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lilydalexf · 3 years

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Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Chimerical

Chimerical’s stories aren’t at Gossamer, but you can now find them at AO3. If you have not read them, are you in for a treat! For instance, Regular People and Regular People Still are some of the X-Files fics I have read and re-read. You may also know Chimerical from her site Chimerical Publications, which was an extensive Mulder and David Duchovny fansite. Big thanks to Chimerical for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I’m not surprised at all that X-Files fandom is still popular, it was an amazing, creative show with iconic characters. Aside from just being entertaining, like all good Sci-Fi it asked deep, profound questions about the nature of relationships and humanity. It’s these things that people remember more than the MOWs.

However, I’m surprised to hear that my stories are still read, mostly because there is always something new, someone has a new take, and of course, we have the more recent episodes which provides all new fodder for writers, which is wonderful. But it’s super nice to hear that stories from the classic show still mean something. Also, I wasn’t a prolific writer, there are only 12 stories, but perhaps they struck a chord and people like to revisit them the way you like to re-watch a favorite episode or movie.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

Fanfic is certainly not new, but The X-Files was absolutely at the right place, at the right time. The internet was just really taking off, and it enabled fans to connect instantly in ways that hadn’t before. I remember that Fox used to send out Cease & Desist letters in an ill-considered attempt to stem fanfic because the Suits just didn’t understand what it was. Nowadays, of course, they embrace much of it, encourage it, even. Supernatural wrote whole episodes about it. But in the early days they were really stupid about it.

But what I took away from it was that great community can exist with people you have never met in person. There is a great sharing of ideas and love of great characters.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

It’s true, no Facebook, twitter, tiktok – it seems strange!

But I connected to fandom though the old Usenet message boards, you couldn’t wait until the episode was over until you could leap on and start discussing the episode. And it was painful if you were on the west coast as I was because you would get spoiled. In truth, it wasn’t must different than Twitter, just without the character limitation. But it was rather the wild, wild, west, no moderators and no terms of service. It could be a free-for-all, and some of the disagreements were legendary! For writing, certainly ATXC was the big dog for fic, and of course alt.tv.x-files for discussion. There were many different Yahoo Groups and AOL mailing lists, that catered to interests in fanfic (Friendship/Adult/Slash) or to the characters and/or actors.

But frankly, the main thing I remember was what a complete PITA it was to just get anything posted. There were all these size limitations and ASCII issues that don’t exist today, you had font and formatting limitations, which cause people to get weirdly creative with italics, bolding, quotes and so on. And you had to break your story up in weird way simply to jam it into the email because there were size limitations. And it never failed that no matter how many Beta Reads you had, you didn’t see that last damn typo until AFTER you hit the send button. There was no edit button, all you could do resend the whole damn thing. It was the fanfic version of the 20 mile walk to school through the snow……Kids today have it so easy! LOL….

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Actors are, and always will be, the face of the show. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are amazing actors, and the nuance they brought each week was a wonder.

But one of the things that the X-Files also did was make people aware of the people behind the scenes, the showrunners, the writers, the directors. This was also something new. For most TV dramas, most people couldn’t tell you who wrote an episode if you had a gun to their head.

But people knew the writers like Vince Gilligan, James Wong, Darin Morgan, and of course Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. And they knew the directors, Rob, Chris and the late great, Kim Manners.. It was like a repertory company. You could count on Morgan & Wong for the creepy, you could count of Vince Gilligan for the humor and relationship stuff, you could count on Darin Morgan for the “what the hell was that, but I loved it.”

So I guess what I took away was a deep appreciation for the craft, for the work. This carried over to other fandoms. I’m more aware of the creative team beyond the actors.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

Believe it not, I didn’t watch at the beginning. I’ve always been a Sci-Fi fan but for some reason this wasn’t on my radar. I came in about the middle of Season 1. I was channel surfing and stopped the X-Files, it was the episode “Ice.” I won’t lie, I stopped because I saw David Duchovny in a henley and I’m never one to pass by an attractive man. But as I watched, I became intrigued by these two characters, and their conflicted relationship with each other, even though I didn’t really know what was really going on. But I had to know more. That’s good writing, where you can walk in half-way through an episode and be captured.

I immediately checked out the old AOL Service forums and found a group. Of course, back then, there was no streaming, there was no BitTorrent. So, you just had to wait until when and if the network decided to show a repeat, which meant you were screwed if you were trying to catch up. But someone on one of the boards offered to send me VHS tapes of the episodes of missed. That’s fandom as its best - I’m excited about this and I want to share it with you. So in about a week I was caught up and hooked. I had to see how these two people’s story turned out.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I’ve always written as a hobby, taken many writing classes, have always written short stories, worked on a novel or two. I’ve got friends who are writers by profession. But the closest I ever came to doing it professionally was co-writing a play that ran for a month off Broadway many years ago, so I’m a dabbler, at best. I’m a big reader, and good stories always make me think, “well, what if this happened….”

So, X-Files wasn’t my first fanfic rodeo. I had been involved in Quantum Leap fandom and Beauty and the Beast, some Star Trek. Once I good hooked on the show, I immediately began searching out fanfic. But it took me a long time before I wrote anything. I’m not sure why, perhaps I was waiting to see where the story went. But X-Files was different in that it blended one of my favorite genres with a truly compelling relationship story. And I don’t just mean romance, it was a melding of two entirely different ways of looking at the world that was captivating. Scully was so strong and Mulder so complex, how could you not love them.

So, I enjoy writing, I learn from it. I learn from the feedback, both good and bad. I’ve never understood fanfic writers who say “just sent me nice feedback.” No one loves criticism, and not all criticism is valid. But you learn from it. I’ve had people tell me they hadn’t looked at an episode from that point of view and they like it - and I’ve had people tell me that I didn’t know what I was doing, everyone knew that Scully would never cuss (to which I say, please, she grew up on military bases!) But it helps you improve.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

It was a period of my life I cherish because I met some friends who are still my friends to this day, all these years later because we found other things in common besides a show. It was great to share ideas and debate storylines. And it was a fun, creative, and exciting time. Each episode was must-see and then talking to my friends about it later was the best part.

I started to drift away when David Duchovny left the show. I thought then, and still think, they should have called it a day because the beating heart of that show was Mulder and Scully together. You can’t rip out half the heart and expect the patient to live. On an intellectual level, I got why Duchovny left, I got why Anderson stayed and I got that Fox was a fledging network back then and XF was a cash cow. But on an emotional level, it all turned upside down, especially when the much-promised “search for Mulder” never really happened.

Fans got angry. They were angry at David for leaving, they were angry at Gillian for staying, and they were angry at poor Robert Patrick, perfectly decent person, for merely existing. It got ugly and I got up caught up in that. Frankly, I was as much to blame as anyone in carrying on stupid arguments about crap that didn’t matter. And one day I just realized I’d let all the joy be sucked away, and this just wasn’t who I wanted to be, or how I wanted to spend my time. So, I took a break, I still watched the show as it limped on, but I disconnected from the fandom part of it. And by the time I’d had my break, the show was done!

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I’m always a fan. There are many shows I’ve followed and liked, Supernatural, Fringe, Walking Dead, but I don’t get involved in the internet drama. So, I don’t get as invested.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I assume you mean besides Mulder and Scully! In literature, My favorite writer is John Steinbeck and every character he created was indelible and singular. East of Eden is my favorite book and the characters of Adam & Caleb Trask, as well as Cathy Ames are so well drawn. Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, they’re all perfect. Another favorite book and character is Alexandre’s Demas, The Count of Monte Cristo. The arc that Edmond Dantès’ life take is quite Mulder-esque. And of course, Harry Potter, I’m a sucker for a character fighting against overwhelming odds.

On TV, Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap. That was an amazingly well-crafted series, also featuring a female show runner, Deborah Pratt. I love the character of Raymond Reddington on The Blacklist, there is something about a completely unapologetic bad guy. I would have once said Dean and Sam Winchester, but sadly that turned into a case of staying too long at the fair and I stopped watching a couple seasons ago - But the early seasons rocked. Literally every single character in M*A*S*H was golden, and they knew when to call it quits. Thomas Magnum from the original Magnum PI. (People my age will still remember the “Did you see the Sun Rise, Ivan” episode!)

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

Oddly enough, a few weeks before you reached out to me, I watched the X-Files movie again. I remembered the incredible excitement when it came out. Fox did this tour across the county; it was like a mini-con. But I remember they had the trailer on a loop and my friends and I sat through it so many times we could recite the entire thing by heart. TV shows, such as Star Trek, had made the leap to movie, but I don’t believe a TV show had ever made the leap to films while the show was still on TV. But damn, it was good.

I watched the two recent XF mini-series. They did much to revive the old feeling, especially the episodes by Darin Morgan, who is a national treasure. And it was wonderful to see David, Gillian and Mitch. I’m sorry there won’t be more.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven’t in quite a while. Mostly because real life has interfered (work, personal stuff, Covid) over this last year and I have trouble concentrating. But I would certainly return to it, you need the escape of a good story.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Oh yes! But they were all from the time I was writing. Lydia Bower, DashaK, BlueSwirl, XFBandit, Paula Graves, Taverl, Prufrock’s Love, and dozens of other are still on my PC.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Like children, they each have their virtues but some may be harder to love than others. While I love a good smutty MSR, I was also a big fan of conflict resolution. So, I’m going to cheat and split the baby here. Based on feedback, I’d have to day my most popular story was Regular People and its sequel. And I really enjoyed writing that. It’s simple, it’s sweet, it’s what I hope for Mulder and Scully. The chance to just BE, if only for a while.

I wanted to try a slash story, so Wind River. That story was inspired by the murder of Matthew Shepard. I have dear friends in the gay community and I was so angry that this could happen in this country, so that one was about the need to treat people compassionately and who better to do that than Mulder and Scully.

But in truth, my own favorite is one that didn’t get much attention, called Rock Bottom. I wanted to explore that the fact Mulder and Scully, were, on occasion, just truly awful to each other and yet still reason to come back together.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I have a couple unfinished stories. There’s one from Quantum Leap, I want to finish first and when that’s done, I would like to finish the two X-Files that are half-baked.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do legal writing as a profession now, so I write all day long, but analyzing a case or a legal matter is not the same creatively and I do miss that, so I see returning someday, you need to feed your soul.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Well that’s all over the place, much like my mind! Often I was inspired by something I thought was unaddressed in the episodes. That’s where the Just One series came from. Or it’s a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern kind of thing -- That is, what’s happening off screen while the main action is going on. I find that intriguing, and that’s where Risking Everything came from. The incident in By Coincidence actually happened to a friend of a friend and I thought it would make good fodder. Pentimento came to me following a lecture I attended at a gallery, what happens when you peel back the layers you thought were true. You never know what’s going to connect.

What's the story behind your pen name?

“Chimerical” means existing as the product of unchecked imagination, given to unrealistic flights of fantasy- which seemed right for a fiction writer, especially for XF. In the early days, it became the phonetic “KiMeriKal” when I was on the old AOL service simply because Chimerical wasn’t available as a screen name! But I’m finally [email protected]!

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

Yes, my friends are aware, some of them have been my betas over the years. My brother knows I write, but I don’t think he’s ever read anything because he would find the smut elements uncomfortable coming from his little sister!

Is there a place online (Tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

The most recent versions of my stories are at AO3. If I ever get around to anything new it will be posted there as well.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Thanks for reading, thanks for remembering me, and it was a great time in my life. Fandoms are great communities as long as we can always remember there’s a human being at the other end of the keyboard. Be kind, be compassionate, and never stop imagining the possibilities.

(Posted by Lilydale on February 23, 2021)

#old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #xf fanfic author interviews #chimerical

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obxlife · 4 years

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Worth It (John B x Reader)

A/N: Another John B request! I wanted to make this as long as my other fics (which means at least 3000 words) which is why I took so long to make this. HOWEVER, I liked how it turned out so I’m pretty happy.

Pairing: John B x Reader

Word count: 3,409

Request: More John B??? I love your writing!! Where he gets jealous?? ily!❤️

Summary: John B and the reader have liked each other for a while now. It’s been one hell of a ride with unrequited (and requited feeling), but it ends one night with a broken nose and a jealous John B.

Warnings: Nothing I think. Just some jealousy, alcohol, weed, swearing, and a lot of feelings lol

WORTH IT

The wind that swept through your hair was distracting. Not only to you but to John B as well. He didn’t seem able to concentrate on driving the HMS Pogue when you were sitting on the bow, rolling a blunt with JJ, and wind messing around with your tresses. He actually wasn’t able to concentrate on anything much when you were around him.

He had met you in school. You were new to school because your father had lost a lot of money, which had caused you to leave the Kook Academy and transfer over to the public high school. Much to most of your classmate’s surprise, you weren’t as stuck up as they had expected. You were laid back and easy going, never bothered by things that occurred around you. Everyone quickly realized that you were as normal as everybody else. You loved surfing, you hated expensive outings and parties that were more about social power than socializing, and you hated Kooks.

After all, you had been bullied by a large group of them for years. And they had also been the reason for your father’s downfall.

The Pogues had met you because you had been JJ’s lab partner during the first month of school. When he hadn’t shown up for the third time in a row, you had asked around about him and figured out just enough information to find him. That September morning you had busted inside of the Chateau and found John B and JJ smoking and drinking together. At first, you had been angry at JJ for not showing up for school as you had to do the past three graded worksheets by yourself, but soon enough you had relaxed along with them, drinking beer and smoking weed.

From then on, you had forced them to go to school and then would return to the Chateau to smoke and hang out with them, plus Pope. Kie wasn’t around yet because she would normally only join the Pogues for the weekend.

And so you became friends. You were motherly towards them but just as reckless as well. It was a strange combination that the Pogues didn’t understand but loved all the same.

You liked how different and tight they were compared to everybody in the Kook world. Back then, when your family still had money, you had tried to make some friends but they had turned their backs on you once your family became poor. You didn’t mind that much.

“Their loss,” you would tell yourself. And it really was their loss. They were now extremely jealous of how you spent your days with three of the most attractive boys on the island.

Months and months went by with you as a part of the Pogues. With time, they began to trust you more and more. Pope told you about his scholarship opportunities and JJ told you about his father. Kie told you about Sarah Cameron and John B told you about his father. You, in turn, told them about how your family had lost their money.

“We were swindled. The Thorntons stole a lot of money from us and had made a fake deal for my dad to sign. We lost most of what we had.”

The Pogues were silent, not really knowing how to comfort you. Feeling the tense air surrounding you, you smiled at them and said, “Something good came out of it.”

JJ quirked his eyebrow, smiling at you. “Really? What?”

“I’m never saying this again because it’s super cheesy,” you began, “But you guys. You’re the good in it.”

The Pogues had jumped onto you and piled on top of your body. Giggling and laughing, screaming, and shouting out of joy.

And from then on you were officially a Pogue. Also from then on, John B hadn’t stopped thinking of you.

Only then had he realized how much he had liked spending time with you. How much he liked being around you because you were such a positive influence on everything. How much he loved that you made every single one of the Pogues smile when you would burst inside of the Chateau with some brownies and beer. How much he hated when JJ would place an arm around your shoulder or waist. How much he hated when you and Pope would talk for hours on end about your science stuff that he just couldn’t bring himself to understand. How much he hated when you would speak about your random hookups with Tourons at the many keggers you had organized together. How much he loved when you would smile at him when he would make you feel better as if he and you were the only people around. How much he loved when you would play with his hair whenever you lay down on the hammock together or just took a seat around the bonfire next to each other. How much he loved when you were present, joking around with him about what stupid thing one of you had done.

It hadn’t taken him much to come to accept his feelings for you. However, it took him a lot longer to ever confess to the other male Pogues about what he felt for you.

“Man, what is up with you recently?” JJ had asked when you and Kie had left to help her father at his restaurant. John B had been in a pissy mood all day. He couldn’t shake the thought of you being flirty with JJ out on the marsh earlier or the fact that you had shared your beer with Pope and not him. Both of his friends had caught on to his anger but didn’t bring it up until they were alone.

“Yeah, dude, why are you so mad?” Pope said while opening the fridge. He pulled out a water bottle for himself and a beer for the other two. JJ took it, but John B didn’t which caused the dark-skinned boy to drop it onto the counter.

“Nothing,” John B had muttered not looking into their eyes. The other two had shared a look before charging towards John B and pushing him onto the pullout couch of the Chateau.

“What the hell? Guys, stop!” He began to thrash around in an attempt to break free, but JJ and Pope held him down more forcefully.

“C’mon, dude. Just tell us and we’ll let go!” the blond screamed.

The fighting and struggling continued for a while longer until John B began to grow tired. Laying still, the other two boys moved back and stared at their friend. Then, he spoke:

“I like Y/N.”

JJ raised his eyebrows as Pope furrowed his. “Um, excuse me, what? Like as in more than a friend?”

John B simply nodded and raised his hands to his face. He didn’t feel like explaining himself to his other two friends. He didn’t want to admit that he was jealous of them because he knew that his jealousy was irrational. He had the same relationship they had with you.

“No way,” Pope shook his head. “What about no Pogue on Pogue macking?”

“Why do you think I haven’t done anything?”

Realizing how deep John B’s feelings ran, both boys had decided to pull back a bit from you. JJ would avoid flirting as much as possible, and Pope would maintain a bigger distance when speaking to you. John B was grateful for the support his friends were giving him. You, on the other hand, hated how you seemed to have suddenly grown distant from the boys.

