʀɪᴏʀᴅᴀɴᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ:

⟢ Sorella ⎸⎸ Riordanverse Oneshot › Bianca has to tie up some loose ends before she’s ready for rebirth

⟢ We're Not in Kansas Anymore ⎸⎸ Percabeth Oneshot › Percy decided to uphold the promise he made to Annabeth all those years ago.

⟢ Broken ⎸⎸ Leo Valdez x Reader › You stop Leo from making a mistake he'll regret.

ꜱᴛᴀʀᴅᴇᴡ ᴠᴀʟʟᴇʏ:

⟢ Pumpkin Soup ⎸⎸ Sebastian x F!Reader › You find out how to make the resident all time gloomy boy Sebastian, like you.

⟢ After 10﹕00 ⎸⎸ Alex x F!Reader › Alex takes notices of the local lumberjack after she beats his high score at the Stardew Valley Fair. He decides to talk to her.

ʜɪɢʜ ᴄʟᴀꜱꜱ ʜᴏᴍᴏꜱ:

⟢ The Sea Song ⎸⎸ HCH Oneshot › Three girls and their captivating music attracts the ears and hearts of the small village they were in. Little did they know that this happy family, wasn't so happy at all...

ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ:

⟢ Sweet Angel ⎸⎸ Bucky Barnes x Reader › You fall apart after your year-long boyfriend disappears without a trace. You thought you moved on, and now here he is, months later with no recollection of who you are.

ᴀᴠᴀᴛᴀʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴀɪʀʙᴇɴᴅᴇʀ:

⟢ His Little Waterbender ⎸⎸ Prince Zuko x Reader › You, a Waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe, are determined to protect your home from the Fire Nation. But what happens when you’re opponent is none other than the first prince himself?

⟢ Eel Rolls ⎸⎸ Sokka x Reader › After betraying the Fire Nation, you, and extremely powerful firebender, seek refuge in Ba Sing Se. One day the Gaang stumbles into your path, and you find yourself giddy over a certain blue eyed boy in their midst.

ɢᴇɴꜱʜɪɴ ɪᴍᴘᴀᴄᴛ:

⟢ Dandelion Wine ⎸⎸ Diluc Ragnvindr x Reader › You are finally returning home to Monstadt City after pursuing your dreams and exploring the world. When you get too tipsy one night and you can't defend yourself from an approaching mitachurl, who will save you then?

ʜᴀʀʀʏ ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ:

⟢ Hate ⎸⎸ Sirius Black x Reader › You, a Ravenclaw, are battling some severe anxiety in the middle of the night, so you slip out and wander the halls of Hogwarts for some reprieve in your thoughts. Turns out though, encountering a professor in the middle of the night is the least of your worries.

⟢ Against the World ⎸⎸ Fred Weasley x Reader › There’s nothing wrong between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin dating, so what better place to tell everyone that than the Yule Ball?

ᴍʏ ʜᴇʀᴏ ᴀᴄᴀᴅᴇᴍɪᴀ:

⟢ His Words, Not Yours ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Katsuki’s parents invite the both of you over for dinner to meet you for the first time.

⟢ Goodnight ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Katsuki finds out about your secret status as an underground pro hero.

⟢ Dumbass ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › You and your close friend Bakugou bond over a rom-com movie after having to share a room at a beach resort for a school trip.

⟢ Lipstick Stains ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Bakugou thinks he’s falling in love all over again once he sees you in a traditional outfit.

⟢ Lockers ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Bakugou's getting annoyed when you start receiving a bunch of love confessions out of nowhere

⟢ Wasabi ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Needless to say, your boyfriend's pretty shocked when he finds out you have the same spice tolerance as him.

⟢ "Boy"friend ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Katsuki gets hit by a gender bend quirk.

⟢ Teddy Bear ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Your husband is invited to be on your favorite talk show - little do you know, the only thing he wants to talk about is you.

⟢ Tomorrow ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › When test anxiety and stress is too much, your boyfriend is there to help you out.

⟢ Number Four ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › Katsuki helps the rest of the world see just how awesome you are.

⟢ Daycare ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › You get your husband to finally pick up your kids from daycare

⟢ The Voice ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › After a fight spirals from your worries of Katsuki's safety, the voice in your head turns those worries into a nightmare.

⟢ Americano ⎸⎸ Bakugou Katsuki x Reader › You, the pretty barista at the local coffee store, decide to show some kindness to the young CEO Bakugou Katsuki, who's arrived for the first time without his girlfriend.

⟢ Matsuri ⎸⎸ Shota Aizawa x Reader (platonic) › You're scared your pro hero father won't support your dream to become a musician.

ʟᴇɢᴏ ɴɪɴᴊᴀɢᴏ:

⟢ After ⎸⎸ Cole Brookstone x Reader › You and the rest of the ninja settle down after everything ended.

⟢ Sundays ⎸⎸ Cole Brookstone x Reader › You, a baker, encounter the Master of Earth when he accidentally destroys your bakery.

ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴʜᴇʀɪᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ ɢᴀᴍᴇꜱ:

⟢ His ⎸⎸ Riordanverse x Inheritance Games Oneshot › Grayson finds out he's adopted- but the news of his real parents is a bigger shock than he anticipated...

ᴊᴜᴊᴜᴛꜱᴜ ᴋᴀɪꜱᴇɴ:

⟢ Clingy ⎸⎸ Gojo Satoru x Reader › Just some cute dating thoughts :)

⟢ Kiss Cam ⎸⎸ Gojo Satoru x Reader › Basketball star Gojo Satoru saves you from a disastrous kiss cam

[stardustprompts]

how to sell a haunted house - grady hendrix sentence starters change tenses/pronouns as needed !!  some lines have been edited for clarity / length / ease of roleplaying tw ; death , alcohol , language , mental health

‘you need to sit down.’

‘what did you do?’

‘jesus, i’m sorry I’m not doing it the right way. i’m sure you’d be perfect at this.’

‘I find knowing these details makes it easier.’

‘you should have a drink, too.’

‘i’m not going to die. not for a long time.’

‘just because we shared a bathroom for fifteen years doesn’t mean you know a thing about me.’

‘my yoga instructor knows more about me than you do.’

‘I knew you’d do this. I knew you’d show up and start telling everyone what to do.’

‘look, I know you need to be in charge, but I’ve taken care of this.’

‘stop telling me how to deal with things. things are dealt with. I dealt with them.’

‘you can’t argue with someone when they’re upset.’

‘I don’t know what got into me, but I overreacted and I’m not proud of if it, and it wasn’t fair to you.’

‘you always needed everyone looking at you.’

‘I didn’t do it for attention. I did it because I was upset.’

‘I don’t like coming in here anyways. it’s got bad vibes.’

‘you can’t put a price tag on love.’

‘being here is really bad for my mental health.’

‘I know you don’t like me because i’m not successful enough for you.’

‘i’m actually happy with my life.’

‘if we aren’t related, if we met today, we wouldn’t chose to be friends.’

‘I don’t think we should be in here at all. I think my plan was better.’

