#to the shelter and found dad was there but bro was missing so i went ahead to look for him and i see people killing each other

[dykegirlfriend]

.

[jinxfirebolt18902]

What are we, then? - JJ Imagine

A/N: I fell hard into a new obsession: JJ Maybanks yes it is. So, I badly wanted to write something but had literally no ideas so I took this prompt list and made a friend choose 2 random numbers. They picked: 9. “we’re not just friends and you know it”

27. “what do you mean maybe? that was a yes or no question”

So yeah. Enjoy some angst.

Words: 2.249

Pairing: JJ x female!reader

—Don’t you fucking dare walk away from me! —JJ shouted after her.

—Watch me, asshole. —she stopped her steps and half turned her body just to give him the middle finger. Her facial expression showed the rage she felt.

Angry outbursts were pretty common between them. They’d known each other since kindergarten, a couple of years before John B came to the picture. So, their relationship was stronger, deeper. They knew each other to the bones. The gang was used to their loud yet harmless fights. JJ was short-tempered, and so was she. At the end, the fact that they shouted their opinions at each other at the moment they felt it was healthier considering they always reconciled half an hour later. 

But this time something was different. An event that had happened between them a few days earlier had changed it everything, and nothing would ever be the same. Such event was unknown by the others, and maybe that’s why they were all so confused.

The thing is, for the first time, neither of them were spitting their feelings out. And oh boy it did cause a lot of misunderstandings.

She and JJ decided to shelter from Agatha at John B’s place. It was no news JJ tried to avoid his house as much as possible. She always convinced her parents of letting her go with them as JJ was considered another son and spent a lot of time at hers, and they also wanted their daughter to be a good friend to John B after his dad went missing. Once her throat burned due to her shouting at John B to get his ass out of the ocean in the middle of a hurricane she gave up and waited for them to come back. Luckily JJ found a little sense within his logic and convinced John B of getting out of the water as the storm was way too heavy.

At the Chateau, they cooked some noodles and ate between anecdotes and candles due to the lack of power. Around 3 in the morning Agatha was still blowing, a few cans of beer empty were around the coffee table, she and JJ were sprawled on the sofa bed and John B asleep in his bedroom. The pair was listening to I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing from her phone as they heard the wind and thunder outside. They’d smoked a blunt and were then absorbed in the flame of the candle in front of them.

Her pupils were dilated and she couldn’t feel his eyes on her. Or at least that’s what he thought.

—Staring is rude dude… —She voiced out loud, but softly, in a sleepy state.

He let out a short laugh and then directed his sight to the candle. —You’re so mean to me.

Now it was her turn to laugh. —Yeah, so?

He gently pushed her arm and then let his head fall on her shoulder, his blonde locks tickling her skin. She rested her head on his and closed her eyes but a moment later he looked up and set his eyes on her face, more serious this time. Her eyes locked with his.

—What? —she said in a whisper.

But he was at a loss of words, which didn’t happen often. They just got in a trance where a lot of emotions were in each pair of eyes with a classic love song in the back. At a certain moment his gaze moved down to her lips and his breath stuck in his throat. JJ was never a shy one when it came to girls. His ego, not confidence, always led situations smoothly. But for the first time in his life, he had no clue what he was doing. It’s not like they hadn’t shared alone moments like this before, they always had. The amount of trust between them had no comparison. They were totally sincere with each other, since they’d met there was not a thing they didn’t know about each other. 

JJ leaned in and stopped closing the distance just when there were 2 millimeters left to create contact. His blue orbits checked for permission with hers first. She didn’t move at all. He took that as a green light and collided his mouth with hers.

The kiss was soft, and meaningful. Yes, they had a couple of beers running through their veins, and yes also a little of weed into their systems yet they felt like time stopped. It was like the Universe was created for this and only this moment. They felt everything around them vanished. It felt right, just like when you fit the last piece of the puzzle.

The sound of a lightning striking near their location pulled them apart. They shared one more look though this one was loaded with a bit of embarrassment. The moment got kinda awkward and they dealt with it by pretending what happened did not actually happen. She turned around and he cuddled her like they always did.

The next morning John B woke up first, walking from his bedroom to the porch, catching the pair of friends peacefully sleeping in each other’s arms. He ruffled JJ’s hair asking him if he’d been outside yet only earning a groan as a response. Hours later she woke up and went home without talking to her best friend about the intimate moment they’d shared. 

A few days later they threw the kegger, there happened strike one. JJ eventually disappeared with a smokin’ hot tourist, which did not go unnoticed by her. She’d seen JJ go from a clumsy kiddo to the sex symbol boy, she’d been there through the beginning to the end of his puberty, she knew better than even bother by his multiple random hookups. Still, after the intense look he had given her before kissing her had left her somewhat overwhelmed. And the fact that they had shared such a passionate moment together days ago made her actually uncomfortable at witnessing JJ get it with some other girl. This was brand new for her, literally she had never been jealous of the blonde. Oh and, one more time, feelings were bottled up.

Strike two took place at The Wreck when the group was in for a fast food meal. They’d gone inside towards their usual table while Kie went to the kitchen. The boys were just sitting when she was approached by Tom, a pogue, with a “Hey, how have you been?” to which she replied with a genuine smile. The boy had had a crush on her since middle school. He was kinda cute, light brown hair, green eyes, a couple of freckles under his eyes and on his nose. And he was nice, a good guy really. Her mom always wanted them to date but she didn’t find the chemistry reciprocated. And JJ had secretly been relieved by that. Not because he wanted her romantically or anything like that but because he dreaded the time she’d got a boyfriend and stopped hanging out with him. Tom asked her to go surfing with him the next day and she agreed, partly because she hadn’t surfed in weeks, and partly because she had bottled her jealousy at the kegger and kind of wanted to hit it back to JJ, as she was completely aware of how JJ felt towards Tom. Through the corner of her eye she caught JJ’s irritable gesture when she accepted the invitation.

A week after the secret kiss, the gang was at John B’s hanging out. By now, the tension between the two was clear to everyone, and their friends knew an explosion was coming soon. They weren’t teasing the hell out of each other as they usually did. They weren’t sitting next to each other in the boat as they usually did. And they also were hitting each other every chance they got, like when she had smacked his head from behind in the afternoon that same day when they were at the beach and the blonde was flirting with a girl, ruining their moment. Or when she was going to the fridge to seek for a beer can and he was coming out of it and shove his elbow into her arm, earning a gasp and a scowl.

—Yo! What is your problem dude? —her voice denoted she was at the edge which only pleased the blonde even more making him smile.

Kie and John B shared a look as Pope sighed resignedly foreseeing what was coming.

—Maybe the fact that you ruined my moment today.

She scoffed and walked past him rolling her eyes. —Yeah, sure. Cause you have so much trouble slutting around with everything that walks.

—Uhhh, excuse me. Do you have a problem with it? 

Their friends sighed and walked out to the porch in order to give them space and to be honest, they were not in the mood to witness another of their fights so they rather stargaze outside while the two sorted it out.

—Oh no, be my guest bro. I’m just sayin’ why do you call me out on “ruining your moment” when you can have “your moments” whenever you want.

He smiled sarcastically and looked down at the floor before lifting up his gaze to her. —You’ve been a pain in the ass the whole week, you are the one with a problem obviously.

—I am not. I’ve been the pain in the ass? Are you sure? Cause someone else comes to my mind. —she rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly as she let herself fall on the couch and took a sip of her drink.

—You’re unbelievable.—Did you mean it?

He looked at her in confusion. —What?

—You know what. Did you mean it?

He shrugged his shoulders and looked down to hide the light blush of his cheeks. —Maybe.

Strike three, you’re out.

—Maybe? What do you mean maybe? That was a yes or no question.

—I-I don’t know —his hand went to grab his hair. —Maybe.

—Forget it. —she stood up and he freaked out.

—What? Are you in your period or something?

That’s when she stormed off the Chateau fuming.

The sound of the slammed door got the other three’s attention, turning their heads to look at the person walking away.

—Don’t you fucking dare walk away from me! —JJ shouted after her.

—Watch me, asshole. —she stopped her steps and half turned her body just to give him the middle finger. Her facial expression showed the rage she felt.

After a few minutes John B, Pope and Kiara all got up and went inside to find JJ standing in the middle of the room with a hand grabbing his hair and with the other holding a beer, looking down at an invisible point on the floor.

—What did you do? —Kie asked him with furrowed eyebrows.

JJ grimaced and sighed. —I might have said the period line… —Kie let her head fall backwards and took a deep breath. —Of course you did…

—That’s just a dick move. Anyway, what is going on between you two? You’ve been annoying all week. —John B voiced.

But he only closed his eyes and breathed out heavily.

Hours later the surfer skated all the way to her house. He threw some rocks at her window to wake her but after a few minutes nothing happened, then he noticed a shadow on the roof, next to one of the windows of the big house. He climbed up and jumped from the tree to the roof, a few feet away from her. She was hugging her knees and staring right ahead with her chin resting on her arms. There were no signs of remaining anger, just plain tiredness, and a touch of sadness. He caught that in her eyes, he knew her so well, and it made his heart sunk to know he had caused it. He cleared his throat and dried his palms on his shorts. He felt nervous and it caused his hands to sweat.

—I’m sorry.

She blinked slowly but kept her gaze set ahead. He felt ashamed by his behaviour.

—We’re not just friends and you know it. —now he did get her attention.

She just smiled and rolled her eyes changing her pose, resting her palms on the roof and leaning her core weight on them.

—What are we exactly, then..? —she was teasing him and he smiled sweetly. He nudged her and they both laughed. A second later he looked down and bit his lip deep in thought. She turned her head to look at him.

—You’re everything to me. —he said quietly, still not daring to lift his sight. —I never want to lose you. —he said with an expression of pain on his beautiful face. She furrowed her brows and hugged him. —You never will, idiot. Have I ever given up on you? —she whispered near his cheek due to the hug. His eyes filled with forbidden tears. He nodded no with his head as he didn't trust his voice. Her smile grew wider and she kissed his cheek softly. —See? I’m always there with you. Every day, every week, every year. You’re not getting rid of me that easily. —he half laughed half sobbed and immediately cleaned the tears forcefully with the back of his hand. She held him tighter and he put his head on her.

—So, I guess the answer is yes, I meant it. 

[noladyme]

La Cuervo - Chapter 22

She is used to the biker-life, having grown into a woman in the familiar embrace of SAMCRO. A bad decision and a gun-shot later, she gets whisked off to Santo Padre, and put under the protection of another club. What is supposed to be a short stint in the Mayan headquarters just north of the border to Mexico, turns into something more; when la quervo begins to develop feelings for el angel - and he seems to return them in kind...

TW: violence, blood, drug use, alcohol, smut, fluff, angst

In the spirit of "The Crown Princess of Charming", this is a story about O.C. Nina and Angel Reyes. It is obviously non-canon, as characters who have passed on, on Mayans M.C., are present in it, and others have been excluded completely. Nina is written as a cis-female, but I have tried to keep her race and looks as ambiguous as possible. Should you find any of this story offensive, please let me know.

22.

They didn’t speak much in the morning. For once, Angel had decided to set an alarm, and more or less jumped out of bed, the moment his phone began buzzing. His mind seemed as focused as professional soldier’s; and he made even the actual veteran – Coco – seem relaxed in comparison. It had rained during the night, and the air smelled fresh; but didn’t lighten Nina’s mood, as she sat smoking a cigarette on the porch, while the two men packed up Coco’s extra guns. EZ showed up in the van, with Letty and Gaby in the passenger seats. Angel helped Nina in to the seat Letty had previously occupied. The teenager got on her dad’s bike with him, before they all began driving down the street.

Gaby looked worriedly at Nina, as she sat between EZ and her. “Are you alright?”, she asked quietly. “Ezekiel told me what happened…”. “I’m… I don’t know”, Nina muttered. She cleared her throat, wanting to think about anything else than the pain currently surging in her leg. “Are youok? Have you gone on lockdown before?”. “No”, Gabriella said. “This is all very new to me”. “How do they do it up north?”, EZ asked Nina. “I don’t think it’s different than here”, Nina said. EZ frowned, making her question his experience with situations like this as well. “You’ve never done this before either, have you…?”. “No…”, EZ admitted. “It’s never been necessary”. “It’ll be fine”, Nina said, trying to convince herself as well as the two lockdown debutants. “We just have to keep our heads low, and the gates locked… Is your pap’ coming?”. “He says he can protect himself…”, EZ muttered. “But he’ll be by later with the meat he was bringing for the party anyway”. “I’ll try to get him to stay”, Nina said. EZ gave her a thankful smile.

When they arrived at Angel’s place – her place, as Nina reminded herself – the others waited by the vehicles, while she and Angel went inside to gather what they needed. Nina hobbled through the living room, as Angel began closing the windows, after the exterminator visit. Once in the bedroom, Nina began packing some clothes and essentials. She went to get her gun, but remembered that Camille had used it; and that the police probably had taken it for evidence. “Fuck!”, she exclaimed. “What?”, Angel asked, coming running into the bedroom. “My gun… It was the one Camille… It has my prints all over it!”. “EZ told the cops you fought her for it, so the prints shouldn’t be an issue”, Angel said, his voice relieved that he hadn’t found her in trouble. “Is it registered?”. “No, and the serial is filed off… I did grow up with SAMCRO”, Nina grunted. She sighed heavily, and sat down on the bed, to get some weight off her leg. “Is there enough first-aid stuff at the clubhouse?”. “Why?”, Angel asked. Nina shot him a hard look. “You know why”, she replied. “We’re also gonna need a couple of pre-paids in case of emergencies… We’ve got food and drinks, because we were getting ready for the party… I wish there was a proper kitchen, though… And extra guns. Anyone who can shoot should be carrying…”.

