#when he trapped me in my own home on thanksgiving lol

[homoose]

Love Has a Learning Curve: deleted scene 3

Summary: A flipped POV/extended scene from the night reader told Spencer that they’re going to be parents (part x of lhalc)

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader

Category: fluff

Warnings/Includes: pregnancy, implied sex (obviously lol)

Word count: 2k

a/n: pls this is unedited so just ignore any typos

Series Masterlist

———

They said their goodbyes and final congratulations to Luke and Penny, and then they were sitting in silence in Spencer’s Volvo. She could feel Spencer panicking next to her— in the car, up the sidewalk, across from her in their kitchen. After two weeks of her own internal panic, now she was standing in front of him, and she couldn’t meet his worried gaze. 

“Please say something,” he begged. 

“I—” She paused, took a deep breath, and forced herself to look at him. “I’m pregnant.”

She watched as his IQ plummeted. “What?”

“I don’t know how it happened. I mean— I know how it happened, I just. I don’t know how it happened.” She laughed nervously, studying his face for any readable emotion. “I’m sure you can tell me the statistics about the effectiveness of birth control—” He opened his mouth, and she held up her hand, begged with watery eyes, “Please don’t tell me about the effectiveness of birth control right now.” 

“Okay,” he breathed. 

She didn’t think she could handle hearing about it, and besides: “The statistics don’t really matter anyway, because obviously it wasn’t effective, and now I’m pregnant.”

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, a little like a fish, before murmuring, “You’re sure?”

“I took seven home tests,” she confirmed, voice wavering. “All positive. And then I went to the doctor on Wednesday. To be sure. And she, um— she’s sure.”

He nodded. “How do you feel?” 

His tone was even, his face neutral, and she couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She could feel the tears brimming, threatening to spill over. “I’m sorry.”

He couldn’t seem to stay neutral then, frowning and cocking his head. “Why are you sorry?”

“Because we— we didn’t talk about this.” She gestured wildly with her hands, the emotion finally spilling over and her fears toppling out of her mouth. “I never asked you what you want. And I— I don’t want you to think I’m trying to trap you, or—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He took a step toward her before he froze, cursed under his breath, and asked, “Can— can you just. Just wait here for one minute. I’ll be right back.”

He practically sprinted out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and out of sight. She sank into one of the kitchen chairs and dropped her head in her hands. Now it was all out in the open, and he was already finding it hard to be in the same room with her. He kept a neutral expression for as long as possible, because he was kind, and empathetic, and he loved her. But that didn’t mean he wanted to do this with her. 

She was so wrapped up in her abject mom-to-be terror that she didn’t hear him practically tumble back down the stairs. She didn’t hear him sprint around the corner and into the kitchen. But she did hear her name, soft and reassuring, and then he was kneeling next to her on the floor. “Hey, hey— look at me. Y/N, look at me.” 

She turned toward him in the chair, and his eyes were soft and reassuring, too. “It’s okay, baby. Are you— are you okay?”

She sucked in a shaky breath. It wasn’t okay, and she wasn’t okay— not until she knew how he was actually feeling. “I— what do you— I need to know what you want.”

“You,” he said plainly. 

Her heart flipped in her chest, but she huffed, swiping at her cheeks. “That’s not what I mean.”

“I know. But it’s the truth.” He shrugged. “I want you. Always. And I want you to be happy and healthy. And I want to support you in… whatever you decide.”

He looked down at his hands, and then he looked back at her. “In regards to ‘trapping me,’ it’s— it’s not a trap if I want to be here.”

He brought his hands up into her lap and opened a small velvet box. She stared stupidly at the ring inside for at least seven seconds, her eyes going wide as they came to meet his own. “What is this?”

“I’ve had this ring for… a long time,” he admitted. “ I bought it the week we came back from North Carolina for Thanksgiving, and I talked to your dad about it when we were there for Christmas.” 

He scooted closer to her on the floor, his own eyes wet. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He’d had this ring for nearly a year? He’d bought it when they had barely been together nine months? He wanted to marry her?

“I kept waiting for the perfect moment, but I— I could never find it.” He drew his brows together and huffed out a laugh. “I understand now that the problem with waiting for the perfect moment was that—” He shook his head in realization, and then met her eyes. “Every moment with you is perfect. Even when it’s not.” He felt a tear spill over and shrugged. “Because I’m with you. And that makes it perfect.”

She brought her hand up to wipe away his tears with gentle fingers, even as her own tears continued. He smiled at her. “I love you. The most. And I wanna be with you: today, tomorrow, next week, next year… forever. In every perfect moment. And that’s not gonna change. Okay?”

Of all the reactions she imagined he’d have to the news of her pregnancy, she had never imagined this. “Okay.”

He hesitated for a split second, and she saw the first and only shimmer of uncertainty. “Do you wanna marry me?”

She laughed, genuine and joyful. “That’s not how you ask.” 

He grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. Will you marry me?”

“Yeah,” she breathed, all the worry she’d been carrying for the last two weeks just… falling away. “Yes. Yes.”

He slipped the ring onto her finger and then surged up off the floor to wrap her in a hug. “Sorry it took me so long.” She breathed him in, relishing the feel of his body against hers. For the first time in two weeks, she allowed herself to melt into him, no longer worried to be found out.

He held her for a second longer before pulling back to hold her hands, running his thumb along the newly placed ring. “Your answer to this question doesn’t change how I feel or what I want. I need you to know that.” When she nodded, he squeezed her hands. “Do you want to have a baby?” 

She hesitated, chewing the inside of her lip. “What do you—”

“No.” He shook his head. “I already told you what I want. I’m asking you. What do you want?”

She rubbed her thumbs absentmindedly over his for fifteen long seconds. The moment of truth, and it came out in a whisper. “I want to have a baby with you.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

Fresh tears gathered behind his eyes, and she felt so silly for ever having doubted what he wanted. “We’re gonna have a baby,” he breathed, disbelief dripping heavy over his words. “You’re gonna be a mom.”

She choked out a wet laugh. “Yeah, that’s usually how it works.”

“You’re gonna be the best mom,” he corrected. 

“You’re gonna be a dad.” She squeezed his hands. “The absolute best dad.”

He scooped her into another hug, the two of them laughing and crying in the soft light of their kitchen at midnight. She was pregnant, they were engaged, it was all out of order, and she wouldn’t change a single thing about it. Like every other moment with him, it was perfect.

“Your mom’s gonna kill me,” he muttered.

She cackled— well, almost perfect. She grimaced playfully. “Mmm, yeah she probably is. If it’s any consolation, she’ll start with me.” She sighed, smiling tiredly at him. “I love you.”

He matched her smile. “I love you the most. Dead or alive.”

She snaked her arm around his waist, pulling him toward the stairs. “You know… I can think of one thing that might just placate Mama Rose…”

They started up the stairs together. “Do tell.” 

Her fingers rubbed along his hip bone. “Do you think Dave would let us use his backyard?”

Spencer pressed a kiss into her hair as they reached the landing and turned for their bedroom, Roald hot on their heels. “I’m sure a bottle of wine and a box of cigars would do the trick.”

“I’m thinking a backyard wedding with your family and mine— here, so that your mom doesn’t have to travel.” She pulled him over the threshold of their bedroom door. “And then we can have a party at the farm for all your new in-laws.”

“New in-laws?” Spencer asked.

“Oh yeah. There’s fifteen aunts and uncles and about fifty cousins that’re dying to meet you.” Spencer’s eyes went wide as saucers, and she laughed, pulling him into her arms. “I’d say there won’t be a quiz, but if any of the uncles find out about the eidetic memory thing, they’re absolutely gonna quiz you.” 

She laced her fingers behind his back, drawing him even closer. “But they already love you,” she assured him. “I get a text at least twice a week about you.”

His eyebrows shot up behind his curls. “You do?”

“Mmhm. Asking how you’re doing, are you teaching a new class, where’s your latest case, et cetera, et cetera. All the aunts are nosy as hell,” she laughed. She tilted her head in consideration, lacing their fingers together and leading him toward their bed. “It’s gonna be impossible to keep this a secret for very long.”

He sat on the side of the bed, pulling her down to straddle his lap. “The twenty week mark is usually the green light to start telling people. How— how far along are we?”

“Dr. Layton said probably... about eight weeks.”

She watched as he did the calculations, the realization settling over his face— the drop of his jaw, the arch of his eyebrow, the pink rising in his cheeks. “Oh. Oh.”

“Mm.” She pressed her lips together to hide her smile. “I think we really, um— manifested that.”

“Wow.” She could practically see the memories flashing in his eyes. He cleared his throat. “Do you think your dad would sell me that truck?” 

“Oh my god.” She brought her hands up to his cheeks, grinning ear to ear. “You’d better come up with a good lie about why you want it.” 

His hands traveled over her hips, squeezing gently on their way to her lower back. “You mean I can’t tell Hank that his daughter had se—”

She clapped a hand over his mouth, gently pushing him to lay back on the bed and hovering over him. “Shhhh— he still thinks his baby is an innocent angel. You don’t wanna ruin that for him, do you?”

He laughed underneath her palm and pulled her flush against him. She removed her hand, and he sighed. “I suppose your secret's safe with me. Mostly because I don’t want to incur his wrath.”

“Mm,” she nodded, bringing their mouths together. “Smart man.”

He kissed her, saccharine and slow. She was just starting to relax into it when he suddenly flipped them, knocking a huffed laugh out of her. He peppered light kisses over her face, down her neck, over her racing heart, her sternum. When he reached her tummy, he paused, staring at the barely there bump covered in flowy fabric. And then he pressed his lips gently to it, over and over and over again. 

She tangled her fingers in his hair, waiting for him to get his fill. After fifteen kisses, she laughed as she realized he probably never would. He raised his head at the sound, gently resting his chin on her belly, careful not to press too hard. His sweet smile had her tugging him up toward her.

“I can’t believe I was ever worried about how you’d feel,” she whispered.

“I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out,” he countered. “I should have known when you said no to sushi.” He grinned, but then it softened into something more empathetic. “Is that why I couldn’t hug you for the last two weeks?”

She nodded, feeling absolutely ridiculous. He sat up and pulled her with him, his chin hooked over her shoulder and all his long limbs folded awkwardly around her. “Well. I guess I just have to make up for lost time.”

[broomswept-thoughts]

Feeling kinda tired and sad this morning. Yesterday night was kind of tough, I really like Prashit and I’m happy of course that he and Tammy are dating, but it made me so sad and envious to see them together. I wish I could have a relationship like theirs or like Jolie and Will’s, or like Kryssy and Kevin’s. I’m happy that my friends are in such healthy and meaningful relationships, but I feel like I can only be around them if I dissociate and watch everything from afar. Or to just straight up not care enough to feel invested or empathetically feeling and thinking through them when they talk about their experiences.

I’m sure I’m only really seeing the positive sides to their relationships as opposed to the negatives. I don’t see all of the work that they must all be putting in, just the final “outcome”/ “product” of it which is a good and working romantic relationship. But I can’t feel but sad inside and also sick of my own pining depression state. Maybe it really is what Duncan said, where you can only stop spiraling when you feel sick of it. But I’m not bored or it doesn’t feel like that. It feels more like I can’t take any more of the sadness and exhaustion of being logically happy but emotionally depressed and alone. Sad emo boi vibes? Kinda pathetic and self-pitying? Yeah, probably. But I feel what I feel, and I’m trying my absolute best to push myself to keep the vibes good and not be passive aggressive or let my emotions get so depressingly overwhelming that I hurt people around me. I think being a bit quiet and cold this morning to Tammy might not have been it, but I just couldn’t take being happy and cheerful this morning when I don’t feel it at all.

I’m using med school applications as a coping mechanism which is kinda ironic considering how it’s usually considered the Absolute Worst Thing Ever but for me, it’s a saving grace. Every time I obsess over being alone, I try to refocus that energy into applying to schools or imagining my future as a doctor. I just feel incredibly alone and filled with sadness a lot. I feel also a bit trapped here in Baltimore because I don’t have many people other than Tammy and Julia, and Tammy is busy with Prashit and Julia is going through hell with her grad lab and program. I talk to them too, it’s not like I don’t, but I don’t feel at home in Baltimore either. It just feels like a transition place. I kinda can’t wait to move on to a better stage in my life because my life right now outside of them is literally just medical school application focused or emotionally alone focus. I can’t wait to live in a place where I can make and meet more friends and people who are interested in the same things and are all around me. I also miss Sarah and Rachael a lot. I hope I can see them during Thanksgiving. I feel like I can always talk about anything to them, but not to be Olivia Rodriguez in Driver’s License but they must be getting kinda sick of me being sad over Duncan for maybe 2+ years lol.

I’m feeling muddled up and envious and depressed. Healing really does come in waves, and right now in this moment I am feeling very down. I think it’s because I don’t have anything to look forward to immediately. I guess I’m hanging out with Tammy and Prashit’s housemates to do something next weekend (which I also initiated btw for us all to hangout), but I feel exhausted because I just feel like a 5th wheel in it. The housemates are fine, they’re not mean or anything. I think I just emotionally am not present and don’t feel up to being as friendly as possible. Also no offense to Tammy and Prashit, but I really don’t like Amit. Maybe it’s because I don’t know him well, but he seems passive aggressive lol, like please if you don’t want to do something, then either suck it up and do it or don’t come. Maybe I’m harsh on him because I also don’t want to go and be there/ here but I’m shutting up about it and pushing myself to do these things because I think it makes Tammy and Prashit happy. I think after this weekend, I need a solid break from them. I’m kinda just tired. I should’ve known that the NIH postbac things are pretty not social, but it’s hard because I wanted to make friends with other people interested in biology. But I guess I sorta just get ghosted instead.

Hmm.

Sigh, I don’t know, maybe I should just. Give up on my feelings about anything and everything at this point. I think I just feel things too heavily because I have a lot of expectations, when in reality no one has any expectations or should have those when interacting with others. I think I just want to be in love so bad that I would give up so much time and energy for people who just don’t care. I need to just do things that are interesting to me or are worthwhile to just myself, and if someone comes along through that, then that’s great. But if not, I need to let myself enjoy what I originally came to do.

Sucks when you’re a hopeless romantic filled with envy. But maybe it really is important for me to understand and consciously deconstruct my fear of abandonment and anxiety around it which is enough to grasp onto any person. I’m so lucky that I haven’t been lured into a codependent relationship with someone/ gotten into a really abusive relationship (that I chose). I think... I’m definitely someone who would get messed up hard and would never leave and just deteriorate into dust. Or stay until I get bruised both physically and emotionally. Maybe I just also don’t value myself enough outside of my relationships? Even with friends, I think I often feel that without my friends, I’d be absolutely nothing. Like not even in just a colloquial way, but as in my friends literally give me the only value I have in life. And i can’t have value ever if they left me. I love my friends so intensely and dearly, but if they all ever became evil and left me, I would blame myself first. It might be my fault! In which case understandable. But also I would never have the self-confidence to question it or wonder if they’re the ones in the wrong. I would think it’s because my value as a person dropped or something along those lines I think. And while I love my friends so much and would do anything for them, I need to make sure that I remember that I have value outside of them. Outside of even my closest and warmest relationships, I still have meaning and worth as a person. I don’t deserve pain or retribution when I don’t have these relationships or when I hurt them. I wonder if I feel such guilt and anxiety when I hurt someone in a friendship precisely because I feel that they’re the only reason why my life is worthwhile and if I hurt them, then I must not be worthwhile anymore.

