#anyways i adore them !! and their adventures !! and i hope that adoration showed through

[kwadlayns]

Good detectives do what they need to in order to solve a case. 💀🔎✨

#dead boy detectives #edwin payne #charles rowland #crystal palace #niko sasaki #dead boy detective agency #there's a little detail for every episode scattered about— see if you can identify them all ! #of course there's also monty and the cat king #had fun putting in some of the smaller details like the anime couples in niko's book :sideeye: i'll see if ppl can identify em correctly to #anyways i adore them !! and their adventures !! and i hope that adoration showed through #consider this my tribute to dbd season 1 #netflix #kwad draws

[maple-the-awesome]

Tiny Little Details ||

Pairing: Four x GN Reader

Words: 1,781

Requested by @pinkalmondcake: May I please get some four fluff of that's alright🥹He's just so cute and I was thinking about reader discovering a small minish four when they landed in his world (he wanted to check on the minish) and the reader didn't know he could be so smol and four becomes embarassed seeing he likes the reader (and the reader is a bit taller than him seeing he's a small bean anyway XD) and when they discover they like each other than as the reader somewhat confesses, then they pick him up in their hand and he's blushing and everything. He also gives them a peck on the nose and hugs their cheek while squealing on the inside! (sorry that this is a longish ask!) And I hope it was fine to ask too! ^.^ I love the parts to your crush and your new part for sacrificing ourselves for the chain! ❤️ Four is officially the most adorable Link and that must not be forgotten🥺I mean, where else are you gonna find a better boyfriend than one you can literally just keep in your pocket? Here you go, hun!

Zelda Masterlist 💙 Fandom Masterlist

Minish are rather generous, taking it upon themselves to hide little goodies in the grass for travelers to find like extra hearts or rupees, but they also host the sweetest little tea parties made up of droplets of tea and crumbs of cookies which are perfectly filling for anyone matching their size.

It's a much needed break, Four decided some time ago. Away from the stress of trying to keep Hyrule (and numerous versions of it) safe while also maintaining his own sanity while faced with eight other heroes, a few of whom can be a bit much to deal with at times, as he's learned. 

For the most part, they all get along well, likely due to their shared destinies and deeper understandings towards each other's struggles, yet that doesn't mean they all share the same personalities. It isn't constant, although also not rare for some to butt heads here and there, leading to raised tensions as well as the need for fresh air like in Four's current case.

When he huffs a bit too loud, he must reassure his Minish friends that everything's fine, even asking for another drop of tea to fill his miniature cup, however it's difficult not to feel new dismay at the sight of a golden sky above. 

Truthfully, Four had cooled down a while ago, already letting his anger towards the other boys roll off his shoulders, but that doesn't mean he wants this peaceful moment to end any quicker. If it were up to him, he'd stay with the Minish longer, trading merry stories about his recent adventures that almost take away from the dark energy looming in the air. Alas, he should probably return soon before anyone begins to worry too much, although as he soon learns, it might be too late for that.

Four was just about to dismiss himself when he heard his name being called. To the smallest beings of the world, it sounds like thunder crashing through the sky as does the crunching of footsteps that almost shake the earth as they get closer, but Minish are used to such disruptions and even Four shows no concern upon recognizing the approaching voice.

"FOUR?! ARE YOU OUT HERE?!" It's you; both a good and bad thing. Good, because out of all his traveling partners, Four must admit that you're his favorite. Your presence arouses a similar sense of calming comfort in him as being around the Minish does, the only difference being the wooziness you curse upon him from your smile alone. Yes, it would be safe to say that Four has become enchanted by your beauty, both inside and out, so he's actually quite happy to hear your voice as you search for him. The problem then? He's still the size of a Minish himself and the only person in the Chain who knows about this ability of his is Twilight, not you.