Angel crouched in front of her, and took her hands in his own. “Breathe, mami… We got this, ok? You don’t have to worry”. “Well, I am fucking worried!”, Nina growled. “If Bishop had an old lady, it would be her responsibility to keep the people in the clubhouse comfortable. Now I have to…”. “You know what you’re doing… I hear you had a good teacher”, Angel smiled. “Teller’s mom, right? She was good queen…”. “Yeah… most of the time”, Nina muttered. She still felt ambivalent about how Gemma had fulfilled her duties; mainly due to how she’d ended her reign by breaking Jax’s heart, and killing his wife. She’d also been a good friend and surrogate aunt, though; at least in the beginning. “Just do what you always do. We’ll take care of the rest”. “Yeah… You’re gonna go get fucking murdered, while I serve potato-salad to scared hangarounds…”. Angel leaned forward, and caught her lips in a warm kiss. “I’m coming back to you”, he said. “Promise me…”, Nina said. He placed her hand on his chest, just above his heart. “I swear, cuervo…”. He kissed her again, and got to his feet. “I’m gonna go get my extra hardware. Do you remember where I put the Beretta?”. “You can’t remember where you put your guns?”. “Some of them are kinda small… They get lost”, he muttered. Nina rolled her eyes. “Behind the toilet-rolls in the cabinet under the bathroom sink”, she sighed.

Angel left the room, and Nina got to her feet again; leaning against her crutches. “What the fuck?”, Angel yelled. Nina hobbled after him as quickly as she could. “What’s wrong?”, she asked, and tried to look out from behind him, as he stood in the doorway. “What the hell is that?”, Angel said, and pointed at something skinny and furry; cowering in the corner of the shower. Nina gasped, and pushed past him. “Don’t…! It’s just a poor kitty”, she said. Limping slowly forwards, she got to her knees in front of the shaking tabby. “Hey bug…”, she cooed, and stretched out her hand. The cat hissed, before leaning its head forwards to sniff her. “Get the fuck out!”, Angel growled, and took a threatening step forward. “Stop it! You’re scaring it…”, Nina said.

The cat hissed again, but Nina kept her hand out; and after a few moments, it stepped forward, and blinked slowly at her, before pushing its forehead against her hand. It was missing part of its left ear, and from the looks of its pronounced hipbones, it was clear it hadn’t had a proper meal in quite a while. The skin was sagging off it, and bellow its belly. “It’s a stray… Probably has all sorts of diseases”, Angel grunted. “It probably jumped through the window to get out of the rain”, Nina said, ignoring Angel’s displeased tone. “Do we have anything for it to eat?”. “No”, Angel said coldly, and walked over to grab the cat. “I’ll throw it outside. Close the window, so it doesn’t come back in”. Nina looked hard at him. “No!”, she said. “It needs food and care…”. “Nina…”. “You said we could get a cat!”. “Not this one!”, Angel declared. “We can go to a shelter or something. Get a kitten. I’m not taking in some old, ratched…”. His words drowned in Nina’s exclamations of aww, as the tabby once again pressed its head against her hand, and let her scratch it behind its ears. “Angel… Look at him…!”. “How do you know it’s a he?”, Angel grunted. “I’d think you’d recognize a pair of balls when you saw them”, Nina chuckled. The cat stroked its entire body against her thigh. “Such a good bug… That’s your name, isn’t it…? Bug…”.

Angel groaned loudly, and shook his head. “We gotta go”. Nina was lost in cuddling her new friend. “Mami… Nina! We gotta hit the road… Look, we’ll keep the window open. If it’s still here when we come back, we’ll talk about it”. “Please, just put out some food for him…”, Nina pleaded. “But then he’ll stay for sure!”. “Yeah…”. She shot out her lower lip in a pout, and looked pleadingly at Angel. The biker groaned again, and left the bathroom for a few moments, before returning with an open tin of tuna. He dropped it on the floor. “Here… eat, cat”, he grunted. “His name is Bug”, Nina said with a chiding tone. Angel put his arms under hers, and raised her to her feet. “Fine. Bug. Let’s go”, he muttered, and led her out of the bathroom.

At the last second, Nina grabbed Jax’s helmet. She wasn’t planning on riding on the back of any bikes any time soon, due to her leg; but she felt naked without it near her.

EZ met them by the front door, as they were on their way out. “Bro, what took so long?”. “We were adopting a cat”, Angel said. “A cat?”, EZ asked. “His name is Bug…”, Angel replied. “Don’t ask”. Nina smirked, and tugged at his cut, to get him to lean down for a kiss; before they went back to the van.

---

The yard was crowded with bikes when they finally arrived. Bishop and Hank met them on the porch; and Nina was reminded of Taza’s decision to tell the club his secret, the day before. Not seeing him next to the president, made a knot form in her stomach. “What the fuck took you so long?”, Bishop growled. “Cats… bugs…”, Angel muttered. “Don’t ask”, EZ chuckled.

Angel helped Nina up the stairs to the clubhouse. Once inside, they were greeted by the rest of the Mayans, and a few bikers from the Oakland charter. Nina recognized them from SAMCRO parties, but didn’t know any of their names, save Alvarez’s. El Padrino himself gave her a polite nod from his seat by the bar. She scanned the room for Taza, and frowned when she realized he wasn’t inside either. Angel put a hand on her hip. “Go sit down”, he muttered, and went over to talk to Gilly. Chucky pulled out a chair for her, and Nina sat down; soon joined by Letty and Gaby – the latter looking quite uncomfortable with the situation. EZ squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, before going to stand by the wall, behind Bishop. Chucky went outside, to keep an eye on the gate.

Most of the hangarounds Nina knew from around the clubhouse was spread throughout the room. There was a group of women Nina had not met before, stood around a striking middle-aged woman, who looked like Riz. Nina decided she was probably Vicky, and that the women were employees at the brothel. Vicky gave her a curious look, as if challenging her to have a bad opinion of them. Nina simply smiled friendlily; and Vicky’s expression softened, before she nodded in greeting.

Gilly came over to Nina, and handed her a small plastic bag, with white pills. “Oxys”, he muttered. “For your leg”. “Thanks…”, Nina said. Gilly winked at her, and slipped away.

“You know why we’re here”, Bishop said; lifting his voice to catch the attention of the people in the room. “We have a rival club moving in on our territory. Vatos Malditos have been coming for our business, by trying to convince a long-time partner to end our relationship with them; in return for what they claim is a better deal. They even put a rat in our midst; a rat that ended up seriously hurting a member of our family, while trying to kill her”. There was a murmur of curses. Bishop raised his hand to quiet everyone down. “We have to answer this disrespect with force… You’re all here because you’re a part of the family, and because we don’t want anyone else to get hurt. We don’t know that VM won’t send a few guys this way; but as long as you stay within the fences, you’ll be safe”. Hank stepped forward, apparently the de facto VP. “We have the Sons of Anarchy coming down from San Bernadino and Charming. Creeper will stay behind here with a few Sons, for your protection”, he said. Creeper didn’t seem happy about the fact that he wasn’t going with his brothers. He’d probably lost a draw for the post. “If you have any security questions, take it up with him”. “Anything to do with provisions or comfort, you go to our den-mother”, Bishop said, and gestured towards Nina. “Nina isn’t very mobile at the moment, but she can point you in the direction of what you need. She knows this place like her back hand”. Angel shot her a warm smile, and she felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment.

Chucky came running in to the clubhouse. “They’re here”, he grinned. A roar of bikes came from the yard, and soon after, Filip stepped inside, followed by Les Packer. Happy, Rat and Tig came in behind them, and Nina saw a group of SAMDINO Sons waiting outside by the bikes. The room was getting crowded. Foregoing custom, Filip strode over to Nina, and pulled her up into his arms. “We didn’t send you back to get shot, luv’”, he said. “I’m ok”, Nina muttered; then winced, when she accidentally put weight on her bad leg. “Fuck’s sake…”, Filip growled. Angel sprang over to support Nina as she got back to her seat. Happy and Tig stepped over to kiss her forehead and squeeze her shoulder, and Rat gave her a shy smile, before they all went to greet Bishop and Alvarez.

After the obligatory back and forth between the patches, Filip, Alvarez and Bishop went into templo, to speak in private for a few moments. Angel headed over to the bar to grab a drink for himself and Nina. While he was gone, Packer came over to greet Nina. He bent down, and gave her a gentle hug. “How are you doing, Neens?”, he asked, and sat down next to her. “I’m alive”, she shrugged with a half-smile. “This is a new setup for you, sweetcheeks”, Packer said. “You comfortable here?”. “Yeah… why?”. “I dunno… You could have been happy in Berdoo as well”, Packer teased. Angel came back with a mug of coffee for Nina, and a beer for himself. “I like the accommodations here”, she smiled, and looked at Angel. “Yeah, I heard…”, Packer said, and raised a brow at the Mayan. “You’d probably have to deal with less gun-shots though. We’re more careful with who we let in our midst”. “It was a mistake that won’t happen again”, Angel grunted, and gave Packer a hard look. “It better not. This isn’t some random croweater you’ve borrowed from Charming”, Packer said. “No. She’s not”, Angel said. “She’s a Mayan old lady”.

Nina rolled her eyes, and pulled out a cigarette. Both men whipped out a lighter, and raced to light them; before holding them in front of her face. “If you two could stop measuring dicks for a moment, you might notice you’re burning off my eyebrows”, Nina sneered. “Sorry, cuervo”, Angel muttered. Nina gave him a slight smile, and a soft kiss, before letting Packer light her smoke. “You still a crow then?”, the SAMDINO president asked, having noticed Angel’s nickname for her. “I’m still me…”, Nina said. “I’ve just got a bigger family now”. “Good for you”, Packer said, and took her hand; giving it a gentle squeeze. “Jax would be happy for you… after he kicked this guy’s ass for diddling his baby-sis”. Angel chuckled at this. “Like he threatened to do you, if you tried anything?”, Nina said. “I didn’t know you were only seventeen at the time!”, Packer laughed. “Bullshit. You arrived the day before my eighteenth birthday-party; and sat at the clubhouse the whole night, looking at your watch to wait for midnight, so I’d be legal”, Nina smirked. “Guilty”, Packer shrugged. “Didn’t do me much good, though; did it…? Teller was a hardass when it came to you. I didn’t stand a chance with him watching over you like a hawk”. They shared a knowing laugh, before Packer looked at Angel. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Reyes. I know when to back off”, he said. “And she’d probably cut my balls off, before you got a chance to, if I tried anything… You’ve got a special lady here”. Angel smiled, relaxing a bit in his seat. “I know…”, he said, and kissed Nina’s temple.

Bishop came out of templo, and nodded to the other bikers. Mayans and Sons alike got to their feet, and began moving towards the ornate door. Angel put a hand on the back of Nina’s head, and caught her lips in a warm kiss; before joining the others. Packer gave her a sly wink, and followed Angel. “Prospect. You too”, Bishop called after EZ. Gabriella gave him a worried look, and he slipped over to give her a quick peck on the cheek, before walking in to templo, and closing the door, once everyone was inside.

Nina got on her feet, and hobbled over to sit down next to the girl. Gaby was visibly shaking, and Nina took her hand. “I know this is all really scary; but we’ll be ok”, she said. Having SAMCRO, SAMDINO and the Mayans all in the same house made her believe her own words more than she had thought she would. “But, what if he gets hurt?”, Gaby asked. “I didn’t even tell him…”. “Tell him what?”, Nina said. Gabriella met her eyes, and they gave away the words she’d had trouble saying. “Oh… Well, I think he knows already; but it wouldn’t hurt his courage and desire to come back whole, if you said it…”. Gaby smiled softly. “I suppose you’re right”, she said.

Letty came over to join them, carrying a couple of cokes for her and Gaby. “Are you talking about your boyfriends?”, she smirked. “You guys could become sisters-in-law!”. “Whoa! Angel and I just got a cat. We’re not talking diamond rings yet”, Nina said. “Good. I don’t think he can afford one”, Leticia teased.

---

After about an hour, the bikers emerged from templo with somber expressions. Angel strode over to Nina, and took her hand. “We’re meeting Palo by the east tunnel”, he muttered. “What’s gonna happen?”, Nina asked nervously. Angel sighed. “We’re not giving him what he wants, so we’re prepared for a fight”. Nina shuddered. Knowing it was a lost cause, she hadn’t been able to keep from at least hoping that Filip and the others would be able to talk the Mayans out of full-on war. Their own experience with rival groups, made them well aware of the devastation something like that could bring a club. Stories of Abel’s kidnapping and Half-Sack’s death – both by the hands of a disgruntled IRA-member – and Gemma’s rape and beating by right-wing psychos, should have been enough fodder for the Mayans to decide to back down, and try to find another way out of the situation. “Shit…”, she hissed. “But what about what Taza told you? Can’t you just use that…?”. “The prez’ didn’t even mention it”, Angel muttered. “I don’t know… its like he’s pretending the conversation never took place”. “Where is Taza?”, Nina asked. “I don’t know… He went home last night. At least he said he was going home…”. Nina frowned. “It’ll be ok", Angel tried. “I gotta go clear some details with Bish…”. He squeezed her hand, and slipped away to go speak with his president.

Filip, Tig and Happy came over to take turns hugging her tightly. “We’ve been here before, muffin”, Tig said. “Walk in the park”, Happy muttered. “Rat’s staying behind with one of the SAMDINO-guys. You’ll be safe”. Filip made her sit down, and crouched in front of her. “You know the drill”, he said meaningfully. “We’re coming back. But if we don’t…”. “I know who to call, and in what order…”, Nina muttered. “Be careful“. “You just keep this clubhouse in shape, and have the beers ready for our return", Filip smiled. He pulled out a black handgun, with a dark wooden handle. The distinct SOA A was carved in to the wood, just over the initials, JT. “That .38 only seems to bring you trouble…”, Filip said, and put it in her hand. “I thought you were saving this for Abel…”, Nina croaked. “Jackie didn’t want guns in his boys’ hands… He didn’t want them in yours either, but seeing as things have turned out…”. Nina stuck the gun down the back of her waistband. “Thank you…”. Filip pressed a kiss to her forehead, and the three SAMCRO bikers headed towards the door with Packer.

