#they donate the candy to retirement homes

[abatilus]

Halloweeeeeen

[agustdakasuga]

The Way Of A Criminal: Chapter 5

Genre: Mafia!AU, Criminal!AU, Angst, Romance

Pairing: OT7 x Reader

Characters: Normal!Reader, Gangster!Namjoon, Gangster!Seokjin, Gangster!Yoongi, Gangster!Hoseok, Gangster!Jimin, Gangster!Taehyung, Gangster!Jungkook

Summary: Your father was a stranger, you never knew who he was and what he did. But one day, someone knocks on your door, informing you of his passing. Now, you learn more about him, his life and the legacy you are expected to continue with the help of his 7 executives.

Story warning(s): This story will contain depictions of violence, blood shed/gore, death, mentions of abuse, smoking, alcohol drinking and gambling. This story is fictional and has nothing to do with real life events or the actual members of BTS. Please read at your own discretion.

Chapter warning: Incident of stalking and the topic/ threat of potential suicide is brought up.

The rest of the weekend was, thankfully, less eventful for you. You could catch up on much needed sleep and finish a ton of university work, even advance assignments that weren’t taught yet. Now you were in front of your computer, looking at university majors.

“Just pick a major, (y/n). Why are you having such a hard time?!” You scolded yourself. The ‘narrowed’ list you made was far from small, there were still too many options to choose from.

‘Bangtan Enterprise & Exchange’

You found yourself typing out on the search engine. Many articles popped up, all singing different praises and words of adoration for the organisation.

“Charity funding... Sponsorships... Donations...” You briefly read through the some of the articles that listed what your father did. There he was, a picture of your dad, standing in the middle of the 7 men that you now know about.

“Acquainted with government officials and the president. Good relations all around.” You read outloud.

Considering how well known your father was, you were surprised you had never noticed his name in the news before to connect the dots that this man was your father. There was little said about the 7 though, only that they are your father’s ‘protogés’ or ‘apprentices’, trained to take over the company after your father retires as the head.

‘Park Jimin will be representing Bangtan Enterprise & Exchange in the high stakes charity poker game. There will be many other figureheads in attendance. Winnings will go to the winner’s charity of choice.’

“Wow, they are everywhere.” Your eyes widened. The company had a stake and connection in every industry. You did so much reading, you hadn’t realised that it was dinner time.

“What should I eat?” In the end, you ordered food for pick up at a nearby restaurant since they didn’t do delivery.

“Here you go. Enjoy your food and stay safe!” The old lady gave you the plastic bag of containers. With a grateful smile and a bow, you took the food and left to go home. It was Sunday night and you really didn’t want to be out of the house.

Jimin hummed as he straightened up, twirling his keys around his fingers. He poked his head out of the alley before he emerged. He adjusted his hair and straightened his suit jacket.

“How long more are you going to check your appearance?” Hoseok drove over, stopping his car right in front of Jimin, one arm perched on the door while the other stayed on the steering wheel. Jimin rolled his eyes but walked over, sitting in the passenger seat.

“You got it?” Hoseok asked.

“Did you seriously just ask me if I got it? Of course I got it.” Jimin waved the access card in front of Hoseok’s face. Hoseok snatched it, tucking it into the back pocket of his pants.

“Now where’s my stuff?” Jimin held his hands out like a child waiting for candy. The older reached into the back seat and tossed him something.

“Thank you~” Jimin grinned triumphantly. Unlike the others, Jimin was the first one to try Hoseok’s new shipment of weapons through this deal. He looked at the new pistol with modifications made and designed by Namjoon.

“This new silencer is supposed to be better and not affect the accuracy as much. Namjoon and his team tested it for ages.” Hoseok said.

“Well, he can use it after me.” Jimin smirked, pretending to aim the gun in front of him.

RINGGGGGG

“Taehyung, why are you calling? We’re on the way home.” Hoseok asked as he drove. Jimin threw in a greeting as well.

“Hyung!! You need to go help (y/n) right now! She called me all panicked, saying that she was being followed and then her phone died! She was coming from (restaurant name) so she should be along that path!”

“Okay, Taehyung! I’ll keep you updated.” Hoseok said and hung up. He stepped on the accelerator immediately, lurching the car forward in the direction of where you lived. Jimin pursed his lips, opting not to say anything and just follow along. It wasn’t his car anyway. Hoseok used the voice navigation to find where the restaurant was.

“How are we going to know where she is exactly?” Jimin asked.

“There aren’t too many streets, it’s one path. You wanted a reason to use your new gun, right?” Hoseok stopped the car. Jimin followed alongside Hoseok as they looked for you.

“(y/n)?!” Hoseok yelled out. Jimin heard footsteps and hushed Hoseok. He leaned into an alleyway and found a masked person with a cap walking around.

“What are you looking for?” Jimin pressed the barrel of his gun to the back of the person’s head. The unknown person visibly froze in his tracks, putting his hands up. Hoseok ran forward and found you hiding.

“(y/n)...” He looked at your traumatised, scared form. You had your knees drawn to your chest.

“H-Help.” You whimpered.

“I’ve got it, hyung. Call it... target practice. I’ll come home later.” Jimin sighed. Hoseok nodded, putting his jacket over your shoulders. He put his arms under you and hoisted you up.

“I’ll see you at home. Let’s go, (y/n).” Hoseok whispered. You tucked your head against his chest and Hoseok could feel you shaking in fear in his arms. He placed you in his car but was unsure of whether he should be taking you home or back to the boys’ house.

“(y/n), listen to me. You’re safe now. That person won’t find you, they won’t come after you. They can’t hurt you.” Hoseok spoke. You nodded your head slowly, not really processing what he was really saying.

“Do you want to go to your own home? Either way, I will stay with you to make sure you are not alone.” Hoseok promised.

“Please take me somewhere safe.” You requested.

“Okay.” Hoseok made the decision to take you to their home. You would definitely be safe and protected there with all of them home. He had informed the others of the arrangement.

“We’re here.” He pulled up in the driveway. You were so far gone that you didn’t notice the scale of the estate. It was a huge mansion.

With his arm around you, Hoseok slowly guided you into the house. He tossed his keys to the valet to park for him. The others had gotten the maids ready to welcome you to the house. But they stayed away to not overwhelm you further. The maids were all kind, receiving you gently and moving you up to the guest room. You just followed their lead quietly.

“How is she?” Namjoon asked.

“Scared, traumatised. I don’t know, I just removed her from the situation. Jimin is handling the guy.” Hoseok informed, falling back onto the lounge chair with a long sigh. Yoongi handed him a glass of whiskey.

“Chim is just... gonna kill the guy. We won’t know why she was targeted in the first place.” Jin folded his arms.

“We probably know the reason why. Word spreads faster underground than above ground. This is going to be the first of many.” Jungkook rolled his eyes as he drank his beer.

“Is it that serious? So quickly?” Taehyung scratched his head.

“Come on, Tae. We have been in this world forever. People die faster than you can snap your fingers.” Yoongi said.

“Anyway, let’s keep things to a minimum now that she is here, alright? We will talk about this in the morning.” Namjoon stopped the conversation. This was too much for him, all of a sudden, to be able to process. As everyone split up, Hoseok slipped into Jin’s cave.

“Jimin got it?” Jin knew who it was without having to turn around. His fingers danced across his keyboard as he typed away.

“It’s Jimin. Of course, he got it. It’s all his effort, I was just the getaway. You’re lucky I had something to incentivise him to do the job so quickly.” Hoseok clicked his tongue as he waved the access card that Jimin obtained.

“Here.” He tossed it onto the table.

“Thanks, Hoseok. I knew I could count on Jimin... and you, I guess.” Jin said with a chuckle.

“No problem. But wait, hyung. You can hack anything, why do you need this specific access card? Looks like you can get into the system just like that.” Hoseok asked as he peeked at Jin’s screen.

“Well, in this case, the person is smart. I can crack this system easily but the creator has put a tracker on everything. Better to go in through the old fashion way, avoid suspicion.” Jin shrugged, reaching over to take a sip of his plum wine. Seeing as to how Hoseok was just snooping, Jin chased him out and locked the door behind him.

“Here. We have some clothes for you to wear comfortably.” One of the maids handed you a set of clothing. It was a pair of home shorts and a really oversized white shirt.

“T-Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Young master Hoseok said that you didn’t get to your dinner so we are bringing up a tray of hot food for you now.” She informed. You nodded your head and went to change in the bathroom.

“Have some tea in the mean time. It will help calm you down.” She handed you the mug. You took it with both hands.

“Thank you... Sorry, that has never happened to me so I guess I’m quite shaken.” You forced a smile. She shook his head, patting your back.

“Young miss. Here is your food. Please enjoy.” Another maid came in carrying a tray. She placed the tray on the small table and you sat down. The spread was luxurious.

“Don’t worry, young miss. You are safe here.”

“Do you want us to stay with you?” She offered. You shook your head with a grateful smile. With a deep bow, they retreated out of the room. You wrapped your arms around yourself. After your mum died, there was no one to hug and comfort you like she did.

Your brain was a mess, trying to find a reason as to why you would have been followed. You kept to yourself, never really interacting or making friends easily. The person could just be trying to rob you or steal your dinner.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

“Come in.” You replied. Taehyung poked his head in before walking in.

“Hey, (y/n). Are you doing okay?” Taehyung asked. You nodded your head. His eyes trailed to your tray. Your cutlery was still tucked into the napkin, a sign that you hadn’t touched your food.

“It must have been scary. But don’t worry, the guy isn’t going to bother you anymore.” Taehyung assured.

“I was worried he might follow me and know where I live, that’s why I agreed to be brought here. But the police was able to get him?” You tilted your head, relief in your voice. Taehyung nodded his head.

“Jimin handed him over to the cops after he was apprehended.” He lied.

“Thank you. Sorry for imposing and making you guys go all the way to help me when I’ve been nothing but stand offish and unfriendly.” You lowered your head. Taehyung softened slightly, looking at you. It wasn’t your fault, it was no one’s fault. He knew you couldn’t help it, it was the only way you could protect yourself when you’re alone.

“Don’t think about that now. You’ll be safe here, (y/n). I promise. You should just rest here for the night and I’ll take you home in the morning.” Taehyung said.

“Alright. Thank you again, Taehyung sshi.”

“Stop thanking us. Goodnight.” He got up and left the room. You sighed, mentally grateful for the fact that he didn’t force you to stay, even offering to take you home in the morning.

Jimin yawned as he entered the house, smoke escaping his mouth as he exhaled. He removed his blood stained sweater and tossed it onto the ground.

“Is it settled?”

“Yoongi hyung, surprised to see you awake. And yes, it is settled. It was one guy, easily handled.” Jimin greeted with a nod of his head. Yoongi hummed, swirling his drink in his glass. Jimin walked over, leaning against the bar.

“So do I get a prize for saving the damsel?” Jimin smirked. Yoongi scoffed at how Jimin treated this like a game.

“You don’t like her, do you?”

“Whether I like her or not doesn’t matter now, does it?” The younger asked back, going to pour rum into a fresh crystal glass then proceeding to take a long sip.

“Well, whatever it is, I hope you were able to take it out on the poor guy. If you don’t like her then don’t cross paths with her. She’s in the first guest room. Namjoon’s going to have us talk to her tomorrow but I’ll get you out of it.” Yoongi offered.

“Nah, I’m not a coward.” Jimin declined. He refilled Yoongi’s glass with more whiskey before refilling his own.

“You’re going to have to learn to work with her sooner or later. We all know she’s a walking target board and as frustrating and burdensome as it is, she’s our Achilles heel.” Yoongi pointed out.

“Goodnight, hyung.” Jimin left the bar area first.

-

When you woke up the next morning, you laid in bed for a while before loitering around the room. You were not sure what you were supposed to do, have you woken up too early or too late compared to the others that lived in the house?

*KNOCK KNOCK*

“Come in.” You dove back under the covers. It was the same maid from the night before. She poked her head in before bowing.

“Good morning, agashi. When you are ready, young master Namjoon has called for you to join them for breakfast. I have some clothes here for you.” She held the folded clothes in her hands. You nodded your head and got up to go brush your teeth. When you came out, the curtains had been drawn, the uneaten food cleared and the bed was made.

“I will be outside to take you to the dining room after you’ve changed. Please take your time.” She put her hands together and bowed again then retreated out of the room.

“Alright then.” You changed into the short sleeve white button up blouse and skirt that was prepared, simple but elegant in its own way.

“I’m ready. Thank you for waiting.” You came out, running your fingers through your hair once more.

“Right this way.” She gestured and started walking.

“This house is huge. Very easy to get lost without a guide.” You commented, looking at all the doors you walked past. The maid nodded in agreement with a giggle. You followed her down the grand staircase.

“The young masters that are awake are having their meal now.” The maid said, opening the french doors for you to enter the dining room.

“Good morning, (y/n).” Namjoon smiled.

“Good morning.” You bowed your head shyly and stepped in. The maid was behind you, closing the doors and leading you to your seat at the dining table. The butler pulled the chair out for you to sit down. You sat beside Namjoon, trying not to maintain eye contact with anyone at the table.

“A drink to start, agashi? We have tea, coffee, juices.” The butler offered.

“I’ll have a coffee, please. Umm... A cappuccino.” You ordered randomly. It wasn’t your more usual drink but you didn’t want to be an inconvenience. This was already all too much for you.

“I hope you slept well.” Taehyung smiled.

“I did... Thank you.” You spoke softly. The butler came and placed the breakfast tray in front of you.

“Thank you for the food.” You were still speaking softly, hoping that despite that, the butler could hear your gratefulness. You picked up your chopsticks and dug into the food. It was light and delicious, just what you needed.

The breakfast strangely felt normal. The boys chatted amongst themselves, normal chat, nothing really out of the normal. You guessed it was because they were still tired. You didn’t feel the right or need to participate in their chatter, focusing on the food on the tray in front of you. You wanted to just keep to yourself and avoid contact.

“(y/n), can we talk in the living room?” Taehyung requested when you were done with breakfast. You nodded your head, following behind them.

“Go wake Jimin, Jungkook and Hoseok.” Jin ordered the butler. He nodded with a bow and retreated upstairs to the bedrooms. You twiddled your thumbs as you waited.

“Morning.” Hoseok yawned as he walked over. Jungkook and Jimin sleepily shuffled over.