It's okay. This is fine. He's barely the size of a rupee, hidden amongst a tall forest of flora. To find him on your own, you would have to actively hunt through the flowers and blades of grass which you definitely aren't doing now. Instead, you're scanning the entirety of the field at eye level because you reasonably believe that if your friend is truly out here, you'll be able to easily spot him by doing so, after all, he may be shorter than you, but not as short as to be below your feet (if only you knew).

Four plans to stay silent and wait for you to move along elsewhere which would give him time to turn back without your notice, however he hesitates to commit to that decision once you come into sight, allowing him to officially see just how worried you look. If he didn't know any better, he'd say you appear to be on the verge of tears, growing more frantic by the second. 

You can't be blamed for your concern. Four has been gone for a while and isn't usually a Link to wander, not to mention you were told he left in a huff after being on the receiving end of harsh teasing from some of the other boys. No one has heard from him since, so in your mind, you've concluded that he must be really upset - possibly even hurting someplace. 

Not that he knows it yet, but you've been searching for him nonstop after finding out what had happened back at camp which is why you're in this field now; it's the last place you can think of as you grow desperate to find him before the sunset fully sets. How terrible would Four have to be to ignore these fears of yours, letting you continue worrying yourself sick when it's within his power to smooth your anxieties instead? 

"...Uh, I'm right here," You can be forgiven for doubting you hear anything at all provided how quiet the voice had been and the fact that no matter which direction you turn to, you can’t seem to locate the source until it speaks again in a squeak, "Down here. To your left."

You're understandably shocked to look down and find a miniature version of your friend struggling to climb up a small nearby rock (which must feel like a mountain to him), his presence suddenly very clear as his colorful tunic helps him stand out against the gray, "...F-Four? Wha - How did you get like this? What happened?!" 

You could spend all day coming up with explanations for your friend's new appearance, however you'd likely never land on the correct one and it doesn't help that you can barely make out any of his explanation, his voice matching a mere whisper despite how he shouts his words for your attention.

"H-Hold on. I can't hear you," You immediately kneel down in front of the rock, instinctually reaching out towards him yet freezing mid action. He cocks his head to the side, curiously waiting for you to gain enough confidence to pair with your next question, "I...Would it be okay if I pick you up? Or is that rude? I don't know if that’s rude or not or if you -"

Amid your rambling, Four nods, taking a few steps forward which you take as an invite to lower your cupped hands against the rock and allow him to climb on. Once able, you gently lift him to eye level, "Are you okay? Is this...normal for you?"

He nods again this time paired with a shrug as if this whole experience shouldn't be too much of a surprise, then again, the more you think about it, it probably shouldn't be. First Twilight now Four. You really should interrogate all the boys to find out what other crazy secrets and abilities they may be keeping from you (you're already guessing Time has a few up his sleeves).

You sigh upon realizing Four truly does seem okay, nothing about his tiny expression giving away any negative emotions, in fact you can make out an amused smile as he watches everything set in your mind, "...I was starting to freak out there a little when I couldn't find you. Hyrule said you ran off after Warrior was giving you grief about your height earlier. They made it sound like you were pretty upset - which you shouldn't be because who gives a crap if you're the shortest in the group? You're still plenty smarter and Hylia knows more mature than to tease your comrades into running away - but my point is, since you hadn't returned yet on your own I began to think that maybe you weren't coming back at all and -"

"- Thank you for worrying, but I actually wasn't that upset about what Warrior had said," Four cuts you off while setting a hand on your thumb. His touch only has about the same weight as a feather and even tickles a bit, however you force yourself not to focus on that.

"You weren't?"

"No. I was more annoyed than anything since it does get repetitive to have people constantly pointing out my height -" He rolls his eyes at the thought, "- But I don't mind being the shortest. Like you said, I have other strengths, not to mention there's actually a lot of advances to being short."

"This being one of them?" You smirk, wondering what he could've even been up to while so tiny, although that's a question for another day.

“You could say that,” Four shares your laughter, "...I guess it probably is a good thing you're the one who came looking for me, though. If one of the others were to find me like this, I doubt the jokes would ever end."

