#I mean she probably still can't deal with other people's... sympathy I guess or the fake pleasantries of news like that

[panlight]

not sure if you’ve touched on this before hint i’ve been curious lately: does edward actually like alice and bella or does he just appreciate their gifts? i’m not quite sure how to explain it but the more i think about it, the less alice seems like the kind of person edward would like. she seems to be more self-interested and cunning than the saint-like characters edward typically reveres. i’ve been wondering if their bond is less about a genuine like for each other and more about an understanding of each other's gifts.

i know edward's attraction to bella as a person vs her silent mind has been discussed before. do you think edward would've fallen for bella if she were more like characters like rosalie and jessica? for instance, assuming her mind were still closed off to him, would edward still have found bella fascinating if he perceived her to be vain and materialistic?

This is part of why I'm less interested in the gifts stuff that a lot of other people. I think it does muddy the waters with things like this. Like, are Edward and Alice actually compatible as siblings/friends or is it just like "you're the only one who understands because our author gave us these specific gifts?" And at the end of the day maybe it doesn't super matter; they DO have those gifts and it DOES help them understand one another so what it would be like without them only really matters if you're writing some All Human AU that removes the supernatural. In their world, compatibility with gifts is a thing, and probably just as valid as other kinds of compatibility and sympathy.

It is interesting that Edward thinks Rose is selfish and vain but loves Alice, when you know if it were Rosalie spending all this money on clothes they only wear once and throwing parties he would see it as another sign of her poor moral character. But part of it may be that Alice and Edward are different enough that they don't annoy each other in the same way Rose and Edward do. Both of them are more melancholy, more negative, more judgmental. Alice is more fun and happy and extroverted so Edward probably doesn't see his own flaws in her the same way he does in Rose (although they can be similar, too, in their sort of manipulative "I know best" dealings).

With Bella I think the gifts thing is even more of a factor. I mean if he could hear Bella's thoughts he'd be getting a lot of "Edward is SO hot" because that's what her narration is in the book, and I don't know that he's find that any different than how Jessica or whoever thinks about him. But because he can't read her mind, he's able to project on her, and also interpret her choices and actions in flattering ways rather than negative ways as he does with most people. And like I get it. I certainly think things I wouldn't say or do. I'm very patient and helpful at my job at the library, for example, but in my head when I see certain people coming and asking for help I'm like "ugggggh not THIS person" and "why can't you do this yourself?!?!" so if Edward were reading my mind he might be like "oh she's not as nice as she seems, she's two-faced, what a scoundrel!" when it's really just . . . being human?

If Bella's behavior was more like Rose and Jessica but Edward couldn't read her mind, that would be interesting. I guess if she also still smelled delicious he might fall for her, and then make up flattering explanations or excuses for the behaviors he doesn't like in others. "She just moved here/she's lonely/she misses her mother/she will grow out of it/whatever" when he's not willing/able to extend that same grace to Jessica because he can read her mind and judges her on her thoughts.

And this isn't me badmouthing Edward; I'm sure it WOULD be genuinely hard NOT to judge people when you're hearing what they are thinking all the time. That's going to flavor your perceptions of people in a major way. But I do think it's not really a fair or accurate view of a person, because what we DO and SAY matters more than what we think. We can have bad thoughts and re-direct them. We can think something mean and choose not to say it. We can internally grumble but do the Right Thing anyway.

I also think having the first two people he spent any time with being the uncommonly "good" Carlisle (super compassion!) and Esme (unconditional love) probably didn't help Edward get a realistic picture of what most people's thoughts are like. Judging a teenager's developing brain against a centuries-old compassion-motivated vampire doctor isn't gonna be a fair comparison. "Carlisle would never think like that" sure but he's also been actively choosing to fight baser instincts for hundreds of years, and Jessica's a 17-year-old navigating social cliques and history exams. They are not the same.

#asks

[zeldaelmo]

Stolen Kisses got me thinking.... :)

*cracks knuckles* Thank you so much for asking!

'Stolen kisses' is the next long fic I'm working on. It takes place during and after the events of Age of Calamity. Several things inspired the story. It's long, so click to find out more.

I always wondered how the society pre-Calamity would look like. The cutscenes give us the impression that we deal with an old-fashioned kingdom. Take King Rhoam. He is always accompanied by two guards, is very formal, and overall the no-jokes type. Link (and Impa) kneel always when he appears. Link kneels for Zelda when he meets her in AoC for the first time and he is still a random soldier. The military in AoC is very formal. They have formations, ranks, daily drills, all that.

Then we have this passage in creating a Champion:

Link is a country knight. And it is explicitly stated that he is not nobility. Why does Creating a Champion emphasize that? He rose through the ranks to the dismay of parts of the army and probably the court as well. Will these persons be happy with Link as the Prince Consort? Take a wild guess.

In that conservative mix, we have the very advanced Sheikah Technology that screams to become a technological revolution (especially in AoC where it can do even crazier things). So, are those stuffy parts of the society that cling to the old rules willing to accept the Technology in their daily lives? No. But some are. Most likely the young people (although you'll always have both parts of the spectrum in each group, of course).

I imagine that we deal with a society that crumbles at the edges even before the Calamity strikes. We have the eccentric scholars, a Princess who loves Technology, a Hero who is not nobility. And then, a war erupts.

When you concentrate on the society, the end of a war means often one thing: opportunities. Structures and formalities break away, posts become free again, and old paths are suddenly too long. People are rewarded for deeds in the war and fighting alongside someone means that you suddenly know people in high places.

So, in stolen kisses, we will see people who fight to maintain their old position of power and others who are tired of the old restrictions. In the middle of all that, we have Zelda and Link who just want to be two dorks in love but can't. They hide their relationship and have to learn the hard way that waiting it out is not always the best option. Sometimes you have to take a risk, look for (unexpected...) allies, and fight for your love!

If you have read until here, take a snippet as a reward. 😆

Link blinked when two pairs of eyes looked expectantly at him and waited for his input on a matter that he had missed in his daydreams. 

"Hm?"

"I said you should marry the Princess."

Link's eyes widened before he gathered his composure again. What, now?

"Pardon me?"

"Yeah, if a peasant like you would be enough for the Princess, my mother couldn't insist anymore that I have to marry a noble girl." Pipit slammed his mug on the table. "She invited one of them to my home leave last weekend. You wouldn't believe how boring a single woman can be. She embroidered a handkerchief for me. A handkerchief!" He circled his empty mug with his hands until it skipped over with a clang and he darted his tongue out. "She wasn't overly happy when I said it would be useful to wipe Moblin blood off my sword."

Link chuckled before a wave of sympathy went through him. He put the mug up. "Is this about Karane again?" 

Karane was the weapon smith's daughter - a sweet, but tough girl who was the main reason for many soldiers to let taken care of her weapons regularly. Unfortunately, she was a commoner, like Link. As the son of an Earl, Pipit would have a realistic chance to ask for the Princess' hand, but it was a different girl who had stolen his heart away.

“I just want a woman who pins my wrists to a wall and silences me with a kiss when I make a bad joke and not one who blushes behind her fan, is that too much to ask?"

"Sounds like you haven't convinced your mother yet," Link kept the conversation going.

Pipit drove his hands over his face, while Fledge patted his back.

"We had a huge fight last weekend. She said I would scare the ladies off on purpose." He lowered his hands. "But I don't! I am just how I am. It's not my fault that they don't like it. There is one woman who likes me very much as I am, but unfortunately, she cannot offer me anything."

“Ugh, at least you want to marry someone in general. The thought to be with someone could make me climb the dueling peaks in my shorts, but my Father insists I have to. Carrying on the family name, you know?” Fledge leaned in and whispered, "Nobody should be forced to do something in the name of nobility. If you ask me, this nobility thing is outdated."

Link crossed his arms and deadpanned, "I'll ask the King if he can cancel it the next time I see him."

The other two snorted and Link followed suit. If only it was this easy.

"You know, if he would do it for anyone then for our Link here."

Link stood up a little too quickly. 

"You guys want another beer? I'm going to find Groose at the bar. Have to thank him for having my back last week."

"Yeah, thanks. See you later."

Link disappeared swiftly in the direction of the bar and ordered drinks for his friends, ignoring Telma's attempt for small-talk.

Unfortunately, he knew exactly that the King would not abandon the rules of nobility marrying each other for him, but that was a topic he pointedly avoided. As much as he loved his two friends, beer loosened their tongues considerably, and the last thing he needed was someone shouting from the rooftops that he was in love with Princess Zelda.

Telma began her round to refill the oil lanterns at the walls - that meant two hours had passed since his arrival.

Time to plan his exit.

I'm very excited about this one, but I can't tell yet when I'm ready to post.

#zelink #wip tag game #zeldaelmo writes #stolen kisses #loz

[angellesword]

SAVE ME | KTH (02)

summary: You were determined to kill yourself, but instead of ending your life, you ended up summoning the devil of death.

Alternatively:

The Devil: I’m here to ruin you, I’m here to save you.

genre & content warnings: demon au, e2l, angst, fluff, roommate au, oc wants to die, invalidating feelings of others, drug overdose,  physical violence, and mention of character’s death (minor)

pairing: devil!taehyung x doctor!reader

word count: 2.6k

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

"I'm the devil and I'm here to save you."

It seemed like the world stopped spinning the moment you heard those words. You were deeply rooted in the place where you're standing and suddenly, you couldn't speak. You tried parting your lips, unluckily no word came out.

The stranger who claimed to be the 'devil' furrowed his brow that caused you to momentarily shut your eyes—hoping that once you opened it again, this stranger's reflection would go away.

 It didn't.

The man was still standing behind you. An evil grin was actually plastered on his face while twirling the handle of the black scissors in his pointer finger.

This devil was pretending to keep his cool, but in reality, he's pissed off. Well for starters, he did not want to be here. He's literally just chilling in the deepest part of hell when you called him.

What the hell does she need from me anyway?  The devil mused.

He thought that his question would be answered the moment you turned to face him. Unfortunately, you only looked at him hoping that your mind was just playing tricks on you—that you were actually the only living creature here. 

Did you overdose with antidepressant pills again?

"Fuck off!" You scolded yourself thinking that the things you were seeing weren't real. This was simply one of the effects of taking too much pills.

Tears painted your cheeks as you covered your face. You were just hallucinating, right? If not, then why would a fucking devil appear in your already pathetic life?

Demons did not exist. They're just an illusion created by people so they could blame someone or something as to why their lives were miserable.

You took a deep breath as you talked to yourself: 'Demons don't exist. Stay calm. You're doing great.'

'Focus on your breathing, sweetie. I'm here for you.'  You even played your mom's usual reminder inside your head. 'She's here with me. I'm okay. I will be okay...' You continued to distract yourself.

Minutes passed. When your heart started beating at a normal place, you then placed your trembling hands on your chest. Your labored breathing turned steady. This meant that the devil was gone now, right?

"You done meditating, dollface?"

You choked on your own spit when you saw the stranger casually sitting on the couch. His tails was still wagging while grinning from ear to ear.

"Just fuck off!"

The devil lazily rolled his eyes when he realized that anger was taking over you again. You were hysterical. You're throwing everything your hand touched at the stranger.

"Fuck off! Fuck off! Leave me fucking alone!" You shrieked.

The lampshade was heavy in your arms so you threw it at once. Sadly the devil was agile. One moment he's dodging your throws and now he's stopping you from breaking more stuff.

The devil had enough of your bullshit.

He pinned you to the floor length mirror, causing the glass to shatter. Its pieces pierced through your body.

You yelped in pain.

The devil let out an exasperated sigh.

"Listen here, Barbie." He rolled his eyes while emphasizing the 'ie' in the word Barbie. He also stared deep into your eyes.

You could only watch as his lips danced.

"As much as I want to leave your Barbie world and ignore your plastic life, I can't." You could feel his hot breath on your cheek. It made you shiver. "You are the one who summoned me. Therefore, I'm stuck with you."

His statement made you huff. You didn't like the tone this devil just used. You were crankier than usual and it’s probably because you had taken a lot of pills today.

It's like you weren't scared of him anymore because really, who did he think he was to insult you?

"Did you just call me a Barbie?" You usually took this as a compliment, howbeit his voice sounded so cynical that you could practically taste the insult in your mouth.

"Hmm. Let me see," the devil pretended to think. He moved a few inches away from you just so he could eye you from head to toe. His gaze was so sultry that your fight-or-flight response was to cover your chest and gasp.

He only chuckled at your reaction before proceeding to tell you his stupid reasons.

"You're living in a grand apartment, you have hundreds of shoes and expensive clothes too," his eyes roamed around your big room while snorting. He was suddenly reminded of those people who tried to kill themselves because they didn't have enough money to provide for themselves and for their families. It's funny that you're just taking for granted the things other people would kill just to have.

You were really the classic bimbo Barbie.

"You literally have everything, yet you're still acting like life is so hard!" He imitated a high pitched voice of a woman while rolling his eyes. 

"How dare you!" You couldn't take his insults anymore as you were already stepping on his ridiculously long tail.

He had no right to accuse you of being ungrateful when he knew nothing about the hell you had been going through.

It was unfair.

You stomped your feet on his tail one more time before running away, leaving him crying in pain.

Your heartbeat doubled as you stepped out of your abode. Running mindlessly brought you to the parking lot. At times like this, you couldn't help but give yourself some credit for always putting your car keys inside the pocket of your jeans.

You drove away from your apartment building.

 You could still feel your heart thumping loud as you stepped on the gas. You needed to get away before you lost your mind.

 You thought you already got away with the stranger who claimed to be the devil, but then you suddenly felt a strong pang of pain in your chest. It also felt like someone's punching your lungs because you could hardly breathe.

 "No!"

 Profanities escaped your mouth when you almost hit a group of pedestrian crossing the street. You wanted to stop to ask if they’re okay; however, you couldn't seem to stop driving.

 What the hell was happening!?

 "Careful, Barbie. You might kill someone..."