Angel came back over to say goodbye. “I hate this, Angel”, Nina croaked. “I know, querida… But this is the way it’s gotta be”, Angel said. He gathered her into his arms, making her lean against him. Their lips instantly met in a frenzied kiss; hungrily devouring each other. Nina breathed Angel in, as if it was the last kiss, they’d ever share; and in all honestly, she was afraid that it might be. Brushing her tongue against Angel’s lower lip, he let it meet his own; tasting her, and letting her taste him. “I love you”, Nina whispered. “Te amo”, Angel replied. “I’m coming back”. He pressed a last kiss against her lips.

Nina saw Gaby whisper something in EZ's ear, and he smiled happily at her. After EZ had kissed his love, Angel gave the girl a warm hug. “I’ll make sure he comes back too”, he said, trying for a smile. Gaby nodded, and Nina took her hand, holding it tightly. Coco kissed Letty’s forehead, and muttered something in her ear, before handing her over to Nina; who wrapped her free arm around the teenager. The Mayan gave Nina a half hug, and followed Angel out the door. “They’ll be ok”, Nina said. “But we need to get ready”.

Once the door was closed behind the men heading out, she gave Creeper a look, and the Mayan raised his voice. “Listen up, people. Nina’s got work for you!”. Gaby handed Nina her crutches, and she hobbled into the middle of the room. “We need people to take care of food. The back room is full of provisions; do what you can with it. Felipe will be here later with meat for the grills. I wanna see him when he does…”. Creeper nodded, and a few of the women moved towards the back room. Gabriella joined them, much to Nina’s joy. “You’re free to the bar, but remember why we’re here. Getting wasted isn’t a good idea… Does anyone have medical experience?”. One of the women from Vicky’s place raised her hand. “I’m in nursing school”, she said. “Great”, Nina smiled. “I’m not saying we’ll need it, but I’d like you to set up a first-aid station, in case we do; and the guys are unable to cross the border for the doc”. “Ok… yeah!”, the woman smiled; seemingly proud that she could contribute with something important. Vicky gave Nina a warm smile. “The rest of you, chip in wherever you can. We all have a responsibility to make our stay here as comfortable and safe as possible… That means, don’t flirt with the guys on watch”. Creeper chuckled at this, and patted Rat’s shoulder. They had the first shift, and headed for the door.

Nina blew out a deep breath, and sat back down. Vicky came over with a refill for her mug. “Welcome to the family”, she smiled, and winked at her.

---

The hours dragged by. They had no word from the men in the field, and every time the door opened, Nina’s heart jumped; hoping that her loved ones would walk in.

While Nina sat on her chair, her leg throbbing in pain, making her unable to walk around, Letty paced the floor for the both of them. “If he dies, I’m gonna fucking kill him!”, she growled. “Then I’ll bury him next to Celia, in her dick-shaped hole in the desert!”. “Letty, sit down”, Nina said. “Why?”. “Because your pacing is giving me a headache”. Leticia sat down, and Nina noticed tears forming in her eyes. “We just started being a family… And now he might…”. She couldn’t finish the sentence. Nina took her hands. “Coco is a survivor, and he’s gonna do whatever he can to get back to you”, she said. “You think so?”, Letty muttered. “I know so”, Nina smiled. “Your dad loves you, Letty. He’s not gonna leave you”.

Letty wiped her eyes, just in time for Gaby to come over with two plates filled with deliciousness. “I did what I could with what’s here”, she said. “It looks amazing”, Nina said. “But I’m not really hungry”. “You have to eat, if you’re taking pain-medication”, Gaby enthused. “I’m not… I’m trying to keep a level head”. “Just take a fucking pill, Nina”, Letty sighed. “You’re in so much pain, your face is contorted”. “I’m…”, Nina began, before catching the expression on both girls’ faces. “Fine…”, she said, and dug out a pill from the plastic bag in her pocket; downing it with a sip of coffee.

Gaby gave her as bright a smile as she could manage, and pushed the plate of food towards her. Nina took a few bites, when suddenly the door opened, and Felipe stepped inside. He looked around, making it clear it was the first time he’d actually been inside the clubhouse. He frowned slightly, and walked over to Nina. “That guy you call Freak said you wanted to talk to me”, he said. “Creeper”, Nina smiled. “Sure", Felipe said. “Letty, will you help me get the meat?”, Gaby said, and the two girls went out the door. “Please sit. I can’t really stand right now", Nina said. Felipe took the chair just around the corner of the table from her. “I need to get back to the shop…”, he muttered. “You can’t take the day off?”, Nina asked. “The weekend is coming up”, Felipe grunted. “People have family coming for dinner…”. “You’re family”, Nina said. “To these people?”, Felipe asked, and looked at the people in the room. His tone wasn’t disapproving, but he did seem uncomfortable at the view of the scantily clad hangarounds setting up drinks and food; and the nursing student, who was currently preparing bandages, while wearing a barely-there tube top, and a short denim skirt. “To me…”, Nina said, and took Felipe’s hand. “To Gaby…”. They both looked towards Gabriella, who sent them a warm smile, as she came through the door with a container of what looked like steaks.

Felipe sighed deeply. “I told EZ and Angel, I can protect myself”, he said. “Then… stay here and protect us as well”, Nina said. “We don’t know what’s happening out there. It’s dangerous for all of us to be out in the open. Angel and EZ might…”. She chewed her lips and swallowed thickly, trying to suppress tears. “Please stay here with us, suegro”. A smile ghosted Felipe’s lips. “That’s where we’re at, then?”, he said. “You and Angel, I mean”. “I’m… I love him. I really do”. Felipe chuckled. “He’s lucky to have you”, he said. He shot a look at the food prepping station, and rolled his eyes. “Gabriella, lo estás tallando de la manera incorrecta! I told you; follow the bone… Never mind, I’ll show you”. The old butcher got to his feet, and went to take over the carving of the meat. Nina let out a relieved sigh. Felipe was staying.

Needing to get some air, she got to her feet, and used her crutches to move towards the door. A smiling hangaround sprang over to open it for her, and Nina thanked her quietly; before stepping outside. The sky was grey. Apparently, the rain the night before was coming back; she could smell it on the air. She sat down on one of the chairs on the porch, and dug out her cigarettes. Opening the packet, she saw that Coco must have done a reverse pickpocketing when he hugged her; as he’d left her a perfectly rolled joint. She smiled to herself, and considered lighting up; before deciding against it. The oxy was already doing its work, and her leg felt better by the minute. Lighting a cigarette instead, she took a deep huff. The yard was too quiet. The windchimes hung next to the door of the clubhouse, which were usually deafened by the usual sounds of metal screeching and bikes roaring, was all she could hear.

Pulling out Jackson’s gun, she took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She ran her thumb over the letters he’d carved in to the handle. “I remember when you did this”, she said quietly. “Back when you were still stupid enough to think you were immortal…”.

… “What if you lose it? The police will track you down, dumbass!”, Nina said. “I’ll be fine, darlin’”, Jax said, grinning brightly. “Besides, I gotta leave my mark on this world somehow!”. Nina rolled her eyes at him, and picked her book up. “You’re gonna shoot someone, and they’ll track the gun to you”, she growled. Jax chuckled, and stuck the gun down the front of his waistband. “If you don’t shoot your dick off, first”, she muttered. He frowned, and put the gun in the back of his jeans instead. “What are you reading? Teenage-vampire shit?”, he asked. “Screw you… It’s Hamlet. For school”. “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!”, Jax exclaimed. Nina couldn’t help but smile. “Careful with that gun, or you’ll have me saying: Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest…”. Jax got to his feet, and headed towards the ladder going down from the roof. “We’re meeting up with some Mexican guys… They need our help with something”, he said. “Finish your homework, little sister. We gotta keep your ass out of CaraCara”. He stopped dead in his tracks, and walked back to her, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love”. “I love you too… But you’re still a dumbass”, Nina smiled…

“I wish you were here…”, she whispered. “But where ever you are – if there’s anything you can do to keep him safe… all of them… Please”.

She jolted in her seat, when Creeper appeared next to her, a phone in hand. “It’s for you”, he muttered. Nina took the phone, and put it to her ear. Creeper gave her frowning and confused look, before walking into the clubhouse, leaving her alone. “Hello?”. “Nina?”. “Taza?”. “Yeah, it’s me; sweetheart… Do you wanna help me end this war before it starts?”.

---

If you’ve followed this story this far, thank you! Also; It’s my birthday! Make it an even better one, by leaving a comment.

- no lady

tags: @cole-winchester @doloreschanal

[popatochisssp]

Obviously no pressure, but if you wanted to share your ideas on house pets, there would be great interest from at least one person. But headcanons are closed and I totally respect that (this very ask aside sorry). No pressure to do anything!!! just wanted to let you know that it seems like fun info.

Sans (Undertale): Strongly inspired by a fantastic fanfiction I can’t recommend enough, he has a cat affectionately named Catsup (Norwegian Forest Cat). Of course he does. Pretty typical story here, he more or less went to a shelter, locked onto the biggest, fattest cat there, and filled out the paperwork to damn her to a life of having a pun for a name. He...may have only gone to the shelter because he was hardcore struggling with depression and his brother read somewhere that pets can help a little, but that's...that’s neither here nor there. Catsup turned out to be a perfect fit for Sans in spite of his initial attitude of, 'I'm only doing this to make Papyrus happy'-- she's probably just about as chill and lazy as the skeleton himself, content to flop over just about anywhere, anytime and hang out. Her laidback nature was a blessing for Sans, a first-time cat-owner who didn't really know what he was doing or what she needed right away. A more high-maintenance cat probably wouldn't have been as forgiving and there'd have been a lot more stress on everybody before he got it figured out. Now, he considers Catsup his best little pal and doesn't even need to be reminded to change out her bowls and her litter. He's surprisingly responsible, when he actually really cares about something.

Catsup’s Quirks: Likes it when you gently slap her belly, always gravitates towards the room with the most people in it, often appears in unusual places that it seems like she shouldn't have been able to get to

Papyrus (Undertale): He...begrudgingly missed working with the Canine Unit once the Royal Guard was officially disbanded... It took him awhile to be able to openly admit he was interested in getting a dog, and when he did, he had standards-- it had to be a smart dog, one that could learn tricks and follow rules, unlike a certain annoying creature that’s plagued his life and home and special attacks in the past!!! So he did a lot of breed research, found a local, ethical breeder for the kind he was looking for, and went to pick out a pup. Spike (Border Collie), so named for his incredible coolness, is a perfect fit for his energetic skeleton friend and loves to run, exercise, and learn new tricks all the time!

Spike’s Quirks: Learned to wipe his feet before coming inside just by watching Papyrus do it, hams up his tricks and sometimes does them without prompting, never leaves the park without an impractically large stick to bring home

Sky (Underswap Sans): You will literally never get him to admit the real reason he got a dog companion because he knows in his heart of hearts that it’s such a silly reason... He saw a video online of a dog delicately eating a watermelon and while most people would’ve had a kneejerk reaction of, “I NEED TEN,” but not gotten any, he had the same reaction and just...talked himself down to one. And so came Poff (Samoyed), a big ol’ floofer who’s a lot like her master when it comes to levels of energy and affection. She’s happy to follow him around on patrols, training sessions, and even through obstacle course...so of course, she tends to get very dirty very quickly. Luckily, Sky’s diligence in grooming her keeps her coat as white and fluffy as her namesake!

Poff’s Quirks:  Loves baths, tap dances at the mention of treats, doesn't chew her toys and just hoards them instead

Paps (Underswap Papyrus): He wasn’t really in the market for a dog, himself. He was just along for the ride when his bro was picking up Poff, when he happened to hear the most hilarious sing-screaming sound he’d ever heard in his life. He followed it all the way to the little fellow who would soon be known as Smoochie (French Bulldog), and he sure seemed upset about...something? He never really figured out why, he was laughing too hard from hearing a sound like that come out of something so small and weird-looking. He didn't try to adopt Smoochie that day, much as he loved his sound, but he found himself going back to the shelter a couple times just to check on and play with him. After two or three months with no one else adopting the little prima-donna, he figured he might as well commit and take him home. He's a fun little dude and Paps hasn't regretted it for a second, but he's forever in denial about just how much of a Dog Dad he's become since. It's totally normal to carry your dog around in the hood of your sweatshirt, isn't it???

Smoochie’s Quirks: Screams a lot, will eat food out of peoples’ hands if they’re not paying attention, jumps higher than it seems like he should be able to

Jasper (Underfell Sans): Like most things in his life, he didn’t put a whole lot of planning or forethought into getting a dog. He was out one night, decently drunk, and a friend of a friend of a friend of a coworker was talking about this dumb dog he had that was supposed to be a guard dog but couldn't do it worth a damn because he was too friendly. The guy was yammering about how to get rid of it and something about that struck a chord with Jasper. It was pretty soon after monsters surfaced and maybe that's why it felt...important to him? He was probably just drunk and emotional and soft that he even stepped in or said anything, but it is what it is. He’s a skilled enough conman that it didn't take him long to talk the guy around in circles until he was willing to pay Jasper for the privilege of taking this animal off his hands and in short order, he was almost bowled over by the big dog that planted its paws on his shoulders at their first meeting. Jasper immediately renamed him from something cliché and 'intimidating' to Tubbs (Rottweiler) for how heavy the goofy bastard was and then brought him right home. His brother wasn't particularly pleased and swore he would not be caring for this beast, but he never had to; Jasper kinda missed having something trusting and affectionate to take care of, and Tubbs has been daddy's little fatty ever since.

