#whoever made the figures outdid themselves

[fuckmesaitama]

Can we take a moment to appreciate just how charming and perfect his head is?

(Yes Sai, no kidding)

It compliments his face so SO GOOD it’s unfair

He’s a fine work of art honestly 💅✨

[flowers-the-sun-witch]

BMB day 1!

feat. @flowers-the-sun-witch, @wizblr-blue-moon-ball's Lurien and @hyper-lynx's Liam and Hemi. Keep in mind that because my interactions somewhat overlap with Liam's and Hemi's, there's a lot of dialogue that's the same between them. If that's an issue, I'm happy to change it though.

The sun is starting to get low in the sky when Flowers sees the entrance to the ball.

They'd been struggling to figure out where it is in the first place for the better part of half an hour – fight them, it's not their fault they have a terrible sense of direction – and their legs are getting tired. Logically, they probably could have taken a look at the address on the invite and teleported over, but considering they barely even know what the place looks like besides a few vague details, there's a not-zero chance that they'd have passed out by now.

Well, in any case, at least they've arrived.

At least, Flowers thinks they've arrived, judging by the massive gate ahead of them and the sprawling practically-a-city around them. They take a moment to stare at the intricately-designed buildings and decorations surrounding the plaza – it's a little bright, considering how late the event will be running. They trust they'll get used to it though. It's too beautiful not to look at, what with the almost mountainous clouds all around the city and the jagged outcrops of stone floating around the main island. Everything seems to almost glow, even though the only light visible is from the sun, which is quickly setting. Whoever made this place really outdid themselves with this one.

After a few seconds of gazing upon their surroundings, Flowers elects to visit the gardens. From what they can see, there is an abundance of flora that they haven't encountered yet in their admittedly few travels. They step through the gate and are immediately bombarded with plants and flowers and flora of every kind, some of which they have never even heard of; a little surprising, really, what with the amount of study they have done on this subject, but not an unwelcome surprise. Flowers settles against a rock outcrop, internally going over everything in this section of the gardens she knows of.

Flowers is snapped out of their thoughts by the sight of a figure before them. They jump, slightly startled, and wrack their brain to work out who this person is. They're dressed in an elegant white tunic and frilled pants, along with a pair of navy high-heeled shoes. Their hair flows around their shoulders, and if they turn a bit they can see a moon pin tucked into it. The host, they think.

"Oh, uh, hello there sir," Flowers stutters, still a little flustered by the host's sudden appearance. They smooth down their dress, suddenly aware of how little it suits this event. There's no going back now, though. "I like your outfit," they continue more evenly, flashing their invite from one of their pockets. Not for the first time, Flowers is glad that they know how to sew their own clothes. They'd probably go a little bit insane without pockets.

"Thank you," the host says, "Flowers, I assume? Just Lurien is fine, by the way."

"Yes, that's me. It's a pleasure to meet you." The two stand there in an awkward silence for a few moments, before Flowers speaks up again. "When will the ball start? I'm afraid I didn't bring a watch and time-related magic is not my thing."

Lurien thinks for a moment before responding. "It's about twenty minutes until the formal schedule commences," he says, "You're actually somewhat early."

"That is a relief," Flowers replies, "I think I will stay here for a while."

Lurien turns around for a second, then back to Flowers. "It appears that we have another guest here," he says, “I’ll allow you two a moment to become acquainted. There’s a matter I’ll need to attend to.”

Not a second later, a great eagle swoops dangerously close to the edge of the courtyard and begins to circle the courtyard. Lucien sighs, then lifts off to redirect the rider. "Oh gosh!" Flowers giggles, hand against her mouth, then, in a more controlled voice, "Oh my goodness."

The other person, who had apparently appeared in the few minutes they were talking to Lurien, shakes their head. "Some people…" They then blink, focusing on Flowers. “Well– ah, greetings!” The person gives a curtsy. “My name’s Liam.”

Flowers returns the gesture. “I’m Flowers, the Sun Witch. It’s nice to meet you!" After a short pause, they added "I like your dress.”

“Thank you~!” Liam twirled around a little. “Yours is very cute.”

Flowers smiles, but doesn't respond otherwise. They lean against the rock and watch Lurien guide the eagle, now a bright point in the darkening sky. They then turn their attention to Liam's dress. It's pink and somewhat round – very much unlike their own. Their ear twitched as they tried to think of what it reminded them of. After a moment, it clicked.

“I’ve not seen a dress of that style in a while. Lunar hibiscus, right?” they comment.

Liam's head tilts in their direction. "How did you—"

Flowers grins a little. “I don’t call myself ‘Flowers’ for no reason. The color’s pretty accurate, too. Though, those flowers are pretty rare on the island…”

“Ah, I’m not actually from here. I’m not even properly a wizard – that title belongs to my partner. I’m his plus-one.”

“Oh!” Flowers glances along the rim of the floating landmass. A little ways away is a person, sitting alone on an outcropping and staring into the sunset. “Is that him?”

“Yeah… He’s a little shy. I’m sure he’ll warm up when things kick off.”

Flowers nods, tapping their foot. “I hope the host is back soon… I hope everything’s alright with the bird situation.”

As if on cue, on a beam of light, Lucien appears next to the two guests. “I apologize for the wait, Mx. Flowers. I hope you’ll forgive my cutting your tour short for the moment, as the floor will open momentarily. I suggest you both make your way to the main hall and meet some more of the guests in the meantime.”

Flowers jumps (again! They should really get some spatial awareness at some point.) “Ah—! Of course, thank you.” They start to walk down the path toward the person on the rock. Maybe they could find another new acquaintance. Lucien, apparently satisfied, vanishes into light.

They hear Liam fall into step behind them. "Um," he says, "The fastest path is to the right."

They glance back at him. “We need to collect your partner, don’t we? Besides, I need to compliment his dress, too.”

By the time both Flowers and Liam reach the rocks, the sun has fully set. The clouds around the islands, no longer glowing red and purple, swirl like dust.

She glances back at the other person. They are wearing a deep indigo dress, made with a soft fabric and, unlike their partner, no plants in mind. As they turn to face them, Liam speaks. “Hey, we’re supposed to go inside soon.”

Admittedly, Flowers is a little distracted for the rest of the conversation. All is fine, though; they go through the motions of introducing themself and compliment the other's— Hemi's, if they remember correctly— dress.

Hemi smiles at the compliment, but Flowers turns toward the door, from which they can hear the sound of it unlatching. “Ah, it seems it’s time to enter. Have a wonderful time, you two—!” they say, then head off.

This might be more fun than they thought.

[clara-licht]

You’ve Gotta Be Kidding Me

You woke up in a familiar place with Marvel actors staying there. Or at least, you thought they were actors...

Pairing: The Avengers & Reader Genre: Platonic, general Word Count: 1.9k Note: This is an edited version from my old work in deviantart where the idea is you somehow met the Avengers, but you thought they were the actors instead. It’s been a while since I last wrote something so this was a nice refresher! I got a Peter Parker imagine in works right now, though.

When you opened your eyes, you instantly regretted it.

"Ugh!"

You shielded your eyes from the burning light. When your eyes finally adapted to the lightings, you took in your surroundings. You were in a familiar room. But you didn't think you've been there before. It just that you thought you knew this room. It was quiet, but not dead quiet. You kept looking around you in silence, until a voice startled you.