"Oh, I'm sure. They'd give you hell. You are pretty adorable like this, though."

Four blinks, not certain if he had heard correctly. He might've fully dismissed the comment if not for your own realization at what you had just said, the embarrassment clear upon your bashful expression and hurried excuses, "W-Well, what I meant to say was that...Objectively, small things are considered cute, and you're like the size of a little mouse which is adorable, even though you're always cute, it's especially when you can just fit in the palm of my hand like this - which isn’t the point! But I, umm -"

Once again, Four is kind enough to save you from digging yourself further into a hole, the only difference is he does so without much prior thought, instead blurting the words eagerly himself, after all this might just be the perfect opportunity to get it off his chest, "- I think you're cute, too! You're, uh, always cute, too."

You stare at him without response which may have been a scary thing if not for your wide, delighted grin; something that only confirms Four's previous statement.

"Could you, um...?" He coughs into his fist, looking away from you with a fierce blush, "Bring me a bit closer please?"

It takes you a moment to understand what he means, but once you do, you quickly nod and move your hands closer to your face, thus bringing Four close enough to lean out of your hands ever so carefully so that he may place a barely felt kiss upon your nose. 

Startling him a bit, you can't suppress the squeal you give as a reaction, "I'm sorry, but that was sooo adorable!"

He chuckles and although he may not make a sound beside it, don't doubt that he feels the same squealing joy in his chest as you sit back in the grass with him held warmly against your cheek.

.

.

.

"...Shouldn't we get back soon? Won’t the others worry?"

"Let them. It can be their punishment for being jerks earlier."

#legend of zelda #lu four #lu four x reader #linked universe x reader #linked universe #link x reader #x reader #reader insert

[vase-of-lilies]

My World, Your World

❀ Mommies!WandaNat x Little!Shapeshifting!reader (f)

❀ MD/LG dynamics, fluff, shapeshifting reader, pet names (sweetie, little bunny, firecracker), SFW age regression.

❀ Request: Oh crap there are fanfics of us (Natasha and Wanda react to fics about them) Dragon AU (Reader is a little who can shapeshift into a Dragon)fem reader is a little who shifts into a dragon and her mommies find this adorable.

❀A/N: I got this request from someone who found me on AO3! @SashaWalker2, thank you for your request and I hope that I fulfilled it to your liking! I have never done anything with shapeshifting before, so this will be a fun and new adventure for me:D I have been doing research (watching how to train your dragon) so I really hope this turns out! :D

The world you live in is a little… crazy. Earth 0092 is what it is called by the Avengers. The Avengers are from a different type of earth, but they are currently being hunted on that earth, so they came to this one. The one where you call home. They made themselves a part of your world when they arrived through a portal at the top of a skyscraper in the city. At first, it was cool since you had seen something like it before, but once you saw a man made of Iron, a godly looking one with a hammer, and one with a metal arm, you were officially scared. 

Meeting two of them made it better. The two women you met were named Natasha and Wanda. Natasha had short, white-dyed hair, and Wanda had beautiful long natural red hair. They were both equally beautiful and equally different from each other. Both had different attributes, such as Natasha. She had more of a protective personality while Wanda had a motherly instinct as well as a loving personality. 

You had met them while you were working the register at a record store. It was Wanda that you had noticed first. However, it was Natasha that noticed you first. You stood out like a sore thumb in the dark lighting of the store. A pink striped shirt with a blue cardigan over the top, blue jeans with a couple tears in them, along with a pair of messy paint-covered Converse. [Or any type of stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb outfit:)]

Nat smiled at you, and you returned that smile with a question. “How can I help you ladies today?” You ask, and Wanda turns to you once she hears your voice. The two women look at each other and shrug. 