Wow, that’s a bit convoluted.

But I think. If I was ever in a really deep relationship, I’d think the same. Maybe even more so because it would probably just be really intense. But I’d maybe think that I can’t exist as an identity without said person, especially if they made me really happy in some way. Maybe that’s codependency. It’s hard because a lot of relationships look a bit like that. It reminds me of that picture of the couple merging into each other through their mouths. Can or should identity remain solid through relationships? Maybe it’s not even possible, but what’s healthy is to have fluid versions of yourself existing throughout many mediums, many people, and many interests that you have that are relatively independent of said person(s). Identity really is so confusing. If BPD is having unstable identities, then how does a normal person have a “stable” identity? It seems impossible. But maybe what clinicians mean by identity is just patterned behavior that can happen regardless of most situations (still ambiguous but no going into the weeds). If I start to change my behavior to appease someone, then that’s probably not my “real” identity maybe. Moreso if it’s something that beforehand I would not do.

What is a healthy relationship with others? I try too hard to consume people and I melt into empathy far too easily so I get hurt by their hurts too badly for it to help sometimes. Logic and going through the mindset of analyzing emotions is one way to handle it all. But part of me wants to consume, wants to understand people. Especially people with similar interests or backgrounds as me and what they’re like. Or people who are pleasant to be around or I feel validated to be with. Or people who ask about me and seem to care for me. I want to understand them, and the only way I know how to understand something is by consuming it whole, like how you can never describe the taste of an orange better than to shove it into someone’s mouth so the juice dribbles out from where their teeth pierced through the flesh. I give myself into understanding someone else so much that I wonder if it’s too much. I think it’s a skill, but also I assume that others want to do the same for me too. That they’re also curious about me as a person, and that that curiosity means that they like me or want to care for me. When in reality, it can be anything from just being polite to just simply wanting to know someone on some level after superficial but not deep. Enough to be interesting. And entertaining. I think that’s what most people probably want. I think I want to be liked by making people feel heard, and that’s okay in a service kind of context, but not in a personal relationship kind of context with someone I know nothing about and yet I continue to get hurt by. So no, I’m going to let all of my expectations and imagines of Ryan go and also those of Duncan go. I just want to fill up the loneliness and sadness deep in my thoughts and mind and heart, and it’s not fair for someone to be slotted in as though they can fill that or have an obligation to. I hope for someone who will. But no one will, because no one will stay forever. Not because no one will ever care for me, but because no one and nothing is the only forever that really exists, right? So I need to just enjoy what I hedonistically can, have fun with whatever so I don’t feel totally like crap, and try to fill my hours with interesting activities, duties, and music.

[nickelkeep]

I wrote a lot of Destiel this year! LOL! These are the 26 Fics that I’ve written live on the @profoundnet Discord Server! (18+ Server, no hate, you can join here.) Listed in chronological order, like the other master list, they’ll be labeled with AU or Canon, ratings, and any necessary warnings. Because there’s so many, I’ll list the prompt that I used for it, and the person who suggested it (if someone did and they’re on Tumblr!)

Personal Quality Assurance - AU - 8,516 words - Explicit The OG prompt. Cas makes Dildos. Dean purchases one. Sexy meet-cute.

More Than a Feeling - AU - 5,284 words - Explicit For PB’s Favorite Fairy, Aleeliah: Dean and Cas like to travel. They fill up the Impala, grab their things... And get discounts by pretending to be a couple.

Like the Angel - AU - 9,605 words - Explicit TW: Homophobic Language For Umbrie: Imagine Teacher!Cas with a student who has a crush on him. The crush’s rival? Mr. Winchester, a classmate’s dad.

Bring Me Healing - AU - 5,978 words - Explicit For @darmysasagiri: The succubus and incubus root words are not gender-based but succubus=bottom incubus=top. So the idea is drunk wizard/mage Cas or Dean summons a succubus and gets power-bottom-succubus!

Some Pacific Wind - AU - 10,858 words - Explicit TW: Heavy Dom/Sub, Subdrop For @hartlessfiction: picture prompt from Tumblr that read:"There's a gay bar in my city and they're trying to get a new roof. So their slogan for the donations is 'Like all good bottoms, we've worn out our top' and I just felt that I needed to share that."

Edge of Paradise - Canonverse - 3,184 words - Explicit For Aleeliah, again!: Combination of a PB botstat (Dean is watching Dr. Sexy, Cas has his fingers in Dean’s Mouth, Sam has just walked in on Cas and Dean Boning) and their own personal request of Cas in panties.

Faithfully - AU - 7,043 words - Explicit TW: Alcohol Use, mentions of recreational drug use. For @drawlight:  Fact: Dean is desperately, horribly, absolutely in love with Cas. Also Fact: He should never have agreed to play Never Have I Ever while drinking. Especially not when the questions turn to sex and love and the questions start to hit a little too close to home.

Nothing You Confess - Canonverse - 5,204 words - Explicit For @mishalocked24: (Based on their twitter post) *No-lines episode for Cas. Dean is focused on a book, looking for a spell to lift the curse* "I love you." Cas says for the first time, staring at his profile. "I always have. I always will." Dean turns a page. "I love you, Dean." Cas closes his eyes; Dean can't hear him.

Paradise by the Dashboard Light - 6,768 words - Explicit For arielaquarial: Based on their own misadventure of trying to pull a dent out of their car and not having a plunger for the hot water/plunger trick, but using a dildo instead.

What About Us? - AU - 9,417 words - Mature TW: Infidelity (not Dean/Cas) For @elizasugarcane: Based on the Twitter Exchange where two ladies found out they were dating the same guy, dumped his ass, then ended up together. Destiel-fied.

Stay With Me - AU - 7,080 words - Explicit TW: Implied Homophobia Self-service Fic! Based on the news that “There Was Only One Bed!” happened in real life and added in the news about people trying backtrack and become Revisionist HIstorians with the Lovers of Modena.

Something So Magic - AU - 5,176 words - Teen TW: Brief Animal Attack/Animal Fight scene For @cryptomoon: I asked for a random prompt, and Crypto asked for Dean getting adopted by a cat. So how about some Familiar!Cas?

‘Cause My Monsters Are Real - AU - 7,091 words - Teen For @jemariel: photo prompt, but it's one people are familiar with: 'our humans are sleeping in bunk beds and we have to share the space under' aka: 'there's only one under-the-bed.'

And These Monsters Can Fight - AU - 6,325 words - Explicit Also for @jemariel, the continuation of ‘Cause My Monsters Are Real.

Carry Me Home - AU - 7,083 words - Explicit For Lily on PB: Cas watches a youtube vid on how to fix something around the house. Then because it was such an easy fix that he thought would be really hard and the youtube vid was so good AND the guy in the youtube vid is super hot, he binges the channel before going to the hardware store to get the supplies to fix the problem.......guess who owns the store? 

Like a Burning Flame - AU - 8,259 words - Explicit TW: Dom/Sub, Bad BDSM Etiquette For @unforth: a simple and sexy prompt, Uniform Kink and Panty Kink. 

To Confess - Canonverse - 8,491 words - Explicit For @idaaeri and @darmysasagiri: Darmys asked for Fake Relationship/Getting back together. Ida gave me the idea of Case Fic. (Funny story, I flipped this trope before I wrote the actual trope.)

Talk to Me Now - AU - 9,031 words - Explicit For @notfunnydean​: A Craig’s List “They Were Roommates” image prompt, and Dean asked for it to be an Enemies to Friends to Lovers fic.

Stuck in the Middle With You - Canonverse - 5,749 words - Explicit For @canadduh: They shared a video of two guys stuck in a finger trap, and asked for it to be Destiel-fied.

What I Thought I Knew - AU - 7,549 words - Mature TW: Dub-Con Kiss For Destielr, on PB: Based on the gif from Looking where Kevin pushes Patrick, who is working, against the wall and kisses him.

Slice of Your Pie - AU - 6,955 words - Mature TW: Severe Homophobia, Gender Issues, Straight up Sexism. Many people on PB requested another fic based on the “Alone on Thanksgiving” Craig’s List Post.

Shiver  - AU - 5,714 words - Explicit TW: Car Accident A part of @notfunnydean​‘s 2019 SPN Advent Calendar. Prompt was Blizzard. Of course, they get snowed in.

Chandeliers of Hope - AU - 6,921 words - Mature TW: Drinking, Recreational Drug Use A part of @notfunnydean​​‘s 2019 SPN Advent Calendar. Prompt was Mistletoe Kiss! I wanted a Christmas themed D&D Game. Shenanigans ensue.

A Cold, Dark Winter’s Night - AU - 7,813 words - Explicit A part of @notfunnydean​​‘s 2019 SPN Advent Calendar. Prompt was Secret Santa.

You Make it Feel Like Christmas - Canonverse - 7,473 words - Explicit A part of @notfunnydean​​‘s 2019 SPN Advent Calendar. Prompt was Last Minute Christmas shopping.

Auld Lang Syne - AU - 7,071 words - Teen Self-indulgent Fic, with a side of New Year’s Eve. (I asked my readers if they wanted a New Year’s Fic.) Based on the Thai Cornetto Ad. Holy Crap. Twenty-six fics. The series is continuing into 2020, so I hope you’ll join in!

[profoundnet]

Profound Member Post - November/December 2019

Header by @cryptomoon​ and is available on merch from her redbubble store. You can use all those fancy emojis (and more!) on our Discord server!

The Masterpost is open for all creations by ProfoundBond members which are posted in their entirety during that month.

MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019!

Masterpost below the cut.

JessJessTheBest - @saywhatjessie - JessJessTheBest

Forgot all prayers (of joining you)

Dean had forgotten how real and close emotions were when he was here. When he was this close to Cas. When there was nothing between them but time. He wasn’t saying any of this right. His words weren’t working. He couldn’t make his mouth cooperate. But maybe… Or Dean prays to Cas in purgatory. (s15 e08 coda)

Tags: s15 e08 coda, Dean Winchester prays to Castiel, Mild hurt/comfort

SFW

One Hell of a Pilot

He leaned again to get close to the pilot. “This is a rescue. I’m helping you escape.” He took a deep breath, letting it sink in for just a moment that he said those words. That he was doing this. There was no going back. Or Cas is a reformed Stormtrooper, Dean is a rebel pilot, and this is the story of their escape.

Tags: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoilers, It's literally just the first 36 minutes of TFA, Poe!Dean, Finn!Cas

SFW

The_Madness_Linked_To_A_Hat - @the-madness-linked-to-a-hat - The_Madness_Linked_To_A_Hat

Happy Holidays Cas

Where Dean and Cas follow a seasonal tradition.

Tags: Mistletoe, first kiss, happy holidays SFW

Isangelousdenim - @isangelousdenim - Isangelousdenim

Wishful Drinking

It started with Dean drinking on a case. It escalated to Dean drinking everywhere.

Tags: TW: Suicidal Thoughts, Violent Thoughts & Alcohol Abuse Character Study, Season 15, Heavy Angst

NSFW

Co-written by: Bumocusal

goldenraeofsun - @goldenraeofsun - goldenraeofsun

Head Down, Walk with Reason

As an omega, Castiel is ineligible for the throne after his father dies. When his uncle takes the crown, Metatron's first order of business is to arrange a betrothal with King John for the hand of his firstborn son, the Crown Prince of Terra.

So Castiel flees. His first night on the run, Castiel stumbles into a band of outlaws just at the border. Injured and wary, he has no choice to stay with them. And although he had planned to return to his own kingdom once it was safe, home might not be the place he left, but instead with Dean, their alpha leader that took him in.

Tags: a/b/o, medieval au, royalty au, omega cas, alpha dean, secret identities, angst with a happy ending, castiel and meg friendship NSFW

MaggieMaybe160 - @maggiemaybe160 - MaggieMaybe160

A Thanksgiving Feast

Dean Winchester's dirty prayer before Thanksgiving dinner leads to some shenanigans under the table. Tags: Food Kink. Top Cas/Bottom Dean.

NSFW

One Night

An accidental one night stand between Castiel and Dean leads to whispered confessions and miscommunications.

Tags: Internalized Homophobia. John Winchester's A+ Parenting. Angst with a happy ending. NSFW

followyourenergy - followyourenergy

Christmas in July

When Dean Winchester follows a service dog who won’t leave him alone, he finds Cas Novak, passed out in a stairwell with a Christmas tree on top of him. A Christmas tree? In July? Who does that? Turns out that Cas does that. And once he gets to know the snarky, independent, handsome man, Dean can’t help but fall for him. A story about being seen.

Tags: Christmas, fluff and angst, pining, blind Castiel, service dogs, snarky Castiel, sweet Dean, falling in love

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Nickelkeep - @nickelkeep - nickelkeep Pillowfort

Talk to Me Now

It started off simple. An ad on Craig's List: Looking for a Roommate, 700/mo, Utilities included...

Tags: AU - Roommates, idiots to lovers, pranks and practical jokes, misunderstandings, comfortably bisexual dean, queer castiel

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Stuck in the Middle With You

"Fine." Cas slid his right pointer finger into the trap and almost instantly felt the trap snap around their fingers. "That's not right." Dean looked up at Cas. "What did you do?" Cas attempted to pull his finger out of the trap. "I didn't do anything."

Tags: canonverse, cursed object, idiots to lovers, homophobic language, everyone ships dean/cas, love confessions

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What I Thought I Knew

Dean rolls his eyes and turns to go back to the kitchen when his eyes lock on a guy across the room. He has dark, messy hair and eyes that cannot possibly be so blue. He stares for a moment, ripping his eyes away only when he realizes the other guy has caught him staring. Dean blushes and rushes back into the kitchen. Tags: AU - Modern, Strangers to Lovers, One-sided Enemies to Lovers, Objectification, Miscommunication, Dub-con Kiss

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Slice of Your Pie

He pulled up the Casual Encounters section of Craig's List and was surprised to find out how right Gabe was. Many people were offering their services for Thanksgiving company. As he scrolled through the ads, one with an interesting title caught his attention. Alone on Thanksgiving? Want to stop the ‘Why are you still single?’ questions?

Tags: AU - Modern, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Dysfunctional Family, Crush at first sight, pre-Dean/Cas, Homophobic Language, Sexism

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Shiver

"I wouldn't leave it there. I grabbed the most important things and left." Dean shook his head vehemently. "Are you sure?" Sam's face started to crinkle up in an 'I told you so' expression. "Did you really get everything before you ran and asked to crash with your baby brother and his wife?" Dean glared at Sam. "I don't want to go back. It can't be there."

Tags: AU - Modern with Magic, Witch!Cas, Witch!Dean, Blizzards, Car Accident, Getting Back Together, Angst with a Happy Ending

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Angel

Overcome by a moment of whimsy, Dean walked down the stairs and stepped into the middle of the yard. He looked towards the sky and closed his eyes, letting the snowflakes gently kiss his skin. Tags: Canon Compliant, Fallen!Cas, Snow Angels, Marriage Proposal, Established Dean/Cas, Short and Sweet

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Chandeliers of Hope

"You seriously Christmas themed our D&D game?" Dean rolled his eyes in disbelief. Charlie walked over and patted Dean on the cheek before taking some of the candlesticks out of Cas' arms. "Of course, I did. You said to write what I wanted, I wrote tonight's campaign. It's a one-shot, and it's going to be a lot of fun, I promise." "Gonna hold you to that, Red." Dean pointed at her accusingly before looking and smiling at Cas. "And I'm going to hold you as an accomplice."