‘don’t you feel the vibes?’

‘this is happening too fast. we need to slow down.’

‘your house is haunted.’

‘every single time I give you the benefit of the doubt, or I try to help, it comes back and bites me in the ass. every! single! time!’

‘our house is not haunted.’

‘i’m telling you there’s weird vibe. I can feel it in my gut.’

‘methinks thou doth protesteth too much.’

‘ghosts don’t exist.’

‘there are true things and there are false things, and there are no in-betweens.’

‘there are facts, like houses and car accidents and cremation, and there’s bullshit like ghosts and vibes and exorcisms. and if you start getting the true things mixed up with the false things, you’re fucked!’

‘reality is not a consensus!’

‘when you don’t like the way a conversation is going you deflect with personal attacks.’

‘you’re like some kind of emotionally abusive octopus entangling everyone in your word tentacles.’

‘even I know that you don’t go back in a haunted house after dark.’

‘the only things here are memories, and those can’t hurt us.’

‘you’re very threatened by new ideas.’

‘I offered to stay tonight because I thought it would be good for you. i’m hoping it gives you some closure.’

‘why are you so mad at me? is it because you feel guilty?’

‘i’m sorry you remember it that way because that must feel terrible, but that’s not what happened.’

‘stop telling me what I remember!’

‘no one ever says no to you, (name) because we’re all scared you’re going to lose your temper.’

‘oh, fuck you. nice try, (name), but fuck you.’

‘no matter what you did, I still don’t want anything bad to happen to you.’

‘everything has to be a big production and you’re the star.’

‘everything has to be a big production and you’re the star. all because you can’t face the fact that your life is sad and empty.’

‘it’s a little late for you to start being my brother now.’

‘you blew my mind. it felt like we were the only two people left in the world.’

‘no matter what, I don’t want to ditch you here with a bunch of ghosts.’

‘right now what you need, for once in your life, is to listen to me.’

‘the way you’re laughing is actually really, really scary.’

‘none of this is real.’

‘stop being scary.’

‘I don’t think I’m well. I think something is really wrong inside me.’

‘don’t you fucking laugh at me. for the first time ever, my life finally makes sense.’

‘I don’t think I know what’s real anymore.’

‘my explanation is logically consistent. yours is all magical energy.’

‘it was absolutely terrifying.’

‘how much trouble are you in?’

‘look at me. you’re not crazy. this really happened.’

‘don’t make this funny.’

everything you’ve seen tonight, i’ve seen it too.’

‘i’m sorry I wasn’t stronger.’

‘it was easier to pretend nothing happened.’

‘my entire life I’ve always known something was wrong with me. i’ve spend my entire life scared that if didn’t do everything exactly right, reality would unravel around me and I’d lose myself again.’

‘I forgive you.’

‘I hope you feel better. i’m fine.’

‘I didn’t think you had it in you.’

‘get out of here.’

‘all the things I did, I want to forget.’

‘i’m not doing it! i’m not doing it again!’

‘you need to get out of here right now.’

‘it won’t hurt me, but it’ll hurt you. you have to go right now!’

‘don’t let him do this again. don’t let him take over.’

‘I need a beer.’

‘an apology would go a long way.’

‘can you keep it down? I had to lie about what happened to a lot of people.’

‘are you seriously upset with me because I saved your life?’

‘you need to accept reality.’

‘you’ve become such a grouch.’

‘I wish you’d let someone take care of you.’

‘do you agree that there are forces greater than this world and we are helpless in the face of them?’

‘we don’t have time to fuck around.’

‘i’d like to say this the weirdest shit that’s ever happened to me but I have a bad feeling it’s about to get a lot worse.’

‘I told you this was a bad idea.’

‘I think we’re fucked.’

‘this is wrong. what you’re doing is wrong.’

‘let’s talk about something that’s actually interesting.’

‘it just hurts a little. and by ‘a little’ I mean ‘a lot’ and also ‘all the time.’’

[hiddenvioletsgrow]

I FINISHED THE FIRST KOTLC BOOK!!! Dex really won my favor back after his earlier behavior, and I'm SO HAPPY THAT GRADY AND EDALINE ACTUALLY ADOPTED SOPHIE!!!

also.....i know theres a bunch of shipping wars between whether sophie should be with keefe or fitz and tbh I'm team keefe rn

in conclusion i'm hyped to read more!!!

[oskea93]

Tis the Way the Wind Blows, Hummingbird (Intro)

Caleb Sykes x OC Horizon universe

⚠️ Warning ⚠️ Story will contain moments of physical, sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse, cursing, murder, suicidal ideations, childbirth, scalping, death, etc. Please do not read if you are triggered by any of these warnings. If you've seen the film or just read about it online, you already know that Caleb is a bad guy. He will remain a bad guy throughout this story as well. He will not be liked and will be vile in every way. Just a heads up if you were looking for a happy Jamie story.

Author's note: Hello and welcome to my new fic! So, I went and see Horizon (twice now) and I just had to write about everyone's favorite western villain. Jamie was amazing in this film, like he is in all his moves. Caleb is a ruthless asshole and he will stay a ruthless asshole in this story as well. I started off this story in the future - kind of like mid end just to give a small taste of the drama that will soon unfold. The next chapter will show the relationship between Elizabeth and Caleb - spoiler - it will not be pretty...

● If you would like to be tagged, please comment below ● Taglist: @austinswhitewolf, @carriewritesblog, @isla-bell-blog, @jcbbby, @eve18ahs

“You know that he’ll kill you once he finds you – even gets word that you're in these parts.”

I kept my gaze focused on the snowy mountains to the East of us, the warm spring wind flowing through my red locks, carrying with it a sense of both renewal and reckoning. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting a golden hue over the rugged peaks, I felt a surge of conflicting emotions welling up inside me.

"Maybe that's what I want," I whispered, my eyes connecting with the older man's beside me, his weathered face reflecting wisdom and understanding. "Maybe I want him to find me, to confront me, so I can finally make him feel the pain that he inflicted upon me for all those years."

Grady let out a scoff, his voice rough with years of experience and a hint of skepticism. "You thinkin' that you'll be able to kill that crazy sumbitch? That whole goddamn family is off their rockers, Elizabeth. That boy especially – his eyes are wilder than a banshee."

I let out a sigh, the weight of my words hanging heavy in the air. "I'm not afraid of them anymore, Grady." The truth spilled out, raw and unfiltered, a truth that I had wrestled with for far too many years. "As long as that little girl is nowhere in his sight or the sight of that pack of wolves he calls brothers-" I stopped mid-sentence, a sudden chill running down my spine as our gazes reconnected. "I don't care what happens to me."

The older man stayed silent for a moment, his face betraying a mix of disbelief and concern as my words lingered in the air, heavy with the weight of unspoken truths. "You're just gonna let that little girl grow up without a mama? Have her go to some home and let a bunch of strangers take care of her? I thought you had more sense than that, youngin."