During one Kie’s shifts at the Wreck that you had gone to visit her, you confessed what you felt.

“It’s as if, one day from another, they learned something about me that pushed them away!”

Kie stared at you, confused. “What do you mean? JJ seems just as close as he was to you a couple of weeks back.”

You groaned. “He is but at the same time he isn’t. Like, we still tease each other and speak about the things we used to, but now he won’t put his arm around me or anything. And Pope seems to stand twelve feet away from me at all times!”

Kie frowned at you. Now that she heard your complaints she realized that they were true. The following day she had done some snooping while you weren’t around and learned about John B’s crush on you. She had to almost torture Pope to get it out of him.

“Damn it, Pope!” JJ had exclaimed when the dark-skinned boy had confessed what John B had told them just a few weeks prior.

Kie never told you what she had learned that day and had only ushered you to ignore the boys and their weird behavior.

It had been months since then and John B had not gotten over you one bit. In fact, he was pretty sure he was almost in love with you. Evidence? How distracted he was by the wind tossing your hair around.

JJ had stood up from where he had been seated next to you, giving you the joint and walking up to John B. “Stop staring. You’re making it obvious.”

The whispers of his blond friend went one ear and out the other. JJ had to repeat himself for John B to actually process his words.

“Oh, fuck off.”

*************************************

Organizing a kegger between the Pogues was something you liked. JJ, Pope, and John B would normally be in charge of getting the beer and some food for you guys while you and Kie would get the cups, ice, and any other items that may be needed. Oh, and Kie would force you to set up recycling bins with her across the beach, of course.

So that was exactly what you were doing with her at the moment. She had noticed you had been a tad bit off all day and was meaning to ask you about it, but you had begun to work far away from her. She didn’t want to force it out of you, but she could only take so much tension.

“Okay, what is going on with you?” she asked suddenly turning around towards you.

Fuck, you thought. You had been acting differently for more than just that day. It had actually begun a few months ago when you had caught yourself staring at the long-haired boy of your friend group. John B had suddenly become extremely attractive to you, which was weird because you had never seen him in that light before. You had thought it had just been a passing thought, but you soon caught yourself thinking about him and imagining how his hand would feel in your own or how his lips would feel pressed against yours.

You couldn’t understand where this feeling had appeared from, but it had. And you couldn’t do anything about it. You had tried to hook up with Tourons - even tried to hook up with JJ - but nothing worked. And no, JJ had not acted upon what you had wanted and yes, you had pretended as if you were too drunk to remember it the following day.

John B had taken over your thoughts and you didn’t really like it. But this had been going on for too long, and maybe telling Kie would make you forget him.

You had sighed and turned towards her, the wind pushing both your and her hair in the direction it was going. You had to confess to her, and this was the best moment possible.

“I think I like John B.”

Kie had stared at you with disbelief at first, but soon she broke out in a smile. “Since when?”

You groaned, knowing that she would be asking questions. “Three months now.”

She looked as if she would combust with happiness. However, she just shut her mouth and said “Cool,” before turning around and continuing to set up the trash bins.

You stared at her in bewilderment. No questions? Weird. You ignored your thoughts and continued to place the trash bins around the Boneyard.

Soon enough you heard the boys approaching the logs where you and Kie were perched. You looked at John B, noticing his open Hawaiian shirt and his beige shorts. He looked really good, which put a smile on your face. You shook your head.

“No Pogue on Pogue macking,” you told yourself under your breath.

Smiling at them, they placed the keg down while Kie fished out five cups for all of you to drink. Filling them up and passing them around, JJ spent no time downing its contents and serving himself another.

You were already dressed for the party, and John B took notice of how nice the clothes fit you. Your shorts were tight around your waist and they made him imagine how it would feel to loop his fingers through the belt loops and pull you close.

You didn’t even notice his stare on you, too distracted by Pope telling you and Kie how the boys had almost been spotted by the police with the keg. After a while, you tuned to look at John B (who had stopped staring at you by now) to analyze his face.

That’s it, you thought. I can’t be obsessed with him anymore. Tonight I’m hooking up with someone for sure.

***************************************

JJ was screaming again. He often did that at parties.

You weren’t looking at him though, because you were concentrated on the boy beside you. You didn’t really remember his name but you knew he was an amazing kisser, judging by the activity you were both engaged in. His hands had been resting in your waist, but you felt them slowly slide down to your butt, pulling you closer to him.

John B wasn’t looking at JJ either, no. He was looking straight at you. Actually, he was staring straight at the boy’s hands and their placement on your body. Rage was coursing through him. All he had wanted to do since he had put his hand on your thigh was rip him away from you and throw him down a cliff or a long flight of stairs.

However, he remained still, sipping on his drink and observing your every move. He hated this. He hated what he was feeling.

Suddenly, and out of nowhere, the boy had raised his hand to your breast which made you pull away from him a little. You weren’t really comfortable with the fondling the boy was doing, but you forced yourself to continue kissing him.

John B’s knuckles were wrapped around his now crumpled plastic cup. They had turned white. He had noticed the discomfort on your face and was sure you were going to pull away from the boy, but instead you had continued kissing him.

You tried to enjoy what the boy was doing, which you were sure you would have enjoyed had you not been practically in love with your best friend. You just couldn’t enjoy what he was doing. When the boy tried to slip his hand down your pants you drew the line. If he was going to try that then at least he could do it somewhere private and not in the middle of the party. The boy removed his hand and wrapped it around your waist.

“Do you want to go somewhere else?”

You tried to say yes, you really did, but deep down you knew you didn’t want him. At all.

“Um, actually, I wanted to stay here.”

The brow frowned, anger seeping into his eyes. “So what? You throw yourself onto me and then you don’t want to pull through?”

You shook your head, pressing your hands against his chest. “It’s not that -”

The boy pushed you so hard you fell onto the ground. “You bitch. You enjoyed that didn’t you?”

Before you could try to stand up and reply, John B had thrown a punch at the boy, hitting right on his nose. A sickening crack broke through the midnight air as the boy fell onto the ground. Hands grabbed onto your arms, pulling you up. JJ and Pope stood before you, covering you from John B and the guy you had been kissing.

The boy turned around and got John B off of him and then raised his hands in surrender.

“Don’t talk to her like that!” John screamed out, pointing at him. Then he turned around towards you, his eyes trained on your body as if looking for an injury. Then they rose to your face. His features softened as he pulled onto your hand and began to drag you away from the party. You didn’t dare say a word.

“If you want that bitch, fine! But don’t be surprised when she doesn’t fuck you like the tease she is!”

Before John B could run back to him, the boy had been toppled back onto the ground by JJ and Pope. Watching the scene before you, you continued to tug onto John B’s hand so that he wouldn’t involve himself in the fight. You knew JJ and Pope could deal with the boy you had been kissing.

When you had walked far enough away from the Boneyard, John B let go of your hand and stomped all the way to the Chateau. You had to run after him, as your legs were shorter than his, and almost crashed into the front door when you arrived.

“John!” you called out for him. He was seething, pacing around before the pullout couch with his hands tugging on his hair.

“Why would you do that?” he suddenly jumped at you. “Why would you put yourself in that situation?”

You felt tears prickle your eyes. He had never screamed at you before. He had always been soft and gentle with you.

“Why would you let him touch you like that if you weren’t comfortable? I just don’t fucking get it!”

“Because I wanted to forget,” you tried to explain.

“Forget what, exactly?” He was panting as he stopped moving and was turned towards you.

“I - I was trying to forget you.”

His mouth opened wide, as well as his eyes. The shock the words you said left upon him made you worried. “And I tried to get over you so many times but I just couldn’t because you were -”

John was kissing you. He had run up to you and kissed you on the mouth. He had pulled you up from the ground and wrapped his arms around your waist and pressed his lips to yours, molding perfectly together. Your hands found his bare chest, slipping a little bit under his open Hawaiian shirt.

Your tongues clashed together as one of your hands moved to his hair, brushing through his perfect locks. His hands moved down in a similar way that the boy from the party had moved his hands. They came to rest on your butt, but this time it didn’t make you uncomfortable at all. Instead, John B’s hands made you feel aroused in a way no one had made you feel.

Breaking apart for some air, John B lunged at your neck as you let a moan out. However, before even being able to give you a hickey, the door of the Chateau burst open, revealing Pope, Kie, and JJ. They widened their eyes at the scene before them, shocked to find John B and you with surprised expressions and puffy lips. They closed the door again.

The moment already broken, John B placed you back down on the floor, but he didn’t let you go. You were smiling up at him, eyes twinkling in the way he loved.

“How long?” he asked. Somehow you knew he was asking how long you had liked him.

“Three months,” you replied, blush to rise to your cheeks because you were ashamed of how long your crush had lasted.

John laughed and then said, “Don’t worry. I’ve liked you for like a year.”

You opened your mouth in shock. “Was that why JJ and Pope got all weird with me?”

John B nodded before laughing again and bringing you close to him.

“I’m sorry if I put you through shit,” he told you sincerely.

“I’m sorry. You must have had worse than tonight if you’ve liked me for that long.”

John B simply laughed and nodded. “Worth it though,” he mumbled as he pulled you close once again.

#outer banks #obx #obx netflix #john b #john b routledge #john b x y/n #john b x reader #jon b routledge x reader #chase stokes

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pogueshomecoming · 4 years

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secret girlfriend - kiara carrera

requested? yes: noticed you didn’t have anything for kie and the idea just popped into my head but maybe like she meets a girl (another kook? Idk) and starts hanging out with the boys less and they get suspicious so they follow her and see her with the other girl but kie never told them she’s queer so they’re surprised but are obviously super supportive and don’t care. this is my first time ever requesting so not sure if I’m doing this right but do whatever you’d like with it :) (you did great! haha no right or wrong way to request. thank you for sending it in💕)

fill out this survey to join my taglist, here’s my masterlist, and requests are open.

warnings: I’ve never written for a girl before nor have I been with a girl but... we’ll see how this goes. i decided to make this more from the pogues pov until the end it kind of switches cause i suck lol. FLUFF AT THE END. it’s cute in my opinion.

word count: 2.1k

“John B, can you drop me off first this time? I’m going to be late for my shift at the wreck.” Kiara checks her phone, pretending to look at the time.

“But we pass Pope’s place first... Why would we turn around and go back?” JJ scrunches his face in confusion, and Kie rolls her eyes, stomping her feet a little bit to get her point across.

“Fuck off, JJ, I didn’t ask you. JB? Come on, I can’t be late again.” Kiara whines.

“Sure, we could even come with you. Hang around out back so you can sneak us some food?”

Panic rises in Kie as she quickly shakes her head. “My dad will be there all shift, so that won’t happen. You guys can’t hang around like that when he’s there.”

She’s quick to defend, but none of them seem to notice. “Okay fine, but tell Mr. C that we said hi, maybe eventually he’ll like us if you keep doing that,” JJ interjects again, and Kie chuckles.

“Yeah, maybe.”

It’s only a few moments later that John B is pulling up to a dock. Kie jumps when she’s close enough. “Thanks. Love you guys! See ya.”

A chorus of, “Love you too” s ring out behind her as she runs away.

“Was that weird to anyone else?” Pope asks as they pull away, turning back towards Heywards.

“Nah. I think she mentioned the other day about someone quitting, so she’s covering shifts until they find someone else.” John B speaks without taking his eyes off of the water in front of him.

“Sweet, I’m going to apply,” JJ smirks, and Pope can’t help but shake his head.

“You do that.”

“Kie just texted that she’s not coming.” John B says as he exits the chateau. The four of them were supposed to go drive around the island, get up to some real Pogue mischief.

“What? Did she say why?” JJ sits up in the hammock, causing it to wobble, and Pope almost falls out of the other side.

“They’re painting the new wreck sign or something like that. Guess they haven’t hired anyone yet.” JB shrugs and shoves his phone into his back pocket.

“Well, driving around doing nothing doesn’t sound like fun when there’s no anyone there to stop us from doing dumb shit.” JJ sighs.

“Hey, I’m pretty good at that.” Pope is offended but laughs it off.

“We could go fishing? Kie hates fishing.” John B looks at the two of them, waiting for confirmation.

“Alright, fine. Let’s go fishing.”

“So you’re telling me that there’s a whole part of the island with teenagers looking for a job, and Mr. C hasn’t hired anyone in two weeks?” Pope thinks out loud. JJ and John B are pulling a net in, but Pope is lying on his back at the from of the boat.

“What are you talking about? And why?” JJ groans, giving one final pull to get the fish on to the deck.

“Kie keeps telling us she’s filling in momentarily. Do you guys really think it’d be that hard to find someone to work? Mr. C could replace anyone at any time.” Pope sits up to find John B and JJ both looking at him.

“So, what are you getting at? That Kie is lying to us?” John B asks, his head tilting to the side ever so slightly.

“Obviously, I don’t know for sure, but it seems like it.”

It’s silent for a few moments.

“Wait, Pope is right. She’s been dipping out early or not showing up at all, and her excuse is always the wreck. Why don’t we go see if she’s there now?”

“Good idea.” JB drops the net in his hand and resumes his spot behind the wheel.

JJ and Pope are holding on to dock posts, waiting as John B goes inside to find Kie. He’s not gone for very long before they see him jogging back to the boat.

“She’s not there. Mr. C was, though. Said he thought she was with us. I covered for her, but now we know.” John B shrugs as he steps onto the boat, pushing off with one leg.

“Kie never lies to us. She’s gotta be macking someone she doesn’t want us to know about. Right? Any other ideas?” JJ looks to Pope and JB individually, but they both shake their heads.

“Ugh, what if it’s a kook. Surely she wouldn’t date Topper, right? Or Rafe? I guess Kelce is a possibility. In that case, she can keep sneaking around.” Pope groans and makes a gagging motion with his finger.

“Oh my god, wait. That’s perfect, Pope. We’ve got to catch her in the act. The pogues haven’t had a Sunset Saturday to Sunday Sunrise hang out in a while. Let’s have one, invite her, and when she makes an excuse or straight up leaves, we’ll follow.” John B smiles proudly, and surprisingly, Pope and JJ praise him for his idea.

“And if she doesn’t leave?” Pope asks.

“We’ll do it again next weekend.”

Sunset Saturday to Sunday Sunrise used to be a Pogue tradition. They usually happened during the school year. It gave them all time to hang out and be with each other after long weeks of learning. As summer started creeping up, they got less and less because their time spent together got higher and higher.

When Kiara agreed and told them she’d be there, they all got even more excited to bring the tradition back.

The four brought out every blanket and pillow in John B’s house to make their beds on the grass outside. Pope and JJ always combined and shared. It gave them more blankets, therefore, more comfort. They were always very proud of their result.

As the sun went down, everyone shared a high and low from the week. JJ’s was something stupid like the actual high he got from a new strain of weed he tried. John B talked about waves he’d surfed at the beginning of the week. Pope said he liked sharing a makeshift bed with JJ, and everyone laughed. Kie said her high was finally finding time to hang out with her boys. They all side-eyed each other behind her back.

Their plan was to fall asleep, which isn’t supposed to happen on a night like this. The point is to stay up and watch the sunrise, but only a few hours in, each boy was performing their best fake snore. Kiara groaned, “Seriously? Have you guys gotten so old that you can’t even stay awake all night?”

Instead of getting up like they expected her to, Kie laid down. She snuggled into her blankets and followed them in falling asleep.

Sunday Sunrise came soon enough, waking them all up with blinding golden light casting over the water. Each one moaned and groaned, sitting up to stretch out their backs and legs after sleeping on the ground.

“Guess traditions change after a while.” John B laughs, and so do the others.

“It was still fun.” Kie smiles back at him, and he nods.

Then the four of them set up Kie’s phone on a timer and pose multiple times with the vibrant colored sky in the background. Most of them are too dark to see their faces as a result of the backlight, but no one complained. Laughter was shared, and that was all they needed.

Until Kie picked up her phone, read a text message, and made an excuse to leave. Pope, John B, and JJ all exchanged looks as they hopped into the van to follow.

The van is pretty easy to spot, so they had to be cautious of the distance they left between each other. Kie led them back to Figure 8, and when she passed her house, all three got more nervous. They parked the van at the edge of the neighborhood and began walking. It was 7am, no one would be awake this early on a Sunday.

“Wait, guys, there’s her car.” Pope sticks his head out around a corner and then brings it back.

John B leans so he can see around, JJ over him, and Pope over him. They watch as Kie gets out of her car.

“That house was for sale a few weeks ago, do you think her parents bought it? Or some family members?” JJ contemplates.

“How do you know it was for sale?” John B asks, keeping his eyes on Kiara. She’s fixing her clothes, smoothing them out, straightening her shirt, and making small adjustments.

“I look at listings sometimes when I’m at the hotel. Why not?”

The front door to the house opens, revealing you. “Wait guys, shut up.”

All three of them focus on you as you smile big and welcome Kiara into your arms.

“Bro does Kie have a sister or cousin we don’t know about? Damn.” JJ marvels at you.

Then, as you start to pull away from the hug, Kie presses her lips to yours. The boys can hear your collective giggles from here.

“Not her sister or cousin, JJ.” Pope clicks his tongue and stands up straight.

“Damn it, I’m starting to think my type is girls who like girls.” JJ groans and also stands up straight. He’s not wrong. Recently, he’s been rejected by three girls because they weren’t straight.