"Good morning, miss."

"Who's there?!" You immediately jumped out of the bed you'd been on.

"Please do not be alarmed. My name is FRIDAY, an Artificial Intelligence created by my boss, Anthony Stark."

Hearing this, you scoffed. FRIDAY? Anthony Stark? Okay, this was either a dream or someone was pulling prank on you. "Yeah, right. And I fell from the sky to SHIELD's Helicarrier, saved by Captain America, and was treated by Dr. Bruce Banner in Stark Tower. Or is it Avengers Tower?" You said sarcastically.

You got to admit; you loved Marvel. Even if you were pretty sure Endgame also ended your life as you knew it and you couldn't accept a lot of things that happened in that movie. Like Steve leaving Bucky for Peggy, who he knew already had a fulfilling life and children? Nonsense. Far From Home was also quite heartbreaking, seeing your favorite character, Peter Parker, going through a lot like that. You just re-watched it a few days ago and had a good cry about it. Or was it weeks ago? Or hours ago? Wait, why were your memories foggy? You couldn't remember what happened before you woke up in the room.

"Are you okay?"

It took a moment for you to regain your composure. "Yeah, I'm fine. So, care to explain what happened? You can't be the real FRIDAY. As much as how I wanted you to be, FRIDAY only exist in Marvel Universe. Where is this? How did I end up here? What happened? Who are you and what do you want?"

"One moment."

You raised an eyebrow. Now she intended to make you wait? Whoever that guy who pretended to be FRIDAY was, her voice could seriously pass as Kerry Condon's.

A sound of door sliding open made you turned around. And God did you not regret doing it.

"OH MY GOD. ROBERT DOWNEY JR?!"

"Who?" The vertically challenged man, who clearly was Robert Downey Jr. a.k.a Iron Man actor, frowned. Now you didn't care if it was a prank pulled by your friends. You got to meet Downey after all!

"Oh God, are you really?! What did I do to deserve meeting you?!" You started squealing.

"Hey, FRIDAY? Are you sure she's not mentally broken? She hit her head quite hard, didn't she?"

"Yes, boss. I ran full scan of her and right now the amount of dopamine in her brain is increasing- indicating that she's happy. Aside from that, I am 100% sure she is fine."

It was your turn to frown. "What? What scan?"

Downey chuckled and looked at you. "Follow me."

Slightly confused, you followed him.

❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊❊

"So… Mr. Downey?" You called.

"Who is this Downey that you keep speaking of?"

"You, of course!"

"Well," He lifted an eyebrow as he inched closer to you, "my name is Tony Stark. Feel free to call me Tony, not that name of someone I don't even know about. I've never met someone who don't know about me before."

You had to fight the urge to roll your eyes. "Well, Tony," You emphasized his name, "if you keep insisting on playing the whole Iron Man act, then I will play along."

"Play?" He mumbled, face now confused. But he decided to say nothing as the elevator dinged and you two exited the cramped lift. He led you to a spacious room. On your way, you looked around. Now you knew why it felt familiar. That place was designed close to the Avengers Compound in the movie. Whoever did this prank, they really outdid themselves.

"And here we are!"

"What took you so long, Tony?"

"Brother Anthony! I see that the lady has woken up!"

"Oh, she's awake."

"Hey, Cap! That girl you saved is awake!"

"She is?"

You gaped.

No.

Freaking.

Way.

"Now I'm sure I must be dreaming." You muttered.

"What was it, sunshine?" Downey, you mean Tony, asked with that annoying smile. "So! Let me introduce you to-"

"Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Ty Simpkins and oh my god it's Tom Holland and Tom Hiddleston. Yes, I know their names, thank you very much." You mumbled under your breath. "

"Okay, dear lady who seems to know whoever name that you've mistaken us for, I will correct those names for you." Tony sighed. "Meet Thor and his brother Loki who finally decided to stop being a menace after almost dying in the hand of evil purple ball sack," he gestured to Hemsworth and Hiddleston.

"Those two scary assassins over there are Clint Barton, known as Hawkeye, and Natasha Romanoff, or Black Widow," then he pointed at Renner and Johansson.

"Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlett Witch." Olsen hesitantly waved at you.

"Capsicle, Steve Rogers, and practically-his-boyfriend, Bucky Barnes." Evans looked at Tony disapprovingly while Stan nodded politely at you. "Usually they got a third guy, Sam Wilson, with them, but he's currently visiting his family."

"And lastly, my interns, Peter Parker and Harley Keener. Vision and Banner are somewhere in this Compound."

You scoffed again. "This might be the best time to wake up. Okay, wake up!" You close your eyes and started shaking your head. "Wake up!"

"What are you doing?" Renner, or Clint, asked.

"Why can't I wake up?" You mumbled. You slapped yourself, hard. "OW! DAMN, THAT HURTS!" Your eyes widened.

"It… hurts? So this is not a dream?" Blinking a few times, realization dawned on you. "Oh, this must be a prank. Alright, you got me. What the hell happened to me earlier and who organized this prank?"

Tom Holland looked up and raised a hand, "I can answer that!"

"Nope, you just stay there quietly, Underoos. Take it away, Cap." Tony said, followed by Holland pouting.

What a cute guy. Wait, no, focus!

Evans stepped forward, "I believe I can answer that."

He started explaining that when Peter (nope, it's Tom Holland, it's got to be Holland) was running on the tracks outside, he saw something falling out from the sky at a rapid pace. That something turned out to be you, who were unconscious at the time. Alarmed, he caught you (no, that doesn't make sense, IF I was really falling that fast, he shouldn't be able to catch me that easily without any of us injured) and called for help. They brought you inside and got Doctor Helen Cho (again, that must be Claudia Kim or something) to check you and she cleared you out. Apparently Doctor Stephen Strange (seriously, they got Benedict Cumberbatch here too?!) came by earlier to check you as well and deemed you non-dangerous, so they let you stay in one of the rooms in the Compound until you wake up.

"Ha, nice story, Captain. Come on, be serious here for a second!" You shook your head, "The Avengers isn't real, okay? They're just fiction! A made-up story! As much as I would love for them to be real, they only exist in Marvel Universe and thank goodness Sony and Disney kinda made up and let Spider-Man stays in MCU because otherwise I won't know what to do! Besides, there's just no way someone could have super powers like-"

"You're scared," Olsen stated softly, "I understand. But I know you somehow feel comfortable standing here with us. You recognized us as someone that you knew, someone you actually trust. You… You somehow feel at ease and want to believe us, although your mind keeps telling you that you're dreaming and this is a prank by your best friend (f/n). You're not, this is not."

You took a step back. It suddenly seemed dangerous to be in that room and whatever ease you felt (yes, she was right, you did feel comfortable for some reason) left you immediately. "Okay… I don't know how know that, but clearly there must be something wrong here…"

"Something wrong indeed." Hiddleston sighed in his attractive British accent as he, who was supposed to be sitting on the couch beside Hemsworth, walked pass from behind you with a bottle of coke in his hand.

"I-I thought you were there!" You pointed at the couch.

"I was."

"Then how-"

"It's not hard to teleport, mortal."

