#we also had a kid who took a massive shit in his pull up that we had to change

[a-concert-just-for-me]

First day of spEd assisting went pretty well, all things considered. I am exhausted though. Lots and lots of chasing around kids. Hopefully once we get their routine established, they will learn to stay in one area at a time and have less trouble with transitions.

Fun fact: I also have the kids’ verbal stimming stuck in my head on loop, so that’s fun 😅 (It’s a constant stream “mmmmmmmm” and a “it’s a farm animal!!” going on in my brain 😖)

[onskepa]

Whole new exposure

Helloooooooooo everyone! So for this fic, I decided to combine two requests since it makes so much sense to me, and also for how opposite they are to each other. Here are the requests!

Request A: can you do Sully family or Na’vi with a goth reader? this is the same person who asked for the goth reader. I know Slipknot and korn isn’t goth but can like can the reader listen to them or just metal?

Request B: can you please do Sully family with a gyaru reader?

Now I had to do a lot of research about the Gyaru culture since I don't know SHIT about it. But hopefully this fic is enjoyable for everyone!

BTW THIS TAKES PLACE IN MODERN ERA!!!

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The sully kids all huddled on their family couch, peaking out to see the house across the street. It was a nice house, a two story home recently renovated. Only a few days into the market and in a snap it was sold. Today was the day the Sully family got new neighbors. Moving trucks were starting to pull up on the drive way, movers beginning to put furniture and other stuff inside. 

“You think they have kids?” Tuk asks as she shares her snack with spider. The blonde boy in question shrugs, “who knows tuktuk, but I hope they are nice” he says. Everyone nods in agreement. 

“Oh, maybe they are like lawyers or some big boss to afford to live in this neighborhood” lo’ak says. True to it, they live in a nice neighborhood that is upscale, calm and quiet. 

“Who knows, but remember what mom and dad said. We have to give our new neighbors the full Sully welcome, " Neteyam says. And as they all watched, a van pulled up to the driveway and four people walked out. There they were, their new neighbors. 

“What in Eywa’s name are those?” Kiri asks as she stares at the new neighbors. Well, two of them to be more specific. The new neighbors consisted of a mother, a father, and two daughters that seem to be around her and lo’ak’s age. 

 “Maybe instead of staring at them like creeps, we should go and greet ourselves? The cookies are ready so why not do it now?” Spider suggests. A small moment of silence passed before the siblings reached a conclusion. 

“Fine, but I swear if that creepy girl appears in my nightmares, I'm moving to grandma’s” Lo’ak says as he stares at one of the girls. Tuk runs happily to get her tray of cookies she baked with the help of Kiri and their mother. Already imagining how she will greet her new neighbors. 

“Come on baby bro, lets go greet them” neteyam says as he pats lo’aks shoulder. Grunting out his mask, when really he was just as excited as everyone else. So everyone prepares the needed welcoming and make their way to their new neighbors home. 

“Halloooo~!” 

“Sup” 

The sully kids were really at a loss for words. Tuk, who is even the more social butterfly among the siblings, couldn't find the words to greet them back. 

Why? 

Because the new neighbors were nothing like what they expected. Two girls stood in front of them. One of them had exaggerated bleach blonde hair with massive curls, decorated in prettys bows. Tan skin, save for the pale areas around the eyes. Light pink lip color, Lisa frank esk style with multiple colors and animal patterns and fuzzy shoes. Long colorful nails with various patterns and beaded gems and glitter.

The other was the complete opposite. 

Super pale skin, black lipstick color, dark eyeshadow, dark goth clothing with a band shirt of the classical band “Slipknot”. Chains on her skirt and dont forget her massive 5 inch boots with belts all over it. Choker around her neck and more belt bracelets. Long but sharp black nails with a more simple tone yet so shiny. 

“Um…hi, welcome to our neighborhood….” Spider said out slowly, still trying to process what he is seeing. 

The hyper pink girl gladly took the tray of cookies that tuk offered. “Thank you so much Nya~!” 

“Stop it”

“Make me”

“Sorry for the mess, we are still unpacking” the goth girl says as she opens the doors for the sully kids. Everyone walks inside to see the house, clearly it has been renovated and the smell of fresh pain along with stacks of boxes and unopened stuff laying around. 

“What are your names?” the pink girl asks. And everyone introduces themselves just like how their parents taught them in a polite manner. 

“What are your names??” Tuk asks, her nervousness went away. The goth girl pointed at herself, “you can call me ‘Zila’”. 

The pink girl snickered a bit, holding in a laugh, “yeah, like godzilla”. 

Zila slapped her sister on the shoulder, making the pink girl squeak in surprise. “Shut up, you know it means something else”. 

Kiri looked at the pink girl and smiles, “what about you?” she asks. 

With a small twirl on her hair, the pink girl happily answers “You can call me Asobi”. Zila rolled her eyes, “Junko would have been much better” she says. Asobi taps her sisters head like a kid, “nope, Asobi is leagues better than her”. 

A few seconds of silence passes by.

“So…. want a tour of our place?” Zila asks. 

After a couple of minutes touring their home, kiri took note that in the living area, kitchen, and guest bathrooms were all surprisingly normal. Neutral colors of greens and browns, giving a peaceful, calm vibes to the place. Something Kiri has come to like. 

“So that concludes our home” Zila says as she claps her hands in a swinging manner. Asobi stands beside her, rolling her heels back and forth. 

“Nu uh! What about your rooms? I wanna see” Tuk whines while stomping her feet. Neteyam was quick to shush her, even picking her up. “Sorry about my sister, she can be a bit nosey in places where she isn't supposed to be” Neteyam apologizes on tuk’s behalf. 

Asobi giggled a bit, going over to playfully pinch tuk’s cheeks, making tuk laugh a bit in return. “It's ok, we dont mind showing our room. Come here sweet pea” neteyam easily hands tuk over to Asobi as she happily accepts the child. Zila shrugs, not really caring at the moment. “Come on, back to the hall” Zila guided the group. 

Lo’ak sighs and walks up to asobi, “you don't have to give into her every whim. She is already spoiled by everyone in the family” he kindly warns. Tuk narrows her eyes on lo’ak as she sticks her tongue out at him. Making lo’ak doing the same in return. This little antic made Asobi giggles again. She pats tuk’s head, “its ok, Tuk is the baby of your family right? She deserves to be spoiled like a princess”. Tuk happily agreed with her statement. 

Down the hall they reached two doors. One was painted black with crimson accent trims, the other door was pink with light pinkish white trims. 

“Soooo…which one do you guys want to see?” Zela asks. The sully kids took a moment, having a silent conversation. 

“That one” They all said in unison. Kiri and neteyam were pointing at Zila’s door, while spider and tuk were pointing at Asobi’s room. Lo’ak was pointing at both of the doors. The two sisters looked at each other then back at the five kids. Asobi puts tuk down and both do a quick rock-paper-scissors game, Asobi wins, thus opening her door first. 

“Welcome to my-” 

“Candy core rotten teething hell of a room-” 

“Realm~!” 

Asobi enters her room, expanding her arms to show the full view of her room. And the Sully kids were having mixed reactions. 

“Oh wow….”

“It's sooo…..”

“Ummmm….”

“I LOVE IT!!”

Tuk, without hesitation, ran inside of Asobi’s bedroom and danced around, letting out another round of laughs and admiring every little thing. “It's like a princess room!” she shouts in excitement. Kiri inwardly hissed, “tuk! Don't go into her room like that!” she scolds, but Asobi shrugs. “It's ok, she seems to have fun anyways” Asobi says, “come on, you’re welcomed in” she encourages. 

Walking over, Asobi starts to show some items to tuk, to which the child happily admires every bit. It was like a dream bedroom! 

To kiri, it looked like a unicorn vomited everywhere. She can already smell the cotton candy scent emitting from the pink room. While it is cute, and definitely something Tuk would love to have, its way too much. Lo’ak and spider believed they would have pink eyes from so much pink going on. Neteyam being polite, rather than not having much opinion about the pink hell heaven room.

“So what is your room like?” Lo’ak asks to Zila. A little huff escapes her black lips and smirk forms. “Welcome to my little peace and quiet” Zila says while she opens her door.

If the outfits weren't enough to tell just how different the girls were, the rooms were a definite confirmation. Unlike Asobi’s chaotic room, Zila’s room gave away a sense of calmness but definit not a full chill, comfy place either. 

“You guys are welcome to come in too, nothing here will bite you” Zila says as she lays on her bed.

“What about scaring us?” Spider says in a nervous manner. There were two creepy looking dolls near the window. Something straight out of a paranormal horror movie. Zila looks over at her dolls. “Oh them, don't worry. I checked if they were haunted when I bought them. They aren't” she answers. 

Lo’ak raised an eyebrow, why does she sound so disappointed? 

Kiri looks around from the doorway, peeking in. It was a bit cold in Zila’s room, but less noisy and minimal stuff going on. 

“Got music to play? Its pretty quiet” lo’ak asks. Neteyam hit him on the back of the head, making lo’ak groan. “I have CD’s on that shelf, knock yourself out”. 

“Slipknot, slipknot, Black Veil Brides, slipknot, Rosetta Stone, Bauhaus, the cute, Pierce the Veil, ACDC, slipknot, within temptation, leaves eyes, oh, even baby metal” spider was listing off many band names of Zila’s collection. So say she wasn't picky in what she likes. And clearly a big fan of Slipknot with how many albums she has. 

“Yeah, still exploring different alternatives” Zila’s replies as she paints lo’aks nails black. Neteyam was chilling in her black velvet couch as he takes in all the stuff she has and the vibes she accomplished. However his curiosity was cut short when tuk and Asobi entered the room. 

“Look look! Asobi gave me a makeover!” Tuk happily shouted. Her braids were full of cute little bows, every color you can imagine, a rainbow tutu with way too many bracelets on each arm. And light colored makeup, only a bit of eyeshadow and pink rosey dust on her cheeks. “And she gave me a manicure!” showing off tuk’s nails which were a mix of blue and pink. 

Tuk skips over to her siblings to show off her new looks, kiri looks over at Asobi with a slight concern expression. “Don't worry, the makeup is vegan, and the nail polish can be easily wash away in a few hours” Asobi treasures. “Oh yeah, that's one thing you can count on. Any makeup, nail polish, other products, it's all vegan and certified animal cruelty free”  Zila informs as she finishes lo’ak’s nails. 

“Huh….thats actually nice” Kiri mutters. Tuk twirls around and sees Zila’s old Victorian doll house. Quietly she goes over to the girl and nervously asks “can…can I play with it?”. 

Neteyam sighs and leans forward to reach out for tuk, “come on tuk, you already had enough-” 

“Yeah sure go ahead” Zila happily answers. 

Neteyam slightly frowned at that, only for zila to smile at him a bit smugly. “What? She is the baby, no?” zila asks in a bit of a playful mockery. Turning to tuk, zila says “if there is anything you want tuk, just ask alright? No need to be scared”. Tuk nodded happily and went on to play with the doll house. 

Spider rubbed his chin as he observed Asobi and Zila chatting about something. Seeing how they behave and still wonder how the hell they are related. 

“Are you two really sisters?” spider asks so suddenly. Lo’ak and kiri were quick to hit him on the head, “SPIDER/BRO!” the two shouted in unison. Spider hissed from the pain he received but was quick to defend himself, “what? C’mon! They are totally different! I get it! Kiri and I are different too but we have similar styles and shit! So it's really confusing to me!”. 

Asobi lets out a fit of laughter, holding her stomach as she falls back on zila’s bed. Zila on the other hand was covering her mouth to hide her laughter. Spider couldn't help but blush a little, did he make a fool of himself? 

“Oh my…!! Hahahaha! Oh boy this will never ever get old..!! Pfft….HAHAHA” Asobi let out another round of laughter. 

“Indeed, it still amazes me that people are still unconvinced” Zila agrees. After a few minutes, the sisters calmed down. “Hey, how about some tea? All this talking is drying my throat” Zila suggests. Everyone agrees and heads to the kitchen to prepare some tea. 

Everyone sat down in the half empty living room with foldable chairs and one plastic covered couch. Having a few sips of green tea, all the excitement slowly calming down.

“So to answer your question spider…” zila says first, dragging a bit of her sentence. Asobi sits next to zila, in a criss-cross manner. Her hands warm from her tea cup, “we are most definitely related” Asobi answers. However, doubt is still there. 

“Look, we get the same reaction all the time. Yes our styles are very different, yes our manners are different, and yes our vibes are basically the opposite of each other” Zila goes on to say. 

“But that is it. That is the limit. Just because our lifestyles are different, that doesn't mean our blood makes it just as different. We were born and raised in the same way, neither of us are better than the other. We just like our own styles” Asobi finishes. 

“Yup. My style is alternative goth” Zila points at her clothes, Asobi does the same “and my style is gyaru. We Like to go all the way, down to our way of sleeping and living” Asobi explains. 

“But why…?” Tuk asks. 

“Why not?” the sisters as in unison. 

“Much like how you guys have your own style, so do we. Our styles define who each of us our, and live it like that” 

“We like what we do and not be swayed by the normies”. 

“We live like how we want to live” 

“Kids come down, they will be here any minute so get your act together” Jake shouts from the kitchen. It was evening as he and neytiri prepared the dining room, making sure that they looked their best for the arriving guests. 

Upstairs in game room where the sully siblings were at, all checking each other that no a hair was out of place. Yet at the same time they were each holding a different amount of guilt. 