 "I said leave me alone!" You stepped on the gas harder because using your peripheral vision, you saw the devil casually slouching on the passenger seat.

 Your tears fell as the devil's wicked laugh erupted. He's about to lean closer, but you're quick enough to stop the car, throwing him back on his seat.

 You hastily went out of your mini cooper and then you ran inside the hospital where you worked. There were a lot of people in this place. You were sure the devil couldn't get to you while you were here.

 Or so you thought.

 "Hey, what are you doing here—wait! Are you okay?"

 Huh. If it wasn't your luck. Out of all the people you're going to run into while running away from the devil, why did it have to be another devil?

 "Dr. Bae..." You said breathlessly.

 Bae Joo-hyun only winced as a response to your lame greeting. You could actually see the disgusted look she's sporting as she eyed you from head toe. The scowl on her face deepened upon seeing your bare feet. Joo-hyun always hated the way you dressed because she could never beat your style. 

 However, it looked like today was her lucky day. Her scowl turned into a smirk when she noticed your outfit of the day: black jeans and plain top. You didn't apply any makeup. You were one hundred percent sure that the bags under your eyes were visible.

 Acid dripped into your stomach, sadly you didn't have any choice but to pretend like you were not affected by Joo-hyun's judgmental stare.

 "How are you?" You flashed a smile at you enemy. It's the kind of smile that hid your real emotions. No one would have guessed that you just spent the past hour of this gloomy afternoon from trying to kill yourself to summoning the devil and now, just casually saying hello to your nemesis.

 Seriously. What's up with your life?

 "I should be the one asking you that," Joo-Hyun quirked her brow, feigning sympathy.

 "Are you okay? I've heard that Cha Areum passed away because of you. I mean—" She paused mid-sentence just to laugh. It was the type of laugh that said 'Oh, silly me!' because the answer was damn obvious.

 You glared at her. Joo-Hyun really knew how to annoy you.

 "—she died because the operation which you lead wasn't successful, right?" Joo-Hyun patted your bare shoulder which caused you to flinch; however, she acted as though she didn't notice your nervous movement.

 "Condolence by the way. I know how much that patient meant to you."

 Tears filled your eyes as you let out a shaky breath. If this was an ordinary day, you would most definitely make Bae Joo-hyun regret opening her big mouth, but today wasn't like any other day. This was the time you should be ending your pathetic life.

 It wasn't happening because you were running away. Again.

 "Have a good day, Dr. Bae." Your lack of energy to deal with the annoying doctor was apparent when you decided to simply walk away—no. You were running once more.

 Admittedly, when you were driving a few minutes ago, you didn't really know where to go. You were just certain that you needed to leave your apartment—that you needed to get away from the stranger who insisted that you summoned him, but then you found yourself taking the route going to this hospital.

 Your safe place.

 Ever since you were a kid, you had always dreamt of working here at Cornelia Hospital. You wanted to take care of other people and extend their time in this world—this was what you promised Cha Areum, the little girl you failed to save.

 Bae Joo-hyun was right. The operation which you had led wasn't successful. It ended the life of a ten year-old girl.

 She was so young.

 'She shouldn't have trusted me. I am a failure. I failed her!' Your thoughts cut deeper than a knife. You firmly believed that you deserved to die as well.

 "I'm so sorry, Areum!" You stumbled on the ground.

 This place felt like home to you. Aside from cutting your hair, you also went to the rooftop of this hospital just to feel the fresh air—a gentle reminder that you were alive and lucky enough to experience simple things like the warmth of the wind.

 Today, instead of being in the morgue, you were back on the rooftop.

 You plopped down on the floor as you succumbed to the pain of losing the first person whom you loved after the death of your mother.

 'I am a failure.' You continued to screw this in your head.

 "Sorry. I'm so sorry!" You clasped your hands together and then you rubbed them as fast and as hard as you could.

 You also looked at the sky; the harsh ray of the sun didn't matter to you.

 It's unbelievable. Where did the sun get the audacity to shine brightly when people were mourning?

 The sun was not fair.

 "You look horrible, Barbie."

 Your eyes instantly landed on the stranger beside you.

 The devil was back. He was hugging his legs while placing his chin on the top of his knees.

 He flashed another evil grin at you.

 You wiped your tears away.

 "Look," you stared hard at him. "I don't care if you're really a devil or not. In fact, I don't care if you want to kill me at all."

 You stopped talking when you remembered what he said a short time ago. He claimed that he didn't have any intention to end your life. Actually, he said he came to save you.

 "—but if you're just going to pester and insult me, I suggest you go back to hell before I kick your ass to heaven."

 Your threat must have been funny because the devil burst into laughter. He laughed until he choked on his own spit.

 You rolled my eyes.

 "You're different from them." The devil chuckled again. He's been in this world since the beginning of time, yet this was the first time he encountered a mere human threatening him.

 People were usually scared of him. If they're kind, it was because they needed something from him. Fame, wealth, knowledge, or anything they wanted.

 The devil could give any diabolical favors to humans in exchange of their souls.

 "Whatever," you pursed your lips since you seriously didn't care about what he was implying. 

 You simply wanted to rest and to your surprise, the devil actually kept his mouth shut.

 Silence engulfed the two of you.

 Just when you thought your heart was finally calmed down, the devil spoke again, causing your anger to ignite once more.

 "You don't really wanna die today, do you?"

 You were so ready for your rebuttal, but his question surprised you.

 It rendered you speechless.

 The only thing you could do was to look at your shaking hands. Shame and guilt crept into your heart.

 You honestly thought that you were ready to die today, but come to think of it, if you really wanted to kill yourself, would you seriously allow yourself to look mediocre in your last day here on earth?

 You were vain. You firmly believed that whatever you're wearing when you died would be your ghost outfit.

 Knowing this attitude of yours, you were certain you would never ever allow yourself to wear ugly jeans and an equally ugly top if you were aware that you're going to die.

 Your ghost outfit should be fabulous.

 "W-What are you doing?" Your body trembled in fear when the devil abruptly leaned closer to you.

 He touched your chin, urging you to look at him. When you did, your breathing hitched. Not only that, your heart also skipped a beat as you finally took in his appearance.

 Maybe they're not lying when they said that the devil came in beautiful form to deceive human beings.

 This demon was perfect. His face was symmetrical. He had this heart shaped face. This was the first time you saw someone with rich golden eyes in your more than thirty years of existence.

 The devil's eyelashes were so long you were convinced he didn't blink, he batted. You were also surprised to see his eyelids. His right eye was monolid while the left part was double eyelid.

 His tail wagged, halting your enthusiastic heart from praising his Godly feature.

 The devil stared deep into your soul. He pulled you closer to him and then a gasp escaped your mouth when he touched the back of your shoulder.

 "You can't kill yourself." This was the last words he said to you before disappearing into the thin air.

 You blinked once. Just a few breaths ago, you was determined to end your life because you blamed yourself for Areum’s death. Right now, however, the only thing clouding your feeble mind was the gorgeous creature who you summoned.

 You were drinking in the physical features of the devil like a love-struck fool as you wondered what in hell had gotten into you.

 The devil came into beautiful form, but he also came to totally turn your miserable life upside down.

 This was not good.

NEXT CHAPTER

#kim taehyung #bts taehyung #taehyung series #taehyung fic #taehyung fluff #taehyung fantasy au #taehyung roommate au #taehyung romance #demon taehyung #devil taehyung #taehyung devil au #taehyung angst #taehyung x you #taehyung x reader #taehyung x y/n #taehyung x oc #ficswithluv

[shmegmilton]

Could you do something about how Theo's death changed Burr? You said that her death 'permanently changed Burr’s demeanor' and I can't find much about Burr's later years so I wondered if you could explain it to me. Thank you.

      Yeah, that sounds about right. A lot of the info we know about Burr in the last 20ish years of his life (after returning from Europe, so 1812-1836) has sort of been haphazardly cobbled together by historians, so you only really get a ‘clear’ picture across multiple Burr biographies. We know that he continued to practice law in New York, but most of the supplementary information we have comes from other people; first-hand accounts by friends, newspaper articles, anecdotes, etc. 
Burr himself was obscenely quiet during this time period, partly (I assume) to lay low from debt collectors & people who want to chastise him for being the evil mastermind who shot Hamilton in cold blood or whatever. And partly because he was depressed for a very long time, it seems.

    The first thing that should be noted is Theo’s death came about 6 months after her son (& Burr’s grandson) Aaron Burr Alston, who he was also very attached to & called him Gampy (Burr’s nickname was Gamp so he was Gampy ie. Little Gamp). Gampy’s death effected Burr in an entirely different way, because every instance we have of Burr interacting with children was largely positive—he loved children. After Gampy’s death he seemed to go out of his way to be kind to children & to spoil them with all of the treats and gifts he never got to give Gampy. Something extra sad to note is that he loved to give little coins to children (either out of his own pocket or a pot on his desk), and one of the gifts he had been stockpiling for Gampy was coins…

Now for Theo, I haven’t been able to find any of Burr’s letters to her during this time (I’m not sure if they even survived), but we know that he tried his best to console her & convinced her to be with him in New York. It took about 6 months for her to finally say yes, so he ordered a ship (The Patriot) & a family friend named Timothy Green (who also died on the ship) to escort her from SC to NY. They of course never made it be NY, and to this day not only do we not know what happened to the ship, but we literally don’t even know where the shipwreck is other than its probably somewhere off the coast of North Carolina. There were some theories about a possibly pirate attack (The Patriot was a former privateer ship) but Burr choose not to believe it.

Burr & Joseph Alston (her husband) took up a correspondence during this time (strangely, we have some of Alston’s letters but none of Burr’s seem to have been found) where they confided to each other about their worries. Alston makes a very poignant implication during one of the surviving letters where he says that Burr must feel “severed from the human race.”

Theo wasn’t just Burr’s daughter—she was his only child to survive to adulthood, and one of his closest political & social allies, considering that the majority of the country now hated Burr for the 1804 Duel and the 1807 Conspiracy. She was really all he had for comfort, & Burr constantly mentions how much he misses her (& Gampy) in his European Journal. I can only imagine how devastated he was.

Another note, Charles Burdett (Burr’s adopted son who I’ll talk about in a moment) published a book with some of Burr’s old letters (that he must have been personally given, because I haven’t seen them published anywhere else.) One letter was written during this time period to a woman named “Kate” & he basically admits being too depressed to reply to people.

Burr also allegedly spent weeks or even months visiting the docks every day with the hope that The Patriot might be there. The death of his daughter gained Burr a bit more public sympathy, but the attention was still largely negative. People treated him like a cryptid almost. Not just because he was notorious, but because he was so socially withdrawn that it was rare to see him in public.

—

In 1878, Charles Burr Todd wrote A General History of the Burr Family in America (with Genealogical Records from 1570 to 1878). It’s a handy book with some unique information about Burr that I have yet to see in any other biographies, including a full physical description of what Burr looked & sounded like in his later years ([HERE]), and an interesting essay that Judge John Greenwood, who worked under Burr as a clerk from 1814-1820, presented to the Manhattan Historical Society after Burr’s death ([HERE]).

The Greenwood essay mentions that Burr owned a cat, which he definitely did not own during his 4 years in Europe as there was no mention of it. This implies to me that he purchased and/or adopted it because he was lonely, because there is no other account of Burr owning a pet of any kind before or after this.

Burr also adopted two children around this time, Charles Burdett & Aaron Columbus Burr (Aaron Burr Colombe). ACB is a strange case because, despite having a very public adult life—no one can seem to agree if he was French or American? Or who his mother was? Or his birth year? Some sources say 1808 and others say 1816? It’s bizarre. People also can’t seem to agree whether Charles Burdett was born in 1814 or 1815. There is also a third child (Henry Oscar Taylor, born 1818) who is documented having lived with Burr by 1833.

All of these boys are a mystery because no birth or adoption certificate exists (did they even have those back then?) so it’s unclear where they came from, who their mothers were, or at what point they came into Burr’s life—Burr’s movement & the timelines of their birth make it a bit too hard to say for sure. My personal theory is that (regardless if they were biologically his or not) Burr chose to take these children in to try and alleviate his own loneliness.

One last thing of note about Burr’s later life is that in 1823 he chose to take in Luther Martin (the lawyer who argued his 1807 case), who had recently had a stroke and had nowhere to live. He took care of him until he passed away in Burr’s home in 1827.

Burr would of course die a little less than 10 years after that (the majority of it spent fighting his divorce & dealing with his own strokes). I wish I could write more about this time period, but that is truly all we know about it.

I guess the key takeaway from this is Burr ultimately devoted a lot of his time to charity work & helping others, most likely as a way to deal with grief or find meaning in his life again.

#Aaron Burr #Theodosia Burr Alston #Theodosia Burr #Charles Burdett #Aaron Burr Alston #Luther Martin #Burr Family #Anecdotes

[criminalminds4days]

Family Matters | Chapter 3: Trivia

Hello People!

I hope you have had an amazing week and are going to have an ever better weekend. I am so done with this week. It was really crappy and I just can't wait for the beginning of next, hoping it will be better. The only positive side is that I was able to get over my writer's block and have finished about 3 new chapters.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter of Family Matters and let me know what you think!

Warnings: Swearing, sexual references, violence and murder references, public embarrassment, and very bad jokes!

Word Count: 3.6k

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Tag list: @mcntsee @lets-be-gay-for-the-angel @evelyncade @haylaansmi @paulaern @myfandomlife-blog

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(This gif is not mine)

Chapter 3: Trivia

She closed the blinds and made sure for the fifth time the door was locked. Her breath caught in her throat and the fear and adrenaline that had rushed through her body made even Spencer Reid nervous.

"What's going on?"

"This is bad, I didn't realize the consequences of this until it was too late. I am so sorry I got you all tangled up in this mess."

"What are you talking about? What happened?"

"I-" She turned and took a peek through the blinds, ensuring there was no one around. "I did not think things through. I think it's best if you go home, that way you might be spared."