“We wanted to see what music you had here. We are new in town and would love to compare.” Wanda said, smiling at you from the first aisle of records for sale. You hum at the odd statement, the music you have here being the only music in the whole world. There are four artists that make music that you know of, and everywhere else streams the same music. They must be really new if they didn’t know about the four artists…

You nod softly, not sure what they were to expect, but you let them explore your shop without bothering them. You couldn’t help but hear them talk to each other about what they found; “Wait, these are the same people who wrote this. Are there only a few people who made it to this shop?” The white-haired woman asks, confusion lacing her voice.

You connected the dots from the day the portal showed up. 

“You must be a part of the Avengers team that showed up the other day!” You exclaim, walking over to them. They nod in response and watch you as you grab four of your favorite records. “These guys are super cool, they formed about 293 years ago and have been keeping up with the times. They are robots, in case you didn’t know. And this lady, she is super cool. She has written too many songs to count. But she sounds like a siren. Maybe she is one but cut out her powers when she sings. Im not sure. Anyway! I hope you can find what you are looking for.”

Wanda and Natasha watch you with a smile as you explain how the shops and music work in this world. They take the recommendations with open minds and decide that they would come back another time with more questions. And they did come back! They came every day that week to get to know you and the shop. 

It was after the full 7 days of visiting you that they finally decided to ask you out on a date with them. You said yes, and they were slightly surprised when you were so direct with them. On Earth 0092, there was no such thing as homophobia, everyone was equally ok with one another and left people alone. It was definitely a world that Wanda and Nat could get used to as they were ridiculed on the earth they were living on.

The first date you all went on was one of the best experiences! You had never been very active in the dating scene, but you knew once you found the right person (or people) you would know that you were in good hands. As you got to know Wanda and Natasha, you found out things about their earth that you never could have imagined. 

“Man, humans are assholes.” You conclude, hearing the way they explain the fact that politicians are the ones who target them, and are the most evil in their world. It surprises you most to find out that a lot of what is a reality in your world, is complete fiction in their world. One thing in specific: Dragons. 

When they came to Earth 0092, they notices immediately that there were dragons in this world. But they also saw humans, so they suspected that the majority of the population was just ok with having dragons from the mountains wander around. They of course didn’t know that those were actual people that lay underneath the vicious yet gentle dragons they see in the sky above all of the buildings. 

It was a dragon's world, with humans adapting and growing up with them. Some include shapeshifters who care for the pureblood dragons. You yourself were a dragon, but at your age in human years, you are [enter your above 18 age here]. Which means you are only a baby dragon at this point. You have not yet transformed yet, and you don’t know when it's going to happen. Some humans have transformed at the age of 14 or 15, but you were a late “bloomer.” Well, that's what your mother called you. 

You chuckled along with Wanda and Natasha as they expressed their fears of fire-breathing dragons, and dragons that they thought would hurt them. But you were able to soothe them easily, “I promise you, they are harmless unless you provoke them. They used to be our enemies, but someone decided to ride one and tame it. They are almost like puppies in that aspect. They just want to be loved, and cared for.” 

They listened to you, and you were so grateful for that. You really liked the way you felt when they were kind to you, and understanding the reality of your world. They told you stories of their world, where dragons were seen as enemies through movies, and how they were “slain” when a princess needed to be saved. They even told you about an interesting story from a movie called “Shrek” where a donkey and a dragon had children. (?) It confused you a little bit, but you listened with an open mind. 

“So, what do you like to do for fun?” Wanda asked you, and you really had to think about it without exposing yourself. Your… littler self. 