“Were we too mean or rude…?” Lo’ak asks. Clearly asking the question everyone was thinking. “I want to say no but…we might have” Kiri answers. Neteyam scratches the back of his head, “Tomorrow we should apologize, it's the right thing to do” he suggests. Silently everyone agrees, and with that, they all head downstairs. 

And right on time as well. 

As the last sully reached the living room, the door bell was heard. 

“Show time” Jake says as he opens the door. 

New voices were heard, neytiri and jake greeting whoever came. 

“Come come, meet our children” Neytiri says a bit loudly, signaling her children to stand up. 

And entering the living room was a family of four. A man, a woman, and two identical daughters. Exact same hair color, same facial features, wearing wine red long sleeve summer dresses with matching black shoes.

“Hello children, I am Mr. Obeni, my wife Mrs. Obeni, and our lovely twin daughters, Zila and Asobi” 

“Halloooo~!” 

“Sup” 

“WHAT?!”

Sorry if this took a bit, had to keep going back to make sure I got the goth and Gyaru culture down. However I like how this turned out, until next time! See ya!

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Zila = Meaning “shadow” in Hebrew

Asobi = from the anime "Lords or Pastimers"

[barkspawn]

I totally understand if this is beyond your purview, but I have a request for a farmer married to Shane, with Shane seeing how well Jas and farmer get along and bringing up if they would want to adopt her? Lots of fuzzy feelings and talk about how far Shane has come, and dealing with his self doubt as a father figure. Thank you whether you’re up for the request or not! <3

You all are making me realize all of the crazy shit I want to write lmao. Of course I'll write this! and probably whatever else y'all ask

I love it a lot actually and I ALMOST made her pregnant too for the drama lmao

Shane sat on the porch watching Amelia and Jas play in the small yard area by the house. Jas was a princess (who also was a knight) and Amelia was some sort of fearsome dragon. He smiled to himself as Amelia dramatically collapsed in her unfortunate death. Jas' giggle echoed through the farm as Amelia pulled the girl down and attacked her with tickles. 

The sound of Jas' laugh filled him with pride as he took a small drink of his sparkling water. 

"Uncle Shane!" Jas ran up, still giggling, "I slayed the mightiest dragon in the land and your kingdom is safe!" He glanced over at Amelia, who gave her best 'dead' face. 

"Why, thank you, my fearless princess," he stood, picking her up and hugging her to him, "how can I ever repay you for saving me?"

She pretended to think, her mischievous smile not well hidden at all, "I will accept your thanks in the form of ice cream."

Shane laughed, kissing the girl's temple before setting her back down. He gave a small wave to Marnie who was heading up the southern path, "I think I can manage that. But when you don't have to go get ready for bed."

She pouted, pushing her lower lip out in protest, "can't I just stay here tonight?"

"Not on a school night, kiddo," he ruffled her hair as Marnie and Amelia approached the porch. Shane crouched and she threw her arms around him in the biggest hug her small frame could muster. With one last kiss to the top of her head, he smiled down at her, "farmer Amelia and I will take you for ice cream on Saturday morning. How does that sound?"

The pout turned into a massive grin as she gave him one more quick hug goodbye before running to hug Amelia, who gave a small bow, "Goodnight, princess."

Once everyone was settled and Marnie and Jas had made their way south, Amelia dusted herself off before inviting herself to sit on her husband's lap, peppering his face with small kisses. She often did this if she saw that he was thinking way too hard about something. 

He chuckled and scrunched his nose up before halting her with a crooked kiss to her lips, her smile never faltering. 

"She had a lot of fun today," Amelia smiled, absently toying with the hair on the back of his neck, "I mean hell, I think being a dragon might be my new favorite hobby."

Shane laughed, nipping along her jawline playfully, "well fine, I'll have to be a dragon too, or else this gets weird fast," he pulled back to look over her face for a long moment, "she loves you a lot, you know. She hasn't taken quite so well to anyone other than me and Marnie since… well, you know."

Amelia smiled and rested her forehead against his, her voice soft, "I love her, Shane. She's a great, brilliant kid. You're her hero though."

Shane laughed, the sound not quite humorous, "after all that shit I put her and Marnie through? I doubt I'm her hero."

She pursed her lips and pulled back to look at him with a stern look, "first of all, dear husband, she told me so," she punctuated the thought with a chaste kiss, "and second, you have gotten so much better and we both know it. You were never even bad, to begin with. You needed a knight- er, dragon," he laughed, bringing her smile back, "to save you. You haven't slipped up at all since you quit, you're seeking the help you need," she playfully flipped her hair, "you married me, and you help run a whole damn farm where we make good money. You are more than worth calling a hero."

He just smiled and pressed his lips to hers once more, groaning in protest as she pulled away and stood, that devilish teasing smirk playing at her lips. 

"I'm going to make us a pizza. Relax for a bit and I'll be out with some snacks."

He shook his head and laughed, leaning his head back when she went inside. 

He'd always had self-doubt issues, and that wouldn't change for a long time and he'd accepted that much. But lately, a thought kept creeping into his head after moments like before. 

He wanted to adopt Jas officially. 

He wanted to be her dad, but that was just it: he had no idea if he would be even remotely good enough as a father. The entire thought process sent him into a spiral of being a bad father and trying to find if Amelia ever got pregnant, would she want that with him?

He started to consider whether he'd be an okay dad more and more recently since Jas had been coming over to hang out and play. She looked up to Amelia for sure and loved her to pieces. If what Amelia said was true, and she thought of him as her hero, it would only solidify that decision. He had no doubt in his mind that Amelia would make an incredible mother, that spark of playfulness she'd always possessed definitely making her good with the kids in town. He spent a decent amount of time imagining his overworked wife very pregnant. 

After a long moment, he stood, tossing his empty seltzer can into the recycling bin. He opened the door and watched for a moment as Amelia was spreading the toppings over the pizza. It was a long moment before she saw him, her face lighting up immediately.

"Well hey, hot stuff," she teased, steadying the pan on a sheet to put in the oven, leaning on the counter on her elbows as she smiled his way. 

"Talking to yourself again, I see," he chuckled, walking to the opposite side of the counter,  taking a breath, "can we talk about something?"

"Uh oh, did I do something wrong?" She searched his face, her frown more of a pout.

Yoba, she was adorable.

He shook his head, brows knit together as he tried to find the courage to continue. It was easily found as she leaned forward and took his hands in hers. 

"I've been thinking recently…" he took a breath, looking at their hands, "about you and me officially adopting Jas."

Amelia gasped, her grin finding its place again over her features as she squeezed his hands, "Shane, that's a great idea. I have no doubt it'd mean the world to her."

A weight seemed to lift off of his shoulders at her approval, though he still frowned as she walked around the counter to wrap her arms around his neck. She scanned his face before giving his hair a little tug from the back of his head. 

"Ow! A, what the f-"

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Stop talking yourself out of it," she moved so her hands held his face, keeping his vision trained on her, "I say this with absolute certainty: you will make a spectacular father. You already do so well with Jas and she'd be thrilled to move in with us and be able to call you her dad."

Shane's features softened as he broke free, turning to press a kiss to her palm. 

"You'd be her adoptive mom too, you know. You are my wife."

Amelia laughed, moving her hands down his neck and over his chest before she fell into a long pause, "we've never talked about if we want kids someday."

Shane frowned, scanning over her face, "for as long as I can remember, I've only ever thought of myself as a failure and a drunk," he rested his head against hers to focus her attention, "but I'm not a drunk anymore. And if I am a failure, I'm just working to do better. Maybe I won't be world's best dad, but I think I'll be proud of our kid every second for simply living their lives," he planted a soft kiss to her lips, pulling back to say, "I'd like to adopt Jas as soon as possible and then we can start the first phase of making our own."

She laughed as he wiggled his eyebrows, nodding slowly, "that's a perfect way to look at it, Shane," she started, brushing her lips over his own, "I like this new, optimistic Shane," she pressed her lips to his once more, the shock and excitement of being parents taking over. She melted into his kiss, his hands finding their way to her waist. His hands were warmer than usual through her shirt. After a moment he pulled her closer against him, his hand moving to the small of her back as he hummed, deepening the kiss. After a long moment, she pulled back, pulling his lower lip with her between her teeth as she did so. A groan of protest escaped his lips as he met her eyes with a pout. 

With a small smile and brush of her nose against his, she teased, "I thought you said after we adopt Jas."

He laughed and slid his hand down to give her ass a playful squeeze, "doesn't mean we can't practice."

[arcplaysgames]

Yeah, what's with the formality, Lavenza, remember when I took you to a maid cafe and then defended you from the feral maid that wanted to eat you? We're pals now.

Congratulations to Lavenza for the greatest line read since Mitsuru's "I'M GOING TO EXECUTE YOU ALL." I fucking cackled.

Okay so. I'm flipping through these screencaps again in hopes of collating all the info and summarizing. Hang on.

Mementos is back. Why? Because don't worry about it. (The game basically shrugs on this one, lmao.)

Maruki has a persona and it is able to affect real people, not just cognitions. The power is called Actualization, and is basically him taking someone's desires and making them real by altering cognition.

It should be impossible for an individual to use their power like this on a massive scale, but the death of Yarblegarble left a power vacuum in Mementos, and Maruki slotted himself into place there. So he has godlike powers in the same way Yahtzee did.

Akechi points out that the Thieves had the masses' attention and worship, that's how they defeated Cuphead, so why did that influence shift to Maruki? Turns out Maruki has been consciously or not shifting the cognition of the Thieves through his therapizing, so subconsciously everyone wanted the easy out that Maruki was supplying. yeah sure whatever, that's not more of an ass pull than the Mementos thing

All this only became possible when the Cognitive World and the Real World merged in the finale. Now, the worlds are trying to separate, but Maruki is interferring. They need to finish separating, or the Cognitive World will supplant the Real World and there will be no escape from Maruki's control. We got about a month before things are set in stone.

Okay summing that up actually helped me grok wtf is going on, awesome.

Anyway, back into the Palace, and Sumire gets another persona awakening on top of her original one.

I mean good for her?

I'm really torn on Sumire. Like, as a plot catalyst she's fantastic. But she's been the weakest of the cast for the entire game and I still struggle to care about her outside how crunchy her situation is.

BIG SHRUG.

Blah blah, seems like Maruki has a bunch of data trunk lines running to Mementos, so we gotta go see wtf is up in there.

also i got to see Ann's bedroom/flat and oh my god that's so many clothes that's my nightmare. I mean its super cute but wow.

Good to know she's a Derse dreamer tho.

Her new persona pops and oh my god this is the most scene kid thing I have ever seen, WOW. the mismatched tights, the bubblegum, the double belt. I can hear Paramore playing when I look at this.

Also Lavenza visits Reverie and falls asleep TWICE in one visit. This girl needs a fucking nap, wow.

Anyway, plot. Mementos has a bunch of Maruki's data cables running through it. I do love the shift from fantastical science to the cold reality of surveillance in Maruki's methods.

BASICALLY its complicated, but Maruki is watching over Mementos. To give everyone the perfect life they want, he catches people in Mementos and changes their cognition from there. Without the surveillance, he wouldn't know who to help and how.

So I guess his perfect dream of just fixing the world is more complex than he thought. Sure, he has all of human cognition on tap here, but he still has to handle each case individually with the info he gleans from Mementos. There's still many people who don't have their happy psience yet and that is going to take time to fix.

I do appreciate a lack of subtlety. I hope the intention with Maruki is to inspire some discomfort and reflection in players as they contend with his motives and methods, but also, gamers can be dumb so yes, please just insert a room that looks like it'd fit in The Stanley Parable into this whole narrative to make sure people understand this whole thing is fucked.

Akechi as the repeated voice of "yo this shit sucks" is a lot of fun. When the guy who murdered a bunch of people for his evil dad is calling out your bullshit, that's worth paying attention to.

That said, this random NPC actually says the thesis of this entire story right here. It is here for those who are looking for it.

[mrscoulter5ever]

Double Dog Dare You Chapter 3

Eric's POV

Eric stood next to the net, a bored expression permanently plastered onto his face. When he was promised a leadership job right out of initiation, he had grand hopes of sitting in some gilded office, holding secret meetings and making high level decisions. Guess that was the Erudite in him. He sure as hell wasn't expecting to have to babysit a bunch of snot-nosed kids (sure, they were only a year younger than him, but who's counting?) and writing a bunch of cringe ass names on a chalkboard. Seriously, these soon-to-be-Dauntless kids were so uncreative. Wow, another Inferno. Great, not like we don't have five thousand of those running around this faction.

Eric watched with the same boredom as a girl in a Candor outfit fell into the net with her eyes shut. Here comes our second jumper. God, somebody put a .38 to his head already. "What's your name, initiate," Eric asked, fighting the urge to yawn.

The fact that she took a minute to think meant she was going to be picking yet another stupid ass "courageous" Dauntless name. Great. Yet another beacon of originality for this faction.

"Ariel. My name is Ariel." Seriously? Like the little fucking mermaid? That's not even badass. Also she wasn't even a redhead. "That's a stupid name," he scoffed, partly for the release of letting his increasingly more intrusive thoughts win, and partly because Eric was a massive sadist (and owned it!) who took great pleasure in putting others down.

"Really? What's your name? I bet it's so much better." Damn, bitter much? Eric must have really struck a nerve with that one. Nice. "Eric," he replied, leaning in. "You'd better remember that name because I am personally going to ensure that your new life here is a living hell."