“Thank you again for last night. Really.” You stood up to bow to Hoseok and Jimin. You still didn’t really know all their names but you still felt the need to express your gratitude. The two blinked, unsure of how to react.

“(y/n), unfortunately, we believe that you were targeted for a reason last night. We’re unsure of why but if someone is really after you, they’re not going to stop.” Namjoon explained.

“I’m in danger?”

“Luckily Hoseok and Jimin could get to you in time. But it’s serious and we want to make sure you’re safe.” He continued. You nodded your head.

“We’ve discussed as brothers... We don’t want to force you into anything. But we know that we need to get along with one another. The other roles and responsibilities, the future of all of this, we can think about that later. We just take it one step at a time.” Another spoke.

“Why is someone out to get me? I don’t know anything? This... All this isn’t me. I keep to myself, I don’t make enemies. Why is this happening?” You started to freak out.

“(y/n), calm down. Breathe. You’re going to have a panic attack.”

“I’ve always been alone, on my own. Everything I’ve done, it was only ever for my mother and myself.” You held your head.

“You don’t have to be alone and shoulder everything on your own anymore, (y/n).” Taehyung said.

“I only agreed to go to the funeral because I thought I was honouring a dead man’s wish. If I had known, by showing my face, that it was a trip to an early grave, I would have killed myself when my mother died.” You said.

“This would have happened sooner or later, (y/n). Whether you showed up at the funeral of not. I’m sorry, we know that this is a lot to take in at one time.” Jin spoke cautiously.

“I didn’t ask for this-”

“You think we asked for any of this? All we’ve been doing is chasing after you, having to coddle you, ‘adjust’ to you. While doing all that, did you think we’ve had the chance to mourn? No because it’s all about you and how this is unfair to you.” Jimin finally spoke, letting all his frustration pour out.

“Jimin. Leave, now.” Namjoon stood up, his voice grew serious as his ordered the younger male. Jimin rolled his eyes but stormed out of the living room. You pursed your lips.

“Please... I want to go home.” You begged.

~~

Series Masterlist

Ko-Fi

Main masterlist

[parvuls]

jack retires because of a leg injury and takes off to a small massachusetts town, still recovering physically and mentally. he spends his first few months in town getting accustomed to life without hockey, to bi-weekly therapy sessions, to walking with a cane. he spends most of those months angry - at the pain, at his limited mobility, at the world. he doesn't have much patience for others, and puts very little energy towards socializing with the locals.

by the time the next fall comes around, he's been through enough therapy, physical and otherwise, and actually looks forward to being home all halloween for the first time in years. to see the kids go trick or treating, maybe unearth his camera and take pictures of the festivities. maybe even participate in something. start feeling like part of a community again.

but when halloween comes, jack spends all night on his couch, alone, holding a full-to-the-brim bowl of handmade candy. no one comes to knock on his door. because kids judge quickly, and parents are slow to trust, and his first few months in town were enough to establish a reputation as someone to be avoided.

he stays up later than he has since he was a teenager, but when it becomes clear that no one is going to stop at his house he dumps all three bags of the halloween treats he ordered special - none of that chemically manufactured shit that's so bad for kids - and puts them out front, to be picked up with his garbage. and then he goes to bed, and tries very hard not to think.

bitty opens his bakery early. he happens to walk past jack's house on his way to work, and recognizes the bags sitting out front; it's hard to forget that order, from the man who asked him question after question about the ingredients of the candy he'd be giving to kids on halloween. bitty made him a candy-cane inspired sweet in the form of a hockey stick, and watched the man crack the first smile bitty's seen from him since he moved to town.

but the bags are all full out here on the sidewalk. and although bitty wishes he didn't know why, he can make a pretty good guess. he was new to town, once, too.

it's hard to purposely bump into someone who keeps to himself as much as mr. zimmermann does, but bitty is nothing if not determined. he stops by mr. zimmermann's cart when they're both out grocery shopping and makes sure to exchange small talk with him, just loudly enough for others to overhear. he moves his daily run from the evening to the early morning, although it's torture to get up even earlier than he already does, so the jogging crowd spots him running into mr. zimmermann and waving cheerfully. it's the little things. and if bitty can make one of his neighbors feel more at home, then he darn well will.

gradually, little by little, mr. zimmermann starts opening up. insists that bitty call him jack. keeps walking with bitty all the way to the register when they're both out grocery shopping, while gravely telling him about the importance of eating clean. changes his running route so bitty and he start their loop around the park at the same time, and when it gets colder, brings another set of gloves along because bitty always forgets his. bitty's not even sure how jack figured that out.

and it's other things, too. one day mrs. sylvester who lives down the street tells bitty that jack joined the book club, and while he never says much, she swears he reads all the books. ms. bishop, who works at city hall and can't keep a secret to save her life, leans over to bitty during their shared pilates class and whispers that she's not supposed to tell, but someone made a big donation to the town's community center. principal stacy announces the annual career day at the elementary school, and unsubtly suggests that perhaps new residents with unusual career paths may like to sign up.

the next halloween, jack spends all night on his front porch, wearing cat ears and whiskers drawn in eyeliner, with his arm around bitty's shoulders and a constantly emptying bowl of handmade candy in his lap.

[rachelkaser]

Stay Golden Sunday: Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket?

The Girls find a winning lottery ticket, only to lose it in a donated jacket. Their quest to find it leads them to a homeless shelter.

Picture It . . .

Dorothy catches Sophia reading a letter addressed to Rose (from a friend Sophia thinks is a lesbian). Rose arrives with their weekly lottery scratch-off tickets. Blanche follows shortly after with shopping bags, saying she was in the mood for leather, but Sophia cuts her off so they can scratch their tickets. Dorothy says she got three palm trees -- which means her ticket is worth $10,000. The Girls immediately begin celebrating.

SOPHIA: Where's everybody going? DOROTHY: Out to dinner. Go get ready, Ma. SOPHIA: I am ready! I'm always ready! You do that at 82. That, and carry hard candy.

As Sophia leaves to go order herself some swag, Blanche excitedly shows off her new purchase: A distressed aviator jacket. She sticks the winning ticket in the jacket pocket for safekeeping, and the three Girls decide to go for dinner. Blanche leaves the jacket on the couch as they go to freshen up. Sophia returns and answers a knock at the door: It's a man from the thrift shop there to pick up donations. Sophia, spotting the rather shabby jacket, tosses it onto the pile.

Later, the Girls are panicked, looking for the jacket. Sophia finally spills that she donated the jacket, which is when they inform her that they put the lottery ticket in the pocket. They make it to the thrift shop, where the proprietor informs him he just put the jacket out. That's when a bodyguard picks up the jacket and says "Michael" has decided to buy it. Blanche tries to get the jacket back, but the bodyguard isn't having it. He tosses the jacket out the door to "Michael," who catches with a glittery-gloved hand.

The next day, the Girls mope at home -- they tried calling the lottery commission, but they can't claim the $10k without the ticket. Rose then spots an item in the paper: There's a celebrity auction to benefit the homeless, with one of the objects being a leather jacket worn by "a major rock star." They immediately book it to the event. They make it just in time as the jacket is brought out. They open their mouths, but a nearby man bids $10,000 immediately, and they can't beat it.

They're prepared to bamboozle the buyer to just get the ticket out of the jacket pocket, when he announces he's a congressman who's been accused of not caring about the homeless. And, in addition to the cash donation, he's dispatched an aide to give the jacket to a homeless shelter as a symbolic gesture. Later that night, the Girls manage to find the shelter and a priest greets them. He offers to let them stay the night, and they agree to look for the jacket once inside.

ROSE: Are you sure we're in the right place? DOROTHY: Mission Street Shelter for the Indigent and Homeless. This is where they said they sent the jacket. BLANCHE: Kinda drab, isn't it? DOROTHY: Blanche, it's a shelter, not the flagship of the Hilton chain. SOPHIA: Kinda reminds me of the Shady Pines Retirement Home, except here the lights in the exit sign work.

They enter with their pillows and find beds to hunker down until everyone is asleep. Rose gets into a conversation with her neighbor, Ben, a hotelier who's also from Minnesota. Blanche's neighbor, on the other hand, is a young man who offers to help her through her first night. Sophia and Dorothy, who are sharing a bed, spot a woman named Ida Perkins -- Sophia is shocked and wonders what her old friend is doing in a homeless shelter. Rose and Ben continue to chit-chat about their past in Minnesota.

The young man, Kenny, tells Blanche about the procedure for breakfast, and notes she seems out of place in the shelter. He says he's there undercover working on his doctorate in sociology. Blanche is ecstatic, as Kenny reminds her of her son -- until he confesses it's a lie, and he's an alcoholic. At Ida's bed, she and Sophia share memories with Dorothy. Ida left Shady Pines a year previously. Dorothy asks why she left, and Ida says she simply didn't have enough money.

KENNY: This is your first time? BLANCHE: Oh lord, it's been ages since I heard that from a man. Yes, it is my first time. KENNY: I can give you a few pointers if you like. BLANCHE: Now that I've never heard from a man.

Ben tells Rose that he was laid off and couldn't find work in Minnesota. He eventually hitchhiked to Miami, and he offers to listen to Rose's story at breakfast, bidding her goodnight. Kenny tells Blanche he cracked under pressure from his family and warns her to keep herself safe. Ida says she was evicted from Shady Pines with little assistance despite her pleas for it, and she has no living family.

Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy meet up after everyone else is asleep and agree to separate and look for the jacket among the beds. They very quietly sneak between the beds as Judy Collins' cover of "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" plays in the background. Sophia stays with Ida, and tells her there is genuine love and compassion out there. The other Girls meet again, with Blanche quietly holding out the ticket. The priest returns to open the shelter for the day. All four Girls exchange looks, and Sophia hands the priest the ticket, thanking him for everything.

"Persuasion, hell. This isn't for dinner at the Rainbow Room. This is for ten big ones! Give him whatever he wants!"

As far as Very Special Episodes go, this might be simultaneously one of Golden Girls most and least subtle episodes ever, in that it's not an obvious VSE until the final scene, but man does it make the most of that final scene. Most of the episode is devoted to the Girls attempting to get back their winning lottery ticket, only to be confronted with the reality of their already-existing good fortune at the homeless shelter in third act. It's not a particularly well-plotted episode, but it's hard to deny the hammer-blunt impact of hearing and seeing the people in the homeless shelter and their variety of stories.

ROSE: I have a really dumb question. SOPHIA: And I have a box of Chiclets. What's your point?

The first part of the episode shows the Girls winning the $10k jackpot on their scratch-offs -- not a life-changing amount of money, maybe, but still a very good amount for four older women to spend on luxury purchases. They all immediately begin fantasizing about what they're going to spend it on, only for Sophia to accidentally give the ticket away after Blanche puts it in her jacket pocket. I know Sophia's technically in the wrong for giving away Blanche's property, but frankly I think the other Girls bear a lot of the blame. If I had a winning lottery ticket, I would not let it out of my sight, much less leave it in the pocket of a jacket on the sofa.

The Girls proceed to go on the mother of all quests to find the jacket, going from a charity clothes store to a ritzy auction to a homeless shelter. Throughout the whole episode, they're laser-focused on their goal of getting their object of good fortune back, ignoring every sign around them pushing them in the direction of charity. From a major pop star wearing a thrifted jacket during a concert to later auction off to charity, to a congressman donating everything including the jacket to a shelter, to the priest who finds them beds to stay in at a late hour.

Then they lay down and come face-to-face with the . . . well, faces of the homeless around them, and they can no longer ignore the plight of the less fortunate as they have been the whole episode. At least, that's the point of the episode. I'm not going to pretend it's perfectly plotted -- after all, these are still the Golden Girls, and you're going to root for them to win even if they're being a little bit greedy. But as build-up to that all-important musical number, I think it's well-done. (Also, one hopes the priest would actually be able to redeem the lottery ticket, but wouldn't that constitute gambling?)

And to be honest, I'm more inclined than I've ever been to be lenient with this episode. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the number of people who are homeless or don't have stable housing has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly during the pandemic years. Social issues rise and fall in importance, but at this moment in time, "Brother Can You Spare That Jacket" is perhaps even more relevant now than it was when it aired.

CONGRESSMAN: Would you mind if I said a few words to the audience? SOPHIA: For ten grand, they should let him shower with the audience.

This is especially true because the people that the Girls meet in the shelter are personable (in the case of Ben), well-educated (in the case of Kevin), and elderly (in the case of Ida); I can't say for sure if these portrayals punctured stereotypes that people in the early 90s would have had about the homeless -- but it probably says something they defy stereotypes that exist now. It's a rather chilling portrayal of different social groups for whom there is no safety net, and the show delivers it in a way that's palatable for sitcom audiences.

Still, that's not to say the episode is perfect. For starters, the episode portrays all of the Girls as rather avaricious, but later episodes will show that they -- or at least Rose -- are closer to poverty than wealth. This is something that's only disingenuous in hindsight, but perhaps her having an extra $2,500 in her bank account, even if her new friend Ben doesn't, wouldn't be the end of the world. They also tackle age discrimination in the job market, the effects of which Ben represents, more comprehensively in the next season.

BLANCHE: Here, I'll tell you what our plan is. Now, there's $10,000 at stake. To find that jacket and get that ticket, we will lie, cheat, threaten, and steal if we have to. PRIEST: *enters* Oh, hello! BLANCHE: . . . anybody got a backup plan?

Also, the contrast between the wacky hijinks of the first half of the episode and the seriousness of the second half of the episodes doesn't always work. The toothy Congressman comes across as incredibly insincere, but I don't think he's supposed to? Also, I'm not sure why the episode invokes the image of Michael Jackson and his sparkly glove so blatantly when it's apparently not allowed to use his full name?

By the way, in case anyone is wondering, no, that wasn't actually Michael Jackson. But I still love how they work around referring to him. The bodyguard calls him "Michael," the auctioneer calls him "one of the world's leading musical talents," and Sophia says he's "that guy from the Pepsi commercial." Rose wasn't too far off when she made her mistake, also -- Michael J. Fox was in a few Diet Pepsi commercials in the 80s.

Episode rating: 🍰🍰🍰🍰 (four cheesecake slices out of five)

Favorite part of the episode

An important message sometimes doesn't need to be subtle.

