#writing this poolside while I enjoy the breeze | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

unbridgeabledistances · 3 years

Note

ian + mickeys neck (was thinking of the drunk ian fic and wondered if you would be interested in pursuing this idea further?) <3

anon i am CRYING thank u so much for this!!!! i have been feeling like i need to make my contribution to the “mickey’s neck” discourse for a while lmao and this is my opportunity (esp bc ian holding mickey in the 11x12 stills wrecked me)

in the spirit of following up 11x10 i decided to write this based on an amazing post @mickey-millagher made/a prompt that @pombby sent me about ian teaching mickey to swim at a public pool during lockdown at some point early s11- i hope u enjoy<3

(this is the tiniest notch steamier than what i usually write but it isn’t smutty fyi- tw for descriptions of choking😌)

There was no one at the park— the air hung heavy and humid over the empty picnic tables and wooden benches that punctuated the fields of dying grass. As much as people on the Southside were definitely not taking any part of this lockdown shit seriously, it didn’t surprise Ian how silent the public park was— there was still a scarcer number of people out on their stoops or lounging on street corners this summer. Ian guessed that the few people who didn’t think that this was a hoax realized that this COVID shit was serious enough that they couldn’t afford healthcare if they got it, or whatever— but regardless, that meant that this Southside summer was weirdly stagnant somehow, and felt different from the noisy and crowded rhythms of summers past.

It was the late morning, just as the air started heat like a convection oven as the sun rose over the skyline— and Ian had his heart set on teaching Mickey to swim today. The conversation had come up last night at dinnertime, when Debbie was complaining about the heat wave— and they had all started reminiscing about the rickety, tin-sided pool they used to put up in the backyard years ago until Carl had taken a hatchet to it when he was 11 when he was trying to tear it down. Sitting next to Mickey at the kitchen table, thighs pressed where their chairs were scooted close together, Ian had suddenly remembered his words from their road trip to the border, years ago now:

“You could try swimming across the border.”

“I never learned how, man.”

And he’d immediately opened his mouth, not catching the words before they moved from his brain to his mouth, and asked Mickey in the middle of the dinnertime chatter: “Hey Mick, did you ever actually learn to swim?”

It was funny, and arbitrary, and stupid; they were married now, but for some reason this small fact about Mickey, the fact that he used to not know how to swim and by now he might have learned without Ian’s knowledge, made something warm pool in Ian’s stomach. He’d known Mickey, and had been itching to be closer and closer to him, for a full decade—and there were still so many things that he didn’t know. And this was proof, this question that Ian still didn’t have the answer to about some weirdly fundamental aspect of Mickey’s identity— he was always going to want to keep asking things about Mickey. And he was always going to get to.

Mickey had looked him with daggers in his eyes, then flickered a defensive glance at all the smirks growing on Ian’s siblings’ faces. “Fuck you. I was doing plenty of other shit in Mexico, didn’t really get the chance to lounge on the fucking beach.”

Ian had reached under the table and placed a hand on Mickey’s knee—a peace offering, an apology for whatever Mickey-can’t-swim quips Carl and Lip would inevitably think up as a low blow the next time they all butted heads at breakfast time— but as the chatter about backyard pools and heat waves continued at the dinner table, Ian felt an idea stirring.

Which is why the next morning he’d woken his husband up by pressing a tender kiss to his jawbone, both of their skin damp and clammy from the heat in the stuffy bedroom, and whispered into his neck:

“I wanna try something today.”

Mickey’s mind had immediately veered in… other directions, his eyebrows raising in vaguely disappointed disbelief when Ian had explained his idea to go to the public pool and teach Mickey to swim with an exuberant grin on his face; but after some very enticing morning persuasion that had a lot to do with the fact that Mickey was still half asleep while Ian had pressed kisses down his spine and dragged him out of bed and handed him a pair of swim trunks, now they were at the public pool in the nearest park at midday, with Ian leading the way and Mickey dubiously and sleepily straggling behind him.

Ian slid open the lock on the chain-link fence that surrounded the pool, the same pool that was usually crawling with groups of teenagers smoking weed and toddlers in floaties who were sticky with melted ice cream on a summer day like today. And maybe he was just all hopped up on nostalgia, but Ian was feeling cheerful— there was a lightness to the blinding summer sunshine, radiating through him as it pooled on his skin, that made him feel weirdly exhilarated and giddy about teaching Mickey to swim in this grimy Southside pool, just because he could.

“I still can’t believe you never learned how to swim.” Ian said it over his shoulder as he strode through the gate, holding it open for Mickey.

Mickey just flipped him off, following behind him and setting down two towels and the 6-pack of beers he’d grabbed from the fridge as they’d shuffled out the door minutes before. Ian grinned. He knew the beers would be warm and syrupy in minutes—the air was muggy and humid, without any hint of a breeze for relief. Ian could already feel the sweat dripping down the back of his t-shirt; he peeled it off as he walked over the sunwarmed concrete towards the pool’s edge, crumpling the shirt and throwing it on top of the pile with the beers and the towels. Mickey was hesitant, not following Ian to the border of the water just yet.

“Seriously. I can’t count the number of times I was shoved into our bacteria-infested backyard pool when I was a kid. I’m pretty sure that Frank tried to drown me in there at one point.”

Mickey just shrugged noncommittally, his fingers slack around the bottom hem of his shirt and his eyes zeroing in on the pool of water. Ian thought Mickey would say something in reply— but the only sound in the air was the faint shouting of kids playing a basketball game the street over.

Holy shit. Ian had been so buoyant and excited about his nostalgia-fueled idea of going to the public pool on a summer day and teaching his husband to swim, dragging Mickey out of the house without a second thought, that he hadn’t realized it until now— Mickey was scared.

Ian swallowed down the grin that was threatening to overtake his face— one he knew that Mickey would immediately notice and hate, because he it drove him crazy when people gave him shit in vulnerable moments like this, when Mickey couldn’t do something. So instead Ian kept talking, hoping his chatter would loosen some of Mickey’s nerves.

“Didn’t you and your brothers ever go down to the other pool over on Trumbull?”

Mickey met Ian’s eyes then, raising an annoyed eyebrow. “Clearly not.”

And, okay. This was understandably bringing up some childhood shit. Ian tried to snap Mickey out of his head— he strode over to where Mickey was standing, a good six feet from the poolside, and snaked a hand onto the back of his neck, squeezing gently in what he hoped was a grounding and comforting touch that would drain the trepidation from Mickey’s defensive stance.

“One summer Debbie was so afraid of getting drowned at the public pool that she learned how to hold her breath for 4 minutes.” Ian grinned at the memory of Debbie dunking her head in a tub of water in the kitchen, making him and Lip time her. “Honestly, it was probably for the best you never went to the public pool. It was a shit show.”

Mickey scoffed, but the lightness was back in his eyes. “If I knew how to swim back in the day I probably woulda been the one doing the drowning.”

Ian barked out a laugh— and why did he immediately turn back into his 15-year-old self, with a god-awful crush on Mickey Milkovich, whenever Mick said shit like that? He pressed his lips into a smile, squeezing Mickey’s shoulder once more for good measure.

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, king of the Southside. You ready to get in the water?” Ian’s hand trailed down from its grasp on Mickey’s shoulderblades, dropping to encircle Mickey’s wrist and guide him towards the water.

Mickey immediately recoiled, yanking his hand from Ian’s hold and taking a step back, squinting and holding up a hand to block the bright rays of sun out of his eyes now that he wasn’t standing in Ian’s shadow.

“Fuck d’you mean? I’m not just gonna fucking hop in there and drown. You gotta show me what to do.”

Ian grinned again, without being able to hold it back. He knew what Mickey was like when he was afraid of something— defensive and grumbly and avoidant to touch. He rolled his eyes. “Can’t really teach you to swim when we’re not in the water, Mick. C’mon.”

Ian walked over to sit on the edge, then slid his torso down into the pool. The water was lukewarm and tepid, barely providing any relief from the sticky air— but it felt nice. Ian let out a little breath of relief from the heat as he waded over to the shallow end. Mickey was still standing by the mound of the towels the ground, watching him warily. Ian raised his eyebrows.

“You coming?”

Rolling his eyes, Mickey aggravatedly pulled off his shirt, tossing it behind him— sunrays bounced off of Mickey’s pale skin, owing mostly to the fact that Mickey had barely left the house in the last few weeks because of their prolonged “honeymoon.” He slowly walked to the very edge of the pool and, in a movement that made Ian’s heart grow ten sizes, hesitantly dipped a toe into the water like a cat trying to paw at something. A corner of Mickey’s mouth flickered downwards almost imperceptibly, a worry line sprouting on his forehead.

“I don’t know, man.”

Ian breathed out a laugh. Leave it to Mickey Milkovich, shit-talking king of the Southside, to be afraid of the shallow end of a public pool. Ian reached out a hand in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, still smiling like a sappy motherfucker at his painfully endearing husband.

“C’mon Mick, just stand here with me first.” Ian was waist-deep in the shallow end, the water pressing against his upper thighs— he knew that at this height the water would be at Mickey’s waist, right where his swim trunks met his hipbones.

Mickey’s brows furrowed from where he was still perched on the concrete lip of the pool ledge, his two feet firmly rooted. “Explain what I gotta do first. To swim, or whatever.”

Ian blew out a breath, still grinning like an idiot. “It’s not that hard, Mick. You just gotta circle your arms and circle your legs. But you have to get in the water first.”

Ian treaded over, pushing through the water to where he could rest his upper arms on the edge of the pool beside where Mickey was standing, staring up at him with what he hoped was a convincingly pleading face. Mickey’s eyes were still fixated on the water, lapping at the pool’s edge from where Ian had rippled through it. And suddenly Ian had an idea.

With a teasing grin, he reached a wet hand out from the water and encircled it around Mickey’s ankle, splattering the concrete with drops of water. Mickey immediately jerked like an electric shock had jolted through his body.

“You gonna come in, or do I have to make you?”

Mickey tried to shake his ankle out of Ian’s grasp, but Ian had hold of him with an iron fist. Mickey leaned over and tried to swat at Ian’s arm without losing his balance on the pool’s edge.

“Cut that shit out right now, Gallagher.”

Ian just grinned, squeezing Mickey’s ankle like he was about to tug him in. “Come on, Mick.”

Mickey’s eyes widened and, just as Ian had imagined he would— he started to freak the fuck out.

“Ian stop that shit right now, I swear to god I will fucking murder you if you—”

They were at the 6-foot marker in the pool, right where it was deep enough for Mickey to stand on the very tips of his toes; and with this knowledge, Ian tugged at Mickey’s calf— causing him to falter, his arms circling like a cartoon character before he lost his balance and crashed into the water on his side.

Ian immediately placed his hands on Mickey’s hips, standing him upright before his head even fell under the water— but Mickey was still sputtering and splashing, like the drama queen that he was. Once Mickey regained his composure and realized he was easily standing on the bottom of the pool, his head bobbing just above the water, he swiftly splashed healthy burst of water into Ian’s face, the chlorine stinging his eyes and nose.

“Fuck you, Gallagher!”

Ian coughed at the water that had shot up his nose, but immediately splashed Mickey back—and then, because there wasn’t any way this whole pool situation was going to go anyways, he and Mickey were immediately engaged in a life-and-death splash battle, circling each other in the middle section of the pool.

Ian was laughing so hard he felt a stitch in his side— and Mickey was finally grinning again, water dripping down his cheeks and clinging to his hair. After a few minutes Ian threw his hands in the air in surrender, the water cresting at his shoulders.

“Truce!”

Mickey splashed one more surge of water at Ian’s chest for good measure, grinning like a kid in a candy store— then he took a step closer to Ian, eyebrows raised.

“Truce.”

Ian beamed down at him, pressing a quick peck to the top of his damp hair. “Sorry for throwing you in the pool.”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“But in my defense, it had to happen eventually.”

Mickey shoved him squarely in the chest, taking a step back. “You ruined the fucking truce.”

Ian gave a smug smirk. “Do you wanna learn how to swim, or not?”

Mickey flicked another burst of water at him, just enough to cast a slew of droplets onto Ian’s cheeks. “Alright. Get coaching, Michael Phelps.”

Ian hadn’t really considered how he was actually going to teach Mickey to swim— but it couldn’t be that hard, right? He tried to think back to when Lip had taught him how to tread water, on an equally as sweltering day in the backyard pool, when the yard was packed with lawn chairs and drunk neighbors and smelled of ashy barbeque smoke.

“Okay. So you’ve gotta move your arms in circles, kinda, to stay floating. And your legs too.”

Ian swam over to the deeper end of the pool, just an arm’s length away from where he and Mickey’s feet could touch, and tried to demonstrate how to tread water. “I feel like the easiest way for you to learn is just by doing it. C’mere.”

Mickey looked at him reluctantly, brows furrowed again in an outward display of his bundled nerves. “No fucking way.”

Ian sighed in exasperation. “C’mon, Mick. I’ve got you. I’m not gonna let you drown, you can hold on to me the whole time.”

Mickey raised an eyebrow— but then hesitantly took a step towards Ian, the water reaching up to the bottom of his chin.

“Alright, good. Now step where you can’t reach and try to tread water like I did.”

Mickey stepped forward again, then started to circle his arms under the water— and he was doing great, for a second, before he seemed to get too in his head about the mechanics and started to grit his teeth.

“Little help here, Gallagher?”

Ian grinned and stepped forward. “Here, you can hang onto me.” He stood where Mickey could reach and grab onto his shoulders if he needed to— but Mickey seemed to regain his confidence, and was starting to steadily, if a little bit clumsily, tread water.

He kept it up for a while, until Ian could see that he was overexerting himself— waving his arms under the water with a little too much gusto, brows furrowed and his teeth digging into his lower lip in concentration.

“Mick, you’ve got it. Chill out for a sec.”

Ian reached an arm out, a branch for Mickey to grab on to— because he had been joking before, yes, but he really didn’t want Mickey to fucking drown— and when Mickey grasped onto it, Ian pulled Mickey towards him in the water, kicking backwards so they were suspended in the deeper end of the pool with Mickey clinging to Ian’s neck.

Mickey looked nervous as Ian veered them towards deeper waters, his eyes darting from side to side where they were floating, his fingers digging into the back of Ian’s neck— and Ian smirked at how freaked out he seemed, standing only a few feet from where they could both confidently stand on the tiled pool bottom. But Mickey didn’t resist, or try to propel himself back into the shallower waters— he let himself cling on to Ian, fingers interlaced behind the tops of Ian’s shoulders, as he kept them afloat. Ian laughed softly in a warm, wet gust across Mickey’s cheek. “You okay?”

He could feel the heat radiating off of Mickey’s body, squeezing up close against him— and Ian couldn’t help it, the wave of fondness that came over him as he looked down at where Mickey was pressed against his chest; trusting Ian to keep them above the water, trusting Ian enough to go along with his stupid plan to teach him to swim in a public pool on a random morning just because Ian wanted to. Ian couldn’t help but feel warmth in his stomach at this simple moment, at the two of them bobbing in the pool— at teaching his husband to swim, something Mickey’d never gotten to do as a kid but something that they had the rest of their lives to do together.

“Maybe we could teach Franny to swim next summer. If we have our own place.”

As he said it, Ian hoped that Mickey could see the flood of hopes that he had for them in his eyes— that he wanted a place with a pool, and a balcony, maybe a backyard, and maybe even a fucking garden—he’d always wanted to grow tomatoes. More than anything he wanted to build something sturdy, that could stand up to whatever ground would inevitably shift beneath them in the years to come— he’d been thinking about that a lot these days, especially with all of the pandemic shit that had pulled a rug out from under this entire neighborhood.

Mickey’s gaze flickered up from where it had been boring a panicky hole in Ian’s sternum, meeting Ian’s eyes at the phrase “our own place”— and Ian instantly knew that he got it, that he could see the dreams that Ian was building for the two of them right in front of their eyes. That after months and years of obstacles and chaos and other voices infiltrating their heads, now it was just them— now it was just Ian and Mickey, clinging to each other and drifting through the calm, chlorinated waters.

And maybe it was their proximity, or the intensity Ian knew he was pouring out in his gaze, but instantly the air between them shifted as Mickey looked up— starting to hang heavy like the press of the humidity in the air. Their faces were centimeters apart— and Mickey’s lips parted slightly, his eyes now cast downward at Ian’s lips. Ian could smell the sweet, warm beer on Mickey’s breath, mingling with his own; he looked at Mickey, whose arms were still wrapped around his neck, water dripping down his face from the hair that was fanning over his forehead—and Ian just had to pull him in, had to place a hand in the damp hair at the nape of Mickey’s neck and tug him closer, backing them against the tiled wall of the pool.

Ian could taste the faintest bitterness of chlorine on Mickey’s lips, from the water droplets lingering there, as he took Mickey’s bottom lip between his teeth. Mickey’s hands were still limply wrapped around Ian’s neck, keeping himself afloat— even though Ian had backed them against a wall in the shallow end of the pool again, and Mickey could probably touch his toes to the ground if he wanted to.

Ian raised his hand from under the water, wanting Mickey closer— he pressed a hand to the side of Mickey’s neck, slick with water, and slid a thumb over Mickey’s collarbone, pressing down with the pad of his fingers.

And Mickey gave a little involuntary noise from the back of his throat, sending a jolt down Ian’s spine.

Ian’s hands circling Mickey’s neck was definitely not a foreign concept while they were kissing— it was something they did a lot these days, especially as their hours in bed had taken a turn from the crazed, I-missed-your-body-so-fucking-much sex they were having in the beginning days of being in prison together and those early months after Mickey had gotten released— but both in prison and during this fucking quarantine, they’d gotten a bit more experimental, and a bit more reckless—especially before Ian had gotten his warehouse job and they were still on their structureless “honeymoon,” spending entire days lounging in bed.