Tubbs’ Quirks: Shreds even the heaviest duty toys, lays on people as if he were a lap dog, drools rivers if somebody's eating food around him

Pyre (Underfell Papyrus): Who am I to defy literal years of fanon...? His first meeting with Doomfanger (Persian) was about as clichéd as it gets-- a scrawny, dingy, scraggly and matted cat scurrying out of an alley in the rain. She went right up to him and, well... it was love at first mew. He scooped her right up, bestowed a fittingly intimidating name upon her, and took her home with him, in spite of the fact that she looked more like a mutant rat than a cat at the time. After shaving the mats off, bathing the dirt away, and getting her some regular food, though, Doomy actually ends up being an exceedingly beautiful feline! He credits his attentive care and grooming for her pristine, silvery fluff and will brag about it at a moment's notice, but he's just ever so slightly in denial about her sweet and gentle nature. Doomfanger is a vicious killing machine, a true apex predator that nothing stands a chance against! That's...that’s obviously why he carries her around so much... And why he plucks her away from any other animal that comes near her like some sort of mother hen-- he's minimizing the bloodshed! If he let her loose, there would be no survivors!

Doomfanger’s Quirks: Meows in peeps, avid shadow-chaser, extremely receptive to handling

Mal (Swapfell Sans): Hey, anyone remember FGTC? This one cameo’d in that fic, she may seem familiar~ So...he wanted a pet. At first, he thought a cat would be good, fierce independent hunters that they’re reputed to be...but after spending time with a lot of cats and not really clicking with any, he was forced to concede that he was just more of a dog person. In hindsight, of course that’s what he was looking for: a loyal companion to (literally, ha!) dog his steps and follow his orders. Before he can actually, intentionally start looking for one, though, the universe works its magic and he finds one digging around in the garbage out behind the house. The emergency vet he brings the scarred and skeletal stray to tells him that, judging by her injuries, she was probably bait in some dog-fighting ring somewhere and got thrown away when she wasn’t useful anymore. Well. Fuck that, Princess (Pitbull) deserves better than that, and she’ll have it! He takes on the duty of nursing her back to health and earning her trust and it isn’t long before she shows her true colors as the loviest sweetheart of a dog that ever was. She’s utterly useless as an attack/guard dog, but her barks are loud and intimidating, and she obeys commands at the drop of a hat, so Mal doesn’t hold that against her. She goes with him just about anywhere she’s allowed and he shows her off with the same enthusiasm you’d expect for a pedigreed Best in Show dog.

Princess’ Quirks: Wags with her entire butt, will kiss the moment someone’s face is in range, barks at doorbells both real and on TV

Rus (Swapfell Papyrus): He didn’t mean to get a cat, not really... He was just following along with his brother when Mal was kicking around the idea of getting one, and Mal may not have clicked with anybody there, but he sure did. Actually... Kitkat (Manx) may have picked him and he’s just along for the ride. Kitkat was kinda young at the time, a little smaller than all the rest and also...no tail??? But what a personality, loud and playful and super sweet and...when it was time to leave the shelter, he just...he couldn’t bring himself to do it without her, he was in love! It’s mutual, at least-- she latched right onto him pretty much instantly and is pretty much never not with him whenever he’s at home, following him around from room-to-room.

Kitkat’s Quirks: Bone-rattlingly loud purrs, loves to play fetch, prone to 3AM zest for life and zooming all around the house accordingly

Slate (Horrortale Sans): I actually wrote about this one! But the gist of it is...he likes cats. Eventually got confident enough to go get one and zeroed right in on the weirdest-looking, least adoptable cat in the shelter he volunteers at. Slinky (Cornish Rex) was deaf, kinda ugly, and a whole lotta weird, but hell, she’ll fit right in at home, yeah? And so she does! She wrecks a lotta shit and is loud as hell, but stuff is only stuff and Slate’s never had an issue with noise. Actually...she really helps him out with his sleep and focus issues, it’s hard to drop off or dissociate when you have a cat in your lap, yelling at you at batting your face because it’s Play Time or Dinner Time, wake the fuck up!!! She’s a bastardous gremlin, but he loves her to bits.

Slinky’s Quirks: Clumsy and bad at judging distances, loves ankle-looping, insists on sniffing all people-food but never actually tries to eat it

Papy (Horrortale Papyrus): Following the trauma of the underground and the ensuing massive outpouring of empathy from humanity at large, monsters were made aware of many therapeutic resources that they could take advantage of, one of which was therapy animals. Papy naturally thought this was a wonderful idea...for other monsters, who were of course far more psychologically-damaged and not quite so good at enduring as himself. But...his brother does volunteer at an animal shelter, and he goes to visit him on occasion so he's made friends with a lot of animal people. This is how he hears about a therapy dog in need of a new forever-home due to complicated circumstances with her former owner, and well... it would be rude not to offer the Lady (Borzoi) a place to stay! He’s surprised by her appearance at first, having expected something more like a golden retriever or some kind of shepherd??? But he's very quickly charmed by her and actually feels more than a little bit of kinship with her no stranger to being long and oddly proportioned, himself-- and they're both doing their best to make it look graceful instead of weird. Since Lady proves to be a sweet and gentle-mannered dog, Papy just sort of...never bothers trying to find other accommodations for her. She’s welcomed wholeheartedly into their home, which she repays with plenty of unconditional love and effortless emotional support!

Lady’s Quirks: Spins in circles when excited, very polite when begging for table scraps, never barks but howls often

[atopearth]

Tales of Crestoria Part 1 - Transgressors and Vision Orbs (Ch 1-2)

I haven't played a Tales game in soo long! I'm super hyped for this though, because seeing Luke and others in one game is so nice! Anyway, since it's a gacha mobile game, my bro and I legit rerolled for like a day to get 4 SSRs lmao. I also helped reroll for my other bro so that took agess loll. I ended up getting Kanata, Luke, Lloyd and Leon! Pretty okay hahaa. Time for the story! Honestly, when the villagers were accusing Nash for being the guy who pushed the old lady that ended up dying, I thought Nash was some troublemaker adult, but no, he's a kid loll! Like, uhh, just because he causes trouble every now and then doesn't mean he would do such a thing to an old lady, like what evidence do these crazy villagers have??? Lmao at Misella pretending to be weak so that Kanata will protect her. Aww, it's so cool how Milla and Velvet help you out! That's fun! I guess the game kinda integrates the other Tales game characters into the story minus the idea that they come from another world and instead kinda put them inside the story itself as if they all belong in this world? The idea of the enforcers is such a scary concept. The fact that all you need is lots of people to condemn someone and you could be "punished" to death is pretty nuts. Not to mention that most of these people that condemn others just see one-sided “evidence” through vision orbs (recordings) and then when enough people think you’re evil, enforcers will come and kill you? Like, what if they're innocent or something? No wonder why people call this Tales of Cancel Culture hahahha.

Awww, the CG of Kanata and Misella around flowers was so pretty! Loved it! Well, I knew Kanata's father was dodgy, but I actually find it funny he thinks that Kanata should understand and follow as his successor of human slave and organ trading lol. Like, um, do you never see your son? He's like the personification of naivety and justice, yeah right he would succeed your human trafficking business. It's not like he just sells them either, he sells all these orphan children's body parts and organs! Ridiculous that he thinks Kanata would be like sure, of course, please continue. I'm more surprised that Kanata rashly decided to kill his father like that though. Like, he just found out the truth and killed him! Not saying he didn't deserve it, but considering he admired his father for his whole life, I'm surprised he held no thoughts and feelings towards wanting him to be condemned instead of killing him like that. I guess he felt that he needed to in order to save Misella? Still rash though. Omg, Misella is even more rash and crazy, didn't think she'd burn down the whole shelter just to save Kanata who was being imprisoned by the conspirators of his dad who didn't want him going around telling people. Like, yes, she brought most people out but what if she missed someone or they got injured?? Anyway, the enforcers were surprisingly weak, now I guess if Cress (Kanata's teacher) kills someone, he could probably run too lol. Not gonna lie, all those anime scenes are so cool!! Wow, this game is pretty high quality! Loved it when Kanata got his blood sin (his sword that kinda represents his sin). Vicious is cool though, I love how whatever his attitude is, nice for him to have Kanata as a fellow transgressor friend. Anyway, um, I forgot to say that I'm surprised Misella just ditched Kanata when he told her to run away without him. Like, after all the she can't live without him blah blah and stuff, she just leaves him?? I guess at least she realised and changed her mind to look for him, but she hasn't found him yet so lolll.

It's kinda funny how Vicious is like Kanata's bandit teacher haha. Aegis and Leon seem pretty cool, I can understand them for wanting to catch Vicious and Kanata and how they would prioritise the innocent over capturing them. Anyway, wow, Nash is such a little shit. Honestly an ungrateful kid. I know he's grieving because his little sister died in the fire that everyone thinks Kanata lit when it was actually Misella (so I guess she's a murderer now too huh?), but it's honestly crazy bitter and petty for him to not tell anyone that Kanata killing his father was actually "understandable" because of the monster he was for selling kids and their organs. And like wth man, so Cody (Kanata's father) selling his orphanage friends isn't as bad as Kanata supposedly "killing" his sister? Seriously? Were they even your friends, Nash? You do realise that most if not all your friends that were sold probably died right? It's ridiculous that he wants everyone (enforcers and knights etc) to condemn and kill Kanata now when he never even tried to do that for his monster of a father even though he knew about his wrongdoings all this time. Ridiculous man. And like seriously, he just assumed like all the other villagers that Kanata lit the fire to cover up his murder, he didn't even ask him or anything. He just assumed it and accused him. It's like seriously kid, Kanata defended you in the beginning and believed in you, yet what do you do to repay him? Not even listen to his side of the story when he did that for you! Kids these days!

Wow, like I doubt Vicious could die so easily, but Misella is crazy, she just stabbed him through the heart to "save" Kanata from following down his evil path? Umm, I'm pretty sure you're not any better, Misella. Is there anyone around Kanata that isn't toxic?? Not that Kanata is any better since he's overly righteous in a silly way, but at least he's not crazy? Lol. Vicious is bad, but he never said he was a good person at least. Um, why does Misella think that by saying she manipulated Kanata into killing his father, it would make him not a criminal anymore? I think the fact he listened to some girl and killed his own father is even worse lol. And seriously, Kanata is a transgressor already, I doubt it's something you can revert, especially since he went against enforcers and even got the Stain of Guilt and the blood sin. There's honestly no point of her becoming a transgressor as well. And seriously, these villagers!! Do they believe anything and everything that people say? Use your own judgement seriously! Anyway, I honestly think that it's ironic how Misella wants to protect Kanata but causes so much trouble for him instead, sigh. Well, yep, Nash is pretty nuts to relish the fact that Misella is getting burned to death. Is there anyone in this game that isn't crazy?😔 I guess everything was for Misella to get a blood sin too~ Anyway, I guess now the true adventure begins? I love the ending scene to the first chapter, it really feels like the journey is just starting~

I think it's pretty nice how they addressed the idea of Kanata and them being happy whilst carrying the sins of killing people through Misella thinking that she needed to punish herself eating grass and stuff instead of the meat she likes because she "deserves" that. Obviously they shouldn't be complacent and think it's fine to kill people, but I agree with Vicious, they've already chosen to continue to live despite how painful it may be and despite how much others want them to die, so there isn't any harm in them living "normally" because that's the path they've chosen to follow now. Lmao at Misella being traumatised by Kanata's food though haha. Vicious is so funny and cool, such a silly but fun guy. Reid is a great guy, I love how he thinks that one's own impressions are worth more than what other people think. I think it's important to make your own judgement about what kind of person someone is rather than relying on stuff like rumours and stuff, although it's understandable if you do follow others, since really, they are criminals. Btw, an extra plus is that Reid is voiced by Ishida Akira!! Yes, I love Athrun Zala (Gundam Seed) and Kent (Amnesia:Memories) to name a few hahaha. HAHAHA, I love how Vicious just trashed Misella's hopes that she was special to Kanata when she asked him if he would risk his life like Veigue to get a bloodstone to save her if she was ill like Veigue's friend, and he says of course, and then Vicious asks Kanata the same thing and he says he'll save him too loll. Misella using Vicious as a scapegoat to take all the blame for injuring a kid was lol, but seriously, these adults are so childish and reliant on the vision crystals to solve all their problems. It's like wow, Veigue looks like a mean and bad person so yep it must have been him is just ridiculous, I'm so glad Reid isn't insane like them. At this point, I’m just glad there are sensible people in this story like Reid and Veigue lol.

Overall, my impression for now is pretty positive. The story isn’t great, but I do enjoy the dubiousness of everything including the main characters. The animated scenes are awesome though and the design and everything is so pretty! Aside from the bugs that are rampant (random crashing etc) throughout the game, I’ve still been quite obsessed with it that I’m playing everyday hahaha. Now if only the gleamstone draws could guarantee an SSR instead of an SR lolll. Not that I’m complaining too much I guess since I got all the summer SSRs (because Veigue and Yuri were hot, so I needed them LOL) . The game can get rather grindy though with the different materials you need and how low the drop rates can be, but it’s not too bad to get to level 80 for your characters at least. Just wanted to say, I’m happy to finally have 3-4 level 100s yay! It’s nice to see a turn-based Tales game that still relies on combos to do the best damage haha. Otherwise, if you’re wanting to try this game, this is probably a great time to do it since you get an extra 2500 gleamstones with the 1 million downloads reward right now, so you now have 4 chances to draw SSRs! (One guaranteed SSR draw, one normal gleamstones draw, the SR+ tickets draw and the normal summon tickets draw) Just keep in mind that gacha is gacha and sometimes RNG is just not on your side. For example, my bro used 15k gleamstones and got 0 SSRs, so yes, the game can get painful and depressing, but I’m here for the story so at least I’m all good haha!

[transboygenius]

SE4SON: Chapter 17

[*Back in medieval*]

Before they were ready to eat, Jimmy helped Nick out of his armor.