“Well, I really like to color, ADULT coloring books! I like coloring in adult coloring books, with colored pencils and paint and stuff. I also like listening to that robot band I told you about. But other than that, I really like to travel. Just around.” You said, almost exposing a rather embarrassing side of you in your opinion. What you would find out, is that it is perfectly natural and the two women would be supportive of you. 

~~~~~~~~

It had been a few months now since the Avengers had shown up to your world, and the two women you had gone on a few dates with had convinced you to move in with them. They had found a comfy apartment, slightly bigger than your former one, and had helped you adapt to a lifestyle of living with people that love and care for you. 

As Wanda sits on the couch and scrolls through this world's social media, you and Natasha are baking cookies in the kitchen. You two are laughing and taking in each other's company but as you look through the island window to the living room, you see Wanda staring at her phone in shock. You tilt your head and you ask her, “Is everything ok, Wan?” 

To your surprise, she responds with a small chuckle. “People are writing stories about us…” She says, piquing your interest as turns her phone towards you and Natasha. You approach her and you let out a small laugh as you look at the screen flooded with pictures and stories about Wanda and Natasha. You sigh in relief as you don’t see anything about you, but you can’t help but get a little jealous, seeing all of these men and women talking and fantasizing about your girlfriends. 

“Wait, are these fan fictions of us?” Nat asks, genuinely surprised. 

You let out a huff, and sit back against the cushions. You hear a small chuckle and you see Natasha giving you a side eye asking, “Aw, is our little baby jealous?” 

You shake your head defiantly and look at the pictures slide-showing on the large screen TV in front of you. Wanda and Nat give each other a sly look, and Wanda puts her phone down, giving her full attention to you. “Hey, sweetie, look we won’t read that stuff. I would rather spend my time with you and Natty. I wouldn’t want our little one to feel betrayed, right mama?” Wanda looks up at Nat smiling as you begin to fall into the space that they so willingly took in. 

You were certainly surprised at first when they accepted you but were eternally grateful that they loved you the same. Once you told them that you were got little, they understood knowing that it was a thing back on their Earth, but still wanted to explore more with you. 

As you fall deeper into your little space, you lay your head on your Mommy Wandas' chest, sighing and letting out a small whine. “Don wan to see ovver (other) peepo (people) tawking (talking) ’bout yous and mama.” Tears threaten to spill out of your eyes, the quivering of your lip making your mommies coo at you. 

“Oh my sweet little bunny, it's ok, we promise to not read that stuff, ok? We pinky promise!” Nat holds out her pinky in front of you as she kneels down, and you link your pinky through hers. 

“Onwy (only) if yous pwomise (promise).” You reply, sighing, your eyes watching a piece of dust fly towards you. In the same moment of not really thinking, you sniffle and that little fleck of dust lands right inside of your nose. Letting out a whimper, you feel the sudden need to sneeze. 

Sucking in a deep breath, your nose tickles in just the right place and you let out a loud sneeze. In an unexpected instance the room filled with a soft pink puff of smoke. Wanda and Natasha looked at each other, confused beyond their mind. 

“Oh, my god…” Wanda whispers, looking at the little pink dragon curled up and asleep in her lap. 

“Why didn’t she tell us she was a dragon too?” Nat whispers, running her finger softly over the small spikes that line your back. “She’s just a baby one too…” You react to your spikes being touched by squirming a little bit. You let out a sigh and a little puff of smoke comes from your mouth, indicating that you were a fire-breathing dragon. 

Wanda tilts her head at your sleeping form, “She seems harmless, she has to be, right?” She says, praying to her god that she is safe, even in the loving presence of you. Well, dragon-you. 

Your breaths are soft and you look peaceful in your moment of sleep, the two women looking down at you with love, adoration, and care in their eyes. As you squirm a little, Wanda gently picks you up, fitting you perfectly in her cupped hands, up and lays you on the small pillow decorating the couch. “There you go, little one, all comfy and cozy.” Wanda smiles, gently running a finger over your pink, scaly snout. 

With a small ‘boop’ to your nose, your two mommies chuckle at the way your dark magenta nose scrunches in response. Wanda takes note and keeps that maneuver for future use. Wanda and Natasha sit on the couch together, holding each other and keeping an eye on you until you woke up. Just a few minutes later, your little legs stretch in front of you and the cutest yawn ever seen escaped your mouth. 

“Oh my god, that- that was absolutely adorable!” Wanda says quietly, not wanting to frighten you in your sleepy state. She ogled at your pink scales that shimmered in the light from the sun. She wondered ‘Does she play like a dog?’ She thought she could buy you toys and made sure to add a couple to her grocery list the next time she went. 

As you were waking up, you let out a small growl and your eyes flutter open. Once you see where you are and who is around you, you sit up and stretch almost like a dog. Your tail stretches out and wags a little bit as you sit down on the pillow, looking up at Wanda and Natasha with innocent, puppy eyes. 

They are a little cautious at first, knowing that some dragons can be dangerous. “Hi, little one, can you understand me?” Wanda says, leaning on her hands on her knees as she looks you over. A little tilt of your head and a small nod make it known to the two women to that you can understand them. 

You do a little spin, and you hold up your small yet big claws, indicating that you want to hold onto one of their hands. Natasha takes your talon (dragon paw) and smiles as you flex it just like you were holding it as a human. As you take your talon away from her hand you jump off of the couch, letting out a small ‘hmph’ as you lose your balance and topple over on the soft rug below you. With a little shake of your head, you stand up and walk around the legs of Wanda. 

They both chuckle and Wanda picks you up. “I didn’t know our little one was the cutest little dragon ever!” She coos at you and you visibly smile up at her. Your eyes sparkle in the sun and you nuzzle your snout against her chest, your tongue licking small strips on her neck. 

Natasha steps behind her wife, looking down at you with a bright smile, petting your head with a gentle hand. “Our little firecracker.” She says in a small voice.