It was those days of lazy, languid kisses, after years and years of already knowing each other, that Ian realized that he was maybe a little bit obsessed with Mickey’s neck. He’d always joked about liking Mickey’s legs, and that was true too (if he was being honest, there wasn’t a part of Mickey’s body that didn’t make his blood run hotter)— but the first time Mickey had grabbed Ian’s hand and put it up to his neck while they were tangled together, pressing down until Ian’s hand covered most of his throat, Ian knew that they’d opened Pandora’s fucking box.

By this point, Ian’s hand was pretty much always on Mickey’s neck at some point while they were fucking or even just making out— if he was being totally honest, Ian’s hand was on Mickey’s neck more often than not in lots of contexts these days, once they realized how much they both loved it. But there was something about this current moment, of Mickey wantonly desiring a point of contact there, right now, while they were very randomly and decidedly making out while floating in a public pool on a lazy weekday afternoon, that made Ian’s blood run hotter than usual, and rush quicker through his veins.

Ian let the pads of his fingers creep up the velvet skin of the side of Mickey’s neck, pressing a little deeper, a prelude— he could feel the vibration of Mickey’s heartbeat starting to flutter from where Mickey was still pressed against his chest, still clinging to his neck in the water.

They’d already extensively discussed limits and everything, Mickey would tap his wrist twice if shit got too intense— but even with that in mind, Ian pulled apart from Mickey for a second, trailing ghosts of kisses up the side of his neck and nipping at the underside of Mickey’s jaw. Mickey stretched his neck back and gave a little involuntary sputter of a moan, bubbling out of his mouth before he could stop it. He fisted a hand in Ian’s hair, at the nape of his neck, and leaned forward again to press their lips together with more fervor.

Ian pulled back again, his upper back resting against the concrete lip of the pool. Mickey looked disheveled and wrecked, half-dry chlorine-crusted hair sticking up from where Ian’s other hand had been cradling the back of his head, his blue eyes gleaming and catching the over-bright summer light. Mickey was still clinging his arms around Ian’s neck, holding on— they were in a fucking pool, and Mickey still couldn’t really fucking swim yet— and even though they were standing in a place where Mickey’s toes could certainly touch the ground, the whole thing felt weirdly insular and intimate, like they had to cling to each other.

Mickey raised his eyebrows at Ian, like he was daring him to keep going.

Ian leaned forward, breathing heavily into Mickey’s mouth, but not pressing their lips together yet—and he reached a hand up again, against Mickey’s tender skin. Mickey’s legs were wrapped around Ian’s hips now, locked like a vice to keep himself upright in the water— and he pressed a little harder, gently pulsing at the sides of Mickey’s neck, in tandem with their lips pressing together over and over again as the warm waters surrounded them—the whole thing, the whole combination, made Ian feel indescribably floaty and weird and warm and blissed out; his skin stinging like ice and fire at every point of contact, electricity zapping his nerve endings wherever his fingertips met Mickey’s skin. Mickey fisted his hand harder at the back of Ian’s hair, nodding slightly—and they were definitely not going to fuck here, in the filth of a Southside public pool, but this insular closeness, the knowing what they both wanted to right now, was equally as thrilling and fulfilling to Ian in the moment. He could almost feel his own heart beating, reverberating as it pressed against Mickey’s chest, vibrating straight through Mickey and back to him as they clung to each other in the water.

Mickey’s body was thrumming, letting out little gasps of breath between kisses and touches—and Ian pulled back and dragged his lips down the side of Mickey’s neck, inhaling the sunwarmed skin. Fuck. He was never, never going to get enough of this.

Later, they’d dragged their water-heavy limbs back through the still summer streets to the Gallagher house, their skin pink and their bodies exhausted from soaking up the sun— and they’d collapsed into bed, feeling the dried chlorine coating their skin.

Ian reached a hand up, rubbing a thumb over Mickey’s cheek, their bodies pliant and fatigued— and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Thanks for letting me teach you how to swim.”

Mickey had smirked. “Yup, that was definitely the only highlight of today. Swimming.”

#a fluffy premise AND ian being obsessed with mickey’s neck??#what more could u want #*blows kiss to elias and stella* for u #also yes i did have a word document on my computer titled ‘neck fic’#what about it #ty for the prompt anon this was truly an experience to write #ily<3 #gallavich #gallavich fic #shameless #shameless imagine #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich #ian and mickey #ian x mickey #ixm #gallavich fanfiction #cw choking

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theolsentimes · 3 years

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Mary-Kate Olsen's Singular Style

She came to fame as a twin, but the actress's cultish look is entirely her own. Here, with Lauren Hutton, she pays homage to another fashion inspiration, Grey Gardens. Written by Laura Brown, with photography by Peter Lindbergh (Harper's Bazaar, 2007)

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Mary-Kate Olsen may be the only young actress who breezes into her local Starbucks wearing towering, fashion-fierce Balenciaga boots, who arrives at her latest premiere (in Mary-Kate's case, for the new season of Showtime's Weeds, in which she plays a devout Christian with a pot fetish) sporting an oversize cross, and whose favorite band is Led Zeppelin. She may, in fact, be the only young actress who knows who Led Zeppelin is. MK, as she is known to her friends and family, is also a punctual and professional sort. She arrives for a poolside tea in Los Angeles 10 minutes early, ordering a hot chocolate while explaining her fetish for all things sweet — "I'm a candy girl, like Tootsie Rolls and Swedish Fish" — and objecting when the waiter tries to take the sugar bowl away. She is wearing a nautical striped T-shirt (her mom's, from the '70s), tucked into two black Wolford slips rolled down and turned into a tight, Robert-Palmer-video-style mini, and multicolored sparkly Christian Louboutin stilettos. She's just had her hair colored, returning to a sunnier shade after some experiments with both peroxide ("I woke up one morning and was like, I want white-trash hair today") and the dark side (an auburn-haired near-Goth moment last year). She's carrying a large black fringed leather Prada tote — she doesn't do small bags — and her fingers are covered with rings, most notably two vintage coiled gold snakes stacked on top of each other. ("They remind me of twins, sort of double headed.") Altogether, the effect is less her famed "bag-lady chic" than an edgy, body-conscious, and, yes, sexy silhouette. If she weren't 21, she could be 40. And French.

Few people need reminding that Mary-Kate — with her twin sister, Ashley — literally crawled into celebrity aged nine months (courtesy of Full House) and has not been out of the spotlight ever since. She has been a celebrity for more than two decades. Perhaps that's one reason she seems as if she came out of the womb worldly, the textbook old soul. "Yeah," she says with a small shrug. "I get that a lot." With all of that attention and all of the money (her and Ashley's company, Dualstar, has famously become a "billion-dollar business"), Mary-Kate could easily have ended up the type who wears pink terry cloth and carries a variety of small dogs. "Could you imagine?" she says with the politest version of a snort. "No way." She credits her exceptionally close-knit family (she has five siblings) and, interestingly, early stardom with helping her keep her perspective. "I think it helped that I started in front of the camera, so it didn't come as a shock. If I was a teenager and was thrown into the spotlight, I don't know how I would react, to be honest." Though the tabloids are all too keen to brand her a skinny, nervous deer in the headlights, in person Mary-Kate is easy in her skin, confident and surprisingly tactile, curling up in her seat and touching you on the arm to make a point. She laments the generic style of most actresses and cites only men as style inspirations: "Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp. Men, they just dress the way they want, and they don't think about Who Wore It Best." She doesn't much care for Who Wore It Best, noting she avoids those pages by "wearing vintage so often. I just dress the way I feel instead of looking for what's the new handbag." If Mary-Kate and Ashley have their way, more people will be wearing clothes and carrying bags the way they do. They have just shown the fifth collection of their ready-to-wear line, the Row, and recently launched a contemporary label, Elizabeth and James, named after a sister and a brother. The Row's holiday collection (in stores next month) is a slick mix of skinny leather pants, razor-cut blazers, butter-soft, slouchy tees, and a destined-to-be-cultish pullover fur. Lauren Hutton, who stars in the Row's Spring '08 look book, says, "The clothes are extraordinary. A man I was with just loved them. The pieces are just so genius, soft like a baby's skin. Simple minimalist stuff, but really spectacular." Mary-Kate, designer, faces an interesting challenge. She has to marry Dualstar — which has made its fortune selling tween-tastic DVDs and pastel Mary-Kate and Ashley T-shirts at Wal-Mart — with her increasingly edgy and subversive taste. Dualstar executives, some of whom have worked with her since she was a child, often nag her, mom-style, about pulling her hair back "or wearing a color," she says with a laugh. "I had this event recently, and I was like, They're going to be so happy that I'm wearing ... purple. I actually have to think about those things, though, you know, so I don't get trashed." Get trashed sometimes she does. Hutton says, "Once in a while, she'll wear something and I'll think, Oh, baby doll, take another look. But to have the bravery, to take the chance to do that, is pretty wonderful. She is making her own way, which is hardly ever done in Hollywood." Of Mary-Kate's penchant for gigantic Balenciaga heels, Jenji Kohan, the creator of Weeds, says, laughing, "I'd be like, 'It's Tuesday. Do you really want to be wearing those shoes?' But she pulls it off." Designer Giambattista Valli, a friend, says, "She likes to take risks, but because she has such strong personal style, she always manages to make it work. Even if she had nothing on, she'd have style." And MK chic is spreading. "Sometimes I'll look at people or at a magazine and I'll do a double take because I'm like, Oh, my God, that's my outfit, but that's not me," Mary-Kate says. Playing with her wire-rimmed aviators, she jokes wryly that she should have bought shares in Ray-Ban. (She and Chloë Sevigny pretty much brought back white '80s Wayfarers.) She tends to fall in love with a look, then wear it until she's done. "If I put together a good outfit, I'll wear it for three days and then switch it up with a blazer," she says. "I still love my vintage jeans, my tights, and my pants, though." She didn't start wearing heels, in fact, until a couple of years ago: "I kept watching Ashley walk around in them so gracefully, and I'm such a klutz. But I ended up loving heels, and I don't usually take them off." She wears precisely one pair of flat shoes: Chanel's knee-high patent-leather gladiator sandals. This season, it's Balenciaga's fall collection — all of it — that has Mary-Kate obsessed. She is close to designer Nicolas Ghesquière and says, "He is so talented, but he's the nicest, most down-to-earth guy, and that makes everything he does more brilliant. I bought everything, but I haven't got anything yet," she says like a girl impatiently waiting for Christmas. Will she wear the new pieces with her infamous clodhopper boots? "Uh-huh. Wore them the other day, actually." Mary-Kate always goes with her gut, even if some people (back to those tabloids) don't quite get it. "The tabloids say things about me? What do they say?" she asks archly. "People are going to write what they want, and everyone's going to have their own idea of who I am. But I'm not trying to be friends with the people who are reading them, really." After a rough couple of years filled with near-forensic scrutiny of her weight, she'll have you know that she does eat. "This is not going to sound good," she laughs, "but I like making crispy tofu sticks with peanut sauce. I love my sashimi and my salmon and my vegetables." She observes, "Stress plays a big role in how I look day-to-day. I've always been very active — Pilates, yoga. I grew up horseback riding every day for hours. I love dancing. I usually last longer than anyone on the dance floor." A common image of Mary-Kate has her emerging from a coffee joint with an oversize cup. "I always get creamed for having my Starbucks cup," she says, sighing. "But the only time people get photos of me is when I'm getting coffee, when I can't sneak away from the camera." She also resents the pictorial implication that she and Ashley are dilettantes. "They take photos of us going into our offices, and it's 'Mary-Kate and Ashley shopping again.' But I'm going to work for eight hours, and we're working so hard. ..." She trails off. "It just shows how people want to think of you." Mary-Kate is not above celeb watching herself, however. Newly obsessed with Victoria Beckham, she notes she avidly watched Beckham's Coming to America documentary: "She's running around in a bikini and heels, and I'm like, Oh, my God! I do that, too!" How positively Grey Gardens. "I run around my house naked with heels all the time. It's so funny. All my friends will tell you I love running around in kimonos and jewelry or naked with jewelry." More people will be watching Mary-Kate soon, thanks to her role in the Emmy-nominated Weeds. "I am a very good Christian girl," she says with a wink. "She has her moral beliefs — and she happens to smoke pot." Of her newest cast member, Kohan adds, "Mary-Kate is complicated. She's a big celebrity, a huge media icon, but you have to separate the media images from someone who has the same issues, the same desires, as anyone else." Of course, Mary-Kate's image, in all its incarnations — from high fashion to small screen — is her strongest asset. And she has yet to settle on one. "I feel like I've lived 10 different lives already and I'm only 21," she says, almost as a reminder to herself. "But I also feel like I'm entering a new chapter." One thing on which she is clear, though: She doesn't need to be looked at all the time. What would she do for a day if she were invisible? "I would probably go to a restaurant with my friends, who would be able to see me, of course," she adds pragmatically, "and I would sit outside and enjoy a nice lunch with them. Then I would walk down the street." The old soul takes a sip of her little-girl-sweet hot chocolate. "That's what I would do."

#Mary Kate Olsen #mary kate and ashley #Ashley Olsen #harper's bazaar #magazines #articles #photoshoot

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theassthatquits · 3 years

Text

Blupjeans Week Day Four: Ship

@blupjeansweek2021

Lup sipped her drink slowly, taking in the scene around her. There were definitely a lot more men here than women, which meant that more attention would be placed on her. She could work with that. She thumbed through the many name tags she swiped and started writing a different name on each one and hid them under her leg when she was done. Speed dating was one of her favorite activities to do when she was Taako’s guest on a cruise.

At first it started out as a way to hook up with someone that she would never see again. Pretty easy when it was the last day and everyone came from different places. Very quickly she realized that this was the perfect opportunity to spread chaos. She now had four rules:

No one gets to know her real name

No one gets to know any true facts about her, actually.

On the off chance she did like someone here, no spending the night with anyone.

Definitely no off the ship contact

The bell signaling the start of the night sounded and she pulled herself together, slapping on a name tag reading “Ryn” as her first victim, smirking and a little gross looking, sat down across from her.

“Lucky me, first round with the hottest girl in the room.”

Lup would be lying if she said she had never heard that one before.

“Oh god, I only hope that this will be over soon.”

His face dropped. “A little rude, aren’t we Ryn?” He leaned in close. “Playing hard to get?”

“How can I play hard to get when we’ve only just met?”

He paused, thinking. “Are you...rhyming with me?”

“Whatever do you mean? I’m afraid this I cannot see.”

“Okay, I see what’s going on here.”

“I do not understand, could you explain to a fellow peer?” Lup tried really hard to pull it off but she was grinning ear to ear.

The man rolled his eyes. “I think we’re done here.”

“Hey look who’s rhyming now!” His glare towards her was punctuated with the bell, signaling a partner change and hers couldn’t get away fast enough, done with her antics. She swapped out her name tag for one that read “Liza”.

Her next match was objectively the hottest man in the room and she’d be lying if she had said she hadn’t thought about breaking the rules. He sat down with some finger foods in his hand and took a bite. His face contorted and he spat the bite out in a napkin. “Oh, Gods. I think this is the worst food I’ve ever tasted on a cruise.”

Yeah, she wasn’t going home with this guy. How dare anyone spit out Taako’s food! She smiled sweetly, “Do you go on many of these?”

“Oh yeah, I cruise several times a year. I need something to do with all of the money I make.” He was really laying it on thick and it took everything she had not to roll her eyes.

“Sounds lonely.” She reached out and stroked his arm flirtatiously.

“It can be, sometimes.”

“Do you think I could help with that?”

He smirked. “Yeah, I think you could, babydoll.”

Gross. She almost gagged but smiled instead. She took out her pen and wrote a random room number on his arm. “This is my room. I’ll be back there in 15 minutes. Meet me there.”

His eyes lit up, “oh, yes. Sounds good. I’ll see you soon.” He stood up, winking at her and then he breezed out of the room as the bell rang.

“Ugh, so gross.” Lup made a gagging face trying to get the thought of him out.

“Hello - oh, are you okay?” She looked up to see a man in his thirties wearing glasses, a button up shirt, and blue jeans. He stood out in the room where every other man was wearing slacks and a tie. Lup paused for a second and then realized she had yet to speak and his face was getting more and more concerned for her.

“Uh, yes. Just swallowed down the wrong way, you know how it is.”

“Oh, yes I do,” He nodded solemnly. “Shit!” He yelled under his breath as he spilled half of his drink on himself while sitting down. Lup took this opportunity to switch out her name tag to “Eve”. After she was done he was still trying to clean himself up. His - Barry, she could tell from the tag - face was a deep red. Her heart pinged slightly at that, this poor man was so out of his element and it was kind of endearing.

“Here, let me help.” Lup handed over some napkins and leaned over the table, purposefully giving him a good view down her dress but he was so focused on cleaning up he didn’t even look. Lup didn’t know why she almost felt disappointed about that.

“Uh, thank you. I’m Barry.”

Double-checking her name tag she responded, “Eve.”

“Eve. That’s very pretty.”

“Thank you, Barold.”

He nearly coughed up his drink at that before collapsing into giggles. “Barold? I like it.”

“I think it’s fitting, Mr. Barold Bluejeans.”

“It’s actually Hallwinter -“

“Not in those jeans it’s not.”

He giggled again and damn if that didn’t do something to her. “Got me there. I’m not sure what people wear to cruises, I only packed swim trunks and blue jeans and I was not about to wear my trunks to a singles only event.”

“Oh, is this your first cruise?”

“Yeah, I won a contest at my university. I teach theoretical physics and I guess I had the most positive reviews or something from the students. I didn’t really know the contest was going on until I had won it.”

“Ooooh Professor Barold Bluejeans.” Something about that made her insides ache. “How are you enjoying your first cruise?”

“It’s nice. I haven’t taken a vacation since undergrad, so it’s been pretty great to just relax by the poolside and catch up on paperwork.”