"Do you plan to wash this silver paint off any time soon?" Asked Jimmy. "I thought about it, but then I realized how pretty it makes my armor look. Gotta have bling!" Replied Nick. "*Light chuckle* (Real Nick is so extra.)" "Also, may I change the subject here? About our secret... While I can trust Diana to keep her mouth closed to Mitzi, I'm pretty sure both Rodent Girl and Benson overheard us, and how do we know they won't snitch?" "Well, they are our friends. What friend would snitch on another friend?" "Sheen." "Good point and I hate it."

A cold, familiar voice was then heard. Guess who's back?

"Did I hear the word 'secret' coming from you two?"

Jimmy and Nick recognized that cold, familiar voice. They both turned their heads around, and found that Mitzi had returned from work. She was looking very displeased at them, as usual.

"MITZI! Uhhhhhh... We were just discussing a personal matter amongst ourselves!" Said Jimmy. "How personal might that be? ...demons?" Asked Mitzi. "Very, very, very, very, very, very, very very, very, very-" "That personal matter is how you'll never be able to find where we hid our newly built time machine, since we know you sabotaged the last one! You can search this acre from top to bottom, left to right, but we hid it REAL good! Both of us are from the future, which means we're way smarter than you think! It's out of sight, and out of mine! Try to guess where it is, sister!" Nick had to butt in. "It's on the barn roof." "Completely random answer! WRONG!" "I'm looking at it right now."

Jimmy and Nick then looked up on the barn roof. There was their time machine, just like she said.

"Time for plan B." Said Nick.

The tall boy rushed to the shed, took the ladder, and then broke it in half.

"Good luck learning how to fly!" "Good luck to you, too." Replied Mitzi, before walking away from them.

Nick just destroyed the only ladder, which means him and Jimmy won't reach the time machine themselves. The boy genius doesn't know which idea was more stupider: Nick not thinking before breaking the ladder, or putting the time machine on the roof in the first place. Jimmy glared up at Nick, with his arms crossed.

"What? I only had one brain cell processing at the moment!"

.......................

[*That night*]

"Thank Rodent Girl's greediness! That moose will be gone by breakfast!" Said Nick. "I can't wait to gorge down on some pizza when we get home. I really miss food with saturated stearic acids." Replied Jimmy. "Big mood. I just wanna eat ice cream straight out of the carton." "(First 'brain cells,' now 'big mood?' Does Nick own a blog on Tumi?)"

Just as the two boys were about to enter the barn, Jimmy stopped for a moment, standing funny.

"Eeeeeeehhh, you might have to excuse me. I hear Diana calling my name. Behind that bush." Then Jimmy ran for it.

Nick is obviously aware that Jimmy needs to take a number one, but is too embarrassed to tell his friend. Although Nick wouldn't care otherwise, he still respects his friend's privacy. The boy walked into the barn, ready to settle in bed. Only, to come to a Goldilocks surprise...

"(Somebody is sleeping in my bed.)"

It was that little girl he thought was following him awhile back. Nick hovered over the tiny sleeping human, still believing that it's just a construct of his imagination. Just out of curiosity, he poked the child a couple of times. He poked it so much, it eventually woke up to say "Stop poking me! I'm trying to sleep!" Frightened, Nick let out his signature high pitched girly scream.

"Nick?" Jimmy had returned from his bathroom break. "Oh. Jimmy! Tell me the next storm is coming soon! My mind is in a spiral right now, and I'm starting to hallucinate! There's that little girl, who I presumed had been following us, right there on my bed! And it spoke! IT SPOKE! I'm not gonna make it, man!" "It's okay, Nick. Calm down-" "No, it's not okay! My head is playing tricks on me! What's worse is that I think my brain is trying to send me a message, only I don't know what it's suppose to mean!" "It's okay, cuz I see her too." "You do?" "*Nods head*" "Then that means... AHA! I WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL! SUCK IT, JAMES! Sorry. Sorry, the enthusiasm went way out of hand there." "No biggie. I deserved it anyways."

The little girl then stood up. She appeared to be the same height as Jimmy. Next, she spoke.

"*Ahem* My apologies, majestic ones. I meant to wait for you so I could appropriately introduce myself. I got a little drowsy from all that waiting, so then I just nodded off, I guess. My name is Sally Philip, daughter of Joseph Philip. Does that name ring a bell to you?" "I've met a Joseph Sander, Joseph Winslow, Joseph Miller..." Nick began to list. "Bob Philip. Shelia Philip. Donny Philip. Don't-Remember-First-Name supermarket bag person Philip..." Jimmy also listed. "Sorry." Both replied. "Hmmmmm. Perhaps this will refresh your memory: You were with him by the time he were my age? You know, that little runt that always followed you around, pestering you with conversation starters, begged to be taught magic and learn a knight's fighting honor?" "I'm afraid we have no idea what you're talking about. I've had a little 'brother' just like that, but he never begged me to teach him magic, or battle mechanism." Said Jimmy. "You have a brother?" Whispered Nick. "I'll explain it later. He's currently serving time on the moon." Replied Jimmy. "So, you don't remember?" "I am certain we never met a Joseph Philip in our life!" Exclaimed Nick. "Perhaps you mistook us as someone else." Also exclaimed Jimmy. "How could I mistook the Wise Wizard and Silver Knight?" "WHAT-?!" Both Jimmy and Nick. "Don't tell me you don't remember who you two are. You, *points at Nick,* does the name "Silver Knight" come to mind? And you, *Points at Jimmy,* I don't know any sane peasant who walks around in a cloak and pointy hat!" "It was the only thing in my size." Said Jimmy. "And is it a coincidence that you two happen to travel as a duo? The Wise Wizard and Silver Knight never travel separate!" "Sounds like a coincidence to me." "How 'bout the fact that the Wizard bears fair skin, chocolate brown locks, and sapphire blue eyes?" "Still a coincidence." "What about me? Any info for the knight?" Asked Nick. "Nawwww, my father never seen your face. WAIT, maybe the trouble isn't that you can't remember who you are! But, you probably have amnesia!" "I'm sorry, but didn't you mentioned that your dad met these weirdos when he was around, your age? How old are you?"  "I'm eight." "So, if me and Jimmy were around that time, we wouldn't be standing right here with our young selves! I believe you're looking for old men,  who each own a ridiculous wizard costume, no offense bro, and a silver suit of armor!" "But your partner here is master of sorcery, better than any wizard the people knew! Actually, he was the only wizard people knew. He could conjure up the elements of animal communication, size changing, and a de-aging process! You probably lost your memory in the middle of the spell. He did mention there were side effects." "(Now this girl is delusional.) One, there is no such thing as magic. Two, where do you get all these descriptions if you weren't born by then?" Asked Jimmy. "My father wrote it all down."

The little girl pulled out a big, thick, diary book, titled "Joseph's logs," and then handed it to Jimmy.

"I think it will help regain the memories you've lost. I will do whatever in power it takes to overcome your amnesia!" "A lot of questions come to mind, but I have only one in particular right now: Does your parents know you followed a couple of strangers to an isolated farmland, and then slept on said strangers' bed?" Questioned Nick. "No. I'm sure they wouldn't mind anymore." "Why's that? Are they easygoing?" "No. They've been hanged."

An awkward silence took place. Nick now feels bad for all the sass he's given. The poor girl lost her parents. And she had a lot of guts to just say it without hesitation.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Said Jimmy. "No need for pity. I've gotten over it *About to cry again, but she manages to hold it back in* a couple days ago. I shouldn't be crying. Mother always told me, real women don't cry." "Are you currently under a guardian's care?" "Please, nobody is placed under anybody's care around here. Waifs get taken into the custody of child labor." "Man, that must suck! They'd do that to kids?!" Said Nick. "You could always book in with us. The Faithful Five Plus Two, I thought of the name, always opens their arms to the unfortunate ones in need! We have enough food and shelter!" Jimmy suggested. "Is this one of those hospitalities where I'm expected to carry my weight around?" "Well, this hut land is owned by the She-Hulk, so I don't think freeloading is an option." Said Nick. "Ughhhhhhh, I hate chores. It's good! I feel at home already!" "You can stay, but on one condition. Please stop addressing us as the funny little characters in your dad's made up fairytales." "The Wise Wizard and Silver Knight aren't made up! They're real! Ask anyone! Anyone who is old! Second, I came to you two cuz I thought you would help overthrow the king and save us all from our poverty! You're the town's saviors!" "I wouldn't go far to call us that, but don't worry. We have a plan that is already setting in motion!" Said Jimmy. "You're gonna turn him into a gerbil!" "Huh? No. We got through to the king with a settlement. All we have to do now is figure out what he wants over dinner." "And then you'll turn him into a gerbil!" "There's no such thing as magic! We've just set a bargain with him!" "Set a bargain? Do you two have a death wish? You're more ill-minded than I thought! I recommend you look through my father's diary right now!" "Trust us! We've got this under control. He was very polite to us, and he seemed interested in our standpoints." "It's deception, guys! I just know it! This is a man who hanged his last chancellor for eating the last raspberry scone!" "How 'bout we at least figure out what the king wants first? If anything the king offers sounds suspicious, we could always turn the tables on him. We may not have magic, but we do have our brains." "That's what he said." "What?" "That's exactly what the Wise Wizard would say! 'It's not always about power that makes your enemies yield, but also using your brains to find their weakness!' Though your memories are lost, you still hold a piece of yourselves deep inside you!" "We're not who you think we are! I'm Jimmy Neutron, and this is Nick Dean!" "I can't believe I'm the first human being to actually learn your real names! *Fangirl squeal*"

Jimmy then turned to Nick for help.

"Nick, it's hopeless! What do we do now?" "I think we should just let her use up all her energy and then wait until she falls asleep?" "Can't you think of anything else but your beauty sleep?"

........................

[*One hour later*]

Turns out Nick's suggestion worked after all. Sally eventually tired herself out and fell into a deep sleep. Fortunately, so did Nick. He was lying on his back, while Sally slept on top of him. Jimmy put a blanket over them, just to keep them both from getting cold. He wasn't feeling all that tired right now, so he decided to read the diary Sally handed him earlier. Each entry was dated, around the late 1400s. They were stories, based on young Joseph's experience with the Wise Wizard and Silver Knight, as well as the duo's own.

The Wise Wizard used to be a clinician who'd give medical treatments to peasants for no charge. Food and shelter was never a problem for him. His home was his laboratory, which he used to brew potions or experiment on new spells. Whenever he needed to feed himself, he'd just magically conjure up his own food just by taking a measly sample. He could turn a crumb into a whole cake, or a seed into a full fruit. Sometimes he'd use his magic for the sake of helping others, but they always end up having a sense of hostility around him. Sorcery was considered as a threatening concept. The way people looked down on this man never stopped him from helping the weak. However, only the children enjoyed his presence.

The Silver Knight was the kingdom's top-class, superior warrior. He possessed the highest quality of fighting strategies. His defense skills were beyond compared. He successfully rallied up more foes than any knight has achieved. The fellow knight has saved King Todd's butt for about 16 times. He rescued his daughter 10 times. No knight dared to challenge him in a joust, because he triumphed every single one. He was unbeatable, and unstoppable. Brave, strong, and smart. Nothing has killed him yet. The king honored his excellency by giving him a new suit of armor, encrusted in silver. Not only that, but he was also welcomed to dine with the king at the table, and he teaches combat tactics to his own school of knights. Everything about him was perfect.

Except, he wasn't happy with himself. He was extremely miserable. The Silver Knight never took breaks, any vacation time, or even showed some real emotions. He had a very strict father that trained him to be the boldest man alive. The training put a dent in his childhood, and lives up to the mighty macho figure he is today. He has risked himself many painful injuries during battles and wars, and is expected to not be bothered by them. Many peasants are out having fun, while he's stuck with his job. He flirted with any female civilian that is infatuated by him, despite the fact that he is not fond of women. The knight has strayed away from sweets and only consumed big meaty dishes. He prefers sweets over savory foods, but what man would that make him? He was alone, bored, and secretly scared. He stayed in his armor at all cost because he feels more comfortable with his true self hidden. Behind his helmet, he is always crying.

Enough is enough! Early in the morning, he snuck out of the castle and paid a visit to the forest, where he interacted with the adorable woodland creatures. Suddenly, he heard smooth, faint talking. He picked up his spear and followed the sound. He found a funny dressed young man, giving company to a brutally injured deer. Finding his actions suspicious, the Silver Knight ran up to the wizard, and pointed his spear at him. The wizard merely explained that he was trying to heal the deer, and proved it in front of him by showing off his magical feats. After the deer's injuries disappeared, with a slight of glittery hands, it managed to get back on his feet and then lick the wizard as a thank you.

Dropping his weapon in shock, the knight was very amused by the young wizard's talent. He has never seen anything like it, nor has he ever heard of magic. While most adults in the middle ages adjudged magic as being menacing voodoo, due to witch activity, this was a whole new discovery for the knight. He asked the wizard if he could do it again, even willing to stab himself in the arm for it. Instead, the wizard suggested he try some new tricks. He turned an acorn into a full grown tree. He shrunk himself and the knight down to the size of squirrels, and shared a large apple together. He gifted the knight the ability to fly, which only lasted for five minutes. The two bonded for three hours, and the knight didn't care if he was behind schedule. He finally got a break like he always wanted, and now he has been rewarded with a friend.

It was fate that brought these two together. One year later, they grew even closer than ever. They rebuilt the lab even bigger so the knight could move in. They'd fool around with magic for a bit, sometimes have long conversations, or hang out at the area they first met. The wizard was allowed to visit the castle whenever he pleases. The knight is learning to do magic, although he's very bad at it. He finally decided to take time off every now and then, just like the other knights. The wizard had showed the knight that it's okay to have fun. It doesn't make you less valid than you already are. Your happiness is just as important and healthy. If the Silver Knight haven't met the Wise Wizard, he would have never come out of his shell. Nobody understood him more than the wizard.