"She ain't gonna be with a stranger, Grady," I insisted, my voice firm with conviction as I met his gaze. His eyebrows creased in confusion, a mix of surprise and uncertainty flickering in his eyes. "If I don't make it back, I want you to raise her just like you rais-"

"No-" Grady interjected, his hands waving in the air as he took a step back, a look of protest on his wrinkled face.

"Grady, listen, please," I implored, closing the distance between us as I followed in his tracks. "You are the only constant in both of our lives. You're the only one I trust with her – she needs you just like I did all those years ago."

His back, hunched over from years of work, moved slowly with each deep breath as he processed my words. "Emily loves you, Grady, and you love her too. At least if I do die, I will die knowing that my daughter will always be protected and loved."

"I'm too old to be carin for a six-year-old child, Elizabeth," Grady retorted, a smirk forming across my face in response to his protest.

"You've been saying that for years, Grady dear," I remarked softly, my hand resting gently on his shoulder. "Pretty sure those were the same words you uttered when I was placed upon your porch many years ago. Looks like you're still here, sir."

His aging body slowly turned around, his eyes glistening with threatening tears, a testament to the emotions churning beneath the surface. "Caleb is a ruthless man, Lizzie," Grady's tone was low, filled with a mixture of concern and a hint of fear. "He's the lowest of the barrel – capable of doing anything to anyone, including his wife and mother to his child."

I gave him a tight smile, my hand squeezing his bicep in a gesture of reassurance and solidarity. "I'll make sure he draws first."

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

A small collection of KOTLC things Shannon told me at 3am

I promise she told me guys, this is totally legit

Dex Dizznee isn’t actually blonde but ginger, he gets his hair color from his dad. The three triplets all have strawberry blonde hair like their mom. His hair is also curly but like, loosely curly, and it’s really dry from all the shit he ‘experiments’ on it with.

Fitz Vacker once accidentally stumbled into a musical while in the human world and now absolutely loves musical songs. His favorite is Phantom of the Opera. It wasn’t like Alden was constantly watching him in the human world so he’d sometimes just sneak into theaters to listen and watch the shows.

Maruca Chebota is the most middle child ever. She has an older and a younger brother, but also another older cousin (Wylie) and two younger cousins. She’s even in the middle in terms of that, which is ironic because her mom is also the middle child between her two siblings.

Terik is Talentless, but he’s got basically a watered-down version of Empathy from his parents, who were both incredibly powerful Empaths who had been tasked with making sure Elves turned into myth for humans. He’s been scamming the whole Elven society for centuries and isn’t about to stop now.

Alina’s family was involved in a scandal when she was very young that resulted in them being cast out from the Nobility and their birth funds being revoked, though they were allowed to remain in Talentless cities. She decided to pursue Alden primarily for his family name - and the fact that she would up being one of the first people on his Match list was just the cherry on top. It made it even worse when he decided to marry Della instead, though at that point it was later enough she could detach herself from her family anyway.

Sophie Foster’s human family were anti-vaxx, Protestant, and Republican. Sophie was always a bit too busy trying to manage her telepathy to notice much about their political stances. Amy is growing to be significantly more liberal and had began to openly argue with them before everything in Nightfall happened.

Alina is Fitz’s biological mother. After Alvar was born and already not shaping up into the son Alden wanted by age 11, she used his desperation to Beguile him into having a child with her. When Alden realized what she’d done he did his best to cut all contact with her, though he did take Fitz, something with both Alina and Della resented. Alvar knew about this, which is why he dislikes Fitz so much while still loving his younger sister, Biana.

Livvy Soden is a triple agent, working in the Black Swan as a spy for the Neverseen as a spy for the Black Swan. No one is quite sure what her intentions are any more.

Wylie Endal has his own group of friends, who are all in their early 20s, and who love making fun of him for being forced to hang out with a bunch of teenagers. His best friend among them is Tanho, who’s Talentless, and was kicked out of his house at age 15 as a result after an abusive childhood. He stayed with Wylie and Tiergan for a few months after while trying to sort himself out, and is a large part of the reason why Wylie is now as observant and skeptical as he is.

Stina Heks isn’t actually an Empath, she’s a Mesmer, but a weak one. Not that she knows it.

It’s not actually Fitz who has the Nobility attitude towards humans, as in condescending and ignorant, though it does seem that way - he spent far too much time in the human world to not pick up on some of the good and interesting parts of humanity as well. It’s Biana, who spent most of her childhood being raised in a fairly isolated group of Elves who all had huge superiority complexes towards other species.

Ruewen is Edaline and Juline’s last names. Juline took Kesler’s last name to finally shut up her parents, who were harping on about how Kesler was using her for her family.

Grady Ruewen’s mother disappeared soon after he manifested as a Mesmer at age 12, resulting in a huge amount of people blaming him for it and his family, already in a precarious social position, to get hit even harder. Taking Edaline’s last name allowed him to entirely reform himself to a new person to the outside world. At least, until Jolie died.

Jolie Ruewen was a part of the Elven equivalent of a punk rock band, which tends to have a slightly more melodious (though still loud and chaotic) sound than human rock. Brant was their singer, and they had their first kiss during a concert, to excite the crowd even more. They decided they liked it and just kept doing it even off stage.

The movement began a few decades earlier, after an illegal trip to the human realm gave some twenty year old elves the idea to begin making their own instruments to try and mimic the sounds they found in the human world.

Tam and Linh Song grew up purposefully separated from each other, with Tam mainly spending time with their Dad and Linh their mom. As a result, Linh developed a love of painting, as it’s some of the only pleasant times she can recall with her mother, and Tam developed a hatred of economics and desk chairs.

Keefe Sencen and Linh Song are really good friends. No one else is aware of this. They also regularly vandalize council buildings.

Despite what certain artists and books will tell you, Elven houses are not made of crystal. They’re based on Ancient architecture, mainly using stone or wood or both, and have a wide variety of designs and patterns depending on where you go.

Most Elves do live in populated cities. Rimshire is a small-ish house located on the outskirts of Mysterium, not as close to the more densely populated parts of the city, but still with a lot of people. However, as Nobility usually do love in isolated, grand estates, it took a bit for Juline to get used to it. As Kesler grew up in a much smaller house with five siblings, he had the opposite experience.

Marella Redek’s favorite aunt is a Neverseen member. Marella is a Black Swan member. They have fought each other before and the next day hugged at a family gathering. Neither are aware of this.

Fitz Vacker talks to his stuffed animals. He has more than one - he has Mr Snuggles, obviously, but also Biana gave him one during Flashback, and Keefe made him one before he left for the Neverseen the first time. They all give different advice. Mr Snuggles sounds like Tiergan, the one Biana gave him sounds like Alvar, and the one Keefe made him sounds like Keefe.

Rayni Aria (Glimmer) was lying about her entire backstory in Stellarlune. Tam is the only one who knows what actually happened to her.

Rayni and Linh eventually grow to tolerate each other, if for Tam’s sake only. Linh can’t deal with having to share the one person she’d always thought would put her first (nevermind if he always would anyway); Rayni sees Linh’s hostility and automatically returns it with her own. As they get used to each other, they can be in a room without arguing or passive aggressively insulting each other.