"What-"

"Are you okay? You look pale." Renner, who you started to believe was the real Clint Barton, walked towards you.

"No! Stay where you are!"

"Miss-"

You slid down and sat on the floor, pounding head in your hands. "This is not real. It can't be. It can't be. It can't be…" You whispered over and over again in between your short breath. Your heart was racing and your whole body started shaking.

"Miss, take a deep breath-"

"SHUT IT!"                                                    

"Boss, the lady seems to be in distress and starting to show symptoms of panic attack."

"Shit. Hey, hey, come on, breathe slowly-"

"I'm sorry, is this the wrong time to come?"

A new voice made you turn around, only to see a weird person with red and green skin wearing a shiny cape coming in, followed by a big green figure.

"V-Vision?" You croaked out.

"Uh, yes. Do I know you?"

And that was the cue for you to pass out.

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"You've gotta be kidding me."

"We're not."

"But there's just no way-"

"And there's just no way for you to come from a dimension where it seems so peaceful."

"It's not peaceful! War still happens!"

"Yes, but no outer space threat? Really?"

"It's just a fiction!"

"Well it's not. Look at Loki."

When you regained your consciousness, you were still surrounded by some the Avengers. The real Avengers. It made you accept the fact that it was not, indeed, a dream.

"So, I fell out from the sky," Peter nodded. "and this is the Avengers Compound." He nodded again. "You all have no idea what happened to me since Dr. Strange, Maximoff, Stark, Thor, and even Loki knows nothing." They nodded. "And I can't even remember what happened before it!"

"Hey, we'll found out about it." Vision said reassuringly.

"How do you know that I'm not evil?" You asked.

"He's worthy of Mjölnir, and he can see pass you. He knows." Thor said with a smile.

"Besides Strange said you're fine. Maximoff also doesn't feel any threat coming off from you, and Peter's tingle-" Tony stopped himself, "Uh, I mean, Peter is good at sensing bad people and he's fine."

"Are you sure you can help me regain my memory?" You asked, ignoring the little blunder. You must tell them what you knew later and asked about the timeline. Tony mentioned 'evil grape ball sack' which definitely meant Thanos, but he was alive, along with Natasha and Vision, so there must be something different.

"With all our might."

"How?"

"Well, let's start with you telling us your name."

"It's (y/n), (y/n) (l/n)."

[unloveable-unreachable]

You’re the One My Heart Wants- Chapter 3

Word Count: 3,095

Warnings: Swearing

Author: Me

Alex’s POV (The Night Before)

“I’ve never really talked to her outside the pitch. She normally keeps to herself, or she’s always attached to Ali or Ash’s hip every time I see her,” I tell Kelley as I drive us to Y/N’s house. “I know she can be hard to get to know, believe me. She’s a very closed off person to a lot of people, it took me forever to get her to open up to me. When she did she became a different person. She’s a very sweet, caring person who puts others needs above her own and honestly I admire her for that because you don’t meet many people like that anymore. She’s probably funnier than me if I’m being honest, but don’t ever tell her I said that to you,” Kelley says as I look at her in disbelief. Kelley rolls her eyes before saying “Come on, Al. You should just give her a chance. She’s a great person once you get to know her, I promise.” She then changes the song for the tenth time since we got in the car.

I really didn’t know what to think of Y/N. I know she’s still kind of young considering she’s already played with the National Team in two different tournaments and a ton of friendly matches. I know she’s been on the National Team with us since 2015, she scored in two of the matched during the last World Cup, but she just keeps to herself. She’s always working out more than everyone else, putting in as much extra time as she can. She normally works out alone, unless Ali and Ash are around. They act like she’s their kid and that doesn’t seem to bother her too much. She’s a fantastic player like it’s really interesting watching her play. Especially when she gets an opening, that’s when her trickster footwork comes into play, and you don’t want to be on the other team whenever that happens. We play really well together whenever we’re on the pitch together, which if I’m being honest is what our club needs. So why haven’t I made the effort to be friends with her?

I’m pulled from my thoughts when we finally pull up to Y/N’s place. Kelley barely waits for the car to stop before jumping out and running to the front door. I have to almost run to keep up with her. Jesus, she’s a child.  She knocks, but then just walks right in like she’s been here a hundred times already. I slip in the door and look around the rather comfortable looking house. You would never guess that she just moved in a little over a month ago. Ali and Ash really outdid themselves finding this place for her, like damn, it’s really fucking nice. I finally find Kelley in the kitchen, loving up on an adorable Corgi and talking to Y/N. All I do is smile at Kelley, watching her play with the dog on the floor.

“I can’t believe you haven’t brought Luna to see me more. She loves her Aunt Kelley, and obviously missed me,” Kelley says to Y/N as she cradles the dog like a baby. I roll my eyes at her statement and give her a soft smile knowing she wishes she could have a dog of her own one day. Y/N just laughs at Kelley and shakes her head before explaining how she finally got them all moved in and should have time soon to make a trip to see Kelley. I watch Y/N as she talks to Kelley, focusing all of my attention on her. I watch how she holds herself, and my eyes wander to her tattoo-covered arms. Holy fuck she has so many, and they’re all so good. I only have one and I know I’m keeping it to that number, but I still wish I had her confidence to get them where people can see. I’m studying the one that looks like someone’s handwriting that goes down her left shoulder trying to read it, but part of it was hidden under her shirt. Shit. She caught me staring. I try to hide my embarrassment but my blushing gave me away, no doubt. That’s when we finally say hi, but I can’t help but get lost in her eyes. I thought they were light blue because that’s what I’d always seen on the pitch, but this time they’re more of a green-blue. And I’m caught in a trance for a moment while she smiles at me then at Kelley.

“So...drinks?” Kelley asks after she set Luna back on the ground. I’m relieved that someone finally brought up the drinks because that’s what the whole night was about. Not staring at Y/N and getting lost in her fucking beautiful eyes. “Yes, please. I gotta buy you a round after your win,” Y/N says back. Kelley shoots her a cheesy grin and gives her two thumbs up. I roll my eyes at Kelley because she’s the biggest goof I’ve ever known, and she knows it (pretty proud of it, too). “I called the Uber earlier, they should be here by now,” I state as me and Kelley head out the door while Y/N locks up. I beat Kelley to the passenger seat because I’m not going to let her bug our driver, and because I’m the only one who knows where the best bars are. Y/N shoots me a smirk as she walks past the passenger side, and I swear my breath gets caught in my throat. It was small and subtle, but it had an effect on me I couldn’t quite explain.  I give the driver directions to a bar that I’d been to once before and we’re on our way.

After a stress-filled ride to the street the bar was on, we finally get out of the car. I can hear Kelley laughing at something Y/N must have said while in the backseat. I’m not the jealous type when it comes to Kelley because I know she has many, many friends. I know I don’t have to fight to be her best friend since we’ve always been there for each other since we first met back in 2009. I also know she doesn’t get to see Y/N that much since she plays in Utah and has a place in Atlanta and also when she goes on trips with me so much during the year. So I try to give them time to catch up and space by walking a little ahead of them, still able to hear them if they want to tell me something. While trying to figure out where the bar was, my mom calls me. I figure it must be important if she’s calling me this late. “Hey, I’ll catch up with you guys. My mom’s calling me,” I tell them as I head towards a bench. I watch them walk into the bar as I answer the phone.