“Did you seriously bring work to your vacation?”

Barry cocked his head, confused. “Yeah, is that a big deal?”

“Barold!! It’s a vacation! You don’t bring any work!” She was getting worked up and heads began to turn towards them. “You: drink a lot of alcohol, swim a lot, read a book by the beach, eat a lot of food, watch the weird as fuck shows they bring onboard, and hook up with a hottie you will never see again.” She listed these off on her fingers.

“Well I’ve done most of those things!”

“Yeah? Hook up with a hottie?” She winked at him and his face got a deep deep red.

“No, not that one. I read and swim and eat and drink. The food here is absolutely incredible, I’ve never had anything like it.”

“Yes! One point for Barold!” She high-fived him. “My brother is the head chef, everything he makes is exquisite.” Lup froze. She’s never revealed anything of herself at these before but with Barry it just felt natural. Maybe the rules didn’t need to be so strict after all. “What shows have you seen?”

“Well, uh, I haven’t seen any. I pretty much only swim, read, and eat.”

“So you haven’t explored the boat??”

“Not really.”

“Oh my gods, Barold. You are squandering this vacation. Cancel your plans tonight, we’re going exploring.”

He raised an eyebrow, amused. “Yeah?”

It was her turn to blush. Damn him. “If you want to, I mean. We haven’t exactly finish speed dating.”

“Hmm true, and I could find someone that loves doing paperwork poolside…”

She swatted at him playfully and he laughed. “I’m kidding! Yes, please, Eve. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Lup froze, at first upset that he misremembered her name before she realized that she had given him a fake one. It was too late to go back now, she figured. She could be Eve for the rest of the night. It’s not like she was ever going to see this man again.

“You okay?”

God, he was so observant. It was like he saw right through her. She smiled and grabbed his hand. “I’m perfect. Now come on, Bluejeans. We have a whole weekend of mischief to catch up on.”

#blupjeansweek2021 #blupjeans #barry bluejeans #lup #taz balance

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phati-sari · 4 years

Note

Hi PS, THAT UPDATE IS ...HEARTWRENCHING to say the least.You have SHOWN(not written) Arnav's dilemma SOOoO well it's so 💔💔.It feels like I am watching the Arnav just before his kidnap.Oh God,Nani is arranging the meet-the-girl once again??? And he is not showing any RESISTANCE???A bomb is waiting to Thank you for writing that girl Esha as 'not dumb'.It feels like if K is not in his life, Arnav could almost say yes to this girl.🙄 And that Aman..I bet if Aman was a girl Arnav and Aman (contd)

Pt2 would have been GREATCOUPLE more than A&K. But the words Maybe you don't belong in HER world.It shattered my heart along with A's phone.If only K is not in his mind all the time,he cld make clear decision.And the SONG,one of my favorites (found it only thru u).I really don't listen to anything while reading UR FFs bcoz it hampers the video playing in my mind.I tried to mute this but it played itself adding to the angst of the story.😭😭 PERFECT COMBO. U R THE QUEEN in writing angst.Contd

Pt3.. THANK YOU PS for sharing this WONDERFUL story.And THANK YOU for WRITING BEAUTIFULLY Arnav's POV.I just wanna hug him to say You really DESERVE her.You will right ur wrongs.You will find a way.😭😭I also have to say this to you too.YOU WILL FIND A WAY to connect the parts.I am no one to suggest you anything.But when a story which took three years to transform from an AWESOME idea to INCREDIBLE words why will it not wait for few days or even months for the in-between chapters??Contd

Pt4.The story will come around.Just don't get anxious about it.Push it to the deep back of your mind.And it will present the solution when the time comes.Pls pls don't think I'm advicing you or anything.Just can't bear it when u r so anxious.BTW did K really realize that it was Arnav??? OMG this is so exciting.LOVING each and every WORD of the story.Sorry for my long rambling.Ur outoftheworld storytelling make me lose my mind.😍😍😍🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏👌👌👌😘😘😘🤗🤗🤗 THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Hey @shiyaravi!!

Thank you so much for sending such a detailed message, I super appreciate it!

What a wonderful compliment! The always say show don’t tell, and aaaahh I feel so special right now thank youuuuuu!

Ahh!! I have an answer to this. Arnav isn’t showing resistance because Shyam talked him into doing what Nani wants. I showed some of it in the third chapter but Arnav’s agreement happened ‘offscreen’. We were shown in the serial how easily Shyam was able to manipulate both Nani and Arnav into the arrangement that had Lavanya living in Shantivan. With Nani he argued it was better they stayed in her house where she could see them, and with Arnav he argued that Nani would be more receptive once she knew Lavanya and that Saale-Saheb had to live by the rules his elders had set.

So I figured that with Arnav so confused and Lavanya out of the picture, couldn’t it have happened the other way -- Shyam convinced Nani to let Chhote have more of a say in his life and convinced Arnav to at least try it?

Aww that’s such a nice thing to say about Esha!! Nani often reminds Arnav that she’s on his side, that she only wants what’s best for him. I refuse to believe she’d pick women who were totally wrong for him. Esha is smart, she knows what’s up within twenty seconds and has no emotional investment, so she just moves on. Much like Lavanya, this is someone he can be friends with but not a husband to.

(And wow, for you to see that in the ten seconds she’s present, that’s amazing!! We continue to be on the same wavelength --)

Yes!! When Aman said “Maybe you don’t belong in hers.” Arnav definitely heard “You don’t deserve her.” Which is, of course, is his fear.

You know, there are probably ArnavxAman fics out there. And they’d be great because they do seem in sync and I can see it working very well for both of them. Aman the office-manager falling for ASR and keeping it quiet for years aaahh the angst!!

Queen of writing angst. Wow thank you that’s such a compliment!!

May I please use that in the description?? I certainly enjoy writing angst, especially from Arnav’s point of view haha.

Ahh yes, it was The Breeze of Awareness at the poolside, she felt it all the way in Lucknow and was saying his name when he cut her off.

Thank you for the amazing words of support. You’re right. It’s been a long journey, I should just relax and let it work itself out. I’m grateful to have brilliant, supportive friends like you :D Thanks again for reading, and for sending me all your wonderful thoughts, I feel so special!!

❤️❤️

#shiyaravi #answered #ff: tere bin #nice things

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pb1138 · 5 years

Text

Fictober Day 4: Freeze, feat Josephine and Asena

MODERN POOL PARTY AU! I NEVER WRITE AUS! HOW WEIRD IS THIS?! It might become a two-parter, Idk. Warnings? Mentions of alcohol, kind of OOC Leliana. Also, surprise appearances from the Hawke and Inquisitor of this timeline (Nev and Gemma. (Gemma is the Inq, Asena is just her friend for my double-Inquisitor-au timeline.))

UPDATE: This is now a mafia au.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 AO3

Author note: “Hermosa” means beautiful. So, she’s calling Josephine beautiful.

“Who did you say lived here?” Josephine raised her eyebrow at Leliana.

Leliana just waved her hand as they wove their way through the convoluted apartment complex. “A friend of Cassandra’s.”

Cullen snorted from behind them. “It’s not like you to hold back on gossip, Leliana.”

Leliana huffed. “I don’t really know. All Cassandra said was there would be a party.”

Josephine and Cullen shared an incredulous look, but they didn’t have time to press for more information because they rounded a corner and music drifted over to them. “Oh good, you made it!” Cassandra waved to them from among the group of people loitering around the pool. A bunch of paper lantern lights were rustling in the warm summer breeze, casting a warm glow over the cool light from the pool. There were about two dozen people in total, including many of Cassandra’s friends, just about everybody wearing either bathing suits or summer clothes. Josephine recognize most of them—The Iron Bull was working over the grill while Dorian looked on adoringly; a red-haired and blue-tattooed Dwarven woman was hanging off the Warden Blackwall’s arm sitting poolside and chatting animatedly with Sera and her girlfriend Dagna who were in the pool; over in the corner, Varric was sitting amidst a group of people, likely telling them one of his ridiculous stories with his arm slung over Cole’s (one of the only fully dressed people present) shoulder. Cassandra walked over the gate and grinned at them, her hand going to rest on her sarong-ed hip. “Did you find it alright?”

Leliana grinned and hugged her. “Of course.”

Josephine scanned the crowd. “It looks like a good turnout.”

Cassandra nodded, clasping Cullen’s hand in a firm shake. “Yes. I hadn’t realized Asena had invited so many people, but everyone seems to be having a good time.”

“Who is this Asena? I’ve yet to meet her,” Josephine asked, curiosity filling her voice.

“Oh, you’ll love her.” Cassandra gave her a knowing smirk before it turned into a grin as she looked past them. “In fact, here she comes now!”

“Sorry, there was a huge line at the store and—Oh!” The trio turned to meet their hostess, and Josephine’s breath caught in her throat. “Cassandra, are these the friends you were talking about?”

“Yes, indeed. Guys, allow me to introduce Asena Adaar.”

The Qunari that stood before them was, as most Qunari are, incredibly tall. She was standing with her hip cocked, a large bag of charcoal balanced on it, an… an entire half-barrel keg set at her feet. Josephine raised an eyebrow at that. How in the world did she carry that all in one go? Her hips were wide in comparison to the rest of her body, a pair of light pink harem pants hanging quite low on those hips, giving her a good view of sturdy hip bones. Her skin was light for a Qunari, similar in shade to The Iron Bull’s, but smoother, pulled tight over strong, prominent muscles. She wore no shirt, only a black, strapless bikini top that made Josephine swallow hard.

Asena must’ve noticed Josephine checking her out because she smirked, an eyebrow cocked at her, and Maker’s breath she was pretty. She had a strong, slightly crooked nose that sat between proud, lightly freckled cheekbones. Her lips were thick and painted a cool purple that helped her shockingly bright, teal eyes stand out. Her horns were smaller than the Bull’s, curved delicately up and behind her forehead, shined smooth halfway to the tips, and between them rained a mess of beautifully curled black locks.

“Asena, may I present—”

“Nono, let me guess.” She cut Cassandra off with a cocky smile. “Obviously this is Cullen Rutherford.” They shook hands, Cullen replying with some sort of greeting that Josephine couldn’t hear. “And Leliana Nightingale,” another handshake, then she turned to Josephine. “And this,” she said, practically purring, “must be the lovely Josephine Montilyet.” As Josephine put her hand in hers, she blushed when Asena leaned down, pressing a warm kiss to the back of her knuckles. Asena smirked up at her and whispered a cool and fluent, “Encantada, hermosa Josefina,” against her skin.

“Hey, Boss, did you get the charcoal or what?”

Asena straightened up (so tall) at The Bull’s interruption and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, hold your horns.” She smiled at the four of them, stopping her gaze on Josephine. “Please, excuse me.”

“Do you need any help with that?” Cullen gestured towards the keg sitting at Asena’s feet.

The Qunari grinned and shook her head. “No thanks. I’ve got it.” In one fluid movement, she hefted the charcoal up on her shoulder and raised the keg to rest on her other hip as if it weighed nothing at all. Josephine couldn’t help but stare at her muscles as she squeezed past them and meandered over to the other Qunari who was waiting impatiently by the grill.

When she turned back to her friends, Leliana and Cullen were giving her deviously sly grins. “I… What?” She could feel the blush rising among her cheeks. They chuckled and moved past her to join the party, Cassandra following close by. “I—guys! Wait!”

As promised, the party was a blast. Within an hour, more people had joined, including Bull’s entire crew and a few other people Asena seemed to know, including a white-haired blind woman who was nearly as buff as Asena and who was apparently the blind woman’s girlfriend, a slender, tan-skinned woman with a lip piercing and a heavy Rivaini accent. Conversation and laughter flowed from every direction, backed by a constant flow of pleasant music. Though Josephine is a natural conversationalist, she didn’t stray far from Leliana’s side. Leliana’s offered safety proffered Josephine the opportunity to watch their hostess flit about from person to person. Everyone was greeted in the familiar, ranging from a warm handshake to an almost painful-looking hug, but Josephine noticed hers was the only hand that Asena kissed. Indeed, aside from a sisterly smooch to Blackwall’s and his girlfriend’s cheeks, Asena’s lips touched nobody else. Though she didn’t know why, this revelation filled Josephine with a deep sense of giddiness, as though butterflies had taken flight along her skin.

“My word. Is that Leliana?”

Josephine raised a brow as the Rivaini woman snaked her way through the throng of people, her girlfriend in tow, and came to a firm stop in front of the both of them. She looked over at Leliana who was regarding the woman for a long moment before she gasped. “Isabela?”

The woman—Isabela—beamed brilliantly at them and swooped in to hug Leliana. “I knew that was you!”

Leliana blushed. “I had heard you and Hawke were together, but I guess I didn’t realize. You’ve certainly changed, Bela.” Josephine nudged Leliana and gave her a Look. “Oh, Josie, this is Isabela and Genevieve, friends of mine from ages ago.”

“Nev,” supplied Nev with an outstretched hand which Josephine took.

Isabela pulled Genevieve’s hip into hers and grinned cheekily. “Yes, we know Leliana quite well. Perhaps we could know you, too…?”

“Bela, Nev, you’re not harassing my guests, are you? Not everyone is interested in sharing your bed.”

Josephine blushed furiously at Asena’s entrance, even more so at the fact that Asena stood almost touching her, her arm stretched behind her to balance her weight against the railing. Nev chuckled while Isabela tsked. “Well one can never know until one tries, eh?”

Nev pushed gently at Isabela’s shoulder, turning to leave. “C’mon, I heard Cullen prattling on around here somewhere. I wanna annoy him.”

Leliana’s studious gaze flicked from Josephine to Asena two or three times before she gave a flashy smile. “I’ll help you look for him,” she called to the other two women.

Josephine’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to protest, but Leliana was gone as quickly as Asena had appeared, chasing after her friends. Asena sucked her teeth and shook her head after her friends. “That lot is trouble.” Turning to look down at Josephine, she put on a brilliant smile. “Are you enjoying yourself, Lady Montilyet?”

Josephine self-consciously tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded. “Yes, quite. This is quite the party.”

Asena smirked, her eyes scanning across Josephine’s face. “I’m afraid I can’t take all the credit. Bull’s boys are quite the lively bunch.”

Maker, is she getting closer? Josephine cleared her throat and took a sip of her drink. “You, uh… You seem to know all these people.”

Chuckling, Asena straightened back up and looked out at the crowd. “Mm, I do for the most part. Anyone I didn’t know before tonight were either guests of Cassandra or Gemma.”

“Gemma?”

“My roommate.” She pointed out the tattooed woman just in time for Josephine to watch as Blackwall was tackled into the pool. Laughing, she watched the two of them come back up for air, and Gemma squealed as Blackwall pulled her in for a vengeful kiss. “She’s pretty cute.”

Josephine cocked her head, looking back and forth from the Dwarf to the Qunari. “How did you two meet?”

For just the briefest of moments, a shadow flicked over Asena’s face, but she quickly hid it with a cool smile. “We go way back.”

Nodding, Josephine turned her attention back to the crowd. “I understand.”

The music shifted to a new song, something in Qunlat that Josephine couldn’t understand, but it had a good beat. Asena spun to stand in front of Josephine and bowed dramatically, her hand outstretched. “May I have this dance, Lady Montilyet?”

At her dashing grin, Josephine blushed and slipped her hand into Asena’s. “You may.”

Asena grinned and swept her out towards the area that had been unofficially designated as a dance floor.

The rest of the night passed in a blur. Asena and Josephine danced for what felt like minutes but must have been well over an hour by the time they sat down, breathless and giddy. From there, they talked for ages, and wine and beer flowed between them until they were both giggly and stumbling about the place. People came to talk to the both of them, faces blurring one into another as the drinks flow.

Suddenly, it was daylight. Josephine’s head pounded in protestation of her poor decisions last night, and she groaned. “Oh, Maker,” she grumbled.

“Buenas dias, hermosa Josefina.”

She… She knew that voice. But from where? She couldn’t… Prying her eyes open, she looked around, struggling to focus. “W… Where?”

A face came into view, dazzlingly beautiful and smiling warmly, a cascade of curls falling off a light blue shoulder. “My apartment.” A glass of water was sat on a table near Josephine’s face.

Blinking, Josephine tried to focus on the face, on the strong nose and the proud lips and the freckles and the eyes—“Asena?”

Asena chuckled and nodded, disappearing from view. “Eggs?”

“I…”

At her roaring stomach, Asena chuckled again. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Josephine pulled herself to sit up, assessing the damage. A hoodie some five sizes too big with a wide-cut collar had been placed on her, but underneath her clothes were still on and in-tact, though her sandals had been carefully sat on the floor. She had been sleeping on a couch in a well-decorated apartment, not far from a sliding glass door that lead out near the pool. “I… slept over?”

“Yeah. Cullen did, too. He’s in on Gemma’s couch, through that door over there. Leliana left with Nev and Isabela.” Asena came over to sit in a chair across from her, setting a plate of eggs down in front of her.

“And the uh… hoodie?” She cast a glance up at her host and took a sip of the water.

Asena smiled gently, leaning back in her chair. “I didn’t want you to freeze.”

Josephine blushed and ducked her head to take another drink. “Mm. Thank you. That was very thoughtful.”

Asena waved her hand. “It looks better on you anyways.”

Josephine blushed and… Was that a smirk? Boldness took her, then, and with a smirk of her own, Josephine settled back into the couch and tucked her legs up underneath her. “I shall have to keep it, then.”

Asena’s smirk grew into a full-blown toothy grin. She adjusted herself so that her arm hung off the back of the chair and her impossibly long legs stretched out in front of her. “It would be a great disappointment if you didn’t, Lady Montilyet.”