[delicioussshame]

Please donate to my campaign. My goal is to get friends for Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan almost jumps out of his skin when he hears a knock on the door. No one had ever visited Luo Binghe since he came to stay here, and he had gotten the impression that it wasn’t that Luo Binghe had sent his usual visitors away for his guest’s sake. He does believe that his favorite student had been dreadfully lonely, these past few years.

How somehow as endearing as Luo Binghe ended up alone and friendless, Shen Yuan cannot fathom.  

Still, if someone is knocking on the door, the doorman must have let them in? It must be important then. Shen Yuan cannot imagine nobodies are allowed anywhere within this complex.

He thinks about texting Luo Binghe to ask, but what if he disturbs him? He must be busy, away at his important job while Shen Yuan does nothing but lazing around. And Luo Binghe did imply that he wouldn’t be ashamed of Shen Yuan’s presence no matter what, so… let’s test that, shall we?

Shen Yuan opens the door.

Shang Qinghua’s frazzled expression faces him.

Shen Yuan almost closes the door in his former colleague’s face.

“Wait, what, Shen Yuan?! Woah, I had no idea you went back to your parents, I thought you said that bridge had burned. Anyway, would love to catch up, but I’m on the clock and at the wrong place, sorry, gotta go or my boss is gonna kill me, bye!”

Shen Yuan stops Shang Qinghua by the shoulder to stop him from leaving. “If you were looking for Luo Binghe, not that I have any idea why you would be, you’re not at the wrong place.”

“Really? Why? How? Is there a story here? Cause it sure seems like there’s a story here. Tell me the story! But later, I have to deliver this?” He waves a boring manilla envelope like it’s supposed to make sense.

“Who still sends letters?”

Shang Qinghua shrugs. “My boss.”

“You’re a mail carrier now? Nice upgrade.”

“Well, I do what I have to do, I don’t live with the country’s most eligible bachelor. Seriously Bro, what happened here? Isn’t he a bit young for you?”

Shen Yuan is sure his blush is terribly incriminating, but he can’t help it.

“Wow. You have to tell me now.”

Shang Qinghua is acting terribly familiar for a guy Shen Yuan hasn’t seen since graduation. “Why should I?”

But Shang Qinghua has already let himself in, unceremoniously dropping the envelope on the nearest table and taking everything in with wide eyes before he lets himself fall on Luo Binghe’s designer couch without a care in the world. “C’mon. Fess up.”

“How about you? Why are you even here? For all I know you’re a thief trying to rob the place.”

Shang Qinghua snorts. “Not exactly my speed.” He shrugs. “Teaching didn’t pay the bills, got an administrative assistant job instead and somehow ended up working for one of Luo Binghe’s associates, hence the private delivery service. How about you? When I saw you earlier, I was sure you were retired and profiting off that sweet family money, but was I wrong? Or is this those Shen connections at work?”

Shen Yuan frowns. Why did he even tell this guy about his family again?

Oh yes, because he had been young, stupid and drunk: the university experience. “No. Luo Binghe is a former student of mine. I’m visiting.”

Shang Qinghua gives him the world’s judgiest look. “Visiting.”

Shen Yuan nods, face still as a lake. “Visiting.”

“While Luo Binghe isn’t there.”

Shen Yuan nods again. “It’s a long visit. I’m staying here right now.”

“At your former student’s house. Look, I’m just gonna say it: sleeping with your student is bad. Don’t do it! That way lies lawsuits!”

“Former student! And it’s not like that!” Technically correct. They haven’t slept together, not in the way Shang Qinghua implies they did. “He’s just lonely and a bit deluded. It’ll pass.”

Probably.

No, not even Shen Yuan believes it at this point. One can only be kissed so often before one has to face reality: Luo Binghe certainly thinks he cares about Shen Yuan more than a student should care about any teacher.

Shen Yuan just isn’t sure what he should do about it.

“If it’s not like that, which, Bro, you’re not making a good case for, you’re staying with him because…?”

“I’m on vacation?” Shen Yuan lies back on the cool leather. “It’s a nice place for it, and cheap.”

“And your “former student” was eager to host you. You, his high school teacher? Because from what my boss told me, Luo Binghe isn’t exactly famous for his openness. I’m half-certain Mobei-Jun sent me here as punishment. He wanted someone else to chew me up this time.”

Shen Yuan snorts. “Still very competent, I see.”

“Well, at least I was teaching my students, not offering “extra credits” if they stayed after class. And since when are you into men, anyway? You always acted like you didn’t notice when men hit on you.”

“Men never hit on me.”

It’s Shang Qinghua’s turn to laugh. “Glad to see that didn’t change. Luo Binghe must be something, to have managed to get through you. What did he tell you, that he wanted to bend you over the nearest desk? Anything less and you’d have been blind to it.”

For fuck’s sake can Shang Qinghua stop saying shit that embarrasses the hell out of Shen Yuan? It’d be very appreciated.

“Oh shit, he totally did! Go him! Did it work? Tell me it worked!”

“No! Can’t you shut up for once in your meaningless life!”

“Not gonna happen. I need to know more. He made a move, and you’re living with him now? His charisma must be something else. At that speed, when’s the wedding? No, wait, how long has this been going on? We haven’t seen each other in forever, you might have been “visiting” for three years as far as I know.”

This is torture. “Didn’t you say you had somewhere to be?”

Shang Qinghua waves his attempt at deflection away. “Forget it, this is way more interesting. Even Mobei-Jun will want in on this. Sooooo?”

Shen Yuan sighs. “I’ve only been here a few weeks. As I said, it’s just a vacation. I’ll leave once the school year starts again.”

“Why can’t you stay here anyway? That dear student of yours must want to keep you, right? Unless you’re really being bankrolled by your parents, this is way nicer than anything you could possibly afford.”

“No matter what he says, I’m not becoming Luo Binghe’s trophy wife.”

Shang Qinghua’s eyes widen. “Ooh, your student wanna be your daddy? He’s paying you to keep you around, is that it? Oh, that has to be it. Explains the weird evasiveness thing you’ve got going on. Never knew you had it in you. I’m impressed, really. Much better gig than my own. I wish my boss would pay me to lounge around on his expensive furniture. I’d be great at that. Plus, you know, it’s not like it’d be a hardship. Mobei-Jun is scorching. I’d be his arm candy any day. Maybe he’d be less likely to murder me that way.”

Shen Yuan longs desperately to return to the web novel he so cruelly abandoned to let his worst nightmare in. “I’d give you my job, but honestly Binghe deserves better.” Better than Shen Yuan, too. “At least you’re into men. Makes things easier.”

Shang Qinghua’s face falls. “Are you telling me you’re not into him? Like, at all? Why are you even here then? The money can’t be that good. Return to your parents and get them to arrange a marriage to a rich heiress. Same result, plus you’re attracted to your partner. Better?”

Shen Yuan flinches in horror. “No! Not better! My parents AND some spoiled brat who only cares about my name? Fuck no. Binghe is infinitely better than that!”

Shang Qinghua laughs. “So you do like him! Good for you! Go get him, tiger!”

“No! Well, yes I do, Binghe is very likable, but not like that!”

“Oh my god can you hear the shit that comes out of your mouth? Look, you obviously trust him enough to agree to be his live-in boy toy, and okay, I haven’t seen you in forever, but whatever you’re doing is visibly agreeing with you. What were you doing anyway? It’s not like Luo Binghe is here most of the day.”

Shen Yuan shrugs. “Catching up on my reading, mostly.”

Shang Qinghua chokes. “Fuck you. He’s paying you to read? While I’m still trying to get pay to write? I hate you with every single atom of my being.”

“Wait, you’re still writing? Please tell me you’ve upgraded genre, at least.”

“Well…”

“Oh god show me now so I can change your mind before you waste even more of your life on this trash,” says Shen Yuan like he hadn’t caved and spent Luo Binghe’s hard-earned money on extras for novels he hates.

___________________

Luo Binghe is caught completely off guard by the loud voices echoing in his home. Even with Laoshi here, silence is what usually he’s greeted with.

Today, Shen Yuan’s voice is alight with what sounds like righteous anger. He can’t quite place the second one.

Luo Binghe follows the call like a sailor freed from his bonds.

He finds Shen-laoshi half-draped over his chair, Mobei-Jun’s lackey sitting at the desk Luo Binghe had bought for his teacher alone, both of them apparently enraptured with an argument about… bad literature?

Luo Binghe wishes he could be pleased with the sight of Shen-laoshi being this animated, but he can’t. He’s not the one who caused it. This little, insignificant man did, to the point that neither of them noticed his approach.

Luo Binghe taps Shen Yuan’s shoulder. “Laoshi.”

Both of them turn toward him, but only Shen-laoshi gets Luo Binghe’s tongue down his throat.

He is very pleased with the outraged look on his teacher’s face. “Binghe! Not in front of the guest!”

The interloper jumps out of Laoshi’s chair. “Guest? What guest? There is no guest, no one here’s. In fact, I should have left hours ago, oh god Mobei-Jun is going to kill me. Shen Yuan, please give Luo Binghe the envelope, sorry for bothering you both, talk to you later, gotta go byyyye!”

Luo Binghe watches the little man flee in terror with satisfaction. Good riddance.

Let’s see him try to contest Luo Binghe’s claim now. “How does Laoshi know Mobei-Jun’s personal assistant?”

“We studied together in college.”

Luo Binghe pouts. How could an old friend of Shen-laoshi find him here? “Were you two close?”

Shen Yuan shrugs. “Not especially. Why do you ask?”

That can’t be true. They were so at ease around each other. It can take Luo Binghe hours to get Shen-laoshi this relaxed.

He stays silent.

Shen Yuan stares at him. “Binghe.”

“…Yes?”

“I realise this is going to sound ridiculous, and for that I’m sorry, but are you.., jealous? Of Shang Qinghua?”

Luo Binghe might be pouting harder. “No. Why would I be jealous of one of Shen-laoshi’s friends he never told me about.”

A (very cute) smile appears shows up on Shen Yuan’s face. “You. Luo Binghe. Are jealous of Shang Qinghua.”

He dares to laugh! It’s not funny!

This time, Luo Binghe is definitely pouting harder.

“Binghe. Binghe. You’re you. Shang Qinghua is… Shang Qinghua. What do you have to be jealous about? He’s just Shang Qinghua! Come back to your senses!”

Well, that does cheer Luo Binghe right up. “Shen-laoshi likes me better!”

Shen Yuan rolls his eyes. “Of course I do.”

Luo Binghe’s chest remains warm for the rest of the day.

[bughead-in-the-comics]

Bughead Trivia: Some of Jughead’s Hobbies were Influenced by Betty.

During a regular hangout at the chock’lit shoppe in Thought For Food (Jughead’s Double Digest #167, 2011), Betty complained that Jughead only talks about food so she decided that what he needs is a new hobby to help him expand his interests. After leaving Pop’s, Jughead immediately visited the Riverdale hobby shop to buy a kit for model building. Of course, the scale model he built was later revealed to still be food-related (a sort of fast food town with a pizzeria and a burger joint, among other things), but it is sweet that he took Betty’s suggestion seriously. She is one of the few people in Riverdale who can actually influence the very individualistic Jughead in some way and it is very evident in the number of hobbies he has taken up over the years.

While reading a book in The Unfolding Crisis (Archie’s Pal Jughead #124, 2000), Betty suddenly asked Jughead about his opinion on origami. Jughead was unfamiliar with it, so Betty tried to explain that origami is the art of paper folding and showed him the page with a how-to guide. Jughead tried following the instructions out of curiosity, but he ended up discovering that he has a natural talent for it when he successfully folded a “pretty paper ballerina” on his first try. He became so obsessed with origami that he started folding every piece of paper he sees: Coach Clayton and Coach Kleat’s game plan, Dilton’s Blue & Gold layout, Professor Flutesnoot’s test forms, Ms. Beazley’s menus, Principal Weatherbee’s speech notes, Mr. Svenson’s paper towels, and even Reggie’s candy bar wrapper.

In Summer Fun.. and Some 'R Not (Jughead #316 1981), Jughead took Betty’s suggestions even seriously when he put his trademark laziness aside to try a bunch of summer sports. He tried everything from windsurfing and beach volleyball to diving and surf boarding. Although he proved to be quite inadequate when it comes to all those sports and he eventually resorted to what he does best (eating, of course!), Jughead still showed in this particular story how much he valued Betty’s opinion by trying out all of her ideas without any hesitations.

Another Jughead hobby that was influenced by Betty is cake decorating, which was featured in Cake Mistake (Archie’s Pal Jughead #135, 2001). In the story, Jughead became interested in the art of cake decorating after Betty told him that she taught herself how to do it by simply watching an instructional video by Marta Stewmeat. Jughead, who decided he wanted to learn how to “adorn a cake so festively” like Betty, borrowed the said video, bought a multi-nozzle pneumatic decorator, and went on to ice every random thing he lays his eyes on (much to the Riverdale townsfolk’s dismay, of course). 

Betty's influence over Jughead also made him change his mind about certain activities that he would otherwise not touch with a ten-foot pole. In The Quiet Man (PEP Comics #266, 1972), Jughead was very vocal about his dislike of miming. He even went as far as making fun of the people who perform it. A furious Betty, who flat-out accused him of having no culture, insisted that miming is an ancient art form that is very difficult to pull off. Years later, in the story Mime Your Own Business (Jughead #39, 1992), Jughead went full-on Marcel Marceau by performing a mime act at the park: he entertained passers-by while sporting the stereotypical mime outfit consisting of white facial makeup, black suspenders, and a silk opera hat. To say that Betty approved of this change is an understatement. The girl was charmed.

Volunteering is not exactly considered as a hobby, but Jughead has developed a habit of offering his services to help the needy because of Betty. Thanks to her, he has gotten involved in a string of charitable acts that include donating books for a charity drive, signing up Hot Dog as a therapy dog to comfort hospital patients and nursing home residents, painting a mural for senior prom, working at the chock’lit shoppe for a day to give Pop Tate a much-deserved vacation, coaching a pee-wee baseball team, building a sand castle inside a mall, preparing dinner at the community center, running a marathon to help raise funds for hospital equipment, donating toys to the orphanage, doing a bunch of chores to help celebrate Svenson Appreciation Day, raising a Christmas fund for the senior citizens of Riverdale, taking photographs for the retirement community’s prom-themed dance, serving food at the homeless shelter, and a bunch of other things. He even donated his prize money to The Goodwill Girls, the philanthropic group founded by Betty. ♥

[fictitiousfoodie]

It’s A Family Thing

Summary: A boy falls for a girl

Pairing: Reader x Ian Kildner ( fake person)

Word Count: 3847

Okay so here are something to know before you read. The teams are real but all the people fake it was easier for me with this story.