"Eric?" she asked curiously.

"Hm?" he replied, pleased by the more subservient change in her demeanor.

"You'd better remember to use some Tic-Tacs next time," she smirked. Excuse her? What the fuck did she just say to him? Oh no. Hell no. No no no. He could verbally beat people up but he was a Dauntless leader and this little bitch was not about to disrespect him. Uh uh.

"You're going to regret ever opening your mouth, initiate" he threatened, getting as close to her as he could while the members behind him restrained him from actually touching her. He made a mental note to fire them later.

As soon as he had finished that sentence, she brought up a can of something and sprayed it into his open mouth. Minty. Wintermint, perhaps? Well, she'd be begging for winter when he sent her down to the fiery depths of hell where she belonged.

After showing the rowdy bunch of ragtag miscreants to their dorm rooms, Eric couldn't give less of a shit about being the next Dauntless HGTV rep and giving them some grand damn tour of the place, so he led them straight to the training room.

He needed to blow off some steam, so he grabbed his favorite Rock Island 1911 and began to show them some basic shooting stances. He fired off a few rounds, all of which hit the center of the bullseye, of course. Eric was practically the Annie Oakley of Dauntless and he took great pride in that fact.

He walked around the room observing the initiates as they pitifully attempted to handle a loaded gun for the first time, thankful yet also somewhat disappointed that no one had managed to blow off a body part just yet.

Then he got over to that mermaid bitch, observing the holes in the outer rings of her target. "Figures you wouldn't be able to get anything right on your first day," Eric sneered, towering over her to intimidate her. "Here," he said, roughly shoving her limbs into position, grateful for the opportunity, however slim, to pull that smart-mouthed bitch apart without some tight-ass security guard holding him back.

"A thank you seems to be in order, initiate," Eric toyed with her. She took a deep breath as he smirked. Finally this bitch was learning. "Eric, go to hell."

Ha. Ha. Ha fucking ha. Oh wow she should be doing stand up at the Apollo. God, she was just the next fucking Robin Williams wasn't she?

He grabbed her arm and yanked her over to the ring. Let's see how funny she was when he was pummeling a fist into her mouth.

He announced the fight to the rest of the audience, taking great joy at their fearful expressions. Ah, if only he had riled the same anxiety out of her. But no matter. All in due time. He just needed to show her that he could beat the living shit out of her in 10 seconds flat. Then the fear would come.

He sent some very powerful punches her way, but her lithe body enabled her to have quick reflexes such that she managed to dodge all of them. Eric was growing increasingly frustrated, until he had a nice little haymaker in line to make a perfect beeline to her temple. Bingo.

He felt her hand grab his wrist and in the next instance he was lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling trying not to groan at the throbbing pain in his head. Well she wasn't the only one with some tricks up her sleeve.

Eric kicked up at her and jumped up to his feet again. He tackled her to the ground and jabbed her in the ribs. He was absolutely going to win this fight, but he had to admit, no one in Dauntless, male or female, initiate or member, had ever lasted that long in a round against him. Had Eric been a stronger man, he would have tamped down the erection that thought gave him, but as this fight seemed to be demonstrating, Eric was a very, very weak man.

"This fight isn't nearly over," he whispered, trying to reclaim his fragile masculinity. She gave him a smile that make his southern friend expand while she leaned in as if she were going to kiss him. Eric couldn't help but hold his breath in anticipation. A woman who could almost (almost being the key word) kick his ass and also wanted to fuck him? Hell yes. He needed a good lay, and Eric never told anyone, but he loved fighting as a form of foreplay.

"Eric," she whispered in a breathy voice that gave him a quick vision of what their night would be like, "go to hell."

Eric lie flat on his back. Unbelievable. Well, it certainly took long enough. Finally, he had a real challenge.

[plentyoffandoms]

female reader x darius martin...darius finally gets cleared to wrestle again and him and his s/o celebrate this together and he proposes to her.

Darius Martin x f/Reader

Main Masterlist ♡ AEW Masterlist ♡ Darius Martin Masterlist

Just like all my other stories, this has not been proofread, but please enjoy.

Gifs & photos do not belong to me. 1st & 2nd @sethfknrollins

Warnings: Some swearing. Pure fluff.

Word Count: 1970

Sorry it took me so long to get out. Been busy. Hope you like it. This also got out of hand and much longer than I was anticipating.

Summary: Darius is finally cleared to wrestle again. He and his girlfriend decide to go out and celebrate.

Darius Martin's POV:

I finally got off the phone with my family. It felt like I was forced to talk to every single family member that was there, but at least I was able to tell them all the good news.

I can finally wrestle again.

I am finally cleared. Hopefully this time, I won't get hurt or get hurt as bad that I will have to take time off to recover again.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I almost ignored it until I realised I have not called one person. Probably the most important in my life.

I smiled when I saw her photo as I answered the phone.

"Hey, Carebear."

"What did they say?" I can just imagine her biting her lip with worry. Usually, she would say hello back, but she has been worrying nonstop about the outcome of this appointment.

"I am all cleared baby." I pulled the phone away from my ear as I heard her scream with excitement.

"Shit, I am sorry love. We have to celebrate."

"Already ahead of you. Be ready to go for 5 YN. Nothing fancy. Just what you usually wear baby."

"I will be ready Darling. I love you."

"I love you too YN."

She hung up and I went to go to my car, but I realised I was close enough to walk to my next destination, so I put more change in the meter and walked down the street to the mall to head to the jewelers who told me my item is ready for pick up.

Walking down the street, I was in my own world, reminiscing about our relationship.

I was about 7 years old when a new family moved in next door to us. Dante and I were looking out my bedroom window, watching as the moving van was slowly being emptied.

We both got excited when we saw a kid-sized bed being carried into the house, but we haven't seen the new homeowners yet.

We finally left the window when our Mom called us for lunch. From our living room window, we could see outside but some cartoons had caught the eye of both my brother and me.

I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and I looked out the window and that is when I first laid eyes on YN LN. She was caring a massive Wish Bear.

YN was looking around and she must have known I was looking at her because we locked eyes and she smiled at me and waved. I waved back, calling out to my Mom that I was going to go say hi to our new neighbours.

We became friends that day. Our families quickly became friends and people always knew that YN and I were always together, but things changed when we reached Junior High.

Even though we had our own friend groups, YN and I still hung out after school whenever we could. But whenever I was around YN, I could barely form any words, my palms felt sweaty every single time I was around YN. But then, it was time for the school dance.

We decided to go together, as our two friend groups decided to go together, so who better to go with YN than me?

But as our parents were taking what felt like hundreds of pictures, I couldn't take my eyes off her. YN was wearing a simple dress that had a black skirt and the top part was blue and it matched the little bow tie I was wearing.

I didn't notice at the time that both of our Moms nudged one another as they caught me looking at YN.

Her Dad drove us to the dance and we met up with our friends. She and her friends danced around in a circle together and the guys and I would randomly go and join, but we stayed against the wall and talked.

Then for some reason, the DJ decided to play Love Story by Taylor Swift. YN and I looked at one another and I made my way over to her. I held out my hand and she took it. It was the first slow dance we ever did together. 

After the dance, we went home and didn't talk about that moment. We just played it off like it is something that best friends do. The school year ended and YN was off to see family in Canada and I was going to be stuck at home.

But the night before she was due to leave, I got a text from her saying to meet her at our spot.

I snuck out of my house, but my Parents told me years later that they knew I went out that night. I practically ran down the street to the park and there she was, sitting on a swing, patiently waiting for me.

YN looked up when she heard me and I don't know what came over me, but as I looked at her, the realisation came crashing down on me.

I am in love with my best friend.

I must have said it out loud because her eyes got wide and her mouth fell open but nothing came out. I turned and ran back home, not wanting to face her.

I could hear her running after me but I didn't stop. I ran all the way home and went to my room and turned off my phone.

I stayed in my room even when my Mom told me that YN was standing downstairs waiting for me to say goodbye. I just pretended to be asleep.

When I heard the car doors slam closed and her family finally drive off, I knew it was safe for me to leave my room.

For the rest of the summer, I was convinced I fucked up and didn't respond to her at all. YN finally gave up trying to contact me.

But on the first day of High School, I was surprised to see YN standing at my front, demanding that we talk.

I tried to walk past her but five simple words made me stop. "I love you too Darius." I turned back to look at her and I was expecting her to be looking at the ground but she was staring intently back at me.

"Even though you hurt me Darius by ignoring me all summer." She wiped angrily at her face and I have always hated seeing her cry so I wrapped my arms around her for the first time since the dance and I just whispered how sorry I was.

I heard the front door open and Dante came sauntering by us. "Just kiss her you idiot."

I was going to turn around and slap the shit out of him when I felt her lips on mine. At that moment we had our first kiss.

We walked to school together holding hands and I walked her to her classes, even though for a few of them, I had to run across campus to get to mine on time.

We were together all through High School and only broke up a few times. During those times we weren't together, as I was kissing other girls, it didn't seem right. They were not my YN.

The same YN that believed in my dream of becoming a Professional wrestler. She would spend many weekends watching Dante and me train but I always made time for her those evening.

She would come and watch us whenever she could. YN was going to school to become a nurse and graduated in the top 5 of her class. I was and still am very proud of her.

And through our busy hectic lives, we still managed to stay together. Even when Dante and I got signed to AEW, YN packed up our small apartment and moved to Florida to be near me.

Then I got hurt with a torn ACL and spent many months doing physiotherapy and Doctors appointments to be able to return to wrestling.

Almost a year later, I returned to join my Brother at AEW.

A few short months later, I was in a car accident. I remember being wheeled into the Emergency Room and I heard YN before I saw her.

Even though I could barely see her, I knew she was the nurse next to my head, running along side the gurney.

I don't remember much else as I passed out, but I woke up to YN sleeping in the chair next to my hospital bed. I smiled when I saw her there and I quickly went back to sleep.

YN took off as much time as she could to take care of me at home but as soon as I could convince her to go back to work, she did, and she made sure to be there for all of my appointments.

Except for this one today as no one could take her shift.

"Sir? Have you been helped?" A new voice brought me back to what I was doing.

"I am just here to pick up. I was told my item was ready. My name is Darius."

"Oh yes, just this way. Whoever the lucky person is, they are going to love it." They said to me as they showed me the finished work. I gently took it from their hand and expected it.

"I have to agree. She is going to love this."

YN was ready to go by the time I got home. I quickly changed into different clothes and we were out the door.

"Where are we going, Darius?" YN asked as I started the car.

"You will just have to wait and see Carebear." I grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. YN kept asking me where we are going but I didn't tell her, but soon she started to recognise where I was taking her.

"Lake Eola Park Darius? I thought you may want to go out and eat or to the arcade." YN was confused, surprised but confused.

"No better place than taking you to our first date location here in Florida baby."

"Are we gonna rent the Swan-Shaped Paddle Boat?" YN asked me. We didn't get to last time as they were all rented out by the time we got there.

"Already did. I knew how much you wanted too last time but we couldn't."

We soon found ourselves paddling to the middle of the lake, laughing and having a great time. The sun is setting and I figured now would be the best time.

"Darius, I am still confused though. Of all things to do to celebrate your return to wrestling, why this?" YN asked me once more as she was staring into the sunset.

"Darius?" She said my name as I haven't responded to her question. YN gasped when she saw me holding my hands up with a box in front of me, with what I was hoping is her perfect engagement ring.

"YN, I had this big speech to ask you to marry me, but I know I don't have to say anything that we both don't already know. That I have loved you since the moment we first all those years ago when you moved in next door. We have spent our lives growing up together and I can not imagine growing older with anyone else other than you. So YN, will you marry me?"

"Yes, Darius. A thousand times yes." I slipped the ring on her finger and she wrapped her arms around me and we shared our first kiss as an engaged couple.

Our kiss ended and we leaned our foreheads against one another.

"I love you so very much YN."

"And I love you Darius. Forever and always."

~

Tag List: if you would like to be added, please let me know. @lghockey @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @anaeve @crowleysqueenofhell @thenerdybaker523 @nicoleveno14 @cashwheelersgirl89 @1rsolideranna @legit9thlunaticwarrior @melissahausen @wwenhlimagines @blaquekittycat

[queer-adhd]

Just a ramble about last night below the cut.

So a friend of my parents' (and mine at this point, tbh, I've cooked at his house often enough that I think it counts despite the 25+ year age gap lol) was talking to me last night, and he has a daughter who's having what we in the business would call A Bad Fucking Time of being a teenager.

And kudos to him, because he knows I also had a rough time of it, he just asked 'what would have helped you back then?'

And damn, I had to think about it, because at the time it felt like absolutely nothing would ever help, and that the only real issue was who I was fundamentally as a human being, etcetera etcetera. But I eventually managed to give a few more solid options that help me out now.

Being allowed to just pick up and leave any social engagement or activity if she's not handling it, being given a chance to come back afterwards without a big thing being made of it. Setting up smaller opportunities for an apology if there's been an argument. It's excruciating to have to try and do that in front of a massive audience, but a lot of kids really do want to fix stuff they think they've broken. So yeah, all that stuff that just kind of helps to prevent and mitigate arguments and blowups when you have a kid whose response to triggers is to lash out.