They were always very protective of each other, too. The wizard would assist his friend in battle, even though he tells him it's too dangerous. The knight would shield any insults thrown at the wizard. They had an adorable knack of doing good deeds for one another, because of how much they cared.

One afternoon, while the two men were chilling in their favorite calm zone in the woods, a little boy, named Joseph, showed up out of nowhere, with a cherry cobbler as a peace offering. He used to be one of the orphan children the Wise Wizard entertained for. He was also a big fan of the Silver Knight. Seeing them together was like a match made in heaven. Being a fan of both, he begged them to teach him magic and fighting skills, since their powers influenced the child so much. Instead, they each gave him an autograph, and politely asked him to leave. Unsatisfied, he pestered them for a whole week, including popping up in places he's not suppose to follow them in. They eventually gave in, and decided to teach him during their leisure times.

Joseph was one of the worst trainees the two had dealt with. He kept screwing up magic spells, and his battle tactics were too careless and aggressive. The truth was, Joseph never really cared about magic or warrior skills. He just wanted to feel the nurturing presence of parents, since he was an orphan. Joseph either wanted one of them, or both of them, to be his fathers. He was hoping they'd soon come to their senses and then adopt him. Who wouldn't want two awesome dads as these? They have showed him more love than any adult he interacted with. And speaking of love....

The binding chemistry between the Wise Wizard and Silver Knight was quite questionable to the young boy. The best of friendships can be as much passionate and bonding, but he has never seen a more complex friendship as theirs. They'd hold hands. The knight loved to serenade his own written tunes to the fellow wizard. They gave each other some cutesy pet names such as sweetheart, darling, and my dear. He even witnessed them kiss mouth-to-mouth, without catching a glimpse of the knight's face. Their relationship was what you'd compare to a romance, rather than a platonic union. Joseph was still convinced that they were just friends, despite the obvious signs in front of him. A few months ago, the king offered the Silver Knight to take the princess's hand in marriage, but he rejected that offer. The Wise Wizard didn't have a female lover of his own as well.

Based on how he was raised, Joseph just can't picture two men showering each other in romantic affection. From all the books he's read, and every public relationship he's seen, it has always been a man and woman together. Just men kissing women, and men marrying women. He didn't think something like that could happen to two people of the same gender, maybe because he has never acknowledged it before. No one has ever taught little Joseph that love could be diverse. The only way he'll find an answer if he asked one of them. The first person he came up to was the Silver Knight. Just as he questioned the friendship between him and the Wise Wizard, he responded with,

"Such a naive child you are. What me and my dear wizard have is more than of a friendship."

Jimmy stopped reading right there. It sounded as though these two characters, who are both men, are in love with each other. Two men in love? That's repulsive! Women and men were meant for each other! Aren't they? It... It just doesn't seem normal! That's what he was raised to believe. Jimmy thought back at the book, and Joseph's perspective on the wizard and knight's relationship kind of reminded him of himself, except it was towards his certain feelings for Nick. What he feels for Nick right now holds the same vibes he had for Betty, Sally, April, and Cindy. Him and Nick have grown very close to each other in this past week. He was fond of him for his kindness, his modesty, his relatable interests, and just now, he realizes how handsome he is. No wonder girls used to swoon around him.

Maybe... Maybe love isn't suppose to just work one way. Science never claimed love worked one way. Love could work the other way, both ways, or no way at all. It could also be based on the factors of your prenatal testosterone and estrogen, running in your genes. If gender can be a spectrum, then perhaps romantic or sexual attraction can be too. But just because science never claimed love was meant to be hetero only, doesn't mean he has fully explored on this topic. Jimmy could be in love with Nick, and he's afraid it might be true.

"(I can't call myself a scientist if I don't know everything! Why don't I know everything? 'Specially a question as simple as this?)"

...........................

[*Back at the castle, five hours earlier*]

King Jason was sitting in his main throne room, playing with the servants in his favorite game: Hang-man. The king was winning as usual. They always let the king win. All of a sudden, Richard poked his head into the room, interrupting the game.

"Pssssssssssst! Sire?" "*Sigh* What this time be, Richard?" "Can I have a moment to speak with you? In private, if you wish."

Rolling his eyes, Jason requested his staff to clear the room so he could speak with his chancellor alone.

"Couldst this personal subject beest any more important than my game time?" Asked Jason. "Well, in sooth, aye. About those boys..." Richard replied. "What about the boys?" "It- It's not like you to forgive someone after trespassing on your domain, and posing as your authorities! Those two could've been thieves!" "But it turns out they weren't. Get over it." "I'm just curious, sire. What is't about these two dram troublemakers do you find interesting?" "You mean you don't recognize them? Their outfits are a dead giveaway!" "Frankly I don't. Please-don't-hang-me." "Maybe this sketch drawing, that I happened to illustrate myself a long time ago, will give you a clue!"

Jason then pulled out a piece of paper with two stick figure designs on it, with the word "SICKOS" written above the two characters, who were dressed like a knight and wizard. It looked like it was drawn by a kindergartner.

"Uhhhhhh... Still doesn't ring a bell, sire. But that's a very, very, wonderful piece of art!" "IT'S THE INFAMOUS WISE WIZARD AND SILVER KNIGHT, BLAST IT!" "Huh- Ohhhhhhh, them! I remember now! Although I've never seen them, I have heard of them! My mother used to tell me stories about their adventures during bedtime- My apologies, sire! I didn't mean to suddenly make this about me! And another question dawns on: The two gentlemen you were talking to a while back were boys. Weren't the Wise Wizard and Silver Knight men?" "You don't know what they're capable of doing, don't you, Richard?" "Well, they save the day, aid the poor-" "None of that nonsense! The Wise Wizard is most acclaimed for his talent in phenomenal enchantment feats! (Shame that he wasted it on poor souls) One of them being the power to de-age oneself! Don't know why they did it, but possibly as a rebirth form to stay alive longer than any mortal would! Ever since they walked out of the village to start a new life, I knew it was now safe to establish my biggest scheme yet, since there was no hero to stop me from that point on! Father would have never suspected his own son to poison him. Hahaha. Those fools are to thank for!" "You, poisoned your own father? I thought he committed suicide!" "Shhhhhhhh! Now that you're the only person I've ever told, I am sure of it you'll never let my secret leave this room. Because, you know what will happen if you don't." "W-word of honor, sire! Word-of-honor." "They helped me reached my place to the crown once, and they'll do it again." "But sire, you're already king! What more could you want?" "I wanna rule the universe, not this filthy boxed up mudhole! I want to step up my status! I want the whole world to look up on me! Those two are the only ones who can make that happen!" "How can they make that happen?" "You'll see soon enough, Richard! You'll see!" "And is it alright for I asked one more question?" "Hmph. Shoot." "Whatever happened to your older sister? Have you poisoned her, too?" "Nah! I pushed her off the top of the castle. Unfortunately, she survived the fall. So I had her hanged instead. Ah, yes, it was also my very first hanging at the time. I had that noose bronzed, by the way! Wanna see?" "No thank you, sire. I've seen enough."

[undertale-rho]

Underearth: Book 1 - Epilogue

It had been a few days since Frisk had escaped the Underground. He spent most of the time lost as he tried to find his hometown, Athens, and lusting after his death, growing more and more thirsty for it each passing day as he thought about what he'd done to him. Finally, Frisk saw it. Not having left the town for the past twenty years can really leave you unfamiliar with the surrounding environment.

Making his way into the city, Frisk stashed the knife away as he looked for his warehouse. Frisk knew he'd be there, he's always there, save when he's off scavenging for food or mugging someone for money.

Some ways into the city, Frisk had figured out where he was, and began to walk down one of the alley-ways he knew was a shortcut to the industrial district, though he stopped himself before going down it.

No, this is the alley where I'd normally find Artemis... I can't run into her again, not now at least. Frisk thought as he backed up.

Looking for another route through the city, Frisk started down another street. The people of Athens were used to filthy homeless people being seen almost everywhere in the city ever since the serial killer, who'd christened himself as The Mad Man, murdered hundreds of people in the homeless shelters of the city before burning them all to the ground, so Frisk fit in easily.

After a few hours, Frisk had finally managed to reach the industrial district, and had snuck into one of the warehouse complexes. Due to the rise in crime, numerous warehouses were under the control of gangs. Because of this, entire warehouse complexes were abandoned. Frisk just had to find the right one that belonged to him.

Half-an-hour later, he finally found it. Warehouse #364, a mostly rusted building condemned long before the complex was abandoned, though it still had all its windows. Frisk cracked the door to look inside. In the middle-back of the warehouse, Frisk saw three figures, loud enough that he could somewhat make out what they were saying.

"Look man, I'm sorry. I just didn't feel comfortable doing it." one of the figures said.

"You make it sound like I was offended. I bring in a fine piece and you don't wanna screw it? More for me! Now, since you didn't want any, go bury the body before it starts to stink."

That was him. The bastard that had kicked Frisk into the Underground in the first place.

"B-but what about the cops? This is the fourth chick we've taken just this month, won't the cops start-"

The middle figure punched the one on the right in the gut.

"Shut it. The cops don't do anything in this city. Besides, she was homeless, just like all the others. They care even less about them."

Frisk pulled the door open even more with one hand, while drawing the knife in the other. He wasn't going to listen to any more filth that came out of his mouth.

The grinding of metal against metal caught the attention of all three of them.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, WISEASS!?" the middle shouted.

Frisk just stumbled forward into view.

"W-wait... Frisk!?" he said, quite surprised.

"What? Frisk lived through that!?"

"Yes, William, I did." Frisk responded, very cold in his answer.

William just stared at Frisk.

"How the hell did you survi-" his eyes fell on the dagger in Frisk's hand. "What's that for? You angry or something!?"

"You could say something like that." Frisk said, bringing the dagger up in front of their face.

"Look, bro, if this is about kicking you down that hole, I'm sorry about that. I wasn't myself."

"Just like you weren't yourself when you abandoned me and Aliza on the street like some bag of trash!? You were supposed to look over us after mom and dad died."

"I LOOKED AFTER BOTH OF YOU FOR FIFTEEN YEARS!!!" William shouted before covering his mouth, trying to catch the words before they escaped.

Frisk stopped, looking straight at William. "Y-you do remember!" He then gritted his teeth and tightened the grip on his knife.

"What are you two idiots doing, get him!!!" William said to the other two figures.

The two who were beside William then dashed at Frisk, who stabbed the first one in the gut then slid the knife across his abdomen, causing his insides to spill out as he fell to the ground, dead. The other saw the bloody mess that was the result and began backing away from Frisk, who leapt straight at him, stabbing him a few times in the chest before re-focusing on William as the other coughed up blood until he died too.

"W-what kind of monster have you turned into?" William asked, back to a wall.

"I could ask the same of you," Frisk said. "kidnapping homeless women then raping them to death?"

William remained silent.

Frisk tightened his grip on the blood-soaked knife and charged at William, stabbing him in the leg then bringing the knife up to his head, and thrusting it down at William, who caught Frisk's arms.

"W-wait a second Frisk. Look, I'm sorry for everything, for abandoning you and Aliza, for kicking you down the hole, everything."

"Oh it's far too late to be sorry." Frisk said sadistically. "Five years too late!!!"

Frisk kept pushing down, trying to jam the blade into William's eye, though William was strong. As Frisk continued pushing, his eyes began glowing a deep red color.

"W-what the hell!?" William said as Frisk began winning.

After a few more seconds, William's strength failed him, and Frisk plowed straight through his eye, sinking the entire blade into his skull. William screamed in pain for a few seconds before going silent and falling to the ground.

Frisk, too, fell backward.

"Finally. H... he's dead." Frisk spat on the corpse.

While lying there in the collected pool of blood that had formed from the three corpses, a phone began to ring. After a few seconds, Frisk reached into the pocket the phone was in, and it was indeed ringing.

"What the hell?" Frisk said as he denied the call.

About a minute later, the phone received a voice mail.

After a bit of contemplation, Frisk decided to answer it.

"Heya. Is anyone there...?"

Frisk nearly dropped the phone when he heard those words. Sans.

"Well, I'll just leave a message..."

"So... It's been a while. The queen returned and was ruling over the Underground. She enstated a new policy... All the Humans who fall here will be treated not as enemies... but as friends. But people REALLY didn't like that policy. Because of you, not only was the king gone... but the Human SOULs had gone missing as well... Along with the life of Undyne, their greatest hero. Nobody wanted to see that happen ever again. So the people started a rebellion to overthrow the queen. But, she, uh, pretty much gave up peacefully when she realized. So she went back to the Citadel. The Underground's basically an uneasy anarchy now. Everyone's trying to live life like they always have... But it's not really easy, you know? When all of your hope has pretty much been thrown away... But hey! It's not all bad! She's not so lonely anymore. Me and Papyrus go and visit her... We bring her books from the library, or play games... We've even convinced her to leave sometimes... As long as me or Papyrus stay behind to watch for Humans. But Papyrus loves doing that."

"YEAH!!! I LOVE STANDING IN FOR THE QUEEN!!! I'VE BEEN PRACTICING FOR WHEN A HUMAN COMES. I'M GOING TO BE A GREAT MOM!!! BY THE WAY, WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?"

"Oh, nobody."

"OH, COOL. TELL THEM I SAY HI!!!"

"Papyrus says hi. Well, I hope things are better where you are. Later."

The message ended. Tears crawled down Frisk's face as he looked around at what he'd done. Just for some petty revenge, he ripped away all the hopes and dreams of an entire civilization. Frisk dropped the phone into the pool of blood, then bent even lower, hunching over his legs, crying.

If only there was some way to go back... Frisk thought. Then, something clicked. Something Flowey had said.

"Oh, and you can forget about escaping to the past using that old thing. We're not in that world anymore, so it's plain and simple impossible."

Frisk reached into his pocket again and pulled out the pocketwatch.

"That's right!" Frisk said hopefully. "This thing can send me to the past! But... how?"