"You are seriously starting to make me nervous, please tell me what's going on, how can I help?"

"There is nothing you can do; I am basically a dead woman."

"Why? Who's after you?"

"Anna Hemingway."

"Your cousin is after you? Did she threaten you or something?"

"No, she didn't have to." She walked towards the bed and sat on the edge, still glancing every now and then, making sure the coast was clear.

After her and Spencer's victory, they had both decided to go to bed, and while the rest of her family insisted on having another dinner dedicated to the couple, they had both decided best to eat and head back to their cabin. He had finished first and decided to head back, and as soon as he was gone, the memory hit her making her mistake obvious. And the main reason she had resorted to a passive competition with the world's worst cousin was clear once again. In a hurry she had returned to their cabin, ensuring she was not being followed, and locked the door, startling the doctor.

"The last time I beat Anna at something was when I twelve. We were both auditioning for the same role in our school musical. They gave me the part." He smiled, truly excited for her accomplishment, as well as happy to learn this new fact about her. "Don't get too peppy. On opening night, at Grandma's celebration for the play, I fell down the stairs."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because, Dr. Spencer Reid, as hard as it is to believe, me falling down the stairs was not due to my immense clumsiness."

"Wait, your cousin pushed you down the stairs?!" He exclaimed, truly horrified. How are children so cute and so evil at the same time?

"More like, she set her foot for me to trip on, but you get the idea." She glanced back at the door and then at the man in front of her. "I was lucky, I didn't break anything, but I have a feeling that might not be the case the next time. I also would prefer not to drown or anything like that."

"But we're federal agents, doing something to you or me would be unwise."

"You're speaking of the girl that tripped me down the stairs and thought that stealing my boyfriend and marrying him was wise."

"I'm gonna double-check the door is locked."

After hours of attempting to stay vigilant, her body had given in and she had fallen asleep. Although Spencer knew the danger, to him it was as simple as closing his eyes. She knew they were trained to deal with a lot of sick people, but he didn't understand the limits his cousin would go to destroy those who she felt wronged by. Although her main target had always been her, she once had basically ended a girl's life by getting her banned from pretty much any respectable college or job position because this one had made fun of her prom dress. Anna Hemingway was one to be cautious with, and they had both just embarrassed her in front of the people whose attention she had snatched years ago. It was worse than she realized.

"Spencer, Spencer." She spoke as she slightly moved him. He growled and moved away from her, attempting to continue his slumber. "Spencer."

"No, let me sleep." He complained.

"Spence, get up, please." After minutes of silence, she devised a new plan. "Spencer!" she screamed, making him jump, falling off the bed and landing between the edge of this first one and the door of the closet. "Oh good, you're awake."

He didn't say a word, for what seemed like centuries, and she wondered if screaming him awake was not the best decision, especially as her next request would not be something he would be inclined to.

"Sorry for that, I just needed you to wake up."

"Is there a fire I don't know about?"

"No, I just thought we could go for a run." There it was, the look Spencer had only given the unsubs he despised the most. She had earned it, but that didn't mean she liked it. "Sorry, I just, Nicole had to leave, and since I have a target on my back and there's safety in numbers... I also didn't want to leave you here alone, and vulnerable. I just felt like, despite your muscles, I am concerned you haven't yet mastered the use of your body."

"I will have you know that by all accounts I definitely know how to use my body. Quite effectively if I do say so myself, and others."

After his words, her mind went to a thought she never imagined having. She wondered if he meant it that way or she was just losing it. "Good, then you can come with me." That sentence following her thoughts was probably not ideal.

"No thank you, you can do it by yourself." She needed to change the direction her thoughts were going; they were definitely not helpful.

"Spencer, please. I am honestly a little terrified, and you should be too."

"Well, I'm not. She isn't worse than any unidentified subject we've dealt with before."

"Oh but she is. She's the worst type of unsub you could think of, but ten times worse."

"What's the worse she could do?"

"Let's not find out."

After whining from him and pleads by her, they both made their way out of the cabin. The shorts he had avoided yesterday were now covering almost nothing as they jogged. This was not a good reminder of their earlier conversation, so she simply focused on something easier: her cousin's imminent revenge. She thought it would come in the form of her accidentally pushing her into the lake, or a repeat of her falling down the stairs. She was even worried this time Spencer would be the victim since he had been the one to embarrass her. Her thoughts were interrupted by deep breaths and a yelp.

"Are you okay?"

"We've been running for hours, how dare you ask me such a question?"

She looked at her watch, "We've been running for exactly three and a half minutes. Actually, we haven't been running, more like jogging."

"How long do you usually do this for?"

"Depends on the day, but from thirty minutes to two hours."

"You need help."

"It won't be as bad, come on."

"You can go on, I am just gonna sit here and have a heart attack real quick."

"How on earth did you pass your physical?"

"I got it waved."

"Cheater."

"If it isn't it the 'it' couple of the weekend!" Suddenly the one having a heart attack was not Spencer, but her. "I didn't know you guys ran together, that's so cute!"

"Yeah, truly the reason I love her," Spencer said, a pinch of sarcasm in his voice.

"How adorable." It's coming, she could feel it. "Anyway, I was thinking, since love seems to be in the air this weekend, why don't we celebrate it by wrapping up the family retreat with a trivia night!"

"What does trivia have to do with love?" She regretted the words as soon as they came out, as Anna looked at her like she might as well be six feet under.

"Silly, the trivia would be about your significant other, of course!"

"Well, that's just-"

"Wonderful, I know!" The blonde smiled, delighted by her idea. "The family has already been briefed and they are all on board, I have started taking in questions and designed the cards, so we'll all meet around the campfire for dinner, and then we'll have trivia night!" She smiled brightly and began to leave, stopping by to appreciate Spencer's figure and palming his behind as she left.

"Did she just-?"

"Yes, yes she did."

"I need a shower."

After both had showered and changed they made their way to grandmas house, alert as to anyone following them. Most of her family had moved on from spying on them, but she knew Anna and Uncle Ernie were not that normal.

"So, what did your grandma do?"

"No one really knows, I mean it had to be good to make her so rich, but by the time my uncle Ernie was born, the eldest, she was already rich enough to sell whatever business she had and become a full-time parent."

"What about your grandpa?"

"He died before I was born."

"Oh."

They sat at the same table he had been at the day before; the chessboard was still in place. She began messing with the pieces, creating the game that always made her win, courtesy of her grandma.

"I didn't know you played."

"I too began at a very young age. I haven't really played since grandma died; she was my game partner. The only one that treated me like I was a human being." She sat down, remembering the hours she spent here when Nicole wasn't around, and everyone pretty much ignored her. "She was the only one that ever consoled me for losing my dad. Losing her was just one more box to check."

"I am sorry for your loss." He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently, hoping to convey his sympathy.

"Yeah well, by how calm Anna looks right now I guess it won't be long before I join her, so we don't have to worry about that anymore."

He rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. "So, what should we expect during this trivia night?"

"To lose, that's our safest bet."

"I don't really do losing."

"And all I do is lose, so I will be your guide this time."

The family had made their way inside, their excitement overflowing the room. She couldn't help but wish she could simply run for the hills. She knew the chances of them winning were null, because a) she needed to lose and b) Spencer and her hadn't known each other, really known each other long enough to be able to answer these questions. She wondered if that was the plan all along, that Anna somehow had found out about their lie and was using this as a means to expose it.

"Okay everybody, let's get started." Said, uncle Ernie. He wore the same clothes as their first day here. "Let us start with the competition. Since we have the newlyweds as well as the new couple in the family, I think they should make the honors."

She looked at Spencer and he smiled at her, she leaned closed and whispered. "Remember, to ease the monster, we need to lose, which shouldn't be hard, we're not even a real couple, there is no way we know enough about each other, right?"

He nodded and they both moved to the sofa that was designated as their spot, her uncle who now apparently served as the show host, handed Spencer and Tyler a buzzer, explaining whichever sounded first would get to answer the question. She mentally prepared herself, hoping she could answer enough questions to not raise suspicion but not enough to win the game, what a grand world that would be.

"Ready everybody?" everyone cheered in approval and she prepared herself. "This round is for the guys, once we finish you will pass the buzzer to your partner and at the end, we will have one round where either of you can answer. Now, the first question, what is your partner's Starbucks order?"

Spencer's buzzer went off as Tyler attempted to recall the memory. "It depends on the season. During winter and for as long as she can get it, it will be a Grande Peppermint Hot Chocolate, during the summer it will be no-coffee Double chocolate chip cookie crumble Grande Frappuccino with extra whipped cream, and no straw." She looked at him completely taken aback by his answer, how specific it was, and the fact that he knew she was a seasonal drinks person.

"Yeah, that's it." She spoke.

"Point for team FBI!" Her uncle cheered. "Next question, what is your partner's favorite color?"

His buzzer went off and the doctor spoke again, "Blue."

Ten questions later the scoreboard was 8-2, Spencer's lead, and the two questions he hadn't answered were because he decided that would be enough to lose. She didn't understand how he knew these things, or the fact that she knew what her answer for him would be, but what she did know, was that she had to be really bad in order to allow Anna to take the lead back, what she wasn't sure about anymore, was whether she wanted to let her cousin win.

"Ladies, you're up." Spencer handed her the buzzer and she smiled at him. "First question, how does your partner drink his coffee."

"That's easy. He doesn't drink coffee." She said soon after her buzzer went off. "He drinks sugar with a side of coffee, no creamer. Eighty percent sugar, twenty percent coffee."

"That is so mean to say! But it's true." Spencer agreed.

"How are you a doctor and drink so much sugar?"

"Not that kind of doctor." He clarified to the man.

"I have no idea what that means! Next question, what is the thing your partner is most proud of?"

"His job. Spencer loves helping people and using his knowledge to reunite families, he's the bravest guy I know." She smiled at him and he returned the gesture.

It was no surprise Anna was not content with the results, as the end was a 23-4 in favor of Spencer and her. As soon as the game was finished she knew that she had basically carved her own grave.

"That is not fair, they are not even really dating!" Her cousin screamed, "it's all a lie!"

"What?"

"Yeah, I know your little secret, I overheard you and Nicole talking about how Spencer was not really your boyfriend and how he didn't actually have dyslexia!"

"I-" She didn't know what to say, how had she not seen her? How could she let this happen?

"First of all, I think it is very inconsiderate of you to suggest that my dyslexia is not real. I have fought so hard for such a long time to ensure my condition didn't prevent me from succeeding, going as far as getting a Ph.D. in mathematics, for someone to simply come and question my hard work." Spencer said, seemingly very upset. "Second of all, this woman right here is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I will not sit here and tolerate you calling her a liar. We are in love with each other, and you as her cousin should be happy about it. Yet you seem so upset about her finding someone, it seems to me you're jealous, but what do I know, it's not like I can understand human behavior or anything. Oh, wait." He said, he took her hand and pulled her as close to him as she could. "Just leave my girlfriend alone, you took her sloppy second and married him, so what more can you want from her?"

The room fell silent, everyone eyed Spencer and Anna, trying to grasp what had just happened. "You and I both know you're lying, you two are not a real couple, you are just trying to ruin this weekend for me."

"Really, not a real couple? Then how did we end up destroying you at trivia? You made the questions Anna, I had no idea what was on them, you did. And I am not the one wearing a wedding ring. So my question is, how do you marry someone without knowing their proudest moment, or their Starbucks order?"

"Well, how come no one has ever seen you two kiss? You can learn facts about each other but that doesn't really make you a couple."

"You want to see a kiss? Fine." She turned and pulled Spencer's lips to hers. She let herself enjoy the moment, really enjoy Spencer's kissing skills, not because she wanted to or anything, but rather because that is how she should kiss him, there was no way anyone would have any doubt about them if the kiss looked authentic. Which it did, it also might have felt a little more authentic than it should but now was no the time to dwell on that.

Spencer kissed her back, creating an atmosphere in which her cousin's word didn't matter any longer, in which the humiliation her family had put her through was nothing worth thinking of, and the fact that both of them had such deep knowledge about each other only fueled it, melting her a little in her spot, she felt his teeth on her lower lip applying slight pressure and she couldn't help but wish they were by themselves right then and there.

"We get it! You guys want to take your clothes off, now please stop." Tyler's voice echoed, and the two doctors left each other's lips reluctantly, looking at him. "Now, can we please move on?"

"No! Not until they admit they are not really dating, and all this was a plot to humiliate me!" Anna screamed.

"You know what? I am not going to stand here and tolerate this behavior any longer. Bitchy Anna, you can whine all you want, but that will not change that I am with a man I love, and that loves me. I have let this family make me feel like less for long enough and I am done doing so. You can all go fuck yourselves because I am done with each and every single one of you. You allowed this crazy brat to humiliate me and treat me like I was less for long enough. Let's go home, Spencer." She grabbed him by the hand and exited the house, giving her family the middle finger before she banged the door. She walked to their cabin and gathered her stuff, him following suit. As soon as they were in the car and far enough away, she pulled over and sighed, coming down from her adrenaline rush.

"In the wise words of Penelope Garcia, that was hot," Spencer said.

"What was?"

"Everything." They laughed for a couple of minutes, the scene she had just created replaying in her mind. "I am so proud of you."

"Why? Because I gave my uncle Ernie the middle finger?"

"Because you stood up for yourself."

"Yeah, well even if she was right, I tend to get a little too angry when people call me a liar or get in my way."

"Yeah, I know." He chuckled, "How did it go, oh yes, 'Nu-uh bruh, I know you didn't just interrupt me mid-sentence.' And then you commented how a man who wore sweaters in the middle of July was not going to cut you off."

"I am so sorry about that; I was just so used to being cut off I didn't want it to be a thing at work."

"It's okay, I understand. I began cutting people off because that's what most people did to me when I spoke."

"Well, that's dumb. I love hearing your facts, you have all this knowledge, and you chose to share it, people should be grateful for it."