Tags: AU - Roommates, Christmas Party, Characters playing D&D, Recreational Marijuana Use, Alcohol Use, Mistletoe Kiss, Cas/Dean First Kiss, Idiots to Lovers

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A Cold, Dark Winter’s Night

Charlie pulled out a small gift bag and handed it out to everyone. "Secret Santa!" Cas rolled his eyes as Charlie came to stand in front of him, gently shaking the bag. He reached in and pulled out a slip of paper, waiting until Charlie moved to the next person. He flipped it open, and butterflies fluttered in his stomach. Dean.

Tags: AU - Roommates, Christmas Fluff, Idiots in Love, Secret Santa, Everyone Ships Dean/Cas

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Twas The Night

“It’s Christmas Eve!” “Uh, yeah.” Dean got up from his bed and walked down the hallway to Emma’s room and leaned against her doorframe. “You gonna tell me something I don’t know, Kiddo?” “We need to get started!” Emma was sitting on her floor with her back to the door. “It’s Cas’ first Christmas with us, and I want to make sure he enjoys it.”

Tags: AU - Modern, Timestamp, Domestic Dean/Cas, Established Dean/Cas, Christmas Fluff, KidFic, Marriage Proposal

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You Make it Feel Like Christmas

"Well, considering I haven't had a chance to go Christmas shopping. How about you?" Sam zipped up his bag and did a second check around the hotel room. "I already took your bag out to the car." Sam crossed the room to the motel door and headed outside. Dean stood in silence for a moment as Sam closed the door behind him. Shopping, on Christmas Eve?

Tags: Canonverse, Last Minute Christmas Shopping, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Light Angst, Happy Ending

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Auld Lang Syne

"She's cute. You ask her out yet?" Dean stabbed his pie with his fork and shoved another bite into his mouth. "Uh, no. Why?" Dean winked. "Means she's available, right?" "No offense Dean, but you don't have a chance. She has standards." Cas took a sip of his tea and looked at his roommate. "Ouch. You wound me, Cas." Dean rested his elbow on the table and his chin on his knuckles. "Bet you I can get Meg to go to the New Year's Ball with me."

Tags: AU - Modern, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Oblivious Castiel, Eventual Dean/Cas, Dean/Cas First Kiss

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Leafzelindor - @leafzelindor

Artwork for On The Road Again

Artwork done for the DCBB fic "On the Road again" Tags: destiel, fluff, au

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For On The Road Again by @hekate1308​

Artwork for Life is But A Dream

Artwork done for the DCBB fic "Life is but a Dream" Tags: Destiel, AU

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For Life is But A Dream by @crowleyhasfeels​

Jdragon122 - @jdragon122 - Jdragon122 Pillowfort

from stardust to stardust

~ from stardust to stardust ~ The art prize for the lovely gii-heylittleangel ;) who won the Destiel Artists United 500 follower giveaway! They asked for Castiel and wings XD my favorite lol. I was happy to comply <3

Tags: N/A

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Jemariel - @jemariel - jemariel

Human Error

Cas is human now, and things aren't going to plan. (Not that Dean had a plan. Nope. No plans of any kind.) Anyway, what's a Winchester to do when everything he tries seems to blow up in his face? Go hunting. Obviously.

Tags: Human!Castiel, Alternate season 9, Casefic, Only One Bed, Mutual pining, Miscommunication, Sex under the influence of alcohol, Canon-typical violence, Wendigo, Injured Cas

NSFW

Sarasaurussex - @sarasaurussex - sarasaurussex

Don’t Mess with Dean’s Alpha

Dean and Castiel are enjoying a relaxing night out, until Cas gets hit on by another Omega.

Tags: Omega Dean x Alpha Cas, Possessive Omega, BAMF Dean, Jealousy, Fluff

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The Wendigo

Dean has a lot of baggage from his childhood. Castiel wants to help, if Dean will let him.

Tags: PTSD trauma, parental abuse trauma, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Healing, First Kiss, Confessions

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Destiel Christmas Sweaters, Part I

I had some funny Christmas sweater ideas and couldn't resist dressing up the boys. Dean is not amused. Tags: Destiel, Crack, Humor, Christmas

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Destiel Christmas Sweaters, Part II

More ugly Christmas sweaters for the boys ;D Tags: Destiel, Crack, Humor, Christmas

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Miracle on Lebanon Street

The bunker gets an unexpected visitor on Christmas morning, and it’s not Santa! (Contains Destiel and Sabriel)

Tags: Ugly Christmas Sweaters, White Christmas, Gift Giving, Christmas Feast (it’s pie), Mistletoe, Fluff SFW

vaudelin - @vaudelin - vaudelin Pillowfort

of mundane things

“You never told us,” Dean hisses, during a muted conversation carried in the protective depths of the kitchen. “You got hitched to a djinn? Since when?” “I did tell you,” Cas growls back. He slams on the faucet, filling the glass with vigor. “It’s not my fault you weren’t listening.”

Tags: Alternate Season/Series 14, dream walking, Dean in Castiel's Dream, Getting Together

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a tale that can’t be told

Black leather and oil scent the air around him, a welcome change from antiseptics. Impala, Castiel thinks. Baby. Except he’s not allowed to call her that. A flash of brown panelling slides through his memory, rattling on a rusted truck bed with wood for bed rails. Outside the car, the brothers are quietly arguing. Castiel cranes to listen, but he only picks out a partial phrase from Sam: Since when was he losing his powers? The snippet from Dean is even more troubling: Is Chuck fucking with us by giving him a factory reset?

Tags: Alternate Season/Series 15, Castiel Losing His Powers, Human Castiel, Memory Loss, Dean's Top 13 Zepp Traxx Mixtape, Castiel's Missing Brown Truck, Getting Together, Sharing a Bed, Hopeful Ending

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low voices in the library (are appreciated)

Sam moved, though in which direction Dean couldn’t yet tell. Not the library, Dean mentally begged. He didn’t want to deal with the scene Sam was about to stumble into, let alone its know-it-all aftermath. Tags: Library Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Semi-Public Sex

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a handful of seeds

Dean paused in his chopping. He swiped the green pepper chunks into a neat pile on the cutting board. He was running out of excuses to make. Weakly, he asked, “Where would I even keep a garden?” Cas, sensing victory, rose up in height. “Behind the bunker entrance, in the patch of earth lined by mulberry bushes.” Dean cursed, caught out. “Why’d you even bother to ask, if you already knew?” Softening, Cas gave a small smile. “I’d like to add to it, if that’s okay.”

Tags: Mary Winchester Feels, Gardens & Gardening, Domestic Fluff

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LanaSerra - @lanaserra​ - LanaSerra  &  Spandwiches  - @spandwiches - spandwiches

300cc

300 Complementary Characters: a forum on Kansas City University’s student website. You can write whatever you want, but it has to be 300 characters or less. Dean is crushing hard on Sam’s TA, but it feels different than it has before; it feels like he needs to do it properly, to have a grand declaration and to prove that romance isn’t dead. What better way to profess his feelings than posting a poem on 300cc? Castiel is torn. There’s no mistaking the poem is for him, but who could be posting them? Despite being very tempted by the very attractive new light and sound engineer that will be working on the play he has written, Castiel can’t ignore the feeling that he and the anonymous Poet are meant to be together. A comedy of errors, mutual pining, and erotic poetry.

Tags: college-au, two person love triangle, explicit poetry, fluff, the boys fail to use their words while using ALL of their words, consent is sexy, POV switching, explicit, minor Sam/Eileen

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MittensMorgul - @mittensmorgul​ - MittensWraith

This Must Be The Place

Seven years after their profound meeting, Cas knows he's exactly where he was always meant to be. (a sequel to Lifetime Piling Up, but can be read as a standalone)

Tags: Doctor Castiel/Tattoo Artist Dean, Established Relationship, Marriage Proposal, Fluff

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On This Night

Something goes terribly wrong while hunting a djinn. Newly-human Cas had never considered what the effects of djinn poison could be for a human, and struggles to remember why everything seems just so slightly off when he wakes up back at the cabin he and Dean had been staying in during the hunt. The cabin has been transformed with holiday decorations, and Cas wonders just how long he'd been unconscious. Only when he tries to get answers from Dean, reality comes crashing back in on them both, in the best of all possible ways. Tags: Canon case fic, Christmas Fluff, snowed in, first kiss, POV Castiel, djinn dreams

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firefly124 - @firefly124-writing​ - firefly124

Making It Up as We Go

Dean’s not entirely sure what he’s looking at, but he’s almost sure it’s a message from Chuck.

Tags: mentions of past (temporary) MCD, spoilers through SPN 15x06

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Something Bright to Dispel the Gloom

A road trip to Salina had sounded like a good idea when Dean had suggested it. Cas hadn’t been back for long, though, and this was shaping up to be the world’s most awkward road trip ever.

Tags: spoilers through SPN 15x07

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Crumblin’ Down

Dean’s feeling nostalgic. Cas is mystified. Sam is oblivious.

Tags: spoilers through SPN 15x07

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Overdue Explanations are Overdue

If Dean thought this day had been a rollercoaster ride before, he didn’t know what to compare it to now.

Tags: spoilers through SPN 15x07, reference to past (temporary) MCD

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Faith, Hope, and Maybe Something Else

Castiel figured he’d probably just ensured that the Empty would never come for him.

Tags: spoilers through SPN 15x07, reference to canon character deaths

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The Choices We Make

Castiel takes a moment to reflect on the choices he has made as well as those others have made, and is presented with a new one to consider.

Tags: spoilers through SPN 15x07

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Wargurl - @wargurl83​ - wargurl83

Christmas in the Bunker

Join TFW as they discover a little bit of the magic of the season. Tags: Cannon-Divergent, holiday shenanigans

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[dr-gloom]

Delayed Introductions

Summary: based on the Chance Encounters prompt “a storm is delaying our flight home and i’m afraid of thunder, please talk to me while we wait”

Fandom: Sanders’ Sides

Pairing: Analogical

Tangs/Warnings: astraphobia, Human AU, science, brief mentions of Patton and Roman

Words: 1,529

A/N: If you like my style and have a fic request, feel free to shoot me an ask! I’m open to any ship, fluff, angst, all that. I hope y’all enjoy! Fic is under the cut to save dash. 

Read it on AO3

fic masterlist

like what I do? buy me a coffee or GoFundMe

Virgil felt himself jump as another clash of thunder sounded just beyond the glass doors. He’d hated thunder storms for as long as he could remember; they always ramped up his anxiety, despite him being 26 now and knowing that, rationally, he’s safe inside the airport he’s trapped in. 

His flight had been delayed due to said storm, and he found himself regretting visiting Patton in the middle of winter. He knew how bad the weather got this time of year, and yet he just couldn’t deny those puppy dog eyes over his computer screen, begging him to visit for Thanksgiving. So now, here he was, in one of the smallest airports he’s ever seen, with heavy rain pelting the building and thunder practically shaking the glass every minute or so. 

A flash of lightning lights up the windows across the hall from Virgil, and a moment later thunder claps cacophonously. Virgil can feel his body going tense, seemingly every muscle taut. He fiddles with his phone in the pocket of his hoodie, cursing himself for not charging it the night before, because it had died almost 2 hours ago when the rain had really started to pick up. So here he was, alone, no Tumblr or music to distract him. He just wanted this storm to be over already. 

Logan had always found peace in the steady thrum of falling rain. Even the less rhythmic thunder and lightning soothed his mind as he was drawn into Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s world of mysteries and crime solving. Truth be told, he had been a little irked when his flight had been delayed due to the storm, but it would have been irrational to get upset over something as uncontrollable as the weather. Besides, it gave him more time to read his book before he had to be back home, back to the responsibilities of teaching and grading and just, life in general. 

Thunder rattled the window behind his back as he turned the page, and he momentarily spared a thought to wonder if the window pane was loose before shrugging it off. Public buildings had to pass numerous inspections before being put to use, so he was sure the airport was structurally sound. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out, unlocking it to read the message from his brother Roman. 

hey specs, you still at the airport?

Logan rolled his eyes at the nickname - one Roman had been using since they were children - and responded. 

Yes, I am. In case you weren’t aware, the storm is still unleashing it’s torrent of rain and electricity, making it unsafe for flight.

A reply comes quickly; Roman’s television must not be working.

yeah yeah i get it bookworm you know big words. just lemme know when you finally take off, okay?

Logan hums and responds quickly before putting his phone away. Will do. And while your power is out, it might benefit you to crack open a book.

He’s just about to take his own advice and continue reading when he hears something of a yelp across the hall. Curious, he looks up to find the source of the noise. A man about his age, with purple hair, jacket, and shirt is sitting as rigid as a board. Even from this distance Logan can see the tension in his frame, and when another clap of thunder causes the purple man to stiffen more (if it were possible), Logan realizes what’s going on. 

Usually, he isn’t one to meddle in other people’s business, or generally be overly empathetic to those he doesn’t know, but for some reason Logan finds himself putting his bookmark in his book and standing, grabbing his suitcase and making his way over to the other man. 

Virgil’s heart was fluttering in his chest, beating too quickly and turning his breathing shallow. He needed to calm down soon or he was going to have a panic attack. In front of all these people.

His face heats up when he feels more than sees someone stop to stand right beside him, and he hesitantly looks up at the stranger to see what they want, but when he opens his mouth nothing comes out. The stranger seems to take pity on him and speaks first. “Hello there, my name is Logan. I realize you may not be the type to socialize with strangers, as I’m not of the sort either, but seeing as all flights are delayed until further notice, would you mind keeping me company?” Virgil stared at Logan, trying to gauge why the hell he chose him out of an entire terminal of people. When he couldn’t see any signs of malicious intent, he nodded, still feeling as though he had a cotton ball stuck in his throat. 

Logan sits down beside the anxious man, carefully folding his hands in his lap. He doesn’t know much about anxiety, or how to help someone who has it, but... If you are afraid, seek knowledge. “Storms are quite fascinating. Do you know how they are formed?” He glances at the other - Virgil, if the name on his luggage is anything to go by. Virgil just shakes his head, picking at his cuticles. He gets that clouds get a lot of water, so they let go of it in rain, and that lightning has something to do with energy, but that’s about it. Logan nods and looks out the window.

“If we are to take it back to the very beginning - or, in essence, a storms ‘conception’ - the Earth’s surface is heated on warmer days, and through conduction the Earth heats up the air just above it. Warm air, which is less dense, rises and the cooler air above it that hasn’t been effected by this conduction sinks. This process is called convection. Through this process, the hot air is taking the heat from the surface and distributing it to the upper layers of the atmosphere. 

“Now, there are three types of thunderstorms; Orographic Thunderstorms, which are caused by air that is forced up by a mountain or hillside, Air Mass Thunderstorms, which are the result of localized convection in an unstable air mass, and Frontal Thunderstorms, which occur along the boundaries of fronts, such as a cold front.” Logan glances at Virgil out of the corner of his eye to see that Virgil is now looking right at him, and his breathing seems to have evened out. Good; though he’s still tense. “Now, a supercell thunderstorm, which I believe we may be experiencing, occurs when very strong updrafts are balanced by downdrafts. This allows the storm to persist for hours. In a supercell, a moist, unstable body of warm air may be forced to rise by an approaching cold front.  This results in a strong, persistent updraft of warm moist air, and the air cools as it rises. The water vapor produced by these cooling temperatures condenses and forms cumulus clouds. When condensation occurs, heat is released and helps the thunderstorm grow.