“Hey, mom,” I say when I finally answer. “Hey, honey. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” she responds. “No, no you didn’t interrupt anything. I’m out with Kelley and a new player on my team, but I can answer your phone calls anytime. What’s up?” I ask a little confused. “I was just calling to let you know that your LA house finally sold. Everything has been dealt with so there’s nothing you have to deal with. Servando is going to send you the rest of your stuff this week,” my mom says with a careful tone. I let out a sigh of relief I didn’t know I was holding back. Finally. I wasn’t tied to him anymore. I can finally move on with whoever I want, without his judgment and hatefulness hanging over my head anymore. “Thank you for telling me, mom. It’s one less thing I have to worry about.” We talk a few more minutes before I tell her I have to go. “Alright, honey. Tell Kelley I said hi and that I love her.” I roll my eyes, knowing how much my mom loved each and every one of my friends, and let out a laugh. “Okay mom, I will.” We say our goodbyes and I make my way into the bar to find Kelley and Y/N.

By the time I find them, Kelley is already about four beers in and several shots deep. She’s talking about the game and what Y/N could’ve done better. Y/N, who is about as deep in as Kelley, is definitely holding her alcohol way better than Kelley. Like seriously, she could pass as sober. I’m not kidding. I order my drink and slide next to Kelley, waiting for the argument to get more heated because I know Kelley, she doesn’t go down without a fight. Y/N is a surprising challenger to watch against Kelley. She isn’t arguing back, she’s holding her ground by telling Kelley what she did wrong. I nearly spit up my drink from laughing so hard at what Y/N said and Kelley’s defensive reaction that she could never pull off drunk. We all finish our drinks not long after that, and Y/N offers to buy the next round. Kelley takes that as her opportunity to jump up and show off her dance moves to whatever song is playing in the bar.

As Kelley and I lead Y/N into another bar, I notice she seems more relaxed than she was when we left her house. And probably more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her if I’m being completely honest. Kelley drags me up on a bar and we just dance as Y/N watches us, laughing harder than she probably ever has. We take three rounds of shots before Y/N pulls us off the bar and outside. She has her hands full with me and Kelley as she forces us in the backseat of the Uber. Kelley and I can’t stop laughing for no apparent reason. Y/N tried to get us to stop but fails multiple times. When the poor man driving us asks where we’re going Kelley blurts out, “Y/N house!” Y/N groans and rolls her eyes at the smiling Kelley as she gives the man the address. 

When we finally pull into Y/N’s driveway, it feels like we’ve been in the car for forever but that probably was the alcohol. She has to drag me and Kelley to her back patio. Kelley calls for Luna, and we both beg Y/N for more drinks. She rolls her eyes before going over to her bar. She produces a whole case of beer for Kelley, probably always keeping her bar stocked with beer just in case Kelley decides to surprise her at any point of the year, and a bottle of wine. She hands Kelley, who is cheering for beer at this point, her drink and then sits by me handing me the bottle of wine we’re going to share throughout the rest of the night.

Kelley’s being her same party animal self, and let’s be honest when is she not? You can’t help but love her for always being on top of her game. I’m just sitting on the couch, trying to feel as relaxed as this bottle of wine will allow me to be. We’re singing along to Kelley’s playlist that’s playing throughout the patio. We belt out a song from the 90s that kids today would never know, but then again I can’t seem to remember the name of the song but we kill the chorus every time. Kelley starts telling a story from her years at Stanford that I’m sure I’ve heard a billion times by now. But I still listen to her anyway because she has pure joy all over her face telling it. I take a good gulp of wine before leaning back on Y/N to hand her the bottle. Next thing I know the song changes to an old Taylor Swift song that I snuck onto Kelley’s playlist as a joke. Feeling the music, and quite bold in all honesty, I stand up and turn to Y/N after setting the wine bottle down on the table. “Do you wanna dance?” I manage to ask in my drunken state while holding my hand out to her. Y/N laughs out loud as she takes my hand, pulling me close as we start to sway side to side still singing the song.

I know I said this before, but Y/N’s eyes are a thing of beauty. They were that entrancing green-blue earlier in the night, but now they’re a cool gray. Almost like a light smoke. Her smile and laugh could cure all the sadness in the world, no joke. She’s gorgeous, and she doesn’t even know it. She likes to be out of the spotlight, out of everyone’s view. But let me tell you this, that’s not the case tonight. She’s all I’ve spent my attention on since we left the house earlier. While I’m taking a closer look at the tattoos on her collar bones, I catch Kelley in the corner of my eye. When I look at her, I start laughing as she’s swaying side to side with Luna, wrapped in her arms, to the music. Y/N realizes what I’m focused on and laughs as she gets on to Kelley. We’re still standing close together, arms around each other but we aren’t moving anymore. Y/N pulls away first, as smooth as a drunk person can. But as she lets go I can’t help but notice my body aches for her touch.

Kelley comes back after what seems like forever, in different clothes that definitely don’t fit her. So that would make them Y/N’s clothes, given that we’re at her house and she’s taller than both of us. Y/N just laughs as Kelley does a small turn showing off her outfit before going back to drinking her beer. The night goes on the same, more of party animal Kel, me finding relaxation I’ve never known or allowed myself to have before, and Y/N finally looks content with us being around her. She might as well get used to it, after tonight I’ll be here drinking with her often for sure. Honestly, Kelley was right, Y/N is great. It’s ridiculous that we weren’t friends before tonight, especially since she’s been with the National Team since the 2015 World Cup. 

After a few more drinks, Y/N finally says we should go to bed considering Kelley had a flight tomorrow and Ali would kill us if we kept Y/N up all night. Kel and I let out a laugh at the mention of Ali and Ash because we all know they’re Y/N’s moms. She has to drag us back inside like she’s had to do all night. She drops us both down on her couch leaving us to grab something from the kitchen. “Isn’t she the greatest?” Kelley slurs as I start giggling at her. “Yeah, she really is. You were right, for once,” I say back. “See, both of my best friends can be friends! I’m so happy right now, Al,” Kelley says with the biggest grin on her face. We can’t stop giggling at my last statement because we both know I’m not wrong. The giggles fill the house as Y/N walks back in the room.

She tells us our sleeping options before saying goodnight and heading upstairs to her room. Kel and I stay up watching an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale and playing with Luna. Kelley keeps posting pictures of Luna on her Instagram story, and I laugh at the voice she uses while talking to the dog. She finally passes out after saying ‘she doesn’t need sleep’. I make sure her alarm is set because I know Christen would be pissed off at me if Kelley was late. After that, I realize I don’t have any clothes to sleep in. I start walking up the stairs, more like stumbling, praying that Y/N is still awake. I knock on her door and she opens it almost immediately, her hair still wet from the shower she obviously just took.

“Coould I borrow some clothess?” I manage to get out through all of my giggles and smiling. I was giggling at her confused expression because, to be honest, it was hot as fuck. She laughed before nodding her head. Evidently, I wasn’t walking too good, because she had to help me to her bed. She gave me a small smirk before she started looking through her clothes. I swear that smirk added 30 years to my life. “Here you go. You can change in the bathroom,” Y/N said as she handed me the clothes and helped me to the bathroom. After she closed the door, I couldn’t stop smiling and I didn’t know why. Had I missed something about Y/N this whole time? Am I that clueless?