"Thank you, I appreciate that." He smiled, "Speaking of facts, our chances of getting murdered will increase by the minute if we continue to sit on the side of the road."

"Right, forgot about that!" She turned the car back on. "Let's go home, Spencer." As his apartment complex became clear, she slowed down, making a stop right in front of it. "Thank you for coming with me this weekend, I really appreciate it."

"No problem, that's what friends are for." Before he moved to get out of the car, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "What was that for?"

"For being the best fake boyfriend and real friend a girl could ask for." She smiled at him, so grateful for his existence. "I will see you tomorrow morning at 5:45 am sharp. Goodnight Spencer."

"Goodnight. See you tomorrow." He opened the door and walked out, waving to her before he entered his building. She sat there for a couple of minutes, taking in the past weekend. She knew her mother wouldn't let her get away with her actions, but right now that didn't matter, Spencer Reid had told her he was proud of her, he had even used the term hot which in itself was hot because she never even imagined he used that type of vocabulary.

Regardless, she stood up for herself, she let Anna have it, and Spencer was proud of her. It seemed like a win-win. She drove home, a smile on her face.

#spencer x y/n #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds #cm

[neochatarra]

8 Untold Signs Of Narcissist People

Sometimes the signs of narcissism aren't so obvious and narcissists fly under our radar. Not every narcissist may be a puffed-up addict or a Mean Girl like Regina George. If they were, we could see the signs from a mile away and steer clear. No, many narcissists are sensitive, thoughtful, and generous – until the charade wears off, of course.

That's why it's so important to know the subtle signs of narcissism that you simply won't notice until it's too late and they've sucked you into their region.

What's the Difference Between an Overt and Covert Narcissist?

Many people tend to consider narcissists as having extroverted personalities. They're flamboyant and demand to be the middle of attention – how are you able to miss them?

The truth is, introverts also can be narcissists. These are those who fool us into their web of manipulation.

"They're not self-absorbed – they're just sensitive!"

"They're not a nasty friend – they're just misunderstood!"

After forming a relationship with a covert narcissist, you realize that this sensitivity and isolation were, in fact, signs of narcissism. Since the signs weren't so obvious, however, you completely misjudged things.

8 Signs of Narcissism You Can't-Miss

Since the covert narcissist is best at hiding their abusive behavior, it's important to know the subtle cues that give them away.

1. They'll Never Utter the Phrase "I Don't Know"

I once knew a narcissist who was so averse to the present phrase that he would rather give someone dangerously incorrect answers than admit to not knowing something. He was confident in his woefully wrong answers, too.

Why do this?

Answering an issue with "I don't know" deprives the narcissist of important attention. The person seeking a solution will simply advance to somebody else who might help them. That's an enormous ego hit.

That's why you'll often find narcissists rambling on about topics they need no business speaking on.

2. They Are A Nasty Friend

The narcissist is usually a nasty friend but you'll typically find them playing the victim. confirm to urge all sides of the story if you're unsure.

What are some red flag signs of narcissism that indicate the suspect may be a narcissist?

• They get irritated when their friends invite help or advice.

• They don't bother to call or text their friends on birthdays or holidays.

• They don't return borrowed items. (A sign of entitlement.)

• They owe their friends money. they'll downplay this as "not an enormous deal."

• They embarrass their friends ahead of others.

• They hunt down or entertain their friends' partners or love interests.

They also treat waitstaff or service workers poorly. This is a dead giveaway. run the hills. Anyone who disrespects waitstaff or service workers views people as "beneath" them. Soon, you'll be a part of the inferiors also.

3. They Need To Insert Themselves Into Every Story

A covert narcissist might not demand everyone's attention. They will, however, still find how to form everything about them. an outsized part of this strategy involves inserting themselves into every story.

Is a coworker talking about their experience with homelessness? The narcissist, too, features a story about being poor.

Is a lover talking about his amazing trip to Vietnam? The narcissist also had a friend who visited Vietnam. And guess what? She heard it wasn't so great.

No matter the subject, the narcissist features a remarkable skill for turning the eye their way – regardless of how innocuous it'd seem.

4. They're Sensitive

At first, you'll appreciate their ability to freely express emotions. this is often an excellent tactic narcissists use to lure empathetic people into their trap.

Maybe a fast-food worker got their order wrong and therefore the narcissist hasn't shut up about it all day. Maybe their boss asked them to prevent playing on their phone such a lot and now the narcissist is crying about it over dinner.

As time goes on, you'll realize that the narcissist isn't vulnerable and sensitive: their fragile ego can't handle honest mistakes and valid criticism. To the narcissist, these are personal attacks.

5. They Form Relationships Based On What Someone Can "Do for Them"

If you're at a celebration and therefore the suspected narcissist suggests you ask someone because they will help together with your career or financial situation, don't ignore it. They aren't trying to assist you: they're letting you in on their game.

Narcissists tend to make shallow friendships that supported what people can do for them. You'll often find narcissists make friends with horribly toxic people simply because these folks have money, own bars, or offers career opportunities.

6. Their Stories Don't Match Reality

Both the overt and covert narcissist has an inflated sense of self. The thing is, they believe their lies. As a result, you'll often find they recall stories much differently than the situations played out.

If you notice that the suspect constantly reframes stories to form themselves the hero or victim, retreat fast – this is often one among the various signs of narcissism. By changing the story to suit their narrative, the narcissist is gaslighting everyone else involved.

It's not cute or funny to constantly need to correct them. Sooner or later, they'll start gaslighting you, too.

7. They Observe and Judge

"There's no way she will be a narcissist. When we're out with friends, she barely says ten words!"

I hear it all the time. By sitting back and observing everyone, however, the covert narcissist is silently taking notes and judging. I'm sure you heard all about her observations on the car ride home.

The narcissist must feel superior to everyone around them. this is often easy to try to do once you don't open your mouth to interact in conversation and instead sit back to require notes about everyone's shortcomings.

8. They Only Hear Bits and Pieces of Your Stories

Does it desire the suspected narcissist just isn't. listening? They're probably not. And if they're, they don't care.

Maybe you spent ten minutes venting to your mother about how you didn't get that promotion at work because you showed up late one solitary time with a legitimate reason. How did she respond? "Well, maybe you'll remember to point out up on time from now on."

You can't be the victim. Only the narcissist is often the victim.

You see this ton with narcissist parents or partners who listen only enough to toss stuff back in your face later.

How to Turn the Tables on a Narcissist?

Perhaps you've gone on a couple of dates with someone or a replacement coworker joined your team. you think they'll be a narcissist but you aren't entirely sure.

After all, the covert narcissist is especially cunning at hiding the more obvious signs of narcissism. Here's the way to turn the tables on a narcissist and obtain them to show themselves.

• Play along. Don't give the suspected narcissist room to regulate their manipulation tactics – play stupid and pretend you completely believe them. Use this chance to document their behavior.

• Remain indifferent. If you want to continue handling an overt or covert narcissist for reasons out of your control, act indifferent to their behavior. The narcissist wants to use your emotions against you. If you don't give them anything to figure with, they'll seek their fix elsewhere.

• Find Support: this might only include one or two people you trust. open up to someone who will validate and believe you.

At the top of the day, the sole thanks to truly turn the tables on a narcissist are to chop them off completely. If that they had any real intentions of adjusting, they might have done so already.

The narcissist won't suddenly see things your way. If they ever do, it's – a) for a fleeting moment and b) to use against you later. Don't believe the conflicting information you would possibly see from other websites or therapists – the narcissist will never change.

With a mental disease, a chemical imbalance within the brain may cause different disturbances that manifest as depression, anxiety, and lots of others. Although complex, mental illnesses tend to reply well to medication because it targets the physical root of the problem: like a chemical imbalance. Though it's been determined that a lot of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety are frequently caused by unresolved emotional trauma, often dating as far back as childhood.

Personality disorders occur due to a repetitive stimuli-reward environment. At some point in their life, the narcissist realized they might elicit specific reactions and emotions from people – and it felt good and helped them achieve their self-fulfilling agendas.

Anything but cutting them out of your life will offer you a mental and emotional breakdown.

No Contact is that the Only Way to Packing Up A Narcissist

Many narcissists have always been this manner – whilst far back as their teenage or childhood years. If you're handling a narcissist, you can't and will not expect them to vary their behavior now or ever.

Treatment for personality disorders often involves things like cognitive behavioral therapy. In many cases, a narcissist can also suffer from other mental illnesses like depression or substance use disorder. (You've probably heard extensively about these problems, too, when the narcissist needs your sympathy or someone responsible .)

ىDespite this, there's little evidence to suggest therapy works for narcissists as personality disorders are notoriously difficult to treat. the primary step to getting assistance is to admit a drag exists – the narcissist will never believe they need or are a drag.

No Contact is that the only option.

Trust in yourself and your network. Because once you get to the opposite side and stick with No Contact, you'll be amazed by all the amazing belongings you can accomplish.

#narcissitic #narcissist #covert narcissism #narcissismawareness #narcissus

[richiefuckfacetozier]

Why Can't This Be Love

Chapter 1: Here It Comes

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Click to read on Archive 

Pairing: Richie Tozier x Eddie Kaspbrak

Title - Why Can't This Be Love by Van Halen

Dedicated to @slashpalooza and @sam-i-am2468

___

Eddie’s Tuesday started out as it normally did. Half a grapefruit for breakfast, thoroughly shower, text his best friend, Richie, a stupid meme, call Mike to confirm lunch for tomorrow, work from 8am to 6pm, and come home to pour himself a glass of wine. 

Right now he was pouring 4 glasses because around 3:00pm, Beverly called asking if her and Ben could come by to tell him something exciting and that Richie had to be there too. He was not sure what they could possibly want to talk about with the two of them. Eddie tried to push down the anxiety that they might be angry about something. He was pretty sure he didn’t do anything horrible recently, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Richie! Can you help me?” Eddie shouted from the kitchen of his apartment. “I don’t have enough hands to carry everything!”

“Coming, my love!” Richie joked annoyingly. Although Eddie didn’t find it entirely annoying, it’s just Richie being ridiculous. 

His tall friend padded into the kitchen wearing his worn out leather jacket that he thought made him look cool, a print shirt with a meme on it that Eddie didn’t get, and jeans, “I know what they are going to tell us.” Richie stated confidently with a little bounce in his step. 

“Did they tell you already? That’s not fair!” Eddie said in frustration. “They couldn’t wait two more damn minutes?”

“No, I have a guess, Eds.” 

“Don’t call me Eds.”

“I think Ben finally got the courage to propose to Beverly.” Richie went on with a smile. “Or she grabbed him by the balls and told him to do it.”

Eddie snorted at the imagery and wouldn’t put it past Bev to be that aggressive but probably wouldn’t to the love of her life. “That’s wonderful if it’s the news.” 

“I bet you 50 bucks it is,” Richie challenged, “Ben was looking mighty anxious at Bill’s wedding a year ago.” 

Eddie rubbed the back of his neck, “I barely remember Bill’s wedding. I was so blackedout.” 

Richie rolled his eyes dramatically, “You were stupidly mourning the loss of Myra the hydra.” Eddie cringed at the mention of his ex-girlfriend. 

“Be nice, Rich.” Eddie frowned. He pulled out a packet of thin mint girl scout cookies for all of them to snack on.  

Richie rolled his eyes as he sipped quickly from the glass of wine, clearly not finished speaking, “I don’t know why either. She was a carbon copy of your mother. Her leaving was the best thing to ever happen to you.” 

“Yes, being extremely single has done wonders for my self-esteem.” Eddie mumbled.

Richie leaned over and flicked Eddie’s nose, “You’re a catch, dummy.” 

He yelped, rubbing his nose and getting goosebumps from their intensely close position. Eddie grabbed the other two glasses, thin mints and turned on his heel to walk out of the kitchen. “Fine, 50 bucks it isn’t an engagement.” 

“Sweet! Also, those pants look good on you.” Richie pointed out following from behind him. 

Eddie’s cheeks heated up a little, he purposely wore these dark navy blue jeans because Richie always compliments them. He wondered if Richie remembered that he did this every time. Eddie doubted it. When it was just the two of them, Richie constantly tried to make Eddie feel special and wanted. Eddie suspected Richie did it because he felt sorry for him, but he couldn’t be sure. Despite knowing his best friend pretty well, he was also a huge enigma. Constantly says whatever is on his mind, does the most spontaneous - borderline suicidal - things, and keeps a smile on his face no matter what he may be feeling. 

They plop down on the couch in Eddie’s living room. His place was what Richie called a ‘clean mess’, probably the best description of Eddie ever said. He had the habit of hoarding things he didn’t really need. Piles of books on every table that he had already read, knick-knacks from trips, more candles than any one person needed on all open surfaces. He had really nice furniture that matched well in a blend of warm colors. Beverly and Ben sat in two mahogany chairs across from them, holding hands. 

Eddie placed the wine glasses on monster movie poster coasters that Richie gifted him years ago when they were teens. They grew up together and remained close throughout the years, regardless of college or moving around. In fact, Eddie had six very close friends from childhood. The group called themselves the Losers Club, a title courtesy of Richie. 

“Thanks, Eddie!” Beverly said nicely. Ben thanked him too. Richie sat beside Eddie, the side of their thighs touching as he scooted closer to hand him wine. Eddie always felt so comfortable around all his friends, they were the only ones he let be touchy with him. He used to hate germs and be easily disgusted by everything, but when the people he was closest with shared food, drinks, and beds with him, that feeling went away gradually. 

“Alright, lads,” Richie started up with a newsies kid accent. “What’s the scoop? Striking Pulitzer again?” 

“Well,” Ben’s round cheeks turned pink as he said, “We’ve got pretty big news.” Eddie observed Ben take both Beverly’s hands into his own big ones. 

Beverly was practically jumping in her seat, her flamming red short curls bouncing against the sides of her face. She shared a big smile with Ben as she blurted out, “WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!”