Josephine giggled and started eating. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes until a phone began ringing. Asena cursed in Qunlat and cast her an apologetic glance, pulling out her phone. Josephine waved her off, and Asena disappeared into a different room to answer it. Josephine finished her eggs and water then took them to the sink to clean them, humming softly. The hoodie hung down to her knees, and the widened collar encouraged it to hang off her shoulder demurely. ‘I didn’t want you to freeze.’ She blushed anew and grinned to herself.

As she washed the dish, the other door off to her right opened and Blackwall stumbled out, wearing naught but a pair of pajama pants. Upon seeing her, he froze and blushed deeply. “I… er… Lady Montilyet. Fancy meeting you here.”

She quirked a brow at him. “Indeed.”

He cleared his throat. “You, uh, slept over then?”

“Indeed.”

Nodding, he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “F-fancy that.” Moving quickly, he scooted over the cupboard and snagged a pack of Poptarts. “Well, be seeing you,” he stammered before scurrying back to the room.

Josephine chuckled and shook her head. His crush on her never ceased to entertain, even if he was a taken man now. Just as she finished the dishes, Asena’s door opened, and she walked out, wearing a breathtaking suit, fresh makeup, and a sullen expression. “Hermosa Josefina, I must profusely apologize. I have business to attend to. You’re welcome to stay here, or I could take you home if you needed?” She looked wretched about it, and that made Josephine’s heart swell.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose. I can call a taxi.”

Asena frowned. “Nonsense. It would be my pleasure.”

She considered it a moment, regarding her carefully. With a nod, she smiled gently. “Very well then.”

She moved to take the hoodie off, but she was stopped by a gently hand on her arm. Looking up into Asena’s smiling face, she blushed. “I said you could keep it,” she purred, her eyes taking in the hang of the garment.

Josephine’s blush deepened, and she nodded. “A-Alright.”

Asena practically beamed and gestured towards the door. They paused so Josephine could put her sandals back on, and then they left. Asena’s car was strangely nice for a college student, and a convertible to boot. Probably for the horns, Josephine thought. She drove with a careful recklessness, obeying speed limits and the likes but taking turns a little too fast, and in a way it was thrilling. Once they arrived at Josephine’s house, Asena hopped out and rushed quickly around to open the door for her, smiling warmly at her. She escorted Josephine to the door and paused just outside it, looking as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t. Josephine tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. “Thank you for a lovely evening,” she whispered.

Asena regarded her carefully, eyes scanning hers, taking in her expression. She nodded slightly and reached out to brush her hand along Josephine’s arm, linking their pinkies together when she reached her hand. “I… had a good time. I’d like… I’d like to see you again, if that’s alright.”

Josephine’s stomach burst into butterflies and her heart pounded in her ears for something other than her hangover. Nodding earnestly, she stepped closer, a broad grin stretched across her face. “I would very much like that.”

Asena grinned toothily. “Brilliant.” She pulled Josephine’s hand to her lips as she had when they met and pressed another warm kiss to her knuckles. “Until later, hermosa Josefina.”

Josephine watched her practically skip back to her car. They shared another grin and waved to one another before Asena hopped into her car and took off. With a dopy smile and lightness to her step that defied the heaviness of her hangover, Josephine backed into the house and sighed dreamily. Once she turned around, she blushed to see Leliana standing against the railing in her underwear, a bowl of cereal in her hands. She regarded Josephine carefully then pointed her spoon at her. “Where’d you get the hoodie?”

Clearing her throat, Josephine tilted her chin up. “Asena didn’t want me to freeze.”

At Leliana’s devious grin, Josephine rolled her eyes and scooted past her to retreat to her room. It wasn’t until she turned to shut the door that she noticed the Rivaini woman and the white haired woman sprawled across the couch, very nude, and she scoffed. “I thought we said no more orgies in the living room, Leliana!”

Leliana’s laughter drifted through the wood of the door as Josephine shut it, and she rolled her eyes. The memory of Asena’s lips upon her hand was too sweet, too lovely in her mind for her to work up any real anger, and she collapsed in a heap into her bed, sighing contentedly. When she opened her phone, she was surprised to see a message from an unknown number, and when she opened it she grinned.

I had a lovely night with you, hermosa Josefina. -Asena.

“Oh, Maker. This woman will be the death of me,” she giggled.

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cutiecrates · 5 years

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Cutie Reviews: YumeTwins July 19

Hello~ Welcome to our review :3 today we’ll be looking at the July YumeTwins. For anyone curious, my mom is doing very well and they said she could leave later today (Sunday).

“It’s finally summer time and with the weather heating up we hope you’re looking forward to getting outside and enjoying the sun! We had exactly that in mind when we put together this month’s selection of goodies for you. Isn’t it funny how when the sun comes out it somehow magically brightens our mood? We hope you’re feeling motivated and excited to get together with friends for a fun day in the sun or a Pool Party! Don’t forget to bring along your kawaii pool party items from this month’s box! Are you excited yet? We sure are! We hope you enjoy!“

(Just pointing this out for anyone new... I know people like sunny weather, but my mood improves when it’s rainy and cloudy out.)

Photo Contest

This month the winners and runner-ups could look forward to an adorable My Melody plush and chocolate-shaped pens!

Yume Prize

Meanwhile, Rilakkuma is our featured character in the special Yume Prize box. With several items perfect for bringing to a pool party.

Gudetama Sticky Notes/Pokemon Stickers

I know, you’re probably wondering “there’s no Gudetama though“, and I have a good reason for this. The booklet lists Gudetama Sticky Notes, but as you can see I didn’t get them. If I recall, this is because something happened and they had to replace them for some boxes... I’m not 100% sure, this was back in July when I looked into it.

Keep in mind things like this usually don’t happen- and since I can’t exactly remember why it did, I won’t fault YumeTwins for it. With that, let’s take a look at this cute sheet of puffy stickers I did get instead. There are 65 in total, featuring a variety of Pokemon and some pokeballs. They’re a bit on the small side, but that just means you can use a lot more :P

Although I don’t like tiny stickers, I do admire all the detail you can see in these. However, I noticed some of of mine have little itty-bitty smudges or markings, they’re also pretty hard for puffy stickers.

Kawaii Character Pouch

Our next item is a cute little pouch, which would come in handy at the pool for storing small items you can keep nearby. There was a variety of fun prints and Sanrio characters available. The one I got is an adorable Sumikko Gurashi pouch, featuring a pastel floral background and black details surrounded by the series name and writing that says “Day after day we have fun in the corner.“. There is also a light pink ball chain connected to this, giving you the option to attach it to various items.

Although I’ve gotten numerous pouches like this, I think this would be one of my most favorites. I love the floral background on it~ It’s well made, it feels nice on both the inside and outside, although I did notice its on the thin side, so I’m not sure it could handle a lot of abuse, or getting wet. Not sure.

Key Chain and Strap

To go with the pouch, we also get this adorable chain and strap piece that can be used as is, or you could split it into two portions and use both pieces separately if you wanted. You could even “cross swap“ the chains, so you could make the rubbery piece into a phone charm if you wanted. Like the pouch, these consist of various Sanrio characters partnered with various items they’re often found with, for example, besides Hello Kitty and her bow, there’s also Gudetama with an egg.

I love Hello Kitty, so I’m always a little disappointed when I don’t get her for items featuring various Sanrio characters~ Which happens a good amount of time! But this time I got lucky x3 I’m especially fond of Hello Kitty phone charms because back when I had a phone that could have them, I used a vampire Hello Kitty charm I loved more than anything. I still have it (and a Hello Kitty Frankenstein too, it was part of a Halloween series) but I can’t use it at the time.

As you can see in the picture, the details are perfect, the lines and colors are smooth and crisp, the figure is especially extremely well done for something its size and has a lot of details on it. The pose and item are obviously on the generic side, but I think in this case it actually works for the line.

Handy Mist Fan

A perfect summers item (and probably really fun at a pool :D), this adorable Sanrio hand fan comes in the shape of a star wand and is available in this hot pink and red various Sanrio mascots, or there is a pale colored Sumikko Gurashi one. Besides being a cooling hand fan that requires no batteries, there is a special feature that makes this one even more fun; it has a water mist function!

Initially I didn’t know that. but I did see the hole the water comes out, and had been wondering what the side tab did. I never really looked at the description until I began writing about it, and as it turns out you just unscrew the bottom and fill it with water. The tab on the side is for controlling this feature, and the water will mist out while you’re using it. There is also a long string you can use to hang this from your neck or various items.

This is actually a lot of fun! I usually don’t get that excited by hand fans because while they are cute, I find they either work or they don’t (or the breeze is so small you can barely feel it) so I wasn’t very sure I’d be satisfied. But it works really good, I was surprised by how cooled I felt while/after use, and the misting function is really strong, to the point you get water all over you. I can’t see this being an ideal winter toy, but it’s perfect for late-spring and summer!

Sailor Moon Jar

Next up is a pretty KiraKira Canister inspired by Sailor Moon that was available in 2 colors (pink or purple), both featured alternate images. But otherwise they have the same physical appearance. The jar has a diamond tile etching you can feel on the inside, and on the top of the lid is a gem. It’s also a decent size and the booklet suggests using it for things like candies, hair accessories, and cosmetics; which I think I will do. Lately I’ve been putting all my unique lip products from the boxes in the Sumikko Gurashi container I keep my earrings in and I ran out of room <3<

This is a pretty item that could come in a lot of handy in numerous cases, it’d also be the perfect gift for a Sailor Moon fan x3 The details make it extra-special, I like it a lot~

Kirby Inflatable Ball

This is our last item of the box, an adorable Kirby inflatable that also serves as the featured item this month!

This airy toy makes for a lot of fun at the pool or just as an inflatable yo-yo :3 it’s very fun to play with and was surprisingly easy to blow up for me -and I have asthma- although my cheeks still felt a little sore afterwards~

There is one downside I noticed, and I don’t know if its just mine, or if they all have this issue. I noticed over time Kirby seems to lose some air, and I don’t know if it has a hole somewhere -despite being kept in its packaging until I took the pictures- or if its meant to do that. It’s still playable of course, but it’s a minor concern.

♡ Cutie Ranking ♡

Content - 5 out of 5. We got some good, quality items this time! I didn’t notice anything messed up or sloppy (besides a couple Pokemon stickers), each piece was detailed and very cute/pretty and individually I essentially liked all of them.

Theme: 2.5 out of 5. Honestly this is where they fell a little short I thought... I mean, we only have 2 really obvious pool-based items in the box- but you could use them in multiple locations too, which is good. But while you could store small items to bring with you in the wallet and jar, who would actually bring these to a pool? Maybe to a poolside locker or hotel. The stickers/sticky notes and charm kinda don’t work for me theme wise, and all they suggest is using the charm as an accessory to the pouch. They could have just as easily included a water-filled charm or something to add more of the pool touch to it.

Total Rank: 7 out of 10. I really did like this box, would recommend, the only thing I had a problem with was that I felt like the theme could have been better. The theme suits summer strongly, it was just the items didn’t fully meet the theme in my opinion.

♡ Cutie Scale ♡

1. Sailor Moon Jar - I love, love, love it~! It’s so pretty looking and it’s a decent size so I know it will come in handy regardless of what I choose to do with it.

2. Hand Mist Fan - Great for cooling down when you feel particularly warm or just want to have some fun~

3. Character Pouch - I got tons of these, I didn’t need another one; but I love how it looks! Definitely in my top 3 of pouches I own, I’d be very likely to use it.

4. Kirby Inflatable Ball - As precious as Kirby is and as fun as this is, I’m worried over the air draining out of it, but I couldn’t find any holes. I’ll probably hang it up somewhere safe to make sure it doesn’t get one for now.

5. Keychain and Strap - I’m very happy I got Hello Kitty!

6. Pokemon Stickers - I don’t like repetitive sticker sheets, even though they do have their good points. And because a few of them got messed up I can throw them away with no remorse.

#cutie reviews #yumetwins #sailor moon merchandise #kirby merchandise

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ficsforfangirls · 7 years

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An Untitled Tomco

@boopy-boop, who requested a Tomco where Star accidentally gives Marco hypothermia and calls upon Tom to keep him warm while she finds a cure.

Disclaimer: I did not know this fandom. I had to look up and rely on my friend @ouranose for information so that I could construct this ficlet. I’m not sure if these people are in character, I avoided physical descriptions except where necessary, and just sort of relied on the general awkward feeling of being a teenager with feelings. If it’s not good - maybe just pretend I didn’t write it. Boopy, I really hope I didn’t disappoint.

So, Read & Enjoy this shot-in-the-dark Untitled Tomco Ficlet.

Sunny.

Unbelievable.

Miraculous.

Magical.

Exciting.

Romantic.

Summer is Marco’s favorite season. There’s no school, there’s no schedule, there’s no cold. While everyone else is sitting by the poolside drinking their sweating glasses of icy soda and chilled lemonade, Marco keeps his hands tightly trapped around a warm plastic bottle of sweet tea.

See, people constantly are trying to have the best of both worlds. Nobody moves to California to be cold, so why bother trying to cool down? Marco loves swimming and all that, but he’s the sort to take breaks to play volleyball on the beach or snack on the blanket in the sunshine. He has always been happy being warm. Besides, he doesn’t like the feeling of swallowing something freezing cold as it moves all the way through his digestive system.

Marco shivers at the thought. And also the shout of Star standing right behind…

“I need to make a new batch of lemonade. Can you help me get the cooler inside?” The music isn’t playing that loud and the people that are hanging around the sprinkler aren’t exactly making a racket. Still, Marco smiles at her and nods his head easily. Star is a good person and his closest friend. Also, she lives with him so there’s that whole obligation as well. If he doesn’t help, well, it’ll come up later. It really doesn’t bother him, though.

Once inside, Star and Marco set their bottles down on the table and get to work with the lemonade mix. Star handles the water – using her wand to permanently chill the water. The whole process is short and in no time, they’re walking the cooler back outside with a new round of red cups. Without much thought, Star pours herself a glass and takes a sip. “Delicious!”

“What about your tea?” Marco asks passively. Star doesn’t hear him, though, because Tom rounds the corner of the house and calls out her name. She goes running, naturally, because they’re dating mostly. Honestly, Marco knows they are dating but they’ve not exactly made it public information. She walks over, lazy hugs him, and then starts gesturing to Marco’s collection of warm bottles of tea.

Though he hadn’t noticed before, being inside the house is sort of stuffy and sticky, so Marco grabs the bottle closest to him from the table and races back to join his friends outside. He doesn’t drink from his bottle for some time. This person wants to talk about summer plans, this person wants to make plans for a trip to the beach, and this person wants to go to the movies this weekend. So Marco chats for ages before breaking away from the group to get a breather. One quick gulp of the tea reveals a cold that is so unfamiliar that Marco doesn’t even realize it soon enough to spit it out.

In a split second, he’s shivering where he stands. Star shows up asking if he’ll come help her again with the lemonade. “I-I-I d-don’t kn-know if I-I c-c-can m-move.”

“How do you mean, Marco?” Star tilts her head to side with a bit of curiosity tickling her voice. He thinks it is sort of cute in one of those innocent-kid sorts of ways. His mouth wants to twitch into a smile but it can’t. It wiggles in defiance of his body’s will to star in place but nothing more.

Star notices. “Oh my goodness. You literally can’t move, can you?” She pokes her hand out and touches Marco’s cheek. It is cold. She runs her thumb over his lips. They are turning white, nearly blue. Unsure what to do, Star howls over her shoulder for the only person she thinks can help. “Tom!”

Tom swaggers over in the way that a fire demon does, Marco thinks to himself. Their friendship is a strange one. As Star’s boyfriend, there’s this rivalry between them. It is petty and unwarranted. Marco isn’t necessarily vying for Star’s romantic attention in the way that Tom is, though he does like to have her attention and occupy her time. Tom also doesn’t always regard Star in the way that Marco feels that she deserves but that falls in this category of ‘neither here nor there.’ All in all, Tom swaggers and it’s not a good sort of thing or a bad sort of thing – it’s just a thing that he does.

“Yes?” He asks, eyeballing Marco suspiciously.

Frowning, Star explains what is happening to both boys. “I think I’ve given him hypothermia on accident. I’ve been charming the water for the lemonade and the ice so it doesn’t melt as fast. I tested it on my tea but I could see it was too strong. I left it in the kitchen earlier next to his and I’m thinking he might’ve picked it up by mistake.” Tom is nodding but not really paying attention. He’s eyeballing Marco as if he’s some sort of science experience, which isn’t actually accurate.

He’s a magic experiment. Though, is that really any better?

Marco decides not and chitters his reply. “S-so r-rev-vers-se it?”

“Easier said than done,” Star coughs in perfect unison with Tom’s smooth voice. Their innate knowledge of the unreliable state of her magic with the wand escapes Marco at times, being an Earth person and all. Making a noise that is probably a sigh, Star makes a temporary order until she can manufacture a resolution. “Tom, take him inside and keep him warm. Hypothermia will kill him, and quickly, if we don’t warm him up.”

“Sure. I’m not a fan of the sprinkler either way,” Tom speaks flatly. He picks Marco up unexpectedly in the same fashion as a husband might pick up a bride. Strange as it might be, the second that he’s touching Tom – he feels better. Hopelessly and shamelessly, Marco nuzzles his face closer to Tom’s cheek and his lower right eyeball.

Inside, Tom drops Marco on the couch, which he’s not incredibly grateful for, and leaves to get some blankets. Sitting in the room, which is always a pleasant seventy-seven degrees, feels no different than sitting in an icebox. There’s a settling cold that’s there but not there. It doesn’t belong but it’s been manufactured. It’s hard for Marco to still think that it’s coming from within himself but there’s much to get used to with magic all around.

“Hurry up and get back here,” Marco hesitantly commands through barred teeth. He doesn’t like the way he sounds when he stutters and he doesn’t want to sound particularly clingy, either, since it could set off Tom. His temper is unpredictable, even if it has gotten better to some degree. Marco rocks back and forth on the couch. Well, kind of. He can’t move more than an inch or two without creating a breeze.