“Now,  lightning is formed when frozen raindrops bump into each other as they move around in the air. These collisions create an electric charge. The positive charges - or protons - form at the top of the cloud and the negative charges - or electrons - form at the bottom of the cloud. Since opposite charges attract, that causes a positive charge to build up on the ground beneath the cloud. The ground’s electrical charge concentrates around anything particularly tall, such as mountains, people, or single trees.” He sees Virgil’s eyes widen and adds, “Although, the odds of a person being struck are significantly lower if they’re in an area surrounded by many larger structures. The charge coming up from these points eventually connects with a charge reaching down from the clouds, which creates the lightning we see. Thunder is the resulting ‘sonic boom’ from the force of that energy being released.”

Virgil nods and looks out the window, seeming much more relaxed now. “How do you know so much about this stuff?” Logan smiles slightly, noting that the lightning and thunder has stopped, though it’s still raining heavily. “I am a science teacher.” Virgil looks over at the other. “Seriously?...Well, I guess I can sort of see it. You dress like a stiff.” Logan raises an eyebrow. He’s well aware that his appearance - the glasses, tucked in shirt, belt, and tie - is very stereotypical of a STEM teacher, but no one has ever pointed it out so bluntly before. “We all have our comforts. Mine happen to include dressing formally, as I’m sure yours include the color purple and large jackets.” Virgil smirks slightly, messing with his sleeve. “Whatever you say, Specs.”

Logan sighs quietly. “It’s Logan. I believe I told you that.”

“I know, I just needed an excuse to tell you my name was Virgil without making it sound awkward and forced.”

Logan hums. “I don’t suppose you like tea?” He gestures at the Starbucks on the other end of the small airport. 

“Only if you let me buy.” Virgil stands, grabbing his luggage and heading in the direction of the Starbucks, Logan close behind.

A/N: Man I’m really good at bad endings. 

Mama taught me to always source my research (lol not really) so here: 

https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/dangerwx/tstorm4.htm

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-lightning.htm

[multi-goodness]

Family

Happy Thanksgiving! I was hoping to have this out sooner but this day can get busy. But I wanted to post a story about this holiday and unfortunately, this went into a different direction and I allow it to lol. I just want to say I am so thankful for this little escape and the fact that life can get stressful and no one gives up on my stories means so much to me! That something I saw as a dream, writing fanfic for my favorite couple, actually became a reality is so amazing and I thank each and every person who follows me. Whether you know it or not, I appreciate you all so much! Enjoy! And I will be getting to some stories over the weekend I promise.

----------------------

“Sylvie?” Antonio called out as he entered the house with bags in his arms. 

“In the kitchen!” Sylvie replied as she closed the oven door. She finally finished getting the turkey prepped and put it in the oven.

Antonio walked in the kitchen and placed the bags down on the kitchen counter. He started emptying the bags and putting away the groceries. “You look stressed out.” He observed.

“I am.” She sighed. “And tired.”

“Mhm.” He replied as he looked around the kitchen. He was so busy with the bags he didn’t notice that a certain little girl wasn’t at his feet. “Where’s Julie?” He asked as he looked over at his wife.

“Thankfully, she’s sleeping.” She smiled softly as she walked over and helped Antonio with the groceries. “Thank you for going to the store for this. You’re the best.”

“I am.” He grinned at her. “But I also didn’t feel like I had a choice.” He pointed out. “You can get scary with the holidays.”

She nodded her head. “I know, I’m sorry. It’s just---I always enjoyed the holidays when I was younger. Thanksgiving, Christmas, basically every holiday that can be celebrate, I celebrated. And I just want Julie to have that experience.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It sounds silly, I know.”

He shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. I know how hard it is for you to be away from your parents, it’s even harder on the holidays.”

She nodded her head. “Now, I have my own family so it isn’t nearly as hard.” She never regretted  moving to Chicago; she loved it here so much. But that didn’t stop her from missing her parents and her siblings. 

“And sadly, our daughter likes waking us up at the crack of dawn on the holidays.” He said with a chuckle. 

“I know.” She sighed. “I’m so tired. But at least she’s sleeping now so I can get dressed and start on the rest of the food since I won’t have to run after a little girl.” She said as she walked over to the oven and opened it to check on the turkey. She closed the door after a few seconds. “I think I have enough time to take a quick shower and get dressed before Julie will wake up.”

Antonio smiled as he walked over to Sylvie and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I think the shower can wait.” He leaned down and kissed her neck.

“Antonio, stop!” She said, although she didn’t really want him to stop. Between having a two year little girl, and their work schedules, they didn’t have much alone time. Sylvie was always so exhausted by the time he got home, and his days off never matched up with hers. She missed her husband, but right now she was hoping he was stronger than her. 

He pulled away slightly, but she could still feel his hot breath on her neck. “Do you want me to stop?” He asked, knowing she didn’t. 

“No.” She admitted weakly. She could never resist him, even when she was angry with him. “But we have such a busy day ahead of us.” 

“I know.” He agree, his arms still around her waist. He spun her around to face him as he looked into her eyes. “I just miss my wife.”

“I miss you too, baby. I do.” She said as she placed her hand on his face. She stroked his cheek with her thumb. “Julie will go to bed early tonight and we can have the whole night just for ourselves. How does that sound?”

“Perfect.” Antonio smiled softly as he leaned forward and kissed her softly. He deepened the kiss as he pulled her closer to him. 

They were interrupted as they heard little footsteps coming down the stairs. Antonio pulled away from the kiss as he heard Julie running into the kitchen.

“Daddy!” Julie exclaimed as she ran over to Antonio.

He smiled softly as he lifted her in his arms. “Hi, sweetie.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “How was your nap?” 

“It was good.” Julie smiled as she laid her head down on his chest. He could tell that she was still sleepy.

“Well, now that she’s awake, can you dress her for me?” She asked Antonio. “I still need to take a shower and hopefully put out the appetizers before people start arriving.”

He nodded his head. “Of course.” He wasn’t sure why she was asking knowing that Antonio loved spending time with his daughter. “Who is coming?” He asked.

“Um.” Sylvie thought as she walked out of the kitchen with Antonio following behind her. “I wanted to invite the whole firehouse over.”

Antonio stopped walking, thinking what his wife was capable of during the holidays. “Sylvie, you didn’t.”

She shook her head. “No. I didn’t want to put the extra pressure on me because I knew that meant extra pressure on you and I know how lucky we both are to have the entire day off.”

He nodded his head as he began following Sylvie once again. “So, who did you invite?”

“The kids of course.” She said referring to Diego and Eva. “I didn’t think it would have been much of a family holiday if all the kids weren’t here with us.” She pointed out, knowing that Antonio wanted all his kids with him. “I invited your parents but your mother had plans already and your father---well he said he was busy too.” She was sure he was busy with something other than eating but of course she wasn’t going to get in his business and ask what he was doing. “Gabby and Matt is coming so they’re going to pick up Eva and Diego and drop them off here.”

Antonio smiled as he walked upstairs and walked into their bedroom. “You’re amazing.” He wanted the kids here but figured if they wanted to come, they would have called him. “Do you want me to give her a bath?” He asked softly.

She shook her head. “No, no. I gave her a bath last night since she likes playing in the bath, I figured we wouldn’t have time for that today.” Julie wouldn’t let them give her a quick bath and would want to play until she was ready to get out. “But her outfit is in her room on the nightstand.”

He nodded his head. “Please tell me you don’t want to put her in a dress.” 

“No. She’s 2 years old and with the food, she would just ruin any dress that she wears.” She pointed out. 

“Okay. I’ll go dress her now and I’ll see you downstairs.”

-----------

A few hours later, Sylvie was beginning to make the sides since the Turkey was almost done. Julie was busy playing with her dolls which made Sylvie feel better.

“Thank you.” She said to Antonio who was helping her. “I don’t think many husbands would do what you have done today.” She smiled softly, knowing that she was lucky and it was a thought that crossed her mind every day.

He looked over at Sylvie with a puzzled look. “Not many husbands support their wives?” He asked. “I just want you to be happy and I don’t think I can accomplished that by saying no or being rude.”

She laughed. “I don’t think it would have been rude.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Some people don’t like holidays and that’s okay.”

He nodded his head. “Like they say ‘happy wife, happy life.’ Besides, I have a selfish motive behind the things I’m doing.”

Sylvie smiled, wondering what that was. “Hmm? What is it?” She asked, curious.

“Okay the things I did earlier wasn’t a selfish motive because you know anything you ask me to do, I’d do it.” He said referring to when she asked him to go to the store and then helping her with Julie. Although she never had to ask him to do anything for Julie because he’d always do it. “But now helping with the sides, well, I get to spend time with you and you know I’d always jump at any chance to spend time with my wife.”

“I wonder If you’d still feel that way when we have been married for longer than 10 years.” She said, always loving talking about their future.

“Absolutely.” He agreed. 

Sylvie laughed. “You answered that fast.” She said and she leaned against the counter as the food cooked as she arched her eyebrows. “So, either you felt like that was a trap or--” She trailed off.

“What?” He laughed. “You know me, I’d say whatever I feel is true, regardless if that would upset you or not.” He pointed out.

“True.” She said, thinking about some of their fights in the past. 

Antonio stepped away from the kitchen table and walked over to Sylvie. “Do you think ten years from now, I’d make up any excuse to not want to spend time with you?”

“I mean, our marriage is still fairly new.” She pointed out. 

“A lot of things may change in our marriage. For one, our little girl will be older, a lot older.” He sighed, thinking about that. “And many other things probably. It’s life, it happens. But one thing that won’t is using every opportunity to spend time with my wife.”

“How can you be sure?” She said, challenging him. 

“Because baby, you aren’t just my wife but my best friend.” 

Sylvie’s smile grew wider as she heard Antonio’s confession. Their eyes were locked on each other’s but no words could come out of her mouth right now. 

Before she could say anything, the door opened and she heard Gabby’s voice calling for them. It was loud enough to break the spell between them right now.

Sylvie smiled at Antonio and then she walked in the living room, Antonio following her. 

“Hey guys. Happy Thanksgiving!” Sylvie said giving Gabby, Matt, Diego and Eva a hug. 

“It smells great in here.” Matt said.

“Evie!” Julie was upstairs in her room when she heard the noise coming downstairs. As she rushed downstairs, Antonio told her to be careful. The last thing he wanted was for Julie to miss a step and fall downstairs.

Julie ran over to Eva and gave her a hug. And then did the same thing to Diego. She loved her siblings and it always gave Antonio a happy feeling knowing how close his kids were.

As Julie was done saying her hellos to her siblings, Antonio knew it was his turn and he have Diego a hug and gave a hug to Eva and kissed her cheek. “Glad you guys could make it.”

Eva shrugged her shoulders. “Mom is busy so I’m glad you guys were cooking dinner.”

As Eva explained this, Antonio shot a glance over at Sylvie who simply just shrugged her shoulders. “Dinner should be done soon.” She looked over at Gabby. “Do you want to finish helping me so I can let Antonio rest for a while?”

She nodded her head. “Of course.”

Sylvie smiled at Gabby and then walked in the kitchen. Matt looked over at Antonio. “Let’s go watch the game!” He said as they walked over to the couch and sat down. “I’m gonna assume you didn’t watch any games today so let me fill you in.” He said as he began filling Antonio on the few games he missed.

Eva and Diego were just excited to spend time with Julie so they went upstairs and played with her until dinner was done.

-----

As Gabby and Sylvie was sitting up the table for dinner, Gabby looked over at Sylvie. “Are things okay with you and Antonio?”

Sylvie nodded her head slowly, confused by this question. “Yes. We’re great.” She said, wondering where Gabby was going with this.

“You guys shared a look that looked intense. I wasn’t sure what it meant.” She explained.

“Oh no, we’re great. He’s been great today. He helped me with everything today, so that looked had nothing to do with us.”

“And everything to do with Laura?” She asked.

She nodded her head. “I think it just bothers him that we’re always including the kids with everything in our lives which can be hard with a two year old. And Laura can’t even take care of them when it’s just her and her boyfriend.” She took a deep breath. “We have been talking a lot about moving the kids in here. I support him with whatever decision he decides. The kids already have their own room so it isn’t like we don’t have enough room for them.”

“But he doesn’t want to deal with Laura?” Gabby finished for her.

“Yeah. I think he feels like she may act like mom of the year if he tries that.” She sighed. “Like I said, I will support Antonio with anything, but if she tries to downplay our marriage like we only got married because I got pregnant, I may hurt her then.” Sylvie didn’t like fighting, it was the reason why she stayed silent with Laura because she can say what she wants, but when it came to her family, she was proud of it and no one was going to make her feel differently.

“It’s a messy situation.”

“It certainly is.” She agreed. “But I don’t want to think about it right now, I want to have a great thanksgiving with the people I love.”

“And we will.” Gabby said with a smile. “You did this, all of this, so be happy.”

After they were finished setting the table, they told everyone dinner was done. 

One by one they entered the dining room and started sitting at the table. Sylvie smiled widely as she watched Antonio walked in the room with Julie in his arms. 

Sylvie pulled up her highchair next to where Sylvie and Antonio were seated, and then Antonio placed Julie in the highchair.

-------

After everyone was done eating, they all stood up from their seats and walked out of the dining room. 

Sylvie stood up and lifted Julie out of her seat. She was covered in food and was a mess. “Thankfully I listened to my gut.”

Antonio chucked. “Here, let me clean her up. It’s your turn to relax.”

As Sylvie handed Julie to him, she looked down at the table. “I still have to clean this mess. I’ll do it when everyone leaves.”

He shook his head. “No, babe. I got it. You did more than enough today.“

As they walked out of the dining room, Sylvie looked over at Antonio and smiled. “Thank you.”

Antonio walked upstairs to clean up Julie as Sylvie walked over to the couch and sat down next to Gabby.

“So, when are you planning your next baby?” Gabby asked.

“No, no. We’re done.” She promised. “Our hearts are filled enough.” She said looking over at Eva and Diego. Her biggest worry was making them think they weren’t included on their family when they were. She looked back at Gabby. “I think the real question is, when are you guys gonna start?” She fired the question back at her.

“Soon. Just waiting for the right timing.” Matt answered the question for them.

“I know Julie may have been a surprise, a great surprise, but if me and Antonio would have waited for the ‘right timing’, trust me, I wouldn’t be a mom right now. There is never the perfect time to have a baby. You just do it and everything else will fall into place.”

“So, you don’t ever wish you could have waited?” Gabby asked.

“No way.” Sylvie answered honestly. “My little girl is perfect. Besides, she made us realize how much we truly love each other. And if anything, she made us fall in love with each other even more.” Sylvie shook her head, realizing she was making it sound like it was perfect. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard with our jobs, and I suffer from working mom guilt so much. But it’s never a regret and always worth it.”

Gabby nodded her head, taking in everything Sylvie was saying. “Maybe soon we’ll get lucky too.”

“You will.” Sylvie promised as she grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She knew it was more than just their jobs, but also with the fact that they lost two kids. But she knew if anyone deserved to have a kid more than she and Antonio did, it was them.

Sylvie turned her attention to Eva and Diego. “Do you guys want to spend the night?” She asked. 

Eva shook her head no. “We would love to, but we have to get home.”

Sylvie nodded her head, knowing it was because of Laura. “Of course. Another night then.”