As Frisk had said that, the device opened up, hosting the word "RESET?" on its face.

"RESET?" Frisk read. "Will that take me back into the Underground? ... Back when I first fell?"

The words on the face flashed to "YES", then back to "RESET?".

Frisk, filled with hope, answered: "Yes!"

A Whole New World : Epilogue

Previous First Next

[andthentheresanne]

Fic: raised on the edge of the devil’s backbone

Title: raised on the edge of the devil’s backbone Fandoms: Overwatch & Leverage Characters/Pairings: Jesse McCree, The Leverage OT3 (Parker/Eliot/Hardison) Summary: Jesse grew up on fairy tales where the bad guys are good guys and all justice needs is a little leverage. He hasn't believed in fairy tales for a long time.

They hadn’t meant to leave their children a war, the three of them, but that's the way the world crumbled.

--

Aka the Leverage/Overwatch crossover that no one actually asked for.  

Blame a re-watch of Leverage, McCree starring in my other current WIP, and a certain line about a huckleberry.

(I'm aware the timeline doesn't quite work out (as far as I can tell), but I'm not one to let a plot weasel go to waste.)

--

The stories that his folks told him and his sisters, growing up, Jesse knew that they were nothing more than bedtime stories. Fairy tales to try and convince a couple of kids that the world was not always as bad as it had once been. Or rather, that it had, but that there had been heroes once. That someone had cared enough to do something. That before the world had fallen apart, there had been heroes, and champions, and people willing to do what was right.

His mother and fathers had thought the world of the three of them, their kids. They never told the kids which one of them was whose--it didn't matter, they were family. Sophia had gotten their mother’s blonde hair, curling out in a frizz. Maggie never freckled, saw systems with her startlingly blue eyes like a game she could beat. All three of them got their mother’s light fingers, their fathers’ quick minds, their own unique talents. All with that big heart lying under everything that would’ve buried it deep beneath the simple business of trying to survive in a world gone mad.

They hadn’t meant to leave their children a war. Jesse once remembered a whispered argument, or so it had sounded, between his folks, late at night when the kids were all in bed, supposedly. His mother, insisting they could have done more. Papa reassuring her in hushed tones, Dad gripping the back of the chair like it could give answers if he squeezed hard enough.

His mother’s final foray into blaming herself in some way was met with Dad thumping the palm of his hand onto the back of the chair. “Gonna check on the kids,” Dad muttered to the other two as he walked toward where Jesse had been hiding on the stairs.

Dad hadn’t been fooled for a second at Jesse’s curled-up form under the blankets, feigning sleep. He’d heard the thumping of little feet trying to not thump. Unlike his sisters he hadn’t quite learned that skill yet. Dad sat down on his bed, ruffling his hair with a fond hand. “Hey, kiddo. What’re you doing up at this hour?”

Jesse had given up the play-acting immediately, sitting up in bed, giving a shrug. “Dunno. Couldn’t sleep.”

“Were you eavesdropping?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t even think of denying it. “Mom says it’s how you learn things sometimes.”

Dad laughed, but it didn’t sound like the kind of laugh you gave when you were happy. “There is that.”

Jesse twisted up his mouth in a frown, not understanding most of what he’d heard. “What’d mom mean? When she, when she was talking about stopping the robots?”

His father’s calloused hand stroked through Jesse’s hair as he thought, soothing. “There are a lotta woulda, coulda, shouldas in this world. Your mom’s just thinking about one of those. That’s all.”

Jesse didn’t understand it, but couldn’t figure out how to get around that not-understanding in his head, so he let it go. Years later, when he was older, there were so many questions he regretted not asking, but back then he was a child, and if Dad said it was so, then it was so.

Jesse once remembered a time when he thought his parents had stolen the stars to hang in the sky, believed his mother when she said the moon was the greatest heist she just hadn’t pulled yet, thought his fathers could protect him and his sisters from the rest of the world.

That had been a long time ago.

He always knew his parents were criminals of some kind, but then, who wasn’t, in this new world? There were the criminals and the dead, eventually. Even if some of those crimes were small, petty things, things that a court, if things still worked the way they once had, wouldn’t even bother with. Neglect and little cruelties that leaked through into his sheltered world on occasion. He was the youngest, the baby, but he had a good eye. Jesse never missed much, growing up.

Jesse feels like his world should have been shattered in a single moment or maybe night of high drama, fleeing and blood and darkness. Something suitably dramatic, like something out of one of his parents’ stories. But instead their safety had seeped away, drips and drabs and long nights sleeping in the back of Papa’s van as his folks drove.

He remembers his folks arguing long and low with Sophia, that night she left. That she felt she could make a difference in this fight, and wasn’t that what they had always taught her? And Dad’s eyes seemed so far away and Mom seemed like she was gonna cry and Pops circled back to the arguments he’d pulled out forty minutes before.

In the end, she had left with one of Dad’s friends, Mom whispering advice into her hair and Pops reassuring her that if she changed her mind, at any moment, they’d be there, all she had to do was say the word, and…

“You’re really going?”

Sophia crouched, ruffling his hair. Jesse swiped it back into place. “I got to, baby bro.”

Jesse crossed his arms, half-self-consciously trying to mimic one of Dad’s poses. She just laughed, gathering him into a hug. “Don’t give me that look. I’ll keep in touch. And I’ll be back.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Jesse learned later not to make promises he couldn’t keep. He never blamed her for that one, but it had still hurt. Never officially declared, of course. Things had been too chaotic, by then. But Pops had looked and looked, and every time Dad would come back without Sophia and it seemed like something in Mom went behind a locked door, after that. A door he didn’t know how to open, even with all his parents had taught him.

Maggie hadn’t even been a victim of the war, not really. First responders went into dangerous and deadly situations all the time, Jesse knew that. That building could have collapsed on anyone. Jesse knew, but it didn’t make it any better.

Not for his folks, either. They clung to him tighter, but got more distant, Jesse the one thing they hadn’t lost yet, besides each other. They whispered in secrets to each other more often, Dad going hard-eyed and tight-lipped whenever Jesse was around. No more easily-forgiven eavesdropping in those days. The other problem was that the tighter they held onto Jesse, the more his budding teenage rebellion grew. He stopped trying to listen in, stopped trying to get behind those doors and walls all three of his parents had hidden themselves behind, and so he drifted away.

He remembers the last time he saw them, though maybe not exactly as it happened. He isn’t sure how much of a teenage asshole he was. A fair bit of one, he knows, from the way Pops had rolled his eyes, from Mom’s pained smile. He remembers Dad was serious, drilling Jesse on where the emergency cash was, how to get out, what to do, when, how, Jesse playing along in pre-teen irony.

Dad caught the irony, of course. Did that thing where he looked like four different things tried to come out of his mouth at once, and finally gave up, grabbing Jesse in a crushing hug. “Dad!”

Despite protest, Dad hadn’t let him go for a good long moment. “Hold down the fort for us.” Abruptly he released Jesse, bracing him, then turned and grabbed up his duffel in one swift motion.

Pops watched him go, then pulled Jesse into a hug too, far less over-bearing than Dad’s had been. “What your dad said.”

Jesse was a little unnerved now, the weirdness of the situation seeping through his ironic detachment. “Y-yeah, of course, Pops.”

Then it was mom’s turn for a brisk squeeze of a hug and she was leaving too. House to himself for a weekend, that’s what they had told him. He had believed them.

“We’ll be back,” Mom nodded firmly, then shut the door behind her.

At least she hadn’t promised, Jesse thought later. After.

Jesse was never sure what happened to them, still isn’t. Heard rumors, of course. He could have found out, he was sure, sifted through everything and found the truth hidden among the lies. But he chose to believe the stories he’d heard, the ones that sounded like a fairytale, full of justice and honor and a little bit of payback. He’d been worried, then scared, then everything his folks had taught him had kicked in. Before he knew it he was going down the only path open to him, the one to survival.

Later on, after the blood on his hands and a second chance, Jesse still chose to believe in something. Maybe it wasn’t your traditional fairy story, but a man had to have something to cling to. And what Jesse knew was that maybe there was justice to be found in the world, and maybe there wasn’t, but you couldn’t do a damn thing without leverage

[rvb-junior]

Anonymous ask: do you have any pets? What are their names? Why do you keep them? What got you into keeping them? Do you have any future pet plans? 💖💖

Ok anon do u really wanna get into this convo? Itll take a while.

Okay so im at college so rn the only pets with me are my fishb a male halfmoon plakat named Cosmos Florence the second, a nerite snail named Nertb and a black mystery named Onyx. I keep them because god man i just. I just love em so much ya know? Its like. I have this little ball of hate and rage in my dorm who has such a beautiful personality and then to complement that i have these chill snaild who r just trying really hard. Back home we have even more pets and oh man oh man i love them?? They are what love and joy looks like?? We have my dogs, cat, turtle, lizards, birds, hairless guinea pigs, fish, and chickens.

The chickens are named Short Bread and Oreo bevause of how they looked when they were younger. Oreo is a little spunkyer that Short bread while i think short bread is a little…. Confused? Yeah just generally confused by everything.

We have Mr. T, our full grown, healthy red ear slider who lives in a small pond in the back yard with a few feeder fish he never ate. Those fish have grown to be his pals and he just. Hase never eaten them.

Then we have the birds, Able, who likes to tell at you if u look at her to long. Her hobbys are chewing through toys as she is hanging from them and being suprised when she falls. We then have Birbank, named after the airport my dad found him at, who lives very closely with his bf Ruby. Birbank is a grey and white cockatiel and Ruby is a green Indian Ringneck. They had being more than 2 feet apart for longer than 2 seconds and often u will find Ruby yelling when Birbank flys somewhere he cant go (ruby doesnt know how to fly) and birbank screaming when he realises the mistake he made. Ruby likes to give people kisses and is a lover, not a fighter. Birbank likes to hiss at peanuts and ignore everything besides Ruby. Next we have our Canary, Mango whos fav food is blue berrys and kale. He likes to sing when he hears trumpets and my flute. He has a club foot so when we adopted him the bird rescue we got him from was relived because no one else would take him. He is the most graceful flying bird i have ever seen! Finally we have the zebra finch named Shimmy. When we first adopted him he had a super bad plucking problem and was almost completly bald but hes doing much better now, aggressivly peeping when he hears the canary.

Okay now we have 2 lizards, a leopard gecko named Romeo and a crested gecko named Gargoyle. Romeo is a sweet boi with a chubby tail who loves his crickets fast and his meal worms slow. He has one of those reptile hammocks but he prefers climding his cave more. Gargoyle is a sweet girl who will only eat her food when it starts to harden again for some reason. We dont know why but she does and shes kinda a butt. But ya gotta love her!

Our cat’s name is Figaro and she’s currently bald. She had to get shaved, the vet said shes getting up in her years so when she stopped grooming for a month and got matts in her long fur they said she had basicly cat arthritis. Shes doing good and her hobbies are (well atleast when i was home) meowing in my mouth at 3 am to tell me she ate all her food and wanted more.

Wr have 5 dogs so just get ready for that. All our dogs but 1 is a rescue. Coal is a chow/black lab mix. She was adopted as a pup from a local animal rescue and she kniws the mist tricks. Shes a good girl who likes hugs, treats, and when u massage her face. Her favorite toy is a yellow stick that she will bring to you when asked. Shes the second youngest! Lily is the youngest, i sometiems call her satan but only because she is a trickster! You will turn around and shell be on the table eating food, stealing anything from coal, and trying to think up world domination. She and Coal are super close, when we got her Coal went all MaMa dog and now they are inseparable. What makes it better is that Lily is a half Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix so shes tiny next to Coal. Our third youngest is Scarlet, wr think shes the product of a long hair Chihuahua and a deer head Chihuahua. Shes a primadonna who enjoys her alone time and pets. She also like to be held, mainly like a baby so u can hold her and tub her tum. She also REALLY LIKES CAR RIDES like man even going to the vet shes jazzed. Second oldest is Vinnie, a pug my bro ham adopted. Hes super sweet and good he likes face squishes and whrn he naps his tail uncurles. He stands very proper like hes a gentleman and likes to sit on ur feat. He has a grain allergy so he eats special grain free food. Next we have the oldest of our dogs MY SWEET BABY GIRL GIGI. shes my sun and moon. We got gigi when i was 8 and when i was 10 my sister went to college, leaving her for me to takr care of. And well, shes literally the most important thing in the world to me. My sister got her from a breader (which i dont like cus dogs in shelters need homes) but shes a Brussels Griffon so the breader croped her ears and tail. I DO NOT CONDONE THE PRACTICE OF CROPPING AND PART OF A DOG UNLESS SUGGESTED BY A VET, SOME DOGS GET THEIR TAILS CROPPED BECAUS ETHEY BREAK BONES IN THEM AND THAT IS THE ONLY CROPPING I CONDONE. Her ears were cropped lopsidedb and improperly which brought many problems to her later on. She developed many ear infections that have caused her to scratch her ears until they bleed, has had medication for 3 different ear infections, and has almost no ear canal left. Her vet has told us she is almost deef. Also as she got older she got chronic dry eye and takes medicated eye drops for it but shes fine as long as she has those. She needs loud or sharp sounds to get her attention so i trained her to respond to clapping, whistling (which i do very loudly) and snapping fingers. She is a sweet heartb adn a super velcro dog! I cried for three days after i had to go to college and they drive her up to visit me. When im home she goes looking for me if im out of site for 2 minutes, will wait at the bathroom door for me, stare up the stairs when i go to shower, and press her face against closed doors she knows i went through. Whne she does the last thing i have to drum my fingers on the door so she knows to move back before i open it. I miss her horribly and i skype her almost every day, she gets super excited! The first few days i was gone she actually wouldnt stop barking at night. Shes also a cuddle baby and she doesnt sleep unless she is touching me ao it was probably rough for her. I miss her but ill be able to see her in october when i go to my sisters wedding.