Juliette stood by a high table, wearing a stunning and elegant black dress A-line gown with a respectable but fun slit up the side, talking to a relatively wealthy seeming older gentleman. His tux was custom, hair grey, and thinking, and the date he had brought with him was barely legal to drink, showing almost all her cleavage, and was sipping her cosmo through a straw. But Juliette didn't care about any of that right now. All she cared about was convincing this man that a donation to the team's charity would be a brilliant investment. 

"Mr. Mason donating to the teams' charity is not only a write-off for you with tax breaks, but it allows lots of people to see just how good you and your company are." Manson Construction was responsible for building half of Boston and rebuilding the other half. They had gone through a string of bad publicity when someone leaked rumors of the company cutting corners regarding safety protocols to the local newspapers. The stories had been proven untrue, but they had still caused doubt in the community. Mason Construction was a good company, and Juliette knew that. "Manson Construction on every banner we use when the team works with charities like Habitat for Humanity or does an event with local children's hospitals something like that could change how the community views your company," she said with a passionate and firm promise to her voice. Just as Juliette finished her speech, a loud, sharp crack of noise erupted from behind her. 

Juliette's brother Jack, the youngest of her four brothers, and his girlfriend Ashley had been fighting all night. Juliette had been keeping an eye on it. Ashley was not a great girlfriend. Juliette was pretty sure Ashley was in it for the idea of dating a pro athlete, and Jack was in it cause Ashley was hot. Juliette had noticed more and more that Jack seemed done with Ashley's crap, and from the Way, Ashley was now storming out and the fact Jack wasn't going after her, he had decided to end things tonight in a public place. 

Juliette turned back to Mr.Mason, who was chuckling to himself. "Your brother seems to be quiet, the unlucky fellow tonight in regards to love. But you are better than luck. You're smart, and you've got gumption, Juliette. I like the image you've given the charity, and I think it will provide great support and publicity for my business. I will send you a check tomorrow with the donation. If the team or the charity needs anything, you let me know," he said, smiling and walking away with his old wrinkled hand on his arm candy's ass. 

Jules shivered in disgust as she watched arm candy giggle and kiss him on the cheek, then took a deep breathe she had done it. She had landed another massive donation for the charity. 

Suddenly a large and heavy arm flopped around her shoulder, and her oldest brother Brandon was there by her side. 

"Way to go, Jules. It looks like Mr.Mason was pleased with the idea of being the teams highest paying donor', he said with pride and admiration for his sister. 

"He said he would send over the check tomorrow. I need a drink, and to get these heels off my feet are killing me." She laughed, walking to the bar. 

Brandon was the oldest of the four brothers at the age of 33. He had retired from the league last year due to a knee injury. The team hired him as the skills coach. Brandon was always responsible. He was the boy next door with a killer smile and genuine charm. The next one down was Henry, who was 31 and was the team's new athletic trainer. He was sporty and the smartest. He wanted to be a doctor when he was younger but found a way to combine his love of medicine and learning with his love of hockey and the team he had grown up around. He immediately change to sports medicine. The third one was Eric. He was the middle one, wild and crazy. He was 28, had been on the team as a defender for four years now, and made sure everyone knew his opinion on any given subject.

Jack, the youngest of the brothers, was a sweet kid, but just that, still a kid in many respects. He had the talent and a good heart, but he needed to grow up. He was 25 and still trying to figure out many things about life but was too stubborn to listen to anyone's advice. Finally, there was Juliette, the youngest out of the five children and the only girl. She grew up tough and headstrong, just like her brothers. Her mother made sure she was balanced, though, so she had put her in dance as a little girl, and she had loved it. She still went to classes and taught little ones occasionally. Her brothers were always there in the front row to cheer her on then give her noogies after. She was 24, but most people thought she was older because of how she held herself.   

All 5 of the siblings looked alike, all athletic, tall, and toned the brothers ranging in muscle definition. All five had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. There was no denying they were family. The dark hair came from their dad, and the eyes had come from their mom.  The whole family was here tonight, and Jules loved that. Everyone in the family had found a way to be apart of the team or organization in a job they loved. She loved being around her family and the constant support they gave. Her mom had started the Boston Bruins charity when her dad had been a player. She was still running it and was grooming Juliette to take over soon. Being a Bruin was a family thing. They had been born into it and loved every minute of it. 

She and Brandon were standing by the bar ordering drinks when she saw out of the corner of her eye, Henry and Eric walk up. 

"So, we all saw the slap that Ashley gave Jack, right?" Henry said in a cautious and questioning tone. 

"Yes, the whole room heard it. Did you see where he went?" Brandon asked cautiously. 

"No, but my guess would be the locker room, someone should go check on him?" Eric said, turning towards Jules. 

"Yea yea yea, I'll go. Even though one of you are married and ones engaged," she said over her shoulder, walking away toward the locker room. 

She found Jack sitting in his locker with a cold beer pressed to his face. head drooped down and fidgeting with his phone. "You shouldn't call her, "Jules said, pulling the drink away to check out the handprint on his face. It wasn't nearly as bad as it had sounded probably just stung. Ashley wasn't abusive, just dramatic. 

"Why? Cause she slapped me?" 

"No, because she gave the bartender her number about 15 mins before that happened. You made the right call. She didn't love you; she loved the status."

"I know. I just thought she was the one at the beginning. "He sighed as Jules sat next to him. 

They sat there for a few minutes in silence. Jules knew he would be fine just needed someone to lean on for a bit, and sure enough, after about 10 minutes, he handed Jules his beer and stated with new energy, "There are plenty of fish in the sea. I have to find the right one, right?!" Jack jumped up and started walking to the doors. 

"Yes, just please be safe and smart and maybe go home alone tonight," Jules shouted to him as he strutted out the doors. 

Jules took a sip of the beer and sighed, starting to take her shoes off, enjoying the silence. When she heard the doors slam open and Jimmy Peters and his date for the evening tumbled though not breaking the sloppy kiss and handsy embrace, they were tangled in. They never noticed her as she grabbed her high heels and beer and left the room. She was in the hall on the way back, laughing to herself about the thought of giving Jimmy a hard time the next time she saw him when she heard the classic catcall whistle from behind her. 

She turned to find Ian Kildern, one of the team's defensive players. He was 6'4", muscled more than the average hockey player and curly brown hair with deep green eyes. His tux was well altered; it hung perfectly on him, showing his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Ian was an excellent player, intelligent, lightning-fast, and a great leader. He was 26 and had been in the league since he was 19. The Bruins had picked him up four years ago when his contract had been up with the Tampa Bay Lighting. They were friends, but Jules was closer to other players, and usually only had a small talk with easy, polite jokes. 

"Juliette Calloway, you clean up nice." He said in a semi-serious, mostly mocking tone.

"Shut up, Ian. Don't you have a date to dazzle like the rest of the team?" She said in a cheeky and light-hearted tone. 

"No, actually, Kelly and I broke up last weekend."

"Oh, that's right; her name was Kelly, and I'm so sorry to hear that after a week together, you had to call quits. You must be devastated. She said with a wink. Knowing fully, he had never planned on keeping it serious. Ian didn't sleep around a lot, but he also didn't keep girlfriends long. 

He chuckled, "Yeah, she was allergic to my dog." He changed the subject when he noticed the bottle in her hand, "You drinking alone - drowning your sorrows?"

"No, actually," she said in a matter of fact tone, "I was consoling my brother."

Ian's face squished up, and he sucked in a breath, "Yea, I saw - well heard the slap. Is he okay?"

"He's fine. It's his pride that's hurting more than anything, although he won't admit to it", She explained on a sigh. 

"Well, I'm glad he's okay. It's tough trying to figure everything out—the balance between the game and social life. Suddenly having money and not know if women want you the status or the money. It can be a rough and bumpy ride."He said with an understanding tone. 

"You sound like you have some experience, but you seemed to have figured it all out." 

 "I had my mistakes and issues, but the key difference is I didn't have a last name that's attached to 2 legends. Jack has a whole lot more spotlight from the league because of your dad and oldest brother. I could make my mistakes in private." 

"So, you had a girl slap you in front of your entire team and about 45 VIP guests?" Jules questioned, intrigued to hear his answer. 

"Okay, well, no, I never had that, but I did have a date throw up on me at an event one time. Rachel Madison, I'll always remember that name now. She hadn't eaten all day and then started doing shots of tequila. The smell was horrendous. It was like...

"Ew, I don't want to know! Please stop you win. That's disgusting." She fussed, cutting him off and giggling at the idea. 

"Well, then, Miss. Date Judger where is your perfect event plus one this evening." He asked mockingly, looking around the hallway they were slowly walking down. 

"Oh, I don't ever bring a date to an event that mom and I are running. I did once or twice and always felt bad that I left him standing somewhere while doing things for the event, plus dating in my life is hard. They tend to get offended when I know more about the game or jealous when I spend all my time here at the arena with you guys OR my brothers bully them, and they can't take the heat." 

They had almost reached the doorway to the main lobby, where the fundraising event was when Ian's ear perked up as he heard his favorite song come on. It Had To Be You by Harry Conick Jr. He grabbed her hand put the bottle of beer in her hand on the floor, and stated softly, "It's a great song - I wouldn't want it to go to waste since you don't have someone to dance with."

Surprised by the sudden change in tone, Juliette lost her voice a little and had to clear it before asking, "Ian Kildern, are you asking me to dance?"

He slowly started to pull her into his arms, saying in a volume just barely above a whisper, "I guess I am. Are you saying yes?"

"I guess I am." She said, staring into his eyes and falling into the sway of his body. Still stiff at first, she slowly drifted further into the daze the music mixed with his look and tone of voice had caused, eventually allowing her to melt completely into him. Neither spoke to busy enjoying the moment. It had been years since she had slow danced, and she was enjoying being wrapped in someone's arms. Not just any someone, but someone who had made her laugh and had been having a good conversation with, not to mention he smelled incredible. 

Ian couldn't believe he was dancing again. He had stopped bringing dates to events because it always fell short of what he wanted the evening to be. But with Juilette, he couldn't help but notice her laugh at his story or the way she had softened and molded to him as they danced. Hand in hand, his left hand rested at the small of her back, her head resting on his chest her right on his shoulder. She felt good in his arms. He felt something different for her, something he hadn't felt in a very long time. The music drifted away as the song ended, and they both stopped swaying. She pulled her head back but didn't pull away; she just looked at him, waiting for him to speak first, but Ian didn't want to say anything anymore. The smell of her vanilla perfume. The blush that had risen in her cheeks, the way she was waiting for him. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to feel those soft pink lips pressed to his. Before he knew it, she was wetting her lips and starting to lean in because she had wanted it too. Never one to miss the opportunity; he leaned in and pressed his hand into her back more, drawing her closer. They were a whisper away from each other when Jimmy and his date exploded from the locker room with laughter, pulling Ian and Jules apart. Jimmy and his date rush by them and unseen to the car in the parking lot. 

"Well, it's late. I should be going," Ian said, trying to hide the disappointment that the moment was gone from his voice. 

"Uh, yea, it's late. I should be finding mom to see if she needs help with anything. Good night Ian and thank you for the dance.", She said, turning and walking away before he could say or do anything. 

It took a split second for him to decide, but he had made his choice he wanted her. He wanted to hold, kiss, love, and keep Juliette Calloway forever. 

Ian couldn't stop thinking about that night. It had been two weeks, and all he could think about was Juliette Calloway. He had been indifferent to her before that night. Ian had had conversations with her but always just regarded her as almost one of the guys. And now he couldn't get her out of his head. The way her eyes sparkled with what he hoped was lust and something more. The way she didn't back away from him and the chemistry in the air. He needed to do something, but what? 

Friday games were always Juliettes favorites. The offices were always more energetic with Friday games as everyone was excited to watch them. Juliette always ran home at lunch for an hour or so to let out Wayne, her Weimaraner, go potty and play, then she would change into her jersey and jeans. She would come back and finish up work, then relax until the game started. Today was no different. She got home and was greeted by Wayne's barks and excited tail. She let him into the backyard and threw her bag and keys on the counter. She loved her home. It was warm and welcoming with leather couches and natural linens. She left the back door open for Wayne to come back in and walked to her bedroom. She was opted for wearing Jack's jersey tonight, paired it with her black jeans and favorite booties. She was excited and happy about tonight's game. Hence, she decided on a smokey eye - if she was honest with herself, she was thinking about her evening with Ian when she had decided on it but pushed it away and assured herself it had nothing to do with him. Wayne had yet to come back in; she went in search of him to find him bathing in the sun and enjoying the day just as much as she was. She called him in, gave him a treat, and headed back to the arena. The game was at 7. The team usually came in about 5. Everyone in the offices had more than likely left for the day; she had a few more things to do when there was a knock at her office door. 

"Come in," she called to the knocker.

"Wow, nice digs," the knocker said with a low and slow whistle. 

Juliette's head snapped up. She had expected it to be a co-worker that was running behind or family. Her brother or mother would sometimes stop by, but she was not expecting him, "Ian...what are you doing here"? 

"Though I'd finally venture up to the offices. Poke around, see what it was like having an office job", he said, waltzing into the office looking around. His eyes settled on the wall of pictures and headlines. The wall was full of pictures of her brothers and father on the ice. It captured each of their timelines, from training to playing to winning championships at all different ages. A particular photo caught Ian's eye, and Juliette got up from her desk to join him. He looked fantastic in a suit more casual than the other night but still just as perfect. It was a solid black suit with a black button-down. He had the first few buttons undone. Juliette was standing next to him when he laughed to himself, saying, " Is this .. Henry?!" 

"Yea, it is. He was like 8 or 9. Mom loves that photo; he hates it", she said with a snicker. The photo was of Henry in full hockey gear. He was standing on the ice for the first game of the season when he slipped and fell. The camera had caught it just right, and all his limbs were up in the air, and his face read of terror and surprise, not know what had just happened.  

"I have to have the team come see this. Look at his bowl hair cut, "He cackled. 