“FUCK YES!” Richie shouted. He flew off the couch tackling Beverly in a huge hug. 

“Please, don’t hurt my girlfrie-I mean fiancé.” Ben said softly, clearly surprised how much he enjoyed calling her that. 

Eddie got up to hug Ben tightly, saying congratulations. Beverly kissed both men before they sat back down. Eddie raised his glass. “Cheers, to two people who’s friendship, romance, and love are unparalleled.” 

They clinked glasses and drank. Richie bumped Eddie lightly, “Cheers to owing me $50.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Eddie nodded toward the counter. “You can grab it from my wallet before you go home.” 

“You can just buy me dinner this weekend.” Richie waved his hand.

“So Rich, you know what me getting married also means?” Beverly’s eyes shined brightly at him. He looked between her and Ben, thinking. Then dawning flashed on his face. He put his glass down and stood on the couch. 

“Richie, no!” Eddie pleaded desperately. “You are going to fall! Idiot!” 

He jumped up and down like a child discovering Christmas came early. “I AM GOING TO BE DUDE OF HONOR!” 

They all laughed at his excitement. One of the things the losers club decided in their 20’s, after a particularly ugly fight about who would be who’s best man or ‘dude of honor’ in this case, was that each of them would take turns. 

So far, Bill and Stanley had gotten married. To two incredible women, Audra and Patty. Eddie was Bill’s and Bill was Stan’s best man. The rest of the sequence goes: Mike is Richie’s, Richie is Bev’s, Bev is Eddie’s, Stan is Ben’s, and Ben is Mike’s. Mike is fairly confident he won’t get married and neither will Richie, which he says is for the best as he is far too stressed as a person to get married or be a best man. 

Eddie recalled that a huge fight he had with Myra was over Beverly being his Best Woman. She shouted at him for hours that there was no reason a woman should be when he had all these guy friends. Explaining the losers club deal to her did nothing but place fuel on the fire. ‘Sometimes I think you love them more than me!’ Looking back, he most certainly did. Eddie was fairly certain he would always love the losers most in this world. Which furthered the cycle of being horribly single. Sometimes he thought he was in a polyamorous asexual relationship with 6 other people. They were too close.

Richie finished up his jumping and landed on the couch half on Eddie. “OW!” Eddie yelled. “That fucking hurt. You aren’t light enough to plop all your weight on me.” 

Richie slung an arm over Eddie’s shoulders and kissed the side of his face. “Sorry, Eds.”

Eddie wiped his face that got kissed on Richie’s shoulder, pretending to get the germs off. “Have you told everyone else?” 

“We have…” Ben begun slowly. Eddie didn’t like the tone he was using. “Stanley’s already started his best man duties.”

“Why wouldn’t you just tell us you’re getting married altogether like Bill and Stan did?” Richie said, seeming to also realize this was odd. 

“Because we have to ask a favor of you.” Ben brought his hand up to start biting his nails the way he did when he was about to deliver bad news. 

“Favor is too nice, babe. This is not a favor or a request. It is a requirement if you both want to be at this wedding.” Beverly let go of Ben’s hand to place it on her knee. She rubbed her thighs once, gearing up to tell them. Eddie had a couple guesses about what she may want to say but nothing prepared him for what it actually was, “You have to bring a date.” 

Eddie leaned back in confusion, realizing Richie’s arm was still around him so it brought them both laying back against the couch. Richie removed his arm and started fidgeting with his fingers. Eddie worried his bottom lip before saying quietly, “Why?” 

Beverly looked to Eddie with sympathy. “I’m sorry, Eddie, but we don’t want a repeat of Stan and Bill’s weddings.”

Eddie’s face immediately turned red with embarrassment. Three years ago, Stanley got married and that was around when he left his mother’s place for the third time. A year later, Bill got married and he had his break up with Myra. On both occasions, Eddie took a bad combination of too many pills and drinking more than he ever had in his life. Resulting in major blackouts and behavior he cannot remember but knows second hand from everyone what happened.

“Why do we both have to have dates?” Richie said, voice a little strained and weird.

Beverly rounded on him with no sympathy. “Because, Richard, when YOU go to weddings you fuck everyone and break shit. A date will keep you focused on that person and not be a chaotic monster with a death wish.”

Richie laughed, “If I want to be fucked by all your bridesmaids at the same time then I should be allowed to do that!”

Beverly’s voice rose higher, “That’s literally not possible, asshole! And the only bridesmaid is Kay McCall.” 

“Damn. Kay’s beautiful but I don’t screw married women.” Richie’s face scrunched up. “Does that make her a bride’s matron?”

“High morals there Richie,” Ben said trying to lighten the mood.

“You know it Ben Handsome.” He winked. 

Eddie sat there trying to word what he wanted to say carefully. As Richie continued to dig himself a deeper hole, “We are getting off-topic. I’m saying if I want to have sex with someone and have a little fun or if Eddie wants to get so drunk he mistakes your grandma for a urinal, then we should have that right.” 

This brings Eddie back, “Richie!” 

“What? Nana Denbrough thought she was at a waterpark. You’re fine.” 

He put his hands on his face and folded forward. Richie scratched his back soothingly but didn’t stop trying to defend himself. Beverly eventually got so fed up that she pulled out her phone and played a video from YouTube. 

“Exhibit A, Bill and Audra’s wedding.” She said viciously. 

Eddie groaned as he raised his head to watch the screen. Bill’s younger brother Georgie had filmed people talking about Bill and Audra. He put the most unfortunate video, starring Eddie and Richie, on the internet for the world to see. 

Video Eddie looked miserable and spaced out. Georgie had to say his name three times before Eddie looked up and hiccuped. “Oh hey, Georgie!” Video Eddie said enthusiastically. “Having fun kiddo?” 

“I’m 21, Eddie. Not really a kid anymore.” Georgie’s voice said laughing. 

“Stay a kid forever,” Eddie begged him.

“Ok, Eddie. What do you want to say to Bill and Audra?” 

“Bill...I want you to know that you are the bravest man alive and I would die for you. Audra, you better be good to him.” Video Eddie points at the camera and almost falls forward. Suddenly, video Richie appears, catching him. He giggles bopping video Richie on the nose and keeping his face precariously close to video Richie’s face. 

Video Eddie frowns suddenly and looks back at the camera, “But don’t fall too too in love. You might get your heart broken like me. Love is dumb. Women are dumb. They don’t really care about you.” 

Video Richie had his hair slicked back and was laughing at video Eddie’s truths, “Eds! This day isn’t about you. It’s about Bill and Audra. We should be telling stories about them!”

“Oh god,” Eddie said as his stomach turned reliving the next part again. 

“So Audra, let me tell you about Bill’s first time. He had a girlfriend in high school, blonde and pretty, much like yourself and they were dating for about…” 

Video Eddie hiccups, “4 months.” Then smashes his face into video Richie’s neck. “You smell like whiskey.” He winces.

Video Richie laughed, cheeks reddening from drunkenness, “Thank you, Eds. When they decided to fuck for the first time, he got everything all set and she came over that evening. As he was eating her out.” 

“Richie, kids could see this.” Video Georgie warned through obvious laughter.

“As Bill was going downtown on her hoo-hoo she got a little too excited and shat the bed.” All three men were shrieking with laughter. Video Eddie wrapped his arms around video Richie, shaking uncontrollably with glee. Despite the horribleness of the situation, Eddie smiled a little. “Now it’s unclear where all the crap ended up but we can guess that…”

Beverly stopped the video glaring at Richie intently. Eddie looked at him and he only smiled. “We won’t even get into the nuclear mess that was Stanley and Patti Uris’s wedding right now. But we want you both to have a date so there is no chance of you completely embarrassing me, Ben, and yourselves.” 

Eddie scoffed, “Richie embarrasses himself on every date he goes on. What makes you think one brought to the wedding will be any better?” 

“Oh yeah?” Richie gazed at him steadily. Eddie braced himself for the incoming insult. As much as he could dish it, he rarely could take it. Especially against Richie’s quick tongue, “And when was the last time you even fucking went on a date to embarrass yourself?” 

“I can get dates!” 

“A night alone with your right hand isn’t a date.”

“Shut the fuck up, Trashmouth!” 

Suddenly, two armchair pillows smacked the side of Eddie and Richie’s heads. They both rounded on Beverly and Ben but the stare of death Beverly was giving stopped their prepared protests. 

“If you assholes want to come to my wedding,”

“Our wedding…” Ben whispered.

She turned her ever reddening face, almost the color of her hair, at her financé, “Not if you correct me, Benjamin! Don’t make me marry myself!” She focused back on Eddie and Richie, pointing a bitten nail at them menacingly. “...you will have dates and BEHAVE at the reception or so help me, I’ll castrate you!” 

There was a pregnant pause broken by the one who can never stay quiet long. “What about the ceremony?” Richie responded, “Can I at least ruin that?”

She stared at him, everyone ready for more yelling but instead she broke into a gorgeous smile and laughed. It lightened the moment but Eddie didn’t find he felt any less anxious. He fully contemplated this enormous request from his friends. Finding a good wedding date took time, he only ever had committed relationships. Well, the one with Myra. As much as Richie’s words hurt, he was right. Eddie didn’t go on dates. People didn’t tend to find him datable. “Too short, too high maintenance, too weird” were just a few of the flaws that consumed him. He had no clue how he was expected to get someone to go to this wedding with him. 

The four of them started discussing wedding details, Beverly and Richie talking a mile a minute about everything that had to get done. He was especially excited to plan a bachelorette party. With how much money Ben and Bev make, it sounded like they would get their dream wedding easily. 

Eddie was thrilled for them but that pang of being single and now having to find a date was eating him alive for the two more hours they stayed. When they finally called it a night, Beverly and Ben hugged them promising to talk tomorrow. 

Richie did not follow them out which meant he wanted to drink and talk more, probably spend the night there. Eddie had a guest room that was essentially Richie’s room since he spent the most time there. 

“You want ice cream?” Richie shouted from the kitchen where he was most likely opening another bottle of wine. 

“With chocolate syrup!” Eddie yelled back. 

“Oh, chocolate syrup night means major troubles.” Richie laughed. 

“What are we gonna do Rich?” Eddie whined miserably. “Or rather, what the fuck am I going to do?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“About the fucking dates!” Eddie laid sideways on the couch, grabbing the cushion pillow and placing it over his face to scream into. 

“Don’t be a drama queen.” Richie said. The couch shifted as he sat down by Eddie’s legs. 

“That’s easy for you to say.” Eddie mumbled into the pillow. 

Two hands extracted the pillow from his face. Eddie kept his eyes scrunched closed. “I can’t speak pillow.” 

Eddie huffed out, “It’s easy for you to not be worried. You are a serial dater.” 

“Open your eyes, Eds.” Richie chuckled. Eddie opened them to pout childishly at him.

He had his smirky smile on, which could only mean he had a terrible idea. “I have a great idea to get us out of getting actual dates.”

Eddie stared at him from his laid down position, probably giving Richie an unattractive double chin, “There is no loophole in this agreement, Rich. Beverly was really fucking clear. We have to have dates.” 

“And we will.” Richie poured wine into both their glasses. He handed it to Eddie, forcing him to sit up in order to drink it. While Eddie drank normally, Richie downed his quickly then licked his lips. 

“Who am I gonna have to take to Ben and Beverly’s wedding?”

Richie watched him carefully, opened his mouth and said, “You’ll take me. I will be your wedding date. And by default, you will be mine” Eddie’s mouth dropped and Richie clinked his empty glass with Eddie’s full one.

______________________

In honor of IT: Chapter 2 coming out soon, I have begun writing this fake dating idea! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, comment here or on archive and let me know your thoughts and feels! The title is thanks to Slashpalooza on tumblr who asked me a million years ago to write something with this title!

Tag List (Starting a new tag list since I don’t know who is still around in the fandom. Let me know if you want to be tagged):

@sarah011 @pan-ini @frankeeenstein @sam-i-am2468 @eds-kas @jem-carstairs-is-perfection @roobarrtrashmouth @hypnoidvoid @imeddie @slashpalooza @reddieforlove 

#reddie #fake dating au #eddie kaspbrak #richie tozier #welcome home losers club #benverly #ben hanscom #beverly marsh #the losers club #fanfiction #it fandom #cursing #gay #i am a loser #Why Can't This Be Love #shannon writes

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Sometimes I lowkey feel bad for JC in terms of Skye. I mean sometimes it's clear that they want the fandom to like & care about her & are trying to make it happen, but it just... isn't working. 😅

Not for most ppl anyway, like I'm not saying ppl don't sympathise with her, but that's different to liking her. Even then quite a few ppl sympathizing with her are getting fed up & dropping more than they used to. I think a lot of ppl just want Skye to be held accountable for her wrongdoings & for her to apologise which I think is the only real chance Skye might be more tolerated. Because even if getting hit by a bludger was supposed to be "karma", that doesn't make up for anything & no one really wanted that to happen anyway. It's a lousy method & no one's satisfied with it. So no one's forgiven her for her actions in s1. Her wrongdoings shouldn't have been swept under the rug the way they were.

Ngl I also feel bad for you too, like even if I don't like Skye either, I've seen whole essays from you going into great detail about her character & trying to paint her as sympathetic & likable but they aren't really sticking the landing with much ppl either. Maybe it's hypocritical of me to say so cause they don't push/sway me to like her, but I feel super bad that your efforts aren't having much affect on ppl. 😅

They probably aren't at the point of no return yet with Skye but the damage has already been done to many ppl & JC're just gonna have to try harder if they want more ppl to like & care about her. But not to the point where Skye's the only one getting focus cause no one liked that aspect either. Guess they can't win on this one.

...Okay, first of all, I need to know one thing: How in the heck did you bypass Tumblr’s character limit? I didn’t think it was possible to get an Ask this long in one single post. Do you have some kind of advanced tech? Are you a wizard? Teach me your ways! 