John B is still watching the two of you. Mostly because it’s cute, and JB likes seeing Kie happy.

While John B is preoccupied, JJ and Pope had started messing around. Pushing and shoving each other playfully, whispering insults at each other as jokes. JB doesn’t know how it started, but he does know it ended with them knocking over a line of trashcans. John B straightens immediately, and the three boys freeze.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” John B pinches the bridge of his nose while he whisper yells at them.

“What the hell was that?” They hear your voice instead of Kiara’s because Kie saw John B’s head snap out of view at the last second.

“Let’s go see.” Kie pulls you towards the corner of the house, already pissed off at the boys. The three of them nearly jump out of their skin when she rounds the corner, pulling you by your hand.

“It’s just my dumbass friends. What the fuck, boys?”

“JJ is the one that pushed me into the trash can.” Pope blabs.

“Hey! You pushed me first, I wa-”

“Dude, it doesn’t matter, you gave away our cover.”

The three of them start bickering, and Kie looks at you with an eye roll.

“Excuse me? Remember me? Can you tell me what you’re doing here?” Kiara waves her hand, and you can’t help but laugh behind her.

Pope and JJ immediately look at John B, since this was his plan, after all. JB doesn’t catch on until way after he’s supposed to. “Fine, I guess I’ll tell her.”

“Basically, Pope said you’d been acting weird, and there was no way that your dad hadn’t hired someone at the wreck, which meant you were lying about where you were going. And-”

“Wow, thank you for putting the blame on me.” Pope flashes a frown.

John B ignores him. “And we missed you. You know? You were cutting out on our plans early or not showing up, and it wasn’t as fun with you not around. So we thought you were dating one of the Kooks we hate... and that led to us following you over here.”

“And did you find what you’re looking for?” She crosses her arms over her chest.

“Why didn’t you tell us, Kie?” John B looks up at her, a serious expression on his face. John B had always confided in Kie when he thought it was something JJ or Pope wouldn’t care about.

“I don’t know, I didn’t know what you’d say if you knew I liked girls. Like I know you guys are always there for me bu-”

“No, not that part. Why didn’t you tell us that you found someone and you’re happy? That’s all we want for you, Kie.” John B stands up, and the other two follow him. Your heart is about to melt from the sweetness of their friendship.

“He’s right.” Pope nods. Kiara looks at JJ last.

“Yeah, he’s right. I mean, I’ve had a crush on you since I met you, but I’m not hurt or anything.” JJ teases, shrugging his shoulders with a pouty face. “I’m kidding Kie, we’ll support you in anything you do.”

Kiara has tears in her eyes as she reaches forward to pull them into a group hug. “I love you guys.”

She pushes them off of her gently and turns halfway, so she’s kind of facing you at the same time as them. The smile on her face is one of the biggest you’ve ever seen as she tugs on your arm to step closer.

“Oh, and this is Y/N, my secret but not so secret anymore, girlfriend.”

thank you for reading! please leave feedback and reblog if you liked it.

kiara carrera taglist: @jjfuckr

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theyearsiturnedintoaghost · 3 years

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Hello, Is This Thing On?

Hi! (as mentioned above). Do people still use this thing? I have no idea. Years ago, and I do mean YEARS ago, I had one of these. I didn’t use it for much, just reposting things, following humans I’d met in online communities, a ‘celebrity’ here or there, sometimes screaming about shit I couldn’t control into the void that is the endless scrolling interweb, and being pointless in wasting my time between classes, work, and twenty-something. Regardless, my previous tumblr had minimal followers, made minimal impact, and that was okay. It was honestly just a nice place to sort of hide in plain sight. Still be part of a social world without actually having to do much. This was also pre a billion other apps and social media outlets to express yourself or scroll mindlessly at a million other pointless things that people were posting to make you giggle or even just stop for a second and think.

Clearly, the point of this, back then, felt like something I would use to help propel my writing career. Turns out, it did not. I did not write much, if at all. And most of the time I think it was because I was scared nothing was as good as any of the other stuff I was reading from people I liked, and thought were so much cooler and smarter than me; I still feel this way all of the time, but I do realize this was me being nervous, small minded about myself, and completely unconfident.

Unfortunately, I am still most of these things a lot of the time, but recently, after getting fired from a job, having my heart broken by pretty much everyone on the planet, especially a few specific people, cancelled by all of my friends (?) - this is a thing btw. (It’s not as awful as being cancelled publicly, but it does still ruin your life, mindset, confidence, and overall physical and mental wellbeing) Getting a new job, hating it and feeling like I was going no where, and missing out on living a life I felt proud of and that I was actively participating in, I decided maybe I should just try to write it all out and see what happens.

To be frank, I expect nothing of this. I can’t fathom a world where anything I have to say truly matters to people because lets be real - everyone has this own shit and everyone is going through so much all of the time. And we all think we have something new, quirky, interesting, and important to say. And in a world that constantly shoves perfection down our throats and works so hard to make each of us feel completely inadequate to every Kardashian, Beyonce, Grande, etc., it’s hard to really think that anything I have to say will matter to anyone; at all.

(I also hate that all of my ‘perfectionist’ people were female, but maybe it’s harder to compare to Golden Boys when you are a female. Either way, there are many boys/men/theys/thems that are put on a pedestal and made out to be perfect out there, as well, and they deserve that notation as well. I just have no points of reference off the top of my head, so please forgive me; I am trying to do this in a stream of consciousness type thing.)

I mean, the truth is, I’m a fucking mess. I’m 33, single, living at home, afraid of my own shadow most of the time, and spend about 98% of my time alone. I pay for a phone plan that I literally only use to send memes to my two sisters, and that’s about it. I rarely receive texts, invites out, or even calls to make plans for something. And while a lot of this is my own doing - again, I did cut off most of the world after I realized I was sort of the joke to a lot of people - it’s still kind of pathetic, and entirely uncool. I am not a socialite, or someone cool and trendy, and to be honest, I kind of never want to be.

Which is a semi-false statement, because years ago, when I had one of these previously, I sort of hoped it would work out and that I could write and be ‘cool.’ Whatever the fuck that means. But now, years later, I’m honestly beyond glad I am not cool; not in the slightest. Maybe that’s making it to your 30s? Maybe the trade for having to create a daily routine of lathering up my body with like 9 different versions of FDA-Approved-Vampire-Juice on my skin to prevent me from looking any older than I already do, you in turn get to have a brain that finally realizes... having a ��normal’ life is honestly pretty cool? Normal is clearly subjective here as everyone is normal, famous, notoriety, or not; They’re all still humans and people with feelings, thoughts, and emotions. This is a hard thing to realize when you see stadiums full of people screaming at Harry Styles (Boom! found a male perfect in this scatterbrain) or hundreds of paparazzi lined up to take photos of every person on a red carpet wearing clothing that costs as much as my student loan debt (Which sidenote, is VERYYYYYY much). It’s hard to fully realize that maybe some of those people who became ‘icons’ never really knew what they were getting into when they signed that deal with the Devil to make them seemingly immortal; especially in a world with the internet where everything can exist forever (or until the world explodes, clearly). But maybe getting into my 30s and removing myself from most social media outlets, even listening to the news, or caring about whatever fucking popular haircut was in this season (it’s always bangs, and I’ve already made that mistake. No thanks), that I learned to realize - the truly most important people in your life are the ones that stick with you when it’s tough. When getting out of bed is so hard your limbs ache and you cry every morning on your way to work, at your desk behind your computer screen hidden in a corner, or in a bathroom stall during your lunch break. The normalcy that comes with realizing your prayers to ‘just make it to five o’clock,’ are heard and that you are just so thankful for that that you don’t even desire the innate feeling in most of our egos to stand out, be seen, ‘Make it’ in a way that lets people notice we ‘succeeded.’ Maybe this only comes with the realization of how nice it is to go to a grocery store braless and unnoticed.

Maybe this is also something I, and so many of us in this point and shoot viral world, are trying to still learn.

Sure, a lot of days I still crave being able to make a perfect Pintrest project, practice my Late Night interview with Letterman where I sound funny, charming, and likeable to all walks of life, or recreate a recipe from the New York Times website so great that The Barefoot Contessa finds out through word of mouth, and comes to my basement hide out, and offers to give me, a fellow barefoot loving bitch, her title and crown along with a glass of wine and a kiss from her husband, Jeffery. We’ll both laugh at how lovely it feels to be Barefoot ladies who understand that wanting ‘fame’ or ‘recognition’ in your twenties is only really a pathway to destruction by your 30s.

And this is not exactly something that I learned easy. In fact, I spent most of my twenties destroying my body with drugs - plenty of hard ones - and alcohol - various kinds of the same things - in order to numb my brain from the sadness that is just... being young, lonely, scared, unsure of yourself, and nervous that all of your hopes and expectations for yourself in your ‘dream life’ are too much for what you and your actual self will ever be capable of ever becoming. That I would never become the comedian I dreamed of being, or sing the perfect song in front of a crowd of admirers, or write that best selling book to tell everyone who thought I was nothing they could go fuck themselves. It’s something I still have to remind myself, and my brain and ego, that are most likely things I will never do because those are lottery dreams. And people you know don’t actually win the lottery. And at the end of the day, I am people you know. And sometimes it breaks my own heart to realize I may never feel that rush of making a crowd laugh, or creating a piece of art that makes someone feel seen, but as Pam, from The Office said, and I am paraphrasing, ‘there is beauty in ordinary things.’ And I think reminding myself of that as I sat on the beach this summer and watched a dad teach his son to surf, and how happy they both were when he got up, gave me that brief feeling of... being okay. I won’t lie, I did cry a little at this realization at that moment, and I am slightly teary now as I write it, but I think I’m not ashamed of that because being normal means I get to feel things as I do, in that moment, and that is something I think I lacked in my desiring-bigger-flashier- twenties; actually being present in the world and your place in it. Even if that is just as small as being kind to a random person on the street.

I think that is why everything I felt I wanted to write never came out correct. It never came out ‘Perfect.’ And that was my problem for most of my life, even up until today, I’m afraid that I am a perfectionist in the ways that are preventing me from becoming... me. I’m still fearful that I am too late in ever ‘accomplishing’ anything I ever dreamed. I doubt I will ever actually write a book. I’m unsure I’ll ever make a decent living. I am beyond doubtful I am ever going to be loveable to someone whom I also want to love back. And maybe I’m a little scared that I’ll never have a kid, or that if I do have a kid, I’ll never be a decent parent. And I’m still working on breaking the cycle of thinking something has to ‘sound’ or ‘be seen as important’ to be meaningful. There is beauty in the ordinary. I’ve started to make it my mantra. Spoken in my head every time I see a teenage couple holding hands walking in town, a father holding their baby close to his chest, a woman dressed in a power suit striding through an office building or city on their way to make their own careers or push equality further. I’ve started to dream of how actual normalcy makes the real changes. How every 4th grade teacher has a chance to change some kids life.

Clearly, a lot of these personal fears I have about myself not being ‘enough,’ or doing something good enough to become successful at it and build a life out of it, are monotonous fears and privileged middle-class complaints. I’m aware they may not resonate with anyone, anything, or mean much more than just being an online public diary entry to my own meandering thoughts, but, still - I finally felt like I had to try.

So here it is, the whole truth on how I let myself become a ghost for years.

I hope someone will stick around while I just... try to explain it all, figure it all out, and hopefully make sense out of even being whatever a human who is hoping to grow even means. Hopefully, something here will resonate with someone else and we can create our own little weirdo corner of the world where we’re not seeking more than just trying to be honest with ourselves and what it means to be human. Even if that means just posting a recipe for banana bread (thank you Gwen Steffani for keeping me able to spell Banana), reposting random memes about how we all want to scream for 30 seconds and feel better, or sad-girl diary entry posts about how I ruined my own life a million times over. Oh, and maybe I’ll give you tips on how to stain your wood deck, because I spent my day doing that yesterday and basically, Home Depot is calling me to be in their ADs.

But at the core of it all, lets be very real, it’s hard to be human in so many ways. And I’m just hoping this connects with anyone. Especially any of us who wished we were different - in any way.

xoxo

-K

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decaffeinatedgardenertraveler · 3 years

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Why Everyone Should Surf!

Surfing is a bucket list item everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. But first, let’s define which type of surfing I will be talking about. No, it’s not internet surfing. I am talking about the ocean type of surfing. I recently just picked up surfing this year and it’s been one heck of a journey. To begin, I started firstly with signing up for lessons at a nearby beach, Bolsa Chica State Beach. During my first ever session, I was able to catch many waves and stand, which was exhilarating. I continued this for two more lessons just so that I can become more acquainted with the sport.

After those lessons, I decided I wanted to make this surfing activity a daily thing. I browse craigslist, pick up a 8ft foamie board and begin my journey through surfing. What I can say is that my first time out alone without any instructor was discouraging. I had to learn how to ride my new board that I forgot to wax. I did catch waves, but as I got off one, I was stung. Toe bleeding, but I soaked it in a bucket of warm water to help mediate it.

At this point, why would anyone surf? Dolphins! That’s right. One all my occasions out surfing, I have always encountered the sight of dolphins! Sometimes they get really close which can be scary, but also fun. Another reason is friendship. I met so many people through surfing that it helped me during my time of loneliness. I joined CSUF’s Christian group for nursing and found a friend who invited me to surf with him. He then introduced me to his friends and bam! I gained so many friends, which helped me through a rough period of my life.

Oh yeah, there’s also the feeling of catching waves early in the morning that nothing else can beat. Catching your first unbroken wave, no whitewash, is one of the greatest feelings ever. You feel as if you’re floating in air, but realize that you have to keep your balance to avoid falling off.

Finally, surfing teaches discipline. Standing up on waves is the easy part. The hard part is getting past all the breaking waves to get to the lineup, or area where all the surfers are. I learned that I have to stay dedicated to paddling against waves in order to get to the waves. And, you can tell all your friends that you shred the gnar now! Shaka brah.

In conclusion, stingrays suck, but dolphins, friendships, feeling awesome, and discipline all outweigh the negatives with surfing. So, with everything reopening this summer, I encourage everyone to book a surf lesson and give it a try. For me, I will continue to learn how to surf as I am far from where I want to be.

#surfing

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loganscanons · 3 years

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Unfinished Business - ch. 1, pt. 3

Summary: Makani finds out why Ismena broke off their friendship.

Chapters: First | Previous | Next

They are fated to sit across from each other, separated by a circular table, Makani thinks as she picks at the frayed edge of a yellow placemat on the Karagiannis’s table. Under Ismena’s gaze, a calculating, analyzing gaze, Makani realizes she never asked Ismena what, in the end, made her decide to leave. As long as she’s making an attempt at self-betterment, she might as well learn what drove people away in the past. If she knows, she can avoid repeating those actions with Precious.

The question is abrupt and heavy in the silent room, a weight swinging in the air, “What did I do that made you decide to leave?”

If Ismena is surprised by the question, she doesn’t show it. Her expression remains unchanged, and she draws in a deep breath. “It was a build-up of things overtime,” she answers.

“Was there a specific moment that made you realize you wanted to leave?” she asks. She needs specifics.

Ismena sits quietly for a moment, leaning back in her chair again. Her gaze drifts away from Makani, and she worries her lower lip between her teeth as she considers the question. The clock on the wall behind Ismena ticks slowly, and Makani watches the secondhand move. The kettle begins to whistle. Ismena doesn’t move or pull herself completely out of her thoughts, but the burner flicks off and the kettle lifts into the air. The whistle falls silent. A cabinet door squeaks open, and two mugs drift down to an open space on the counter.

“What kind of tea do you want?” Ismena asks, staring into space.

“Whatever you’re having.”

The pantry opens. Two tea bags make their way out of the darkness of the pantry and settle snuggly at the bottom of the mugs. Still in the air, the kettle moves over each mug in turn, pouring hot water without a single drop landing on the countertop. The kettle returns to the stove, landing on a different burner.

“Milk? Sugar? Honey?” Ismena asks, her eyes flicking briefly to Makani.

“No, thanks.”

The mugs move across the kitchen, as if toted by an invisible waiter. Ismena holds her hand out for hers, grabbing hold of the handle without looking. Makani’s lands gently on the table in front of her. She’s impressed. She knows Ismena isn’t trying to show off – Ismena was never one to gloat – but to perform such magic without lifting so much as a finger suggests a deep understanding of the craft. And to do it while focused on something else is even more impressive. Makani smiles to herself as she gazes down into the steeping tea.

“It was when you suggested hexing the coworker that was annoying me,” Ismena says finally, turning her full attention to Makani. “That was my breaking point.”

“Really?” Makani asks, allowing herself a moment of genuine surprise. She suggests hexing people all the time, but unless it’s for business purposes, she’s usually suggesting it in jest.

“He was just a guy,” she says. “A bit annoying. But just a guy. An innocent person.”

“Nobody’s innocent,” Makani says. “Everyone is guilty of something.”

A sad smile touches Ismena’s lips, “That is an unfortunate view to have of the world.”

Makani shrugs, unaffected. She’s never met anyone who wasn’t guilty of something. Even Ismena has skeletons in her closet.

She asks, “Why that moment? I don’t remember it, but wasn’t I joking if the annoyance was so trivial?”