The fish! Okay so my mother has a 75 gallon gold fish aquarium and a 30 gallon in the garage with nithing in it yet (shes thinking tetras). The gold fish tank has 2 butter fly tails and some bristle nose plecos. It also has many a snail rn! A friend of ours dismantled a large aquarium of his own ( he is going through a very hard time financially and im hoping everything works out for him) and gave us the plecos and snails. The snails are 3 rabbit snailsb one nerite (he gave us 2 but the other is with my betta) a few black mysteries, and a golden apple who i named Big Mama.

Lemme tell u about big mama real fast. I call her this because, first of all shes a full grown golden appleb second of all because shes a mama. He had a live planted tank thich included a moss ball he has been taking care of for 5 year, its the size of my head and when we put it in the 75 gallon it because the main pice of the tank. What we found out later was that Big Mama had made her family in ut and we have abou 20 BABY GOLDEN APPLES IN THERE ALONE!! He also gave us an anibius fern which i put in my betta’s tank and after getting to college and living hear for a few weeks i found out there were eggs on it because I KNOW HAVE MANY A BABY GOLDEN APPLE. these ones tho r much smaller than the moss ball ones, mine being hatchlings and those being the size of a finger nail. But anyway they have grown large enough where i can tell they r not pest snails and i will be rehoming them to other fish keepers in my dorms once they get a little bigger.

My mom has 3 hairless guinea pigs. Did you know that at petco people tend to walk in and drop off pets they “just dont want any more”? Well it hapoens a lot and my mom fell in love with them instantly. We have Billy, the oldest, Piggy, the middle in age, and sweet baby Bear who is small and young. They are all good boys and are doing very well so far in their new home! My mom had already owned billy and was looking into getting him friends, (guinea pigs live friends! They actually should be kept in atleast pairs but we were not aware at first, now we know better) all three of them are being slowly introduced! Bear and Piggy already live together but we dont want to rush this process and put billy right into the mix, that would probably be the worst think. They are slowly beibg acclimated to eachother.

I guess you could say i love pets because they are sweet and wonderful. I keep most of them because i know i can care for them, that i have the space, and the resources. I have the time and the will to foster a loving home for all my pets, and so does my family. Animals are a big part of my life and i love all of them with all my heart.

My future plans? Well nothing soon! Im in a dorm so Cosmos and his snail friends are all ivr got planed rn. But i hope to, onece in the distante future, get a tank with a school of danionella dracula in it, they are tiny fishb only getting half an inch in side. But id need a good tank for them since they school about 12 and id like to do the whome thing live plants (i also want one of those rimless aquatiums hnnnnnnnngh) i hope to upgrade cosmos to a larger aquarium b currently hes in a 2.5 which is enough for a betta, sure, but id rather he be in a 5 gallon. But really? I just wanna go home n be with GiGi more than anything.

Thank you for the ask!

[wordydelights]

when galaxies collide - the rest of chapter 2 (draft)

I couldn't rest that night, I had said only about four words to Landon that entire evening and I craved responses to my uncertainty. I rolled onto my side for about the hundredth time. The neon-green numbers displayed on the digital alarm clock resting on my nightstand were glowing causing my eyes to squint from its glare. 1:36 AM. Although it was not the best time to have a heart to heart with Landon, I knew that if I did not get answers out of him soon I would wake up to Nicole glued to his side, making it impossible to have real "bro time."

I crept downstairs, staying near the sides of the walls to minimize the unwanted creaking of floorboards. As I neared the end, I skipped the second to last step, smoothly descending my way to the bottom. On the way out of the sleeping house I made sure to stop by the kitchen and snag a bag of cheese puffs as a peace offering for waking Landon up in the middle of the night.

Our garage was separate from our house, it was like it's own tiny shelter. On it's side it had a door topped off with a welcome mat and beside it a window featuring old fashioned shutters. A few years back I made preparations of turning it into my own little art haven. Just somewhere I could feel safe or free, where I could fit in. Unfortunately my undeveloped sanctuary soon became filled with tacky yard sale "steals," craigslist "must-haves," and trashy pieces of furniture found on the side of the road that subtly reeked of cat piss.

When I walked inside I was not expecting how completely pitch black the room was going to be. I fumbled around in circles for a second, knocking into small objects while trying to locate Landon's sleeping body. I took a step, felt an obstacle, took a step back. After a few failed attempts of finding a secure way to reach Landon I grabbed one of the many broken fishing poles we had stashed next to the door and used it as what a blind man would use as his cane, swaying it back and forth in search for potential threats.

I thought things were going pretty well until I swatted a bookshelf displaying old trophies from my dad's past badminton championships a bit harder than intended. Each were no taller than six inches and made out of plastic with gold spray paint chipping off, however in his eyes they were as great of value as an olympic medal.

The bookshelf tilted over onto a row of filing cabinets causing a box of legos which happened to be resting on top of the cabinets to fall to the ground.

I heard a screech then the shifting of furniture followed by a couple failed clicks of a lamp until the attempts were successful. The lights turned on which revealed a frightened Landon with a wild look in his eyes while holding a baseball bat and wearing nothing but a pair of spongebob boxers and mismatched socks.

"Jackson what the hell man," he squinted while shaking off a couple legos stuck to his skin.

I put down the fishing pole, "Sorry, I just wanted to talk."

"I have legos in my asshole."

"Sorry about that." I replied. Then made my way over to the couch from hell. I plopped down onto the sofa allowing my body to sink into the its plush cushion.

"I brought cheetos."

He proceeded to swiftly snatching the bag out of my hands, and opening it without saying a word. Landon was like a vicious animal mauling its prey when it came to food. Shoving handfuls of the cheesy sustenance in his mouth at a time. I watched him as he continued. It seemed he realized I was still present in the room and briefly stopped.

"Alright man, uh, what did you want to talk about?" He rubbed his eyes then scratched his bedhead with his orange powdery fingers.

I shrugged. "How's life?"

"It's going good. But I seriously doubt you decided to ambush me with a box of legos just to ask how life is." I stayed quiet. There was so much I wanted to tell him, to know. "Things are just different now." I said it very vague but I knew that Landon knew me well enough to understand.

"I take it you're mad at me for not visiting sooner."

There was no response, so he continued.

"Jack, different is good. Don't get me wrong I miss us having our adventures together and I hate not looking out for you. But, things aren't going to be the same anymore. I didn't visit as frequent because I have a life of my own now. A bit of freedom, a girl who I really like, a future to look forward to. Everything is just kind of working out for me right now."

I nodded. "Why did you never tell us about her?"

"Of course," He laughed then continued with a smile across his face. "I just wanted it to be a surprise, I never really felt this way about a girl before and I wanted to introduce her to everyone in person." I stayed silent, hoping he could read my mind so I wouldn't have to say what I wanted to say outloud. But he didn't. "Why her?" I cringed.

"Aw come on man, give her a chance. Once you get to know her you'll love her I swear," he responded confidently.

I decided to change the subject and ask him about the people at OSU. According to Landon most people who go are either preppy white kids who only live to drink, bang chicks and get high, while others were conservative hipsters with unshaven beards and choose to eat only vegan, gluten free, organic meals. Landon shared a couple of amusing stories from his experiences at the university such as a teacher accidentally playing porn on the projector instead of the lesson. I could tell he was happy, I had never seen him happier. It might seem selfish but had I wished he was just as miserable as I was. It was sad seeing him succeed. Not because I was jealous, but because I knew that in time he would achieve that picture perfect life. He'll have his own family and kids, a yellow house with a white picket fence and job that he always dreamed of having. We'll see each other during the holidays and occasional awkward family reunions, with no communication in between. I didn't want that life. I didn't want things to change.

"So what about you man? Bringing home any girls," He raised his eyebrows and nudged my arm. He already knew the answer to that question.

"Haha, you're funny," I responded while slightly scooting away. He laughed and covered his face with his hands while mumbling, "My virgin brother." I shoved him out of embarrassment. He removed the palms of his hands from his face and began staring at the sofa's fabric. I could tell he was exhausted from his absent expression.

"Colt." He began as if he was about to say something serious. "This is one fugly couch." Maybe it was the way he said the phrase or it was at that point the sleep deprivation had consumed us both because after that remark we could not stop laughing. It was then where it felt like nothing had changed.

"Before I forget," He said while drifting asleep. "Do you want to come to the End of Fall Festival tomorrow night? I hear they have a real carnival this year." I was about to politely decline but Landon beat me to it.

"Now, I know it isn't your scene but Nicole really wants to go and I think it would be fun." He paused to yawn, then quickly went back on track. "Plus, it would be a real dick move to say no to hanging out with your incredibly awesome, and may I add, attractive, brother who is only in town for the weekend."

He was right. I needed to take advantage of the time we had together no matter the circumstances. And maybe, just maybe, I'd give my potential future sister-in-law a second chance.

[terraaurea]

Sorry for anybody that has been worried about me over the past few days. I’ve had: 

1. My bank account frozen (they’re concerned about fraud between my account and my bro’s, but until he can get a copy of his birth certificate and subsequently a valid state ID we can’t go into the branch to fix it). Fraud prevention is out there for your protection, but this is literally the worst timing possible. My parents have a payday loan that keeps subtracting my account in the negative. 

2. My parents’ car was impounded, they got it back, the transaction involved to get the car out probably triggered the fraud alert above. Dad was missing for a day, fell on a wet floor at a PDQ, and busted an orbital socket. I got into a bad run-in with some family members because I misunderstood a situation and I was in the wrong. We’ve amended things but I sobbed for hours and hours. 

3. My parents (reminder they’re homeless) went missing again. We found them but mom was arrested temporarily and dad is in the ICU with double pneumonia. 

4. I found out the storage unit with my parents belongings in it is under my name. I don’t remember signing off on the rental but I must have. I need to pay the balance in full by next week or else everything would be auctioned off, it wouldn’t be enough to cover the debt, and I’d have to go to collections/small claims court. 

5. I asked my future roommates in Tallahassee if they could help me cover first month’s rent and they initially said OK but then changed their minds and said if I can’t pay it I should drop out of the lease. I’m afraid they’re going to hate me when I do get down there. 

6. I’ve seriously considered not going to graduate school this fall because of the emotional damage I’ve sustained this week but my family and friends have supported me and so when I make it down there I will go. I’ve emailed my profs about forgiving me in the event that I couldn’t make it there.

7. I have to move out of my apartment on the 31st and have nowhere to go and nowhere to put my belongings. I’ll only have 2 weeks max after moving out to get to Tallahassee and get settled/run important errands before orientation. 

8. My mom couldn’t think about anything but getting the cats picked up from the shelter and is definitely not right in the head right now. She had to go to the urgent care because of pain in her side. Also dad is a drunk half the time and if we get his paycheck we have few options of where to put it with my account being frozen (my parents owe money to banks in the past and thus haven’t been able to open their own accounts).

9. Because of stress I haven’t been able to really eat much at all this week or sleep. I’ve spent hours pacing and having panic attacks and stomach issues.

With all of this I enlisted the help of my extended family, who are determined to help me fix everything. I love my parents, but they have left me and my siblings out to dry completely. My aunts and uncles and grandpa know how fucked up our parents have made us, and how fucked up our situation is. My aunt has reassured me that my first month’s rent will be paid, and that they will get me to Tallahassee. And that they will get my siblings back to school safe and sound. And that we will figure out the banking and storage issues. I pray that they really can help. My aunt sounds confident that everything will be fixed. So everyone send good thoughts/prayers to me that everything works out. 

[writer-of-worlds]

What my OTP mean to me

[seasidequeenpacific-blog]

Now that I’ve taken my last final, the fall term at the University of Oregon is officially over! I’ve learned so much about myself throughout this 3 1/2 month journey.

I wouldn’t say that I’ve lived a sheltered life, my parents have always supported me when it came to following my dreams and trying new things, but it was definitely hard to get out of Weston and then stay out of Weston. My mom lived there her whole life, still lives there now, and never moved more than 2 miles away from her parents house.

My dad is the same way. He only lives 20 minutes away from his childhood home, though he definitely has the travel-bug. I think that I got that from him (as well as my height). *insert eye-roll*

I’m proud to come from people who know where their home is, and I think that I’ve finally found mine. I am in love with Oregon. I’ve never seen a place so incredibly beautiful, and I’ve never been exposed to a group of such interesting people.

Unlike when I was attending the two colleges before UO, I have absolutely no doubt that this is where I am supposed to be. I will admit that the massive change in location was difficult at first, but of course this city is starting to grow on me.

This term, in particular, tested my limits as a person who struggles with anxiety, there’s no doubt. Since I knew absolutely nobody, I had to get out of my comfort zone to make friends. Driving around for the first couple of weeks was an absolute disaster, and don’t even get me started on the difficulty of finding all of my classes. This campus is massive! I had many unfortunate situations with my roommate (but she’s leaving, so it’ll be fine), and of course there was some car trouble.

But I found friends here. I went to my first college volleyball game. Attended my first yoga and meditation class. I had the pleasure of drinking Dutch Bros coffee for the first time! (Missouri needs to get on that bandwagon, best iced mocha I’ve ever had) I traveled with those friends to St. Helens, OR, where the Twilight saga and Halloweentown was filmed. We went through a Harry Potter themed haunted corn maze when it was pouring down raining. And I got to experience all of these firsts with my kitty waiting for me when I got home.

I’m really happy that the term is over, at times it just seemed to drag on and on, and I’m even happier to get home to see my friends and family for Christmas. I can’t wait to share my stories and hear all about what I’ve been missing out on. (Though, after spending 10 minutes with Chad, I’m sure I’ll be ready to hop a plane back to school) 😛

My flight home leaves in T-minus 7 hours and 30 minutes. See you soon, Kansas City!

Salud! Go Ducks!

-EMJ

  A Little Term 1 Reflection Now that I've taken my last final, the fall term at the University of Oregon is officially over!