Anyway, the more important thing is that he took all that stuff in, and then said something very sweet, which was that I seemed to be doing great these days (which, I guess I am tbh? Definitely in comparison, but it still felt wild to hear) and asked what the timeline was for that. And it took a bit, but I managed to break it down into around three steps plus one bonus level.

Step 1: knowing that something is wrong and it's not just you, as a person. It's something that is happening to you, and might be a part of you, but it's not the whole of you. See: ADHD, depression, anxiety, all that other good stuff.

Step 2: identifying the thought process. Not necessarily CBT, but recognising the point where something like RSD is coming into play and just. Actually seeing what's happening. Spotting the little bastard brain fucker who's making you feel like that and going 'YOU! YOU BASTARD!'

Step 3: now you've got the process down, practicing processing it, recognising it, not letting it control you. Telling it to fuck off sometimes, sometimes just going 'thanks, that's important, but we don't need to react like this'.

Step 4: (ongoing, advanced level) unlearning giving a shit to begin with.

Anyway I wanted to get this one down in words because it was a good conversation. No real point to the post, just glad that this dude is doing his best to support a kid who's struggling, and trying to pull in some inside sources on the whole 'being a mentally ill teenager' thing. It sucked that I couldn't give him a cure-all, or a foolproof method, or even a solid timeline. But I think it's going to be a lot easier for his kid than it was for me, because they're already at step one, moving to step two, and that's great.

[scarlethoodi]

I only read Audible books so I can’t make actual book content like the cool kids on Booktok, Booktube, etc so I’m putting my 2022 top 10 books here

Dishonorable Mention

You Made A Fool of Death with your Beauty

I fucking hated this book. 2/5 on goodreads. Plot didn’t make sense and the main character pissed me off; never should’ve messed with that man’s daddy (who is also a weirdo). The use of grief was essentially a means to justify the weird plot and say everyone but the main character was wrong. I’m getting mad all over again

10) LilyReads (YouTuber) book club pick that I thought was a romance but I’m glad it wasn’t. In fact I was surprised at the direction it took, but the journey of self discovery was fun in its own messy way

9) I said I wasn’t going to read any white people romance but I’ve seen enough reviews to want to check some out. And I love a good friends to lovers despite what the “haters” say

8) The overall book is okay but the ending is what makes it great. It all started coming together so fast but it perfectly sets up the next book which I can’t wait to get.

Also quick honorable mention: Cinderella is Dead was also a fun read

7) Jake the boy that you are. Did I need that much insight into Sawyer’s mind-no could’ve gone without it. But I’m not mad at it and the contrast between the two of them really made the story what it is.

6) Massive trigger warning: Child Abuse

God this book had me on edge and if I think about the ending too much I start to shake. A book about how so many people can fail a little girl and the consequences of it all around how the only person who seems to care being said missing girl’s best friend. I could cry

5) Another LilyReads book club pick and the most fun I had out of them all. Very fun and enjoyable, I loved the narrative of the way it handled body autonomy

4) All children are charming as an adjective, but you’re charming as a verb if that isn’t an amazing quote. This book was a very fun book and surprisingly my very first male focus YA/romance. Henri was a fun character to see the world through and the narrative of him feeling like an outsider surrounding by those rich kids and trying to balance his own goals along with his parents plus dating. Oh Corinne was just the best here, I was practically shaking when the reveal of his betrayal came in. Also bonus points for not pulling a “we’re teens so in love, how can we separate for different colleges?” I wish them all the best

3) I only checked this out cause I saw it on Goodreads so I wasn’t expecting its content. This was an eye opener and a very emotional read that I gladly told my sisters about. Following an elderly immigrant women at sessions in an unemployment office as she tells her life story to you (the unknown presence of the social worker who is only revealed at the end). It makes me wish that community was reveal

2) Was so excited to get a chance at reading this and it definitely met my standards. F the noise (bad reviews), I got one think it makes perfect sense to fight fire with fire. Hell I think Wu Zetian could’ve been a bit more unhinged at some points. And everyone she killed deserved it, hell probably worse. Also answering a possible love triangle with polyamory *chefs kiss* thank you. Will be reading the sequel

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girl Boss, Get away with Murder

1) Beautiful world building, diverse and interesting characters with great powers to match-when I get my shit together I will be making fanart. Between this and Cemetery Boys Aiden Thomas is definitely one of my favorite authors so the moment I can I will get physical copies of this book. If you love Percy Jackson I do recommend. My favorite book of the year.

This book was so much fun and a overall joy. I love the combination of fantasy and modern elements, the whole gods among us plus the power play/oppression build into the society. Trans representation that acknowledges said fantasy elements so it introduces different aspects of gender presentation. The slow burn of a rivals to friends (to maybe lovers). Each trial had me on edge as you saw the clear difference in Golds who were raised for this vs Teo and Xio, two Jades not on equal grounds. The betrayal that sets up the end and sequel book. I will be there consuming all of it

This concludes my very unserious reviews of my Top 10 book list of 2022. Follow me on Goodreads I guess, I do plan to use it more next year

[annwayne]

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 10

Chapter 10: Down Time

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count: 3194

Fic Summary:

There are benefits to owning a clone bar. Underworld lords don’t threaten you to pay for protection. Clones are great company. And the drinks taste great. However, there are also risks to owning a clone bar. Like, for example, becoming the fuck buddy of a special clone task force member so your life gets threatened when a Separatist puts out a bounty for your capture in order to use you as blackmail. Also your sleep schedule get’s wrecked. But Anya Tougt is a little more capable than an average bar owner.

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

man it’s been a long time but progress, tiny tiny progress has been made. Gif is mine.

28 BBY. A huge temple and I still can’t avoid Obi-Wan. That terror of a youngling he brought back convinced an R2 unit to let him into the speeder bay and onto one of the speeders for a joy ride. I just happened to be in that speeder bay when they peeled off, so I got the luxury of telling Obi-Wan himself where the kid went. The temple still hasn’t calmed down.

Bustling noise was the first thing I noticed about The Negotiator. The massive ship hummed with life as we stepped out of the Marauder. Clones, more clones than I had ever seen in one place, rushed to prepare everything for the battles yet to come. Speeders and Bombers lined the long bay. Tech and I pushed crates of supplies into the Marauders loading dock. Hunter chatted with Cody, occasionally glancing my way. Crosshair sat in the loading dock glaring at any reg who dared look his way. And hopefully, Wrecker was peacefully asleep in his bed. 

“I believe that is everything. Thank you for your help, Annie.” Tech dusted his hands after deactivating the last anti-grav plate. “Once Hunter is finished talking with Cody we’ll be on our way.” 

“Of course. I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing and watch you work.” I tilted my head towards Crosshair who shot me a narrow glance. 

“Tech’s a big boy, Commander.” He snipped with a glint in his eye. 

Ever since my comment refusing to accept any titles, Crosshair added them to his bag of ammo and he wasn’t shy about using those words against me. That was on me, I should have expected the little shit to push my limits. It’s all he ever did back at the bar, just with different tools. “What’s taking Hunter anyways?” I peaked my head around the docking bay walls. Now Obi-Wan had joined the conversation. 

“You, likely.” Tech stood beside me tapping away at his datapad. All the information we downloaded was a mess of different languages, encryption, and codes. He had been working to untangle the mess since we set out to intercept The Negotiator. “A brand new Padawan joining our mission with their Jedi Master is one thing, but now you’ll be left alone with us. There are certain regulations that need to be observed.” 

I struggled to hold in a massive scoff. Regulations? This was the last squad in all of the Grand Army of the Republic to care for regulations. Precautions sounded more apt. “New to the GAR, not to being a Padawan. I was one solar cycle away from being Knighted before my previous Master was murdered.” Flashes of my true Master came to mind. Tali, what would you think of me now? Even back then I knew I was a shit Padawan. Yet Tali put up with my questions, my rebellious nature, and even those nights where I refused to leave the temple gardens. Those nights she would sit silently beside me and we’d watch the lightning bugs dance to the music of the city-planet. 

Wearing a helmet made daydreaming way too easy, as Tech had to pull my shoulder to get my attention back to the present day. “Annie, could you look at this?” He brought the datapad up between us so I could read. A message in a language I didn’t understand took up most of the screen, but at the very bottom there was a name.

“No kriffing way.” Quickly I looked back up at Tech. “What’s the message say?” A few clicks later the text translated itself into Basic. Slowly I read the message.

“Meet me at the coords below. Bring double my normal price and come alone. You’ll be glad I came to you.”

-Lyn Parreva

“She couldn’t…” Deep sorrow pulled my shoulders down. Rage snapped my head up. Flashes of the young twi'lek only added fuel to the mess of emotions I was feeling. Betrayal, regret, and pain forced me forward. “Who was this sent to?” The genius clone couldn’t see the rage in my eyes, but he could hear it on my lips.

“It appears we have identified your bounty’s sponsor, Annie.” Tech adjusted his goggles. “Their name is Vekek, Miyaeli Vekek.” That name meant nothing to me. 

“So then where are we headed?” Plastoid boots thudded against the ship’s ramp as Hunter boarded. Once he was clear, the sergeant slammed the button to close the Marauder back up.

Without missing a beat Tech answered. “Ryloth. From what I’ve read Vekek was the lead scientist behind the serum we saw in action.” Hunter kept walking down the gangway. Tech matched his pace as he explained. “There are records suggesting they were planning to introduce the serum to the population of Doashim on their home planet. Hunter,” Tech’s call turned his brother’s head. “This was recorded only two cycles ago.”

Crosshair hopped down from his perch atop stacked crates. “We barely took out one of those monsters.” He followed his brothers through the doorway separating the docking bay to the midship. I stayed a step behind, listening but adding nothing.

“Exactly,” Tech opened the door to the cockpit. “We will need to eliminate any Doashim injected with the serum and destroy everything pertaining to the formula.” He slid into his seat and began flipping toggles and pressing buttons to bring the Marauder to life.

Hunter sat in the co-pilot’s seat, but turned to look back at Crosshair and I. “Annie, the general requested I keep one of us with you during battle. In fact, he recommended Crosshair stay at your side in combat.” Murder. I was planning a murder now. “So, I want you two to train together, get familiar with each other’s fighting techniques. As much as you can, we have a cycle and half of hyperspace before we reach Ryloth.” 

“He did, did he?” I hissed between my clenched jaw. Surprisingly, the voice modulator still managed to catch my words. Crosshair cocked an eyebrow at my reaction, but said nothing. 

And then, we were banished from the cockpit. Together we returned to the docking bay, just about the only place with enough space to practice any close combat on the ship. After I stacked a few crates higher than regulation standard with the force, we had a decent sparring area. Crosshair held his helmet against his hip as he started talking. 

“So, Annie, what is your combat training and experience?” He watched as I stretched my limbs in preparation. 

“Well,” Of course there was the training I received while living at the temple, but how was I supposed to explain the random street fighting I had picked up from Jayas? “My previous Master focused on teaching me stealth and using an opponent's momentum against them. However, I do know some less refined styles of hand to hand combat.”  

Crosshair barely crooked his head at my words. A grin I couldn’t pin between entertained or surprised grew on his lips. Maybe it was both. “Alright, let’s see what that looks like.” The clone donned his helmet and stepped forward. 

Immediately, he threw the first punch. In response I threw up an arm to block him and pushed against his forearm to force his fist towards the ground. He retaliated with a cross that I deflected again. Then he threw up his knee that forced me back and off balance to avoid the hit. He took advantage of my opening and landed a hook into the side of my helmet. My vision danced. Crosshair continued with the offense. He threw punches aimed for my gut this time that again, I deflected. Our heavy breathing and plastoid armor clanking filled the cargo hold. 

“Come on, Commander,” He said between quick breaths. “You’ve got to know some offensive moves.” 

He grabbed my shoulder and sent a knee towards my helmet. I twisted out of his grasp and landed behind him, then returned the favor. In fluid movements I hooked his elbow with mine and flung him forward. The momentum sent him hurtling backwards till he regained his footing. Then I closed the distance between us and threw my forearm towards his helmet. Just as I thought he was surprised, he deflected my attack with the same technique I had been using all this fight.

“Good.”

Like a dance, we circled each other around the room. Punches, grapples, and kicks were thrown and usually deflected. Occasionally the marksman would land a blow against my helmet or gut, but I had yet to land a punch on him. I caught him off balance, swept his legs out from under him so he fell forward, and even managed to flip him when he attempted to restrain me, but not a single punch met its destination. 

Eventually, I was a second too slow and landed square on my back. Before I could stand back up, Crosshair’s hand was on my collarbone and his knees at either side of my legs. Fucking hell. This was not a good time to get turned on. Maker, this helmet was putting in work.

“My win.” His grin was audible. He hopped up, then offered a gloved hand my way. I took it. 

“Yeah, yeah, you likely have more hand-to-hand combat experience. Jedi tend to focus on saber techniques.” I gestured towards the hilt on my hip. “Not that it’s useless, but droids don’t exactly have the mobility to move like this, so why start here?”

Crosshair removed his helmet and ran a hand through his gray hair. “Some can, commando droids. Besides,” He smirked. “Hunter wanted us to get familiar. There’s no better way to learn how the other moves.”

I could think of one, but that was not battle friendly. “Right.” 

“Now, how do you move with that?” He stared at the weapon on my hip. 

“My lightsaber?” I grabbed it and turned the hilt over in my hand. Silver metal caught the bright ship lights. “Nothing special, but I hope you aren’t suggesting shooting at me. Those bolts have to go somewhere.” 