“You were,” she says. Her voice is low. The rich tone is enchanting without Ismena intending so. If only Ismena had had fewer morals. The two of them would have been unstoppable. “But I realized in that moment how little human life means to you. And I knew what you were capable of. I knew you would never care about me the way I cared about you, and I knew I didn’t want to become the villain in anyone’s story.”

Makani looks at Ismena, her expression neutral as she considers Ismena’s words. Ismena always had a way of pulling Makani out of her flippant, flirty attitude, guiding her to serious rumination, even if only for a few short minutes. As Makani lets herself be serious for a moment, Ismena’s eyes don’t venture from Makani. She’s not uncomfortable under Makani’s intense gaze, as people often are. She sits with the easy grace of a sage old witch, who has seen too much of the world to let herself be bothered by someone else.

What a pair they could’ve been. Ismena’s unflinching nerve combined with Makani’s brash boldness. The combined power of their magics. The way they could make others squirm with just a look. Nothing would have been able to stop them.

“Why do you ask?” Ismena queries. “You’ve never cared before. What’s changed?”

Makani is tempted to say she was just curious, but Ismena knows her better than that. She’d see right through the lie. But to tell the truth is a risk. To trust someone with information that could be used against her. If any witch can take her in a fight, Makani knows it’s Ismena. Not only does she know Makani better than most, maybe even as well as Precious does, she knows Makani’s weaknesses, her vices, her magic. And Ismena’s powerful. If the casual use of magic to make tea is any indication, magic has become as easy as breathing for her.

But, in all their years of separation, Ismena has never betrayed Makani’s trust.

As she answers, Makani doesn’t attempt to add false lightness to her words. She speaks delicately, bares her true feelings. “I’m making an effort to better myself.”

“Really?” Ismena asks. Her lip twitches as she tries to hold back an amused smile. “And why is that?”

“My roommate, Precious,” Makani says. She chooses her words carefully, trying to make it clear that for once, she’s being serious. “I care about her, maybe as much as you once cared about me. I’m not sure. Recently, I upset her by…by being me. Enough that she almost moved out. And I don’t want that.

“So,” Makani says with a smile, “I’m turning over a new leaf. A new me.”

For a moment, Ismena says nothing, just stares at her with a considerate frown. She’s never known Makani to change for anyone, to want to make anyone more comfortable. In her experience, it’s always been the opposite, with Makani trying to make people uncomfortable. But there’s no flippant cadence to her tone. Against all odds, Makani seems to genuinely care.

Ismena smiles warmly and says, “I hope that works out for you, Makani. I really do. She must really be special to make you question your morals.”

Though she doesn’t say it out loud, she also hopes it works out for Precious too. She doesn’t need to know Precious to worry about her. Ismena knows what it’s like to be the object of Makani’s affection. She knows how enchanting Makani can be, in spite of her cruelty.

“I’m not questioning them.” Makani says. “I’m just not acting on them anymore. As much.”

Ismena lets out a quick laugh, “Well, I guess that’s about all one could ask of someone like you.”

A comfortable silence falls between them. The room buzzes with the warm memories of old friendship, a few moments where they both let themselves feel the way they once did for each other, without the burden of animosity and years gone by between them. Silently, each woman turns over remembrances of happiness and camaraderie that she’ll never experience again, at least not with the woman who sits across from her.

The reverie is broken by the scrape of a key trying to find its way into the lock. Ismena stands, knowing her mother is due to arrive home with groceries for tonight’s dinner. The door swings open before she reaches it, and sure enough, her mother stands in the threshold, bogged down by two arms full of groceries. She’s a small, round woman, with tanned olive skin and the same pointed lips as her daughter. Her eyes are a warm honey brown, and they light up as Ismena meets her at the door and she sees Makani at the kitchen table.

Ismena takes the grocery bags from her mother, relieving her of the burden; a few bags float in the air alongside her. The pantry and refrigerator doors swing open as she begins to sort through the bags. Items surf the air to their allotted spots in the kitchen, drifting lazily past Ismena as they go.

“Makani!” Eleni says, spreading her arms wide. The cheery woman leans down a few inches, and wraps her arms around Makani in an affectionate, maternal hug. She smells of flour and rose perfume. Makani turns in her chair and returns the hug with a warmth she doesn’t actually feel, then lets the woman kiss her once on each cheek. “It is so good to see you! Are you staying for lunch? We love to have you.” She clasps her hands together, grinning broadly. How two people who express everything like an overzealous lead in a high school play ended up with a daughter so composed and reserved is a mystery to Makani.

“I would love to,” Makani lies. “But unfortunately, I have prior commitments I need to attend to.”

Makani exchanges a sidelong glance with Ismena. And your daughter doesn’t want me around.

“Ah, what a shame,” she tuts, her lower lip pushing out into a dramatic pout as she leans in to give Makani another hug. “You are welcome anytime. You can come for another day soon. When are you free?” She has the same Greek accent as Ioannis, and her words tumble out quickly and enthusiastically.

“I’d love to,” she says again. “I’m unavailable for the foreseeable future, though. After this week, I’ll be out of town for a while.”

Because she’s looking at Eleni, Makani doesn’t see Ismena’s head whip around, but she can feel her eyes on her, boring into the back of her head.

Makani continues, “I can pay you a visit when I return. I’ve missed your cooking.” That much is true. “I came by today to pick up an order and say hi.”

“Ah, yes, yes! Ioannis tells me that your order is ready whenever you are ready,” Eleni says. “But stay for a bit longer! It has been so long since I saw that beautiful face of yours.” She cups Makani’s face in her aging hands.

“I wish I could,” Makani lies. “But I need to get going. I have to deliver the order of lamb to my friend before a meeting this afternoon. I’m glad I got to see you before I left, though, even if it’s just for a moment.”

As Eleni pulls her hands away, beaming at Makani, Makani pushes the kitchen chair back and stands.

“Yes, so good to see you,” Eleni says. “Come to visit when you get back to Chicago, yes?”

“Of course,” Makani says with a grin.

From behind her, Ismena’s low voice says, “I’ll walk you out, Makani.”

Before Eleni can lengthen the goodbyes, making Makani promise to call and visit, asking if she can’t stay for just a little bit longer so she can take some food with her, lamenting how infrequently they get to see her, Ismena walks swiftly to the door and holds it open.

“Goodbye, Eleni,” Makani says. “I was good to see you.”

“Yes, goodbye, Makani. Come back soon. Do not be a stranger!” she calls after Makani as Ismena pulls the door shut behind them.

At the bottom of the stairs, Makani turns and reaches for the door to the small storage area, but Ismena stops her, placing her hand on Makani’s wrist.

“You’re leaving Chicago?” Ismena asks. Her warmth from the kitchen is gone. Makani meets her cold, untrusting gaze.

“For a little while, yeah,” she answers.

“Why?” Her eyes narrow.

Makani gives her a playful smile, “I don’t see how that’s any of your business, Ismena.”

She quirks an eyebrow.

“I have some unfinished business to take care of,” Makani says. Ismena continues to stare at her with suspicion. “Like Hugo; you remember him?”

Ismena jolts. She could never forget Hugo, as much as she wants to. Her words tumble out, caught off guard by the mention of him. She says, “Hugo? What are you going to do with him? You can’t kill him.”

“I know,” she says, curling her upper lip in annoyance. Then, she sighs, “Even if I could, I wouldn’t. New leaf, remember?”

“Uh-huh,” Ismena says, sounding not at all convinced. “Well, best of luck to you. And if you do see Hugo, be sure to give him my regards and tell him I hope he rots in the deepest pit of hell, forgotten by anyone he’s ever cared about.”

Makani raises her eyebrows and laughs sharply, “Boy, Ismena, why don’t I just stab him for you too?”

“No need. He’ll get what’s coming to him,” Ismena says flatly.

“Ominous,” Makani says with a grin, wiggling her fingers in Ismena’s direction.

This time, when Makani reaches for the door, Ismena doesn’t stop her, and they pass into the chilled storage area.

“I can help you bring the lamb to your car,” Ismena says, offering not out of kindness but a personal feeling of obligation.

Makani says her thank yous and goodbyes to Ioannis, which Ismena cuts short before Ioannis can let it to go on for too long. The two carry the meat to Makani’s car in a nearby parking garage and pack it into a large cooler that’s waiting in the back seat.

As Makani slides into the driver’s seat, Ismena crosses her arms and says, “I hope things work out for you, Makani.”

Makani smiles and says, “See you around, Ismena,” then pulls the car door closed.

Arms still crossed, Ismena turns, heading toward the parking garage exit. Makani turns on the car and watches her walk away as she considers which errand she should run next. Daisy or Carm? Her eyes widen almost imperceptibly, and she cranks down her window.

“Hold on, Ismena,” she calls out. Ismena turns with a questioning look, one eyebrow raised.

“What?” she asks, taking a few tentative steps toward the car.

“There’s something I should tell you,” Makani says. She pulls back from the window and grabs her bag from the passenger seat. She rummages through it until she finds a scrap of paper and a pen. As Ismena nears, Makani flicks through her phone and scribbles three names and three numbers onto the scrap of paper.

“What is it?” Ismena asks, still a few feet from the car. She bends down and tilts her head to get a better look at Makani.

Makani glances in her rearview and side mirrors, then to Ismena. The parking garage is empty. She holds the paper out to Ismena, held between her forefinger and middle finger.

“What is this?” she asks, taking the paper.

“There are witch hunters in Chicago,” Makani says.

The soft, natural glow of Ismena’s cheeks drains away, and her eyes widen. Old memories, old fears strike her heart. Then, she composes herself, straightening her back as she takes a deep breath. Witch hunters aren’t as much of a threat to her now. She can hold her own.

“Those are the numbers of a few witches I know in the area. Might be good to get in contact with them,” Makani shrugs.

“Precious, Aoife, and Carmen?” Ismena frowns at the numbers scrawled on the paper.

“Yeah. You’d probably get along with Carmen,” she says with a grin. “She doesn’t like me. And I wouldn’t complain if you kept an eye on Precious.”

Ismena nods, “I will keep that in mind. Thank you.”

“See you around, darling,” Makani grins. Ismena doesn’t have a chance to respond; Makani is already pulling out of the parking space and heading for the exit.

#makani calipusan #ismena karagiannis #my writing #unfinished business

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jaybug-jabbers · 3 years

Text

All-Glitch Pokemon Blue Run Pt10: Creating Hybrids

June,

To answer your first question, yes, the headaches are likely related to Superglitch, but you need not worry about them. It’s a side effect, but because you followed my steps closely, we’ve done our best to mitigate those effects. If you notice your name no longer shows up on your Glitchdex, er, don’t worry about it.

To answer your second question, you are almost ready to meet your new glitchmon. First, however, I suggest you pay a visit to the Daycare Center. A few of your party pokemon might be slightly mutated from the effects of Superglitch. Don’t worry, though-- the Daycare Center man is an old friend of mine and fellow glitchmon researcher. If you leave them in his care he can nurse them back to health, for a small fee.

Finally, I strongly recommend healing at the Pokecenter before doing anything else. This step is very important if you want to save data on your Glitchdex. Ah, it’s a long explanation as to why that is, but trust me, it helps reboot the system so things function normally again.

After all of that, you now will be ready to meet your new glitchmon friends!

---

Professor,

All right, I completed your directions and then Teleported back to Lavander Town. When I withdrew the new glitchmon, though, I uhhhh . . . ran into a bit of a problem. I immediately lost the pokeball.

I searched in a panic for like ten minutes before finding it. I’m not sure how I was so careless. Then I let the glitchmon out of the ball.

It . . . looks like it’s just a Charizard? I don’t get it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Charizard is really cool, but I thought this was supposed to be a glitchmon. At any rate, I named it Charmed.

She seems awfully shy, actually. I turned around for just a second and looked back and she was just GONE. It took me several minutes to find her again. You’d think it would be pretty difficult to lose a giant fire-breathing dragon, but apparently I’m talented.

-June

---

June,

What you have in your possession is no ordinary Charizard. That is Charizard ‘M, or glitchmon FF.

This species needs careful handling when in your party. It has a ‘cloaking’ ability somewhat similar to a Kecleon’s camouflage, although more extreme. Indeed, this cloak is so powerful it can hide even the Pokeball it resides in, as well as other pokemon in its immediate vicinity!

You’re also correct in noting it can be quite shy. It takes a long time to establish trust with this species, and they rarely trust the nurses at the Pokecenter. You may need to potion them by hand if they see any sort of battle.

I must give a word of caution, though; Charizard ‘M has also been known to accidentally induce mutations in pokemon nearby. Merely exposing pokemon to its presence is enough. Try to keep its pokeball a bit further away from the others, at the bottom slot in your party. You don’t want an accidental hybrid on your hands, after all.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

I kinda wish you’d said something about that a little bit sooner. I had stopped to capture a Paras I’d found . . . and when I went to deposit things in the PC, uh. It was kind of disturbing. The Paras and my HM slave Kadabra had melted together. I wasn’t sure what to do. I thought maybe if I’d evolved . . . it, then that would force them apart, so I tried a few Rare Candies.

Didn’t really work, though? Now I just have a Parasect with all these strange moves.

-June

---

June,

For goodness’ sake. Well, all you’ve done is ensured they remain fused together as a hybrid, now that it’s gone and evolved. You’ve lost your Kadabra HM slave for good, I’m afraid. It became the recipient for the hybridization process. You can still normalize what’s left of the Paras, however. If you return to the Daycare man and give him the Paras-- which should be currently hybridized with Charizard ‘M-- he should be able to get it back to normal.

You’ll have to keep the Parasect as is, though.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

Honestly? I’m ok with that. My new Parasect is pretty neat, and now is an even better HM slave then I had before. This Charizard ‘M has some cool abilities. I wonder what other bug hybrids I could make?

For now though, I’m keeping her at the bottom of my party, away from the other pokeballs. I’m taking along Wobbles, Fractal, Dustdevil, Giago and the new Charizard ‘M, and leaving Azure and Dirge in the PC for the moment.

Oh, and I spent some time exploring Celadon City at last. It was nice to finally do that. There’s some casino there that all the locals are talking about, so I gave that a visit. The games are actually pretty lame, but I’ve never liked gambling. I came across something weird, though-- there’s a basement to the casino. I went down there and it looks like the casino is just a screen for some underground illegal pokemon trafficking by a shady group of thieves. That's pretty wild.

The badguys weren’t too happy to see me there, but fortunately I could defend myself just fine with my team. It helped that I’d recently taught Ice Beam to Dusty. I also came across the Double Edge TM in that basement, so I taught it to Fractal, who now hits like a freaking meteor.

After a little more exploring, I came across the HM for Fly, but I learned I didn’t have the air clearance to actually use it for travel unless I’d earned Lt. Surge’s badge. For some odd reason? So . . . I had to backtrack all the way to Vermilion and defeat the guy. After that, I could teach Fly to my Missingno. and get around MUCH easier.

This let me fly back to Lavander Town. I made the trip because I’d picked up something interesting in Celadon-- a Silph Scope. I figured I should use it and take a tour of that creepy tower.

The trip taught me a lot about my team. The climb up the tower was a slow and difficult one. Starting off, I ran into Oak’s damned grandson again.

His team wasn’t bad to face, although his starter had evolved to Wartortle by now. Still, I had picked up a TM from Lt. Surge, so Wobbles had Thunderbolt now. It was an easy kill.

In general, Wobbles had no problem with any of Pokemon Tower. His Special is just sky-high. My other pokemon had to work a bit harder, though.

Gia is a defensive sort of poke. She’s not huge on offense, especially Special offense. But all her physical attacks were Normal type moves, which are useless against the ghosts. She was stuck chipping away at ghosts with her Surf, while the ghosts para-fused her. Fortunately she at least has so much bulk she sometimes came out on top of those fights. Gia’s fight style is all about long-term survival.

Meanwhile, Dusty struggled a fair bit because her stats are just not great in general. Despite that fact, she was scrappy and determined and could scrape by. Her speed also meant she could get in hits at vital times.

When paired together, Dusty and Gia could manage to take out the ghosts with teamwork. This was great, since Wobbles and my new Charizard ‘M had plenty of levels and didn’t need the XP at the time. My last pokemon on the team, Fractal, is the very definition of a glass cannon. Fractal could take pokemon out with his raw power, but only if he didn’t fall first. He was knocking himself out cold in a single hit if he got confused-- but he also sometimes knocked his foes out cold in a single hit. This is why I gave him Double Edge; his fighting style was hyper-offensive to an extreme.

After touring to the top of the tower, we took care of the local rowdy ghosts and some trainers rambling about something called ‘Team Rocket.’ I dunno, but the way they were dressed looked awfully similar to the creeps at the casino. Maybe they’re the same crew. I wasn’t paying much attention, to be honest.

There was an old man up in the tower who talked to me after my battles, though, and invited me back to his house. Normally I’d nope the heck out of that sort of situation, but he seemed harmless enough. . . and he gave me a flute as a gift. He tells me it can wake up any sleeping pokemon. I have the perfect pokemon in mind to test it on.

-June

---

Glitchdex #: FF/255

Family: Charizard Hybrid

Type(s): Fire/Flying

Species Keyword: CLOAK

This shy POKEMON is so good at disguise it can even fool highly trained POKECENTER nurses. It only trusts its trainer to heal and care for it.