~~~~~~~

After a few weeks of changing in and out of your dragon form, your two mommies have sometimes come home to a pillow or two torn up and fluff all over the place. Or you passed out on the little dragon bed they bought for you. As you grew, so did the bed, but since you were still just a baby dragon, you did not grow so big. But it was always a joy for your mommies to come home to see you. 

Even on days when you weren’t feeling yourself, they loved you to the fullest in both human and dragon form. They would know exactly how you feel the moment they see you laying down on the couch, where you really aren’t supposed to be when you are a dragon, but they can sense something is wrong. 

They care for you so, so much, and love you even more. Nothing would change that fact. No outburst, tiny fire your breath causes, especially being a dragon. Absolutely nothing. And you love them for that. You constantly thank them and never disappoint them in the slightest. The most you do is set a pillow on fire, but that's an easy fix thanks to Wandas' powers. 

They will never stop loving you, no matter what happens. 

#wandanat x little reader #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #natasha romanoff #wanda maximoff #wandanat x reader #wanda x female reader #natasha romanoff x reader #wanda marvel #wanda x you #wandanat #wandanat x female reader #natasha x reader

[caitlynmeow]

How is wife as a parent, as a daughter-in-law, as a sister-in-law ? I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HER !!! My brainrot is back 😅. Also have a good week-end

no worries anon!! i got you with some headcanons :D

i hope your weekend was a good one too!! <3

As a parent:

unlike Cassandra, she doesn’t come from a big close knitted family but she sees how close Cass is with her mom and sisters and she got used to it

Sure, when she proposed, she was fully expecting to have children because she’s also all about starting a family with the woman she loves.

She was absolutely sick with worry when Cass was pregnant because she couldn’t see her feeling so sick and tired all the time.

She did extensive research on every single week because while she wasn’t pregnant she wasn’t going to let Cass go through this on her own, she read about every single detail and was ready for everything and provided Cass with as much comfort as she could offer

She is very involved with her children although she has come to accept some things she wasn’t sure about at first.

She thought she’d take and watch her kids play soccer because this is what little kids do but by the age of ten Aurelia had done nothing related to sports and Adelina, being more adventurous tried to play some soccer with a coach and wife realized that her eight year old has never kicked a ball before this moment and she can tell because her daughter didn’t have a single clue how to kick the ball but she kept trying anyway

She loves taking her kids to other activities though, she loves watching them do other things (ballet, gymnastics, and figure skating) she scored herself points when her daughters showed interest in water and she totally used their giant pool to teach all three how to swim and dive.