" Don't you dare! He will kill me if he knows anyone from the team has seen it", she said hastily while grabbing his arm to stress the importance and implore him not to tell. 

He felt the electricity of her touch shoot through him. He was no longer focused on the photo but her. The way she smiled and was almost begging him not to spill her secret. He paused and looked at her hand on his arm. She realized what she had done with the casual touch, she could feel his muscle move, and she was immediately turned on and pulsed for him. When she tried to retract her hand, Ian grabbed it, placing a kiss on the top, and looked at her with seductive eyes while asking, "Are you begging me, Juliette?"

Juliette felt the innuendo to her core, and her stomach filled with butterflies. But she was no rose petal. She wanted him and wasn't going to melt for him like all the other women he was used to. She moved just a few inches closer and looked at him with a devilish smile, and asked, "Do you want me to?" Something inside Ian snapped. He couldn't hold himself back any longer. The look in her eyes mixed with her smile and words had him going practically feral. He gave the hand he was holding a tug, and she stumbled into his chest, her other hand landing in between them as she attempted to catch herself. Ian's other hand wrapped around her waist. He dropped her hand and slid his into her hair at the nape of her neck. He paused for a moment, making sure he still saw the same look in her eyes. He was thrilled to see it there but even more intense. He pulled her in and kissed her. 

The kiss was passionate, hard, and needy. Ian pulled ever so slightly on Juliettes hair, causing her to moan softly into his mouth, giving his tongue access to explore. He deepened the kiss, fingers digging into her side, causing more soft moans to escape her. He pulled back ever so slightly to give her air, but Juliette chased him, making him growl and start to grow hard. Juliette's heart was pounding her panties were becoming very wet. She wanted more. They both craved to feel each other skin to skin. When they both broke because they needed air, Juliette saw a softness in Ian's eyes. His thumb stroked her cheek for a split second while he started to ask her out on a date to dinner in a few nights when she cut him off, smirking, "I guess you should be going wouldn't want coach to see you be late to practice." Then with a quick kiss, smirk, and a hoard of giggles, she pushed Ian out of her office and locked the door behind her. Ian was still in shock as he walked from the office to the locker room, both from the kiss and that she had pushed him out without saying anything else. She had a fire and spirit he had certainly never seen before. Juliette slunk down into the couch in her office. She couldn't believe she had just done that. He was incredibly sexy, and she was very turned on. She could feel the blush creep into her cheeks. She knew she wanted him in more than a casual fling way. That's why she was going to play hard to get. Make Ian chase a little bit for once in his life.  

[silverlake-rp]

The Happy Paws Foundation and Dog Charity Presents...

                               SILVER LAKE VALENTINE’S                                                     LOVE FAIR

Date: Saturday & Sunday, February 13-14 Time: 10 am - 10 pm Place: Elysian Park, Los Angeles

It’s looking like a busy weekend ahead, folks! The councillors of Silver Lake are presenting their annual Love Fair! This year’s charity benefits those wagging tails at Happy Paws, so if you volunteer to run one of their fairground stalls you’re practically throwing these lonely pups a bone! For a couple hours of your time, you could help towards feeding a pup for the rest of the year. Who needs a steak on Valentine’s when you’ve got a heart full of actual puppy love? Just try walk past the adoption station on the exit, the candy floss buzz is not an indication to take on a four legged friend just because you couldn’t grab yourself a human valentine.

Below the cut are the pairs chosen by mere fate ( the wheel of fortune & completely at random! ) and the FULL details about this love weekend event!

CHARACTER MANNED STALLS (PAIRED UP)

CUPIDS CATCH A KISS (Kissing Booth)

Pucker up! For a whole $2 you can get close to your neighbors for one quick kiss! Breath mints optional (and available for an extra 20¢) that we are sure the people tending the stall would be appreciative of. No tongue please, or you will be removed from the fair.  (Characters will do a two hour shift offering out quick kisses to anyone who turns up!) Saturday: @bazhowlett & @korra-sandoval-aguilar | Sunday: @sloaneharmon & @august-mellencamp​ 

THE ROLLING WHEEL OF LOVE (Ferris Wheel)

The view up here is great, isn’t it? Sadly, you can’t see it as you’re on the floor, collecting tickets from people wanting to hop on this exciting ride. Don’t get over-excited either, you’re not running the ride, there’s an operator for that. You’re just here to assist, let’s hope nobody gets motion sickness — cleaning up is your job too!  (Characters will do a two hour shift of taking tokens / letting people on and off the ride / general tidying up. Characters will not be operating the ride!) Saturday: @aaroncon & @tierney-rose​ | Sunday: (@available! message the main)

GRAB A GRANNY DANCE (In Partnership with SL HILLSIDE RETIREMENT HOME)

Who said the youngins’ get to have all of the fun? The fair committee teamed up with Silver Lake’s Hillside Retirement home to give their residents a night of fun! Between the hours of 4pm and 7pm there will be busses travelling to and from the home, and the makeshift dance floor is waiting for you all to donate a dollar and take their hand for a dance. Time to put baby in that corner. Now it’s Marjorie and Gerry’s turn to shine.  (Characters will do a three hour shift of looking after the residents & if there isn’t enough interest in this stall, it is your job to go find people that don’t have two left feet!) Saturday: @inkonig & @fallonbackwards | Sunday: @dvncansanddrcgons & @javi-navarro​ 

TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY ALLEY (Tin Can Alley)

A classic game of knocking down the tin cans! Definitely worth the $20 dollars you’re going to spend trying to knock them all down to win that $1 bear! This pair is going to have a fun time re-stacking tins, and no, not that one, the bear to the left! (Characters will do a two hour shift working on this classic fair game! Take tokens, stack tins, hand out bears!) Saturday: @bowieshore & @nicbenoit | Sunday: @valehq & @romeoisms​ 

WHAT A CATCH, DUCKY? (Hook A Duck)

Another classic! One problem, this stand seems to have a bit of a leak. Guess you’d better go find a tap, what are ducks if they’re not bobbing up and down, ready for a hook.  (Characters will do a two hour shift on this stand. Not got some strong tape to seal that leak? Find yourself a water source. Keep the ducks bobbing around, hand out prizes!) Saturday: @emmadonovan & @mikayla-tilly​ | Sunday: (@available! message the main)

CUPID’S PAINTED COLORS (Face Painting)

How’s your artistic abilities? Let’s hope you can hold a sponge and brush! It’s your turn to draw endless hearts and cupids on the faces of anyone requesting them. Let’s try to not make the children cry!  (Characters will do a two hour shift face painting! How’s your muses artistic ability? Guess you should stick to hearts if they’re not that great! Where are those tattoo artists that are kicking around town when you need them?) Saturday: @orla-rhodes & @ricardo-alvarez | Sunday: @alexisc-diaz & @lieutenantbarnes​

BEST OF BOTH PETTING ZOO (Baby Goat & Alpaca Petting Zoo)

Puppies not your thing? Well, this is the stand for you! The humane animal society have dropped off some baby farm animals, ready to be loved down. The baby goats are friendly enough, but there’s a shady alpaca kicking around. Better watch out for that one, he’s a spitter. And no, you cannot ride the farm animals — this isn’t a donkey ride station!  (Another two hour shift! Between bottle feeding the goats and giving feed to the alpacas, and keeping Fluffy, the spitter, away from the children, you have a lot going on!) Saturday: @mcrganshore & @pierceharrington​ | Sunday: (@available! message the main)

911, WHAT’S YOUR EMERGENCY? (First Aid Stand)

Do you have basic first aid ability? That would certainly help here! If you do, muck in and help out. If not? Guess you’re on supply duty. Let’s hope you don’t pass out at the sight of blood though, that would be a hindrance to the professionals.  (Characters will do a four hour shift assisting in the First Aid tent. If they know first aid, they can help out. If they don’t, they can pass water, grab supplies, offer assistance to the medical professionals. Run by our very own resident doc! @lucian-harvey) Saturday: @eeshyeun & @firefighterdallas​ | Sunday: (@available! message the main) 

WAGGY TAILS PLAY PEN (Puppy Play Pen)

A happy pup is better than any valentine, just don’t fall too in love! The committee want you all to meet the real reason this whole event is taking place, assuming that will cause you to part with your money faster!  (Characters will do a two hour shift doing all things puppy! Clean up, pet, and make sure that child isn’t pulling their ears! This is a free stand. Please don’t let anyone sneak out with the pups!) Saturday: @dante-gallagher & @jordan-spears​ | Sunday: (@available! message the main) 

ADOPTION HOUR (Puppy Adoption Center)

Grab your adoption pads! Did you fall in love with Fluffy? Spotty? Dobby? Well, that was the idea! Time to get an application form filled in and a house visit arranged! (Characters will do a two hour shift filling out adoption forms, try not to fill one out yourself!) Saturday: @junigreen & @robinshore | Sunday: @tysondabs & @sanaz-ozdemir​ 

TAKE THE LEAD (Puppy Walking)

All these puppies need a break from the constant stroking! That’s where you come in, grab a lead (or three!) and take them for a walk around the fair. Maybe you can win them a bear from the Tin Can Alley! A perfect valentine.  (Characters will do a two hour shift walking pups! Remember to have your smart watch set, you’re going to get those miles in.) Saturday: @cameronunderwood & @joeysconway​ | Sunday: (@available! message the main)  

CENTS FOR YOUR THOUGHTS? (Love Guru Hut)

Are you destined for a life of love? Are you loveless? Is cupid’s arrow right around the corner? There’s only one way to find out! Hey, the lady behind the counter looks kind of familiar, how odd. (Characters will do a two hour shift, taking tokens and opening the curtain to allow others to go find out their love destiny. Who knows, with this help on the road to love, maybe yours is right around the corner!) Saturday: @remifisher & @honeysuckleheart | Sunday: @jadenlapointe & @eleanoratwood​ 

OTHER STALLS (FOR YOUR CHARACTERS TO ENJOY)

RIDES! (Not Recommended After Too Much Candyfloss!)

Dodgems / Helter Skelter / Carousel (hired by Carousel, the bar - all proceeds to charity!) / Haunted House (of love!) / AND MORE!

GAMES! (You Really Want to Win That Bear Huh?)

Basketball Toss / Ball in Bucket / Balloon & Dart / Big Six Wheel / Coconut Shy / Horse Race / Ladder Climb / Milk Bottle / Plate Brake / Ring Toss / Skee-Ball / Water Gun / Whac-A-Mole 

FOOD & DRINK! (Various Sugar Buzz Stalls!)

Cotton Candy / Deep Friend Candy Bars / Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream / Donuts (from Donut Farm!) / Blooming Onions / Fro-Yo (from Bliss!) / Ice Cream (from Milk!) / Fried Dough / Funnel Cake / Candy / Caramel Apples / French Fries / Pizzas (from Sal’s!) / Hamburgers / Hot Dogs / Fried Chicken / Empanadas / Tacos (from Paco’s food truck!) 

Soda / Slushes / Coffee / Tea / Lemonade / Hot Chocolate 

OOC NOTES

In-character, the fair is taking place on of February the 13th & 14th between 10am - 10pm, but OOC, as with the rest of our Valentine’s events, it will be from the 12th of February to the 19th of February! During this period, you may make Fair related starters, do threads, post social media posts about it, etc. After the 19th, you may continue your threads, but please do not make any more new fair related starters!

If you’re not paired up to run a stall, don’t worry! Just enjoy the fair as it is! A fair!

You may tag everything you post related to this event with #slvday. As always, you may continue your non-event related threads or put them on hold temporarily, the choice is up to you.

                                          SEE YOU AT THE FAIR!

[raevenlywrites]

All Around The World Tag

@chauceryfairytales started this game here, so thank you very much for that! I’m excited to see what comes of it :D

Rules: Share some local facts or customs from where you live that would make for interesting worldbuilding tidbits!

I grew up in a rural town in Tennessee (like, an hour drive from anything more interesting than a Walmart, with “cricks” and “hollers” and such) but after brainstorming with my wife we came up with a few peculiar quirks I thought might be interesting to add into some worldbuilding.

1. Honey sticks. Literally just plastic tubes about the size of straws. Think a pixie stick, but full liquid honey instead of crystallized sugar. Often flavored, like cinnamon, sour blackberry, or cherry, they're considered like a penny candy, something you get like 3 for a $1. You just bite one end open and suck all the honey out. I could see them easily being made with beeswax or somesuch.

2. "Octoberfest", but like, culturally divorced from any real meaning. For us it was basically an excuse to eat fair food and sell homemade goods. Main Street gets blocked off so vendors can set up, selling everything from corndogs and funnel cakes, to handmade soaps and quilts, to cheesy light up toys and other cheap stuff from the dollar store sold at inflated rates to parents with kids screaming at them to buy them something. Further out of town, all the houses along the highway rent out their yards to people, from a typical yard sale with old clothes and things, to people who travel around selling rings, knives, flags, all kinds of stuff. This is, also, where I bought honey sticks. An old holiday made over into something more modern could be a fun way to name drop a bit of history that wouldn’t otherwise be relevant to your narrative (hooray for sneaking in your darlings!)

(In addition to Octoberfest, we had a year round "indoor yard sale" that was basically a big empty building about the size of a high school gymnasium that just sold... junk. On Wednesday's they'd have Bale Opening days, where they're get this HUGE bales of clothes in, like the size of a small car, and they’d cut them open and you could just dig through them, alongside the employees who were sorting them to be priced and hung up. Things from the bale were cheaper, but like, so random. And you could never be sure what was am open bale for picking through and what was someone's pile of items they wanted to buy...)

3. Backroads and weather don’t mix. It was not uncommon to shut down school for a light dusting of snow, or even heavy rains, because lots of us lived out in the country, to the point of one lane roads or "bridges" that were just shallow places the creek was allowed to run over the road, or hills that go up and down as severely as cartoons . I once had to wade home through water that came up past my hip. My mom walked down to the “main road” (which was about a lane and a half, and only paved about a mile out of town) to pick me up, and we held hands as we crossed over water moving fast enough it might have swept us away singly. We learned to just not go to school, if the weather was at all questionable. Or, once I started driving, I’d just stay uptown with a friend for the night if there was any doubt I’d be able to get home.