The sniper chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, Hunter would have my head if I made a mess of the Marauder.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the ship hull. “What about your forms?”

“What are you getting at?” 

“If we get in a tight situation I’d like to know where that,” He glanced down at my lightsaber hilt. “Tends to end up.” 

That… actually made sense. I pressed the button on my lightsaber and watched as the blue glow filled the room. With a deep breath in, I started moving.

Tech leaned back in his seat with datapad in hand, swiping through loads of information. He had identified the coordinates on Ryloth where Vekek would most likely be, and confirmed the information with a call from Rex, who was currently stationed on the planet with the 501st. They would be alone in their efforts to prevent disaster from genetically altered Doashim, however, as Rex explained they were in the middle of another siege. 

“Why do you think she reacted that way?” Tech had nearly forgotten Hunter was still sitting in the chair beside him. He had been so quiet for so long.

“Considering their tense relationship, I suspect General Obi-Wan suggested Crosshair in order to get a rise of some kind from Annie.” His voice was followed by a few taps at his datapad. 

Hunter held his chin and narrowed his eyes. Her heart rate jumped when he asked them to train together. In fact, that happened a lot with her. When Obi-Wan first told her she would be on watch with Cross, he had felt her heart pump a little faster than everyone else’s. “A rise?” Hunter mused more to himself, but Tech was here so his question would be answered.

“It’s likely she’s physically attracted to him.”

Tech’s eyes locked with Hunters. “Should I be worried about that?”

A mischievous smile crossed Tech’s face. “Only if Cross finds her attractive too.” 

Hunter let out a long exasperated sigh. “I’m going to check on Wrecker. I can hear him stirring.”

Hunter had offered his CO room to me again. Something I suspected wasn't solely motivated by politeness. Kenobi had said something. Dank farrik, why didn’t he let me tell my own lies? But this was useful. I could sleep and shower with less worry than if I was staying in the squad’s sleeping quarters. The room was tiny, just large enough to fit a desk, chair, and the connected refresher. A single bed was built into the wall.

I stepped out of the refresher and began toweling off my hair. Wearing a helmet was starting to feel normal. Being able to touch my face felt odd. Carefully, I started weaving my hair into three tight braids. The flatter my hair was the more comfortable the helmet sat. Once I tied off each braid I met my cloudy reflection in the small mirror. With the towel I used to dry off, I wiped a streak of steam away. Now a little less fuzzy, I could see my face.

Wearing the helmet constantly, I forgot how much I was used to seeing myself in reflections. In mirrors, shot glasses, the clean bar top. Technically nothing had changed. Yet everything felt different. These eyes held secrets I thought were long buried. My lips carried new lies to bury those secrets again. When this was all done, would the cost outweigh the success?

Knocking. Knocking against the door and then a voice interrupted my thoughts. “Annie, could I come in?”

Tech. “Just a minute!” I called back, rushing to throw on my clothes. With one final glance at my reflection, I lowered my helmet over my head. Then I walked to the door. “Yeah?”

“May I come in?” 

Right, I was blocking the doorway. “Oh, um, yeah.” I stepped to the side and watched the clone enter. Behind him the door shut automatically. “What’s up?”

“Annie,” The worry in Tech’s voice caught my attention, but his expression is what threw me off guard. “We need to talk about what happened after you saved me from the collapsing building.” Under my helmet, my brows furrowed. So much happened in such a short time I didn’t know what Tech was referencing. Either he guessed or wasn’t done speaking. “You nearly blacked out. Considering the feat of strength you demonstrated to save Wrecker, it was not from exhaustion.”

My head slowly lifted as the memory became clear. “The anxiety attack! I had forgotten it completely.” Apparently my reaction was not predicted because Tech’s lips parted, but no words came out. So I continued. “Looking back on it, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

As Tech processed this new information his brows furrowed. Behind those eyes I could see thoughts flying in hyperspace. Finally, he settled on what to say. “Let me see if I understand correctly.” He held his hands clasped together and pointed towards me. “You already knew you were prone to anxiety attacks and you expected one while we were on mission?

“Well, not exactly.” I walked towards the bed and sat down. Tech leaned against the desk across from me. “Sure, I’ve had a few anxiety attacks in the past but I didn’t expect one.” My gloved hand gestured loosely.

“Do you know what triggered it?”

If he could see my expression that would have answered him. Instead, I took a moment before saying, “The force. Things got messy after-” I clenched my jaw. Before I had talked so easily about her death. But now… After regaining my voice I continued. “After Master Tali was murdered I had some trouble connecting with the force.”

Tech furrowed his brows even more. One hand adjusted his goggles. “Yet you had no issues catching me, dragging debris out of the way or saving Wrecker.”

A tired sigh rang through my helmet at a low tone. “Anxiety doesn’t exactly make sense, Tech.” After a moment with no response I stood up again. “Was there anything else?” 

That snapped the clone from his deep thoughts. His head lifted up and recognition filled his eyes. “Yes, actually. I wish to know why Vekek placed a bounty on you.” 

This was not at all what I expected after that conversation. My hips shifted and I crossed my arms. “Like I told Hunter back on Coruscant, I don't know.”

His top eyelids lowered and a clear expression of annoyance unfolded. “Maybe back on Coruscant that was the truth, but now?” Tech shook his head. “That name filled the gaps in your knowledge.” 

There was a pause before I spoke again. “I can't answer that, Tech. You know I can't answer that.” Even the voice modulator managed to accurately portray the gravity of my voice.

In this tiny, dimly lit room, Tech began pacing. “Annie,” Plastoid boots met metal as he talked. “I need to know the consequences if you are captured.” He brought up his hands to aid in his reasoning.

That determination in his furrowed brow and quick gestures told me he would not leave until I gave a satisfactory answer. My eyes glazed over as I imagined different lies and their outcomes. Nothing felt real enough. Then, it hit me. “Alright, fine. But this is as much as I’m willing to tell.” Technically there was no harm in telling him the reason, only the name. He stopped his pacing and turned all attention on me. “You’re right, the name confirmed a possibility I hadn’t taken seriously.” It was true enough. “I have… connections,” My word choice was important here. “With someone important. Someone that would react poorly if my life were threatened for their compliance.”

Tech narrowed his eyes. “Blackmail? Why wouldn’t you think of this connection sooner?”

“I did,” This was true. “But the few who knew, I trusted completely.” Those words hurt coming out. 

His expression softened, but there were still questions in those eyes. “What kind of connection are you talking about, Annie?” 

A short laugh buzzed through my modulator. “The kind Jedi are forbidden from. The kind that clones are discouraged against.” 

At some point I must have sat down, because I was gripping the bed sheets. My head dropped slightly as the implications of Lyn’s name settled. Before I was angry. Now, I was thinking. Thinking about the early morning hours we spent chatting after closing the bar. Thinking about the many clones who complimented Lyn’s listening skills. Thinking about how it was all a means to an end.

“Annie?” Tech was seated beside me. One of his gloved hands rested on my back in an attempt to comfort me. It was working. “I’m sorry that you found out this way. That someone…” His voice fell as that brilliant mind struggled to find the correct words. But there were no correct words for this. 

My breathing slowed as I came down from the frenzied thoughts of before. That grip on the bed sheets released. “I know.” The hum of a hyperdrive engine rattled between us. 

Dividers by Djarrex

[larsisfrommars]

El Hotel De Los Secretos Ep.4 Reaction

@seismologically-silly this is for you amige

Isabel just found out Julio has been going under a false last name!! SLAP! Time for yelling and a lord dump from Julio lol, amazing how she immediately chills out once the air is clear. I guess shaking your sister’s bloodstained uniform in someone else’s face would make anybody go “Oh”.

That girl Felipe was sleeping with last episode is d e a d. Ximena I think her name is, Detective Ayala is on the case!

Diego & Lady Teresa are trying to figure out who the hell has a camera that could’ve taken a picture of Christina before whatever happened to her. Whoever that is miiiiight be responsible for the blackmail Diego has been receiving.

Oooooh I think the desk clerk overheard that shit about the camera (he’s also probably sus because Isabela asked about a camera before when she started getting suspicious of the situation).

There’s mold on the uniform (which means the red might be from that and not necessarily blood??) hmmmm

Funky pianist man with a fantastic mustache and MANY little yappy dogs

It’s so funny how Carlos Rivera is so like, tall and broad chested, yet tries to be as small as possible whenever he’s around his boss or his mom, funny and adorable lol

Lady Teresa Alacrón is about to find out about the Belén situation, omg Gomez is TELLING her that Andrés is the father and Teresa is… unimpressed? Idk man, I don’t trust a word this woman says to anybody.

Okay Felipe and Julio are talking, seems like Felipe knows something Julio doesn’t buy I’m having a hard time piecing together the details (my Spanish is limited). He’s very jaded and might just be pulling Julio along.

O shit okay Teresa is going to talk to Belén aaaaaaaaaaa. She seems to be condescending to Belén about the consequences of her actions. Sounds like she might know something about about her and Diego but isn’t saying it out loud. Yayyyyyy thinly veiled threats!

Aaaaa yes, leave poor Andrés with the I’ll behaved little dogs while the two blondies go do plot shit! Okay there’s something important (evidence?) in the water and Julio is ripped?!

Isabel knows what it is and that whoever had it last was involved with what happened to Christina. Oh fuck and right on cue Diego shows up!

So Andrés stumbles into Belén and she immediately kisses him okayyyy.

Isabel is watching her mother and Diego like a HAWK, remembering everything Julio said, she’s starting to get reaaaaal sus of her fiancé methinks!

I think somebody(s) watching Andrés and Belén because Andrés is loudly reacting like only just now found out that Belén is pregnant. Now quieter she’s asking him why he lied to his mom for her, and he’s just like “I didn’t want you to lose your job”. Aww!

This could be cute or this could be a disaster for both parties. That’s a massive responsibility Andrés took on on a whim. Belén is also going really fast with the romantic aspect, I don’t entirely trust this or her considering she was playing around with Diego and we KNOW Diego is shady as hell. There WERE people watching! I’ll chalk it up to that for now…

Oh hey the desk clerk who overheard the camera conversation is back… and just planted a letter into the pile of mail Diego has on his desk, okay. OH! Desk clerk knows what happened to Christina and wants a bribe!! Oh shit!!

Alright! Andrés is dropping the “Belén and I are getting married, I’m gonna be dad!” thing on Julio is surprised (provably because he’s never seen them together before lol) but ISNT telling him he’s not the kid’s father. I wonder what’ll happen if/when Julio finds out ohhhhhh man!

Aaaaand now Isabel knows about the bribe and that Diego had something to do with Cristina, just got caught by the desk clerk too! aaaaaaaaaaa

Oh it WASNT the desk clerk who asked for the bribe! It was this dude in the bowler hat ok ok ok ok!

Julio really went “you know how we can get more money for your wedding?! I’m gonna go punch some people at thr bar and you can bet on me!” real classy Julio, never change 😂

Now HOLD UP. Maybe it wasn’t bowler hat guy and he was just the middleman?! Where did Felipe get all that money from??? Oh he’s using all of it to bet on Julio. We’ll see the winner in the next episode I guess!

Oop. I think the desk clerk just ratted on Isabel snooping in Diego’s room 👀

[janiedean]

Saw some takes from green stans that the show creator is being too pro black team by not killing Laenor and choosing younger actor for the strong boys and adult actor fron the green childs so it will looks like adults bullying teenagers. While i also see a take fron the black stans swears that the show creator hates the black team SO MUCH by making the greens more dimentional. Thoughts?