I get changed quickly and walk out of the bathroom. She’s sitting on her bed looking at her phone. I guess she realized I was standing there staring at her, yet again. Because she glanced up at me, and my heart just drops at the sight of her, now, blue eyes. Like who’s eyes change color that much? Like she’s gone through every shade of blue and green tonight alone and I swear I’m gonna need a warning before they change color again or I’m not going to make it through the day. I thank her and tell her goodnight again before heading back downstairs, trying to keep from embarrassing myself any more than I already have. When I get downstairs, Kelley is taking up the whole air mattress with Luna cuddling her legs. I sigh and set my things down with my purse and shoes. I stood there weighing my options.

When I finally make my choice, all I do is hope it was the right decision. I make my way back upstairs quietly, hoping not to wake up Kelley. I stand staring at her door for what feels like years before deciding to knock. Before I can the door opens, and all I can do is smile at the beautiful human being in front of me. She gives me a soft smile, and that only builds my confidence more to ask my question.

“Can I sleep with you?”

To Be Continued

[chiseler]

The Passion of the Bunny: “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” (1971)

Over the centuries, the leaders of the Christian Church have made a habit of screwing around with the calendar in order to piggyback their own holidays on top of popular and long-standing Pagan holidays, quietly co-opting the symbolism and rituals in the hopes of eventually diluting things to a point at which people forget all about that silly heathen nonsense. If they could somehow arrange to target the Pagan symbols directly at stupid children so people take them less seriously, all the better. Most of the time it worked like a charm. That’s why at Christmas we have trees and Yule logs and Santa and so many repurposed carols. Nobody even bothers to ask what the hell a Yule log is anymore. Something to do with Jesus, apparently.

When it came to Easter, though, they got even sneakier than usual. At first you might say, “Easter’s a celebration of the resurrection and the life, an affirmation of our faith and confirmation of the forgiveness of our sins. So what the fuck’s the bunny with the eggs doing in there?”

Well, in Pagan terms the coming of spring was marked by a celebration of rebirth and fertility. So the whole “rebirth/resurrection” thing is pretty clear, and as for fertility, well, we don’t say “fucks like a bunny” for nothing. And nothing fucks like a bunny quite like a bunny, so there you go, right?

But of course Church leaders couldn’t just leave it there, a symbol of unbridled whoop-it-up fornication alongside Jesus rising from the dead like that. It’s...unseemly.

So what they did, see, is turn that horny rabbit into a Surrogate Jesus. Call him the Easter Bunny (instead of, say, Sammy Spermshooter), target him at the kids and all your troubles are over. The Easter Bunny/Surrogate Jesus travels the world handing children chocolate images of himself  (an ersatz communion, see?) and brightly colored hardboiled eggs (as, I dunno, maybe some obscure anti-abortion message), and though you may not save any 6-year-old souls, you’re at least prepping the little bastards for what’s to come.

Which brings us to the message of Here Comes Peter Cottontail. For years Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. had been mining beloved holidays for new and subtle ways to mess with kids’ minds with their creepy animated specials,. I thought Rudolph was bad enough, but with Peter Cottontail they really outdid themselves.

Here’s the set-up: All the Easter bunnies/Surrogate Jesuses live in April Valley, where the chief Easter Bunny (voiced by Danny Kaye) is getting ready to retire. He wants to finger Peter Cottontail (the inescapable Casey Kasem) as his successor, but a wicked, Satanic rabbit named Irontail (Vincent Price) wants the job too, and suggests a contest: whoever delivers the most eggs on Easter gets the job.

Irontail, see, has hated children ever since one little fucker in roller skates severed his tail, forcing him to wear a prosthetic. He only wants to be chief Easter bunny so he can exact revenge. Even seeing this as a kid when it first aired I admired and respected Irontail. His reasoning made sense to me then, and it makes sense to me now.

Anyway, Peter (as the Christ figure here) is at once lazy but burning with ambition. He desperately wants to be chief Easter Bunny for reasons that aren’t clear beyond simple power whoredom.. Yet ambitious as he is,  the night before Easter he has a wild and drunken Last Supper that goes on until all hours, and as a result sleeps all through the big day. So fair and square mind you, in a perfectly democratic fashion, Irontail wins the appointment by handing out a single egg. During his inaugural speech  he announces that from that point on  instead of chocolate bunnies and chicks, they will be distributing chocolate tarantulas and octopuses. Why? Because he’s not a goddamn CANNIBAL, that’s why! (When I was a kid, the chocolate tarantulas were something else that put me decidedly in the Irontail camp. Communion symbology aside, I always thought it was weird the Easter Bunny would want us to eat versions of him. And tarantulas were cooler.)

Now Peter/Christ, upset that he (fairly) lost the competition and the appointment, does what any normal Son of God would do: he cheats.

With the assistance of a primitive time machine piloted by a worm named Antoine, Peter/Christ and his eggs travel clumsily back in time in an effort to re-live Easter and  win the appointment. As they bounce from holiday to holiday through the calendar, Antoine sings to Peter/Christ: “People believe what their hearts tell their eyes/So if you can’t get it all together, improvise.”

Has there ever been a more lucid or accurate summation of faith? This is why people see the Virgin Mary in cheese danish and the image of Jesus on the sides of barns. So Peter/Christ starts to lie as well as cheat, by misrepresenting his eggs at each stop as Mother’s Day eggs, Fourth of July eggs, and Christmas Eggs. Forget about that whole “whoever hands out the most eggs on Easter” rule; he’s going to win by whatever means necessary. He’s the Son of God, dammit, and he can do whatever the hell he wants.

Along the way he suffers through the Passion, Rankin/Bass style: he’s rejected at every turn, he’s pelted with his own eggs, he’s robbed,  he’s tormented by witches, and then he’s rejected some more. But does he learn anything as a result? Is his spirit purified?

His only friends along the way are Antoine and that other co-opted symbol, Santa. Not only does he not thank Santa after the old man saves the day—he ignores Antoine’s cries for help and abandons him in the snow in his mad rush toward ascension. What a lousy fucking piece of lapine shit he is. Beyond that, at every turn he leaves the eggs unprotected so they can easily be stolen (repeatedly) by Irontail or one of his minions, so he’s a big fucking idiot too, as well as a liar and an ingrate.

He finally wins of course (it’s the Bible after all) when Irontail turns all the eggs green and Peter/Christ hands them out to drunks on St. Pat’s Day.

He lied without gumption, he cheated, he stole an election Irontail had won fair and square, but he got the power he wanted. In the final scene of Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Easter arrives again meaning it’s time to deliver eggs and  chocolate communion to all the children of the world (well, the Christian ones anyway). When the time comes for Peter/Christ to hit the road and get to work, he insists that everyone in April Valley come along and help him, because he’s a big fucking lazy asshole on top of everything else.

And that’s what Easter is all about.

by Jim Knipfel

[fanders-fic-awards]

Ice Breaker (HFC18)

Summary: Roman has decided to take the sides out to the imagination, but things don’t always go as planned

Relationships: Patton/Roman/Logan/Virgil

Warnings: Hypothermia, Cold

Word count: 1110

Virgil’s POV

Roman had wanted to take them to the imagination all week, saying there was something he wanted to show them. Virgil was nervous about going, but went downstairs nonetheless, and they headed to the door to the imagination.