Antonio came down a few seconds later with Julie in her pajamas. “One clean sleepy little girl who wants her mommy.” He handed her to Sylvie who took her happily.

Julie laid her head on Sylvie as she grabbed on her hair. 

“Well, we should get going, I think the little angel needs her rest.” Gabby said as she stood up. “I can stay while Matt drops off the kids to help you clean up.”

Antonio shook his head. “No, it’s fine. Sylvie is relaxing for the rest of the night while I clean up so it’s okay. You go home and relax too.” 

“Are you sure, man?” Matt asked. “We all ate too.”

“It’s fine. I don’t want to bring them home late.” With the way things were with Laura right now, he didn’t want to give her a reason to get mad right now. 

As they said their goodbyes, they headed out of the door as Antonio kissed the kids goodbye. Before Gabby walked out of the house, he grabbed her arm gently.

“What’s up?” She asked her brother.

“Thank you for bringing them. It means a lot to us.” 

“No problem.” She smiled softly. “Just fix this mess with the kids so they can stay here where they belong.”

“Gabby.” Antonio warned.

“I know, I know. It isn’t that easy.” Gabby sighed. “We’ll talk about this later when we have more time. Love you.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

“Love you too.” 

As he watched Gabby get in the car safety, he closed the door behind them.

“Now it’s just us.” He heard Sylvie say to him. “I think the mess can wait, come over here.”

Antonio smiled and he walked over to Sylvie. He sat down next to her and he wrapped his arm around her.

“We love you.” He heard Sylvie whispered.

Antonio looked down at Sylvie and Julie and he smiled. “I love you both too.”

“Promise me something?” 

“Hmm?” Antonio said as he relaxed, being close to his family made him relax. It was the only thing that did.

“That we won’t go to work tomorrow and we can stay in bed with our perfect little girl and have a family day in?” She asked.

“Promise.” He leaned down and kissed her head. “I think that sounds perfect.”

[hamonsurveysoverdrive]

Haberdashery

What's your name? Autumn. How old are you? 32. How are you today? Not too bad, got most of my Christmas shopping done and got to spend some time with my dad. Do you like to read? I love reading. What kind of music do you like? My tastes are all over the place. Name a song that you enjoy: Lately I've been really into Childish Gambino's cover of So Into You Got a favorite book? What is it? I have so many. The main ones are 1984 by George Orwell, the Harry Potter series, To A God Unknown by John Steinbeck, and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Do you like summer? Yes. If not, what's your favorite season? Summer. Do you work out a lot? Haha no. Do you maintain a fit body? Clearly not. How do you feel about movies? I love movies. Name a movie that you could watch a million times: Pulp Fiction. Do you like spaghetti? Yes. What kind of pop do you like? Dr Pepper Does football interest you? Somewhat. If not, then what sports do you like? Basketball is my favorite. What sports are you actually good at? None. Have you ever done triple jump? Nope. How many piercings do you have? Just my nose and ears. How many tattoos? 10. Where you do live? Texas. Do you like where you live? I love the city and state, I do not like this apartment. Is there a movie theater in your town? There are several. Do you even go to the movies? I used to all the time. Not now, obviously. What's the last movie you saw at the theater? I don't even remember, it makes me so sad. Oh, maybe it was Parasite! At least it was a good one lol What's the last movie you saw at home? I watched The Mummy at Justin's house. Who did you see those last movies with? Both were Justin. Who do you live with? My kiddos and my father. Do you enjoy living with these people? I don't hate it. Who do you spend most of your time with? Kids, dad, Justin. Do they spend most of their time with you? Probably. Who are your good friends? Justin, Kelsi, Krystle, Needles, Carly, Kelly What kinds of flowers do you like? All kinds, but my favorites are white roses and sunflowers. Not together. Do you really think flowers smell good? Yes. Do you like to eat a lot? I do. If so, name 3 foods you eat most often: Goldfish, bread, pork. Do you watch a lot of TV? Sure. Not lately, because most of my free time is spent on school work. Name 5 TV shows you've watched recently: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Schitt's Creek, Blood of Zeus, Hot Ones (I'm counting it lol), Grey's Anatomy. Are you watching TV now? No. If not, are you listening to music? No. Do you have a cell phone? I do. Is it really yours or do you share it? It's mine... Do you use the ringtones on it or download them? My main one is one it came with. Some people have special ringtones. Are you still in school? I'm back in college. If so, what's your school's mascot? I think it's a bull? It's a community college, so the mascot doesn't really matter lol Do you enjoy your school? Mostly Do you get good grades or are you a slacker? Both lol Do you like popsicles? Meh, I have to be in the mood. If so, what's your favorite flavor? Cherry or the fudgesicles. What do you think of when you see a rainbow? I still get really excited when I see real rainbows lol How are your feelings on chicken strips? They're okay, not a favorite. Do you frequently indulge in eating them? No. Do you use bbq, ketchup, etc. or just eat them? Barbecue or caesar dressing or teriyaki. What do you eat them with? ...those things I just mentioned? Do you have a job? Not currently. Do you have your own checking account? Yes. What do you usually spend your money on? Cigarettes, clothes, food. Do you ever shop for clothes at Wal-Mart? No. Where do you shop for clothes? Mostly Target or Torrid. What would you say your style of clothing is? It varies. Do you like baggy pants or tight ones? Tight. How about baggy or tight shirts? Usually baggier. Do you wear hoodies? Yes. What about athletic shorts? Not really. Do you wear makeup? Yes. Do you have a lot of shoes? I wouldn't say a lot. What are you going to do now? Finish this survey? Is your best friend in love with someone? Justin is lol Does the feeling of Christmas time make you happy? Mostly, but also stressed lol Do you like sensitive guys? Sure. Do you wear more t-shirts or dressy shirts? T-shirts. What would it take for you to be completely miserable right now? Oh I'm always miserable lol Do you believe that there's a difference between love and lust, or is a feeling just a feeling? Of course there's a difference, that's why they're two different words with two different meanings. When you see a girl with big boobs, do you automatically think she's a slut? Wtf no. At this moment in time, do you wish you could trade places with someone else? Not especially. Maybe someone more financially stable lol Do horror movies these days scare you? I get scared pretty easily, but not as bad as I used to be Are you excited for college and being on your own? I'm excited to be back How many times have you sworn at your parents? A handful Do you think it's bad to have sex at 15 or younger? I lost my virginity at 15. And while I don't regret it, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would if they lost it that early. I think any younger than that is worrisome. Have you left some things unsaid with a certain person? Probably. Exciting day out or chill day in? Depends on the day. If a guy wants to become friends with an ex, does it mean he still likes her or cares for her? Not necessarily. Do you get bad cramps? Not often. Do you like cover songs better than the orginals? Sometimes. What would you do if your youngest brother died right now? I don't have one, so. Do you believe that "evil" or "sick" people will get what they deserve eventually? Not always. Do good things happen to good people? Not always. What's something you just don't give a fuck about? A lot of things. Favorite love song at the moment? Let's Stay Together by Al Green. Would you rather it be summer or winter all year round? Neither. Best place to meet guys? I have no idea. What is the best thing that's happened in the past week? Thanksgiving, spending time with Justin. The worst? This week wasn't too bad, honestly. If your boyfriend could get you anything in the world, what would you want? A billion dollars lol When you cook a piece of toast, which side of the toaster do you put it in? I usually cook two at a time. Do you sing along to music? Sure. If so, chorus or the main singer? Both lol When was the last time you washed dishes? Yesterday. Washed a dog? When I was a kid lol What did you have for supper last night? Well, it was Thanksgiving. So, turkey, ham, brown sugar sausage, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, a roll, broccoli cheese rice. How old were you when your parents told you the truth about Santa? They didn't tell me really, I just realized. Do you think Pepsi is better in the bottle or can? I'm not a fan of Pepsi either way. Have you ever shot an animal? Nope. What was the last song stuck in your head? I have no idea, probably something from Hamilton. It's so fucking catchy. Have you ever talked to a pinecone? ...No. What was the last thing you put on your head? A beanie. What color is your cell phone? White, but I always forget because it's in a black case. Have you ever put peanut butter on the roof of a horse’s mouth? Uh, no. How about a dog? No. What type of deodorant do you use, assuming you use one? Well, mine broke, so I stole one of my son's Degree ones lol. But I usually use Dove. Last show you watched on TV? Schitt's Creek. What is the best flavor of Jelly Bellies? Popcorn or pear. Have you ever body surfed at the beach? No. What is the strangest thing you have ever found? Uh, Idk. Have you ever said “brontosaurus blubber butt”? Why would I. Name one character from the Simpsons. Ralph. Name one character from King of the Hill. Bobby. Do you wear mirrored or regular sunglasses? Regular. What is the best candle scent? I like fresh smells, usually. Have you ever stirred up a fire ant hill? Not intentionally. Have you ever had a laughing fit in church? Yes. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Idc. Have you ever sped up a vinyl record just to hear squeaky voices? Nope. Ever fallen on a Christmas tree? No, but my sister's childhood best friend fell on ours once when we were playing Hide and Seek in the dark. Did you ever believe in the boogeyman? No. Do you have any scars on your left index finger? No. Have you ever examined one of your digits? ...I mean, I just did lol Have you ever eaten a jalapenõ pepper for money? No. When was the last time you actually wrote a letter to someone? No clue. Have you ever fallen out of a hammock by yourself? No. When was the last time you rubbed the Buddha’s belly? When my Granny was alive, probably. Does your clock make noise? When the alarm goes off. Do raisins belong in cookies? Sometimes. How do you like your meat done? Rare if it's steak. Do you buy those email chains or just delete them as soon as you see them? Delete. Which is funnier a mime pretending to be in a box or trapped in a box? Mimes aren't funny. What is the best prank you have ever pulled? No clue. Can you say the alphabet backwards? Yes. When was the last time you literally slapped yourself? Uh, never? Probably?

[wrongeddeadthenevermourned]

Character Development Asks: Whump Edition

- Who is the first person your character calls for help when they’re too sick to cope on their own?

The only person Kai has ever called out for was basically NO one because he relies on himself alone, don’t fool yourself lol. He trusts NO one. As much as no one trusts him.

- Who would be the first to notice that your character is hurt? Who would be the first to make it to their side?

Kai would notice he’s hurt first. Only time anyone else has ever noticed he was hurt, is if it had benefited them. Look at the episode where Olivia fucking stabs him right through his entire midsection for your clue in.

- Who would your character take a beating for?

Bonnie. Mister Kai “I was stabbed through the entire middle of my body, but I am going to save Bonnie so she can stop suffering the same shit I went through, not that anyone cares about that part but at least I am helping to save Bonnie.” Parker.

- What injury or sickness would be enough to make your character break down crying?

Look, Kai hasn’t cried since he was a fucking child. Not realistically, -Pushes the scene where he’s explaining Luke’s feelings and his apparently bawling somewhere in private, away- Since his merge with Luke is glossed over, let’s talk about it for a minute. He finally was able to feel all the hurt and pain he brought everyone and that hit him, fucking hard, right in his psyche. But he viewed the entire event, as, basically silly. So he glosses over it and no one else asks him any further about it. Because I guess Luke’s feelings no longer matter? Or Kai’s new found feelings, don’t matter. Fuck Kai, amiright?! -Rolls eyes- I’m sure he has also had a bit of a cry session over just being sick because of the Merge with Luke and vomiting up blood, must have been painful. Is sure as hell looked a little like it was. Could of also been the damage from being STABBED IN THE STOMACH.

- What injury or sickness would your character be most squeamish about?

None. He has not ability to process the realizations of such things in front of him. To him they are ‘normal’ occurrences. Perhaps because of his childhood of abuse.

- What injury or sickness would traumatize your character most if it happened?

Probably the fact that he’s a sociopath and as he was growing up and becoming one he was starting to recognize the numbness to life and others around him. Which might have been pretty terrifying to realize something you had once felt, you can no longer feel without dissolving into another phase of being or being so filled with rage because of what has made him so numb and lead to his sociopathic nature traumatized him in the first place.

- Where is the most vulnerable spot on your character’s body?

Probably his torso. I mean, how many times is someone going to stop him like that. Or his neck. Beheading him usually stops him. lol.

- Where are your character’s ugliest scars?

Probably on his torso. Though he canonically can’t scar anymore. I however wish to keep the damage done to him in some form. So there IS scaring. So his most ugliest scars are the ones from when he has tried to kill himself and where others have tried to kill him/killed him. There’s a thin line to the left of his neck and scratching/tearing to the right. His stomach has a light hole in the sternum from the pick axe, a small sliver on his back from Olivia, another sliver in his right back side and right leg and such from Bonnie attacking him. A gunshot scar in his right front side of his torso, well, several. Teeth marks around the sword scar of his neck on his left side. Faint cut scars on the left side of his forehead, near the hairline. Another faint stab scar just above the one created by the sword. Some faint scars along his arms and other spots of random impact damage to the body. Re-healed cracks in his bones. All these have remained, for something to reflect on in threads.

- Where is your character most comfortable when they’re recovering from an injury?

Pfft, Probably Prison World to be honest, at least he’s safest there. Even if Alaric sends some rotten teenagers there and probably got killed a few times before manipulating the dumb fuckers into aligning with him. Dumbasses.

- When sick or injured, how long does it take for others to convince your character to be treated?

No one cares if Kai is injured. Kai doesn’t even really care when he’s injured. Well, maybe a tiny bit, but he will also just brush it off. Like when Olivia stabbed him, and he decided “ I have a hole in my entire mid section. But let’s bring Bonnie HOME~ Quickly, yeah?” Before almost dying. Who knows what happened after THAT moment. I can speculate that ones drinking Damon’s blood and him helping them they told him to scoot and he left to go hide in a bush for a while. Because TVD didn’t really do anything with him after that for a while.

- When would your character finally admit that they’re under the weather? Do they beat around the bush or say it outright?

Kai ran to Josette for help, despite her clearly not being amused with him. And feeling ill anyway. He still felt/knew, he needed her then when he was vomiting up blood. Of course this was also followed by her throwing him at a wall, and him even confessing that he needed her around. As well, he was no longer a threat to anyone at that time. But still, this is probably the best instant of his finally relenting and going to someone for his needs. And they deleted most of that fucking scene. The dirty bastards.

- When faced with a situation that is guaranteed to get them hurt, does your character hesitate or rush headlong into it anyway?

Kai rushes in headlong, I am fairly certain of this. Because when Kai wants something, he will literally kill himself to get it if he has to. Again we can go back to Bonnie being saved by Kai. Or Kai most recently ‘fighting’ Hope in order to find something. Then as Alaric came to chop his god damn head off he looked so ...blase about it. Death doesn’t scare him. But you gotta ask the question as to why. The why is because he spent eighteen years committing suicide and GOD knows how many times he might have done it in the other prison.

- How quickly would your character break under torture?

He probably has a very high tolerance to any such tactic after spending most of his life in isolation. Which is the most torturous thing that can realistically be done to another human being without physically or mentally assaulting them, but is just as detrimental to the psyche of a person. Add on perhaps twenty two years of whatever in the fuck Joshua and the other members of the coven and his family might have added to. There’s clearly nothing anyone can do to Break Kai, unless other measure’s were taken first. Kai is literally the greatest stronghold. His metaphorical walls are absolutely formidable. Nothing really gets in, and nothing really gets out. He’ll literally just laugh at any attempt, or manipulate you.

- How well would your character serve as a caretaker to someone who is sick or injured? How good is their bedside manner?