---

End Notes

Glitches used/mentioned in this post:

* Making Superglitch useful

* Creating pokemon hybrids

* Charizard ‘M

* This Charizard ‘M was created by placing a normal Charizard named ‘Charmed’ in my sixth party slot and then using the controlled superglitch corruption mentioned in my last blog post. The Charizard ‘M that appeared in my seventh expanded party slot then inherented the ‘Charmed’ nickname once I deposited the first pokemon in my party into the PC.

Click for the next part of the series!

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Nov 30, 2019.

#pokemon #pokemon glitching #glitch pokemon #glitch run #mycontent #pokemon playthroughs

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theshinsun · 4 years

Note

A-Z for honesty hour because I'm an asshole. :D

A - If I’m in love.

...yes. I never thought I would be again, I thought I’d been too hurt and jaded to feel this way again, but against all odds, I’m back to being 17 in full force.

B - Who the last person I talked to on the phone was.

The only one who ever calls me is my mother. And customers at work.

C - How long it’s been since I’ve kissed.

damn, almost a year now… not since my last relationship ended back in October-ish. even then, it was mostly casual pecks idk if we ever seriously made out tbh.

D - If I have a preference for boys or girls.

already answered (twice) but I'll keep going… I've got a definite preference of guys over girls, but I'm also a bi disaster and sometimes it doesn't make a lot of sense why this person is instantly attractive to me while that person isn't. certain aspects of femininity do appeal to me, but weirdly other aspects seem to be a turn-off and I can't always put my finger on what or why. ...that caveat does not apply to masculinity though, even if it's traditionally "masculine" features on a feminine-presenting individual I am 100% down every time.

E - How many holes I have in my ears.

two and a half? I got a third piercing at some point halfway up the lobe but it got infected and scarred over I think. the holes I do have are also stretched (I'm up to 0G now) and I've been meaning to get some more.

F - Give me any options, like ‘hot or cold?’

wasn't given any options, so I guess I'll go with hot or cold lol. I prefer hot, I'm one of those weirdos who loves summer because of the heat and I'll usually take a hot food/drink over a cold one.

G - The last person I said ‘I love you’ to.

my mom, over the phone just now.

H - The last person I hugged.

my roommate. we're not always super touchy-feely with each other but I've been feeling kind of down and she noticed.

I - The last time I felt jealous, and why.

I'm not usually a very jealous person, but the last time I really felt that way… I'd recently broken up with my ex, and they were sitting on someone else's lap and I… felt things. part of the reason I realized I may have made a mistake.

J - Are you insecure. What about?

K - What my full name is

already answered, my first and middle are Jacob Brooks, I'm not putting my last name out there sorry I don't trust like that.

L - If I have siblings.

already answered, I've got two, an older brother and a younger sister.

M - If I forgive betrayal.

I mean, I forgive but I don't forget, ya know? like I'll accept an apology if it's sincere and welcome the person back and never bring it up again, but I'm probably gonna be cautious around them in the future, and not trust them as readily as I would have before.

N - If you want to know how I treat my friends.

if I call someone my friend it means I really feel close with them, and I treat my friends basically like my family. I try to always be honest and supportive of them, bc I love and appreciate them and just want them to be happy.

O - If I like my school.

I love my school. the campus is beautiful, the teachers are fantastic, and I just love being there and learning and growing in my classes. I'm really sad this semester is probably going to be mostly online because I really feel like I belong in those studios and on that campus and I miss it.

P - What kind of music I like.

already answered, and it mostly boiled down to all over the fuckin place, so this time… band recommendations, here we go. no you have no say in this.

here, have a clump of random favorite bands off the top of my head: mother mother, bad suns, nothing but thieves, hozier, shearwater, the neighbourhood, steam powered giraffe, rainbow kitten surprise, the oh hellos, gregory alan isakov, caravan palace, mystery skulls, khai dreams, autoheart, muse, silversun pickups, thousand foot krutch, two door cinema club, twenty one pilots, blue october, jukebox the ghost

Q - What the last party I went to was, and when the next will be.

I'm not a partier at All, but I did have a bunch of friends over for the 4th (okay I say a bunch but it was like four people from our usual less-socially distant circle). I have no idea when the next get-together will be, it's kinda hard to plan those kinds of things lately.

R - For me to tell 10 of my curiosities.

the phrasing of this question is weird but I'm gonna assume it means things I'm curious about? let's go with that.

travel. I haven't ever been out of the country and I'd like to see other parts of the world at least at some point in my life.

tattoos. both getting them and learning to do them, it's a niche branch of art that I'm just fascinated by and I might like to do it as a career if I knew more about it.

same thing with being a florist. I'm really drawn to it as a concept and I'm super curious how it works, but I have no idea what kind of… qualifications and whatnot I'd need for that.

surfing. I'm surrounded by the lifestyle and now kind of own a surfboard, I just want to know what the appeal is.

this may be a bit tmi, but I'm really curious what it's like to have a dick. I don't suppose I'll strictly ever know, but I still really want to… probably one of the biggest things to clue me in that I'm definitely trans is the literal penis envy ngl.

I've always kind of had a fascination with the ocean, and I'd love to go like, scuba diving or something someday, to see it up close and personal.

I think everyone has the impulse thought of shaving their head at some point. maybe someday I will I don't quite have the balls to do it now.

I've gone this long in my life and never wielded a sword? a travesty. I don't pretend to have the grace to actually know how to use one, but I've like, never even held a real one and the idea interests me a lot.

this one might be slightly morbid curiosity, but I don't think I've ever been like, properly drunk or high before, like I've been tipsy but I've never been wasted, you know? the idea kind of scares me and I don't think I'm going to go out and remedy it, but it's still there, and even if I know it's not a good idea, I do still wonder what that's like.

same vein, maybe even a little darker, but I've got at least a little morbid curiosity about like, death and real danger. again, not planning to act on it At All, but the thought is still lurking in the back of my mind like what if…? you asked for honesty. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

S - 2 habits.

bit of a new habit, but I have a whole ritual of disinfecting groceries when I bring them home, and then disinfecting the door knobs and counters. I don't know if it'll persist after the pandemic is over, but it's already ingrained in me and I don't feel comfortable if I skip it or do it differently.

I apologize for things that aren't my fault. it's such an instinct at this point to say "sorry" when I'm uncomfortable or anxious that it doesn't even register anymore, even when people tell me not to be sorry, I'm still gonna say it, sorry.

T - 5 things I love unconditionally.

already answered so here's 5 more

my family. if I haven't got my family I haven't got anything, we've got each others' backs and I won't turn on them for anything

my friends. same deal, I owe so much to my friends, I love them, and that won't change no matter what they decide to do or be.

sleep. I love sleep so much, even if it's just an involuntary nap, though for someone who loves it so much I sure don't get enough of it

spotify. I know it has problems, I know there are probably more streamlined/cheaper music streaming services out there, but at this point, I've sunk too much of my time and energy into this one and I'll never give it up

my ocs. I don't talk about them very much on this platform, but I have them, they're my children, and I love them even if they're assholes and never easy to write/draw.

U - How many texts I send daily.

already answered, the number varies, and sometimes swings drastically between like, 5 and 35 on any given day.

V - 3 big dreams.

graduate art school. it's gonna be a serious undertaking and probably take several more years and a lot of loans at this point, but I'm still determined to get there someday.

someday I want to write a book. I know I've said that before on a different prompt, but it wouldn't be a list of dreams without including this one that I've held onto since childhood.

this one's kind of vague, but someday… I want to not be afraid anymore. like I want to finally be in a state of mental/financial security so I can live my life without the fear of what's coming next.

W - An idol.

it's probably really basic to list a youtuber, but I've still gotta go with Chase Ross. the guy was an inspiration and a major source of information and support for me early-on in my transition, and even watching him now I still want to approach life with the pure positive energy and confidence that he has.

X - If I’ve done something I regret very much.

yes. a couple things, really… some of which I don't think I'll ever be able to make up for.

Y - If I like my town and why.

my current town? yeah, it's got its problems but it's also beautiful and full of life and art and unique energy and I miss the days before the Corona End Times when I could actually go out and enjoy it.

Z - Ask any question you want.

??? I did not receive any specification for this one, and given that I didn't skip even the duplicate answers and this is ridiculously long, this one I'm gonna SKIP.

#shin speaks #answered #finally getting to this a million years later #thanks friend!!#i'll get to the other prompts in a second but i felt bad about not finishing this one #tw death mention #tw alcohol mention #just to be safe

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somethingusefulfromflorida · 4 years

Text

So, I learned something recently...

Mary Kate Olsen (the top billed twin; I feel kinda bad for Ashley) is married to a man 17 years her senior, who also happens to be the half brother to the former President of France.

That sounds like the plot to one of their movies! Like, there’s a foreign exchange student at their school and they discover that he’s secretly foreign royalty. I can picture the whole thing in my head, I’ve thought about this a lot:

It has a late 90s/early 2000s aesthetic; kinda grungey and “totally radical, dude!”

Twins Mary Jane and Kelsey are just your average upper middle class teenagers living in multi-million dollar beachfront property with their widower dad, a security guard with dreams of being a detective. His firm just got a big contract to provide security for the visiting diplomats of the vaguely Eastern European kingdom of Slovotia (it’s generically foreign; funny accents, weird customs, offensive Slavic stereotypes, the works. The writers based it on Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, Ruritania, Backwardistan, etc)

At school, the girls are introduced to hunky Slovotian exchange student Nico. He’s, like, SO cool, but he doesn’t flaunt it. He’s quiet, tries not to make waves, and sneaks away at lunch to be by himself; the girls follow him and find him talking to a a burly bodyguard. Turns out, he’s the Crown Prince of Slovotia! His uncle, Count Bartok (who is clearly the antagonist but SHHH don’t tell anyone, we don’t know that yet) is visiting America as part of the Slovotian delegation; his brother, the King, wants to normalize relations with the west, but the Count doesn’t really like America.

Nico and his bodyguard Dolf (a hulking man of few words) ask the girls not to reveal his secret; he just wants to live a normal life, and be a normal teenager. The girls decide to show him around town and introduce him to hip American concepts like the mall and beaches and fast food.

They buy a hot dog from a street vendor, and Nico looks appalled. “My uncle, he say Americans, they are dogs, but I did not know they were to be eating them, yes?”

“They’re not really made out of dog, Nico! Try it, you’ll like it.”

He takes one bite, and is enraptured. “This is best thing I have ever to be eating!” He walks over to the vendor and offers to buy him out. “You there, meat monger. This dog that is hot, it is food fit for king! I buy your shop, I pay ten million Slovotian Kronle, good price yes?”

“Sure thing, whatever you say boss! Good price! Great price! My ticket’s finally come it, it’s easy street from here on out!”

They show him around “the city.” It’s never specified which city that is though; they live on a beach and go surfing, so it might be LA, but there are hotdog vendors and people with Brooklyn accents, so it could just as well be New York. Maybe there’s a shot in the middle of the film where the bad guys are looking at a satellite map of the USA, and the camera zooms into the center of the country, or there’s a blinking red dot somewhere on a random coast. The point is that there is no definitive location; it’s just meant to represent whatever city is closest to the viewer’s hometown (the writers didn’t put that much effort into it because this is a no budget direct-to-VHS Mary Kate and Ashley movie. What did you expect?)

Dolf follows them everywhere they go, and Nico complains that he wants to have some privacy. “You do not be seeing other kids with bodyguards, yes?” Wacky hijinks ensue as the trio try to evade him; there’s definitely a chase scene set to a punk rock song like SR-17′s ‘Right Now’ or something by Bowling For Soup. They sit on a park bench reading newspapers as Dolf runs by, then hightail it in the opposite direction. They casually steal hats and sunglasses from passersby to blend into the crowd. They walk in line behind a couple buys carrying a sofa. The chase ends with them hopping into a taxi and laughing with one another as we see Dolf give chase for a second before giving up in frustration.

Nico confides in the girls that life as a prince is not easy. His father, King Vladimyr XVI, is always telling him how big a responsibility he has, how important he is to Slovotia’s future. “My father, he tell me, Nico, you will one day be King, so you must to be acting like one, yes?” It’s so hard to be royal, he can never just be himself, he has to act a certain way to make his parents happy. The girls tell him that they know exactly what he means; high school isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either. They have homework and chores, and they too have to act a certain way or the cool kids will think they’re a couple of losers with a capital L (Nico doesn’t understand what the word cool means, “what does temperature have to be doing with this?”)

Suddenly, the trio is attacked by some dude in a track suit and gold chains with a jersey accent; he tries to kidnap Nico, and just when all hope seems lost Dolf appears from nowhere and lifts the would-be abductor up by the collar.

They interrogate him; Dolf holds him by the ankles from a second story window. “I ain’t sayins nothin, youse will never get a word outta me.”

Dolf says that if he doesn’t start talking he will disappear. “Maybe you wake up in gulag, yes?”

He sings like a canary. He was hired by Count Bartok to kidnap Nico. Bartok hates America and thinks his older brother Vladimyr is foolish for trying to normalize relations with them. He hoped that by having Nico kidnapped, he could blame the American government and end the diplomatic mission early. If anything were to happen to the boy, Bartok would become next in line to be king! He’s going to blame the girls’ father for Nico’s disappearance because he was supposed to be head of security.

“That’s everything I know. Hey, I’m sorry, okays? I just needed the money, ya know? I ain’t a bad guy, I’m just in a bad sitchy-ation.” The girls tell Dolf that he can let the kidnapper go, but he takes this literally and drops him out of the window (onto a bush! He’s fine)

They have to race to city hall to meet the Slovotian delegation and stop Bartok from doing anything drastic. Mary Kate plays the edgy tomboy, so she teaches Nico and Dolf how to skateboard so they can get across town super fast. This sequence is filmed with a fish eye lens so it looks “totally bodacious.” As the group barrels down the crowded sidewalk, pedestrians leap out of their way.

They make it just in time to be locked out of the ceremony. Bartok is giving a big speech condemning the Americans for kidnapping his poor nephew, and the girls have to watch helplessly as their dad is taken away in handcuffs. Dolf uses his espionage training to break into city hall and get the trio into the sound booth undetected.

“Hey Dolf, where’d you learn to do all this stuff?”

“I have many skills” (he is implied to be ex-KGB and it’s played for laughs)

The girls interrupt Bartok’s speech with video they took of the kidnapper revealing his entire plan. Bartok denies it, but the girls’ dad pulls some as-yet-unseen sleuthing skills out of his ass to prove that Bartok is lying, finally living his dream of being a detective. Nico bursts into the room and orders the Slovotian guards to arrest his uncle, but Bartok pulls a pistol and holds one of the twins hostage. Nico uses some of the American skills he learned to free her (he kicks his skateboard towards Bartok’s feet, and he slips on it)

Bartok is taken away, screaming that he would have gotten away with it were it not for those meddling twins, and the girls break the fourth wall by making a Scooby-Doo joke to the camera. Nico delivers a heartfelt speech to the gathered crowd at city hall about how much he has come to love America and how he’s proud to be representing Slovotia and normalizing relations with the west. He wants to open malls and hot dog stands and skateboard parks in Slovotia, and he gets a standing ovation as the mayor awards him the key to the city.

The girls are so proud of their dad, and he is just as proud of them. Just then, King Vladimyr and Queen Anastasia themselves make a live appearance, apparently having flown all the way from Slovotia (it’s never explained how they got there so fast). They thank the girls for helping their son, and award their father their kingdom’s highest honor. They even offer him a job as Dolf’s second in command, but he declines, saying he’d rather remain at his humble career and raise his family in the states.

The girls encourage Nico to tell his father how he feels. He knows he will be king someday, but that is very far off, and he would like some time to just be a kid instead of a prince all the time. The King decrees that Nico may stay in the United States and have a normal high school experience, “you are to be having twelve bodyguards instead of twenty now, good compromise, yes?” The girls roll their eyes and laugh; Nico’s dad still has a lot to learn!

Nico tells the girls that they are “very cold” (he meant “cool,” but it’s the thought that counts) He and Mary Kate kiss, and Ashley jokingly asks if he has a brother. As it turns out, there’s a nerdy kid at school who is played by the same actor as Nico who’s had a crush on her for years, so she gets with him instead (once he takes off his glasses)

Freeze frame

THE END

Roll credits

80 minute run time

Return the tape to Blockbuster and never watch it again

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alecmagnuslwb · 4 years

Text

New Year’s Eve: Chapter Four

Read it all on AO3 or previous ch. 1, 2, 3

One magical night, five intertwining love stories, all culminating at midnight with just maybe some confessions and kisses as the clock strikes.

This chapter: The next two chapters very much go hand in hand, this time we find Maia, who’s very much in love with girlfriend Clary and very much thinking about marrying her in the very near future, helping her spiraling boss Maryse track down the man who’s quite possibly the great love of her life. Problem is she let him slip away without even learning his name last New Year’s Eve.

***

4 P.M., New Year’s Eve

Maryse Trueblood is not a woman to live with regret. She’s sacrificed a lot in her life to get where she is, she’s done it for this publishing company she proudly heads into the future, for her children and for herself. Every mistake has been a learning experience, every misstep a trial to overcome and give her extra strength to push forward. She doesn’t regret. Hell, she doesn’t even regret the years she wasted on Robert, because those lead to this company and her four beautiful, successful children.