Once they were inside, Logan, Patton and Virgil all gasped in shock and awe. It was beautiful. The snow was glittering as if it was made of crystals, and it covered everything. There was a little path with less snow on it, and you could see prints of animals that had come through on it. There were woods on either side of it with tall trees and shrubbery all around that was covered in the snow so it looked almost like a blanket.

As Roman led them, they could see a little cabin up ahead with a frozen lake next to it. The cabin was made of a beautiful wood with gold accents added to it. From the window, you could see a beautiful fireplace with black brick and a royal blue mantel piece.

“This is amazing, Ro!” Patton said, mesmerized by the house and snow. They didn’t get much (if any) snow in Florida, so this was amazing to see this much snow in one place.

“I do have to say, you really outdid yourself.” Logan said, admiring the detail that Roman had put into this. Everything from the wood, to the lake, to their surroundings like the woods and path had the little quirks that everything had in the real world.

“Not bad, Princey.” Virgil said, still feeling anxious about the whole thing, but a tiny bit calmer now.

I’m glad you all like it. There are a couple things we could do. I think, though, that we should go ice skating. I think all of you would enjoy it.

“I’m cool with that,” Patton said, hearing Logan groan.

“That would be adequate.” Logan replied, seeming undeterred by the whole thing, though you could see a small smile forming on his lips.

“If you’re sure it’s safe.” Virgil replied, more nervous about this than anything else they could have done. Him? On ice? With sharp blades? In the middle of nowhere? There were so many things that could go wrong. Someone could fall and cut themselves badly. They could fall through the ice. Knowing Roman and knowing he wouldn’t do anything halfway, there would be freezing cold water under there. What would they do then? How would they get whoever fell through out? There were so many what ifs, but he trusted Roman. He just hoped that hope would be enough for everything to be fine.

A Time-skip Is Used..

Virgil’s POV

It turns out that ice skating was fine. At first he was a little nervous, but with the encouragement of the others, he was actually having fun.

Roman, of course, was amazing at skating. He had amazing footwork, and could do amazing tricks. Virgil had been worrying over almost all of them thinking about how he might fall and hurt himself. Stil, itl was pretty good.

Patton was having fun just making figure eights, but had gone in the cabin, saying that he was going to make some cookies and hot chocolate.

Logan, too, eventually got off the ice, and went into the cabin, coming out a little bit later with a book.

Virgil, howerer, decided to stay on the ice. With all the tricks Roman had been doing, Virgil was worried that the ice might crack underneath him (and maybe he liked skating, too, but not like he was going to tell the other sides that).

Turns out that Virgil’s fears were correct, though, when he noticed a tiny crack in the ice under Roman. It was small enough that if you weren’t paying attention to it, you wouldn’t see it, but large enough to break if someone went over it.

And that’s exactly what Roman was about to do. He was skating fast enough that he knew Roman wouldn’t be able to stop in time if Virgil told him, so, making a quick decision, he skated toward Roman, and pushed him back as the ice fell through under him, and he went under the ice.

The first thing Virgil felt, was that it was freezing. Then, there were hands on him, and he could feel them pulling, but their fingers slipped, and he sunk deeper into the water.

Virgil started becoming warmer, which confused him because he could have sworn he was cold a couple minutes ago. Then there were hands grabbing onto him.

He felt himself getting pulled upwards, but could barely feel the hands on him with how numb his skin felt. He started falling asleep, but felt strong arms give his body a strong shake, and his eyes fluttered open, not remembering when he closed them.

Virgil felt himself getting picked up, and the others moving him gently. He felt someone trying to take off his hoodie, and he grabbed onto it the best he could, though his fingers felt numb.

“Let go, Virge. It will only make you colder,” someone said, using a soft voice. Knowing it was one of his boyfriends, he let go. He wondered why taking it off would make him cold, but he let them take his clothes off and put him in some fuzzy pajamas. They then took him to the couch in front of the fireplace, putting blankets around him.

He felt one of them get under the blankets next to him, and put him on their lap, which Virgil didn’t protest to because of the warmth the other person was giving off.

After a couple of minutes, the Logan and Patton came in.Patton held a mug out to Virgil and Virgil tried to reach for it, but Roman (whose lap he was sitting in) gently pushed his hands down with one of his own, and took the cup with the other. Roman then gently moved, and put the cup up to his lips. Virgil tried to reach for it again, but Roman just put his hands down again and held the cup to his mouth. Roman tilt the cup up a bit and let Virgil drink from it, who was enjoying the slight burn in his throat.

After a while, the mug was empty, and Virgil was a good bit warmer. He snuggled up into Roman’s chest, and felt an arm on his back. Logan, after making sure that Virgil was warm enough to rest, started reading the book in his hand, brushing his fingers through Virgil’s hair. Virgil’s eyes slowly started to slip shut, and, he let unconsciousness drag him under.

by: @aphriteblack

[theinvulnerabletide]

Headcanon meme: (answer for whoever you can think of things for I guess) 1, 8, 11, 12, 23, 26, 29, 30, 34 :3

Okay okay okay. This got long because some of them turned into vignettes, so it’s gonna be under thecut.

1.) Love

Forsomeone who professed to be a loner, Lyra has loved so many people in her life.Her mother, first and brightest and most dearly, murdered on her way back fromher shift at the pub, the Stone Crows, her gang growing up, including her bestfriend Kora, who got scooped off the streets when some passing mage saw her set something on fire with her mind (which now strikes Lyra as ironic, consideringher current travelling companions, and her own predicament).

And then her newfound family,her Magpies. The ones that were murdered so cruelly in front of her.

Love and loss are intertwinedfor Lyra, the brilliance of lightning followed by world-shaking thunder. Whichis why she has, wholeheartedly, decided to stop caring about people. They won’tleave if she doesn’t get attached, and even if they do, well, she won’t feelanything right? Win win.

8.) DreamsIt’s not uncommon for Whisperto dream of water. Even if it wasn’t literally her element,she spent so much of her life surrounded by it; snow and rain pattering on thestone, the underground inlet, the blighted mermaid tank, that it of course itwould enter her dreams at some point.

Tonight though, tonight isdifferent. Tonight she dreams of depths, of an ocean so deep there is nogranulated sunlight to illuminate it, and even her comfort with the dark isn’tenough to make it feel less… crushing. She sees in staticky black and whitehere, feels the way the currents tug insistently at her. She has to remindherself that she can breathe.

There’s movement there, in thedepths. It takes up the whole of her vision. It’s just the suggestion of agreat thing slowly winding and unwinding, pulsing slightly as if with laboredbreath. It does not move against the current. It directs it, and it makes herown breath catch in her throat. Not with fear, but with excitement. 

When she wakes, she swears shecan still feel it, the current tugging at her, the great thing directing herforwards. The letter appears the next day, and the day after that, she isgone. 

12.) Worst Enemy

According to Az’ar, her worst enemies are the Godsthemselves.