(Me myself is not invested in this show so i just watch all of these discourse between green &black stan with popcorns. Love Jace so much though)

I mean, with the premises that:

I think both of those takes are massively idiotic

I am a black supporter since book days not just because jace velaryon > anyone else's faves but mostly because a) rhaenyra was right she was the heir she should have gotten the throne end of story b) any green except haelena in the book was either on my 'you bore me' or 'god I hate you' list so like why would I support the side on which I don't like anyone except one character who barely has any input on what happens poor girl

so like take it the way it is, but argument 1 is stupid because:

daemon actually comes off worse-ish in the show because like in the book he never killed his wife and wasn't implied to/was actually in love with laena way more than it was shown in the tv series and he killed vaemond bc rhaenyra asked him it wasn't his idea just to say the first three things that come on top of my head so like at most they're making rhaenyra look better but we still didn't get to the worst thing team black does so jury's out on that

laenor not dying was... wow THEY DIDN'T KILL THEIR GAYS?? like they had a gay character they decided to take a thing that in the book is not specified bc they said the boyfriend killed him and that IT WAS RUMORED DAEMON WAS BEHIND IT BUT WE JUST DON'T KNOW BECAUSE SOURCES WHAT ARE THEY so they took it and they turned it into he actually gets to be happy, like... wow after they had to kill off joffrey bc the story didn't advance otherwise they decided to not let laenor be miserable and that's the issue? pls come on

the actors' ages is ridiculous because like.... yo aegon was two years old in episode three when viserys tried to marry off rhaenyra to jason and episode five was even later and the timeskip was some ten years so like... aegon and aemond are older than jace who's the eldest of rhaenyra's kids so if they look older it's... just... sensed???? because they are?? also aegon looks his age and the velaryon kids are all accurate, the one who looks older is aemond but honestly considering the shit he pulls most likely next ep or in the finale i 100% guarantee you that it doesn't matter how he looks he's gonna be the worst anyway so like the problem with aegon and aemond is that they're both legit pos and I'll get to it in a second not how old they are, if ppl want to stan their side fair enough but own up to it

like tldr if they think the narrative is pro black it's because rhaenyra's right??? sorry but she is

on to why the other argument is stupid af which will clarify stuff I said before:

saying the creator is pro greens because he gave alicent a personality that's not thrift shop c*rsei written like in the main show is ridiculous because like book alicent has the depth of the shallowest pool in existence and sounds like the wicked witch of the west at every corner, which was why I detested her, and the show did a vast improvement in making her a deeper, way more interesting character and explaining her motivations/showing why she is that way and giving her nuance, like sorry that's improving on the source material which can always happen nothing is perfect (same for viserys tbh show!viserys > book!viserys) so that's imvho ridiculous also because I don't see how making alicent more nuanced like that means that they want you to stan the greens since the narrative is openly stating that viserys wanted rhaenyra to reign and that should have been the end of the question

same for aegon and aemond like... I mean they're both terrible and they were in the book and one thing aegon is most likely gonna do two seasons from now from what I'm gathering is imvho a level of fucked up you don't come back from at any point and he's an asshole before anyway and aemond... I mean I loathed him from the beginning but next episode most likely you're gonna see why as far as I'm concerned he deserves to rot so like I think the show is doing a good job of fleshing them out aemond def. had his moment when he claimed the lizard, but like the thing is that you can flesh them out as much as you want but it doesn't make them any less terrible so idg what's so bad about the writers wanting to have characters in the show and not caricatures differently from what the last seasons of got was like... I hate the greens except haelena but I'm really glad they're not making them cartoon villains thanks I'm watching a show for adults I want my nuance

like complaining that the ppl on the opposite side are actually nuanced characters is the stupidest shit I ever read and honestly I'm really glad they did what they did with alicent because honestly if I had to stand through ten episodes of fakewoke girlbossing the way they did with both c*rsei and show s*nsa I'd have suffered and I want to be entertained not to suffer

also you have excellent taste because jace > everyone else's faves thanks I'm planting my flag on that hill but tldr: the show is black-biased in the way the narrative is because again rhaenyra was crowned heir and she was right end of that shit but it's not doing anything to make the blacks look better™ and honestly if they don't pull punches on the thing I'm dreading that should be in the finale if my calculations are right I don't wanna hear any green stan complaining they get whitewashed because honestly Said Thing is... well y'know the red wedding is the most horrific wtf is this shit moment in asoiaf, okay that Thing is that for f&b imvho so if they actually don't tone it down I dare anyone to say they're making them look better bc there's no way you look good after that shit, the greens being actually well-written characters doesn't make them any less awful (okay maybe alicent is less awful than in the book but still) and it just makes for good writing, laenor deserved to fuck off to the free cities and anyone who says shit about my poor velaryon children gets muted as far as I'm concerned xD and that's my two cents

[thmgau]

CHAPTER 9 - HEIST AT THE WALMART [wattpad link]

---

Nora stood in her kitchen, preparing breakfast. She had some culinary experience, due to the cooking class she took in high school & some baking she had done with Leslie. This morning, she was making some scrambled eggs. Sorrel entered the kitchen, yawning.

“G’mornin.” “Hey.”

They looked over Nora’s shoulder at the skillet.

“What’cha makin’?” “Eggs. Scrampled.” “Scrampled?” they chuckled. “I said what I said.”

Sorrel leaned against the kitchen counter.

“Gosh, I remember when you were just a wee kid. You were, like, 3 or 4 or something like that, & Mom was making scrambled eggs. You would always call them scrampled eggs.” “Yea, yea, Dad’s shown me the tape of me trying to say ‘scrambled’ correctly, like, a million times now.”

Nora turned off the stove. The scrambled eggs were finished. She took out a couple of paper plates & put the eggs on them.

“You want a fork or a spoon with this?” “Can I have both?”

Nora rolled her eyes. “One spork coming right up,” she said, spinning around to the cabinet & opening it up, grabbing a spork & a regular fork. She stuck the spork onto one of the plates & handed it to Sorrel.

“Thanks,” Sorrel said, grabbing their plate. “No prob.” Nora stuck her fork into the other plate, taking a bite out of the scrambled eggs.

The two of them stood there eating their eggs in silence.

“So.. uh...” Nora hummed. “When are you gonna tell Mom & Dad you dropped out?” “Hopefully never, if I can handle that,” Sorrel said, mouth full of egg. “Maybe if the time comes, I’ll tell them. For now, though? I’d rather it be kept secret.” “Well.. I suppose we all have our secrets.” “I suppose so.”

Sorrel finished up their scrambled eggs fairly quickly. Nora was still only on the second bite.

“Anyways, that was the last of the eggs.” “Oh.” “I’ll have to go by Walmart later today & buy more. Bleh.” “I just hope they’ve restocked the bananas. When I went there yesterday, they had none.”

Intentionally not mentioning why the bananas were out of stock, Nora set down her scrambled eggs & took out her phone. “I’m gonna ask the others if they wanna come shop with me.”

She quickly sent a text to the group chat.

Nora: hey who wants 2 come shop w/ me. im outta eggs.

“& now we wait for a response,” she said, putting the phone on the counter & grabbing her eggs again. “Oh! I was gonna ask you earlier, but.. what’s up with that flyer you brought home last night?” “Huh?” “Y’know.. the purple one about the auction.”

Nora froze.

“Oh, that one. Some guy handed it to us after rehearsal last night. Guess I forgot to throw it away.” “It does sound kind of interesting,” Sorrel said. “I’d like to go to the auction.” “You can go if you want to.” Nora shrugged, finishing up her eggs. “I’m not interested.” “Alright, your loss.”

Nora’s phone buzzed a couple of times. She grabbed it & looked at the group chat.

Leslie: ya sounds fun :3 Cherry: sure Kalani: 👍 Juniper: ok lol

“What’d they say?” Sorrel asked, leaning over to look at Nora’s phone. “They said yes,” Nora said, quickly shutting off her phone & shoving it in her pocket. “Better get going now.” “Have fun! & tell them I said hi!” “I will!”

-

Nora pulled her car up into the Walmart parking lot.

“We’re here,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt. “This is the Walmart with the ballpit, yea?” “There’s a Walmart with a ballpit in this city?” “Yeah! You’ve never been to it?” “No?” “Well, I guess we’ll see if this is it when we get out & go inside the Walmart.”

The group all hopped out of the car & entered the Walmart. It was massive inside, like most Walmarts are. If you’ve ever been in a Walmart, you can probably imagine what it looks like. Also, there was a ballpit inside, near the entrance.

“Oh shit, there really is a ballpit.” “It’s.. kind of smaller than I expected.” “A ballpit’s a ballpit, no matter how small.” “Well, we can play in the ballpit later. We have some shopping to do!” “Woohoo!”

Nora grabbed a shopping cart & the group was ready to go. They all instantly went to the egg aisle, looking for some eggs to get.

“Why are all the eggs so EXPENSIVE nowadays?” “Well, you know how it is.” “Eggs shouldn’t cost, like, 7 bucks. I should be able to get a carton of ‘em for $1.79.”

Eventually, Nora just picked out a carton of eggs that cost around $5 & went on with the shopping.

“I guess while we’re here, I could buy some other stuff too. What else should I get?” “Ooh! You should get some of those Moon Pies!” “Nah, you should get some Sun Chips. Fuckin’ love Sun Chips.” “I’m not buying Sun Chips just so you can come to my apartment & eat them all.” “I won’t eat them ALL! I’ll save half for you, promise.”

At that moment, the intercom in the Walmart turned on.

“ATTENTION ALL SHOPPERS: THERE IS A GIRL STEALING CANDY BARS IN AISLE 9. SHE LOOKS VERY FRIGHTENING. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM HER.”

The group looked at each other.

“Do you think this is another evil person we gotta beat up?” “One can only guess. C’mon, let’s go.”

They all pulled on their necklaces & entered Hero Mode.

“Everyone in the shopping cart!” Juniper said. “I’ll push it to Aisle 9!”

Nora, Cherry, Leslie, & Kalani all hopped into the shopping cart, taking care to avoid crushing the eggs.

“Let’s do this!!”

Juniper put vaer hands onto the cart handle, holding on tight. Voi started running as fast as voi could through the Walmart, dodging obstacles & people along the way.

“EXCUSE ME! SORRY! IT’S AN EMERGENCY!”

Rolling into Aisle 9, Juniper & the shopping cart skid to a halt, taking a look at the candy bar thief.

“Took you heroes long enough to get here.” “NATALIE?!”

Indeed, it was Natalie, in her black & purple “magical girl” outfit she had worn on Tuesday. A candy bar was in one hand, & her squeaky hammer was in the other.

“What are you.. doing?” “What does it look like I’m doing?! Stealing a candy bar, obviously!” “Ok, but... why?” “Because I couldn’t think of any other crimes to do without making it too extreme.” “So you.. decided to rob a megacorporation?” “Well, I’m not robbing a family-owned business! I have standards!”

The group looked at each other for a second. They pulled on their ties, poofing back into their normal clothes.

“We have standards, too. We’re not fighting you.” “WHAT?! Why?!” “We have magic! You have a squeaky hammer! It’s not a fair fight.” “Plus, stealing from megacorps is always morally acceptable. Who are we to uphold the law?”

Natalie huffed, crossing her arms. “Well, if that’s how you wanna be, then so be it! My next crime will be SO heinous, you won’t have any choice but to stop me!” “Is that so?” “Yup!” she winked. “See you tomorrow!”

With that, she spun around & ran off.

“Well.. I guess we’re seeing her tomorrow.” “Better than going to that auction or whatever.” “True. Let’s just continue shopping now. I still want you to get those Sun Chips.”

-

“Ohh, what am I to do?!”

The Auctioneer paced around their office. Their boyfriend & partner in crime, Pim, sat on the desk.

“Well, what’d they say last night?” “They said they’ll think about it! That’s basically the same as saying ‘maybe’, & saying ‘maybe’ is just a nice way of saying ‘no’!! “I did warn you, they’d be stubborn..” “They’re perfect for the auction, too! What are we to do when the people we want - the people we NEED - refuse to come?!” The Auctioneer sighed, twirling his hand up to his forehead dramatically.

Pim looked around the room. His eyes fell on a whiteboard, scribbled with writing.

“What about the backup plan?” he asked. “AHA! The backup plan!” The Auctioneer exclaimed. “Pim, you beautiful genius! How could we have forgotten the backup plan?!”

The Auctioneer ran up to the whiteboard & skimmed through it.

“This is exactly the plan we need!” they grinned. “Pim, prepare the flyers! We’ve got a scavenger hunt to do!”

[professor-volo]

“Okay, as promised, let me introduce you all to the team.

This is Pecha, my Togekiss. She was my first ever partner and she’s been with me through everything. She’s a sweet little thing and an affectionate cuddlebug--even now she’s still trying to sleep under my coat at night heheheh!”

“Aspear is sort of her adoptive brother of sorts.” He gestures to the larger Togekiss floating nearby. “I found him as a Togetic when I was studying the massive mass outbreaks that started happening. He’s a bit more headstrong and reckless than Pecha but he’s got a good heart. He also helps gang up on me with Pecha and smothers me in his feathers. Oh! I should mention he’s an Alpha as well, I forget most people here can’t recognize Alphas on sight.”

“Atlas is my Garchomp. In truth, I wasn’t actually expecting him to be my partner; when you’re a kid, a Gible running at you full speed is a reason to panic. Pecha stunned him to help me out and I panicked and threw as pokeball since my legs were jelly. I don’t think he meant any harm by it though. Actually, even though he tries to look tough, he secretly gets really lonely when I’m not around.”

“Then there’s-AH” Volo is suddenly tackled by a large Hisuian Arcanine. “Get off!! Not right now! Off, off!” The Arcanine obeyed and Volo took a second to dust himself off. “That is Roseli. She’s an Alpha Arcanine I met back at the Coastlands. She saw me getting chased by an Alpha Glameow and jumped in to save me. After that she kind of just. Picked me up and treated me like I was a cub. She joined my team very willingly, and it was kind of a big achievement for a while to have an alpha for a partner at such a young age.”

“Polaris is my Spiritomb. I found the details for how to summon a Spiritomb while looking through some ruins. He’s a bit of a loner admittedly, but he really understands me. I like to watch the stars with him sometimes. I’ve heart that Spiritomb are usually considered pranksters, but the only pranks Polaris really pulls are hiding food and occasionally disappearing to scare people.”

“Then there’s Gabriel. I met him as a Riolu. I used to bring my pokemon to the Riolu and Lucario herds to help them train and Gabriel was a Riolu I saw quite often. After a few spars we had with each other, he ended up becoming a life long companion. He’s a VERY good boy, isn’t that right?” A Lucario in the background barked.

“My Roserade’s name is Chamomile. We met in the Mirelands back when I had most of my team together. I thought I had enough pokemon but then this one little Budew wouldn’t leave me alone. He followed me across the Mirelands because he wanted to join me and thought we’d be a good fit. And we were! After all these years he’s still been a lovely companion who wants to help out.”

“I met Snip Tool while I was studying space-time distortions.” A nearby Hisuian Decidueye rumbled. “He nearly pecked my eye out hehehe. But! He’s a good guy. He likes to be respected for his abilities and he likes a good challenge.  A lot of times if we had to camp out somewhere dangerous, I’d find him out there keeping watch even before I had said anything to anyone.”