Tom returns with his comforter and the extra blankets from Star’s room and buries both of them in layers of warmth. Adding to it, at Marco’s request, Tom uses his pyrokinesis to create more heat. Truthfully, it only makes a marginal difference, but he is desperate for it. California isn’t a cold place and Marco isn’t a cold person. He doesn’t like it so he just scoots closer to Tom and snuggles him.

At first, it isn’t clear how Tom actually feels about it, but he soon begins to prattle about how it’s nice to be needed for something good. He goes on and on about impressed he thinks Star will be that he is using his demonic powers for good. This seems really important to him but mostly in a boyfriend brownie points perspective. Eventually, Marco grows a bit tired of it and shakes his head against Tom’s shoulder. “You aren’t finding the cure, you know. She’ll be the hero of her own story.” Star Butterfly deserves her time in the spotlight, even if the spotlight is on a problem that she created and that she has to solve. Sometimes, heroes are self sufficient in all of the ways, even the bad ways, and that’s fine. It makes for a good story.

Marco feels Tom tense underneath his body. “I’m sorry.”

Tom laughs. “Apologize for what? I know I’m not good enough for her in your eyes.”

“N-n-onsense,” Marco mumbles. Never once did it occur to him that Tom isn’t good enough for Star. That is absurd. Tom has his flaws and he has growing to do, but not so much that he wouldn’t tell Star to stop dating him. He isn’t jealous of Tom at all, either, so wherever he got the idea that he’s ‘not good enough’ in some way is absurd. “I th-think you’re f-fine. No-not perfect, no-not even great, but w-well enough. Star c-can make those choices f-for herself. I just think sometimes you need to give her the credit for her own actions.”

This quiets Tom and they just sit there awkwardly in the silence while he deliberates what this reply means. He picks apart each word. Discerning each syllable, change in tone, and miniscule facial movement, Tom comes to the conclusion that something else causing his critical eye. Marco doesn’t feel like he has a critical eye for Tom specifically, but Tom feels that way, so he feels that he needs to find the answer. “Do you like me, then?”

“S-sure,” Marco says. “I l-like having you around.” It’s as simple as that. Marco likes things to be simple. Magic is great but he’s not totally used to having it around. Mundane can be magical in it’s plain sort of way. “Really, I-I do.”

“I like having you around too,” Tom replies steadily, turning his head just enough to peer down at Marco. They share an odd sort of glance. A surge of warmth spreads through the blanket when their eyes meet, which forces Tom to look away nervously. Marco wonders if the heat reflects emotions in any way. The curiosity invites a completely unfamiliar thought upon it’s passage through his mind.

What would it mean if it did reflect his emotions? How would Marco feel if it did and he knew which emotion? Which emotion would he want it to be? A different sort of shiver works through his bones and even though he wants to lean away from Tom, he simply pushes himself closer. Rigidly they share a very small space until people begin leaving and Star shows up with a cup of warm green tea, steam rolling over the rim and all.

“It took a few tries but I’m pretty confident I got it right,” her voice betrays her as it trembles the closer she gets to Marco. Tom has to peel layers of blankets away and help move his hands upward to take the cup away from Star. Then all three of them work to get the drink to his lips without spilling. Just as quickly as the hypothermia had set on him, it melted away with the charmed green tea as it soaked into his whole body. Able to move freely and speak without a stutter, Marco utters his ‘thank you’s to both Tom and Star.

Later, long after Tom has left, Marco knocks on Star’s bedroom door. She calls him in but he stars at the door, leaning on the frame. “I’m really sorry about today,” she offers tiredly. It was a long day of hosting her friends and rushing around to fix the mess she unintentionally created with his nearly dying (a bit dramatic but not inaccurate). Marco waves it off.

“I actually came with a question,” Marco counters, and details how Tom had sent off a quick heat wave during their conversation. It made him curious if his pryokinesis reflected his mood at all. Star paused to consider it very seriously before nodding her head.

“Yeah, I think a bit,” she smiles. “What were you talking about?”

Marco doesn’t want to reveal the train of thought he’d had or suggest that Tom might be anything other than loyal to her. It would be a stretch and far outside his place to suggest something so farfetched anyway. He lies, since he can’t really make heads or tails about what the heat wave meant, if anything. “We were talking about you being your own hero and all.”

“How sweet,” she whimpers the way all human girls do when their boyfriends have flattered them in some way. There’s no need in correcting her. Tom isn’t a terrible guy, even if he is a demon. Marco mutters something like ‘goodnight’ and wanders back to his room. On his mattress is a freshly folded blanket, warmer than the rest on his bed, and a handwritten note.

“In case you are still a bit chilly,” Marco reads the note in a whisper. As he crawls into bed, this is the blanket that he wraps around himself first. Cuddled inside and happy to be warm again. As he begins drifting off, teetering somewhere between being awake and being asleep, he hears Tom’s voice in perfectly clarity. “I like having you around too,” with imaginary surges of warmth reaching all over his body.

#star vs the forces of evil #tomco #tom x marco #tom lucitor #marco diaz #fluff #fic request #i've never watched this #i literally wrote this blind #please i just hope its not terrible #happy christmas #happy monday #happy december the 25th

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nebbychan · 7 years

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Donk and Sparrow - Halloween

Crisp and brittle leaves of all colors; scarlet, bronze, and gold all breaking off from their homes among the branches to gracefully cascade, floating along the breeze and landing on the pavement. The chill made it clear that winter was on its way, and any self-respecting Dallington resident would know that it was time to wrap their bodies in a multitude of neutral fabrics. Fall was a special time in Dallington, it signaled the end of barbecues, poolside parties, and humidity of the summer heat and announced the return of the infamous pumpkin spice lattes, succulent vegetables and fruits ripe for harvesting as citizens of all ages would charge to the nearest pumpkin patch or apple orchard to pick only the fattest and juiciest. But fall also served as a warning of the hard winter that was yet to come, temperatures were dropping faster than that of a piano at high altitude, and elderly residents would soon be packing and catching flights in Buffalo or driving to the nearest warmer states.

The worst of it all was the Christmas season.

Nebby had to relive those horrors year after year once she’d become working age, and make no mistake, the first Black Friday always left mental scars in a retail associate’s brain. She had no doubt that Tim becoming a sales floor associate at the old Sears in Pine Woods Mall will be one hell of a shocker for him. She didn’t do it in front of him, but behind the scenes she’d be crossing herself repeatedly and uttering, “En el hombre Del Padre, y Del Hijo, y Del Espíritu Santo. Amen.” Thankfully, Canny Tim had yet to fully grasp Spanish, though that doesn’t mean he didn’t know what “puta” or “cabrón” meant.

And what also served as a saving grace was the holiday that came before Christmas; Halloween.

Halloween was always a popular holiday in the states, especially in Dallington. Once a year, a massive festival would be held, honoring the town’s founding. Meanwhile, the town’s club owner and DJ, Salem had decided to pack up and go off to the mountains for the weekend. It was a strange tradition of hers; she’d pack the RV with all the essentials, and drive deep into the woods only to emerge on November 1st. No one knew why she did it, but when approached she’d instantly snap, “I just need some time to myself, okay?” Nope, definitely not suspicious at all, nope!

Of course, some punk kid would start a rumor that Salem was a serial killer or a narcotics addict, neither of which held enough evidence to prove either theories plus the addition of Nebby’s frightful gaze said otherwise. Nebby herself believed she was just writing new songs or trying to enjoy nature, she’d always remembered Salem as an avid hiker and birdwatcher. Lame activities, but someone has to have a believable hobby, right? Ann had her baking, and Nebby had her trips to the gym.

Nebby stopped by Salem’s small bungalow with croissants and parfaits, “Hey! Going on that yearly trip again?” she greeted. Salem had hoisted the last bag into her RV just as she’d approached her driveway, she smiled, “Yeah, oh hey, are those for me?” “Well who else in this town eats parfaits with pomegranates, dark chocolate mousse, and gluten-free vegan yogurt?” Nebby placed a hand on her hip and flashed a roguish grin. “Don’t you diss the good name of Velvet yogurt, its good shit and you know it.” Salem laughed as she accepted the care package, “So I hear this is gonna be Tim’s first Halloween, it kinda sucks I won’t be here to see it.” “Yeah well, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do anything with him; fucker’s still shaken up after watching IT last night.” Nebby folded her arms and scoffed, “Lost his shit at the sewer drain scene and wouldn’t keep his hands off his face to watch the rest.” “R.I.P Georgie.” Salem shook her head, “You know Tim’s a medieval solider, right? His time was really fucked up you know, and I don’t think introducing him to horror movies was a good idea, you might trigger something.” “He watched the entirety of the Exorcist without blinking an eye, matter of fact…other horror movies are just fine with him- well, except the time he got super nauseated after watching the Saw movies.” Nebby scratches her head.

“You think he might have coulrophobia?” “Canny Tim, afraid of clowns…? I’ve heard of his discomfort towards mirrors, but not clowns.” “Well, it’s a possibility. You said he couldn’t watch IT without covering his eyes.” “In his defense, I probably should’ve warned him there was gonna be a lot of child death in this…” “Well if he does, then you guys might want to be careful.” “And why do you say that?” “Well, I guess there are clowns popping up all over the country again.” “Really, are you serious? This shit again? Welp, welcome to Clownpocalyse, mother fuckers, buckle up!” “Yeah, I’d recommend carrying bear mace or something.” “I’ll add that to my grocery list.”

Salem snorted, “Anyway, I should probably start heading out before traffic starts congesting like flu season. You got your meds, right?” “Like I want to spend this year’s Halloween stuck in bed.” Nebby rolled her eyes, “you have a safe trip, okay?” “You better have some tamale ready for me when I get back.” Salem stuck her tongue out at Nebby, earning a playful expression in return. She waved goodbye as her friend pulled out and drove off. Putting her hands into her pockets, she sighed and began the walk home.

“Me? Going on a hunting trip with you! Oh no, fuck no, last time I went you nearly took an eye out!” Orion angrily pointed to his left eye. Kardok frowned and punched his shoulder, “’at was ower 700 years ago, wimp, gle ower it.” “I know you’re just going to leave me in the woods or use me as target practice.” The clone glared daggers at the centaur, folding his arms and tapping his non-bandaged foot. “Ah won’t, Ollie said Ah cooldn’t anyway.” Kardok groaned, “an’ besides, dae ye pure want tae bide haur an’ deal wit’ Zarok instead ay shootin’ deer an’ elk?” He did drive a good point, whichever minion that stayed behind had to give him a bubble bath. And bubble baths were the worst, last person to go was Oliver, and he was later found in his room rocking himself by a corner. Orion cringed, “Okay, I guess you’re right.” “’En gle packin’, yoo’re burnin’ daylecht haur.” Kardok shoved him towards the stairs, Orion stumbled and grumbled to himself as he regained balance and began walking up towards his room to pack. Oliver entered the foyer with suitcases in hand, “I’m so excit’d! A whole weekend trippeth all to ourselves!” he smiled, “and twas awfully kind of Zeal to lend us the RV, I wast almost worried we’d has’t to travel by foot!” “Aye, its bin tay lang since I’ve shot myself a braw stag ur tois.” Kardok agreed, stretching out his arms. He took the bags from Oliver and brought them outside to the RV. “Come your ways, doest that gent coequal knoweth we’re going on this trippeth?” Oliver inquired, slightly anxious.

“Ye pure techt Zarok…? Nope, has nae scooby whit we’re daein’.” “I see, then we’d best beest off ere that gent notices.” “Exactly wa Ah tauld Orion tae coorie th’ heel up…!” “Right, oh and ere we wend, may we cease at Lady Donk’s house?” “Wa dae ye want tae gang thaur?” “Just to inquire on which places maketh the best camping ground, we can’t just wend anywhere in the woods.” “Braw, an’ mebbe while we’re thaur she can hook us up wit’ some ay ‘er scran.”

Oliver grinned and once Orion finally pulled through with his luggage- even though he wound up falling down the stairs due to the weight, they headed out. Of course, there was the quick stop at Nebby’s house. Kardok stopped the RV and hopped out with the others, knocking on her front door. Lately he’d noticed the unusual change in setting, not just in this house but all over town; carved pumpkins scattered everywhere, cheap cloth with faces crudely drawn onto them, fake displays of witches and cobwebs. He’d once almost jumped at the sight of the giant spider resting on Ann’s rooftop! None of it was real, of course, but still, quite the scare! Apparently, this was for “Halloween”. Kardok had never heard of it, nor was he interested in knowing what it was about.

What also annoyed him were the inconsistent puns. Oh, the puns.

“Spooky Savings”

“Boo-ze for you”

“Three fears for discounts”

“Witches Crew”

God, if he had to endure one more pun, so help him he will go on a rampage. And wrestling with an enraged centaur was not easy. Just then, the front door opened, and standing there with a cup of tea in hand and glowering at him was Tim. He hissed, “What do you want, Bhaltair?” “Is Nebby haem?” He frowned.

“I’m afraid not, she’s gone to see Ms. Hallows at the moment.” He shook his head, “Now, please leave.” He was about to shut the door when Kardok blocked him with one of his hooves. Tim was getting frustrated, “I already told you, she’s not home, leave or I’m calling the authorities!” “Ah still need somethin’ ye ken.” Kardok said firmly, “I’m gonnae oan a huntin’ trip for th’ weekend an’ Ah need scran. Ye ken hoo te cuik sae gie tae it!” “Why you…! Well, first of all-!” But Tim stopped to think for a moment, a whole weekend without Kardok around? That means 48 hours of no hooves clattering against the pavement, no heavy breathing over his shoulder, and no threat of his magic arrows! This was perfect! And all he’d have to do was cook for him? Seems like a fair trade to him! “…fine, make yourselves at home, I’ll whip something up for you.” He sighed, slowly opening the door for him. Kardok grinned, but before entering smacked the mug out of Tim’s hand, causing the porcelain to shatter and its contents to get all over the wood flooring. Tim opened his mouth to say something, but just shook his head instead and slinked off to the kitchen.

Once he’d finished, he exited carrying with him several containers and pots all stacked together. “Alright, I’ve prepared enough food to last you the weekend, please return the containers and pots when you return, Ms. Nebula will not be happy to find that her cookware has gone missing.” Tim informed, carefully lending it to Oliver. And speak of the devil…

“What the fuck are you doing in my house?” Nebby growled.

Kardok replied, “Huntin’ trip.” “Oh. You’re going too? Well if you see Salem tell her I said hey.” She brightened up, only to immediately darken, “Next time though, wait for me to get home before you decide to invite yourself in, and for fuck’s sake, quit breaking my shit!” “Duly noted, terribly my most humble apology by the by, we’re in a drive and this trippeth wast last minute.” Oliver nodded. “Its fine, you guys go on ahead.” Nebby shooed them away. Orion stayed behind, “Hey, before I go, do you have like, a bunch of scary stories I could use? I want to try and fuck with Kardok on this trip.” “Do I look like a fucking library to you? Talk to Winston, he should hook you up.” Nebby then shoved him out. She then glanced at Tim, “What’d you make?” “Oh, not much, just some honey cakes and chicken soup.” He laughed, “But I’m glad to see you back home.”

A grin crept up on Nebby’s face, “Awesome, I’m gonna head to the store to pick up some candy for the trick-or-treaters, you wanna come? There’s a chocolate in it for you.” She offered in a sing-song voice. “Make it two cases of sugar frosted cookies and I’ll grab my coat.” Tim smirked. “You fucking pig, get upstairs.” She snorted. “You created a monster Ms. Nebula!” Tim joked. “Fuck you!” she called back as he marched up the stairs.

Tim entered his room, it’d gotten better since he’d moved in; he had some posters hung up on the wall along with the many flowers Winston would gift to him on a regular basis. It’d gotten to a point where he had hung some of them onto the ceiling; it was neat save for a few fallen petals on the carpet. He opened the sliding door to the closet, inside was as equally organized. He had coats hung based off color coordination, size, and style, shirts and pants folded neatly inside drawers, plus he had a shoe rack to better arrange his shoes, ranging from sneakers to dress shoes. Other items were found such as a laundry basket and a backpack. He took a step back to think which he’d like to take, only to settle for a dark red coat with black buttons. After slipping it on, he practically flew down the stairs and outside, grabbing a lanyard and turning the porch light on as he exited.

The lanyard wasn’t anything special as it held a cardholder which kept his license and a copy of the house key. Latching the front door shut, he entered the passenger side of Nebby’s car. She smiled, “Took you long enough.”

As they drove towards the direction of the supermarket, Tim looked out into the window. “Ms. Nebula,” He started, “Tell me more about Halloween.” “Sure, you want the short version or the long version? The long version also includes some of Dallington’s history.” She offered. “The long version, please, I want to know everything.” He answered.

“For starters, Halloween wasn’t always called that,” she began, “It has its roots in age-old European traditions, it started with the Celtics, and they called it Samhain, it was a festival consisting of bonfires and people wearing costumes and carving into vegetables to ward off ghosts. They believed that on that night, the boundary between the realms of the living and dead became blurred. So to any evil spirits, it was like a possession buffet for them.” Nebby continued, “But uh, nowadays people dress up for the fun of it…spirit of the season and all that. Anyway, Halloween didn’t come to America until the colonial times, but it wasn’t celebrated as frequently, but when it was, colonizers gathered to exchange ghost stories and start fucking shit up. At that time, they called it, All Hallows Eve. The holiday didn’t pick back up until the early 20th century during the Second World War, when kids started begging for food, marking the staple of Halloween, trick or treating. And Jack-O-Lanterns didn’t pick up until the immigration wave, thanks to the Irish.”

“But what does your town have to do with it?”