But in all seriousness, I know what you mean. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Skye. I don’t know what Jam City’s plans are, but I can only assume that they do want people to like Skye. And if that’s the goal, they are failing disastrously. Like you said, even people who don’t hate her are gradually getting fed up. Because she’s everywhere in the story, like Penny...but she’s not nearly as likable. She’s closer to Merula in that sense. I suppose I’m just a sap, because I went from being wary of her and recognizing her flaws - to seeing her vulnerable and starting to feel sympathy. Combined with the Comet TLSQ for which I had the opposite reaction to most people...and she had Luca’s loyalty. It takes a lot for Luca to ditch someone. 

That being said, I think you’re right on the money. No one is going to start thinking of Skye as a better person so long as her past transgressions go unmentioned. I can understand if she’s not at the point in her arc, emotionally speaking, to recognize that she was wrong and own up to it. But she’s not going to make too many friends in the fandom until she does. And it had better be an “until” thing. Like, it better actually happen at some point. They shouldn’t consider those events to be completely over with and no longer have relevance to the story. 

I appreciate your kind words! But you don’t need to worry about me. The truth is, Skye isn’t really my favorite or up there on my list. She’s just the character that I get the most messages about, so I’ve inevitably gone into detail and analyzed her. I’ve definitely grown to care about her more as a result, but my favorite Quidditch character is still Orion. And it’s no big deal if people’s opinions don’t change based on my essays of dorkng out. I’m just having fun.

At this point, I think the way forward is to, first and foremost, give the other characters relevance. Skye can still be at the front if they really want that for her, but let Season 3 have an arc that focuses on Orion or Murphy. Have Skye’s rivalry with Rath be a subplot. And please, oh goodness please, call Skye out on her nonsense. That can be the secondary arc of Season 3. But the primary one should be about one of our Quidditch boys. 

#HPHM Quidditch #Skye Parkin #HPHM Analysis #Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery #Jam City

[milasartblog]

Flower girl

After the news of Raphael's family about newborn, Michael and Gabriel weren't hesitating and decided to congratulate their big brother and his wife. However, there was one problem: if Michael had already decided with gift, Gabriel got stuck with such problem.

Gabriel: Aww, man, I can't think of anything good now. I mean, I could search for a gift for a baby, but Michael is better at it than me. Oh, I know, flowers! They are always a good choise. But which one...

He thought for a moment. At first, he thought about Heaven flowers, but the idea of something unusual came to his mind. And it was flowers of human world.

Gabriel: I wonder if flowers in human world are different from Heaven. But it means that i have to be in human's clothes. Uuuugghhh, I don't like iiiiiiiit.

He whined as sighed deeply, realising that he had no choice. Gabriel looked around to make sure that nobody will notice his absence and with the snap of his fingers he was already in human world, dressed up just like humans. Even tho he had not great fasion taste, it was better than nothing.

Gabriel: Alright, nobody saw me here, great. Sadly that it's a city and not a valley, that would be much easier. But then again, I'm kinda curious to see how humans sell flowers.

And he started to walk around the town, searching for anything that would seem as a flower shop. Unfortunately for him, there were not so many places where humans sell flowers. An hour passed as he stopped to take a breath before walking again.

Gabriel: Damn, this city is big and they have only few flower shops? I mean, it's not bad, but it's a bit uncomfortable for those who live far. Plus, some of the sellers were not polite. Well, i'm not a judge to them, so i better hurry back and- Ouch!

He couldn't finish the sentence as he bumbed into one lady who was carrying two boxes with flowers.

???: Ouch! S-Sorry, I-I didn't mean to-

Gabriel: That's okay, i just- Watch out!

One of the boxes started to fall, but with a light speed Gabriel caught it. The girl almost got scared as she would not know what to do with broken box and flowers.

Gabriel: Phew, got it.

???: I got scared for a moment. Thank you so much.

Gabriel: Nah, it's nothing, i'm just-

But he couldn't finish his phrase as looked at the girl. He was stunned by how pretty she was: brown eyes sparkled from such relief and her sky blue hair was waving gently on a wind. Her green dress only emphasized her beauty more. Gabriel was speechless for a moment. He couldn't understand what was happening with him, what a feeling was crawling behind him. Girl looked confusely at Gabriel.

???: Umm, is everything alright, sir?

Gabriel: U-Uumm, y-yeah, i'm alright. Sorry.

She blinked for a moment as giggled softly.

???: That's okay, i just got worried for a moment. Thank you again for catching a box.

Gabriel: Y-Yeah, no problem.

He smiled awkwardly and then gave a sudden and rash idea.

Gabriel: Hey, it's not fair that such lady carries such heavy stuff. Let me help you.

???: R-Really??

Gabriel thought to himself of why he gave such idea, like it was not by his own will. And yet, the desire to help was also kicking inside him.

???: Y-You don't have to, sir. I will do it on my own, really. You were probably in a hurry.

Gabriel: Oh, that's okay, i can spare some minutes for such beau- Uuuhh, i mean for such lady like you.

The girl looked curiously at Gabriel with little hesitation, he was a total stranger to her. And yet, he didn't look like one of those who would like to harm her, she thought so. Plus little help was never bad.

???: Well, if you insist. Thank you so much.

Gabriel: That's nothing. I'm always glad to help. Where do you go with such heavy stuff?

???: To a flower shop. I work there. It's not that far.

Gabriel got surprised for a moment. He wasn't sure if it was luck or accident to meet such person like this. But it was his little chance to find good flowers for Rachel.

Gabriel: Oh, i see. Then let's go.

The girl nodded and together they walked towards the shop. Walking sure helped Gabriel to cool down his emotions for some time. It took half an hour to get there, but they did it.

???: Thank you so much again for help. I don't know what i would do if flowers fell on the ground.

Gabriel: No problem. I'm honestly surprised that you carry such things by yourself on foot.

???: Well, i still didn't get driving licence to drive to my work, so I have to deal with it somehow. Oh, we're here by the way.

Gabriel didn't understand what driving licence is, but agreed just in case. As they got to the shop, the girl, holding with her one knee a box and with free hand getting a key out of the box, opened a door and they entered. Gabriel put a box on a free table and looked around. There was a great variety of flowers, even if some of them he had already seen in previous shops. While he was looking, girl came back to her work table. She looked at Gabriel, who was looking around curiously. By such look, she understood that Gabriel was looking for something.

???: Looking for good flowers?

Gabriel surprised by her reply and her guess, but nodded.

Gabriel: It's, uh, for my brother. His wife gave a birth to a newborn and I want to congratulate them somehow.

???: Awww, it's so sweet of you. Well, I will do my best to help with a choice.

Gabriel: Really? Thank you! It's so sweet of you, uh-

Iris: Iris. Just call me Iris.

She smiled softly, making Gabriel feel that feeling again. Why was he feeling it? Such beautiful name. He didn't noticed his smile appearing on his face as he replied.

Gabriel: I'm Gabriel.

Iris: Gabriel...Such nice name. Like an angel.

He got stunned for a moment, thinking if she guessed who he was, but she only smiled and giggled.

Iris: I'm sorry, i didn't mean to stun you, sir. Well, shall we begin the search?

Gabriel: O-Oh, umm, y-yeah. Sorry.

She smiled as Gabriel smiled awkwardly back, feeling a bit relieved that she didn't guess his nature. And together they spent an hour in a search for perfect flowers. When Gabriel finally found perfect one, he walked to the table to pay for flowers.

Iris: It will be 29$.

Gabriel: Oh wow, why such price?

Iris: Not so many people come to this shop, so there was no sense for me to make high price. I don't complain, my shop is still young to compete with others.

Gabriel: I see. Well, thank you again for help. It's so sweet of you.

Iris: You're welcome. Hope that these flowers will bring smile and happiness.

Iris smiled as Gabriel got that feeling again. He tried to get himself under control.

Gabriel: T-Thank you. Well, have a good day!

Iris: You too, sir!

And on such light note Gabriel went out of the shop and walked to a safe place, so that he could come back to Heaven safetly. And yet, that feeling didn't let him go any moment. Was it a sympathy?

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

And that's another story for our universe^^ Our little archangel meets with a pretty human lady, and something is happening inside him. Was it a love at first sight? 0w0

Iris and Gabriel belong to @wildstarfan and @milasartblog (both me)

Okaria et Feria belongs to @wildstarfan and @captainthane

#my art #oc #oc character #iris #gabriel #archangel #help #flowers #flower shop #meeting #flower shop owner #okaria et feria

[hoaxexistence]

How I Met Your Mother.

This show inhabit a special place in my heart, and that is why my first show review here will be about it. The most controversial ending in the 21st century television. I'll start. Spoilers alert obviously.

Season 1 - We were introduced to this life of Ted Mosby. We got to know his friends, Lily, Barney, his best friend Marshall, and Robin. In this season, the audience's sympathy and feelings were with Ted. The feeling of finding someone to love and to have their feelings reciprocated equally. At some point, we were all Ted - stupid, indecisive, hopeless romantic. He's smart, supportive and loving and we saw that in the first season.

Season 2 - Since Ted is stupid, he cheated on someone for someone who isn't sure with him. Yes, last season, he cheated on Victoria for Robin. Crazy. Still, he's a great friend anyone could ask for. He never leave Marshall when Lily left and supported his sadness. In this season, I saw Barney's heart. He is more than a womanizer that he always wanted to portray. He does care. Takeaway in this season, I realized that love is something that most people search and never find that's why when you find that person you feel like you want to spend your life with, you do something about it and you keep them. Lily and Marshall proves that. And that it's not bad to chase your dreams as long you know how to weigh things. And art is life.

Season 3 - "it's funny how sometimes you just find things." In this season, Lily and Marshall started to build their own life by owning their own house (kinda redundant but who cares?). Ted, who still believe in love, dated again. Robin tried to live her life in the way she thinks suits her. The takeaway in this season is that when you have a dream, you gotta hold on to them. It can be hard, there will be obstacles along the way and we should face them because those can be the path that can lead us to where we supposed to be. Risking is not that scary if you know you got the right people with you.

Season 4 - Finding your purpose. I'm not one to talk about this topic because I personally have no idea about mine. But in this season, I felt the same way with Ted (I totally relate to him and I hate it) about what he wanted to do. It was a bumpy road for the gang in terms of their personal life and career, but in the end, Ted decided to teach (damn it, just to be clear, I never wanted to be a teacher, oh fvck, what if I end up like him?) Anyway, season takeaway: if you feel like you do not fit in to something, probably, you have to leave. Some things may be waiting for you to discover and you just haven't found it yet because you're stuck trying to push yourself into something you're not for. And you may be doing other people a favor by doing so.

Season 5 - "You can ask the universe for signs all you want. But ultimately we only see what we want to see, when we're ready to see it." A good season. Lily and Marshall's character were growing. Barney, kept his awesome self but his character keeps on showing softness which can be visible every now and then. Robin, well I personally don't like her (probably because I see myself in her, dammit) Ted, on the other hand, never stop believing in love tho he did doubt it when Stella left him at the altar and in some parts at season 2. But he's Ted Mosby, he'll start believing again. My personal favourite episode in this season I think, is 'the last cigarette ever', I don't know, I just love the friendship that was shown on that episode. Anyway, season takeaway: when you ask for a sign, that's already a sign. And you can't force your way out into something because you got to deal with them at some point.

Season 6 - "Sometimes things need to fall apart to make way for better things" yea that's the exact quote but I like to say it this way: some things fall apart so that better things can fall together. Same thought but better right? Yea, whatever. Lol. This season is full of emotions. Like a lot of emotions. I can say that the writers really outdid themselves. Marshall's father died, which I never saw coming. And tell you what, I've seen the show four times and I still cry on that scene. And Barney, he met his dad, and that scene on his dad's court, that broke me. Neil's acting was superb. Season takeaway: forgive people. Forgive yourself. Enjoy the little things. Appreciate each moment. Cherish the people who make you feel loved. Never hurt other people intentionally and make wise decisions. That's quite hard, but I guess doable.

Season 7 - "Not because something needs to be said, does it mean it needs to be heard." I don't know why I chose this quote for this season but I just did, so. Anyway, this is a good season, I loved this season, tbh. Lily gave birth to their son, Marvin. New beginnings, but Ted, somehow was still unable to settle his feelings. (I don't want to elaborate, just watch the damn show) And I hate him for being so dumb. There's this episode entitled, 'symphony of illumination' and 'tick, tick, tick' yea, those bummed me. I love how those episodes tugged my heart.

Shoot, two more seasons. Lol. Okay, FYI, it has been more than a year since I last saw the show, so everything I wrote here is based on memory and a little bit of help from ecosia so that I don't misquote them. Lol. Continue.

Season 8 - oh! this season, one of the best. The most elaborate proposal that I have ever seen. It was a blessing to the people. Jk. But, that proposal was so perfect I freakin cried. In this same season, Ted had a very touching imagination. He looked for his wife. He gave the lines - which I memorized, and told what he felt at that time and I just bawled like a baby the whole scene. It was perfectly sad and heart tugging. It was a premonition that I didn't see coming. Season takeaway: trust is important.

Season 9 - The season where most of the people were left unsatisfied. This whole freakin season revolved around Barney and Robin’s wedding. Yes, that was basically it. Jk. In this season they build up Barney and Robin’s love and then they give us the mother. It was great. Up until the last two episodes. The writers failed me. The love that they built up ended up with divorce. WTF ryt. Then the mother died. And that montage scene of her and Ted together, ugh I had nothing else to do but to let my tears flow. It was heartbreaking. Takeaway: things may not always go according to plan, life goes on and we move forward.

All in all. I was disappointed. The writers tried. And I salute them for trying and giving the audience a streched and realistic ending. Just like what I said before, It's not the destination, it's the journey. And still I love the show, all its plothole, all its bad side, all the inconsistencies, and all its flaws. I've learned a lot of lessons from it. The show has a lot of quotable life quotes. I discovered beautiful songs (the ost is superb). Discovered new shows. And it taught me how to appreciate life more. And for that I am so thankful. Here's a final quote, tho I'm still not fully confident with this:

"Because sometimes even if you know how something’s gonna end, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the ride."