She’s felt regret twice, last New Year’s Day and right now, in this moment with four passes to a New Year’s Eve party that a messenger just dropped off. Because it’s four passes she doesn’t know what to do with, two of her children will be there working more than partying, the other two are somewhat hesitantly spending the holiday with their father and that leaves Maryse all alone. And she can’t help but think if she’d just given her name and number to the handsome possible man of her dreams she met last year she’d have someone to spend the evening with.

She has friends, even after the divorce and some of them choosing to follow Robert’s money instead of her, but most of them have children and partners of their own to spend the evening with. It feels a lot like last year except with no work to occupy her for most of the night she’s so much more poignantly aware of it just being her.

She paces the floor of her office in a bit of a hurried panic thinking about the prior New Year’s Eve. The divorce had finally after almost four damn years of heated court battles gone through and she’d worked herself to the bone to ignore the New Year ready to put the messy divorce and the baggage with it firmly behind her. She’d ended up in a random diner after strolling around the city and then quite literally stumbled into a tall handsome man with the widest smile she’d ever seen.

They’d talked quiet and honest for hours about silly things, but also about their kids, the stranger being a single parent as well, but for much longer than she had, before Max had called asking Maryse to come get him from his dads after a major argument broke out. She’d rushed away leaving the handsome stranger who she’d had an inexplicable connection to behind without so much as her name, let alone a way to contact her.

She hadn’t regretted the choice all year, even if she found her mind wander occasionally to warm brown eyes and an unfairly attractive trimmed beard. It hadn’t just been a rush of forgetfulness in some ways not telling the stranger how to find her had been purposeful.

While she and Robert hadn’t been together for years, and the divorce had just been a final seal on a thing that had been no more than an image of happiness for the public eye for damn near a decade, she still inexplicably felt like it was too soon. Robert may have moved on before the word divorce was even thrown into the ring, but Maryse wasn’t ready, or she convinced herself she wasn’t, convinced herself that she had to think about Max first, about the idea of introducing a new man into his life first, he may be nearly eighteen, but he’s still her baby and always her priority.

Of course all that slipped away the next morning when she’d casually mentioned the idea of her dating and her youngest had simply shrugged, “Dad’s a dick, you deserve someone who makes you happy.” He’d said it so easy, with a rare kiss to her cheek and Maryse felt that first twinge of regret, realizing that she may have left the someone who could make her happy alone in a diner with no way of finding her.

And now she’s feeling it again. Her pacing increases her mind racing with ways that she might be able to track down her mystery man, she only knows bare facts, she’s not nearly as technically savvy as she should be and frankly describing him would probably get her nowhere and just make her sound like a lovesick teenager. She’s so in her head she doesn’t even hear her office door open her assistant popping her head in and freezing on the spot when she notices Maryse’s state.

***

Maia packs the last of her things into her backpack ready to head out for the evening. She’s already changed into her glittery dress and dark red tights for the evening’s semi-formal couch surfing plans. She sends a quick text to her girlfriend, Clary, letting her know that she’s about to head out. It’s their second New Year’s together, this time around spending it with Clary’s lovely, welcoming father and Maia can’t help but hope for a lifetime full of New Year’s Eve’s with the gorgeous redhead. Forever and Clary are two words she’s very, very recently been stringing together and she can’t say any part of it sounds bad, a lifetime with Clary Garroway sounds like a dream come true.

She lets out a no doubt dreamy sigh at the thought, smiling brightly as Clary’s response comes through with just a string of varying colored hearts intermingled with x’s and o’s. Her girlfriend is just the cutest person in the world.

She lifts her bag heading to her boss’s glass door the blinds shut. She knocks quietly earning no response, but figuring it’s safe to head in anyways. Despite her formidable appearance, Maryse Trueblood, formerly Lightwood, is actually an incredibly kind woman to work for, she has a fierce, terrifying side, but it’s only saved for those who would question her authority, particularly since she left her husband and took full control of Lightwood Publishing. She’s easily the best boss Maia’s ever had; she likes her so much she didn’t even mind coming in today for a few hours.

She pokes her head in and freezes when she sees Maryse pacing the floor at a concerningly rapid pace. Maryse is a lot of things frazzled which is how she looks now, is not one of those things.

“Maryse,” she says calmly which stops Maryse’s pacing abruptly. She swivels to face Maia as she enters the office fully, shutting the door behind her. “Are you alright?”

Maryse shakes her head way too quickly, “Of course,” she says putting on an epically fake smile. It’s the one Maia’s seen her sport many a times in meetings with ignorant authors or overpaid agents with egos. “You should head out, wouldn’t want to steal anymore of your holiday.”

Maia knows she should go, should take the opportunity to head out, but she looks at Maryse and just can’t leave the woman whose kind of become a pseudo mother figure alone in this state that she’s poorly attempting to conceal.

“You know, whatever it is that’s bothering you,” Maia starts off.

“Nothing’s bothering me,” Maryse interjects, but Maia keeps going. Most bosses would find it insolent, but Maryse has always appreciated and found Maia’s bluntness refreshing telling her often it reminds her of her own children.

“I’m sure I can fix it,” she continues on. “You didn’t get me that world’s best assistant mug for nothing.” She adds on cheekily thinking of the brightly colored mug in the shades of the bi pride flag sitting on her desk that Maryse had gotten her for Christmas last year, she’d also given Maia a $5,000 dollar bonus, but somehow the mug had meant so much more. It was an acceptance and appreciation of her.

Maryse smiles at that, a real smile.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about, world’s best assistant,” she says warmly.

Maia just shrugs, “I’m gonna worry about you whether I stay and you tell me or I go. No one should be left alone pacing in their office on New Year’s Eve without at least a chance to vent.”

Maia’s stubborn too, another thing her boss has always seemed to appreciate.

And then at that it’s like the dam breaks. Maryse lets out a fond, annoyed huff and then she’s spilling it all out in a ramble, which is a thing Maia’s never heard Maryse do. She’s telling her about a mystery man who could just be her ideal match she’d met last year that she’d never told anyone about, about the regret she’s feeling and how it’s all just sort of hit her in the last twenty minutes since she received passes to one of the hottest parties in the world.

Eventually she runs out of steam and Maia finds herself asking the dumbest question she could out of all the things she just heard.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you even get passes to the Edom Records New Year’s party?” Maia asks and sort of wants to put the words back in her mouth immediately.

“My almost son-in-law or future son-in-law if he and my son who’s actually catering the event never manage to get their head’s out their asses sent them to me,” Maryse says with a genuine smile seeming to not mind, before divulging back into her pacing. “My daughter is actually performing backup tonight as well.” She adds as forethought like she suddenly remembers the fact as her pacing picks up speed.

For a moment Maia considers going, forcing her boss to the party to see her children and just heading out to the evening she’s been looking forward to, but something in her makes her want to stay. Whether it’s a loyalty to Maryse and or the romantic inside of her that has her saying her next words she’s not sure, but she knows she won’t regret them.

“Maybe I can help you track him down tonight,” she says and Maryse stops pacing again.

“Oh no,” she says stepping to Maia placing her hands on her shoulders in a warm motherly gesture. “I don’t want to ruin your evening on some wild goose chase. There’s no way we’d ever find him, but thank you.”

“I’m a millennial with way too much social media knowledge, you could know he likes turtles and has eyes and there’s a chance I could track him down,” she says with confidence which makes Maryse laugh. “And if all else fails we go over to that diner and maybe he’s there waiting for you to show up.”

Maryse looks skeptical which Maia finds insane. There’s no way Maryse didn’t leave an impact as strongly on her mystery man as he left on her. She’s a gorgeous, well-dressed force of nature with an unexpected wit and softness to her, she bets the guys been pining all year long.

“I don’t know, you’re off the clock and your girlfriend is waiting I can’t ask that of you,” Maryse says dropping her arms.

“You’re not asking,” Maia says standing her ground, refusing to back down on this. “I’m offering, off the clock.”

Maryse lets out a breath eyeing Maia in a stare down that she refuses to break. Eventually Maryse cracks and Maia feels a tiny burst of pride that she’s won this one.

“Fine,” she says as Maia happily claps her hands together dropping her backpack to the floor and already moving to the door to head to her desk and log on to every social media platform she knows. “But,” Maryse says as she follows behind her. “You get these tickets as a payment, take your girlfriend to a free fancy party.”

“I don’t need you to pay me for this,” Maia says as she logs back on to her computer.

Maryse rolls her eyes leaning against Maia’s desk, “Then consider it a thank you and not a payment.”

Maia concedes, knowing that while she won the first battle, Maryse will always win the war especially if Maia tries to turn down those tickets.

“Okay, but you’re keeping one for yourself, just in case.”

Maryse rolls her eyes again but accepts the compromise as Maia begins rattling off a list of questions about Maryse’s mystery man intent to find him somewhere out there. She texts Clary telling her she has some emergency work that might keep her longer than originally planned, assuring that she’ll be there to kiss her at midnight guaranteed.

***

Maryse watches with fondness and a little bit of awe in the way Maia understands how to manage every social media platform so well as she lists off question after question about any tidbit Maryse can provide her with about the man she met that night.

She sends the last straggling messenger in the building to an address Maia gives her with two of the tickets for her girlfriend and girlfriend’s father. She smiles as Maia reads a message on her phone likely from her girlfriend with a lovesick smile on her lips. Oh, to be young and in love. She hopes for Maia’s sake that this young love is a lasting one. She can see how happy Maia’s been in the past year and some change since she met Clary.

She’s grown quite fond of her assistant of three years, has come to think of her as another child in a lot of ways especially since she learned of Maia’s strained relationships with her own parents. She wants only good things for her, and that’s a growing feeling as she watches Maia delay her plans just to try and help Maryse even a little bit.

She answers Maia’s questions easily as her fingers fly over the keyboard logging in to social media sites Maryse has never even heard of. While she hadn’t meant to spill her guts out in a rush to her assistant she finds it nice to finally talk about the encounter and the man who’s not strayed far from her thoughts all year. The inexplicable connection that formed so quickly and the way he seemed just as stunned by how easily they’d connected.

She tells Maia everything she can recall, from his little life tidbits like his profession in the NYPD, which she doesn’t know exactly the nature of, to his appearance:

“Tall, African American with a gorgeous smile and great arms,” she says making Maia waggle her eyebrows.

She even tosses in little things she noticed, quirks and silly things they discussed that didn’t matter, but make up a person as a whole.

“He takes his coffee black, said he loves horror movies with clowns and judging from the four slices he ate in our brief time together I’d say key lime pie is his favorite,” she says and this time Maia gives her a fond, sappy look that has Maryse turning her head with a blush.

Maia scours the internet for almost three hours finding a plethora of men who match some of the aspects, but narrowing it down to a little over half a dozen who hold a few more than the others. Eventually Facebook leads her to three men who match right down to very specific posts about their love for key lime pie, but none of their images match the mystery man Maryse knows or wants to know even better.

Maia let’s out a sigh glancing at the clock in the corner of her screen. Maryse is about to tell her it’s a lost cause, tell her to just go to the party and have a nice night, but Maia has other ideas suddenly standing up from her chair, phone in hand.

“What’d you say the name of the diner was?”

“Rey’s, with an e instead of an a,” Maryse says. “Why?”

“Well,” she starts typing away on her phone likely looking for an address. “It’s nearly nine, and even with the holiday traffic we can probably make it across town by ten or so which is roughly around the time you met last year, so hopefully he’s smittenly waiting around since he’s clearly not spending his time on the internet.”

“Maia,” Maryse starts ready to oppose.

“We’re going,” Maia says as she throws on her coat with a pointed look that reminds Maryse so much of the ones her own children have been throwing in her direction for years when they won’t let something go.

And just like she does so often with her children. Maryse relents.

“If all else fails you’re coming to the party with me, Clary’s dad is an attractive, single dude and I’m sure he’d live up to your mister mystery man,” Maia muses as she grabs her wallet and keys from the desk leaving her backpack behind and pulling Maryse’s coat down from the rack by the door.

She stands behind her practically forcing the coat on, which if Maia were almost anyone else Maryse would be deeply annoyed by the action, before linking their arms together and pulling Maryse out the door and into the chilly cheerful night atmosphere with a smile filled with hope. It gives Maryse hope that maybe, just maybe Maia’s right and her mystery man will be there waiting.

***

When Maia’s phone tells them they have arrived at their destination Maryse’s heart drops into her stomach. Because right there where a small, slightly tacky diner sat just one year ago is an empty sectioned off lot.

The diner is gone and with it her mystery man.

Maia twirls around, mumbling to herself that this can’t be right. That they must have gotten the address wrong or Maryse misremembered the name of the diner.

Maryse reaches out stopping Maia’s twirling and angry typing into her GPS.

“No, this is it,” she says, the words coming out sadder than she had intended. She recalls the little bookstore next door and the bakery with the bright pink awning across the street. It’s all still here, just like it was last year. Everything except the diner.

“What kind of business doesn’t put up a notice online that they’re no longer open,” Maia says frustratedly gesturing wildly at the empty space. “Or that they’re no longer even a building!” she yells actually catching the attention of a few passerby’s that she simply waves off with a growl.

“Probably the kind that were never very good at that sort of thing in the first place which lead them to going out of business,” Maryse says with a sad smile. She stands there dejectedly looking at the rubble that’s left behind and all that hope that Maia’s bright smile had given just slips away.

***

As Maryse dejectedly sighs at the remnants of the building Maia looks around, just hoping to spot some handsome mystery man waiting around that vaguely fits Maryse’s description, but there’s just the bustle of New Year’s partiers, no stillness, no romantic reunions on the horizon. She does however spot a flash of red hair at a distance that for a brief moment she thinks might be Clary but shoves away the possibility as she feels Maryse move beside. Her attention switches to her boss as she moves to sit down on the curb, head hung low.

She settles beside her on the curb, people shuffling around them and just barely bypassing where they sit. They sit there quietly for a while, nearly an hour, Maia uncertain of what to say.

“Here,” Maryse says eventually reaching into her inside jacket pocket. She pulls out the two remaining party passes and holds them out for Maia to take. “You should go, have fun with your girl, don’t waste your whole night away.”

Maia shakes her head pushing Maryse’s hand with the passes down gently, “I can’t just leave you out here. What if he shows up here looking for you too?”

Maryse smiles at her kindly, “I don’t think so.”

“I mean you said the connection felt mutual so maybe,” Maia starts unwilling to let Maryse just give up like this. She’s never been a big romantic in the past, but Clary has made her one and listening to the way Maryse talked about her mystery man she can’t just let her quit now.

“It’s okay,” Maryse says reaching out a hand to hold Maia’s cheek gently in a tender motherly way. “If fate wants me to find him again then I’ll find him, just not tonight. So, go have fun, dance the rest of your night away and kiss your girlfriend at midnight. Don’t sit on a dirty sidewalk with your boss.”

Her hand drops holding out the two passes again, this time Maia takes them.

“Fine, but you’re coming with me,” Maia says still stubbornly refusing to leave her boss behind. Maryse is quick to shake her head, but Maia persists. “There’s two here passes, plenty for you to come along. Just because you didn’t find Mr. Right tonight doesn’t mean you have to spend New Year’s Eve on a dirty sidewalk alone.”

Maryse smiles at her softly standing up from the curb dusting off the back of her dress before holding out a hand to help Maia up.

“Let’s go then, we already missed a no doubt incredible dinner done by my son,” she says as Maia takes her hand rising from the curb to join her. “Let’s not miss the free drinks too.”

Maia smiles, still feeling a little sad for Maryse, but happy she’s agreed to at least try and have some fun with what remains of the night. As she once again links her arm with Maryse’s she hopes against everything that Maryse is right, that fate can play a hand one day and she’ll find her mystery man even if it isn’t tonight.

***

The walk across town to the Edom records party is quiet. Maia is clearly giving her the space to talk if she wants but letting a comfortable silence wash over them if she doesn’t. She’s grateful for the gesture, it allows her mind to clear and to let the disappointment slide and instead grant her the serenity to feel content. To know that even if she didn’t find the man she’d shared a connection with last year, she’s ready to share a connection like that with someone again. And tonight she can just look forward to the New Year and its new possibilities. Take a bit of her daughters’ beautiful optimism about the holiday to heart.

It’s a long walk to the party, Maryse grateful for her comfortable shoes, but once they arrive they easily slip inside from the south entrance. It’s nearly eleven already, most of the night gone and done, a thing she hopes Maia doesn’t mind.

They enter the main hall through a side door avoiding a dessert delivery that the bouncer tells them might get in their way and Magnus is just closing out one last slow song. A song Maryse has heard a time or two and known exactly who it’s about. The music ends just as a waiter passes them with a tray of champagne that Maia immediately plucks two glasses from handing one to Maryse.

She tosses it back looking across the room and spotting her son bolting out of the door, a few moments pass and suddenly Magnus appears pushing his way through the crowd to seemingly chase after him, gaining everyone’s attention the way he always does. It’s always been one of her favorite things about Magnus, how all eyes are on him but in the time she’s known him his eyes were ever only on Alec.

She smiles hoping they work things out finally. The night may have not gone her way for romance, but she hopes it goes there’s. Maia also scans the room not watching the scene Maryse is, eventually tossing back her champagne as some DJ starts up a round of dance music to fill the space and she lights up with a smile as she points to a redhead in a pale pink dress on the dance floor.

“There’s my girl,” she says fondly. “Come on, let’s dance.” Maia grabs Maryse by the hand pulling her forward before she can protest. They near closer to Clary when she reaches out to someone, she pulls a man towards her his back now covering their view of the redhead.