Despite this, they’re actually very similar people, which makes them both even angrier. Linh can’t even make fun of how he acted with Keefe anymore now because of how she and Rayni act.

The reason Bronte is so mad at Fintan is that he found out that Fintan was dating JRR Tolkien at the same time as they were secretly dating (as to avoid being kicked out from the Council). Fintan was under the mistaken impression Bronte was also dating him, Bronte had misspoken and said he was ‘dating’ Tolkien instead of ‘rating’ Tolkien (as in, his books).

Fitz and Dex are in love, the Vackers are Desi, and Fintan has a flat ass. This is common knowledge though.

[alaydabug2]

Tag list: @sparklenarniawizard @imobsessed123 @thoughtlescat @ilikebookssomuch

Broken Heart/Broken Mind

Chapter Forty-seven

(Human AU)

Sophie and Keefe met in the children's hospital when they were little. Because of how long they were confined to the four walls of the hospital, they became very close during their stay.

As the years pass, they wind up being in the same classroom together due to their physical conditions. This makes their bond deepen.

But are they able to handle when life gets tough, throwing problems and complications their way?

Sophie placed her plate down at the dinner table. Grady and Edaline were already sitting down. She pulled her chair out from the table and joined them.

Just as she started on her first few bites of food, her phone started to ring.

"You can awnser it," Grady told her.

She assumed it was going to be a spam number, but to her surprise, it was Keefe.

"Hey," she awnsered. "What'd you need. I was fixing to start eating."

"Oh," he mumbled. "Never mind. It can wait."

"No, no," she told him. Clearly, something was up. "What's wrong. Did you just need to talk or..."

He was quiet for a moment. "Can I come over for the night. My mom is really drunk and has a bunch of her friends over. When my dad gets home, he's going to be ticked. I already know one of them's gonna drag me into their issues and... I just can't deal with that tonight."

Sophie paused, glancing up at her parents to see if they caught any of that. They must've because they were nodding their heads. Edaline mouthed, 'Of course.'

She focused back on the phone call. "Yeah. Grab what you'll need for tonight and head over. Ok?"

"Thank you," he whispered.

"No problem. I'll see you in a bit." With that, she hung up.

Fifteen minutes later, a knock on the door. It was a tad longer from what she was expecting.

"Come in," Grady called out.

Keefe walked through the door. He was in gray sweatpants and a loose white T-shirt. Probably something that'd he'd be comfortable to sleep in. In his hands was his sketchbook and Mrs. Stinkbottom.

"Hey," Sophie said to him.

He just waved and stood awkwardly in the mudroom until Edaline asked, "Have you eaten yet?" She was met with a headshake. "Go fix yourself a plate then, sweetie."

He did and came to take a seat next to Sophie. Now that he was closer, she could tell he smelled slightly of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Not strong enough that it was him himself doing those things. But enough to that there was definitely a lot in his vicinity.

She decided not to ask. Instead, she changed her question to, "Did you make it out alright?"

Keefe shrugged, taking a hesitant bite of food. He swallowed. "My dad came home as I was trying to leave. As soon as I opened the door, there he was. So what he got to see was me escaping that awful house, five empty bottles of wine, my mom and a few of her friends passed out on the couch and ground, and several packets worth of cigarette butts scattered on the carpet." He hugged himself. "So guess who took the brunt of it?"

Nobody knew what they were supposed to say to that. The only thing Sophie could think to do was pull him closer to her. He stayed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he pulled back with a sniffle, his eyes were glassy.

After dinner, they all migrated over to the living room. Sophie took her usual spot on the loveseat. When Keefe came over, he didn't cuddle up to her side or lay his head on her shoulder like he usually did when he was upset. He curled up on his side and laid his head in her lap.

It was that bad. She didn't want to imagine what his dad could've said to him. If she did find out, she was probably going to land herself in juvie.

She gently ran her hand up and down his side. When he looked up at her with puppy dog eyes, she couldn't hide her smile at the subtle hint. Her hand traveled up to his head, and she ran her fingers through his hair. Some of his tension, even if just a little bit, eased as she scratched his scalp.

Soon after, her parents had gone into their room, leaving her and Keefe alone. They stayed where they were for a while longer before mutually agreeing it was getting late, and it was probably time to go to bed.

She wasn't in her room long, however, when a weak knock rapped at her door. She said to come in.

Keefe slowly opened the door. "Hey. Would it be alright if I... stayed in here. I don't want to be alone with my thoughts right now."

It took Sophie a moment to piece together what he was trying to ask. "You want to come lay down with me?"

He hesitantly nodded. "If that's ok with you."

She was more than fine with it. Her parents, however, would likely be less than thrilled. They weren't doing anything wrong, per say. She just had a good feeling that they wouldn't be too happy to go wake her up and find her sleeping with her boyfriend in her bed.

But... the way he stood there so vulnerable. She wasn't going to tell him no. She glanced at her parents' door across the hall.

"Shut the door," she told him, pulling back her blanket and waving him over.

He slowly laid down beside her. She rolled over and draped her arm across his waist. He shuffled closer to snuggle his head in the crook of her neck.

"Thank you," Keefe whispered.

"Of course. You definitely deserve some cuddles." She kissed the top of his head and stroked his hair, lulling him to sleep.

Sophie awoke to a presence hovering over her. She blinked the blurriness from her vision. She would've screeched if Keefe hadn't still been asleep in her arms when she recognized Edaline above her.

"I can explain," she started. "He said that he didn't want to be alone, and I couldn't just send him back to the living room after that."

Edaline chuckled and kissed her forehead. "I trust you two. Just couldn't resist seeing your reaction." Her smile was slightly evil. "Although, word for the wise, you might want to get up before your dad does."

[astyrial]

rockin’ around a deinonychus  owen grady x gn!reader (fluff) synopsis: some dinosaurs have made their way free word count: 886 warnings: tranq guns, chase scene masterlist | requests are open

    shallow breaths leave your lips, heart beating quickly. some eerily charismatic song plays over the island speakers, your back against a shop's counter. memorabilia rests all around you in massive clumps. from dinosaur dreidels to christmas apparel, the store failed to sell some of it before the winter break. a chittering noise breaks your mind from the thoughts of winter and action figures.

  you hold a tranquilizer pistol in your right hand, forcing yourself to slow your breathing. "rockin' around the christmas tree, let the christmas spirit ring," sets off a chain reaction of noises akin to nails on a chalkboard.

  swallowing a thick ball of mucus, you shuffle over to look around the side of the counter. shirts are everywhere in the shop and chairs are knocked over right outside the door. just out of your point of view, a large claw rests along the ground. another one raised slightly in the air as air loudly expels from its nostrils. 