#How i met your mother #Personal review #Unsettled thoughts #Probably the worst ending #Words #Season break down #I tried #I can't get over

[acescreations]

Moody Manipulations - Patton

[Part 2 to the Connected Youtuber Ego Universe(CYEU) stories I'm doing on Amino.]

Characters: Logan Sanders, Patton Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Roman Sanders, Thomas Sanders, Elliott (Cartoon Therapy), Kai (Cartoon Therapy), Lauren (Cartoon Therapy), Missy Sanders [background character], Pranks Sanders [refrenced], Mitchell (Cartoon Therapy) [mentioned]

Warnings: Patton has a really bad day, cries, and hides his emotions, Patton also has a retail job I feel like I should mention that, Mitchell is implied to be a little b*tch, Patton gets verbally abused

Word Count: 1798

It really didn't take me long to figure out what my emotions do. Whenever I was happy, things went right in the world, and when I was sad things went wrong. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but the correlation was too obvious to be chance. After that, I always did my best to stay in a good mood. I'd do things I enjoy, and avoid people and things that upset me.

I have to admit, staying happy became a lot harder. It almost seemed like a job at this point, since it was my responsibility to be happy. I still tried my hardest despite this, and when I was happy, hearing about all the good things happening in the world put me in an even better mood. Though that did go both ways, and hearing about bad things happening made me more upset, so I eventually decided to not look at the news when I was already uspet.

This was all a pretty good strategy for keeping my mood up, but one day everything went wrong, and I had no idea how to stay happy then.

I was heading down to my job at the local retail store and I bumped into someone on the street. "Whoops! Sorry about that." They said nothing, and just kept walking. I was surprised I didn't see them sooner. They had a head full of messy green hair along with bright blue eyes. I didn't really think much of it, after all, it was a busy street, people run into each other all the time. Once I got to my job, I saw my best friend getting his stuff. It looked like he was leaving, but we were supposed to be on the same shift today. I walked up to him as he was putting his hat on. "What's going on Chase? Are you leaving?" He turned to me with a sigh. "Yeah, I just got fired. I have no idea how I'm gonna pay for my date with Stacy now."

"Oh, geez." I was pretty disappointed myself. I always looked forward to the days when we worked together. "Well, good luck on finding a new job, I guess." Chase nodded as he walked past me. "Yeah, I guess."

I sighed as he left. This job was going to get a lot harder without him here. But, I still had my job to do, so I put on my name tag and I clocked in.

After a while of uneventful work, a woman came in and slammed a box of party supplies onto the counter. "I need to return these," she demanded.

"Okay ma'am," I said, a little nervous, "do you have the receipt?"

"No, but I don't need this anymore. I never needed it, so give me a refund on it!"

"I'm sorry, but can't return anything without proof of purchase." I had never had one of these conversations before, and this lady was really intimidating.

"I'm not keeping stuff my husband bought as a prank! Of course you teenagers don't care about how much money all this costs, you probably get handed money just so you can spend it all on stupid parties, don't you?"

Of course, I didn't actually do any of that, but she didn't know that, and I wasn't allowed to tell her that. "I want to help you, but I can't give you a refund on anything without a receipt."

The woman let out a frustrated growl. "I don't have time for this." She stormed out of the store, leaving the box on the counter. I allowed myself a sad sigh as I picked up the box and moved it off the counter, putting on a brand new smile as the next person in the line brought up their stuff. "Good afternoon, did you find everything you were looking for?"

~ ~ ~

By the end of my shift, I was exhausted. I wanted to call someone for a ride home, but my phone had died, so I had to walk. To make matters worse, I saw a cat that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. By that point, I was barely holding back tears, although I kept telling myself to stay cheerful, which only made it harder. I decided that I'd have a few cookies to cheer myself up when I got home.

I walked through the door, and saw Logan and Thomas sitting on the couch, watching the news. Obviously, it was all bad news. Logan turned off the TV as they both turned to me. "Bad day?" I must have looked pretty upset, because I never told Thomas about what my emotions do, but something must have prompted him to ask that. I just shrugged. I didn't want to talk about it, because I felt like I'd break down in tears if I did. I walked past them wordlessly and went into my room to change out of my work clothes. When I walked back out, I was determined to improve my mood, so I put on a smile and went to get that cookie, but I opened the cookie jar to find that it was empty. "When did we finish the cookies?" I asked to anyone who was listening. Thomas spoke up from the living room. "I'm pretty sure Lauren finished them with Roman and Virgil." I wanted to be upset about this, but I was determined to stay positive.

It's okay Patton, you can just make some more. That should be fun, that should make you happy.

I began taking out ingredients, but it turned out we were out of a flour, sugar, and eggs. That was definitely a disappointment. I told myself I'd be able to get through it anyway.

After that, though, was when I completely lost composure. Elliott walked out of their room, their shoulders hanging as they sat down next to Thomas on the couch. Logan looked up from where he was reading on the other end of the couch. "Mitchell left another message today." I overheard them saying. My heart broke in sympathy for my parent, and I quickly walked out of the kitchen and into my room, barely even trying to hold back tears anymore.

As soon as I was alone in my room, I collapsed to the floor, letting out all the sobbing my day had been leading up to. I don't know how loud I was being, but after wiping tears from my eyes, I looked up and I was surrounded by my family, all with faces of varying levels of concern and sympathy. Once my crying slowed, Virgil, eho was sitting in front of me, said "Hey, what's wrong?" I lowered my head onto my knees. "Bad day," I muttered, overcome with guilt for how many people I must have gotten hurt today. "Patton," I heard Logan say at my right, "you can't keep getting upset at yourself for being upset." I shook my head. "No, you don't understand," I said.

"I'm pretty sure I do, and Patton," Logan continued, "you're going to have your ups and downs, and it'll be less... disastrous if you just let the bad days be just a little bad. The world can take a little bit of misfortune, believe me."

I looked up at him, confused. "Are you saying you-"

"Yes Patton, and for your information I regularly keep up on the news so I can tell how your feeling. And yes," Logan continued, "everyone else knows too."

"Oh." I looked around at everyone, unsure of how I never found out.

"So why don't you just tell us what's going on today?" Virgil asked, scooting over to sit next to me. I shrugged, not really sure when exactly my day started going terribly. "Well on the way to work I bumped into this guy, which I really didn't mind that much, but after that I found out my friend got fired," I then just started stating everything that happened that day. I didn't mean to, really, I just started talking and then I couldn't stop myself. Once I was finished, Roman gave me a thoughtful look. "What did the guy on the street look like?" I blinked at him, confused as to why he was questioning that. "Well, he had blue eyes, and really messy green hair."

"What was he wearing?"

"I dunno, this big wavy coat?"

"Roman," Logan sighed, "what does this have to do with anything?" Roman didn't answer, despite everyone beong equally confused. He just stood up, muttered something about "Marvin" and walked out. "I have a hunch about something, I'll be back, hopefully with good news." Thomas sighed and shook his head after Roman left the house. "That boy, honestly. Anyway, how about me and Elliott go get those ingredients you were needing? You can just stay here and relax."

"No!" I said, a little too frantically. "I-it's just," I mumbled, "you could get hurt."

"It's fine," Logan said. "Camden's got an eye on the TV, and things are improving. They should be able to get there and back safely." Camden was the name Logan gave his familiar. I slowly nodded, and Virgil stood up and grabbed my hand. "All right, now you come here and watch some TV." I stood up and followed him as he led me to the couch, Logan, Kai, and Lauren following behind while Thomas and Elliott got ready to go to the store. Me and Virgil sat next to each other on the couch, Logan sitting a small distance away while Kai and Lauren sat near us.

After a while of watching Steven Universe, Roman burst back through the door. "Patton, you will have to worry about this misfortune no longer!"

"O-okay. Um, what did you do?" I asked.

"Well that person you bumped into, I'm actually acquainted to him. He calls himself Marvin the Magnificent. He claims to be a magician, but for as long as I knew him he couldn't do any actual magic. Turns out he got magic powers through a deal with a demon or something, and he had to agree to curse you with misfortune." He sat down on my other side, so now I had one sibling at both of my sides. "I talked him into releasing the curse," he said, probably more casually than what the situation would call for.

"Okay, thanks then," I said, despite Roman already being immersed in the show. We continued watching until Thomas and Elliott returned with the baking supplies, then Virgil, Thomas, and Lauren joined me in baking cookies. Once I tasted one of the cookies from out of the oven, I figured that the day wouldn't be as bad as it had been.

#patton sanders #sanders sides #roman sanders #logan sanders #thomas sanders #virgil sanders #cartoon therapy #marvin the magnificent #elliott #kai #lauren #chase brody #stacy brody #missy #pranks #missy and pranks #mitchell #bad writing #writing tag

[mksc77]

Later that afternoon, Rusty came to the hospital after his last class. Emmett's family was already gone, and Sharon wasn't staying much longer, herself. They'd had to leave the room for a couple of hours earlier that afternoon for required parent/baby bonding time, so Sharon and Emmett's parents, aunt, and uncle had gone out for lunch. They'd spent time together a few times in the recent past, as there had been a couple of baby showers for Emily and Emmett, and they'd gotten together a couple of other times when Emmett's parents had been in LA for the weekend. Sharon smiled to herself, remembering Andy's dismay at having to attend baby showers. They had basically just been parties with gifts, but he'd still grumbled about it. The rest of the afternoon had been spent passing the baby around unless a nurse needed her for something or she needed to eat. Sharon had texted Andy, Rusty, her parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews with pictures, and her phone had been blowing up all afternoon.

Sharon stood up to let Rusty have her seat. "Here, do you want to hold her?"

Rusty shrugged. "Yeah, but if she starts crying or does something gross, I'm giving her back."

“Deal."

Sharon waited for Rusty to sit down and carefully lowered Marie into his arms. She watched as his face turned from indifference to amazement, just like the first time he held his little sister. "Oh, my god, she's so tiny!"

“She didn't feel tiny," Emily mumbled.

Marie was sleeping soundly, unfazed by being constantly passed around all day. The only times they'd heard her cry, besides right after she was born, had been when she was hungry or being brought back from the nursery after having a test done. "If you think about it, being born is probably a little traumatic," Sharon noted. "After being in a warm, dark, tight space for nine months, you're suddenly in this open and bright place, and people keep messing with you when you just want to sleep."

Emily rolled her eyes. "It can't be as traumatic as having stitches—"

"Whoa, Emily, do not finish that sentence," Rusty interrupted. "Whatever it is, I'm positive I don't want to know." He looked down at Marie. "How the hell did you give birth to something so sweet?"

Sharon knelt beside Rusty and smoothed her hand over the baby's thin patch of light brown hair. "She looks just like Emily did. I'll have to show you her baby pictures sometime."

"I haven't seen the first clue that I had anything to do with her yet," Emmett agreed.

"I keep telling you she has your mouth," Emily countered.

"You're just making that up. There's no way you can tell. Unless she's screaming, she's either eating or has a pacifier bigger than her head blocking it."

"The screaming definitely comes from Emily," Rusty added.

"Whatever. I have to pee." Emily winced as she started to get out of bed, and Emmett grabbed her arm to help her. When she got to the bathroom, she looked around for a few moments before looking back out into the room. "Hey, Mom, is that squirt bottle out there? I thought I left it in here."

"Here it is." Sharon grabbed it from the table and took it to Emily.

Rusty looked confused. "What's that for—never mind. I'm sure I don't want to know."

"I'll let that one pass, but I'm answering next time," Emily warned before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Is that normal?!" Rusty hissed once the door was closed. "She can't even get out of bed without hurting." He knew childbirth couldn't be the most pleasant thing in the world, but he wasn't expecting this.

"Unfortunately, yes," Sharon answered. "Emily has never complained about being hurt or sick unless it was really bad, so I know she's hurting if she's complaining."

Emily emerged a few minutes later, and Emmett helped her back into bed. As aggravating as it was to not be able to just pee and wash her hands and be done every time, the fresh pad and ice pack in the mesh underwear a nurse had given her felt amazing.

Sharon looked up as Andy arrived, laden with gift bags. He put the bags down and kissed Emily's forehead before making his way to Sharon. One perk of retirement had been that they weren't together all day, so she was always excited to see him when he got home from work. The evening kisses were a daily thing now instead of only happening on days where for some reason they hadn't seen much of each other, one of them was off, or one of them left earlier than the other.

"You're early," Sharon commented after he kissed her.

"Yeah...Hernandez came to my desk with a gift bag and asked me what the hell I was still doing there when I had a granddaughter to see," Andy mumbled. "I didn't even tell her she'd been born. She must've heard the rest of us talking about it."

"How awful," Sharon said with mock sympathy. "It's almost like she's a nice person."

"Yeah, yeah. The other gifts are from Tao and Provenza. I guess they had wives to make them bring their gifts to work ahead of time so they'd have them ready to give me when the baby was born. Everyone says congratulations, by the way."

Emily took a sip of water from the thermos beside her and placed it back on the table. "Thanks, Andy."

"You're welcome." Andy crouched beside Rusty to get a good look at the baby. "She's beautiful. All right, kid, give her up."

Rusty stood up and passed the baby to Andy once he was sitting down, a little relieved to give her to someone else. Andy looked down at Marie, mesmerized by her. A little while later, Sharon was holding her again, and she went from being deeply asleep to pissed off and screaming in no time.

"It's time for her to eat," Emily said, holding her arms out for the baby.

"Uh, I think that's my cue to go," Rusty said, grabbing his keys and ready to make a hasty exit.

"Yeah, me too." Andy took Marie from Sharon to hold for a few more seconds before giving her to Emily, then kissed them both on the forehead. "Call if you need anything."

“Thanks." Emily took Marie and waited until Andy's and Rusty's backs were to her before opening her robe and getting her settled. Marie was instantly quiet as she began to nurse.