The man spins her, a laugh that’s deep and rumbling carrying out over the music as they get close enough to hear.

“It’s just like when you were little, still a shrimp,” the man says and Maryse freezes. The voice so achingly familiar that she convinces herself it’s her mind playing tricks on her.

Maia raises an eyebrow turning to look at her when she stops dead in her tracks no doubt about to make some remark about not wanting to dance when the man and Clary turn so he’s facing their way. Then it’s his turn to freeze.

“It’s you,” he says and Maryse widens her eyes in disbelief. The familiarity of his voice not a trick of the mind as the face she’s been imagining for a year stands right before her.

“And it’s you,” she replies unsure of what to say. Maia is looking between them wide eyed seemingly having an internal freak out about this turn of events. What a small world it is that Maryse’s mystery man is she assumes Clary’s dad.

Maia’s likely berating herself for not putting together the pieces. It’s a thing Maryse will have to reassure her about later, but right now she needs to do something she hadn’t done a year ago.

She tosses back her glass of champagne sitting the empty glass on a passing waiter’s tray, the action makes the man chuckle that deep rumbling laugh again. She steps forward letting go of Maia as he does the same to Clary.

“I’m Maryse,” she says holding out a hand that he immediately takes in a soft, but firm hold. “Maryse Trueblood.”

He smiles, that big bright smile she remembers so clearly.

“Luke Garroway.”

***

Maia watches speechless and wide eyed as Maryse and Luke’s eyes meet. It takes her moment, but suddenly the penny drops.

Luke is Maryse’s mystery man. Maia frankly has never felt stupider. The signs and connections all seeming so clear as she watches Maryse hold out a hand and finally introduce herself. She shuffles to stand next to Clary both too transfixed and stunned by the picture before them to even greet one another.

Maryse’s mystery man worked for the NYPD, up until February of this year Luke had been a detective on the force. His description was apt, a picture of Luke should have come to mind as Maryse described her mystery man. The single parent thing, the daughter he adores, even the way he takes his coffee all those facts together without the pressure of social media mining to find an unknown man paint the image of the man she hopes to call her father-in-law someday soon. The key lime pie thing is the only part that doesn’t add up, Luke’s always been a cookie over all dessert’s kind of man, so she doesn’t know where that came from.

Of course it all makes sense now why they had no hits on the social media front, Luke notoriously hates all forms of the internet that dig into someone’s personal life.

“Um, what’s happening?” Clary says pulling Maia out of her thoughts.

“I believe your dad is my boss’s mystery dream man she met last New Year’s Eve,” Maia replies watching as Maryse and Luke shyly speak.

“The diner dame?” Clary exclaims turning to look at Maia who raises an eyebrow in question. “That’s what I’ve been calling her since dad told me about her.” Maia snickers. “It seemed cool at the time, whatever. He swore me to secrecy about it even though he’s been pining all year. I even made him swing by the diner earlier and we saw it was torn down.”

Maia hums, realizing that flash of red hair she spotted may not have been Clary, but Clary had been to the rubble that was Rey’s earlier.

“I wasn’t technically working, I just wanted to save Maryse the embarrassment if tonight didn’t work out. I was trying to help her find her mystery man,” Maia explains. “Which in hindsight probably should have been a lot easier than the research and literal across town searching we’ve been doing all evening.”

“What a small world,” Clary muses as she turns briefly back to them with a soft smile. Her dad’s happiness has always been such a priority for her. Maia hums in agreement pulling Clary’s hand and tilting her head indicating they leave the reunited pair to it.

Clary smiles stepping a few paces away and leaning into Maia to wrap her arms around her neck, Maia’s automatically landing on Clary’s waist.

“I didn’t realize you were such a romantic, helping your boss find true love,” Clary singsongs with a cheeky smile.

Maia rolls her eyes, “It’s entirely your fault. You made me this way.”

Clary snorts her nose scrunching up in that cute way it does sometimes and that Maia is impossibly in love with before leaning in to place a quick sweet kiss on Maia’s lips.

Maia tips their foreheads together sparing a quick glance to the side where Maryse and Luke have moved their way over to a vacant table both grinning from ear to ear. She moves her eyes back to Clary swaying to the music now playing not really dancing in time with it, but enjoying every second of it all the same. She’s so content and happy to have inadvertently helped her boss find her mystery man and warm in the arms of the woman she loves.

#shadowhunters #maia roberts #maryse lightwood #claia #shadowhunters fic #luke garroway #clary fray #luke x maryse

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atruththatyoudeny · 5 years

Text

Happy 1D Fanworks Appreciation Day!

I want to thank all the amazing authors and artists who make this fandom as special as it is.

Here are all the fics I read and loved this month: (this is going to be looong)

I don't want a taste (I want it all) || thedaggerrose (blessedfetish) || "Fuck me yourself you coward" AU - college - crack - humour - 3k

The AU where Harry tells Louis to go fuck himself, Louis tells Harry to fuck him himself, and Harry follows through.

Always || JamieJam93 || amnesia - references of past depression - 85k

Thousands, if not millions, of fans had been right. Harry and Louis had been in love and together for four whole years. They were 'the dream team'; the couple that made others sick while simultaneously envious.

But thousands of fans had been right about something else too. The pressure had been too much. The fame had been too much. The closet had been too much, and, four years after the pair swore to each other that nothing could break them on the night of their first kiss in 2010, they broke up.

Fast forward to 2018, on the night of One Direction's last ever concert, and Harry has yet to move on. It's not as sad as it seems-he still lives his life and, for the most part, he's happy-but he knows that Louis was his one true love and is trying to prepare himself for a life completely without the other when an accident erases Louis's mind of all of his memories. In reliving the moments with him, trying to make him remember, Harry comes to find that maybe he never really forgot them at all and maybe, like him, he hadn't moved on either.

Enjoy The Ride || 2tiedships2 || a/b/o - strangers to lovers - road trips - fluff - 11k

The one where Louis, an omega more than tired of being treated as lesser than alphas, is forced on a road trip by his beta besties only to meet Harry who might just be the alpha he never knew he wanted.

Whisper The Wind || jacaranda_bloom || strangers to lovers - surfing - fluff - 36k

The one where Louis rides an elevator that may change his life forever, Harry loves the ocean but is a terrible surfer, Liam proves not all heroes wear capes, and Niall might actually have all the answers.

A kiss to build a dream on || noellehenry || Christmas - social media - pining - 17k

Harry has a brief encounter with a handsome stranger at the local Christmas Fair, the romantic kiss they share changes everything.

Harry is determined to find his Prince Charming and sets up a tumblr blog with help from his best friend Niall, owner of the locally famous Steamin' mugs.

Let the challenge begin!

Enter the Rose Garden || angelichl || a/b/o - friends to lovers - 10k

Soft heats make omega Louis clingy. Enter alpha Harry.

I been feeling high when I touch your body || Anonymous || gym - boxing- 17k

Harry is a boxer, Louis is an architect and Liam is the worst cupid that could ever exist.

The Pink Ghost of Princess Park || objectlesson || PWP - humour - sex toys - established relationship - light dom/sub - 7k

The thought of the vibrator does not go away. It’s sitting there collecting dust all through January, and every time Harry and Louis have to leave town for a press event or a show or to record or what have you, they come back home, and it’s still there, the Pink Ghost of Princess Park, the fucking glittery haunting that Harry cannot stop thinking of Louis stuffing up his arse.

Leave Your Mark On Me || FullOnLarrie || a/b/o - restaurant - mating bond - friends with benefits - enemies to friends to lovers - 32k

When Chef Harry Styles’ unbonded Omega designation threatens to derail his career, he does the only thing he can, and goes in search of a black market bond.

You Can't Change The Rolling Tide || LiveLaughLoveLarry || sailing - enemies to friends to lovers - childhood friends - friends to lovers - 25k

Louis lives on a tiny island off the coast of England and runs a sailboat touring company. When Niall is sidelined for the summer after his knee surgery, Louis needs a temporary new partner. Who better to fill that role than Harry, recently returned to the island after five years away? Louis is pretty sure there are plenty of better options. They don't get along until they do.

Take Care Down By The Water || shyserious || fantasy - magical realism - celtic mythology - fluff - angst - 37k

Louis has spent his summers at his Granny's in the Isle of Barra for almost as long as he could remember.

This summer wasn't supposed to be any different, but the little Scottish island turned out to be harbouring more than just the gorgeous white beaches, the clear waters, and the town drunk scaremongering the foreign tourists.

Pray Till I Go Blind || el_em_en_oh_pee || religion - religion kink - demon - homophobia - blasphemy - 19k

Louis is (kind of) a preacher. Harry is (probably) a demon. Of course, nothing's as simple as that.

This is not a love story.

Nocturne || rosegoldhl || fairy tale - fantasy - action/adventure - pining - 36k

Harry is a goblin living in the woods, entirely enthralled with a human named Louis.

I'm still learning to love || literato || minor character death - kid fic - pining - fluff - light angst - 74k

An au where Harry has almost everything in the world except for the will to move on.

Tell Me Your Secrets || dimpled_halo || For A Good Time Call AU - enemies to friends to lovers - dirty talk - phone sex - humour - fluff - angst - 17k

A For a Good Time Call au where Harry and Louis get off on the wrong foot when they first meet. When dire circumstances forces them to become roommates, Harry finds out some things about Louis that he doesn't expect will help him discover some things about himself.

We come in line || starsinoureyes || The Switch AU - mpreg - fertility clinic - 19k

Harry decides to have a baby on his own, Louis doesn't agree it's a good idea but lets him do it anyway. It took seven years and Harry getting artificially inseminated for them to find each other. Louis has a secret he didn't tell Harry and it might affect their family. Also featuring: a pre-pregnancy party, fertility clinics and pregnancy scares.

Sugar, butter, flour || EmmyLouWho || Nailed it! (TV) Fusion - reality tv - pining - 5k

Louis watches Harry start to pour icing onto his half-raw, still hot cookie, and tries to hold in his groan. He isn't sure if they’ve ever had a contestant on the show who tried so hard…and yet completely failed at every single step.

You can’t rig the show to help a contestant, he tells himself. Even if they’re adorable.

dopamine || Only_angel_28 || collge/university - meet-cute - social experiments - fluff - strangers to lovers - 7k

Louis honestly doesn’t know how he gets himself into these types of situations.

Well, actually, that’s a lie. He’s doing this because he needs the money, and because he’s curious. And, okay, maybe because he might be a little bit lonely too. He has always had what his mother affectionately calls an “adventurous spirit.” Couple that with being a (tragically single) broke grad student and voila! here he is scrawling his signature on a release form provided by the university’s sociology department. Essentially, he is agreeing to snog a stranger on camera for the sake of science.

Shouldn’t be a problem, right? All he has to do is lock lips with a (hopefully) fit bloke, collect his money, and be on his way. Easy peasy. Little does he know, fate has other plans for him in the form of one adorably quirky art student who goes by the name of Harry Styles.

Best kind of bad something || wildestdreams || established relationship - angst - fluff - ambiguous/ open ending 40- k

A NorCal AU where Louis is the town troublemaker and everyone hates him except for Harry.

What, like it's hard? || starkidpatronus || Legally Blond Fusion - girl direction - enemies to friends to lovers - enemies to lovers - humour - fluff - 25k

In which Harry goes to law school to win back her man, but gets a lot more than she bargained for.

Tell Me This Is Paradise || QuickedWeen || girl direction - smut - 5k

Harry Styles has been lucky in love but unlucky in the bedroom with all of her previous boyfriends. When her best friend Niall finds out that she's never had an orgasm, she knows just what Harry needs: Louis Tomlinson. Niall sets Harry up to get sorted out.

Your rainbow will come smiling through || hazkaban || Cinderella Story AU - minor character death - bullying - fairy tale retelling - 17k

When harry isn't working at his stepfather's cafe, he's trying to make swim captain and trying to finish all his coursework on time. when he's not doing any of those things, he's talking to the boy he met on the oxford hopefuls subreddit. when they decide to meet, he's elated. he finally gets the chance to meet the boy he's been crushing on! when the day comes to meet his prince, he learns that his online crush is none other than louis tomlinson, captain of the football team and friend of his terrible stepbrothers. now harry has to decide whether telling louis the truth is the right choice or if it's better to just let sleeping dogs lie.

From, your secret admirer || flicker_album || secret admirer - Valentine's Day - tumblr - mentions of anxiety - 13k

The one where Louis is Harry's Tumblr crush so he sends him secret admirer messages for Valentine's Day

Every Story Has Its Scars, Ours Is a Brand New Start || Rearviewdreamer || strangers to lovers - hurt/comfort - domestic violence - angst - dubious consent - implied mpreg - kid fic - 62k

Life as a devoted husband and an amazing father turned out to be a little different than Louis had expected. Everyone tells him it doesn't have to be that way; that he's worth more and that he's so much stronger than any one person trying to keep him down. It's all just words though until he meets the one person who makes him truly believe it.

The Pain Is For Pleasure || lovelarry10 || BDSM - established relationship - 67k

Louis and Harry have been together for a few months. Everything is great, but there’s one question burning in the back of Louis' mind - why won’t Harry have sex with him?

I Just Wanna Get Back to Us || louiesunshine || soulmate-identifying marks - angst - post-divorce - exes to friends to lovers - mutual pining - getting back together - slow burn - 62k

Or, where Harry and Louis are divorced soulmates who are seeing each other for the first time in two years.

Soup Of The Day || jacaranda_bloom || strangers to lovers - minor injury - hurt/comfort - 20k

The Restaurant AU where Louis and Niall are chefs, Chicago is windy, and cracking the big time is harder than they ever imagined. But when a mysterious man starts grading Louis' soups by leaving little piles of rocks, could it be just the thing they need to get them on the road to success?

Bleeding Love || momentofclarity || girl direction - enemies to lovers - famous/non-famous - 27k

Louis is an animal rights activist who throws red paint at fur coat wearing it-girl Harry Styles. Then there's a crack in the surface and something new starts bleeding through.

Oh, Darling My Heart's On Fire (For You) || aiienharry || girl direction - fluff - angst - 33k

Two girls fall in love on a road trip that was supposed to last a week and a half, but it ends up feeling like a lifetime.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This || MrsStylinson || fake/pretend relationship - escort - angst - heartbreak - fluff - friends to lovers - 30k

Loosely based on The Wedding Date. Inspired by 27 Dresses. Basically, Fake Boyfriend AU with a twist. Louis' sister is unknowingly getting married to the ex who broke his heart. When faced with the prospect of turning up alone, Louis panics and hires a corporate escort named Harry. General chaos and epic jealousy ensues.

#28th appreciation #1d fanworks appreciation day #fic rec #my reads #my fic rec #monthly reads #1d fanfiction #larry fics

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darkpaladinchris · 6 years

Text

Of PMA and Pancakes, Ch. 1

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters. All rights belong to our lord and master Sean William “Jacksepticeye” McLoughlin.

Summary: Anti is used to having it easy. Outside of doing videos for Jack, he has no life. But when an accident happens while everyone is away, how will Anti react to having a huge responsibility shoved on his shoulders? Will he crack under the pressure? Or will he grow closer to one of the only beings in the universe he can bring himself to harm? Read to find out. This is my first fanfiction. Let me know what you think. No flames please.

Normal speech

Anti’s thoughts

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Anti woke up this morning looking forward to the next couple of days and began going through his morning routine of push-ups, VR knife target practice, showering, and cleaning and checking his neck scar.

I’m glad this thing finally healed, but I’m almost going to miss it. With all the time I spent in Schneeps med lab and Marvin’s library trying to get it to heal the three of us really bonded, compared to when I first showed up and Sean accidentally stabbed Gerald the pumpkin in the head. Poor guy thought he was going crazy. Not to mention the others looked like they wanted to immediately murder me.

Leaving the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist, Anti went to his dresser pulling out an outfit for the day deciding on wearing his usual black pants with the first, and only, Christmas gift he had ever received which just so happened to be an Overwatch shirt with the character Reaper on it that was given to him by Sean. His outfit decided, Anti proceeded to get dress and set about making breakfast for himself, deciding on pancakes while also thinking on what to do with his time the next couple of days.

With Sean in L.A. and no filming for any of the egos planned, the boys had all decided to follow Sean’s lead and take some time for their own lives. Schneep had gone to attend a medical conference in Australia and wouldn’t be back until next week. Jackie and Marvin were in London for the weekend, touring the city, visiting Signe, and attending a showing of Wicked at the Royal Albert Hall and weren’t set to return home until Sunday. Jameson had gone to Ireland with a local animal organization to help at a fundraiser for the local dog shelter as well as oversee the opening of the second site of his new antique store and didn’t know when he would return.The whole process had thankfully been made easier by the fact that Marvin and Schneep had finally found a way to allow Jameson to physically speak.

Sean had obviously been on tour for a while and was currently finishing up his much needed vacation in L.A. The YouTube creator had become so overworked and mentally unstable in the weeks before the start of summer that even Anti himself was encouraging Sean to take some time to himself and to go visit Mark, Ethan, and the rest of his friends in L.A. if only to reduce everyone’s stress levels, especially Chase’s.

I keep telling Sean he needs to take better care of himself. Then again maybe pranking him with multiple nightmares of walking in on Jackie and Marvin defying gravity together was a little to much.