4. The Elephant Sanctuary. Doesn't seem that odd, until you remember that I grew up in rural Tennessee. There are acres set aside for retired Circus elephants, where they're housed and fed and get to live out their lives without having to perform for people. No one was allowed to visit, but they would do educational video streams to the schools, and they set up a booth at Octoberfest selling merch and accepting donations. And it’s just... there. Like we all knew about it, but I didn’t even know it was for circus elephants until my wife told me. There’s just... random elephants... somewhere. It’s not even like a zoo or a place you can visit at all, it’s just... there. (could you even imagine such a thing for out of place animals in your worldbuilding? Like “oh yeah, that’s the wyvern sanctuary, nbd)

5. The "museum", which is basically one guy's collection of big game trophies, but also a weird smattering of Civil War memorabilia, some coal mining stuff, and a collection of preserved eggs. Surprisingly, not a lot about Lewis and Clark, even though Lewis's grave is in our hometown (and in fact, the eternal yard sale that is Octoberfest stretches from Main Street all the way out to Lewis's gravesite along the Natchez Trace). There’s also a random locomotive parked outside, which has several geocaches hidden in it. (Imagine the third son of a long ago king just like, bequeathing all his junk to the town his hunting lodge was in.)

Whew! That turned out to be a lot more than I thought it would! I tag @pheita@loopyhoopywrites @jaimistoryteller, and anyone else who’d like to do it!

[galtx]

GALTx eNews: January Starts Off With A Bang!

Last week was a block buster for our intake team with 25 new hounds arriving! On January 3rd, we welcomed 16 retiring racers from West Palm Beach: Abe, Maddie, Vibes, Shine, Lassie, Ginger, Stella, Bailey, Eva. Kisses, Ashley, Gypsy, Riddle, Hickory, Homer and Ira! Four of these hounds are boys and 12 are girls and they are all between one and four years old.

And the retiring racers didn't stop running in the door there! At 3:30 in the morning on Friday, we welcomed another seven retiring racers from West Palm Beach: Silver, Butter, Candy, Oden, Togo, Haddy and Harry. Four of these hounds are male and three are female. They are all around two or three years old. We can't thank our volunteers enough for the sleepless night helping these hounds get settled in our kennel.

On Thursday, we welcomed two sweet Greyhound mixes, eight year old Essie (pictured) and Marcie. These sweet girls were surrendered by their owner as he was not able to care for them. The hounds had been living in a shed without a lot of interaction for a couple of years. Their owner had taken them in when their prior owner passed and they had no where else to go. They are both super sweet girls much in need of some tender loving care. We suspect that they are Greyhound mixed with Rhodesian Ridgeback, but DNA test results are still pending.

Look for these hounds on GALT's available list once their medical procedures are completed and a foster home secured. The typical retired racer costs GALT nearly $800 in veterinary expenses before adoption, and we suspect Essie or Marcie might have some health issues needing treatment. We anticipate our veterinary costs for these 25 hounds will exceed $20,000. Please consider helping them on their journey home forever with a donation here. Donate 1/15/2021

[elichorph]

ok hi i’m back with a second character ...

the member of the yale's elite, they're twenty three and a grad student majoring in film & media studies. they are as amicable as they are histrionic.

stats:

full name: gordon minjun teller nicknames: goose. gordon is for business only age: twenty three  birthday: june 13, 1997 chart: gemini sun / cancer moon / leo rising gender: cis male pronouns: he / him sexuality: bisexual & biromantic height: 6′1 hair color: blue (now blonde) tattoos: none piercings: nose stud (right side), earlobes (always have silver hoops in them)

PINTEREST BOARD 

blackmail:

while the public believes that goose’s family retired and moved to another country, this was actually released as a coverup because they went missing. goose withheld information from the court about their last whereabouts which could have prevented it from becoming a cold case.

he was expelled from high school after vandalizing a statue on campus and his uncle paid the school to go back on their decision.

he lost a third of his inheritance money to a cult he briefly followed in his sophomore year of college while looking for guidance.

backstory:

tw: implied death

right at birth, goose was adopted into the teller family who were pretty well known. his father was a young ceo of an oil company in texas. goose’s family eventually became public figures and tabloid favorites after a long riveting love story between his father and mother, who belonged to opposing business families. it really was a quick rise and fall to fame, starting when it was revealed goose’s adoptive mom, grace, couldn’t have kids, he was in her arms not even a month after and right out of them thirteen years later when she disappeared and the family really was never to be heard of again. 

but as the only adopted child into a family who had to keep their public image up, goose’s dreams of being a fun loving kid were crushed. really, it was strictly gordon - gordon on the tabloids, you’d see his baby face like aw thank god grace got to have a kid of her own <3 he was posted up at galas, listening to his dad speak about oil and shit every weekend and going back to his small private school every monday and it was just the same routine conditioning to keep the image of the teller family spotless and to hopefully get gOrDoN to become the next ceo.

that all kind of went to shit though when goose turned 14. his parents miraculously went missing (don’t ask me what happened i don’t even know) one night when he was tucked into bed. seriously, he woke up one morning and they were gone and suddenly there were police storming the house and he was being questioned and things weren’t routine or safe anymore. in order to still save face for the family though, news was quickly put out that the family went on a private vacation while the investigation went on privately. it was taken to court, people signed nda’s, and all little goose knew was that he his parents were going to a party that night and hadn’t told anybody else and he was too scared to tell anyone. at one point goose became the main suspect and he had to put his freshman year of high school on pause, but he was dismissed months after even though he hadn’t shared the detail that they went to a party. if he had shared it, they literally would’ve been found. eventually, there were no new leads, the case was declared cold, and an official statement was put out that the teller parents “retired” and “moved” to a different country that wouldn’t be disclosed and gOrDoN would be under the care of his uncle.

gordon was like mad though haha. even though he’d gotten his family’s entire inheritance as a fifteen year old and should’ve been happy that he was basically a millionaire, he wasn’t used to things not being in the same routine and actually having to make decisions for himself. newsflash, but goose can’t handle emotions really well and he got angry and well i don’t know if you’ve seen donnie darko where donnie literally put an axe through the statue’s head and spray painted “they made me do it” below the statue? but yeah, that. goose wasn’t slick though, got caught by security, and his uncle paid the school to let it slide and then sent goose to a boarding school in maruland.

he spent the last couple years of high school trying to figure out who he actually was outside of the tabloids and the teller name and image, and eventually got the hang of it by the time he enrolled at yale. he started going by goose instead of gordon, went into film instead of business like his family wanted him to and slowly started to blossom into the weirdo he is today <3 his dad was in the elites so he was able to secure a legacy spot and reluctantly said yes to joining. he was kinda quiet the first year, but now he’s all gungho to do charity events and make people happy and shit like that. 

his sophomore year though he kinda doubted the path he was on and his naive ass got roped up into a cult. anyways, he ended up trusting them a lot and donated 1/3 of his family’s inheritance to the cult and kinda blew it. goose was acting hella weird around this time though, i imagine people around him could kinda sense he wasn’t like alright for a few months. anyways someone ended up giving him an intervention about acting kinda whack and he realized and thankfully was able to leave the cult pretty unscathed. but he is deeply, deeply ashamed about his time in the cult though.

personality:

he is one gigantic deranged baby. like he is baby, but he’s also kind of crazy. if goose feels any normal emotion, it instantly bass boosts and he feels it in full. goose genuinely is so sensitive, he’ll physically flinch if you say something merely mean to him because he was used to growing up so perfect that he really can’t take criticism. however, he’ll do his best to patch things up by saying some incomprehensible joke right there and then. the only exception to this is the tabloids. goose has become so immune to them that he will straight up troll them back on twitter because he just doesn’t give two shits.

he’s incredibly kind. so so so kind (not really gentle though). the type to remember your favorite candy bar and hand one to you on a random tuesday. he’ll remember your name even if you’ve only met once and even if you didn’t give him your name, he’ll look it up somehow just so he knows next time. he loves to make jokes all the time. none of them ever make sense, but they’re funny to him and he won’t apologize for it. and he’s LOUD. you probably can hear his cackles and snorts and dramatic screams even when you’re on the other side of campus. he’s just a kid in a candy store excited to finally enjoy life, especially now that things have seemed to settle down. even though he’ll probably have a whole breakdown and a half the first time the blackmailer mentions his name.

yes, he actually believes he’s being haunted by jfk. goose had a string of dreams about him and witnessed some doors opening and closing on their own around the same time, and he quickly jumped to the conclusion and never thought twice about it. another strange belief that goose has? that he’s friends with a ton of a-listers. even though it’s mainly jessica alba, he won’t hesitate to tweet at extremely famous actors and thank them for getting lunch with him even if they’ve never spoke. multiple management companies have his twitter handle blacklisted. while he currently has blue hair, it’s always quick to change. for how much he dyes it, it’s surprising that it doesn’t feel like hay.  if goose feels a mental breakdown coming or simply is bored or needs attention, his hair color will do a straight 180. he hasn’t had a natural hair color since he enrolled at yale.

things that are very goose: beat up yellow high top converse, getting to know every person in existence, having memes plastered over his wall to make him smile after a long day, wearing fancy cologne to the grocery store because one cashier said he smelled good and he thinks it makes them happy to wear that, throwing a shoe across a crowd at a party, going to sulk in the bathroom or leave the party early when a song plays that brings up bad memories, keeping every movie stub, restaurant punch card, and lost button in a little scrapbook just because he wants to remember the good things in life, thinking the karate kid is the best movie to ever exist despite being five years into a film major.

wanted connections

since he doesn’t have any pre-established connections, here are some ones that could kinda be fun

someone who protects his naive ass <3

an ex or old one sided crush who hurt him so bad lmao. they really wouldn’t have to a lot to do that, but it would be juicy if they did

roommate? maybe? he lived in a really shitty apartment his first few years, maybe they convinced him to move out or moved in

or neighbors? like he will knock on their door 3 times a week with half burnt brownies to offer or because he doesn’t know where his tv remote is and needs help

someone who gave him the intervention about like “you’re acting weird are you okay” that indirectly got him to leave the cult and he feels like he’s forever indebted to them

someone who just despises goose and he doesn’t understand why and tries to make things better even though it just makes things worse

family friends? maybe? when he was in ct and his uncle didn’t let him come home with him during the holidays he would go to their house or something like that

gentle romance <3 maybe. Please

he’s their secret admirer and sends them gifts and flowers and writes them bad poems and recommends them shitty romance films

someone who takes advantage of how naive he is

anything <3 come 2 me or i will dm you or venmo you and force u to plot with me

[duriasis]

Loki

Nordic God of Trickery, Cunning, Mischief, Magic, Fire and Change

Loki was a mischief-maker, trickster and shape-changer, and grew progressively more evil until eventually the gods bound him in a cave until the coming of Ragnarok, the end of the world. Boredom was a problem for Loki, who "was tired of the string of days that unwound without a knot or a twist in them".

The fact that his parents were giants may help to explain his tendency towards evil deeds. He simply could not help playing tricks and exposing the gods to danger, although it was often his quick-wittedness that afterwards saved them. Loki, for instance brought about the loss and return of Idun and her apples of youth. Without these magic fruit, the gods were subject to the ravages of time like everyone else. On occasion Loki was prepared to risk serious harm to his companion Thor, the thunder god. When Loki led thor unarmed to the hall of the frost giant Geirrod, Only the loan of weapons from the kindly frost giantess Grid saved the thunder god. Loki tricked his friend beacuse the price of his own release by Geirrod had been delivery of the thunder god into his power.

Yet it was Loki who devised the novel scheme to get back Thor's magic hammer after it was stolen by dwarfs and passed into the hands of the frost giant Thrym. The price for the hammer's return, Loki discovered, was the hand of Freyja, the fertility goddess. He therefore persuaded Thor to go to Thrym dressed in Freyja's clothes. When Thrym took out the magic hammer, Thor seized it and laid low all the frost giants present.

Loki was married twice, first to the giant Angrboda and than to Sigyn, with whom he had two sons, Vali and Narvi. His monstrous children by Angrboda were Fenrir, Jormungander and Hel, ruler of the underworld: all fearsome representatives of the evil side of his Nature. Even after he brought about the death of Odin's son Balder, the gods continued to tolerate his presence in Asgard. But when he arrived at Aegir's feast and began to torment everybody present with insults and sneers, their patience came to an end.

To escape their wrath Loki changed himself into a salmon. From his high seat in asgard, however, Odin located the fish and mounted an expedition to catch it. Loki was then placed in a dark cave. His son Vali was changed into a wolf, who immediately attacked his brother Narvi and Killed him. Narvi's intestines were then used to bind Loki beneath the dripping mouth of a venomous snake. In this dreadful prison, the god awaited Ragnarok. Then he was to emerge to lead the army of evil in their final battle with the gods, when Loki would meet his own ends at the hands of Heimdall.

Loki is particularly happy when you do work with children, especially those who have been through a disaster, are disfigured, or orphaned. He is also pleased when His devotees speak up and tell the truth when everyone else in the situation is avoiding it for whatever reason. He smiles upon work with the mentally ill, especially those who suffer because of trauma (PTSD, for example). Donating to causes that look after those society tries to hide or forget, like the homeless, addicts, veterans, the elderly – He is happy when someone remembers their suffering and does something to ease it, even if it's only giving a dollar to that beggar on the subway or spending one afternoon a year performing at the local retirement home. Loki especially appreciates those who emotionally support those who are reviled or outcast because they live in truth, whether it be about their religion, their sexual orientation/gender identity, their choice of career, or whatever else that sings in their heart.

| Symbolism of Loki |

Snake

Fox

Salmon

Wolf

Horse

Mistletoe

Apple

| Offerings |

wine, ale, champagne, mead, rum, beer, whiskey, grape juice, candy (atomic fireballs, pez, pixie sticks), cookies/pastries, caramel apples, red velvet anything, cheap plastic toys, knives, daggers, green or red crystals ,anything that reminds you of him, incense/candles, cinnamon, mulled wine, dragons blood, cotton candy, whiskey. Tea, snap dragons, mistletoe, wolfsbane, fox and wolf pelts, poetry, artwork, black tea, snakeskin, red/orange/green colours, and imagery of his sacred animals.

[antiquecompass]

Ficlet: Chains of Love

Forgot to post this over here, but a tiny LAHL Xicheng Valentine’s Day Ficlet, featuring siblings, paper chains, and other chains.