“Glad you asked, to give a better understanding, Dallington was founded by Quakers back on October 31st in 1643, before the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. Before then, it was at first a clan of Irish, Spanish, and French immigrants, along with Native Americans and freed or escaped slaves.” She explained, “They were a small community at first, looking to help each other out and find true peace in the New World. The population was small; I’d say around 150 people- farmers and merchants before the trials. By that time, those who had managed to flee upon accusation came here to hide and later start anew. When the trials were over, on Halloween of 1693, the citizens had gathered outside Salem’s cemetery to mourn and give their respects to those who had lost their lives. Then a year later, a massive feast was held to honor them and those who had passed in their town or in the immigrant’s home countries, some female residents dressing as witches and male residents as demons…basically a middle finger to the Puritan assholes and to the bitchy group of teen girls that started the hysteria.”

“All in all, Halloween was the staple of Dallington’s history, serving as a break from the hardworking conformity.” She smiled, “Although, this is just barely scratching the surface. There’s a lot more to this town than a discount Dia de Los Muertos celebration to piss off religious conservatives.”

He blinked, “I had no idea Dallington had such a connection.” “Well, they did.” She chuckled, “Though, no town goes without its enemies. After that little stunt, in January 4th, 1694, nearby Puritan settlements launched an attack on Dallington. There weren’t any casualties, but they did try to burn down the library, which they hated the most, by the way. Yeah, they didn’t get along, like, at all. Hell, at the end of that month, they tried bringing the Witch Trials back, though it was unsuccessful.” “And why was that?” He wondered. “Easy, because all their women freaked out and moved to Dallington; and without women they couldn’t populate, so the remaining settlers basically died off, probably of dysentery or something to warrant the Darwin Award…” She answered, gripping onto the steering wheel, “Good on them, I hate Puritans.” Tim laughed, “Even if they’re not around anymore?” “Oh no, they’re still here, they’re just not called that anymore.” She shook her head.

They arrived at a nearby Halmart a while later, and after going inside, Nebby grabbed for a shopping cart and darted straight for the seasonal section. Being this was Dallington, their seasonal section was massive, as it took up nearly half of the gardening section! Stocked were bags of mixed candies, trick-or-treating pails, boxes stuffed with inflatable or cluttered decorations, and of course, costumes! Seeing as lately her hands had been tied with practically babysitting Tim, putting up with likes of Zarok, her store, and occasional trips to the gym, Nebby had little time to decide on a costume. But she decided, hey, while she was there, why not pick something out? And maybe she could include Tim in this if he wanted to. Walking through the candy aisle, she extended her arm so her hand would be knocking over all the bags, and when she began to power walk past, bags filled with candy began falling off the shelves and into her shopping basket. When she was sure her basket was filled completely, she turned towards the costumes. Tim kept close to her as they walked, completely perplexed by what she’d done.

“Hey Timmy, look at this costume!” Nebby pulled out a costume from the rack, it was contained in a bag, but the front had a picture of a person dressed in a blue tunic with white trousers and boots, and holding in his hand was a sword and a shield. It said “Breath of the Wild”, though in all honesty, everyone knew who this was. She grinned, “Do you want to dress up for Halloween? It’s not too late to get a costume!” “Isn’t dressing up a children’s activity?” he asked. “You’re never too old to dress up! I don’t understand where the fuck these bullshit adult expectations came from, just because I’m 30 doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy anything!” She retorted, “C’mon, at least try to have fun.” Tim sighed and took the bag from her, “Fine, I’ll give it a try.” “Yes!” She fist pumped in victory. As Nebby left the aisle, and Tim hadn’t noticed this before, he noticed a figure standing across from a display of inflatable ghosts, he’d only managed to catch a glimpse of a red nose and confetti-like clothing, the wide grin and light waving made Tim’s stomach flip. He was about to take a step forward to investigate when he heard her calling, “Hey Tim, are you coming? I need to pick up some bear mace.”

“O-Oh, yes, I am! Coming, Ms. Nebula!” He then exited the aisle, before he did, however, he looked back to find the figure gone. Must’ve been his imagination…or perhaps it wasn’t.

Orion stretched his arms as he’d finally finished setting up the grill Zeal had lent to them, “Thought I’d never get it done…” He’d been left alone to prepare the grill while Kardok and Oliver hunt for deer, which wasn’t at all what he’d hoped for when he’d said he’d like to go on this trip. Then again, it was either this or scrubbing Zarok’s back. And on the plus side, it was relatively tranquil in the woods; he’d almost missed the smell of pine cones and that sweet fresh air that filled his lungs. Maybe it wasn’t what he’d hoped for, but it was still nice to have proper time to relax for once in a millennia. When he’d thought about it, all he remembered was nothing but stuffy rooms and endless clashing against swords. He’d obtained many scars and bruises in his life, most come from either Kardok or Zarok himself. But just one, just for one moment, he could have a moment to rest. The first day had gone off without a hitch, though not much happened. They simply scouted the area with the little daylight they had left, finding the best common ground for deer and whatnot, Kardok had already marked which areas he’d like to visit on his map! Afterwards, they sat outside the RV and eagerly wolfed down the chicken soup Canny Tim had provided for them, and then turned in for the night. Today was more about him setting up the grill and waiting for his comrades to return from hunting, they returned earlier for lunch, and though he wasn’t a cook, he’d managed to throw some meat in between two slices of bread and call it a meal, even if it displeased the centaur. It took an entire loaf, a whole bag of cool ranch Doritos, and a jug of iced tea to get him back on the field, and it was understandable, with an anatomy as complicated as Kardok’s it’d demand the twice amount of nourishment! That’s why they packed extras.

He then turned his head in the direction of leaves rustling; thinking Kardok or Oliver had finally returned Orion opened his mouth to greet them, only for it to be someone else.

He’d seen her before on occasion, particularly when Oliver came to the club for an interview. Her ombre hair hidden in an odd looking hood; tan leather- at least he thought it was leather, adorned with horns, fur, and animal bones. Orion blinked, “Uh…hey Salem, what brings you to the campground?” “Nothin’, Nebby texted me and told me you and the guys are here to do some redneck shit.” She joked. “Redneck…?” Orion repeated. “You know, hunt and get stupidly drunk. I’ve seen it before; my Dad and Uncle Mason did it when they were young.” She laughed. “Are they here with you?” He queried, but Salem shook her head, “Nah, Uncle Mason’s six feet under and my Dad is with my Mom back in Oklahoma.” Oh, so her uncle was-?

“Sorry to hear that.” He said softly. “Its fine, he’s actually buried near my campsite, I come up here every year to pay respects. And my camp is not that far from yours, it’s about half a mile up north.” She smiles, “If you guys want to drop by and have a beer later, I’m open for it.” “That’d be great, but just a fair warning, Kardok can be an ass sometimes.” He laughed.

“He’s part horse, though it’d make more sense if it were half donkey.” “Good one! So, any reason for the weird poncho you got there?” “This…? This belonged to my Uncle Mason; I wear it whenever I come to visit him.” “You two seemed pretty close.” “Are you kidding? He was my best friend before I met Nebby and Ann! Don’t tell them I said that.” “I’ll try not to squeal,” He smirked, “But hey, before you go, do you have any scary stories?” “Why do you want to know? Are you planning on scaring Oliver?”

“More like Kardok and getting back at him for all the bullshit I endured,” He huffed, “I mean, I get it, I looked like some arrow fodder and bear half of his DNA, but the other half isn’t him!” “Let me guess, he doesn’t accept that you’re not who he wants you to be?” She sighed, “Yeah, I get it. And as a matter of fact, I do have a story for you.” She pulls up a chair and seats herself next to the fire pit.

“Alright Orion, you ever heard of the Wendigo?”

The sun had already set by the time Kardok returned, a fat and limp deer resting on horseback, a huge grin on his face. Oliver applauded, “Thee didst such a wonderful job! That deer nev'r saw it coming!” but his face then fell somber, “twas a shame we only managed to shoot one, doth thee bethink we've gone rusty?” But the centaur shook his head, “It ay practices mebbe, but definitely nae terrible.” They stopped in front of the campground, where Orion was found sitting alone by the RV. Kardok opened his mouth to ask, but was immediately stopped by the clone’s sudden remark, “Yes, the grill is ready, do what you need to do so we can eat already. I’m worn out so I can’t help, if I move another muscle I’d just fall apart!” Kardok huffed, seating himself by the fire pit and drawing out his knife to skin the deer and take its meat. Oliver stood by to take the undesirable parts and toss them aside, while also trying not to gag at the stench. Once Kardok had finished carving juicy pieces of meat, he got up to marinade them and put them in the grill.

As he did so, Oliver smiled, “Lest I so my most humble apology thee couldn't cometh, but, I trust that thee enjoyed the silence?” “I did, best three hours I’ve had in my entire existence.” He smiled back as he kicked back in his chair. But Oliver didn’t like that response, just as he was about to retort, Orion spoke up, “Seeing that it’s nighttime and we have a fire going, why don’t we exchange scary stories while we wait for the meat to cook?”

Kardok huffed, “Och yeah, there's th' Fortesque half ay heem...”

Orion rolled his eyes, “It’s a good one, I promise, and it does not involve a self-insert.” Though skeptical, the centaur seated himself back by the fire pit, mildly intrigued by that last detail. Oliver himself sat close by with as much interest. Orion grinned and rested his elbows on his legs when he crossed them, “Salem told me this story, she dropped by earlier to say hi and decided to tell me this frightening tale.”

“They say, that in these woods- for centuries even, has been inhabited by a petrifying, gruesome creature known only as the Wendigo.” He began, “She tells me that Wendigo had lived in Dallington even before the settlers arrived and started building their colony. Though, there is a way to become one of them. This spot where we reside in as of now; was once the sight of an atrocity, the worst that this town has ever seen!” Now color Kardok intrigued! “Gang oan 'en, aam listenin'!” Orion nodded and proceeded with the story, “It was back in December of 1643, the year they had settled, while most settlers stayed within its borders two families didn’t. They were simple farmers, living a mundane and monotonous routine, at least up until the winter came. It had crept up on them so quickly, that before they could expect it, their crops had nearly wasted and shriveled up. Fearful that they would starve, the husband sent his wife, infant daughter, and young sons to live with a friend in town while he, his older sons, and the neighbor and his sons stayed behind to try and salvage for any good crop that may have survived. Alas, it didn’t. By the time they decided to join the others in town it’d had all been too late, the roads had become too treacherous and it wasn’t long until they forced into the farmer’s cottage.”

“Little by little, day by day, their supplies slowly dwindled. The farmer grew more distressed as each minute that passed was another minute without food. The nights were long; the husband began to hear tapping noises, which he had at first ignored. But when food became scarce, the tapping only worsened, growing louder each night until all he could hear in his head was the tapping and the painful growls of his stomach, begging and pleading with him for nourishment,” He continued, “The farmer knew that he and the others would not live to see the first spring if they didn’t eat. On the 50th day, the farmer had a new craving, the last of their food had gone, and now, they had nothing. But he was determined to provide, but to do so have to come at a heavy price. He’d eyed his current occupants, deciding that the fattest would have to go. That night, he ventured outdoors to retrieve an axe, and then crept back inside to his second oldest room. That morning, they had food. The neighbor counted heads and asked where the second eldest went, as usually he’d be down here shoving everything down his gluttonous gullet, but no answer came from the farmer, who was busy gorging himself.”

Kardok could only cringe, he knew exactly what was going on, and dare he think a man could do such a thing to his own flesh and blood. But Orion continued much to his dismay, “But as quickly as it came, it’d gone. And so the oldest of the neighboring family was paid a visit, that morning they had meat again, but the neighbor and his sons refused to eat, they’d become afraid of the farmer. The neighbor had noticed a change in the farmer’s appearance; he’d be seen drooling frequently, he’d lick his lips whenever he stared him and his sons down. They’d tried to leave, but the threatening snow storms threatened to gobble them up, and would shove them back inside, back into the awaiting hunger of the farmer. Eventually, the snow had consumed the cottage entirely, and they knew that they would not live to see the spring. At night, the husband was spotted mumbling to himself; his skin became increasingly paler by each passing day and his hair had grayed and fallen out in clumps prematurely, his eyes would stay open and bloodshot as his hunger kept him up at night, his hands would be shaking as it held the only axe in the house, the only weapon for miles. The creaking floorboards made the neighbor and his remaining sons, knowing of what they’d eaten, beg God for forgiveness as they knew that the farmer would come for them, after all, he was hungry. There was no fighting chance against the farmer. Come spring was when the farmer’s wife returned, opening the door, only then screaming in horror when her eyes laid upon the figure that was once her husband, digging his vicious claws into and feasting on the insides of their oldest son, still breathing, clinging onto life. His eyes rolled back, his arm reach out to her as a warning.”

“It was already too late for him, and it would be too late for her if she didn’t run.” He shook his head, “And that she did, but she never made it out of those mountains. Witnesses claimed to have heard her desperate pleas for help, her cries of agony, but no one came, for they were much too afraid of meeting the same fate.”

Orion concluded, “The wendigo- the horrid creature the farmer had become, was a frightening being of Algonquian folklore, and was born when a man selfishly slaughtered and tasted human flesh in times of famine, the first taste would be nothing, but slowly his mind would only have one thought; he had to have more. And the more he’d get, then the more monstrous he’d become. And although he’d have the food he’d so craved- being at the cost of his humanity, it would never be enough to sate his gluttonous desires.” “Och aye but whit abit th' other kids…? Th' yoonger ones fa biddin wi' their mammy…?” Kardok’s eye widened. “Lucky for them, they thrived within the town’s borders, and never once did they venture past,” Orion grinned maliciously, “For fear that they too would become the meal of the wendigo.” Understandably, Kardok didn’t feel like eating and neither did Oliver, as they’d lost their appetite. Quickly, they scurried into the RV to cleanse themselves and prepare for bed, but they knew no matter how many times they washed their hair or scrubbed their bodies with soap, it wouldn’t be enough to erase the ick of the tale.

Falling asleep was a challenge as well, especially for Kardok. He lied awake, his eye still wide open. He could not erase the horrible details from his head, and why couldn’t he? He was tough! A story like this couldn’t deter him from having fun. This was his trip, his vacation! Whether it was true or not, he didn’t need to know. Maybe tomorrow when they return from the mountains he could drop by at the Gold Room downtown and drown these silly fears with a few beers.

As his eyelids grew heavy, as his muscles loosened from the pressure, and his breathing had become less anxious, he’d finally began to drift off.

But then he heard tapping.

Kardok sat up, but thought, it was just a branch. There was no wendigo here, plus, how would it still be around if no one wanted to come here? Logically, without any victims, the wendigo would’ve died of starvation. Okay, maybe they and Salem being exceptions but it was only fall! If these creatures only appeared in the winter- at least he hoped so, then he had nothing to worry about. But that wasn’t it, as the tapping continued. Kardok lied back down and shoved his pillow over his head to block out the noise, it wasn’t that he feared the wendigo, when something out of the ordinary happens; the least that could be expected was something within logic, the worst was the last thing on anyone’s mind. Perhaps there was a woodpecker or a homeless man trying to grab his attention, or perhaps it was a branch, the RV was parked under a tree, and loose branches were hanging close to the windows. Satisfied with this theory, Kardok began to relax and drift off.

But it wasn’t a branch, Kardok’s eye opened as he’d finally figured out what was causing the tapping; he’d seen Orion do it multiple times on their way here.

That was a fingernail.

Slowly, the centaur got up and reached around for a hunting knife, if it was an intruder, then he’d have something to fend them off. He was not afraid; he was Zarok’s Grand Champion! He’d seen much worse in his life, and had committed various atrocities not excluding murder. He’d ripped men apart with his bare hands, and he even shot a man’s eye out! The sound of the tapping bounced around the room, he looked down at Oliver’s sleeping figure, how in the hell could he sleep through all this?

Just as the tapping had started, it immediately stopped as Kardok then heaved a sigh of relief; finally he could rest easy now. At least, he thought so, as the tapping started back up once again, this time it was as if all the fingernails were tapping against the window rhythmically. He could tell that whatever was out there was just trying to get him to come outside, or at the very least annoy him. A sinking feeling in Kardok’s stomach forced him to edge slowly to the window; Oliver had them drawn closed before he went to sleep. As much as he liked it, he wasn’t necessarily fond of the sun getting into his eyes when he woke up in the morning. Reasonable, but considering the circumstance, it made Kardok all the more uncomfortable. With his free hand, he shakenly grasped onto the heavy fabric, the sweat that had accumulated and glossed over his palms was drenched by the curtain.

Quickly, he opened the curtain to see who it was that was annoying him. To his relief, it was Orion, hair strewn all over the place, strands sticking out into the air and covering a portion of his face- well, more so than usual. His eyes had bags under them and he was slouched over, clearly a spitting image of Fortesque. Orion yawned and whispered, “Sorry to wake you up, I had to take a leak but I think I accidentally locked myself out, could you let me in?” Kardok blinked several times, fighting the urge to grin and suppressing his laughter, for Oliver’s sake. Of course this idiot would lock himself out. Kardok quietly exited the bedroom and made his way over towards the door, careful as to not knock anything over, after all, this was Zeal’s RV.

He stretched his arms and his hand then rests on the handle, the door opened, and Kardok poked his head out, turning it to see if Orion had stayed put or was at least standing by the door, but he wasn’t there. He frowned, “Orion, Orion, whaur ur ye? Ah swear, if thes is a prenk aam gonnae make sure ye gie sponge bath duty fur lae ay th' year!” But no answer, only the wind and the crickets could be heard. Strange, where was he? He was outside just a second ago. Grumbling, he shut the door and locked it, if that’s how it was going to be then he could stay outside all night! Kardok went back to bed, and while he managed to get some sleep, it wasn’t long for the tapping to wake him up again. He reached around for the alarm clock; “Its 2 in the fucking morning, what is this man’s problem?” Kardok thought to himself, once again covering his head with the pillow to drown out the noise, “He has the entire woods to use as a bathroom and the forest floor to use as a bed, why can’t he just shut up?” The attempts were once again futile. The only way Kardok could get any sleep was if he just went out there and shut Orion up himself.