The Gods are arbitrary and cruel things, starting and endinglife as it pleases them, for mere entertainment. They set up laws,contradictory and unforgiving, a universe full of pain and misery, and createdsentient creatures to wade through the mud and experience every bit of it.Growing up in the Shadowfell, Az’ar has witnessed it all, and grew to despisethe traditions of the Shadar’kai, the same traditions that honor Hala by tryingto protect the living things she holds so dear, especially from the unnaturalundead things she abhors, the traditions that pretend to honor Her brother bysending them back to His domain, and by dying well.

She left her people, somethingelse that was forbidden, and fought and killed far too many of them in order tocross over to the Prime Material Plane, the tear she made between worldsallowing a few of those undead monstrosities to cross with her. It was aregrettable loss, ones that she lays again at the feet of the Gods; if herpeople had not been obsessed with their supposed sacred duties, they would nothave needed to die.

Az’ar intends to wrest their claws from her chest, by making itso she can never die, and then, she will end their grip on the rest of thePlanes, even if it means killing them. She hope it does. That would be a sweetirony indeed.

23.) Romance

Orianais a romantic. Probably in the classical movement sense as well as in thehopeless romantic sense. She has this ideal of herself: knight in shiningarmor, a blazing paragon of Wahreight’s mercy and light, beating back thedarkness and protecting the innocent.

She also is kind of obsessedwith romance novels, and novels that we might consider romance novels due tothe way books are sold, but, unlike Whisper, prefers the ones that hold a highideal of love than the vulgar. Which isn’t to say she won’t read books with sexin them, only that she prefers more comedies of manners. Jehanne Augere’s Dignityand Discrimination remains her favorite novel (and she finally got a copyof her own the last time we visited Fantasy Half Price Books), and she’s morelikely to blush at the scene where the elven hero confesses his love for thevery human Elisabet. 26.) Beauty

Thecostume is… well. It’s tight. And barely there. Whisper runs her hands thelength of her torso, fingers skimming cut-outs in the shimmering golden fabricat her sides where her midnight skin provides contrast, and she lets out ashuddering breath. She doesn’t know whether its nerves or awe that’s making herstomach clench uncomfortably but… either way.

She sneaks a peak in themirror and looks away almost immediately. Salt and storm, she is glad hermother will never see her in this, or she’d be dead. Brutally and messily andall over the place.

She sneaks another look, outof the corner of her eye at first, then straight on. The leotard is almostblinding in the way the golden cloth catches the light (Ignatius’ choice, nodoubt), small black stitching and sequins giving the illusion of scales downher stomach. At her hips is this strange, diaphanous half-skirt, more like thefrills of a tiger fish than an actual garment. The neckline—if it can be calledthat— plunges far deeper than anything she’s ever worn, and she mutters a quickprayer that she won’t spill out of this thing at an inopportune moment. Or anopportune one. She is not being paid enough for that.

But the effect… She takes astep back, so she can see the whole effect, the golden ribbons wrapped aroundher horns and pinned in her hair, the ridiculous amount of eyeshadow, thestreaks of gold shimmer on her cheeks, she looks… ethereal. Magical. Shestretches one indigo hand out, and her reflection does the same, lightlymeeting her in the mirror. She watches herself smile.

“It looks beautiful on you,”comes a voice from behind her, wobbling like the owner is about to burst intotears. “You look beautiful, Whisper. Just brilliant…”

She whirls around, a scowlslotting into place. “I can’t believe he wants me to wear this, Terrance!”  

The huge man doesn’t seem tohear her, dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. “Oh, I outdid myself. Just wait until the audience see you. You’re going to dazzle them.”

Whisper laughs under herbreath, and sneaks another look at herself. Okay. Maybe it’s not so bad afterall.

29.) Bedroom (and 11.) Best Friend).

She wasclose, she was so freaking close! If she could just figure out thethaumodynamic stabilizers and the aetheric channels and how to connect them tothe theurgic couplings, then the armor would definitely be finished beforeschool started. Her tongue peaked out of the corner of her mouth as sheconcentrated, wand on one hand, tweezers in the other, a soldering ironfloating above her, held by her mage hand. 

The workbench in front of heris littered with such tools, awl and a few other small sharp blades and hergrindstone, linen thread and an assortment of needles, little colored glass ballsshe’d spent weeks making and enchanting so they wouldn’t break when she used them,and small gems that had cost quite a chunk of the money she made from selling herclockwork toys, not to mention all the other tools she didn’t currently needfor this project. The bed next to her, on the other side, had the rest of thearmor, chest plate and second gauntlet, both nearly finished save for the collectorsthat would collect the untethered thaumic energy from the aether.  

She’s so close. She can feelit.

“Celandine!” her mother calledfrom downstairs, “Celandine, your friend is here!” 

“What?” she freezes, and thewand released the spell it was holding… at the wrong part of the gauntlet. Andsomething started smoking. “Shit!”“Celandine?”

A quick prestidigitation puts the fire out but it definitely smelt like magic gone wrong and scorched leather.“Oh, hell. Coming Mom!”

”I’m sending her up!”  

“Shit!” Celandine cast a lookabout her room. Her chairs were full of clothes and her bed was covered in armorand there was spare leather and clothes and books all over the floor and why hadn’tshe learned the invisible servant spell.

“Hey, Celandine? Your Momsaid—” Caela pauses in the doorway, the top of her head nearly brushing thetop of the doorframe. Her eyes widen as she takes in the state of the room. 

“I know! It’s messy I’m sorry.I got uh…” she looks down at the gauntlet and then back up at her best friend,smiling weakly. “I forgot you were coming over. I’m sorry.” She puts the gauntleton the workbench and reaches over the small space to her bed, which at leastonly had the breastplate and the other gauntlet on it. “Sit down and give me asecond, I’ll have this place tidied up in a…”

But Caela is already bendingover, gathering up the nearest books that had fallen over. “It’s okay. I’llhelp. Why don’t you tell me what you were working on?”And Celandine beams.  

30.) Sex

Oriana pressesthe pillow harder over her head, trying to block out the sound from the onlyother bed in the room. Since she’d been knighted in the service of Wahreight,she’d been moved out of the general barracks and into a shared room;unfortunately, her roommate decided that that was enough privacy in order tocarry on her… assignations with one of the paladins still in training. And theidea of actually talking to Ritika about it was blighted mortifying, so hereshe lies, pillows piled on her head, face burning as she tried to pretend shewas not hearing what she was hearing.

34.) AffectionIt’s not that Whisper’s family was not affectionate. Sheremembers her father’s hand on her head, her mother’s approving smile. Hugsfrom her brothers, kisses on her forehead from the governess. But compared tothe carnival, her family was as touched-starved as any dwarf.

Affection wasphysical and platonic and above all, free among them, holding hands and huggingfor no reason, kisses on cheeks and foreheads and lips, giant cuddle piles inone of the main tents the afternoon after a big show, all of them just waitingfor the inevitable cry to start packing up. 

And the sex. Oh, seaand storms, the sex. There was just so much of it. After the first year she’dgone from having sex once in her entire life to having had more partners thanshe could count, of so many genders, in several different… permutations. Things would just…escalate. Someone would be feeling bad and a cuddle pile or a platonic kisswould turn into make-you-feel-better sex, someone would decide that they wereboard and seek someone out, or two people would be fighting and suddenly they’dbe up against the wall (that happened with Ignatius and a few of the othersmore than she would care to admit), or they’d be coming down off a high of asuccessful heist or a show, adrenaline still singing high gospel within them,and next thing you knew you’d be tearing off someone’s clothes. Maybeseveral someone’s.