  "later we'll have some pumpkin pie, and we'll do some caroling!" brenda lee's voice, albeit melodic, sends you closing your eyes in anticipation.

   the deinonychus jumps on the counter, items clattering along the floor, a few pens falling onto your shoulder. it bites at the speaker that's just out of reach. her voice carries through the next lyrics while the deinonychus snaps more, sending more papers and action figures flying. taking one more deep breath, you look over again and notice that the other dinosaurs have left in search of food. 

  now's your chance, you figure, the deinonychus' focus purely on the speaker. you start crawling out of the store, wary of losing the tranq gun in your hand. however, your escape doesn't last very long when she decides to jump up and bite the speaker. she falls down quickly, brenda's voice wavering just as she finishes the chorus. 

  the deinonychus falls to the ground, the speaker sliding across the ground. you look back as it raises back to a standing position, shaking to clear its system. you scramble to your feet, feeling the faux snow under your shoes as they slide. your heart nearly beats out of your chest as you hear it chirping behind you. the urge to turn around and use your tranq gun is tempting; however, the effects on this dinosaur is unaware to you.

  "grady, where the hell are you?" you whisper under your breath, hearing the faint tunes of rockin' around the christmas tree from nearby stores.

  you shove your way into an ice cream shop that had its doors unlocked for the workers still there over the holiday break. locking the door, you watch as the deinonychus rams into the glass door, just barely cracking it. letting out a show breath, you search around the room for something that you can use to defend yourself. 

  truthfully, being a handler for the young ankylosauruses hadn't prepared you for this. while being armored and fairly strong, they weren't the quickest bunch and you never had to use an ice cream scooper to defend yourself. and now, staring out the window at the deinonychus, you're beginning to realize that maybe you need some more training.

  especially because when you look around, owen's out of sight and there's no weapons that you can see. "the back door," you whisper to yourself, assuming that none of them would be at the back of the store.

  you quickly lift up the counter door, pushing yourself to the back door. when you open it, you're immediately met with someone running past you. that someone being owen.. "grady! where are you going?"

  it comes out more hushed than you would prefer; however, you'd rather not test the deinonychus' hearing. much to your dismay, he doesn't hear you, he only keeps running to what you assume must be your aid. "owen! I'm over here!" you shout much louder, gaze flickering around to look out for any dinosaurs.

  owen stops quickly at the sound of your voice, turning around with his eyebrows furrowed. he starts running back in your direction, not noticing the deinonychus turning the corner by the gift shop. she spots him almost immediately. like all of the other ones, she starts running towards him, quicker than what either of you could accomplish. 

  “there’s one behind you!” you shout, pulling out your tranq gun and holding it up. 

  however, any shot that you’d hope to have, is completely blocked with the possibility of hitting owen. just before he reaches the ice cream shop, you run in, ready to shut the door behind him. seconds later he tumbles into the room, the dinosaur clawing at the door you’re trying to close.

  “owen.. i can’t hold this much longer,” you push against the door, watching as little claws peek through. 

  he joins you, pushing up against the claws between the door and the frame. suddenly, it backs off, letting you lock the door and let out a deep sigh. “where.. the hell.. were you?” you ask in between breaths, closing your eyes for a moment.

  “i was looking for you! since we separated i’ve been looking for you,” owen crosses his arms in front of chest, breathing heavily, “help is on the way.”

  you look over at him, pursing your lips, “i sometimes really hate this job, grady.”

�� “yeah but you’d never leave me.”

[frangipanilove]

Bluebird Symbolism in TOWL 1X4 And Its Relation To The Numbers "10" and "2"

I’ve written a bunch of posts on bluebird symbolism before, particularly during TWDDD, that show was full of these bluebird references. Go read those posts (for exemple here, here, here or here) for more in-depth analysis of the symbolism, but long story short, the bluebird symbolism was the reason we really could tell for sure that Rick and Beth are two sides to the same coin as far as resurrection symbolism goes. We all remember the Blue Heron painting behind Beth in Still, as she and Daryl emerged out from the labyrinth of death that was the golf club. “We made it!” she exclaimed, effectively foreshadowing her future fate.

Then, through foreshadowing provided by Noah’s t-shirt, (with a stylized blue heron) we see, in TWD 8x2 The Damned, another Blue Heron painting, this time behind Rick!

We didn’t know it at the time, but we later learned that Andrew Lincoln would be taking a break from the franchise, and his character Rick would be “just gone” for the unforeseeable future. But, we also knew he would eventually return, as the OG Sirius character he is. And that’s interesting for TD, because Beth and Rick are paralleled so closely when it comes to the resurrection symbolism they’re surrounded with.

In TOWL 1x4 What We, we see this tapestry fairly early in the episode.

The birds are peacocks, and peacocks are definitely blue birds.

@angelthefirst1 posted an excellent post on elevators and the 10 - 2 symbolism this morning, and I wanted to piggyback off of that because of how it ties neatly into the bluebird symbolism and the numbers 10 and 2.

Elevators, much like bridges, ladders, stairs etc, are metaphorical passages through which the characters can move between the "realms". These liminal spaces are what allows characters like Beth and Rick to return to the realm of the living, after having stayed in the "death realm", the "underworld" for an extended period of time. And we saw that in Still, when Beth and Daryl moved through what a Gimple described as “the nine circles of hell” at the golf club, before they returned to the "realm of the living".

We also saw this theme of "passages", liminal spaces between the realms, around the second blue heron painting, the one from TWD 8x2 The Damned. We specifically saw Rick and Daryl move up through the elevator shaft in order to reach the floor where the Blue Heron painting was.

We first see Daryl opening the elevator shaft from the inside, he then gets up and subsequently helps Rick up into the corridor.

The elevator shaft is the metaphorical passage that foreshadows Rick's journey to the "death realm", but it is also, as seen in TOWL 1x4, what allows him to return to the realm of the living. And as @angelthefirst1 pointed out, him doing so was accompanied by a voice repeating the numbers “10” and “2”.

And this is where it gets really interesting.

Because yes, it is a reference to the Slabtown clock, the “Get Well Soon” clock. We all have our different takes on that. It can be interpreted in several interesting ways. I believe one of the main purposes of the clock was to call back to the red fire engine we first saw in 5x5 Self Help. That fire engine, Engine 82, was present at the heartbreaking last shot of Coda, when Daryl carried Beth’s seemingly lifeless body out of Grady. I'll explain why below.

Remember, ladders, like elevators, stairwells and bridges, are metaphorical passages through which characters can move between the realms. Take Rick for instance, his death was foreshadowed by the elevator shaft and the blue heron painting from 8x2 The Damned. Then he “died” on a bridge.

We were specifically shown a ladder in 5x7 Crossed, Maggie used it to provide shade for Eugene after Abraham had knocked him unconscious. The ladder literally helped him “wake up” from an unconscious state.

It’s no coincidence that the fire engine from season 5 specifically was a number “82”, pointing towards episode 8x2. Episode 8x2 The Damned specifically foreshadows Rick's "death" and "resurrection".

It’s no coincidence that it was Noah’s t-shirt, with the stylized heron, that foreshadowed Rick’s “death” and “resurrection”, and that the t-shirt specifically pointed us to episode 8x2.

It's no coincidence that we see Engine 82, complete with a ladder, front and center as Daryl carries Beth out of Grady. Engine 82, with the ladder, foreshadows her resurrection.