Having thought of Chase Anti’s thoughts turned toward the bro average star and all he had gone through over the past few months. The poor man had it almost as hard as Sean. Chase had gotten a call from Angus, Stacey’s new husband who also happened to be a survival trainer in the American armed forces. This was no surprise to anyone since when Angus had first called, he explained that even though it seemed Stacey wanted to keep Chase as far away from their kids as possible, Angus felt Chase had a right to know how they were doing and had started calling Chase around the start of first segment of Sean’s tour. Angus would call periodically since then to inform Chase of what they had been up too, sometimes even sending him pictures or videos of the kids which everyone could tell Angus had been careful to ensure Stacey wasn’t in any of them. It had even been on the second or third call that Chase had learned that a couple months after Angus met Stacey she had birthed a third child, a son named Trey. It didn’t take long for the men to put two and two together and figure out whose son Trey was. According to Angus, at 19 and attending college Trey was “exactly like his father”.

Sadly the most recent call two months ago hadn’t gone so well. According to Angus had called two nights before Sean left for L.A. and informed Chase with some bad news. Apparently one of the girls hadn’t been feeling so well and asked to go to the doctors. What Angus told Chase next was so shocking that he would have fallen down the stairs he was traversing had Sean not caught him. Chase later explained to everyone that Stacey had been diagnosed with leukemia. Thankfully they had caught it early on though and thus treatment had really good chances of succeeding according to the doctor. Sean had immediately made last minute arrangements for Chase to come and stay with him while in L.A. so that he could be close to his family whilst Stacey went through treatment.

Anti gave a small chuckle at this thought.

Even after all that she put him through, he still cares for her.

Since then Chase had checked in periodically with the others to inform them of what was going on. He told everyone that all the time he spent in L.A. finally forced him and Stacey to work out their problems with some help from Angus. Though things would never be what they once were between the two, they had both agreed upon staying good friends and keeping in contact with each other more mainly for the benefit of the kids. During this time, Angus had also taken Chase to the college in California where Trey was currently attending school over the summer to become a forensic scientist for law enforcement. Though a little unsure at first, Trey finally opened up to Chase after a couple of hours of them talking, eventually breaking down in his father’s embrace from emotional stress of worrying about Stacey’s condition and his sisters.

I swear Chase can make anyone break down in his arms crying. Heck, he’s even had me bawling into his shoulder a few times back when my neck was still freshly sliced, not to mention when Schneep and Robbie made me believe that I actually killed Sean when we filmed the Kill JSE video. Anti smirked a little at this thought while flipping a few of the pancakes as his thoughts returned to the recent developments Chase had told them all about.

Over the weeks Chase told everyone how he had spent more time with Trey, being the father to the boy he always wanted to be ever since he learned of the kid’s existence, and spending more time with his daughters. At the insistence of Stacey and Angus, after having told both father and step-father to do as much as they could to keep the kids from worrying about her, Chase took Trey and the girls to the beach for Fourth of July where Chase learned just how much like him Trey was. The boy was almost Chases equal when it came to being a daredevil, even showing his knack for surfing by doing multiple backflips on his board while riding a few waves. It was also that day that Stacey told Chase over video chat who one of their children’s role models was besides Chase himself. A few weekends later around the start of August, Stacey was given a clean bill of health to which the whole family went out to dinner to celebrate both that and Trey’s birthday. Unbeknownst to Stacey and the kids, Chase and Angus had made a call earlier that day, and when they got to the restaurant to the girls excitement and Trey’s bewilderment, they found waiting outside to meet them none other than Sean who Chase introduced as his friend and business partner. Later in the evening Sean, Angus, and Stacey surprised both Trey and Chase. Sean had apparently worked some magic and got the pair two VIP All Access Passes to PAX West in a couple of weeks. Chase’s latest call to Sean and the egos a couple days ago had him describing all of the fun Trey and him had at PAX. In addition to that Angus and Stacey joined in with Chase in telling Sean and the egos that at the end of the year Stacey and Angus were going to be moving to Brighton due to Stacey’s job. Due to Angus’s work with the armed forces, he would be allowed more leave to spend time with his family and take care of the kids, but would still be gone months at a time. As a result Angus and Stacey had both started working on getting part custody of the children back to Chase so that they could have some one they trust watching the kids while they were away. This would prove to be difficult however since not only had Stacey been on a rampage when she claimed full custody the first time and wanted to make it next to impossible for Chase to fight the court order, but they were all worried that Chase’s recent past as an alcoholic would complicate matters even more. When they mentioned this Anti merely snapped his fingers announcing, to everyone’s surprise, that any records of Chase that would complicate the matter had just been deleted from all global databases. Knowing the general scope of Anti’s powers, Sean and Chase told everyone to just drop the matter before either anyone could ask any questions.

I hope everything goes well with their case, Chase really deserves this win. Anti then poured himself a glass of orange juice, picked up his plate of pancakes that he had just doused with syrup and proceeded to the living room where a large 48 inch 4k plasma screen television, which somehow was a gift from a group of super fans at one of Sean’s recent shows, awaited him. Just as he was about to sit on the sofa, Anti paused for a second before setting his food on the table in front of the sofa and proceeding out of the living room down the hallway.

“Know what, I don’t feel like being alone today,” Anti spoke aloud to himself as he proceeded towards the elevator that led to Schneepelstein’s lab and medical bay where, unbeknownst to Anti, a certain someone was in need of a little company and PMA.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticegos #antisepticeye #sam septiceye #chase brody #jse community #marvin the magnificent #jackieboy man #henrik von schneeplestein #jameson jackson #jse egos #jse fandom #jse fanfiction

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habaritess · 6 years

Note

You've spoken a lot on Sebastian's relationships and dynamics recently, not just him but he's been the center of a lot of them- I wanted to ask for a bit of insight on Anthonys side of the relationship too cuz he's hard to put a pin on. He somehow manages to charm everyone he meets but you pointed out he always chooses quiet Sebastian in questions of who he sees as the most fun, and seems pretty invested in him for someone who is able to choose from a large group of people. Why?

Thank you for asking!

Seb is definitely the more popular of the two so I get tons of Seb questions and not a lot of Anthony.

So here are my observations on Anthony and Sebastian( As always: Disclaimer, this is my personal observations. Please take it with a grain of salt).

As we all observed, Anthony is the personification for the life of the party. The guy is just fun. He has unique confidence that is so rare these days. Meeting Anthony is meeting Anthony. He does not regulate himself like most people. Most of us have our work face, our face we have with our friends, our face we have with strangers, while Anthony just appears as himself. This is also why he can be so polarizing. What he says is what he believes and they aren’t all politically correct( his sexist comments are legendary). Most of us understand that there are certain beliefs that would cause controversy and we either hide it or never fully go into detail on what we really think, and Anthony being so open about his controversial beliefs opens him up to infamy. But being with someone so open, so confident in themselves, can bring a unique energy to the set because it hard not to feel uplifted with someone like that. The dude is a bonafide people person, and I love what Chris said in his Good Morning America interview. “Mackie just loves people” and he does. You can see the joy he gets from simply hanging around and interacting with others. He is a great conversationalist. His interviews tend to be smooth and effortless because even though he obviously enjoys being the center of attention, he is also good on paying attention to who he is talking to and give a good effort to respond to them. What people say to him, he bounces it back to them, rather than leaving them feeling like they had a one sided conversation. That why a lot of his interviews flow so well, with very little pauses because it easier to get in a continuous conversation with someone when there is an easy back-and-forth dialogue going on. Part of the reason why he so great at that is because he loves interacting with different people. I once read a comment by someone who claimed to have meet him at a fancy party, and when Anthony came in, he went around talking and introducing himself to everyone, including the help. It so rare nowadays with the increase in technology and many people preferring to surf the net on their phone than meet people, even in social gatherings. Meeting someone who genuinely wants to interact with you and enjoys doing just that can be very uplifting to your day, even if your not a social butterfly, and that what Anthony does constantly.

Now that brings me to good ol Stackie. With Anthony being this popular, outgoing, life of the party, people person, he has sure to have made a lot of friends and a good many best friends to boot( he has talked very fondly of Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling, and Chris Evans, and had great chemistry with many others actors and actresses to boot). So why of all the people, its Seb he says he has the most fun with. I say it has a lot to do with this saying here: a good friend will bail you out, a best friend will be in jail with you. These guys are partners in whatever they do and say. You can see the beginnings of it when they were first partnered in the Winter Soldier interviews. Even when they didn’t know each, when Anthony called Sebastian a diva out of the blue, instead of denying it, countering it, or simply dismissing it, he went with it with “ I told them, I can’t move without a wind machine” and than as Anthony goes on with his snooty imitate of Seb, Seb follows that with “ I use to do Shakespeare!” That whole interaction was gold because they were effectively bouncing off each other ideas and work with one another, causing double the fun rather than it simply Anthony clowning on Seb. They became a duo of mischief as a result. They don’t police each other, but go along with what the other is doing. Instead of saying enough of the Tom Holland jokes, Seb joins in and becomes such an active participant in it that he follows it thoroughly even when Anthony is not around. As long as Anthony finds it a fun topic, he is going to go along with it. There were many times in the Infinity War interviews where Seb brings up Tom. He did so even more than Anthony this time around. Now with Sebastian, he is a lot more self conscious in his words when he is joking, but there were plenty of times where Anthony would back him up. They have a similar immaturity level, and neither would stop the other in their fun. At the con, they both acted incredibly immature. They covered a poor staff member with silly string and had to be separated as result. Even than, they continued on with it with Anthony throwing paper balls at Sebastian, and you can tell he is amused by it, not annoyed. Now how many people would have went along with Anthony( yes I’m assuming Anthony started it). Chris Evans, ever so people concious, wouldn’t have. He would have limited Anthony ( for good reason) and that is what so amazing about Stackie. They work together in their fun and it so hard to find a person who faithfully go along with what you want to do, and vice versa.

Sebastian is quiet and described by those around him as the complete opposite of Anthony, but he wants to be as outgoing and outwardly confident as Anthony. He lets Anthony lead the way, bounce off his jokes, take his beefs( Tom Hollande and Don Cheadle), and assist in his crazy schemes. With Anthony, Seb can truly be himself, not the quiet person who says nothing, but the person who he always wanted to be, but could never bring himself to be. For Anthony, he has found the person who not only tolerate his more eccentric ways, but goes along with what he wants to do no matter how silly. As most of us all know, Anthony is very openly complimentary to men. Despite him being quite no-homo, he has no problem calling another man sexy or beautiful, and for a lot of guys, that is a big no-no.( ETA: Clarification: Not saying that Mackie is a homophobe( he aint) just that he is vocally not gay )Its interesting, but you can look at the dynamic of Winston and Anthony. They get along great, but you can already see the limits Winston is putting out. When Anthony called Hemsworth beautiful, Winston interrupts and turns the conversation backs to the movie. When Anthony says his thighs are as thin as a hot dog, Winston jokingly implied that Anthony might be gay. It one of those things where when you meet someone, as you get to know them, you learn about things you can and can not say to a person, and that limitations. Anthony can be as unlimited as he want in that area with Sebastian, because Sebastian just takes it, smiles and laughs appreciatively. Anthony at his most weirdness( his desire to openly compliment men as a “straight” guy) is accepted by Seb, and Anthony goes out of his way to do it to him till his heart content.

What helps to keep this relationship so close is how quiet Seb is with others. Seb isn’t as buddy buddy with everyone as he is with Anthony, and we can easily imagine that in times when things settled down while filming, it is Anthony he seeks out the most( someone once reported seeing them two at a bar once). Seb has a bit of a crush/intense fascination with Anthony too where he wants to around him all the time. Now we know Anthony has tons of friends, but imagine having a person who enjoys being around just you( or mainly you). Not only is he happy to be around just you, but he also wants to go to places with just you. Chris Evans loves Anthony to bits as well, but he is also pretty well liked by the other cast members and can spread himself around if he wants. I definitely think Anthony is aware of how much Seb adores him ( of course, not the full extent) and it makes the friendship more special for him as result because that is unique, even in the usual best friend dynamic. Anthony can depend more on Sebastian to be up for fun with him, so when the choice comes up with who he rather hang out with or the most fun, it is Seb he chooses.

I can write so much more, but since this essay is long enough as it is, I’m cutting it here. These are my main observations on why Anthony picks Seb out of all the people.

#stackie #anthony mackie #Sebastian Stan

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bridgetbites · 6 years

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Bridget Bites : Metabolism & Muscle

Hi! I just wanted to say how much of an inspiration you are. You are so real and honest, and it really connects to everyone around you! My first question: I was previously in gymnastics were I accumulated thick/bulky muscle (nothing wrong with being that strong, but I just didn’t like how I felt) I restricted myself to try and loose the muscle and I did, but I began to get sleep deprived, low energy levels, and loss of concentration. I have a history of yo-yo-ing and being restrictive, but now I have learned and am honestly just trying to find a balance. However, I worry that I have ruined my metabolism for good, and that my body won’t be able to have a balance of lean, toned muscle with a healthy diet. I am just looking for some advice and thoughts on this fear of mine. Or some ways to help mend this situation. Second question, my body has a tendency to gain muscle very fast. With that being said, I have stayed away from lifting weights to try not build up too much muscle. I still love to workout and am wondering what excersices are good for trying to create lean, toned muscle?

Hi! Thank you for your kind words 😀 Definitely a day brightener for me!

First off – well done on deciding to find balance in your diet and life. That is the most important thing, and also the hardest. Through my own experiences in this world I have found that balance doesn’t really exist in the way we expect it to, it’s not a static state, more of a point of reference. We get close and further away from it, but I don’t think we ever really experience it for any extended period of time. Maybe the Buddha. There are plenty of things we can do to get closer (and further) but that is just life. Knowing what those things are is key to maintaining a closer relationship to the experience of balance. And they are usually very personal.

So restricting leads to yo-yoing and takes you way out of balance. Whenever you starve yourself, inevitably you will have some sort of dietary whiplash. It may take a few days or even years, but eventually there will be an after affect in your body. Unfortunately the only way out is through in this circumstance. Denying your body of nutrition means that it isn’t running effectively, and in some cases this can slow your metabolism. But your metabolism isn’t a set rate – it fluctuates depending on body composition, activity level and dietary choices. You once had a metabolism that worked well, and it will happen again. It is time for you to trust your body to tell you what it wants, and to honor those requests. If you are hungry, eat. If you are tired, rest. With time you will find the weight that is right for you, and health will be a simple equation for you.

So I say just be patient. Honor your commitment to balance and eating honestly to your hunger signals. Your body may take a little time to build up its engine again, but it will happen. And when it does it will be based off of your true weight, not a restricted state that is not going to last. I have always found that when I inevitably regain weight after losing a lot, it takes me some time to get back to a good set point. I usually am at a heavier size than normal for at least a couple of months. And this can be tough mentally (especially when trying to model at the same time), but during those times I always worked to commit myself to eating well and getting workouts in. It wasn’t easy, and I still struggle with it. But with consistency comes results. So every day make the choice to eat balanced meals, eat enough, be active, and the rest will follow! Also take up meditation. That helps everything.

Onto muscle. I am a little jealous of your ability to build muscle. Muscle is your best friend in getting the metabolism up and running again – it burns significantly more energy than fat, and life is easier when you are stronger. Strength is sexy, I love seeing so many women these days lifting heavy weights, and becoming so empowered by it. Try to make the decision to love your naturally strong body, and its ease with growing strength. It takes me so long to put on any muscle weight, and unless I work out consistently, it is the first thing to go. There is nothing more humbling than realizing that you don’t have the strength to push yourself up on a surf board because you have been starving yourself.

Anyway – I digress!

I was always under the impression that to gain muscle you have to eat for it. And this usually looks like periods of heavier lifting and higher intake of food and protein. So, by my first year bachelor of nutrition degree (ergo not an expert in this field), I would say avoid this and you will avoid putting on too much muscle. Eat everything, eat healthily, and listen when your body says it is full. Workout wise I would recommend trying a resistance based workout such as pilates, mega reformer or body by simone maybe once or twice a week. I said it before, but the recent upswing of women lifting weights and gaining strength makes me happy. It is extremely empowering to be strong, and none of the friends I know have trouble getting too bulky.. But then again, every single body is unique. Then focus on fun cardio for a few of your other workouts! Try running, boxing, swimming or tennis. Basically anything that gets your heart rate up, and your happiness and a sweat on. And round that out with a bit of yoga here and there (if that’s your thing for stress relief, it isn’t mine…).

If you are living a balanced life, your body will follow. It will take time, especially if you have spent a lot of time putting yourself out of balance. But be patient and easy on yourself, and your health and energy will follow. Don’t deny your body the nutrition it needs to truly thrive, and you will be surprised at where you end up. Also, find exercise that makes you happy and feel good, and you will find it adds to your life in such a nice way.

At the end of the day, your body is your body. I can’t really say what will work for you, simply because I am built differently. It is a journey, and there are no soundbite answers. But once you let go of trying to reduce in size, and start to acknowledge what your body is capable of, your entire view on life shifts. We shouldn’t be at war with our bodies just because society tells us how we should look. Fuck that. We should love and embrace ourselves, and show the world exactly what we are capable of.

Always remember, I dictate my road.

I hope this helps!

Love,

Bridget

I love receiving your comments! - and if you have any specific questions don’t forget to ‘Ask Me Anything’ via the link here.

THANKS SO MUCH

Photograph | Simon Upton

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