Hmm, well, When Kai and Bonnie were trapped in the Prison World. Despite the fact that Kai was doing it for a reason. He was very hospitable to her. Had she not been fucking hostile and stupid, he might have even taken her out with him. But hey, it’s whatever. Kai made her food, served it to her, unpoisoned. Tried to have conversation with her. Even helped to fix the ascendant with her. He kept her in his company, despite his well being over having such, himself. Even if there was an ulterior motive underneath all of it, getting out of the Prison World. He also didn’t have to GO that far. Since he never even needed her to get out in the first god damn place, despite her blood. Which he had just been dripping all over the damn place. It could even be argued that he was dragging it all out, to be more agonizing toward her.

But nah, I think he just was wanting to enjoy the company, and despite his other plans, because clearly the woman was hostile and he definitely is smart enough to see she would screw him over again, he still hung around the entire time. Trying to provide his version of comfort with a nice home cooked meal, he made, for her. On his favorite holiday. THANKSGIVING! - throws up hands- The villain has a better heart than the main characters and his entire family and it’s just glossed over because he killed a few family members who are probably just as terrible as Joshua themselves AND on top of that the rest of the entire main cast, who even WHILE THIS WAS GOING ON, one of them was out going on some murder spree venture because he wanted to. #KaiDeservesTheBestRedemptionArcAU, lol.

- How much pain would it take for your character to lose consciousness? Is it a slow fade or a sudden plunge into darkness?

Well it’s a little bit of both. Depending on where you stab him. Sometimes he’s just very chill where he’s injured, despite blood loss or injury to the head he’s very mellow.  Or if you put and axe in his sternum, he passes out almost instantly and dies. Huh. Funny, that.

- Does your character ever hide their injuries or try to treat them on their own? Why do they think they have to do this?

Kai doesn’t hide his injuries. They are just ignored and so he is able to go about bleeding all over everyone’s property as he please. Because fuck you and your fancy ass couch, Damon. You like you wood floors? Well fuck those too. Kai generally will provide aid to himself and why he thinks he has to do that is because no one else cares if he’s hurt. They literally shot him in the shoulder with an arrow one time, and instead of patching that up, put him in a coma in the fucking kitchen or wherever, where someone tried to kill him. But was stopped because he was ‘needed’ like, don’t fucking touch me. Who the fuck do any of these characters think they are? Break all their neck Kai, damn...lol.

- Does your character ever exaggerate their injuries to get more sympathy or affection? Does their caretaker fall for it?

No, Kai doesn’t exaggerate much things like this. For he even understands when it’s serious. Despite his playfulness. He still will run to family when he’s vomiting up blood, first, for help. He couldn’t care less about what they feel about it. Because he expects nothing, and honestly gets nothing. In the deleted scene that is essential to his ‘growth’ in character. We see him finally pull down the veil, in front of Josette. Where she then accuses him of being a liar and then proceeds to throw him into a wall. He doesn’t want, or need no sympathy from any of these people. And he learned from a very young age to not need it from these people.

- Does your character blame themself when someone they care about is hurt?

Fuck no. Perhaps in his earliest childhood, he didn’t like when others had been hurt. It is important to understand that Kai, as a child, was very different from Kai as an adult, the result of life long abuse who finally snapped when he was twenty two. As a boy I am sure he was much more receptive to other peoples injuries. Say if Josette had fallen and scrapped her knee, he more than likely would have been on the front line to see to it that the injury was fixed. Kai as an adult stabs her, while she pregnant and kills her. The gravity of differences is that Josette has contributed to the same abuse that resulted in his fracture. Josette is no longer ‘needing’ protection from harm. She to him has no become the harmer. And so to had every other single family member he had killed prior. Kai HAD loved them all, at one point. Then the dam broke, and instead of seeing the people he loved. He saw the people in his way, the people who abused him. So he doesn’t blame himself for murdering them, or bringing them harm. Because to him, they were just as happy to let him die, to let him suffer, as he was to be rid of them. To finally be free, and allowed to live.

- Could your character stay still long enough for an injury to heal or do they try to go about their business despite it?

Kai may not plan things precisely. So when they do fall apart and he is injured and if he were offered help in healing, he will take it. He’s not that ungrateful. He’s willing to play along to get what he needs, when it is needed. However, in the event that no one offers him to heal or he is injured while in the ‘thick’ of whatever he’s doing, he will just keep going on, business as usual like, because he has things he needs to do and that matter more to him than self care, usually.

- Could your character push through an injury long enough to complete a vital task or mission?

Oh definitely. He absolutely is a glutton for pain, and will keep persisting till he is killed off or done with what he had needed to do, or eliminated the threat.

- Could your character find the strength/willpower to survive what could be a fatal wound?

Yes. Definitely. After all, he was stabbed by Olivia, while still human, and willed himself through that, full knowing he could die. Even saying as much to everyone else, but decided to help them regardless because Kai, with Luke’s empathy of course, Not entirely BECAUSE of it, did want to be close to those people. And had risked his life to do so, for Bonnie, as well. Kai is pretty resilient honestly. But he has to want to be, otherwise he could easily just be fine with taking a dirt nap. Because he has no feeling toward a necessity to survive, nor a total fear of death.

[blschaos3000-blog]

Its 1: 15 pm hazy

  Welcome to 8 Questions with……

Meet my friend Karen,who is one of the kindest and most compassionate people left on this planet. I have known Karen for several years,she and I met after Lori passed away and she stayed with me as I was getting crushed by grief and loss.  She has donated to Sockvember many times as well donating several times a year to Red Cross,you are getting the idea that Karen is a very caring and generous soul,right? Karen is also a relentless crusader for animals,all types of animals whether it be a abandoned dog,injured possums,hungry birds or a pocket cheetah like her new cat,Doogie Howser. She gets up early to feed her crew,check her TNR traps,rescues the cats and if possible helps them find a home or if they feral,she’ll get them neutered and released back in their area. Family is the most important thing to Karen and if you are a friend,you’re family. I have really enjoyed reading about Karen’s crazy adventures through the years be it a ice storm that led turned a small trip into a multi-hour ride from hell to rooting for her Braves and yes,even losing a few of her rescues and fosters. She has shown me and hundreds of other people around the country what being a caring and loving human being looks like. Simply put,we need a LOT more people like Karen in this world. I hope you enjoy reading and sharing Karen’s interview as she answers her 8 Questions

 Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself. 

I am Karen Jones nee Estes originally from Charlotte, NC but I have been in the Metro Atlanta area since the day Elvis allegedly died. I am married and I have one son who is the light of my life (from my practice marriage). I worked for about 12 years in HR/payroll but in 2016 I was beyond tired of Atlanta traffic and I changed jobs to be closer to home (less miles and less money lol but also way less aggravation from traffic). I work in the preventive maintenance department for a biotechnology company in Kennesaw, GA.  I love all animals but I also love bacon so whatever category that is called – that is where I am. DON’T TOUCH MY BACON!  I am an overly sarcastic person so keep that in mind while reading the rest of my answers.I am a firm supporter of donating blood/platelets at The Red Cross and being an organ donor. If you have doubts about donating organs then you need to do some reading  https://www.donatelife.net/  

 What was it like growing up in your house? Is this how you developed your love for animals?

  My house was cool growing up, my parents are both insane (although I have never had them tested) and they love animals too but they also eat meat.  We had rules and curfews and chores but we also had love.  I would certainly say that my love for animals was developed by watching my parents. I used to make fun of them for birdwatching and bringing home leftovers to feed the possums. Now I do the same thing which makes my son cringe when we go out to eat and I ask for a to-go box so I can feed the critters. So watch out kids – you will become your parents one day! I remember my mom finding an injured owl on the road one night and she wasn’t going to leave it there to suffer so she slipped out of her slip, wrapped up the owl, put it in the car and headed home. Apparently the owl was not hurt because a few miles down the road it hopped up on the steering wheel and watched her drive home. We had plenty of dogs who were saved from the side of the road, dogs who “we are not keeping” but of course ended up staying with us. My dad came across some young flying squirrels and those were brought to our house and released in the backyard. He’d go out at night and call them and they’d come down and eat the peanut butter he set out for them.      Non animal related – our house was the hang out for all the cadets in Civil Air Patrol. My parents preferred that we hang out at home with MTV (back when MTV played nothing but music videos) and eat pizza so the kitchen was always stocked.     Holidays were always an “eat yourself into a coma and still have plenty to take home to eat for the next 6 months” type of event. Mama T (my mom’s mom) was one of the best cooks on the planet, she loved to cook and she loved to watch people eat what she prepared. This is why my family is incapable of preparing normal size meals lol     I must mention that having “insane” parents is a lesson in itself. Both of my parents started out at the phone company as linemen, humping poles as they called it. Neither of them have a “can’t do” attitude. They have the “do what you have to do” attitude so I picked up on that a good bit. If something doesn’t work then you try something else, if that doesn’t work then try something else. We aren’t a “one and done” type of family. I think this is how I reached MacGuyver status among my friends – it is 99.9% true that when there’s a will, there’s a way.  I am extremely lucky to have the parents that I have and to have picked up on 1/10 of their knowledge and attitude.  I hope that my son has picked up a lot of that too.     I could write a book on this subject but I’m trying to keep it short. Bottom line is that I have the best parents who have taught me a lot of life lessons and above all taught me to always help out if you’re capable of doing so. It cost you absolutely nothing to be kind.

What was your first pet and tell us about it?

The first pet that I can remember was our hamster Cinnamon. Other than watching her roll around in the plastic ball I don’t have a lot of memories. I can’t remember there being a time in my life where there wasn’t a dog or a cat or some fish. I just know life has always included a pet.

How did you meet your husband? What attracted you to him?

This is a loaded question. I met him when I worked part time at Winn Dixie where he was an assistant manager. This is a running joke because I met my first husband when we worked at Kroger together. I ask myself every day what attracted me to him! For starters – he stood out because he is bald and has beautiful blue eyes. We started dating and learned that we both love animals, The Three Stooges, prefer Miracle Whip over mayo and we both hate celery so it was obvious that we were meant to be together.

 How did you get into animal rescue? Did you take any classes or workshops to get trained?

  I wish I knew the answer!!!!!!  I think it all happened by being in the right place at the right time?  No classes or anything like that. Most of it is common sense and thinking back to what my parents did when they came across an animal in need.

 What are some of the big “no-nos” in helping injured animals,especially wildlife?

Do NOT try to make the injured critter become your pet!!!!!!!!! Seek advice on how to keep it comfortable while you find a trained rehabber. Wildlife that has been injured needs to go to rehab and then released back into the wild. While you mean well in what you’re doing, you can actually be causing more harm. So keep it safe and find a rehab facility.

 What have been your three best rescue stories?

Oh gosh – I don’t want to hurt any of their feelings so I will tread lightly. My current foster/rescue is Abby. She came into Getalong Dachshund Rescue: https://www.getalongdachshundrescue.org/our-dogs/   with her sister Zoey in 2017. Zoey was extremely overweight and Abby was mostly blind and deaf. Zoey went on a diet and managed to go from 22.88 pounds down to 11.5 then was adopted. Abby went totally blind and is now a forever foster with me. She and I are extremely bonded and have our own communication skills.     Freida Mae who was found in a ditch in rural AL in the rain. She was not claimed at animal control and Getalong Dachshund took her in and treated her infected and swollen mouth which involved removing pretty much every tooth in her head. I left the Sunday before Thanksgiving 2018 to pick her up. My husband woke up early (which is unusual) and asked where I was going. I told him it was an emergency foster, he rolled his eyes and went back to bed. Freida Mae was sooooooo skinny and soooooooooooo cute. She won my husband’s heart when I sent him a picture of her. When I got home he came outside and said “Give her to me” and that was that. We found out a month later that she also had cancer which could not be treated. She put up a great fight though. She was eating better and gaining weight and playing and bossing the cats around. She had my husband wrapped around her paw. She could do no wrong. Sadly we had to say goodbye to her in March just four months after we said hello.     I can’t leave out Titan because he was the first rescue/foster back in 2001 I believe it was. He was an owner surrender to another rescue group and we took him in. He was quickly adopted to a family in Rhode Island. After getting updates of him in his new home we also asked them to adopt us. Titan had his own beach chair for his beach trips. He went to a great family where he had many happy years. I am friends with his mom to this day.    Can’t leave out Fonzie who was picked up by animal control and never claimed. The happiest dog on earth! Imagine our surprise when we found out he had a broken jaw! He never showed any sign of pain and he was eating dry food, all while constantly wagging his tail. (I know you asked for three but you’re getting four stories). Fonzie cannot hide under blankets because his wagging tail gives away his location. He was adopted 9 months later and is living the best life ever! When I took him to his new mommy he was greeted with a “Welcome Home” sign, a huge basket of toys and his new pillow and blankets. 

We won’t talk about Doogie………….(“Doogie is pretty awesome!!!”-Paladin the cheetah)

 How do people go from wanting to help animals into becoming the worst animal abusers when they become hoarders? Have you yourself ever worked a hoarder house?

I think for the most part they start out wanting to help and then things spiral out of control and they don’t know how to ask for help. I’ve never been directly involved in a case involving hoarding. 

 Share your opinion about TNR and the pros and cons of the program.

I am no expert in this field so please understand that this is only my opinion which is based on information I have read from numerous sources.Any litter bearing animal will basically self adjust (for lack of a better term) based on population. This is what is happening with coyotes in Georgia, there’s basically an open season on coyotes but the coyotes are now having larger litters and more often. So in my opinion TNR is the lesser of two evils. I was fortunate enough to find a group in my county that provides services for feral cats so I was able to get the feral family all “fixed” and vaccinated for free. So I believe in TNR vs euthanasia. 

 Is your husband also a animal rescuer?

He is guilty by association. He complains about my efforts but he’s still around so…………..he found a kitten in the woods a few years ago and no sign of mama after 8 hours so he brought it home. For me to bottle feed. So he is what I’d call the diet version of a rescuer. He complains about it but he is the first one to steal snuggles from the animal. 

 Do you think Kerri should keep one of her kittens?

Absofrickinglutely!!!!!!!!!!!!

  The cheetah and I are flying over to watch your latest possum rescue but we are a day early and now you are playing tour guide,what are we doing?

   Honestly there are so many things to do in and around Atlanta and I rarely do any of them! I prefer to sit on the porch and bird watch and at night watch the critters. But if I were to venture out I’d start off by taking you to breakfast at The Red Eyed Mule in Marietta for the best burger you’ll ever eat! Then perhaps we’d stroll up Kennesaw Mountain for a bit of Civil War History. From there we’d hit Art’s Bagels in Acworth for the best Bronx Bomber bagel sandwich. Squeeze in a trip up the road to Chattanooga, TN to visit Jerry at Opie Acres to learn all about possums (technically Opossum but in the south we just call them possums) https://www.facebook.com/OpossumRescueTn/. The night would for sure include a drag show put on by The Armorettes. All of their tips are donated to HIV & AIDS charities in the Atlanta area. https://www.thearmorettes.com  We aren’t into too much of the tourist things here. We’ve been to the aquarium and to the new Braves stadium but with every passing day we both hate crowds more and more and going anywhere almost always involves traffic! So we either go north or stay at home! 

  Oh…..before I forget,if you need a doctor’s note for work or school,Dr. Doogie Howser will write one for either 5.00 or two bags of Temptation treats,your choice.