And it’s no coincidence that in TOWL 1x4, we see another representation of a blue bird, this time a peacock, right before Rick metaphorically “returns” to the realm of the living, to Michonne, to the life he knew. Because those blue birds herald resurrection.

(Obviously Rick hasn't physically returned to his previous life and his family yet, but he experienced a psychological breakthrough, where he chose Michonne, he cose his family and he chose "the realm of the living". He chose to reject the CRM, where he had learned "to be dead" as he explained to Michonne in the episode)

So finally, let me return to the voice repeating the numbers “10” and “2” from TOWL 1x4. We know the Slabtown clock can be interpreted in a multitude of ways, and like I said above, I believe it's a callback to Engine 82 from 5x5 Self Help. I'm getting to that in a minute, first let's briefly explore some of the other potential interpretations, because of course, they're interconnected.

I’ve described a few ways of interpreting it in previous posts, one way to interpret it is to break down for example the “2” into “one one” which is a reference to the “one one” on Noah’s t-shirt.

You can also read it as a reference to episode 10x11 (read 10 - one one), which was called “Morningstar”, an obvious reference to the Venus/Sirius symbolism (read more here).

Interestingly, 10x11 Morningstar is the episode where Daryl got his upgraded vest, and in this article on how Daryl got new wings, I found this part particularly interesting:

Cailey Fleming, who plays Judith, explains how she restored the tattered wings so that Daryl now finally has TWO wings again, dotted with TEN stars.

See how that’s another representation of the numbers “10” and “2”? In an episode foreshadowed by the Slabtown clock, if you read it as 10 - one one? An episode literally named Morningstar, which is a Sirius/Venus reference?

And see how one of the wings are now blue? That’s another representation of bluebird symbolism!

In TOWL 1x4 we see Michonnes scar, and she tells the story on how she and Daryl got branded. Daryl's scars interestingly form a constellation along with other scars that reasonably be interpreted as the Roman numerals X II, which translates into 10 and 2. Or if you read it as 10 - one one, you could say it points to episode 10x11 Morningstar.

To recap, in TOWL, we see michonnes scar, an X, in an episode where we also see two peacocks, two blue birds. See how that conceptually shares similarities with the scars on Daryl's back, that forms a X II, pointing to an episode where he gets a revamped vest with TEN stars and TWO wings, one of them blue? See how the 10 2 symbolism and the bluebird symbolism keep popping up together?

In TOWL, the voice repeating the numbers 10 and 2 is tied to the elevator, and remember, elevators = passages between the realms. And the same goes for ladders. Now let me remind you of Engine 82, last seen as Daryl carried Beth's lifeless body out from Grady, and why I believe the Slabtown clock is a callback to it.

I mentioned above that one of my favorite ways to interpret the 10 and the 2 and the Slabtown clock is that it serves as a callback to episode 5x5 Self Help, where Abraham, Eugene and the rest of Team Washington found Engine 82. And when they did, it was backed up to a building marked with this particular number:

That's right, Engine 82 was first seen backed up to a building marked 102! A direct reference to the Slabtown clock, and directly foreshadowing Beth's "death" and "resurrection".

Imo, the voice repeating the numbers “10” and “2” in TOWL 1x4 were referring to the building where we first saw the fire engine, back in 5x5, well before Beth “died”. The “102” on the building foreshadowed the Slabtown clock, the Slabtown clock was a callback to the 102 on the building where we first saw the fire engine.

Engine 82 represents the presence of metaphorical “passages" between the realms, such as elevators, stairs, ladders and bridges, through which the characters can travel unhindered between the realms. They are what foreshadows "death", but also what allows for "resurrection".

Depending on how you choose to read the numbers on the Slabtown clock, you could also argue that they point to episode 2x2, which is when we first meet Beth, or 2x10, which is 18 Miles Out, the episode where she initially attempts suicide, but eventually decides she wants to live (again, foreshadowing her surviving).

Like I mentioned, it could also refer to the “one one” on Noah’s t-shirt with the stylized heron, and it could refer to episode 10x11 (read 10 - one one) which is called Morningstar (straight up Venus/Sirius symbolism).

Or, like I’ve described above, it could be a reference to the building where we first saw the fire engine, Ladder 82, in which “ladder” is one of the metaphorical passages which allows characters like Rick and Beth to undergo a “death and resurrection” arc.

No matter how you chose to interpret the numbers “10” and “2”, it’s safe to say they indicate “resurrection” for anyone associated with them. Particularly when they’re accompanied with the presence of blue birds!

(Side note, Ladder 82 is noticably very red, and it was backed up against a red door on the building marked with the number 102. I call it “red controls the gates” symbolism, illustrated by the red fire engine backed up against a red door. I've been tracking this symbolism for a long time, and have several posts on it. If you want to explore the symbolism surrounding the color red, read this and this)

[clumsiestgiantess]

i just thought of the "showing my cat/dog/etc places theyve never seen before!" trend but like a giant carring their tiny partner around the house and showing them the top of the fridge or something 😭

Liked this idea so I drew a bunch of little sketches with some of my different-sized tiny characters getting to see things they never have!

The top shelf -> Ethan giving Cameron a house tour at his (unfortunate) new height

The inside of a cup -> Erica (in jail for her various crimes)

A height taller than mine -> Grady lifting Hannah up Simba-style

(sorry for hoarding this in my inbox Anon, I forgot I doodled these)

closeups under cut!

[sporelings-au]

Pantherina and Rubescens, or Ina and Bes for short, nobody uses their full names except for Mother. They like to try and confuse people, especially Mayor Scar. (They are also based on the Grady Girls from The Shining)

OMG GOODNESS :O

We got our first set of twin sporeling OCS!💜💜💜 They look equally cute and creepy

Can see a bunch of instances where they cause a lot troubles for people who don't know they are twins

[runningfrom2am]

the sea around us; chapter four

In which Rafe Cameron has to choose between his dad and a pogue who's changing his outlook on life more and more every day.

(rafe cameron x f!oc)

(eventual!jj maybank x f!oc)

warnings/tags: violence, drug/alcohol use, smoking, sexual content (if you squint), slowburn, older brother’s best friend, (these tags are obv not exhaustive but regardless it’s pretty PG13)

wc: 2.9k

my masterlist

series masterlist

requests

*:･ﾟ✧*:･

On our way back, we stopped at the wharf because there was a bunch of commotion surrounding the police pulling a body out on a stretcher. We stopped and asked someone what happened, and we were informed that the body was none other than Scooter Grubbs. A lifelong pogue who somehow recently came into possession of, drumroll please, a Grady White. Which was now missing. My heart absolutely broke for his wife, Lana, as we saw her fall apart next to the stretcher. I truly couldn't imagine. Watching it was bringing me to tears, so JJ grabbed me by my shoulders and rubbed my back as he guided me back onto the HMS Pogue.

The drive back to the chateau was almost silent. Which we can hardly ever stand, but I could tell we were all just thinking so hard about what on earth happened. Why did Scooter end up with a gun, that much cash, and a Grady White?