“Addy on the other hand,” Volo pointed to a Leafeon who was looking up at him smugly, “is a little shit. I love him to death but he is a cheeky motherfucker who will hear you telling him not to do something and then proceed to do it in front of you. He will learn all your secrets and look at you so judgementally for anything and everything!! But! Despite all that, I do love hi ma whole lot. He’s one tanky boy and he can take a lot of hits if he needs to. (As long as they’re physical hits anyway.)

“Gooey is my Gastrodon and he is my very special boy!!! Back when I was traveling around the Fieldlands with him as a Shellos, literally nothing could hit this guy! He stalled out an Alpha Blissey while I was healing everyone from earlier fights! AN ALPHA BLISSEY! She couldn’t get a hit on him! He’s the craftiest powerhouse and my gooey little baby!!”

A Luxray came into view and nuzzled his head into Volo’s head. “Admittedly... Button and I didn’t get along very well in the beginning. I caught him completely on accident while looking for a different pokemon, but I didn’t want to stop in my search so I said I was going to release him later when I found it. He was also really aggressive and headstrong as a Shinx which kept attracting fights or scaring off other pokemon. I really thought Button was just going to be a temporary member but... well, my search kept going on longer and longer before I gave up and by that point... Button had mellowed out as he evolved and I’d realized how much he’d helped with battles so I finally swallowed my pride and kept him. I’ve been doing my best to make up for misjudging him ever since.”

“As for my non-battling partners, I have two! I’ve already talked a little about Embers, my Rapidash, but here she is! Even though her eyes are bad, her hearing and her sense of smell are still pretty good! And she’s really gentle; I’ll feed her berries out of my hand most days.”

“Lastly we have the beloved, most fearsome creature to ever come out of the Fieldlands!” Volo held out his hand and presented a small Wurmple, who was wiggling her legs and calling fiercely. “Wuwu. I picked her up a long time ago, and even though she’s quite strong, she’s been pretty resistant to evolution. I think she likes staying as a Wurmple buuuuut. Well. Wurmple can’t learn many moves. So I mostly keep her out of the way some place safe.” He gives her a little boop on the head. “You’ll get your chance to shine some day.”

“Aaand that’s everyone! Aside from Embers and Wuwu, everyone else stays with me pretty much all the time and I’ve raised Most of them myself so. If you any questions about them or their species, these would probably be the ones I’d know the most about!”

-Volo

[stranger-nightmare]

I love in discourse about billy, everyone seems to forget one real big thing.

Billy has been abused his whole life. He is never seen as someone who knows what the fuck a ‘gentle touch’ is.

He is beat by his dad for any little thing he does.

Didn’t watch max close enough? Punch to the face.

In mad max which excellent book for purely maxs story being told and her pov but Didn’t want to deal with being bitched at? Got punched in the face so bad his eye swelled up and then Neil beat the shit out of him with his belt.

Came home without his car, dazed and probably very confused, bloody nose, got hit by his dad again.

He was never once given a moment to change. Not once. By anyone.

So much so one happy memory and a soft touch from El, made him rethink and then sacrifice himself because let’s be real if he survived, what would have been left for him? Nothing.

People are very quick to jump on only billy about his shit behavior but not Jonathan who unknowing to Nancy took photos of Her in her bra then developed them. So he planned to what? Just develop them and then throw them out? Let’s be real here. We know why he developed the photos. He’s a teenage boy.

Steve before he became mom, was a giant fucking dick, he let his friends spray paint that Nancy was a slut on the town movie theatre sign. Yeah he was a basic one dimension billy who redeemed himself but he was still a massive dick.

Now billy is often seen as racist because out of all the kids Lucas was the one he targeted hard, right? And while I won’t say that’s wrong for BIPOC folk to be like that’s racist because I can never know the feelings of seeing that and being like ‘that’s racist shit that happens everyday to me Or my friends ECT’ and I will never say people who think that are wrong. Interpretations are all going to be different but From an outside look, Lucas was the one upsetting max in that moment. Lucas was the one she was fighting with. So from an outside view it can be seen as him picking Lucas because he was the one he saw getting at max.

Now does it probably have seeded undertones that were learned from his actual PoS dad? Yeah probably.

In mad max it says that Neil is a fucking awful man that sort of pushed himself on her mom cause they worked together at a bank. And Susan as shown in the book is pretty much a ghost who ignores what happens and ends up just fusing with who ever she is dating. And doesn’t see the red flags until it gets to a bad point.

Theirs a moment in the book where billy gives max a cigarette because she’s still in the ‘trying to bond’ phase and Susan yells at him but the second Neil pulls up, Susan knows, if she says what happened, Neil is going to be 1000xs worse to billy then she ever could. So she lets it go. That’s the one time you see someone slightly care if billy is hurt or not.

Is billy good? No. because he’s not, he’s a shitty teenage boy with anger issues.

Was he a 17/18 year old kid who the one person who loved and protected him left him with an abusive father knowing what would happen? Yeah he was.

Billy had no one. Until the day he sacrificed himself for max and for el and everyone, he had no one.

But no one wants to see that side of it.

That billy isn’t the abuse victim they all want him to be.

His trauma made him angry, made him hate, made him continue the cycle of abuse.

He wasn’t what people wanted him to be because he never had a chance. But people don’t want to think about that. That not all abuse victims become stronger from the abuse. That they can become abusers themselves.

Remember it took a soft touch and a happy memory for him to help instead of hurt. If one person had before he got flayed, was like

“Hey it’s okay. Stop being a dick. And let me help you”

Maybe they would have stopped the mind flayer before it took half a town being goop monsters and billy getting stabbed through the chest sacrificing himself.

But that’s just my thoughts. Because billy sucked, he sucked big time. But he was also a kid, an abused, very fucked kid. Who learned to hurt because that’s the only thing he’s ever known. Love what’s that? The one person who loved him, left him.

Billy sucked. But Billy fully deserved more then what he got.

yeah this is mostly the point I was trying to make, like I was only ever looking into and discussing the background and development of his character, like I have never and will never like or condone any of his behaviour bc that boy is an asshole no doubt about it, but there’s more to him than that

but yeah a lot of people seem to be quick to just say he’s an abuser and that’s that, which yes is true but I just think there’s more to it than that, all I was ever really trying to say was I definitely think there was a layer buried within Billy where he had the potential to grow and become a better person if only he was given that opportunity to, because as we saw when it came right down to it he did sacrifice himself for Max and her friend that he barely even knew, when push came to shove he did do the ‘right thing’, again I know this doesn’t justify or redeem his behaviour but it was a step in the right direction at least

anyway yeah I’ve said all that I can really say about him now so yeah

-hope

[theboysfromaustin]

February 17, 2020

It was around 3:30 when Anders and Dermot left with the baby.  Ian stood at the window, watching them leave.  Kazuo flopped into Gav's lap, reaching up to twirl his fingers in his goatee.  "We have a grandson…" Gav's voice was quiet.  "Yeah…" Kazuo smiled. Ian sighed, pressing his hand to the window.  "What's up?" "Our baby boy is a father.  He's really all grown up." "Yeah. He is." "Seeing our grandson…." "He is perfect…even if he does look like a spindly raisin."

"We're going shopping."

"What?" "Excuse me?"

Ian turned, eyes shining with tears, "We're gonna get so much baby gear for them.  Our boy is a dad.  We didn't have him as a baby, but…." He broke into a massive grin, "We are going to spoil this child." "How much can we realistically fit in the Aston Martin?" "Two cars.  Kazuo, Gav, you follow." "He's serious." "Ian…" "Can't stop him now, Gav, just buckle up 'cause we're along for the ride." Ian grinned, heading for the kitchen, "C'mon boys, we're going to the baby store."

"Baby store's a good name for the sperm bank."

Ian snorted, "Why are you consistently the funniest person here?" "Probably undiagnosed mental illness." Gav gently cuffed him in the arm as they headed for the cars, Ian getting in and rolling down the window, "South on Mo-Pac.  Follow me." 

They followed Ian's car, Kazuo leaning his head out the wind, piercings rattling.  "You sound like a wind chime." He stuck his tongue out at the redhead.  "Hey, Kaz?" "Yeah?" "What was it like when you guys took in Anders?" Kazuo shut his eye, remembering that day almost 16 years ago, "Ian was nervous.  Terribly nervous.  He was afraid.  I'd never seen him afraid before.  I had to remind him that he had me to help him.  That we could do it."

"I know it was a rough beginning…" "Yeah…I think Ian was a little afraid of making me the father of a teenager, but I didn't care.  Anders was Ian's son.  And I'd do anything for Ian, so wanting to love and raise the boy came naturally - though I'm sure Anders would bring up all the embarrassing things I did around him.  I never had a dad who loved me enough to be a dork around me.  I was making up for lost time….now I can be an embarrassing dork around young Ian."

They continued south to a shopping center on Brodie lane, Kazuo taking note of the Chick Fil-A, "Hey, we should go there, touch everything and infect it with our gay germs," then he perked up further, "Ah shit, there's a Michael's!  Let's get some rainbow glitter, I'll grab a handful, run into the restaurant, throw it and yell, 'HOMO BLAST!'" Gav started laughing, choked on spit, and nearly hit a curb as Ian turned down an aisle.

Ian looked in his rearview mirror as Gav swerved, then pulled into a spot, Gav pulling in next to him.  "Need driver's ed again, red?" "Your husband made me choke!" "You liked it last night!" This immediately got them a dirty look from a woman holding a baby, Ian offered a wave and an embarrassed grin, "Why is he always my husband when he's being snotty?" "You married him." "Yeah, you're stuck with me." Ian unceremoniously picked Kazuo up and dropped him in the basket of a cart, "Sit."

Kazuo leaned on the cart handle with a devilish grin as Ian began to push it, Gav falling in step beside him as they made their way into Buy Buy Baby, immediately assaulted by the aggressive air conditioning and the wails of unhappy children.  Gav flinched immediately.  "You okay, red?  Need your ear plugs?" "No…I'm just not really used to kids screaming in stereo." "The boy seems to be a pretty chill baby." "Mum said I was a quiet baby." "My mom said I was wild.  She used to put me in a sling and dance to Joy Division with me." 

"You're still wild."

"You like it."

"God help me, I do." "He's a menace." "I like being a menace." "Alright, you two, what do we need?" "Clothes?" "Diapers?" "Good starts.  They said they had a crib for us, so we'll need sheets.  Also probably a high chair, for when he's older," he pushed the cart, noticing the stares they were getting.  Kazuo hammed it up, waving like royalty as they approached the clothes. "He probably doesn't need anything more complex than onesies." "Yeah, I think Anders and Dermot might kill us if we buy him anything with tons of buttons." "How about zippers?  We can make him into Bruno Bucciarati." "You are the worst type of nerd." "At least I own it," Kazuo smirked. "Be good and help us look at baby stuff." 

Ian stepped up to the shelves, looking through the clothing, Gav on another rack.  The redhead was holding up onesies, with Kazuo offering running commentary.  Ian picked up a pale green-checked onesie with 'I love my grandpa' on it, and froze.  Gav kept going through clothing for a couple minutes before anyone noticed.

Ian had gone silent.  Gav looked up from the clothes, "Huh?  Hey, Ian?" Kazuo climbed out of the cart and touched his upper arm, looking up at his husband. Ian was crying, tears streaming down his face, corners of his lips quivering.  Concerned, Gav reached up to touch his cheek, and Ian flinched.  "Baby, what's wrong?" "Hey, c'mere…" Gav led him to a bench, where Ian sat, staring at the floor.  Kazuo got on his knees, leaning on Ian, chin on his head, "You told me a very long time ago how you always wanted to be a dad.  You deserve this family." 

"What scares me the most is that I may not see him grow up."

An icy pit immediately formed in Kazuo's stomach.  Ian would be 81 in just a couple of months.  "Don't say that.  You're not allowed to talk like that…" He buried his face into Ian's hair, taking in his scent - shampoo, light cologne, black tea.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't fearmonger.  It's…it's all finally come together.  The complete family I always wanted.  I know I just met the boy, but I need to protect him.  He's perfect.  If anything happened to him, I…I'd…" He shut his eyes, whimpering.  "Okay, okay, come here big man," Kazuo sat down, pulling Ian's head to his chest.  Gav clung to his other side, "We'll all watch over him.  He's going to have a great childhood with us." "You…you're right.  We're going to make the most of these years." "Yeah.  C'mon…let's keep shopping."

—--

Ian flopped on the couch, looking at the things piled up in the living room.  Gav and Kazuo flopped on either side with happy sighs.  Kazuo opened his eye, "Uh, hey…have either of you ever changed a diaper?" "Nnnnno." "No, only baby I was ever around was your mum, and your grandparents took care of those things." "Maybe we should…practice?" Gav held up his hands.  "On what?" The three men glanced over at Martha, who raised her head, then got up, went upstairs, and hid under the bed.

"Okay, not Martha." "Hmmm," Ian glanced at Kazuo who immediately flicked Ian's nose, "I'm open for a lot of things, but not that.  Hey, Ian, you remember when we were cleaning the attic…" "Oh, no." "Oh, no, what?" Gav rested his hands on Ian's legs, leaning on them.  "The doll." "That fucking doll." "Doll?" "So, after my mum died, I inherited things, lots of things, and like a fool, hauled them across the pond.  One of those was an antique doll, which had been my mum's.  And my grandmum's.  I remember it from when I was a lad, I have always been terrified of this thing."