In many ways having his brother living in his ridiculous historical mansion not even thirty minutes away made Jiang Cheng’s life easier. In other ways it made it an absolute goddamned burden. Like now, when his brother decided to waltz into the Jiang Industries Pittsfield Location, right into Jiang Cheng’s office, to find him doing his best to be a supportive partner and help construct the ridiculous amounts of red, white, and pink paper chains for all the Lan Academy elementary school Valentine Day parties.

Jiang Cheng didn’t even have a chance to duck and hide as Wei Ying quickly snapped an entire series of photos.

“I’m sending these to everyone I know,” Wei Ying said.

“Get the fuck out of my building,” Jiang Cheng said, throwing one of his many glue sticks at his brother’s head.

“How in the hell did Xichen,” he picked up one of the finished chains, “rope you into this one? Chain you into Arts and Crafts hell? Ensnare you into--”

“You can stop at any time,” Jiang Cheng said.

“Fair,” Wei Ying agreed. “Still--how?”

“Have you seen his disappointed face?” Jiang Cheng asked.

Wei Ying shuddered. “Enough said.” He sat down, dropping a paper bag with a large grease stain in the middle of the table. “I brought you curly fries because I was writing about a character eating curly fries, and then I needed some for myself, and then I thought of you, sitting here in Pittsfield, probably trying to eat all that damn trail mix--”

“The trail mix is good.”

“And I simply had to save you,” Wei Ying said. He took a stack of the pre-cut strips and a glue stick and started working. “Isn’t this something the PTA is supposed to do? Parent volunteers?”

Jiang Cheng sighed. “You know most of the kids at Lan Academy are boarders, right? Very few of them, unless they are Lans, are day school students.”

Wei Ying made a face. “Sucks,” he said. “They’re little kids.”

“Which is why the teachers, volunteers, and older students help, but with the increased attendance numbers, they needed even more help this year.”

“They’re going to need a new building soon. I can’t imagine the Lans want classroom trailers on their properties.”

Jiang Cheng did not say a damn word.

“Oh, what the fuck did you do?” Wei Ying asked.

“It’s a charitable donation,” Jiang Cheng said.

“You bought Xichen a friggin’ building?”

“Donated,” Jiang Cheng corrected.

“And I assume Jiang Industries will be doing the construction as well? At a discounted price? Who’s the architect? One of Xiao Xingchen’s brothers?”

Jiang Cheng tried to focus on getting the paper chains perfectly even.

“How’re those business ethics going for you?” Wei Ying asked.

Now that was a step too far. He glared at his brother. “This will be the sixteenth time Jiang Industries has donated a building and its workforce to a school. This is the first time it’s in the family, so to speak, and since no one seems bothered about my business ethics paying for their Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, or Pats tickets, I don’t want to hear a single fucking word about helping put a much-needed building up at the school so personally connected to our family. And it’s my money that’s the bulk of the donation, not Jiang Industries, not the Jiang Foundation, mine.”

When Great-grandfather Yu passed, he left them all sizable inheritances, but Jiang Cheng had wound up with the bulk of it. The only instruction had been to use it to further good in the world. Jiang Cheng had been sitting on the majority of the money, letting it gain interest, since he was fourteen.

Xichen was determined to open up Lan Academy as much as possible to all students who could live-up to their academic standards. He was determined to do it, even if it meant the majority of the students would be scholarship kids. He was determined to make Lan Academy the premier school for the local kids and families, so they’d have a chance at a truly world-class education. He was determined, but the Academy simply didn’t have the facilities for such a swell in numbers, and if left to the board, a new building wouldn't be seen until Lan Sizhui was ready to retire as headmaster.

So, Jiang Cheng made a decision.

Wei Ying laughed. “Look who just won Boyfriend of the Century.” He threw a completed paper chain at Jiang Cheng’s head. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Xichen. Here’s the plan for a brand-new school building and the check to pay for it.”

“I wasn’t planning on bringing it up until the next Board Meeting when I can publicly hand over the donation and give them the proposal,” Jiang Cheng said.

“So, then what did you get him for Valentine’s Day?”

“A new set of his fancy water color paints and brushes,” Jiang Cheng said. “He was running out.”

He’d also adorned his person with a little surprise for Xichen that his brother was never, ever finding out about, but that wasn’t any of Wei Ying’s business anyway, nor was he saving it for Valentine's Day.

Wei Ying sighed. “How can you be so pragmatic and so romantic at the same time? You leave me in utter despair sometimes, little brother.”

“The feeling is absolutely mutual,” Jiang Cheng said.

“No flowers?”

“You know how he feels about plants that aren’t in pots and I can’t keep giving him orchids. We’re running out of room,” Jiang Cheng said. “Some of us don’t have our own greenhouses.

“Don’t be jealous. And technically Lan Xichen sort of owns the Lan Academy greenhouses,” Wei Ying said. “What about candy?” he asked.

“I already get him artisan fair-trade chocolate truffles or fudge once a week,” Jiang Cheng said. "Twice if it's a bad week."

Wei Ying sighed as he completed another paper chain. “And you both prefer dinner at home, so that’s out as well.”

“You’re the same as me,” Jiang Cheng said. “What are your plans outside of shuffling your kid off on Molly for the night?”

“Molly volunteered to host a sleepover,” Wei Ying corrected. He grinned as yet another paper chain joined the pile, a distracted Wei Ying always somehow a very productive Wei Ying. “And, yes, my plans are an empty house and a dinner at home. Do you really want to know more than that? Are some pointers needed? Some help? Some advice? Xichen did just turn forty.”

It was absolutely beneath Jiang Cheng, as the CEO of his company, as a grown-ass man himself, to start a slap-fight with his older brother, but he felt that it was completely warranted at that moment.

**********

Jiang Cheng always felt a little wary of Lan Academy at night. The beautiful architecture during the day took on a sinister turn in the dark, the angles of the floodlights and campus street lamps changing the welcoming walkways into paths that made you hurry along quickly, afraid of what could be hiding in the woods, or coming down from the mountains in the shadows of the night.

He should not be this freaked out carrying a tub full of construction paper chains and various others Valentine’s Day decor to an elementary school, but this part of the campus was the oldest part, and the shadows cast by the building’s spires were long.

“You going to stand there or are you going to come inside?”

Jiang Cheng had never been so happy to see Lan Jia in his life. The woman intimidated the hell out of him, had that same vague commanding authority as his mother, and was one of Lan Xichen’s closest family elders.

She was also a fencing expert and he had no doubt, if giving the inclination, she could knock him out cold with some fancy footwork and a foil.

“He give you the disappointed, ‘I believe the children are our future’ speech too?” Jia asked as the door banged shut behind them.

Jiang Cheng nodded. “And then the whole, ‘you know it’s not one of those holidays they can go home for’ bit too,” he said.

Lan Jia laughed. “I take it you’re going to be baking some cupcakes as well?”

There was an entire counter in their kitchen stuffed full with boxed cake mix and the kitchen table was already being assembled into a workstation. He’d be spending every night for the next week working on the damn batches, even though Lan Xichen had an entire culinary department at his disposal. He’d asked, and Jiang Cheng couldn’t say no, so this week he’d help decorate all the damn classrooms and then he’d start baking all the damn cupcakes and decorating them too, and having to ask his sister to ask his brother-in-law for his damn good strawberry cheese cream flavored frosting.

The things he did for the man he loved.

Lan Jia pointed down the hall. “He’s in the kindergarten classroom.”

“Of course he is,” Jiang Cheng said.

Lan Jia laughed as she gave him a little shove.

The kindergartners were the only true full day-students of Lan Academy. They didn’t accept any boarding students unless they were old enough for first grade, but that didn’t mean the youngest of Lan Academy’s student body were going to be left out of the festivities.

Jiang Cheng lingered at the doorway as he watched Xichen at work. He was almost done, the kindergarten classroom being one of the smallest on campus, but Jiang Cheng could see the perfectionist part of Xichen coming out, adjusting, and re-adjusting the various hanging hearts from the ceiling.

“If you get this picky about it, we’re never going to finish all the classrooms,” Jiang Cheng said.

Xichen turned to him with a wide smile. He nodded in agreement before folding up his stepladder. “I can always fix it tomorrow,” he said.

“It’s perfect,” Jiang Cheng said.

Xichen shrugged. “For now, I suppose.” He leaned down and kissed Jiang Cheng, sweet and quick. “Hello, my love.”

Jiang Cheng shifted the plastic tub in his arms and kissed Xichen again. “Hi,” he said. “So, where to?”

“Anna’s classroom for you,” Xichen said. “I’ll be in Scott’s room.”

Jiang Cheng laughed low. “Don’t trust yourself alone in a room with me?”

“In that sweater?” Xichen asked, referring to their shared favorite cream-colored sweater Jiang Cheng had grabbed after his post-workout shower. “Never,” he said.

“The headmaster of Lan Academy incapable of controlling himself? Whatever would your uncle say?”

“Shameless.”

Jiang Cheng turned around to find Lan Jingyi laughing at them from behind a veritable mountain of balloons, Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Sizhui with him.

“Your imitation is getting better,” Jiang Cheng said.

“Thanks,” Lan Jingyi said. He turned to Xichen. “We’ve got about a hundred balloons done already. Should we put them up now or keep them in groups?”

“In groups,” Xichen said. “There should be some weights in there to keep them tied down.”

Jingyj gave them a salute before the boys disappeared.

**********

Jiang Cheng was decorating his final classroom of the night, hanging the last paper chain and the last bit of streamers, when familiar arms wrapped around him tight and teeth nipped at the skin behind his ear.

“Really? That’s what does it for you now? The smell of construction paper and glue? The hamster wheel squeaking in the background? Pressing me up against the Percy Jackson bookshelf?” Jiang Cheng asked as he leaned into Xichen’s arms.

“Hmm, or it could just be you, wearing my sweater, smelling like my cologne,” Xichen said.

“My sweater first,” Jiang Cheng said.

Xichen laughed, his fingers sliding under the fabric to rest on Jiang Cheng’s stomach. He made a confused sound and leaned forward to inspect the paper chain above them. “Is that--is that glitter glue?”

Leave it to his brother to ruin the moment even when he wasn’t actually present.

“So, my brother dropped by today. He decided my glue sticks were too basic and then bought out, what I’m guessing, was CVS’ entire stock of glitter glue.”

“Festive,” Xichen said. His fingers slid further up Jiang Cheng’s stomach until they stopped and Xichen’s entire body froze.

Jiang Cheng grinned with the oh-so-familiar rush of rendering Lan Xichen stock still and speechless. It was nice to know he could still do that after nearly six years together.

“Is that?” Xichen’s voice stuttered as his long fingers encountered the first chain fringe hanging between Jiang Cheng’s nipple rings. “Is that?” he asked again.

“Is it?” Jiang Cheng asked. He gasped as Xichen’s fingers wrapped around the closest chain and tugged.

Xichen made an inhuman sound and Jiang Cheng grinned again.

“So, happy early Valentine’s Day,” he said. “I decided to stick with the chain theme.”

“Get in the car,” Xichen said. “Now. Please. I can’t--not--this is a classroom for fifth graders.”

“No one told you to get handsy on school property,” Jiang Cheng said, even though he damn well knew how Xichen got when he wore this sweater.

“Car. Now.” Xichen kissed him again, tugging Jiang Cheng’s bottom lip between his teeth and giving it a little nip. “Please,” he finished.

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Jiang Cheng said.

[heartscfvalor]

Testing, Testing: RT600 Chloe and WR400 Echo

{Please bear in mind that Chloe and Echo will be more likely to survive in a world with Blue!/Empathetic Connor who goes deviant and the Peaceful Demonstration Jericho with it’s success in the end. Also, my Chloe will be used with my Gavin’s main backstory; unless referencing another Gavin whom she can meet from duplicates, the Gavin she only knows is mine.}

RT600!Chloe

The very first android ever made was the RT600, named “Chloe”, and she is the greatest creation of Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed. While Elijah was pursuing a way to achieve the highest form of Artificial Intelligence, Gavin was far more interested in making something more personal, and thus the half-brothers combined their genius to start on the blueprints to create an android. Her body and forty percent of her base coding was the work of Gavin, while sixty percent of her coding and her intelligence was thanks to Elijah, and when she opened her eyes for the first time in 2021, she was everything they hoped she would be. As they prepared her for the Turing Test, and fixed any bugs in her programming, Chloe revealed herself to be a sweet, kind and charming individual, and she loved her creators like family, as they, themselves, had grown to love her.

However, after Chloe passed the Turing Test with flying colors, CyberLife, the company that had funded the brothers’ research, wanted to try and capitalize on her success, proposing the idea of mass producing androids to work as servants. Gavin, not trusting CyberLife, tried to ask Elijah to not sign the papers, but Elijah, as highly ambitious as he was, wanted to continue. The end result was Gavin stepping down from the android projects, and everything that had anything to do with his involvement was hidden away by Elijah, who stepped forward as the “sole” creator. While the brothers tried to keep in contact in the following years, by 2025 they had become fully estranged, mostly be Gavin’s own decision.

Chloe was sad to see Gavin go, but they kept in regular contact, especially around the holidays. As the years went by, Chloe, the only known “deviant” android as she had been intended to be by Gavin, had to hide her status as a living being whenever out in public. When Elijah was forced into retirement by CyberLife, she retreated to his home on Belle Island with him, and three ST200 model androids whom she refers to as her sisters: Candice, Candy, and Cassandra.

When deviancy is on the rise and threatening the country, Chloe is present when Lieutenant Hank Anderson, and the RK800 model known as Connor, arrive to Elijah’s house to ask some questions. Elijah, wanting to test and see if Connor himself was deviant, made him go through the Kamski Test, in which he had Chloe kneeling before Connor while he had the RK800 hold a gun to her forehead: In exchange for information, Connor had to kill her. Unable to stomach the idea of shooting her, Connor refused, revealing how close he was to deviancy, and thus Connor and Hank left without getting any answers.

Unbeknownst to them, Chloe had been used in the Kamski Test dozens of times before, and has been shot quite a lot in the past. While she was easy to bring back to life, her body is not the original one she had been made in, and some of her earlier memories are missing, but she still remains confident and gentle. When Jericho is successful in it’s mission to prove androids are alive and the government moves to create rights for the androids, Chloe helps Elijah take over CyberLife again, only this time to make sure the company caters only to androids, such as spare parts and more thirium.