We hop out of the boat back at John B's house, and Pope senses that now is the time to break the silence. "So, we saw nothing. We know nothing. We need to have total and complete amnesia."

"Pope is right," JJ says, unloading Kie's cooler from the Pogue. "Deny, deny, deny."

"Guys, we also can't keep that money JJ took," Kie says, shaking her head.

"And the gun!" I add, looking around at everyone to scan their responses.

"Yes, definitely the gun." Kie agrees.

"Kie, not everyone can afford unlimited data plans." JJ rebuts, John B agreeing.

"JJ, the girls are right. This is insane." Pope says. As I said, our collective voice of reason. "We have to pass that off to Lana Grubbs."

"It's bad karma waiting to happen," Kie says.

"Not to mention a felony," I mumble, crossing my arms. "We've got to go totally dark."

"Exactly, and keep the money. No one will know we took anything if we don't return it." Kie, Pope, and I all simultaneously roll our eyes at JJ.

"No... No way." John B says, shaking his head as we all get up on the porch of the chateau and I lean on the edge of a chair.

"What? Why?" JJ asks, turning his hat backward as he approaches John B.

"Just think about it, this is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Some dude that's been buying cigarettes individually at the porthole. I have literally seen him beg for change in the grocery store parking lot so he could pay for gas." John B is right, this guy has never had a dime to his name. "We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat whose never had more than forty bucks in his pocket and all of a sudden-"

Kie cuts him off. "He's got a Grady White..."

"Just saying." John B says, raising his hands, mocking surrender as he sits down next to me.

"There's only one way he could have got his hands on all this shit," JJ says and I raise my eyebrow at him. "Well, two. One: Prostitution," I scoff. "or two: square groupers." He says smugly.

"Oh my god, the hurricane... He was smuggling." I say quietly, seeing the realization show up on everyone else's faces as well.

"Bingo, Snowy. I guarantee he was using it for straight smuggling. Probably a serious amount of contraband on board."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･

Later that night, of course, the topic gets brought up again. It's pretty much the only thing we can talk about tonight, one of the only things on our minds.

We find ourselves sprawled across John B's room at this point. John B sat at his window, with Pope on the bed, Kiara on a chair, and JJ at the window opposite of the bed right next to me. JJ leans back into me after Pope snatched the money in question from his hand. "For the record, if that is a smuggling ship with illegal contraband inside of it. . . It probably belongs to someone else."

Kie shrugged. "Minor details."

Pope continued as if he hadn't heard her. "They could come looking for it. Taking it would be catastrophically stupid."

JJ leaned forward and snatched the money back. Spreading it so they could all see the multiple hundred dollar bills as he said, "Right. Well, stupid things have good outcomes all the time." He glanced over his shoulder, gaze meeting mine as he grinned. I return the amused smile as JJ looks toward the others. "All we need to do is figure out a way to get into the cargo hold of that wreck. Until then, we just lay low. Act normal."

Pope seemed skeptical, as usual. "Right. And how exactly do we do that?"

My gaze meets Kie's, and slow smiles grow on our faces, and we raise our eyebrows at each other; we're definitely thinking the same thing.

Kie looks towards the others, grin widening. "Kegger?"

*:･ﾟ✧*:･

After we grab the keg and a few twelve packs for ourselves we make it out to the beach with cups, drinks, weed, and recycling bags (in Kie's case) in hand. It isn't long before we start to draw a crowd made up of kooks and pogues alike, along with some tourons. "Chum for the sharks", as John B would describe them- basically tourists on a vacation with their families, hoping to escape their parents for the evening.

John B and I are in charge of filling cups and handing out beers until we realize enough is enough and we're here to party. Not be bartenders. To be fair though, it was an almost "one for you, one for us" vibe, and we were already pretty drunk by the time the sun starts to set.

"Snowy! Come here!" Kie calls to me, holding out her hand. I can smell the weed on her, so it's clear what she and JJ have been up to.

"Hey." I smile, wrapping my arms around her waist when I walk up. "What can I do for you, Kie?"

"Nothing, I just missed you." Kie smiles, hugging me back.

"Kie, I need to borrow Snowy for a sec if that's cool-" It's JJ, and his arms are suddenly in between us pushing us apart as we both start laughing.

"Yeah okay, steal my friend, JJ. So rude." Kie giggles, pointing her fingers at her eyes and then at JJ as she turns to walk over to John B and Pope, where they're playing beer pong.

"What is up with drunk girls, man? You get one drink in you and just start mackin' all over each other." JJ asks, laughing as he has his arm around my waist, guiding me in the opposite direction.

"You're so dramatic, we were just hugging." I laugh, rolling my eyes and giving him a gentle shove, almost falling back myself in the process as I stumble over my own feet.

"Right- yeah so you're actually way more drunk than I thought you are, so maybe we should start to head back."

I'm not even that drunk. "I'm not even that drunk JJ, come on. What are we doing anyway? Where are you taking me?" I ask him, reaching up and putting my arm over his shoulders. It's not the most comfortable, since he's a decent amount taller than I am.

"A walk! What, I can't take my favorite girl for a walk these days?" JJ laughs, glancing back behind us. "Do you want to sit?" He asks, stopping. I nod and smile as he takes his shirt off, placing it on the ground for us to sit on.

I sit down on his shirt, crossing my legs in front of me and looking out at the sunset. JJ joins me, leaning his arm back behind me to hold himself up, and so I can lean back into him as well.

"It's beautiful," I say quietly, leaning my head on his shoulder and I can feel JJ's eyes on me.

"Yeah.." He agrees.

I glance down the beach at the party, seeing everyone back there having fun, the music sounds so distant.

"I miss BC." I sigh, my drunk mind letting me speak my every thought.

"Why?" JJ chuckles a little bit, pushing some of my hair out of my face with his free hand. "You wouldn't be a pogue and be friends with the coolest kids in the OBX if you were still up there. Besides, have you ever seen a sunset like this?" He asks.

I nod. "Yeah.. the sunsets back home were beautiful. This is too, duh, but so different. Watching the sunset over the mountains was something else. I miss watching them during bush parties. The vibe was similar, but everyone was miles from home with no service, everyone had a tent or their cars were loaded with blankets to sleep in, and you were surrounded by trees, sometimes on the side of a lake. The sun would start to set, then we'd get a bonfire going, and everyone would reek of smoke for the next week. It was.. special. Kegs would take me with him, I was too young to drink so he never let me, but he wanted to get me out of the house." I ramble on and JJ just listens. You wouldn't think he's a good listener, but he really is.

"I'm glad you moved. Maybe that's selfish of me." He says, smiling at me, his hand still on my cheek. I smile back. I can't tell if the beer just isn't sitting well, or if I have a million butterflies suddenly flying around in my stomach. I think it's the latter. "Maybe, if you don't mind, one day, we can all take a trip up there. I think that would be sweet." JJ suggests.