I like to thank Karen for agreeing to sit and have a chat up. I really love this lady very much and think she is quite amazing.  I’m sure we’ll be seeing more pictures of Doogie as he can continues to cause a ruckus in the Jone’s home.

Karen has a InstaGram page that you can follow here.

Thank you all for your continued support and please feel free to drop a comment below.

8 Questions with……….Animal rescuer Karen Jones Its 1: 15 pm hazy Welcome to 8 Questions with...... Meet my friend Karen,who is one of the kindest and most compassionate people left on this planet.

[neverendingmoon]

*Sparkly eyes* yes if you can of course.

Title: Dinner and Dessert

Written By: Admin Rei

Fandom: Free! Makoto x Reader

Fluff/Holiday

{xD Soooo a lot of you guys were upset with the last post bc CinnaMakoto pretty much gets the shit end of the stick. So, here’s a fluffy Makoto/Reader one-shot! Seriously, you may get cavities! I wrote this during Thanksgiving so yeah…it’s late…or early, idk, still I hope you enjoy it! P.S. this is like the first thing I’ve ever written that isn’t angst or smut so if it fails, I’m sorry lol.}

-Admin Rei

The sound of clanging pots, something being fried and you muttering reachedMakoto’s ears as he entered your small, shared apartment. Delicious aromastickled his nose as he slipped his shoes off and called your name.

“I’m home!” You heard your sweet boyfriend of one year’s voice.

“In the kitchen!” You yelled back as you flipped throughyour mother’s old recipe book and glided your finger across the page, readingoff ingredients.

“___? What…are you doing?” Makoto looked around the messykitchen as he stood in the doorway. The kitchen was a disaster. Pots and panswere overflowing in the sink. Fruits, veggies and spices were scattered aboutthe countertops. Half the cabinets were open, revealing their contents; and inthe mess of it all, his cute little girlfriend was standing in the middle ofthe kitchen, a book in her hand. Makoto couldn’t help the smile on his face asyou blinked up at him innocently.

You were a mess, but you’d never looked more beautiful. Yourhair was done up messily, with strands falling out of your up do, your face hadlittle splats of sauce, flour and gravy all over. Around your form was an apronthat was just decorated with all kinds of spots and splats, hiding the truecolor of the apron. Your exposed arms were covered, elbow-high, in flour andsome black spice he couldn’t identify.

“Welcome home, Mako-chan!” You smiled as you maneuveredaround the mess and stood on your tip toes to plant a kiss on your boyfriend’slips. He smiled down at you and reached over to your face, pushing a stray hairbehind your ear. “What are you doing in here you silly girl?” He asked and you grinned up athim, making his heart flutter at how absolutely adorable you looked. “Getting Thanksgiving dinner ready for tomorrow! Did you forget your family iscoming over?” You told him as you went back to your book, searching for acertain recipe. “I didn’t forget, but ah, do you know how to make-?” Your look shut him up andhe rubbed the back of his head. “Ahem, the dinner we met at last year was my doing. Yes, Kou-chan hosted it butI cooked everything, thank you very much!” You stated proudly and he chuckled,wrapping his arms around you from behind. “I think I feel insulted.” You poutedand he pressed a kiss to your flour-covered cheek. “I don’t want you to stress out over this. They’re going to love you.” Hewhispered the last part and you stared down at the words in the book, notreally seeing them. You and Makoto had been together about a year and this was the first time youwere going to meet his family. He’s told you a lot about them and, in turn,he’s told them about you. They, especially his mother, wanted to meet you andhe figured this was the best time. You and Makoto had started dating about a year ago and decided to move intogether about nine months into your relationship. After he had finishedcollege the two of you decided that he would remain in Tokyo and not move backto Iwatobi. His mother wasn’t too happy about this at first but eventually sheaccepted it. He’d gone home to visit them a few times, but you always hadschool and weren’t able to make it with him. So, the both of you decided thatyour first Thanksgiving together would be the perfect time for you all to meet.“I-I just want everything to go perfectly. This is your family we’retalking about. I want to impress them.” You looked back at him and he onlysmiled, pressing a soft kiss to your lips. “I love you. That’s all they need to know to be impressed, sweetheart.”Your face flared at his words but you smiled nonetheless. “I-I love you too, Mako-chan.” You replied as he released you. “Now go showerwhile I finish in here.” You winked as he smiled and nodded, going off to takea shower.

~

“Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green-hey!” You looked over at your green-eyedswimmer as he snatched the list from your hands. “We’re in bed, ___-chan. No more food talk, get some sleep.” He yawned as hesat up; causing the covers to slide down his perfectly chiseled body andallowed you a wonderful view. “B-b-but-!” You began to protest but he silenced you by placing his fingeragainst your lips and staring into your eyes. “No buts. No more dinner-talk, ok? We’re in bed…that type of talk doesn’tbelong here.” A seductive smile cradled his lips as he removed his finger andreplaced it with his lips. And sure enough, there was no talk of food againthat whole night.

~

“Let’s see…Mr. and Mrs. Tachibana, the twins, Makoto and me.” You murmured toyourself as you set the table. You were reciting who would sit where and howmany plates, glasses, knives, forks and spoons you would need. Makoto chuckled softly as he sat on the couch, glasses resting on his nose anda book in hand. He had stopped reading a few moments ago to watch you obsessover every little thing. His family would be arriving in the next hour or soand you seemed to be having an internal freak out. He took a moment to take in your form and how absolutely stunning you looked inyour new dress. The black dress reached your knees and had long sleeves, blackrhinestones elegantly decorated the bodice and you had paired it with blackheels. You had styled your hair perfectly to match the occasion and wore enoughmake up to enhance your beauty without making that noticeable. All in all, youlooked absolutely ravishing in the eyes of the backstroke swimmer.All this watching you and thinking of how perfect you were took his mind to thelittle black, velvet square-shaped box that sat at the very bottom of hisdresser drawer. You were the one. He knew it, and yet, he was so afraid to popthe question.

Every time he mustered up the courage to ask, something wouldhold him back and he would tell himself it just wasn’t the right time. However,watching you weave around the house in an attempt to make sure everything wasperfect for his family’s first visit gave him a glimpse of how perfect of awife you’d be to him.“Hey Mako! Can you-?” You blinked when you turned to look at him and noticedhis piercing eyes on you. A blush rose to your face as you fidgeted slightlyunder his gaze. “W-what? What is it?” You asked, afraid he might be havingsecond thoughts and didn’t want you to meet his family. However, the smile hegave you erased those doubts. “Nothing at all, my love. You just…look absolutely beautiful.” He stated as hestood up, setting his book on the couch and walking over to you. You looked upat him as he placed his hands on your hips and leaned down to press a kiss toyour lips. You smiled and stopped him before reaching up and removing hisglasses and then placing your lips against his own. “Mm…thank you.” You smiled up at him once you’d broken the kiss a few momentslater. “Now go get dressed! They’ll be here soon!” You scolded as you poked hischest and he looked down at his t-shirt and lounge pants. “Ah…this is what I’m wearing.” He said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Youreyes widened as you looked at his comfortable clothes. “What?! No! Go change! You have to look presentable!” You scolded him and hechuckled, wrapping his arms around you and his hands settling on your butt. “Sweetheart, they’re my family. This is how I used to dress when I lived withthem.” He countered and you removed his hands from around you. “Makoto Tachibana! You will not greet your family, whom you haven’t seen in solong, dressed like that!” He blinked before a smile broke out on his face andhe chuckled and held his hands up defensively.“As you wish. I’ll go change.” He laughed the whole way to the bedroom and yougave an exasperated sigh as you went back to fixing the table.“How’s this?” Your boyfriend’s voice brought your eyes to meet him as he stoodoutside the bedroom door. He was dressed in a button up black shirt, with thefirst three buttons undone, and khaki pants.“Very sexy!” You winked at him and he blushed as he fixed the collar of hisshirt. “What’s that?” You frowned as you walked over to him and pulled thecollar back slightly. A reddish-purple bruise stared back at you and your eyeswidened. “What is it?” Makoto asked, a knowing tone in his voice. “A-a hickey! No, no, no you have to change shirts!” You sputtered, a red huedusting your cheeks as you pushed him back into the room.“But it’ll be covered by- ___-chan?!” Your boyfriend protested as you closedthe door and trapped him inside the room. “CHANGE IT! One wrong move and they’ll see it!” You retorted as you heldonto the door knob and held the door shut with all your might.“Fine, fine. Just open the door.” Makoto’s defeated voice reached your ears andyou opened the door. He smiled at you as he removed the shirt and left you ablushing mess. “W-wear that black polo.” You coughed a bit as you pointed to the closet. Damnhim and his absolutely perfect body. “Babe? What’s that smell?” Your boyfriend asked as he sniffed the air and youreyes widened. “Shit! My pies!!” And like a bat out of hell, you ran out of the room and tothe kitchen faster than the speed of light. Makoto shook his head and laughedas he pulled the black shirt on and heard you mutter curses in the kitchen.

~

“No, no, no, no! Oh shit…!” You sighed loudly as you pulled out two blackenedpecan pies from your oven and waved away the smoke that arose from them. “What happ-Oh no.” Makoto entered the kitchen and saw your pies and your face.“No worries, my love. We still have those two pumpkin pies.” He smiled andwrapped his arm around your shoulders, drawing you to his side. “B-but you said your dad loves pecan pie.” You sighed as you wrapped your armsaround him and buried your face in his chest. “He does. But he also loves pumpkin pie.” He smiled and pecked your forehead asyou sighed again and released him to clean up.

~

Ten minutes into your cleaning up, a knock was heard at your apartment door. Yougasped softly and turned the faucet on to quickly wash your hands before dryingthem and scrambling to the bathroom. “Mako! Door!” You yelled down the hall to your boyfriend, who was still in thebedroom. “Got it!” He called back as you stared at yourself in the mirror and fixed yourhair then your dress, and finally, your make up. You were so nervous; you couldswear you’d sweat right through your dress. Good thing you chose a black dress.You could hear new voices in your apartment and your boyfriend’s voice as hegreeted and welcomed his family. You counted to ten and took a deep breath before opening the bathroom doorand…yelping loudly. Your boyfriend’s face met yours and scared the life out of you. He had his handraised, ready to knock when you’d opened the door. “S-sorry! I was going to see if you were alright in there.” He smiled as youplaced a hand over your rapidly beating heart in attempt to calm yourself. Youdid not need all these extra nerves right now. “You scared the hell out of me!” You whisper-yelled and he chuckled at yourexpression before taking the hand over your chest and kissing the back of it. “Sorry, love. Come on, they’re excited to meet you.” He whispered as he led youtowards the living area where four pairs of eyes met your own nervous ones. “H-Hello, it’s so n-nice to finally meet you all. I’m ___ ___.” You stutteredas you bowed politely. They were all quiet as they took in your form. “Onii-chan! She’s so pretty!” A blush stained your face as you stood upstraight and smiled at the young girl, who you assumed was Ran, his youngersister. The young boy sitting beside her who looked exactly like her, nodded inagreement. “Ten for looks, Onii-chan!” He grinned and your blush deepened as Makoto gaveyour hand a reassuring squeeze. “Ren, Ran, you must introduce yourselves first.” The older woman, who you weresure was Makoto’s mom, piped in. “Sorry.” They spoke at the same time and grinned at you. “I’m Ran and this is Ren.” The girl smiled at you and you smiled back. “It’s nice to finally meet you dear. I’ve been pestering Makoto for a long timeabout meeting you.” His mother grinned as she stood up and gave you a hug. Youhugged her back and smiled, a small blush still present on your face. “Well now I can see why he didn’t want anyone to see you. He wanted you all tohimself.” Makoto blushed at his father’s words and rubbed the back of his neck.“She’s always so busy with work and school.” He defended himself as his fathergave you a short hug as well. “I’m proud of you Makoto. She’s absolutely stunning!” His mother chided and youlooked down at your feet in embarrassment. “T-Thank you ma’am.” You whispered softly before you felt Makoto’s arm aroundyour shoulders. “Yes, I’m quite lucky.” He smiled and stared at you as he said this and youcould hear the ‘awww’ from his sister and the gagging noises from his brother. ~After a few more minutes of conversation, and you breaking out of your shellslightly, you decided to get dinner underway. “I’ll go set everything up.” You smiled as you stood up and Makoto copied youractions. “I’ll help.” He smiled and took your hand as you led him to the kitchen. “Your family is-Mmm!” You had began to compliment his family when, as soon asyou two were in the kitchen, he had pressed you up against the wall and takenyour lips hostage with his own. He kissed you so tenderly and lovingly that youcouldn’t help but kiss back. You gave him a questioning look when he pulledaway and rested his forehead against yours. “You don’t know…how stunning you look. I love you so much.” He whispered andyour face flushed the slightest before you cupped his face in your hands andplaced a chaste kiss to his lips. “I love you too, babe.” He smiled before pulling away and helping get the foodon the table.~Once everyone was sitting around the table, Makoto’s father carved the turkeyand placed a slice on everyone’s place before everyone happily dug in to allthe sides. “It’s so nice to have a year off from cooking thanksgiving dinner!” Mrs.Tachibana laughed and you smiled back at her. “Mmm, everything’s so good, ___-chan!” Ren complimented around a mouthful offood and his sister nudged him. “Gross! Close your mouth when you’re chewing!” She scolded and everyone laughedat the look on his face. The conversation was light and airy, you felt socomfortable around these people it was crazy. They were such a happy family andyou were so happy to be around them. No one said anything awkward and weird and with Makoto giving your thigh areassuring squeeze every once in a while under the table, you were absolutelycontent. “So are you going to marry ___-chan, Onii-chan?” Ran asked as she blinked ather brother. You choked on your food and Makoto’s face turned a million shadesof red. “Ran!” Her mother scolded and the girl lifted her shoulders and wore aninnocent look. “What? Onii-chan and I went– rmgth!” She was cut off when, quick aslightening, Makoto stood up and grabbed a roll and shoved into his sister’smouth. “Ahaha, try the rolls, Ran.” He chuckled nervously before glancing at you, whowas staring down your plate in embarrassment. “Just ignore Ran. She has this dream of her brother having a wife and herselfhaving a sister.” Makoto’s mother smiled and you nodded, avoiding her eyes asyou sipped your water. ~After dinner, Ran offered to help you with the dishes, much to Makoto’s dismay.He held his breath as she helped you clean up and wash dishes. He knew hissister had a tendency to…spill secrets, and he was afraid of that. “She won’t say anything.” His mother smiled at him and he smiled back as theysat around in the living area. “Right.” He smiled and she patted his arm. “Have you…decided? Is she…is she the one?” She asked him softly and he blushedbefore nodding slowly. “Yeah she is. I…I love her. She’s perfect.” He smiled and his mother beamed. “So? Why isn’t the ring on her finger yet?” She questioned and he blushed andsighed before pushing his bangs from his eyes. “I…I just….I’m afraid it won’t be the answer I want.” His mother frowned andset a hand over his. “Do you think she’ll reject you, Makoto? Because I don’t. She seems head overheels for you.” She smiled and Makoto nodded, knowing his mother was right. “I-I just…” He began and his mother shook her head. “Do it today.” She suggested and he stared at her like she was crazy. “W-what?” he gasped out and she grinned. “Propose to her today, before we leave. And if you don’t, I’ll propose foryou.” Makoto gaped at his mother. ~“Thanks for offering to help.” You smiled over at the teenage girl as she driedwhile you washed. “No problem! Sorry for, y’know, embarrassing you guys earlier.” She smiledapologetically and you shook your head. “Don’t worry about it. I think it was more shocking than anything.” You laughedas did she. “I just thought….I don’t know, Onii-chan seems to love you a lot. I don’t knowwhat he’s waiting for!” She frowned and you blushed and smiled over at her. “Well, just know, I love your brother very much as well.” She grinned up at youand you chuckled. She looked so mischievous. “I’m glad you do, because he’s seriously in love with you! When he comes tovisit, all he does is text you, or look through pictures of you guys and heactually marks down, in his phone, when he’s going back home and when he’ll seeyou. He always has this faraway, dreamy look in his eyes, and he’s always soeager and happy to talk when we ask him about you.” She smiled as she stareddown into a clean plate, staring at her reflection. “He…I haven’t seen him this happy in so long. I…please don’t…don’t ever hurt mybrother.” She looks over at you and blinks before allowing a small smile to takeover. You don’t reply, but you immediately set down the dish in your hands andwrap your arms around her in a tight hug, which she returns. “I wouldn’t even dream of it.” You whisper and she smiles against your shoulder. ~“Pie?” You smile as you and Ran bring out the two pies, plates and coffee.Everything is set on the coffee table before you take a seat next to yourbeloved, who immediately wraps his arm around your shoulder and draws you closeto his body. He smiled sweetly at you as you lean into him and places a softkiss to the top of your head. Ran shoots you a smile as she takes a bite of her pie, and Makoto’s mothersmiles at him from behind her coffee mug. “So, ___, how are your studies?” Mr. Tachibana breaks the silence as he takes abite of pie and you sit up and smile. “Very good sir, I’ll be graduating in the summer.”“Wonderful! You’re a getting a PhD in Psychology, correct?” He asks and you nodproudly. “What do you two plan on doing after?” His mother interjects and you both blinkbefore glancing at each other. “Umm…w-well we haven’t planned that far ahead.” You chuckled, missing thelook the woman shoots her son.“Ah, excuse me. I need the restroom.” Your boyfriend removes himself from hisplace beside you and disappears down the hall, leaving you alone with hisfamily. “___-chan, you’re a darling. I’m so happy Makoto’s found such a sweet, kindgirl.” His mother smiles at you and you smile back.“Yea, Makoto got lucky.” His father smiled and you shook your head. “Not at all, sir. I consider myself the lucky one. Your son is absolutelyamazing. You’ve done a wonderful job.” You smiled and the parents beam proudlyat your words. “Well, just so you know, you’re considered a part of this family.” Mrs.Tachibana says causing you to blush and smile just as Makoto reenters the room.“Did I miss anything?” He smiles at you and you notice his face is glisteningslightly. Was he…sweating? “Not much.” His mother smiled and he seemed to avoid her looks. ~“Well, we should get going.” Mr. Tachibana say after another couple hours ofconversation. “We have to drive back to Iwatobi in the morning.” He smiles andstands up. “Well please be sure to visit more often and I’ll definitely try to come ifMakoto comes to visit you again.” You smile and blink as Mrs. Tachibana clearsher throat-loudly. Makoto scratches the side of his cheek and looks away from his mother. “A-are you alright?” You ask her, concern etched in your voice. “Do you needsome water?”“No, no dear, I’m just fine.” She responds, her eyes glued to her son, who wasavoiding her. You blink between the two and wonder what you’d missed. “Let’s go, the hotel sent me an email that our rooms are ready.” Mr. Tachibana,obliviously, speaks as he swipes through his phone. “AHEM!” Everyone jumps at the rather loud cough that comes from the woman.Makoto gulps and sighs. “Ah…c-could everyone wait a second please?” Your boyfriend stutters and you seehis face brighten a deep red and start to glisten. “Mako…?” You say his name in question as he stands up and reaches into hispants pocket, retrieving something you couldn’t see. Your eyes widen and both your hands cover your gaping mouth when he gets on oneknee in front of you. “___  ___, I love you with all my heart.I never want to be without you, you’re the one I’ve been searching for. I wantyou to be by my side forever, ___, w-will you marry me?” He opens the littleblack box and reveals a sparkling diamond engagement ring. You look up into hiseyes, your own welling up as you nod happily. “Y-yes! O-of course, I will!” As soon as he slips the ring onto your finger,you throw your arms around his neck and press your lips to his in a sweet kissbefore hugging him tightly. “I love you.” He whispers in your ear and you sniffle and chuckle as you hearhis family cheering him on. “Finally! He bought that ring 3 months ago!” Ran shouts and you chuckle asMakoto blushes. “Ran!” The whole family scolds and she lifts her shoulders innocently. “Hey, I’ve been dying to tell her!” She grins and you look back at your to-behusband and wonder how in the world you got so lucky.