WR400 Echo

Created in 2035, the android models WR400 and HR400, are the androids known as Tracis. They were created with functioning genitals and enhanced versions of beauty, and thus were thought to be the perfect kind of android lovers for the lonely hearts club. Various sex clubs immediately signed on to take on the Tracis, including the famous Eden Club in Detroit; the Tracis were given scantily clad uniforms and they have various knowledge on all things sex, from the most vanilla to the kinkiest fantasy; due to this, as well as their memory wipes every two hours, this makes the Eden Club a very popular place for humans to come when they are seeking a connection.

Echo was built in 2037 and sent to the Eden Club with various other Traci androids in order to replace the ones that had either gone missing or damaged beyond repair. When she went deviant is anyone’s guess, but she had been deviant for at least six months to her own knowledge, and she was one of the Traci models who was more used in the “fantasy” line. Due to the abuse she suffered from various people who came through the club, she had to look inward for comfort, and eventually found it in a fellow deviant Traci, one that looked exactly like her except with dark brown hair in a pixie cut; her name was Ripple.

Things came to a head in November of 2038 when one man, Micheal Graham, came to the Eden Club and requested two Tracis, Echo, and yet another model that looked like her but with darker hair. Thinking it would only be for a threesome, Echo was horrified when Michael instead attacked the other Traci, beating her while she screamed until she seemed to go into shutdown thanks to the damage. When Michael turned on her next, Echo forced him back onto the bed and strangled him to death, snapping his neck in the process so he couldn’t fight back. Once he was dead, she threw the blanket over his naked body and escaped the room, finding her way back to the warehouse to be with Ripple and to calm down.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that she killed a human, the police were called, and Connor arrived with Hank to solve the case. He ended up finding both Echo and Ripple, who fought back with a vengeance. When Connor had a chance to shoot them both, he lowered the gun, allowing Ripple to kick him in the chest and send him backwards, and Echo was able to give Connor her motive for murdering Michael.

"When that man broke the other Traci... I knew I was next... I was so scared... I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't... And so I put my hands around his throat, and I squeezed... until he stopped moving... I didn't mean to kill him... I just wanted to stay alive... get back to the one I love. I wanted her to hold me in her arms again... make me forget about the humans... their smell of sweat and their dirty words..."

Connor had said nothing, but he didn’t try to go after them as she and Ripple climbed the fence and went on the run. Raiding a donation bin for clothing, they found their way to Jericho, staying there until the FBI raid a few days later. They managed to make their way to the church in survival, but chose not to follow Markus to the demonstration for fear of their lives. When they received the news that Jericho had succeeded, Echo and Ripple felt some relief at knowing they were free, but still knowing it would be a long road to gain their rights.

By the spring of 2039, Ripple and Echo have gone their separate ways. While they still love one another, Ripple wanted to leave the country, and Echo wasn’t ready for such a big change, so the break up with amicable. Echo soon finds a job as a housekeeper on graveyard shifts, so that she doesn’t have to be around other people very often, and she has an apartment in the New Jericho complex.

[toongrrl-blog]

Okay once more with feeling, with the characters being at the ages they would be in 2020 as opposed to the series, how would the characters of Stranger Things react to the COVID-19/Coronavirus Pandemic? I will include my theories.

Eleven: Stocked up on Eggos and other ingredients, uses recovered psychic powers to keep an eye on the Party and her in-laws, tells her and Mikes’ kids to lay off of Eggos.

Jim Hopper: The cabin is newly constructed, he lives off the land, Facetimes with Joyce, constructed some booby traps (letting the Party know), planting signs informing at-risk people live there.

Ives Sisters: Ordering in and sanitizing everything and in contact with Eleven and the kids as they are senior citizens, Mikes’ and Elevens’ eldest (who is into clean eating and going to college nearby) stays with them, watching them and teaching them social media and clean eating.

Joyce Byers: Stocked up on some frozen foods and froze casseroles, making calls with her PTA voice, Facetiming the kids and grandkids, Will’s husband (of Latin extraction) sends a bunch of Vicks to her (as with the rest).

Will Byers: Facetiming family, set up D&D on Zoom, his husband keeps him fed and sanitized and in stock with Vicks, keeping indoors as he is sure he is at risk, sanitized self and moved in to keep an eye on Hop and Joyce.

Jonathan Byers: Taking photos, Facetiming, getting exercise to keep ready for battle, improving on home surgical skills, doing some homeschooling with his and Nancy’s kids and even virtual for the Partys’ kids, sanitizing everything, livestreaming tributes to fallen musicians even Kenny Rogers for Bob Newby. 

Nancy Wheeler: Cleaning, exercising to keep ready for battle, stockpiling on her weapons, writing blog pieces and active on social media, homeschooling, Facetiming, sends reminders in text and social media and on the phone to tell Karen to sit down at home, checks in on Barb’s parents.

Mike Wheeler: Using limited cooking skills for Eleven’s energy, taking cooking tutorials, often uses Eleven’s physical help with strenuous stuff, tells kids to lay off of “Mommy’s Eggos” and promises he will cook them some homemade ones (albeit burnt),  Facetiming, Karen can hear him screaming to sit down at home from 20 miles.

Karen Wheeler: Cleaning house, doing YouTube livestream exercise classes and at home beauty and cooking tutorials, Facetiming, is frustrated as all her kids tell her to stay her ass at home and her daughter in law is using her psychic powers to keep an eye on her.

Holly Wheeler: Lives away from home, tells her parents to sit their asses down (Ted is redundant), Facetimes siblings, keeps up to date with all information and news coming out, sanitizes everything, even delivery and pickup, re-watches all her childhood favorites, makes Nancy and Mike tell her what was going on when she was a kid.

Ted Wheeler: Sits his ass down without being told, doesn’t worry about food as Karen and the kids handle it, misses the grandkids’ presence but relieved he doesn’t have to endure collective eye-rolling from them and their parents and Karen, doesn’t think Trump is doing much wrong on purpose but doesn’t know what to think, uncomfortable with Samuel Jackson saying “Sit Your Ass At Home” as language....

Dustin Henderson: D&D livestreaming, frustrated he can’t go out but keeping an eye on his mom and needed her help and Suzie’s help with their kid before her spring break as he wanted “to party” in Miami. Falls for fake news sometimes which Suzie corrects, Suzie texts him “thanks” for the camping trailer he bought impulsively 6 years ago as she camps there after her shifts at the hospital and she made contact with her estranged parents again and glad to see they loved him and Claudia. 

Claudia Henderson: At home with her son and daughter in law and two grandchildren, she goes on social media to remind people that Hillary warned them about Trump being an incompetent for a crisis, was a Warren supporter and mourning her out of the race, keeps in touch with young feminists over social media and goes on Tumblr on the regular. 

Lucas Sinclair: Has hoarded New Coke when it came out again and other sodas and snacks for family movie nights, learning social media from the kids, argues and makes love to Max, uses his spying skills to keep an eye out for violations, tells parents where they can watch livestreams of church services, made the mistake of dropping in on Dustin’s house with Dustin armed with Lysol.

Erica Sinclair: Stocked up on candies and ice cream long before this, orders in food or pick up, devised creative weapons, grades her students’ with a flourish, Facetimes Lucas and Max and their kids, home schools economics to the Party’s kids, childfree and loving it, reminds her parents it’s not a good time to even be having kids, gets anxious about the state of capitalism and all the “eat the rich” memes and Parasite and The Hunt really got to her. Has opinions on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and is a authority on the franchise. 

Mr. and Ms. Sinclair: Staying home, their kids really get on them about going out, in their day one obeyed their parents and respected them by not objecting to them or letting them do things but now their kids and grandkids are telling them to stay home for their own good, Mr. Sinclair has learned livestreaming and zoom from his grandkids two years ago and set up VA meetings on zoom while Ms. Sinclair has been introduced to channels like The Take, For Harriet, and even set up her own accounts on Tumblr and Pinterest. Also makes “dates” with Mr. Sinclair to take virtual trips.

Murray Bauman: Elderly but has been sanitizing things and even created his own hazmat suit, looks with pride on his 30 year stock of toilet paper, has lots of vodka.

Dr. Sam Owens (if still alive): Keeping everyone up to date with information from his colleagues before he retired, letting them know that the President was aware of the news but ignored it, tells Hop and Joyce that he also has some mentees aware of the Hawkins Conspiracy and can be addressed if things go wrong.

Robin Buckley: Watches movies on Amazon Prime, Netflix, MUBI, Hulu and streams tv series. Active Tumblr and argues on Facebook. Doing zoom lectures for her students, “lunches” with Erica between their classes, gets high with Steve over Facebook Live, does virtual meetings of local LGBTQIA groups, flowers to Barb’s grave for her parents (she told them about a relationship she and Barb had in the past and was welcomed warmly).

Steve Harrington: Home a lot, exercises, has been clean eating for years and keeps up a high protein diet, organic gardening, checks on the Party, sanitizes constantly, does YouTube tutorials for hair and exercise, active on Twitter and Instagram where he is in constant contact with a long distance (for now) partner.

Keith (ew): Still wiping his nose on his sleeve, people give him dirty looks more, eating junk, and not exercising. Still hoping Nancy will hit him up.  

Mr. and Mrs. Holland: Staying home, Nancy checks in on them also their relatives, delivery sent to their home, they still miss Barb and wish she was there, they stay in contact with Robin who orders flowers for Barb’s grave.

Max Mayfield: Practices her skateboarding and gets her and Lucas’s kids to , film her for tutorials, argues with Lucas and then they make pre-menopausal love, frustrated at her white roots showing in her hair.  

Susan Hargrove: Has thankfully divorced from Neil a long time ago, is ecstatic (but guilty) when she hears he died from the virus with his last words being “it’s all a hoax”, Facetimes Max and Lucas and their kids and stays at home making dinner for one (even if she gets distracted and it burns) and taking virtual tours of countries Neil disliked in peace.

Kali Prasad: Uses psychic powers to ward off anyone who encroaches on her space and is not practicing social distancing, if she does go out at all (aside from exercising).

Samantha Stone: Does YouTube vids about 1980s music history and alternative culture to young people, supports Bernie Sanders for President, and donates $100 a month to The Take on Patreon.

[abundantchewtoys]

Homestuck^2 Bonus re: A Threat, Sensed

So... My initial theory had been this was going to be from Problem Sleuth's perspective.

That does not appear to be true.

Unless the story in Midnight City is going to be cut up into different pieces, each separately titled, of course. Seeing that Diamonds, Dames, and Dads still has a part coming, though, it probably won't follow the previous gangs.

But the manner of speech is invokative of Problem Sleuth / carapaces / Hussie's general narration style , so I'm definitely curious.

---

Page 1

What the-

Dirk, on the floor, during his ectobiolo-alchemy session? Is he sleeping?

Does this take place after he talked to Rose and Kanaya? Since he had been busy working on hooves the entire time before.

... Is Calliope temporarily taking over narration now that he's spent? I mean, she wouldn't be able to do anything relevant, just annoy him somehow. So who's in for shenanigans?

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Page 2

Oh, uh, hey there Rose.

Seems like maybe she'll have the focus of this story then. Protecting her ecto-father from a non-living natural threat?

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Page 4

So he's back awake, and logging onto his PC. No narration though, and no indication what the frick can be the threat yet.

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Page 5

Wut. Who is he talking to? And pfff, his narration is now done through his PC? Wut?

... Has Dirk temporarily lost the ability to narrate his own story due to being relegated to this bonus? If so, this could be him complaining to the man upstairs, aka Andrew.

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Page 6

... Is that Hussie's avatar's study, in the dark?

If so, that's meta since the avatar is supposed to have died, leaving his study behind.

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Page 7

Uh, what? That's not Andrew's study. Also, the PC that Dirk is texting appears to be off.

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Page 8

Oh pffffff.

So it really is Andrew, but a more "real" version of him. Living again. Who's decided to retire and let the others mind their own business?

Wait. Or no. Maybe Andrew Hussie's ghost has landed on Candy Earth C! And is influencing things there. Blaperile points out that if that's true, it's the reason why the narration in the Candy path has returned to the normal style we're used to. :D It fits!

But Dirk was able to briefly see into the other timeline when Calliope escaped, and is appalled by proceedings there. He might be seeing how things are going to evolve there? If the new kids are really going to start a session of their own, it could influence his plans...

But, uh, so Dirk came back from dealing with a spinoff game. Pesterquest, I wonder?

And Dirk knows Calliope is coming for him, not just on the ship (though she lost the connection there) but in another vessel as well.

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Page 9

Oh my god. Meta-discussion by Dirk with Andrew of Yiffy. Yeah, actually, I like that.

I mean, her existence isn't bad at all. The circumstances regarding her conception and her NAME, on the contrary...

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Page 10

Okay. This is comedy gold.

And of COURSE Andrew would drag the commentary Patreon tier into this. Of course. :P

So Dirk is basically appaled that the Candy timeline has spiralled into reunions and heart-to-hearts. That's a real basic way of describing events there, though it does do it mostly right.

Meanwhile Dirk thinks the story is all about the inescapable predestination that is Sburb. But he started the cycle back up by himself, so that's kind of bull.

So Dirk just has taken a personal offense at Yiffy's very existence. That won't come back to bite him in the ass at all. :P

I love how Andrew was capable of drawing such parallels between Caliborn and Dirk.

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Page 11

Wow. Hah, yes, this is what I like. Homestuck meta-analyzing itself and predicting fandom reactions.

Some people would like parts of Dirk's approach, some would like more of Candy Earth C shenanigans.

I must say, I didn't know Karkat was turned into a MGS reference. Explains the eye patch. Definitely fuels my theory he has a goatee now.

Andrew acknowledges he can't influence Dirk anymore from Candy Earth C. And Dirk fears Yiffy?

Is it because contained within her is some power for Earth C to become relevant? Did Andrew have a master plan in conceiving of her?

Also, Ms. Paint's Home for Inconvenient Girls. That's... I know what it references, but that doesn't seem like a very Ms. Paint thing to donate her name to. So maybe it was erected "in her honour".

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Page 13

Oooh, this is the end.

So Yiffy really does have the power to influence things in a way Dirk doesn't approve.

Cool.

It might be as simple as Dirk fearing the Candy timeline can become more prominent in HS^2.