"I've never been so happy to be a man in my life," Rusty said to Andy as they walked out the door.

Andy nodded. "You said it, kid."

Sharon rolled her eyes and sat beside Emily on her bed. Women supposedly being the "fairer sex" was a big joke. Men were such wimps. Emily was holding Marie with her side to Emily's, so that they were facing each other in what the lactation consultant had referred to as the "football position." Marie's eyes were closed, but her mouth was steadily moving. "I liked to nurse you guys like this, too," Sharon said. "There just wasn't a name for it then. It won't be long before she's looking up at you while she nurses and is clutching each side of your breast like you're going to take it from her. It's the sweetest thing in the world."

"This hurts like crap," Emily moaned.

"I know. That'll get better, too."

"Mom..."

“Hmm?" Sharon lifted Emily's hair up off of her neck. The ballerina bun her hair had been in when they left the house the night before was now in the last stages of a loose ponytail. "You need something?"

"No...I just...I feel terrible for saying this, but I didn't feel this "instant connection" with her when she was born that people talk about. I mean, I love her, obviously, but all I've been able to think about is badly this hurts." Marie had only been a little over seven pounds, but that was a big baby for someone as tiny as Emily. The pain medicine had taken the edge off, and the ice packs were a lifesaver, but she was still uncomfortable and in pain.

"I honestly never felt that with either one of you, either," Sharon admitted. "It was a great moment when I saw you guys for the first time, especially you, because I had no idea whether you were a girl or a boy, but I felt like I'd missed out on some 'magical moment' I was supposed to have had. When I had you guys, people didn't talk about the details of childbirth. The most you'd hear about it was that, yes, it hurt, but seeing your baby for the first time made it worth it. I also had no idea what the recovery was like. I thought the pain would be mostly over once you were born. My doctor had vaguely mentioned 'recovery' a few times, but I just thought I'd be sore."

Emily nodded. "I'm glad it's not just me."

"Honey, she was screaming bloody murder, and you were shaking from the epidural. It's hard for that moment to feel spectacular. I don't know if people feel like they should have felt something like that, so they say they did or exaggerate it, or if some people are lucky enough to have easier births, but I felt guilty when I didn't feel it, too. I'd heard about that "special moment" my entire pregnancy, and I felt guilty when it wasn't what I thought it was supposed to be." Sharon kissed the side of Emily's head. "You're doing great, honey. You're going to be an amazing mother."

"Thanks, Mom." Emily shifted closer to her and leaned against her. "Will you sing the jaybird song?"

Sharon smiled. "I thought I'd heard that request for the last time when you were ten." When Jack was still home, and on nights the few times he came back, he'd always play music and dance with the kids after dinner either in the living room or on the back deck. This one had always been a crowd favorite. Emily had always asked Sharon to sing it when she was upset or didn't feel well, and Sharon had been heartbroken when Emily decided she was too old for it. Sharon put an arm around Emily and smoothed her other hand over Marie's head as she began to sing softly.

"He rocks in the treetops all day long..."

Emily's college friend, Allie, arrived then, and Sharon stayed and chatted for a few more minutes before leaving for the night. She kissed the top of Marie's head and did the same to Emily. "I'll come back late tomorrow morning." Emmett's family was coming over for dinner the next night, and they'd probably end up at the house for much of the rest of the week, so she wanted to clean up and start dinner preparations before she came back. There was no way in hell she was doing any of that tonight. She was exhausted. "It's great to see you again, Allie." Sharon gave her a quick hug, gathered her things, and left the room.

After not eating lunch until almost 3:00, Sharon still wasn't hungry when she got home. Andy and Rusty had ordered pizza, but she got some lettuce, toppings, dressing, and fresh vegetables out of the refrigerator and had salad and wine instead. It seemed to give her a second wind, so instead of soaking in a long bath and going straight to bed like she'd planned, she poured another glass of wine and went to sit by the pool. She was too tired to read, but she wasn't quite ready for bed, so she got comfortable in a lounge chair and listened to music. Andy joined her several minutes later, and she shifted over in her lounge chair so he could fit beside her. She'd been thinking all day about how protective he'd been of Emily that morning, and now, she also had the image of how much he'd adored Marie. It was...kind of hot. She tilted her head up and kissed him more deeply than he was expecting.

“Mmmm, what's that for?" Andy murmured between kisses.

Sharon ran her fingers down the length of his arm and intertwined her fingers with his. "Just for being you." She lay on his shoulder, and they sat in comfortable silence until she finished her wine. She decided to get one more small glass, and she saw that Andy had cleaned the kitchen. It hadn't been in bad shape, but it would've needed cleaning before the next evening, and that was one less thing she'd have to do the next morning. As exasperating as Andy could be sometimes, days like today made her want to get him in the bedroom and never leave.

Continued on ff.net

[shineyma]

1st, I am beyond excited and grateful that you took the time to write all this!! I asked for a rant, Amy, you delivered. 2nd, /I/ should apologize because my reply's probs gonna be long. (Half an ask already. Ugh, I'm hopeless, and you extremely polite.) I'd seen Fitz said Deke's the worst to be their grandson, but not that he persisted! GO, FITZ!! Didn't Iain use to say back in S1 that he didn't want FS to happen? I loved him for it, esp when Liz can't seem to do anything other than wax (1/9)

the rest go under the cut because it’s a lot of asks XD

poetic about FS. (Whyyy, Liz?? Seriously, does she talk about anything other than FS?) LBR though, Fitz is #relatable here. I’ve watched 3 S5 eps and seen many spoilers, and Deke’s 95% a dick, right?? I think TPTB might’ve been going for that particular FS brand of determined, unapologetic, do-what’s-necessary but their compassion and drive to protect were always evident even in their “harsher/colder” actions/attitudes/treatments. (I’m missing the right words but you know, right??) /But/ (2/9)

they missed the mark by 100 miles. Anyway. Frankly, Amy, Jemma fighting viciously Fitz’s pessimism and fatalism, esp by putting forth a positive twist on fatalism (for lack of a better word) has rubbed me so wrong for so long. It’s not necessarily ooc?? But it’s also not Jemma in a right mental and emotional state?? (You’re getting a terrible description of what I mean but I’m no good for anything else right now.) Like she’s broken, resigned, fighting for some thing that just happened, (3/9)

that she didn’t consciously choose, it was forced on her through guilt of her own and of others’ making, and through others pushing for it, and she’s sort of accepted it, it’s just part of her life now, vaguely, automatically placed under the “good stuff” category, and everything around her is in chaos, so she just fights for /it/? I don’t know. There’s a difference between “the universe says we’re gonna be together, look at the signs!!” and “we want to be together and we’ll work for it”. (4/9)

About the logic fail, Jemma probs grabbed onto that “my mom told me the ‘right direction’ thing which her mom had told her”, ergo she raised her some, and coupled with the need to make Fitz feel better and the talk with yet another always unhelpful team member (😒), she just went for that stupid line. Does that make it not ooc? Well, /no/. *makes a paper plane out of your last 3 bullet points and shoots it @ TPTB, yelling “TAKE NOTES!”* Amy, in the AOS house we don’t perform surgery to the (5/9)

tune of melodies that calm and steady and help us concentrate. In the AOS house, we perform surgery while conversing on things that test our ability to hold back tears and shouts and shaking and violence, because we’re hardcore. So, the dog thing. @ Hydra WTF??!!?! Yeah, I’m glad I missed that. And OK, can someone finally confirm if Ward shot Buddy??!! It’s getting ridiculous. I say probs nah, because John used to prod him too often for not being cruel enough, but… I don’t know. Also, (6/9)

I’m so glad Ward didn’t attend Hydra’s School for Young Octopi!! I mean, everything does point to that!! :D Teen!Ward busted out at 17 and dumped in the woods, switching to Brett!Ward still in the woods, John alluding to Ward shooting Buddy and finally leaving the woods as the end of his training and immediate beginning of his SHIELD career… If he attended any Academy, that was SHIELD Ops. It’s canon! New Ward backstory! I LOVE IT!! OK, because Hydra has that elitist vibe, I’m imagining (7/9)

more of a posh-secret-club-inside-the-academy kind of thing?? You know, like the actual Piggate scandal with the UK PM, and there’s many a movie too that show secret societies inside colleges etc, whose members are wealthy kids of old families, and their fathers were members before them, and their grandfathers, and they have weird, twisted rituals. You know the kind. Malick, his daughter and the council of people they had brought to meet Hive, they remind me of that. Anyway, I’m still not (8/9)

forgiving Ruby for what she did to Elena, but the dog thing and the Hydra-engineered super-baby thing are something…?? I’d have to watch S5 to pass judgement and LOL NO, I ain’t about to do that. I thiiink I’m done. Man, I hope that was some damn good strawberry shortcake. I’m gonna need all the favor I can get. 😇 ❤❤❤❤ Also, what’s a strawberry shortcake and why are people discriminating against its physique??? Ah, and why do you use that squiggly line (~) at the end of some words??? (9/9)

Okay! Here we go! XD

First off, I…..go back and forth on Liz’s support of fs. On the one hand, it’s silly to hold it against her; it’s not like attacking her own storyline would be a smart move, either with fans (who for some reason overwhelmingly support it) or with Jed&Mo (who, after all, have made clear that they based fs’ relationship off their own). Sure, Iain got away with it, but look at the way the show treats Fitz vs. Jemma……he’s clearly the favorite. *side eyes aos* Plus, fs being together gets her more scenes with more people (gotta have everyone reminding her how destined~ she and Fitz are after all!!), so it’s understandable she’d like it.

That said….HOW CAN SHE NOT SEE HOW TERRIBLE IT IS? I DON’T UNDERSTAND.

And we could talk about that all day so…moving on!

Deke started out as the harsh/cold/doing what’s necessary to survive in a terrible environment character (he SOLD DAISY TO KASIUS because he was afraid her search for Jemma would endanger the rest of them), but the show kind of….dropped that? And tried to switch him to the lovable moron instead? It’s weird.

As for Jemma’s optimism……I guess I can’t totally blame her. Like, she does love Fitz, that’s clear enough. I personally don’t think she’d have gotten there if she hadn’t been constantly pushed towards him, or if he hadn’t made a big deal of “I can’t be just friends,” therefore forcing her to choose between a romantic relationship with her best friend or NOTHING AT ALL of him, but. Whatever.

My point was, she loves him. And he is CONSTANTLY going on about how they’re cursed and they’re never gonna work out and how ‘doesn’t sound great for the girlfriend’ and ‘I don’t deserve you’ and blah blah negativity. And it is just super not fair to her that she has to forever fight this attitude of his and try to keep him positive about THEIR RELATIONSHIP, something he should be excited and positive about ON HIS OWN. Ugh.

So from that perspective, I guess I can see why she’d cling to this, as evidence~ they’re not doomed and they’re gonna be okay. Good point, nonnie!

And another good point: I’d forgotten about the daughter saying that her mom had said the steps in the right direction stuff! to her That makes Jemma’s logic fail a little less egregious, I feel better now.

Oh, right, silly me. Of course aos is way too hardcore to want to focus on the situation at hand when surgery is underway!

I think the show kinda confirmed that it was Grant who shot Buddy? In 2x21 when Bobbi was trying to talk Kara out of the whole….torture thing that was about to happen, she tried to convince her that Grant was grooming her and that he probably started small and probably was started small himself, and Kara was like “yeah, Garrett made him shoot his dog.” So that probably counts as confirmation.

(But I am all about #denial so I choose to ignore it. Alternate explanation: Garrett was the one who did it but Grant wanted to use the story to connect to Kara, so he was creative with the truth. See? It still works!)

And yep! Garrett said, when he finally got Grant from the woods, that he’d gotten him into the ops academy! Which admittedly was four whole seasons before this mess and probably they didn’t know yet they were gonna give Hydra its own Academy, but why would Garrett make Grant do the dog test in the woods if he was about to go to Hydra and have to do it all over again? Doesn’t make sense! So yes, definitely Grant went to SHIELD Academy.

As for the “posh” sense you get of Hydra, nonnie, you are SO NOT WRONG. Hydra’s Academy was seriously SO prep school vibes, I can’t even fully describe it. They had UNIFORMS, nonnie! Suit and tie uniforms with HYDRA LOGOS on the breast pocket!!!! It was…….ridiculous. Ri. di. cu. lous.

And right? TOTALLY NOT COOL that Ruby cut off Elena’s arms, but I have some sympathy for her now. Some.

And thank you for asking, the strawberry shortcake was DELICIOUS! And it’s not discrimination (XD; I literally lol’d, nonnie, thanks for that)—strawberry shortcake is a dessert with sliced, sugared strawberries, whipped cream, and a kind of cake that’s called “shortcake” because of its crumbly, sometimes crispy texture. It is THE BEST and I’m so sad it doesn’t exist in your life. I’m sorry, nonnie.

ETA: sometimes people use spongecake instead of shortcake when making strawberry shortcake. these people are wrong and should not be trusted.

As for the squiggly line, it’s hard to explain! 

Sometimes, I use it to add a note of sarcasm or mocking. Since tone is hard to convey online, it helps me get my meaning across (and feels necessarily mean, in such statements as “Jemma and Fitz are destined~”)!

Other times, it’s more…..hm…..like a gesture, maybe? Like in my rant I wrote “the glory of Hive~” and the sguiggly was meant to convey a kind of handwave, like “the glory of Hive and all that stuff the Hive-worshiping parts of Hydra would concern themselves with.” Does that make sense?

I don’t know, it’s kind of like the tumblr habit of randomly capitalizing words in the middle of a sentence, you know? Sometimes it’s for emphasis, sometimes it’s for sarcasm, sometimes it’s just because it feels right. I hope that makes at least a little sense. XD

Thanks very much for the conversation, nonnie! Sorry it was such a struggle getting your thoughts to me!

#amy communicates #anonymous #my nonnies are the best nonnies #<3