As he got up, however, Kardok realized he’d left the curtains open from the last time he’d gotten up. And his stomach dropped like an anchor when he saw that it was not Orion outside. Matter of fact, he wasn’t sure what it was!

This man- no, this creature was tall, gangly and thin. It stood there, gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over the bones. With its bones pushing out against the skin, its complexion an ashy gray, and its icy glossed eyes pushed deep into its dark sockets. It was as if it were a skeleton that had risen from beyond the grave, what lips it had was since long gone, red liquid dripping from between its fangs, though Kardok could see a long, slimy greyish-blue tongue slither out from between the gaps to lap the blood from over its yellowed fangs. And though they were separated by the glass, Kardok gagged at the horrific stench of decay. Granted, he was no stranger to the stench, but this…this wasn’t anything like it! The creature, seeing that Kardok was up, opened its mouth, matted black hair glued to the sallow skin. The maw revealed rows of its needlelike teeth, the hands were gnarly, razor-like talons, and Kardok could spot tufts of stained, matted snow-white fur. Around the neck and barely hiding beneath its fur the creature adorned a necklace made with human bones. And atop its head stood tall and proud, a set of antlers; whether they were that of a deer or elk, Kardok did not care, as he quickly sprang into action and shut the curtains tight. He turned over to Oliver who was still fast asleep, but now Kardok realized, Orion was still outside. Should he go out there? No, it was likely that Orion was a goner. But, Oliver was the kind of man who’d want everyone to stick together, “no man left behind” as they say.

To hell with it! If Orion’s gone, that’s going to be Zarok’s problem! He wasn’t going to go out there and risk dying again for this idiot! He wanted to be outside, so he had to pay the consequences. “Kardok?” he turned to see Orion up and unharmed, “What the hell are you doing? It’s 2 a.m.! Get some sleep.” Kardok blinked, how the hell was he still alive? “What're ye daein'? Ah thooght ye waur ootwith…!” He whispered angrily. “Outside…? Kardok, I’ve been in the RV this whole time, I just got up to take a piss and I came here to grab my flashlight!” Orion whispered back. So much for an honorable sacrifice, but still, it was good to see that he was unharmed. Kardok pinched his temples, “Nae, ye dornt need tae gang ootwith. Jist use th' a body we hae haur…!” “But the loo’s broken thanks to your fat ass!” Orion argued. “Jist use it, yoo're nae gonnae ootwith!” Kardok hissed. But despite his efforts, Orion grabbed the flashlight and proceeded to walk towards the door. He could’ve said nothing, he could’ve just let whatever that was out there snatch him up and gobble him whole, and yet, something within him told him he needed to say something.

Because without thinking, Kardok then blurted, “But there’s a wendigo it thaur…!”

Orion was seconds away from opening the door, he looked up at him and gave him an unamused glance, “Oh my god, Kardok, it was just a story, the wendigo are basic mythology and therefore don’t exist.” “Weel centaurs aren’t supposed tae be real an' yit haur Ah am.” Kardok crosses his arms. He did have a point there.

It seemed like whatever was out there had finally gotten fed up, as the RV began to shake. The sudden movement nearly jolted Oliver awake, while Kardok and Orion went pale as they then heard movement coming from the roof of the RV. “Its oan th' roof…! Its oan th' feckin' roof…!” Kardok panicked. “Then don’t stand there with your dick in your hands, get us out of here!” Orion pulled Kardok out of the bedroom and shoved him towards the driver’s seat. “Ah cannae drife, aam part cuddie…!” Kardok protested as he was forced to sit down, breaking the back part of the seat. “You’re going to be in half if you don’t drive, now floor it!” Orion yelled, “The force should knock this fucker off!” The centaur was fiddling with the keys, finally jamming them into the slot and turning them, but the damn engine wouldn’t turn on. Oh why, oh why did the engine have to go kaput at a time like this? Kardok kept twisting it, uttering “Come on” repeatedly, his voice cracking occasionally and nearly breaking the key when the roar of the engine along with the high beams turned on at last. Just as Kardok was about to put on his seat belt, the wendigo crawled down from the roof and onto to the windshield like a spider, its head turning a full 360˚ and tapping on the glass. Orion and Kardok let out a shriek of terror, Kardok then slamming his front right hoof into the gas pedal, the tires emitting an ugly squeal. Turning the wheel all the way, Kardok began speeding off and out of the campground, madly turning the RV to shake the creature off, but it persisted.

It was no surprise that in amidst the chaos, Oliver would wake up as he was now standing by the breakfast nook grasping onto the kitchen counter and the wooden table for dear life, fully awake and confused. “What's going on, wherefore art we leaving the camp?” But no answer from either was necessary as his eyes were now directed towards the wendigo, he screamed, “Oh mine god, what is that, what the fuck is that!” “Wendigo and it won’t come off!” Just as Kardok answered this, glass shattered in his face as the wendigo had slammed its grotesque antlers against the windshield and with just enough space to hold on, its claws reached in to grab for the closest morsel; Kardok. The centaur began screaming like Jesus was on him; Oliver sprang into action by grabbing a knife from the block, “Hence with thee, demon from hell, back to the icy void from whence thee cameth!” and sunk the blade into its wrist. Blood gushed and spurted out like a geyser, getting into Kardok and Oliver’s faces as the wendigo howled in agony, simultaneously losing its grip on the frame of the vehicle and falling off. The loud, satisfying THUD along with a tremendous bump from beneath their feet made them all sigh in relief. Orion let out a shaky breath, “Good job, Oliver, now let’s get the fuck out of these mountains.”

Way to jinx it, as now they heard sputtering, the RV was coming to a stop.

“Nae…! Nae! Nae! Nae! Nae! Dornt teel me 'at hin' hud fucked wi' th' engine!” Kardok hyperventilated. Unfortunately, it had, as within seconds, the RV had come to a complete stop. “Fuck!” He slammed his fists against the horn; the noise could be heard for miles. They couldn’t stay here, the windshield was already smashed and none of them knew how to kill a wendigo. And no doubt the creature was not too far away from them, and it wouldn’t be long until it recovered and came back for a second round.

Oliver had never seen Kardok flustered before, normally he was fearless- hell, he was Fear itself! But to see him reduced to this, it made him feel lost. Kardok was the one with all the knowledge, experience, and power to kill whatever crossed his path. But that was when they reigned in Gallowmere; this wasn’t Gallowmere, this was 21st century America and everything around them was a complete stranger to them. He didn’t know if they could kill a wendigo or not, heck, they might not live to see tomorrow if they don’t end up as a happy meal to a cannibalistic juggernaut. And rebuilding a body once it’s reduced to a chewed up, bloody mush was no easy task! Orion paced around for a moment to think; a lightbulb went off as he then whipped out a phone- a gift from Zeal he’d received a while back, and thank god, he was likely within close proximity of a telephone pole because he had bars! He switched the data on and typed into the screen. Kardok was appalled, “What're ye daein', thes is nae time tae be textin'!” “Shut up, I’m doing some research and it just might save our asses!” Orion snapped. A minute passed, and Kardok spoke up once again, “Och mah god, coorie up!” “Just a second, and…got it!” Orion beamed, “Okay, we can temporarily disarm the beast with silver blades, that knife Oliver used must’ve been made out of that. And it says here they hate fire, it’ll get pissed off but it should buy us extra time to run!” “And what about killing t, how doth we killeth t?” Oliver queried. “Stake it through the heart with a silver axe, lock it in a silver box, and bury it in a cemetery or churchyard,” Orion read the passage on his screen, “Use the axe to dismember the wendigo, salt each body part and either burn it or scatter the pieces by burying them in far, separate, and inaccessible locations like a well or lake.” “But we don't has't an axe, or knowledge of any nearby wells or waters.” Oliver shook his head. “'en that's it, we're fucked!” Kardok shouted. “Not if we leave the mountains, a small detail I left out was that the wendigo never ventures past its territory.” Orion frowned, slipping his phone into his pocket and opening the door, “We don’t have a lot of time, that wendigo might’ve healed by now, if we don’t move it’ll get in and devour us all.”

He was right, and before stepping out of the vehicle, Kardok armed himself with a few knives, a lighter, and a bottle of hair spray, just to be safe. Why he had a lighter and hairspray in his possession, no one knew, but at a time like this, it was best to keep silly questions until they were back in town. Plus, a makeshift flamethrower would be handy! Off they went, Orion using his phone’s flashlight as a means to guide him and the others towards civilization. Thanks to Kardok’s reckless driving, they weren’t that far off from the borders that separate the woods from the town.

As they wandered through the woods, the group stayed huddled together, and by that, it meant riding on Kardok’s back- Oliver in the back as the lookout, and Orion as the guide. Aside from the flashlight, it was pitch black outside. The dark clouds had swallowed the moon whole, not a star was out to light up the sky either, every tree trunk reminded Kardok of the wendigo’s horrific dried up skin, every twig that snapped beneath his hooves made his stomach jump. His upper body was shivering despite the cozy sweatshirt he had on, an icy chill breezed past him, tickling the hairs on the back on his neck and goosebumps popping from the skin. He could swear the winds were whispering his name, he wanted to stop, but he knew that if he did he’d be condemning him and his comrades to the mercy of the wendigo.

They weren’t sure how long they’d been wandering, but clearly it was too long since the sun was beginning to rise. And by the time they reached their neighborhood, it was 5 am, and they collapsed on their driveway. The men were sleep deprived due to their paranoia and therefore on edge after their walk that they’d failed to notice the squad cars outside Nebby’s house! But in all honesty, they didn’t care what happened, it was likely nothing compared to what they’d just endured.

To add insult to injury, an RV was sitting on their driveway, and out stepped Salem. “Oh hey, lost your RV?” Oliver raised his head and nodded, “We hadst an accident last night and we hadst to walketh home...” “Sorry to hear that, boys,” She consoled, “Oh, and my Uncle Mason said you guys were a lot of fun to hang out with, he wants to do this again next year!” If Orion hadn’t been as exhausted as he was, he would’ve said something snarky. But, something about that sentence didn’t make sense, besides, wasn’t her uncle dead?

Halloween night, unfortunately, Nebby’s plans to take Tim to the festival fell on its back when he’d displayed symptoms for the stomach flu. Turns out McDonald’s for dinner yesterday wasn’t a good idea, who knew his stomach could be as fragile as it is? Clearly he wasn’t lovin’ it! Still, Tim was not about to let that minor setback keep him from enjoying his first Halloween ever! He decided that he should stay behind and pass out candy while Nebby, Ann, and the rest go out to enjoy the festival downtown. After all, there was always next year. Before leaving, Nebby had set up the sofa to make it so Tim was comfortable and provided a waste basket in case he needed quick access. She’d just about finished adjusting the tiara and pencil on her costume, the others had already arrived; Ann was dressed as a ragdoll- a character named Sally, Una invited herself dressed in a spider web poncho and her hair done up in a high ponytail, Winston and Willow dressed in red jumpers with the tags, “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” on them with the tips of their hair dyed with temporary blue hair dye, and Sodreco…Sodreco was a unicorn. It took all within Tim’s power to not start laughing when he first saw it, and a good thing too, his stomach was currently in agony. “Remind me what you’re supposed to be again.” Winston looked up and down at Nebby, who posed heroically and declared, “Wonder Ramsay! I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to be Wonder Woman or Gordon Ramsay, and Tim said if I liked both, then I could be both!”

Willow giggled, “It looks strangely enough, very fitting on you! If I were a judge at the costume contest, I’d give you points for originality and creativity!” “Yeah well, if only I had a whip and a whole slew of TV shows to complete the look.” Nebby shrugged, “That would’ve been perfect.”

Winston seated himself next to Tim, who decided to rest his head on his shoulder. In response, Winston wrapped an arm around his sweetheart, “Are you sure you don’t want us to stay here and keep you company? I feel bad leaving my sweetheart alone on Halloween night.” “Its fine,” Tim smiled weakly, “I doubt there’d be a lot of ginger ale at the festival, plus, I don’t think I can keep myself standing up for more than a few minutes. And who else is going to hand out candy to those trick-or-treaters?” “Oy, Tim! You know what to give to the adults with crappy costumes, right?” Nebby called. “Ms. Nebula, I’m not handing out three year old M&M’s and bubblegum.” The archer frowned. “It was worth a shot.” She shrugged once again. Winston laughed, then gave Tim a quick peck on the lips, “Alright, I trust you. There’s always next year, I guess.” Ann joined in, “We can pick up candy for you, if you’d like.” Tim sat up, “Ooh! Yes, plenty of peanut butter cups and chocolate!” Sodreco smiled, going over to ruffle his student’s head, “You can only have them when you’re feeling better.” To which Tim pouted playfully.

Nebby, who had broken off from the group earlier, had just returned, “Alright, all doors and windows are locked, curtains are drawn, I’ve signed into Netflix, and there’s chicken soup and ginger ale ready for you on the counter.” “Thank you for your kindness.” Tim smiled warmly, “Though, if I may ask, why latch up the whole house?” “To prevent any drunken morons from breaking in; happened to me last year and it was a bitch getting all those frat boys out of my basement.” Nebby cringed, “I still remember the togas.”

Willow felt a tug on her onesie; she turned to see it was Una, whom after getting her attention pointed to the time shown on her lock screen. She concluded, “And speaking of drunks, I think we’d better get going, they’ll start coming in around 8.” “Ah fuck, you’re right.” Nebby grabbed her keys, “We’ll be back soon. Call us if there’s an emergency or if Zarok’s at the door, call Zeal.” “Have a good time.” Tim waved as she exited the house. Winston bade him goodbye by giving him another kiss, “Happy Halloween, my sweetheart, get well soon.” “And to you too, have fun, love.” He watched as he and the others left. Once they were all gone and the front door locked with a satisfying click, Tim lied back down…until he felt lightheaded. Thank god he was alone.

The first wave of trick or treaters came at least ten minutes after the group had left, and for a minute, Tim thought there wouldn’t be enough candy to last him the night. But thankfully he’d located the piles upon piles of extra candy, so all worries were set aside. This neighborhood housed a lot of kids, and he wasn’t exaggerating, there was a lot! Tim got up- on average, of 6 times every ten minutes to hand out candy. Though it may sound like an annoyance, it really wasn’t. Tim enjoyed handing out candy, and seeing them dressed in their costumes, whether store-bought or handmade made him happy. Heck, he just might be able to pull through! The last wave of trick-or-treaters came around 7:30 pm, ending with a little brunette boy dressed in the exact same costume as him. He ran through the decorations set up by Nebby on the front yard, and came to the door accompanied by his blonde mother. The boy held out his bag in excitement as Tim answered the door one final time. “Trick-or-treat!” the boy was grinning from ear to ear. Tim handed him a generous portion of candy, dropping them into the child’s bag. He swore he saw those eyes light up like stars as he looked at his mother, “Momma! Look! He’s dressed like me!” “I see that, my little warrior,” She giggled, “Now what do we say?” To which the child nodded and chirps, “Thank you, Happy Halloween!” “And to you too, have a good evening! Be safe out there!” Tim laughed as he watched the pair exit the premises. As he closed the door and locked it, he couldn’t help but feel that those two reminded him too much of his own mother and himself when he was a child. Fond memories they were, being an energetic youth yet at the same time oddly shy, the only bounds being his own imagination, which seemed almost endless. Maybe, if he’d been born another time, Tim would’ve been able to have unique memories like Trick-or-Treating. But it wasn’t like he could pick and choose when and where his life would take place.

His thoughts were interrupted by another pang of pain in his stomach, a sign that he’d been standing for too long and needed to lie down, he groaned and sulked back to the living room to lie down. Tim reached for the remote and hit the play button, continuing a movie he’d decided to watch on Netflix. The movie was called, “Halloween”, and it was about a masked serial killer that struck only on Halloween. Simple plot, but hey, it didn’t need anything grand for it to be good. According to Nebby- who recommended it, said it had a low budget but still managed to scare audiences across the country!

As the movie progressed, right as the killer was about to stab another victim to death, Tim jumped to the sound of the landline going off. Strange, he hadn’t heard that thing go off in weeks. Nebby made it abundantly clear to all telemarketers that she was not interested and to remove her from the call-list. She also had a rule about the landline, to which Tim quoted under his breath, “If it’s important, they’ll call again or leave a message.” And just as he’d predicted, after the first ring, the phone went off again. Ah, so it was important. Tim carefully got up, “Just a minute…!” Thankfully, he’d reached the phone, which was in the hallway; he picked it up and answered with a “hello”. He expected it to be either one of his friends calling to check up on him, but was instead met with heavy breathing. Now this was unusual.

Confused, Tim repeated, “Hello?” But all he could hear was heavy breathing.

This had to be Nebby calling; she was probably already drunk and butt-dialing the house. He rolled his eyes as he hung up, but before he could return to his seat, the phone rang again. Okay, this couldn’t be a butt-dial. But Tim didn’t want to answer it; he wanted to hear the voicemail. He got what he asked for, and what did this oh-so elusive voicemail consist of? If your guess was heavy breathing, then you’d be correct. This was definitely no coincidence, and Tim was now mildly annoyed. Those kids and their prank calls, ha! Tim decided that it’d be best to ignore the calls and let them go straight to voicemail. And while he felt like he’d made the right decision, he couldn’t feel as if something were off.