"Thanks, J. That's a nice idea. I don't know if the Twinkie would survive, though..." I trail off, getting more nervous as he stares into my eyes, scanning them, I wonder what he's thinking about. His eyes darted down for a split second to my lips, and I suddenly know. I should want this. I've been obsessed with him for years, I should want this, but something in my gut tells me I don't. I'm scared he'll just shut me out again- that he is just doing this to be cruel. "Maybe we should head back?" I ask, starting to get up. "It's getting pretty dark, I don't have my phone," I explain brushing off my butt and legs to make sure I'm not covered in sand. JJ gets up next to me silently, shaking off his shirt and putting it back on as we start to walk back.

"I just saw Sarah Cameron. She's here." Kie says, approaching us quickly as we rejoin everyone.

Translation: Sarah Cameron? Kook Princess, she has all of the boys in Kildare County falling at her feet. Kie's ex-best girlfriend- before me. Currently, her worst enemy. Daughter of Ward Cameron, real estate god of the Outer Banks, and younger sister of, you guessed it, Rafe Cameron.

"Oh god," I sigh, I already know this won't go down well if any contact is made. "I wonder if Rafe is here," I ask, more to myself than to Kie.

"What, Rafe? Why?" She asks me, tilting her head to the side and I can feel JJ's gaze burning into me, making me blush.

"No reason, I was wondering if maybe Kegs was here, they're hardly ever apart."

"Right, well if Sarah's here, that means Topper is here. If Topper is here, Rafe and Kegs are probably here, so yeah." Kie says, pausing for a second of confusion partway through her sentence so she could remember what she was saying.

I nod slightly and scan the crowd, looking for anybody familiar. John B walks us to us, wrapping his arms around me and Kie's shoulders. "How are my favorite girls?" He asks, rubbing our heads to mess up our hair. They know we both hate it. "Having fun?" He asks, just as I see Kegs approaching me, quickly. I push John B off and start to walk towards my brother, so he doesn't get involved with my friends. I notice he's with Topper, but no Rafe today. The beach parties were never his scene, though, as far as I know.

"Snowy, what are you doing?" Kegs asks me, he's angry, of course.

"Nothing! Jesus Christ- I can't hang out with my friends for one night." I say, pushing him back angrily. He hardly budges. "What do you want?"

"Sarah said she saw you making out with JJ," Kegs said, and I hear someone walking up behind me.

"Hey, yeah so that literally didn't happen." It was JJ, and he cut in before I could explain the same thing.

"You're a fucking liar," Kegs said, getting up in JJ's face now, but he doesn't falter.

"Kegs. Just fuck off." I sigh, running my hand through my hair. "She didn't see anything."

"I'm not lying, man. I promise you, the second I get the chance to mack on your sister, the whole damn world will know." JJ says, taking a step closer to my brother, moving so he's standing in front of me. "I'll call you personally." In shock, I look back at Kie, seeing her put her face in her hands and shake her head- even Pope and John B can see that that was not the right response.

I can see Kegs get super tense, and he pushes JJ back slightly and raises his arm, but I step in and grab his wrist. "Don't you dare, Kegs! Are you kidding?" I say, trying to prevent him from taking a swing at JJ. "He's just trying to rile you up, he's literally joking."

He's breathing heavily, refusing to look at me. "Kegs, you're drunk. Go the fuck home." I say, trying to shove him back again. Just then, Pope comes in and wraps his arms around me, lifting me up and pulling me back, as John B steps in next to JJ. They can tell that I'm not making a difference here. "No! Pope, seriously put me down. Nothing happened, my brother is being a dick." I try to explain. "Sarah's a fucking liar!" I shout, pointing my finger at her as I try to wiggle out of Pope's grip- but it's almost hopeless.

"Watch your mouth!" Topper says angrily, beginning to walk over.

"Hey, man, wait, she didn't mean it," Pope says, trying to diffuse the situation as he covers my mouth with his hand. I'm so mad, but more embarrassed right now.

Just then, I hear gasps and grab at Pope's arms as his grip loosens on me, JJ threw the first punch after my brother wouldn't. Fuck.

"Kegs! Kegs don't- I'm sorry, don't hurt him!" I shout, feeling tears run down my cheeks now as Pope quickly dropped his hand in shock. "Leave him alone!" It didn't matter. They start fighting, and JJ pushes my brother back, turning for a second to catch his breath.

"Dirty fucking pogues.." Kegs says, making John B turn from JJ's side and shove my brother back again.

Kegs is fucking delusional.

He pushes John B back into the water, and they keep fighting despite all of us screaming.

"Kegs, please! Stop!" I shout, but I can tell neither of them can hear anything. "What do we do?" I ask my friends, and when they all stand in shock, I run from Pope's grip and grab my brother, who's now kneeling over John B, whose head is in the water.

"He's drowning him- JJ, do something!" I hear Kie say, as I try desperately to push Kegs off, but he lets go of John B with one hand to shove me off of him. Pretty much as soon as I hit the water, everyone gasps and then gets quiet. Very uncharacteristic for fight spectators, until I hear a click, and push my wet hair out of my eyes and see what's happening.

"Yeah, you know what that is, your move, broski."

"Oh, my god." I start backing up, scrambling to stand up. Kie is already at my side and I hug her, hug her so hard, and put my face in her shoulder, pretending that this isn't really happening. It doesn't work. I peek back up to watch, to make sure everything is okay. That Kegs is okay.

"JJ, stop!" Everyone is yelling at him now.

Kegs lets go of John B and raises his hands, I look briefly over at Topper and Sarah and they look freaked. We all are. Everyone on the beach starts to run as JJ turns and raises the gun in the air. "Okay, everybody listen up!" He shouts. "Get the hell off our side of the island!" He shoots two warning shots up into the air.

John B finally sits up out of the water, and Kie and I rush over to him. "John B, oh my god." I give him a big hug and then Kie helps him up as I run over to my brother who's starting to leave.

"Kegs! Kegs are you okay?" I ask, but he still won't look at me. "Kegs, look at me!" I shout and he stops, turning to me angrily.

"You're psycho friend just put a gun to my fucking head- Snow. Just wait until Mom and Dad hear this. I could have died! Your friend tried to kill me!"

"You were drowning John B! He wasn't going to shoot you he just wanted you to stop. Please, Kegs.." He clearly didn't want to hear it, and he starts walking away, catching up with Topper and Sarah.

Shit.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･

[cinewhore]

I DID IT! I finished my library’s summer reading challenge!

Here’s what I read/am currently reading:

Home Before Dark - Riley Sager [current read // a haunted house story that has now morphed into a murder mystery]

Hollywood and the movies of the fifties - Foster Hirsch [current read // history of the collapse of studio systems. The tell all is scathing!]

Famous People - Justin kuritzkes [finished // my least favorite of the bunch. non traditional structure I didn’t enjoy]

The Clique - Lisi Harrison [finished // had to indulge my inner tween after watching the film. Lowkey want to finish the whole series]

The Push - Ashley Audrain [finished // ok this was a tiktok rec and lowkey had me sat! Ending felt a little cheesy but made sense. Makes me think about fiction and why people write what they do lol]

How to sell a haunted house - Grady Hendrix [stalled // has been on my bookshelf for years so I wanted to give it a go but the writing isn’t great lol]