But the real world doesn’twork that way. And after a bad experience or two on her way to Hazelscar, she isthoroughly aware of that. Most people don’t like being touched.

She meets Adoraor and Keithiafirst, and she makes sure to keep her hands to herself. Even when Adoraor isbleeding out and she has the stupid idea to stick a knife in his chest to seeif it’ll heal him, because, hey, it worked on that orc, or when Keithia (notThia, not yet) places a hand on her shoulder to press healing magic, warm andtingling, into her skin. Not even when they’re barring the door of a cold stonechamber and waiting out the night, and she knows she could stop them both fromshivering. 

She’s almost starving from it,achingly aware of where people are in relation to her at all times. She finallygives in and hugs Keithia about two weeks in. She feels Keithia freeze up for ahalf a second and she closes her eyes, waiting for the rejection, before Keithiasqueezes back, just for a second, before she eases back. Whisper has to forceherself not to cling, to let her new friend go. 

Oriana, she learns, hatesbeing touched at all and the boys are weird about it, so she has to make ithigh fives and playful slaps and punches to the arm. She can hug Frank, atleast, he’s not strange about it. Sing-songtoo, until he vanishes. 

She nearly cries when it getscold enough that they have to huddle in the Magnificent Bubble (also screw Leomund,she’s the one casting the spell, she’ll call it what she wants), and the Bubbleis just big enough for them. If they huddle. It’s almost like the piles she’sused to, and she plays it off with a few sighs and rolled eyes, but when sheends up cuddled next to Twiggy and Isao of all people, she has to bury her headin her arms, so no one will see her face. It’s almost good enough.

[pikemoreno]

The 100 Cast at DragonCon 2017

I mean, I already loved this cast, but they outdid themselves yet again at DragonCon this year. Here’s some highlights:

First of all, their panels were hilarious as always. I hope someone got video of them, because all three of the ones I went to were just beautiful.

So in keeping with tradition, I got a group photo with the cast and got it signed (I’m posting it separately after this). And in normal fashion, they outdid themselves in making the experience amazing. I can’t remember every detail because my memory with that kind of thing sucks and everything happened so quickly, but here’s some nice things:

Richard-

Saturday: he looks down to sign the photo-op and he just goes “there’s a lot going on here” and that just cracks me up and i don’t know why. so he spent a moment figuring out what to write and then I told him that the whole cast are always the sweetest, most incredible guests and that I was happy to see him back because he was one of my absolute favorite con guests and he was so humble and awed by it. He said thank you several times and I will never get the look on his face out of my head. He was so genuinely touched. And he grabbed my hand in both of his and shook it and it was just so sweet and sincere. I love him. He can go from hilarious and snarky to the kindest, gentlest soul in .2 seconds and it’s amazing. then we (meaning myself, him, and my boyfriend who was with me) chatted for a bit about the busy con schedule and how tasya had missed her connecting flight and got in at 6am. 

That night I tweeted him a picture of him twinning with Chris because he asked for one. And. He. Reposted. It. That picture you all saw on twitter with “A Tale of Two Chris”? Yeah that was me.

^this one

Monday: So I had spent all my DragonCon funds and didn’t have money to go up to Richard and Chris’ table and buy a picture or autograph so I asked if it was ok if I just said bye and they said that was fine. So I go up and say something along the lines of “I’m out of funds so I can’t pay for anything, but I’m here to say bye” and he goes “awww that’s alright” and hugged me and thanked me. And I brought up the picture he reposted and thanked him and he goes “oh i saved it to my phone and posted it, i should’ve retweeted it, that was rude of me.” i reassured him it was fine. he told me the picture i took of it was the best one he saw and that it didn’t make his chin look weird. i told him i was glad i didn’t make his chin look weird and that i would post more. he started packing up to leave while a few of us were chilling out talking to chris (they were at the same table) and he found his belt. he got so upset. his pants had been falling down all weekend and he couldn’t find his belt and it was right there, and i remarked that my pants had been falling down all day and i kept having to jump and pull them up and it was just a priceless little conversation. bonding over loose pants. awesome. so he walked out after that and hugged all of us that were chilling with chris and i go “yay your hugs are the best!” and he just “aww”s again. and he’s just such a sweet bean.

Chris-

Saturday: i’m having trouble remembering the exact details of our conversation on saturday, but essentially i thanked him for coming back and talked about it being my tradition to get a group photo with whoever from the cast was there and he was just so surprised and humbled. he also had a “guest list” going, basically. everyone wrote their name, their favorite planet, and their favorite medication (chris said “preferably prescription, but it’s up to you.) cool stuff. a+ human.

Monday: like i mentioned in my richard story, i went up to say good-bye and didn’t buy a picture or autograph. this is important. so i walk up to the table and, much in the same way i greeted richard i said that i was out of funds but wanted to say goodbye. he goes “that’s alright” and gets out from behind the table and hugs me and he notices my shirt (below). he says “i really like your shirt. can i sign it?” and i’m like “uhhh. sure. of course.” and stutter around with saying “i didn’t pay for that though, i feel like i need to.” but he said it was fine. so now my shirt is even cooler and that was just so cool of him! because, i mean, that was a $30 autograph, but he doesn’t care, he just thinks my shirt is cool. after that, we chatted for a few minutes about college and how it’s terrifying at first, being on your own and he wishes he could go back to the start of college and wished me luck and hugged me good-bye. such a cool dude. i love me some chris larkin, man.

Tasya-

can i just say i love this girl? we talked for five minutes about just about everything. my boyfriend and i walked up to her and after commenting on how much she loves the photo op we mention hearing about her flight and ask how she’s doing and she gave that face. you know the face, the one where you just know you opened up a can of worms and the person is about to give a five minute speech with a powerpoint presentation because they just need to get their feelings out. So she went through this whole charade with the airport employees and she was mad and just wanted to get to Atlanta. But then she when and got french fries and it was all ok, because french fries make everything better. I agreed. We asked if she had even had time to eat and she said not really but she had cookies stowed under her table. I told her “Ooh nice, cookies are like french fries; they make everything better.” And she freaks out, “I was just writing that on your picture!” so we agreed that we’re on the same wavelength and our minds are connected. it’s a thing. then we got on the subject of college and i told her i was a film major and she got really excited and she asked if my starting classes were really boring. i told her that they weren’t to me, but might be to other people and mentioned my history of film class, so she goes “wait history of film? did they show you that thing with the horses running?” and we had just done that the other day so i freaked out: “yes! and that thing with the nude bodies?” and she was like “YES!” so we figured out that everyone takes the exact same film history class and we just formed a major mental connection on saturday it was great.

Zach-

we talked pretty generally about enjoying the con. and my boyfriend fanboyed over rowan, i don’t remember the details. and then asked him how he made his voice do that deep raspiness and not hurt his voice and he said it just does that. lol. what a guy. i talked to him about college also and he had some extremely encouraging words for me. he told me to keep going with it and that there were going to be people who tell me i can’t do it but i can and it was just so kind and encouraging. wow what an A+ dude.