Two hours passed, and the calls had slowly become more frequent, and now Tim was annoyed. He couldn’t even enjoy the movie or even take a nap! Just how persistent were these kids anyhow? “That’s it, if these kids call one more time, I’m going to scream!” He grumbled. And what happened next? The phone rang. Tim growled, “That’s it!” with all the strength he could muster, he stomped over to the phone and as soon as the heavy breathing started, he let loose the angriest, most irritated scream he could conjure up. “There, see how you like having your ears bleed!” and he slammed the phone back into the receiver. He slumped back into his seat, just in time to receive a facetime call from Nebby. He answered, revealing his friend at the bar. He smiled, “Oh, Ms. Nebula! Hello!” Seeing her face calmed him down, it almost made him forget about those obnoxious calls. “Hey Tim, how’re you holding up?” She frowned, “You don’t look so good.”

“Ah, I’m a little irritated right now.” “Ah shit, is Netflix not working?” “Netflix is fine, it’s these phone calls I kept receiving.” “Are stupid kids calling the house phone?” “Yes, and they’ve been at it for two hours, I fear I’m getting more weary just thinking about it!” “Two hours? That seems a bit too dedicated if you ask me, are you sure it’s kids?” “Considering I just screamed into the speaker, I hope it is. Maybe they’ll learn their lesson.” “Oh yeah, you’re going to get a lot of those calls on Halloween, don’t worry.” “Oh! How was the festival?” “Wild, taking a break though, your boyfriend’s got the munchies and I need a drink!” “Just not too much, you have work in the morning.” “I know, I know. Okay, looks like everything’s all good here, I’ll let you go.” “Thank you, I’ll see you soon!”

Just as he hung up, lo and behold, the house phone rang once again. Tim was appalled, just how dedicated were these kids? He groaned, getting up to answer the phone, “Okay, I don’t think I’ve made myself clear; Stop. Calling. The house! What’s wrong with you? I’ve been sick like a dog all day, all I ask is for a nice night to watch movies and recover. I can’t get any of that done when you’re calling me every five seconds! If you call again, I will alert the authorities!” He was about to hang up when he heard a gruff, distorted voice, “Don’t forget to turn off the stove.” Turn off the stove? He turned his head to peak into the kitchen, and wouldn’t you know it, the stove was on. Bewildered, he set the phone to the side, and then crept over to the stove to turn it off. How did he know about the stove? And besides, the stove was already off when Nebby and the others left. These were no kids he was dealing with, but a lonely man stalking him.

Great, now he was the teenage girl home alone, just like in those horror movies!

And Tim couldn’t be more irritated. So much for a good first Halloween, it was bad enough already he was sick! He’d forgotten to hang up, as the voice then asked, “Do you like clowns, Tim? I bet you like clowns.” No, he didn’t. He didn’t like clowns, but he wasn’t about to tell this stranger that. He placed the phone back onto the receiver after hanging up yet again, now feeling slightly uncomfortable. “How did he know my name…?” Tim’s eyes widened slightly. But then his eyebrows furrowed into a frown, wait a second…He grabbed the phone and dialed the number. Zarok’s croaky voice answered, “What do you want, Andrews?” “Zarok, I know it was you calling me! Do you have any idea what time it is?” He placed a hand on his hip.

“I was, but then you screamed into my ears, you worm!” “Good, I hope I ruined your ears, now will you stop calling me?” “I did, I did stop calling you!” “Then why did you ask me if I liked clowns? I hate clowns!” It was silent on the other end, and Zarok answered in a confused tone, “You hate clowns?” “Yes! You asked me if I liked them! And before that, you told me the stove was on! Don’t tell me you broke into the house again!” It was silent again. Tim huffed, “If I look out the living room window right now, and I see you standing there, I will get Ms. Nebula’s handgun and put a bullet somewhere where the sun doesn’t shine!” He walked towards the window, pulling back the curtains to see what was in the front yard. Standing underneath a lamppost was a figure dressed in a clown suit, mask and all. It even had a phone held up to its ear. Tim grinned in triumph, getting his other phone to take a picture, “Aha! Now I’ve got you! I see you there, trying to scare me, well let’s see how you like it when squad cars are congesting your driveway!”

He then heard another voice on the line, a bit of bickering in the background and eventually, Zeal’s voice was on the line, “Hello? Timothy, is that you?” Wait. Zeal’s talking to him. There was only one person outside. “Y-Yes, yes it’s me.” He trembled.

“Timothy, it’s midnight, I’d hate to be rude, but you really shouldn’t be calling at this hour.” “O-Oh, yes, I-I understand. I’m sorry, but he’s been calling me repeatedly and…” “I see, I’m sorry about that, and Nebula told me you were sick, you poor man.” “Yes, I am. Don’t worry, I’m recovering.” “That’s good! My brother said you were about to call the police?” “N-No, I’m sorry, I think there’s someone else responsible for the calls.” “Calling you after 8 pm? Oh no, I believe you’re mistaken, Zarok is asleep at that hour. Is everything alright over there?” “Do you want my honest opinion? No. There’s a weirdo in a clown suit standing outside the house, and now…I’m afraid.” Tim looked away from the window, the curtain drawing back. Okay, okay, so there was a man stalking him, likely another if the stove was on. Zeal was beginning to sound uncomfortable, “Timothy, Timothy if you’re in danger, get out of the house! I’m going to call Nebula right now!” Tim looked at the curtain, and as tempting as it was to leave them alone and leave, he had to see if the clown was within close range of the yard. When he did, Tim was relieved to find that the clown was gone. He sighed in relief, “No, no, its fine now, the clown is gone. Besides, I know how to-“but as he turned around, he then came face to face with a rubber clown mask.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like clowns?”

Tim let out the most bloodcurdling scream he’d ever made in his life, dropping the house phone.

Police units arrived at the Donk residence within twenty minutes after Zeal tipped off police officers and explained that a home invasion was in progress. Nebby and the others arrived later than that thanks to traffic, and were alarmed to see cars parked out in the driveway. Winston and Sodreco burst out from the backseat when they saw a masked intruder being led out in handcuffs, covered in blood. Assuming the worst, they entered to find Tim, alive and well, lying on the sofa covered in blankets giving a statement to the police. “- I’d assumed it was a prank, but when they addressed me by name I knew it was no prank.” He concluded. “Timothy!” Winston hurried over to embrace him, “Timothy, what happened?”

“Your boyfriend managed to beat up and perform a citizen’s arrest on an escaped criminal.” The officer informed him, “From the looks of it, he threw the suspect out that window,” he pointed to a shattered window, both heard Nebby outside screeching, “OH MY-! FUCK me with my own FIST! He broke my fucking window!”

“Subject wasn’t able to speak due to a brutal punch or kick to the throat, and well, let’s just say he beat him to a pulp and call it a night.” The officer chuckled, “We’ll still be collecting evidence, however.”

Winston blinked, then looked at Tim, “Sweetheart, you did all that?”

“What? I hate clowns.

#Donk and Sparrow #((had to post here since DeviantArt says the file was too big))

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kenyeta · 5 years

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This past December (2018) we took a multi-generational family cruise. We ported in Fort Lauderdale and sailed to Labadee, Haiti and Falmouth, Jamaica on the Independence of the Seas (Indy).

We flew in the night before departure with my favorite budget airline, Allegiant Air. Per usual we opted not to pay to select our seats but we did pre-purchase checked luggage. The flight was on time, though the ride was a little bumpy. We arrived pretty late at night, just in time to catch the last shuttle to our pre-booked hotel. We settled in for the night and ordered some post mates. In the morning we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast. When booking a hotel for this trip there were only 3 things on our must have list, they included breakfast, a shuttle from the airport and a shuttle to the cruise port. All of these were complimentary with this stay. The hotel also offered a $10 per person airport shuttle from the cruise port upon our return, which we gladly took advantage of.

This was my first time cruising with Royal Caribbean (RC) or being on a ship of this size. Check-in and boarding was a breeze. As Royal Caribbean has some amazing extras, I’ll go through them and give my thoughts in the sections to follow. I’ll also give an overview of our ports of call and how we spent our time on each island.

The Ship:

Before we even had the chance to settle into our rooms, my kid was ready to hit the pool. Since we had time before the rooms were ready and because I’ve cruised before and knew that swimsuits in the carryon luggage was as must, the first thing we did was get in the pool. Although it was Dec, Ft Lauderdale was quite hot so the water felt amazing. There was one main pool split into two halves by a small bridge. On the opposite side of this pool was a kids’ splash zone, complete with slides and a waddling pool. Hot tubs could be found on either side of both of these swimming areas. The kid and I spent time in this area at least once a day, every day! It helped that the all you could eat ice cream machine was right beside the kids’ splash zone and bars could be found on either side of the pools. There was also a whirlpool in the adults’ only area (Serenity). This was especially nice as it hung slightly over the edge of the ship and gave an incredible view of the ocean.

The other area of the ship where we spent an enormous amount of our time was the top deck. There was two huge twister waterslides that was partially see through so that you could look down and see the ocean as you slide down. As the kid and I are early risers, we lucked out one sea day and was able to ride the slides with no lines until our hearts content. They were a blast, there is a height restriction which she barely passed! There was also a height restriction on the rock climbing wall which we only gave one go. Neither of us made it to the top but it was a fun run. Another feature unique to RC is the surfing simulator known as the flowrider. Aubrey was too small to give this a go but I did, twice! Riding the boogie board on my stomach or knees wasn’t as hard as it looked and falling wasn’t as painful as it looked as well (thank goodness)! The instructors were amazing and really helpful. The crowds at first were intimidating but their cheers boosted my confidence. I had the kid record me attempting to stand up and surf, she looked completely scared for me when my turn was over, the wipe outs are a lot less painful than they look …haha. This deck also has a climbing sculptor enclosed by a net. It’s a tight fit for adults but I made the journey twice during our trip. It had spectacular views of the deck and off the back of the ship out to the ocean. Aubrey loved it as she made many friends while playing on it. This is also where the virtual reality trampolines were located. As far as I know this is another thing unique to RC. There were four mini trampolines and harasses inside of a giant sphere. Five years and older were welcome to jump but you had to be 7 or above to use the vr headsets. This did not affect Aubrey at all, as she did this activity several times throughout the trip. Reservations for this attraction could be made before we even set sail through the RC website. I made our reservations for the first night, which was awesome. There was multiple games to choose from with the headset and maybe I should have given more of them a chance, instead I stuck with the candy crush game each time. This showed me just how out of shape I am, as I grew tired long before my couple of minutes were up!

Other activities throughout the ship included ice skating, which we participated in twice. Laser tag which despite the extremely long wait, was a lot of fun. Royal Caribbean didn’t forget the usual cruise activities such as trivia, and contest such as the hairy man contest. I actually didn’t participate in most of these with the exception of a Christmas trivia that the kid and I did in the kids club (taking home 2nd place) and a quest game show kids’ edition! I regret I missed the adults’ quest game show and I did not get a chance to try the escape room that RC have onboard. Adult shows and games just aren’t the same when you go to them alone (the only downside I’ve found traveling alone with my kid).

The Shows

There were a few shows onboard throughout the cruise. Our first night there was a lively parade with a special guest, Santa Clause! Scheduled on our first sea day was the freeze frame ice show that went through the decades in music and costumes. We were also treated to Grease, the Grammy award winning musical! As much as I love a good musical, I think my favorite shows were the poolside movies offered select nights during the sailing. This might not be as exciting if you’d seen these recently released films but if you were behind the entertainment times as I tend to be, this was definitely a treat. In the evenings after dinner and once the kids’ club opened, I would drop Aubrey off to ‘meet her friends’ and I would get a cone and head to the pool deck to take in the film. During my sailing I watched Crazy Rich Asians and Searching (this one I hadn’t even heard of but couldn’t stop telling everyone about). There was also a movie channel in our room where I watch Ant man and the Wasp, as well as Avengers Infinity Wars.

The Room

This was my first time staying in a balcony room. Although I will be going back to interior rooms due to pricing, it was a treat to have a balcony at least once! To be able to slide the door back and take in the views at any time was great. It allowed me a space to go and just relax while the kid slept in! We had the twin beds pushed together, though I thought I had asked for them to be separate but it wasn’t a big deal. We also had a couch which made the room feel so much bigger. The bathroom seemed to be the same as any other ship I have been on.

Dining

We did our time dining as I typically do because even at home we don’t have a very typical dinner time. However our first experience was less than satisfactory. We were given a pager like any restaurant on land and preceded to wait. Though we were told it would be about 10 to 15 minutes, that quickly turned to 30 and we noticed people without reservations were being seated as they walked up. When we asked about our wait, we were seated right away. The dining area though beautiful was completely over crowded with tables and chairs. Our table seemed to be in some form of a walk way and it made us feel as if we in the way. The food took an extremely long time to come out and dessert took so long that we cancelled the order so we could finally leave. We gave the dining room one more go on the next night for Formal Night. The crew seemed to be better prepared this night. We were seated right away. Although we were inches away from each table on either side we were not in a walkway. The food was out in a timely manner and we were even able to enjoy dessert. The food was nothing to write home about but it was decent (I should make it known that the kid and I are picky eaters). We didn’t try any of the specialty restaurants. I was going to at least do Johnny Rockets but couldn’t justify paying for what we could basically get for free from the buffet. The reminder of our meals were eaten in the buffet. Breakfast was my favorite, fresh fruit, waffles, and sausage every day! I also thoroughly enjoyed the international dishes available during dinner each night. Hydration consisted mostly of apple juice, lemonade and of course daiquiris.

Ports of Call

Labadee, Haiti

Our first port was Royal Caribbean’s private island. This was my favorite port of the trip for many reasons. First off stepping onto the balcony and seeing the picturesque view of the ocean set against the mountains was simply breathtaking. I had pre-purchased 2 excursions for this port. We had an hour on the aqua park that had large water obstacles that included slides, see-saws and trampolines. It’s suggest this activity is only for swimmers but life jackets are required (the kid nor I are strong swimmers, despite even going snorkeling in Barbados). I had researched the island and found that the calmest waters were in Columbus Cove right where the aqua park was located. So we basically stayed in that area for our day in Labadee. Aubrey met up with some of her friends from the kids’ club and barely wanted to break away to eat. Which brings me to another reason I loved being on this island. Since it was RC’s private island, they provided the food. They had many shelters set up at each beach for a buffet style lunch. The food was the same that you would find on the ship but somehow tasted better under the palm trees. I sipped on a labadooze (the island’s signature drink) as I watched Aubrey play in the sand with her new friends. Aubrey even had a booze free cocktail in a pineapple! Towards the end of our day we went to pick out souvenirs from the local vendors who were not allowed to harass guest on the beach but attacked as soon as you were anywhere near the shops. The second excursion I pre-purchased was an all-day pass to ride the dragon coaster. The kid would have been able to ride as a passenger with me free of charge but she didn’t want to leave her friends to try it. In hindsight this was best as this was a very scary experience. You are basically in a one person go cart seat with a brake. The track wines down a mountain with some seriously sharp curves and there is no siding so sudden death feels like it’s around every corner. I couldn’t bring myself to go again and was glad that I didn’t put Aubrey on it!

Falmouth, Jamaica

This was out second and final port of call this cruise. Wanting to see as much of Jamaica as I could, I booked a bus tour with a beach stop. So in my mind, we would tour the island, making a few scenic stops and spend the remainder of our day by the sea. I was partially correct at least. The day start off with a lot of hurry up and wait. We started our tour about 30 mins late because it seemed they were waiting to fill the bus. We spent hours riding around with the tour guide pointing out a few places but we didn’t get off the bus. Eventually we did make it to a beautiful outlook that housed a bar with some pretty hefty price tags. Next we drove some more while our guide continued to point out places in passing (my kid went to sleep). Next a menu was passed around and we were told we could pick from these plates to have at the beach. They were $17 bucks each, and you had to get what was pre-paired with them. I opted not to order however the beach we were taken to offered nothing else! Small drinks were passed out upon our arrival but I was skipped, when I asked for one, I was told I had to pay for it! Luckily I had water and snacks from the ship for us. This was enough until we were able to get back to the ship. After an extremely short time at the beach we were placed back on the bus and taken to a shop. It had the same items you would normally find vendors on the island selling but for outrageous prices! The whole entire day was meant to squeeze every cent they could from tourist and I had booked through the cruise line! To say my day in Jamaica was a disappointment is an understatement. It really sucks because I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to return again and I was so looking forward to it. Next time I think I’ll fly in so that I can take my time and explore the island to set right the negative vibes I left with. We were able to do a little port shopping before rushing back on the ship so that was something.

The Kids Club

Just like pretty much all cruise lines, Royal Caribbean offers a kids club. Kids are split into groups based on age. There are open and close times with planned activities. They also offered family activities which we participated in. Overall my daughter thoroughly enjoyed her time there and couldn’t wait to go back each night. Looking at the kids cruise compass I didn’t feel there were as many activities as I’m use to seeing on Carnival cruise lines for kids. Outside of the limited options the kids club planned, the ships normal itinerary didn’t have much for kids. Once again I think this is because the ship does have attractions such as rock climbing and ice skating. I was under the impression that Royal Caribbean offered Dreamworks character meet and greets and a breakfast with them but guest services had no idea what I was referring to.

Overall my first experience with Royal Caribbean left me with some mixed feelings. The ship definitely offered amenities I had never experienced anywhere. However I think they used those big attractions as an excuse to neglect some of the smaller more intimate experiences that other ships offer. Though my daughter loved spending time in the kids clubs to hang out with the new friends she made, I felt like they offered a lot less activities for kids to engage in (It seemed more like a free babysitting services,which is nice too). The buffet food options were awesome and nothing was more relaxing than sitting pool side watching a movie. The rooms were spacious and clean. The attendants and staff were efficient just not as friendly as I’m use to. The Haiti private island experience was a dream vacation. However the Jamaican excursion offered should definitely be removed. I’m sure I’ll give Royal Caribbean another go, I just hope my next experience is a step up from this one.

Christmas At Sea with Royal Caribbean This past December (2018) we took a multi-generational family cruise. We ported in Fort Lauderdale and sailed to Labadee, Haiti and Falmouth, Jamaica on the Independence of the Seas (Indy).

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