[mrmarioallman]

Last Week’s Workouts

Welcome to last week’s workouts!

To be completely honest, last week seems like it was eons ago after the long Thanksgiving weekend.  So let’s catch up!  Did you run a Turkey Trot?  Score any good fitness deals on Black Friday?  Btw, I’m totally on board with Black Friday sales being available online.  You won’t catch me in a store that day but you can bet I took advantage of the deals from the comfort of my own home. And today is Cyber Monday…bring on the deals!

Monday

40 minutes bike

Lower body strength training and core

Leg press

Traveling lunges with KB

Side squats med ball toss

Monster walks with band

Farmer carry on heels with KB

Single leg deadlift

Barbell clean and press

Weighted stepping bridge

TRX Mountain Climbers

TRX plank

Tuesday

I hit another milestone in the moving forward from my deltoid ligament sprain –

30 minutes continuous RUN!!!!!!  No pain and feeling strong.

I also had my weekly Physical Therapy appointment.  I only have a few sessions left so we are really working on building up my confidence that everything will be ok.

Med ball squat and toss

Single leg box jump  – It was only a 6 inch box but it scared the shit out of me.  As I stood before it, it took quite some time to muster up the courage to just do it.  And it wasn’t so bad.  Lol!

Box jump downs to squat jump

Rapid toe taps on 6 inch box

Wednesday

30 minutes Arc trainer

15 minutes Lateral X Elliptical

Upper body and core strength training

Pull ups with band

Bar hangs

Lat Pull down

TRX row

TRX push up

KB traveling plank push ups

Plank series

Thursday

5k Turkey Trot with the fam.  Lukas wanted to start up at the front because he was “going to win it all.”  He could’ve…if it was a 50 yard dash.  Within the first half mile we were walking and he was asking how much farther. One day that whole pacing yourself thing will set in.  Although he was much improved compared to last year.  And Avery did awesome too.

Friday

30 minute run

This was the next test in my return to running, running back to back days.  Now, I didn’t continuously run on Thursday but I did some run segments. I felt great during the whole run.  That is except for my neck.  I woke up with the worst kink in my neck and traps Thursday morning and it was still so tight Friday morning.

Core and mobility work

Saturday

Morning Flow Yoga at Bending Bodhi to work out the kinks.  It seemed to do the trick until later in the day when my arm started to feel weak.  Crap.  Obviously I was compensated for my neck too much (even though I felt no pain or tightness) during class and ended up pinching a nerve.

Quick strength training at home:

Clam shells with band

Monster walk with band

Single leg squat with a hop

Marching bridge with band

Sunday

30 minutes run on a windy AF morning.  I’m happy to be running even if it’s into a headwind no matter which direction I run.

My neck wasn’t much better when I woke up Sunday morning.  In fact I could barely shampoo my hair in the shower.  But as the day went on it got better.  I also had Ron do some traction and that seemed to help a bit.  My fingers are crossed that this goes away as quickly as it appeared.

Running milestones, a Turkey Trot and I hurt myself. Again. #runchat #workouts Click To Tweet

How was your week in workouts?

Linking up with Hoho and Triciaand Jess/Jessfor the weekly workout wrap up.

The post Last Week’s Workouts appeared first on Happy Fit Mama.

from Happy Fit Mama http://ift.tt/2A8kHn4

[cornerofthebookstore]

Day 3 of Entangled Teens Urban vs. Epic Fantasy Week Team Epic: Why the Authors Love Epic Fantasy!

Erica Cameron - Island of Exiles (The Ryogan Chronicles, #1):

Why do I love epic fantasy? It’s a blank slate. We can erase all of our preconceived notions of society and law and even science, throwing all of that over the side of a cliff. Epic fantasy lets us push humanity well past the breaking point with ever more impossible landscapes and situations. It lets us see what we could be if only we let ourselves get there. Plus, epic fantasy is, well, epic!

Book Description:

In Khya’s world, every breath is a battle. On the isolated desert island of Shiara, dying young is inevitable. The clan comes before self, and protecting her home means Khya is a warrior above all else.

But when following the clan and obeying their leaders could cost her brother his life, Khya’s home becomes a deadly trap. The only person who can help is Tessen, her lifelong rival and the boy who challenges her at every turn. The council she hoped to join has betrayed her, and their secrets, hundreds of years deep, reach around a world she’s never seen.

To save her brother’s life and her island home, her only choice is to trust Tessen, turn against her clan, and go on the run—a betrayal and a death sentence.

Buy Island of Exiles

Amber Mitchell – Garden of Thorns:

When I read and write, it’s because I want to escape and nothing gets you farther from your troubles than the distant shores of entirely new worlds. Epic fantasy invites you onto its tropical beaches, into its lush jungles and through its exotic cityscapes, shaking out its uncharted map for you to explore. Every page brims with fantastic characters questing, battling men and extraordinary beasts alike with magic flowing from nimble fingertips and daring sword fights. The allure of entirely new cultures, the epic stakes, swoon-worthy romances, and the flowing dresses of epic fantasy will always have my heart.

Book Description:

After seven grueling years of captivity in the Garden—a burlesque troupe of slave girls—sixteen-year-old Rose finds an opportunity to escape during a performance for the emperor. But the hostage she randomly chose from the crowd to aid her isn’t one of the emperor’s men—not anymore. He’s the former heir to the throne, who is now leading a rebellion against it.

Rayce is a wanted man and dangerously charismatic, the worst person for Rose to get involved with, no matter what his smile promises. But he assumes Rose’s attempt to take him hostage is part of a plot to crush the rebellion, so he takes her as his hostage. Now Rose must prove where her loyalties lie, and she offers Rayce a deal—if he helps her rescue the other girls, she’ll tell him all the Garden’s secrets.

Except the one secret she’s kept for seven years that she’ll to take to her grave if she must.

Buy Garden of Thorns

L.E. Sterling - True North (True Born, #2):

Don’t get me wrong – #TeamUrban is great. I love time jumpers and magicians running around a book. They make you blink and question what you saw. But I prefer life in a funhouse mirror. Give me a goblin market. Give me a warrior queen with immortal blood. I want the snow queen’s glass shard to be embedded in my eye. I want to completely escape the bounds of reality – not be shackled by them. I don’t want to just question my perceptions – I want to know I’m not in Kansas any longer.

Book Description:

Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In Russia, there’s been whispered rumors of Plague Cure.

While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears…and discovering the secrets contained in the Fox sisters’ blood before they wind up dead is just the beginning.

As they say in Dominion, sometimes it’s not you…it’s your DNA.

Buy True North

Nicole Luiken - In Truth & Ashes (Otherselves, #3):

First for the endlessly inventive magic. Second for the fascinating new worlds to explore. Third for the fantastic creatures that dwell there: dragons, gargoyles, demi-gods and phoenixes are just a few of the ones I’ve used.

Epic fantasy gives a writer a bigger canvas to paint. Instead of a city, a country or even worlds. Wars. Heroes. Villains. Destinies. Everything is bigger is epic fantasy. The stakes are higher, instead of a single group, the fate of a world can hang in the balance.

Book Description:

The Mirror Worlds are but dull reflections of the True World, where magic and technology blend together…

On the True World, Belinda Loring has known from childhood that she must Bond with the son of another noble First Family. Uniting the families ensures hers will hold onto its powerful position, and so she’s always pushed down the tender feelings she has for her best friend—gorgeous, steadfast Demian, who isn’t noble.

But when the ceremonial magic goes disastrously wrong, Belinda becomes a national disgrace. Scorned as Broken, she turns to Demian for help getting revenge on the man who ruined her: the radical Malachi.

But the seeds of Malachi’s murderous plans lie buried in Belinda’s past, in the dark days of her kidnapping—a period of which she has no memory. And Demian may hold the key to recovering all that she’s lost—and saving the worlds.

Buy In Truth & Ashes

Renee Collins - Relic:

Book Description:

After a raging fire consumes her town and kills her parents, Maggie Davis is on her own to protect her younger sister and survive best she can in the Colorado town of Burning Mesa. In Maggie’s world, the bones of long-extinct magical creatures such as dragons and sirens are mined and traded for their residual magical elements, and harnessing these relics’ powers allows the user to wield fire, turn invisible, or heal even the worst of injuries.

Working in a local saloon, Maggie befriends the spirited showgirl Adelaide and falls for the roguish cowboy Landon. But when she proves to have a particular skill at harnessing the relics’ powers, Maggie is whisked away to the glamorous hacienda of Álvar Castilla, the wealthy young relic baron who runs Burning Mesa. Though his intentions aren’t always clear, Álvar trains Maggie in the world of relic magic. But when the mysterious fires reappear in their neighboring towns, Maggie must discover who is channeling relic magic for evil before it’s too late.

Relic is a thrilling adventure set in a wholly unique world, and a spell-binding story of love, trust, and the power of good.

Buy Relic

Rebekah L. Purdy - The Summer Marked (The Winter People, #2):

Epic Fantasy is an escape from the “real world” and takes you to other lands, places you can only dream of, which is why I love it so much. And there’s so much more opportunity to really explore new creatures and characters within these worlds. I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of stepping through a closet and finding a cool fantasy world? LOL.

I’m also a big fan of the epic battles (think Lord of the Rings or Throne of Glass). Girl with a sword=Awesome.

Book Description:

Fresh off a break-up with her boyfriend, Kadie’s glad to be home from college for Thanksgiving. All she needs is a rebound guy, a box of chocolates, and some girl time with her best friend, Salome. Problem is, Salome isn’t returning her calls, and her family won’t say where she is. Feeling sorry for herself, Kadie ends up at Club Blade, a place filled with pumping music, dangerous guys, and promises of a good time. However, when midnight strikes, Kadie’s fun turns into a nightmare as she’s ripped from the human world into Faerie by a vengeful Winter Prince named Etienne. For the first time in her life, she realizes the monsters Salome always spoke of are real, and they’ll stop at nothing to destroy her friend.

Salome thought the winter curse was behind her. But winter has left its mark. Not just on her, but on the whole summer court. The Kingdom of Summer is falling apart, and Nevin is hanging onto his throne by a thread. With war on his doorstep, he has no choice but to send Gareth into enemy territory, which means Salome will be left alone—vulnerable in a world she doesn’t understand. A place where beauty is deadly and humans are pawns in the macabre games the Fae play. Both Kadie and Salome will have to call on all their strength to survive in a world where humans aren’t meant to be. With death and enemies all around them, it’ll be a miracle if they can survive.

Buy The Summer Marked

Chloe Jacobs - Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles, #1):

Book Description:

While trying to save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse.

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back…

Buy Greta and the Goblin King

I hope you guys are enjoying this insight on the authors from Entangled Teen! I know I am. One of my current reads is Garden of Thorns, I started it yesterday and oh my god it is so good. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the last day of Entangled Teen’s Urban vs. Epic Fantasy Week.