"When Ian first showed me old photos of my mom, we went through other boxes just to see what was up there.  This thing was in a box, bound with rope…" "He opened it." "I had to see if you had some weird ritual thing made up for winning cases." "Oh please, I don't need an ounce of help winning cases, I do it on bravado and sexiness alone." "So, I opened it and screamed." "I look over, then knocked over a lamp, broke it and near pissed myself…"

"Turns out we've both had doll nightmares.  I panicked and threw the box at Ian.  He ran.  Then I ran.  We didn't go in the attic again until we paid Anders to re-box the doll and layer it inside other boxes." " We're not using the doll.  I don't want to see it again.  I can't." Gav thought for a moment, "One time in Detroit, I went up into a burned attic.  In the dark, I stumbled on boxes and boxes of burnt dolls.  I avoided that block after."

"Great, we're all a bunch of pussies about dolls." "I'll wear that label proudly." "Yeah, fuck dolls." "Well," Ian sighed, "I guess we'll just wing it.  Anders and Dermot probably don't know what the hell they're doing, either." "Good, we're all dumbasses." "Wait, Gav, you have a psychotically evil sister - didn't she ever make you play house with baby dolls?"

Gav rolled his eyes, "I didn't play so much as I was forcibly dragged into it, and then she'd beat me with a doll and pelt me with plastic food." "Sounds fun." "I hated playing house, which is weird because now I thrive on domestic chores." "I can throw food at you." "I will talk to Dermot and Delta DASH you to my parents in Detroit."

"I want to go visit them so bad." "Fuck no." "I'm with Gav," Ian ruffled his hair, once more looking around the room at their haul, "I didn't think about this at first but I hope they have room for this stuff."

"They probably don't."

"Damn."

[servin-up-surveys]

survey #076

Do you think you look good with red hair? I do, honestly. Apparently a lot of people did. Do you like the color orchid? I certainly do. What is your favorite middle name for a girl? I don't have like, a set favorite middle name. It really depends on how well it flows with the first and last names. Do you prefer common names or unique names? Definitely more uncommon ones. Have you ever done a photo shoot with a friend in the fall? Not, uh, really. One year I was present with Summer and her other friend to do like a witchy shoot for Halloween, but we went out WAY too late (poor planning) to where the pictures were absolutely horrible. So dark that they never really saw the light of day anywhere on socials.

What is your favorite type of Christmas cookie? I honestly really like those little gingerbread men cookies, but I can't remember the brand... They pop up in stores 'round that time of the year, though. When was the last time you took a selfie? The last time I got my hair dyed. Does your hair have any natural curl to it? It has a natural wavy-ness, but "curl" is a strong way to put it I think. Which insect annoys you the most? Gnats. Do you prefer hard rock music or soft rock? I like both, but generally harder rock. Have you ever dressed up as a fairy? I don't think so. When was the last time you kissed someone? Yesterday evening. Girt hung out here a little bit after we went to his nephew's bday party. What was the last song you heard? I'm not sure, other than I think it was in Girt's car. His nephew's bday party location was an hour away, and I'm incredibly thankful he was totally willing to come get me, so I got two hours between there and back of just him singing, ha ha. He was so concerned it would eventually get annoying and meanwhile I'm like totally at peace, lmao. When was the last time someone gave you flowers? Not since Tyler randomly brought an unnecessarily large bouquet just for coming to my house for I think like the first time... I was really thrown off by it because it was absolutely too much just for coming to my house. Like yeah, it's a considerate gesture, but I eventually learned from another friend that he got INCREDIBLY obsessed with partners RIDICULOUSLY quickly. Like, I think he once proposed to a girl after a week. It explained why he made a massive fuckin deal about me breaking up with him just for not talking to him every moment of every goddamn day. Do you sleep naked? No, I would feel extremely vulnerable. And I just hate my body so damn much that even *I* want to see it as little as I can. Is smoking a turn-off when it comes to being interested in someone? It is, yes. Have you ever dated someone who had kids? No. I don't know if I'd be up for that. Well, in the case of very young kids, I KNOW I wouldn't be. Have you ever been pulled over twice in one day? No. Have you ever been told you’re a flirt? No. Do you have a favorite sibling, if any? No. What’s your favorite scary movie? I really enjoy The Blair Witch Project as well as The Crazies, and I also find Silent Hill to be a comfort movie with my bias for the franchise. Are you easily frightened by horror films? Nope. What’s your opinion on vegetarians? I respect them a lot and wish I could be them, lol. HOWEVER I will point out that I do not respect the vegetarians who suddenly think they're hot shit and above everyone else just because they don't eat meat. Those suck. When was the last party you went to? Oh, actually yesterday. It was Girt's nephew's bday and we went to this SUPER cool trampoline park, but it was SO much more than just trampolines to jump on. The best way I could possibly put it is that it looked like a kid's heaven, ha ha. It was SUPER fuckin loud but thankfully there were party rooms where the noise was much more muffled and tolerable so you could chill and talk. J (I think I'm gonna just call his nephew that from now on) had an amazing time and I'm honestly also real proud of myself because I was in a very uncomfortable environment for an extended period of time and didn't have to take my anxiety med. Mom and Girt were really proud too and it meant a WHOLE lot. Do you have a favorite album? Sure do: Black Rain by Ozzy Osbourne. EVERY fuckin song is a total banger. Is there a song stuck in your head right now? There's not, really. Has someone that you loved told you that you’re a waste of their time? Not exactly that, no.. Who’s the last person you were in a car with? Girt. What’re you currently looking forward to? Girt and I having our lil "Halloween night" soon. An event in WoW called Hallow's End is also starting Tuesday and goes to the first of next month and I still don't have the mount that is a mega rare drop from the seasonal boss the Headless Horseman. You can run the dungeon once a day on each character, aaaand I have a lot, ha ha. Mount collecting is my main reason I play the game so damn am I ready to check this fucker off. Was your last kiss on a bed or standing? Standing. Do you want to start over with anyone? Well, yeah... but that's not how the world works. Do you know anyone who has a hearing deficit? Yeah, Ashley's father-in-law's mom, I think. Something like that. I don't know how that woman is still alive, honestly. What is your favorite colors for a cat? Orange!!!! Would you miss winter if it never came back? Why or why not? Yes. :( I love the vibes of Christmas-y weather and honestly one of the most amazing things I'VE experienced in nature is the incredible, peaceful silence of when it's snowing. That shit is like magical to me. I'm really hoping we get a good snow this year so hopefully I can take some pictures! Did you ever play around a hydrant when you were younger? Okay this seems like such a strange thing to do, but I did???? I seem to remember this occasion where there was a leak in one down the road, and me, my lil sister, and my favorite neighbor at the time were doin' whatever around that. If you wear them, what is the average length of skirts you wear? I DON'T wear skirts because I hate my legs, a lot. If you had to live your life carrying a shield, what would its design be? Hmmmm... something nature-y, I think. ACTUALLY another WoW reference but they have these style of shields where it's like, tree bark, but with an attractive swirly-ness to it. I'd totally have one of those with maybe some moss and little flowers poking through. And if the tree bark was like, abnormally strong, because it IS a shield and bark is pretty easy to tear apart. Do you have any competitors at work or school? If so, who are they? I'm in neither. What are your general afterthoughts when you’ve finished a book? I feel accomplished and happy. I don't read enough... Do you budget when you go grocery shopping? Why or why not? I'm not the one that does the shopping, so... My mom is careful with money, though. She has to be. When is the last time you heard scary music? Well I was watching Game Grumps earlier and they were getting through a tough level that had tense music playing. When you were younger, did you have a toy troll? Oh my god, I'm assuming you mean those lil guys with the big, colorful, spiked up hair? I do remember having at least one. Do you like moose? I think moose are gorgeous and I would love to see a live adult one in a safe space. I know people are always surprised by JUST how big they are. Do you put collars on your cats? Absolutely, that's a necessity to me, unless they're microchipped. You never know when your cat might somehow get outside, and that collar with a tag might be the only way they come back home. Do you have anything that says “Princess”? EW no, I don't even think I was into that shit as a little girl. Do you like celery? No, I absolutely hate it. Have you ever collected stamps? No. I did, however, collect stickers as a kid. My childhood dresser was COVERED in them. Did you cry while watching The Notebook? I have AT LEAST shed one tear every single time I've seen it, lmao. It's been maaany years, though. How many home videos of yourself have you seen? A lot. My mom recorded many things of me and my sisters. When’s the last time you rode a carousel? Oh jeez, I have no idea... What field trip did you last go on? Uh, that woulda been for some band competition in high school. I don't remember which exact one, I've been to a few. Do you play with your own hair often? Not really, no. I just ever really fix stray hairs parted to the wrong side. Do you like Mickey Mouse? I don't not like him, but I'm not into him, either. All of Ash's kids had a phase (Emerson is still in it, ha ha) of loving children shows with Mickey and the gang and I'll tell you, you get tired of ALL their voices eventually, lol. Do you like oranges? So here's the thing, I don't eat oranges because I HATE the white shit that's veined all throughout the fruit; I like the taste of the orange itself, but not that crap. In elementary school if I ever had to pick an orange for part of lunch, I literally just sucked out the juice, lmao. Nowadays Ma wants me to try I think a... mandarin orange or something like that that apparently doesn't have all the white veins, I just haven't yet. Do you hate when grapes have seeds in them? It is absolutely not my preference, but it's fine. We had wild muscadine grapes at my old house in the woods and they have pretty large seeds, but it's just as simple as spitting it out. I miss that house, we were pretty out in nature... What would you do if you found out your mom was a stripper? I would be EXTREMELY fucking stunned. My mom doesn't support that kind of stuff because she feels it's demeaning to the person doing it and objectifying, so... Whose house were you last at? My sister's place. Ma and I usually watch the kids every Friday. Let’s be honest do you think people really like you? No, honestly. I feel like I'm really annoying and disappointing. Would you ever run a marathon? I WOULD if I was in shape, actually LIKED running, and it was for a cause. When’s the last time you wet the bed? It was arounddddd... 2018-ish, I think? It's SUPER strange, I had this really weird phase of premature incontinence (like I was literally on a med and had to set an alarm in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom) that was STUPID fuckin embarrassing, but it was a real issue. We have no idea what started it, but it eventually stopped being a problem, thank GOD. What is your favourite song by Coldplay? I think "Fix You" is technically their best song, but I personally enjoy "Paradise" the most, I think. I want that played at my funeral. When was the last time you spoke a different language? Mom was asking me how you say something in German. Save all the animals that die during road kill or save 1 human from a fire? Absolutely all the animals that fall victim to the road. I'm sorry, but one human does NOT equate to the ridiculous amount of animals that die from our vehicles. Have you ever painted a picture of somebody? I have of myself, but only because it was a school art assignment. When is the next time you will go to a party? Hmmm... probably not 'til Emerson's birthday February of next year. Have you ever done anything naughty in a hot tub? No. Is your cousin dating anyone? I don't know shit about the cousins my family still associates with, if I'm honest. If you’ve had a bad day, who is most likely to cheer you up? Girt, really. Sometimes Mom. Is there anyone you dislike, that you have to see/speak to regularly? My sister's husband Nick. He is just ew. Does anyone have a romantic interest in you, that you don’t return? I wouldn't know. I doubt it. When was the last time you ate a cookie? Earlier today actually when Mom got back from church. One of the old ladies gave her a cookie from KFC that she kept for me. Is there anything happening tomorrow, that you’re looking forward to? No, I don't think so. How many alcoholic drinks have you had in the last week? None. I've actually been wanting a drink lately, though. When was the last time you drank strawberry milk? Dude, I haven't touched that shit since the first time I tried it in elementary school. I HATED it. Do you have a clock in your room? No. Do you own a pair of fingerless gloves? I actually have quite a few in my dresser that I primarily wore in high school. Did you have a good driver’s ED teacher? Quite frankly? No, because he nearly got us potentially killed. I was trying to merge into the highway, but other drivers were being dicks and not going into the other lane, and he was telling me to go EXACTLY when I would have caused a crash if I tried moving over. Please move the fuck over and let people in the acceleration lane merge into the actual highway, jesus. Which of Britney Spears’ songs is your favorite? "Womanizer" is a fuckin CLASSIC and honestly just a super catchy song. Who was the last non-relative woman you spoke to in person? Girt's mother and sister. What’s a topic you’ve drastically changed your opinion on? A LOT, but one is about gay rights. Once upon a time I was a homo/transphobe and that person FUCKING disgusts me. It's humiliating to know I ever thought like that. Are you in a good mood today? I am. I not long ago learned that a Silent Hill-related announcement will be made by Konami on the 19th and my excitement is SO FUCKING BEYOND compare, oh my actual god. It's no less than a meme in this fandom that every "leak" and SH-related rumor is false, but this is like, OFFICIAL shit and I'm NOT okay alsdkfjqlkweja;lekr Which would bother you more: being told you’re not likable or being told you’re not sensible? Not likable. Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? No, and I hope I NEVER do. That shit sounds absolutely horrifying. Have you ever bathed in a river or a lake? Not "bathed," no, but I've swum in both. When you were 15, what did you want to grow up to be? Uhhhhhh... shit... I THINK a movie director? Maybe a game designer? Have you ever had a dream in which you died? Yep. Have you ever driven or ridden on a motorcycle? No, I'm too scared to.