She spoils her kids but also knows when a line needs to be drawn. She’s less prone to exploding like Cass does but even she has her limits that her children try to avoid pushing.

She is super involved in their lives and regularly attends school meetings with other parents (Cass thought she’d do it but she can’t control her mouth around other parents so it was decided that she is not suited for playing nice around others who piss her off)

She didn’t think she’d get like that, but wife knows the names of all of her daughters’ toys and who’s having beef with who

Tea parties? Sure, she’ll force her 6’3 body into folding in a toddler dining table set because her children went out of their way to make her a handwritten invite and there is no way she’s going to reject that.

She loves reading bedtime stories to the little tots and even when they got older they still loved listening to those stories

She isn’t above dad jokes which always gets her eye rolls and groans from her victims

Daughter in law:

she knew if she wanted to get anywhere with Cass she needed Alcina on her side because Cassandra adores her mom

Luckily, under all of the hard exterior, Alcina is a very loving mother and she’s very warm and affectionate with her daughters.

Also, Cass is very close with her mother so being on Alcina’s good side is a must if she wants to have this woman

It wasn’t very hard, actually. Alcina was doubtful of her, but wife is confident and assertive, she doesn’t care how it sounds, if Alcina wants to know her intentions, she will declare them loud and clear

Actually, she and Alcina see eye to eye in a lot of things and Cass often hates it and throws in “Are you on my side or her side?” But wife is there to remind her that her safety and well-being are of utmost importance and this is how it’s going to be

Thanks to her being part of House Dimitrescu, wife soon got accustomed to drinking wine (because Alcina would have disapproved of her if she didn’t drink the beverage)

She’s assertive and isn’t afraid of Cass at all which is why Alcina knows her daughter is in good hands because someone is there keeping an eye on her and not taking any of her complaints seriously (to a degree at least)

Cassandra knows it's very suspicious when her wife and mom are together talking because she’s seen this enough times to know it’s not always a good thing for her (because they're always plotting against her which is not fair)

Alcina actually likes wife; she believes she’s the right person for Cassandra and she can see how happy and content her daughter is with this woman.

When wife wanted to come to propose she told Alcina first. She told her where they were going and what she was doing and the entire thing seemed to be planned with Cassandra in mind because it was very private and intimate and that’s when Alcina knew this woman was the one for her daughter because she knew Cass so well (she didn’t show it tho because gotta keep wife on her toes)

All in all, Alcina loves her daughter-in-law because she can see the happiness on her daughter's face and she knows that she’s the right person for Cassandra and she is happy with that. Alcina might be dramatic but she can totally accept a lover who makes any of her daughters happy and wife is no exception

Another thing that Alcina noticed is that whenever wife is staying out of town, she always always drops Cass off at the castle because she doesn’t want her to be alone in their house (even after having kids this one thing never changed) because there is no way Cass is going to be left in her own in a big house nope nope nope she’s going to stay with her mama and sisters and when wife comes back she will pick her up and they go home together

Sister in law:

generally, she gets along well with Bela and Daniela.

She respects Bela and they get along surprisingly well

They also see eye to eye on some things so there is very little conflict

When she is unsure of something, she always runs it by Bela and takes her feedback into account (especially when it comes to Cassandra)

She views Daniela as the annoying little sibling who gets a kick out of being a pain in everyone’s ass

Daniela is actually a pain in the ass most of the time

However, Daniela is the one who schemes and plans for things.

During the few hiccups early on in their relationship and their near breakup twice? Daniela plotted on how to bring Cass and wife back together again.

Because Daniela is a hopeless romantic reading countless novels in the genre has given her IDEAS.

That’s why wife can’t really be too annoyed at her and lets her get away with A LOT.

Daniela LOVES being annoying, she really does get a kick out of it.

Wife is actually glad that Cassandra is close with her sisters because if Cassandra is happy, then wife is happy.

As with Alcina, wife is spending a lot of time in the castle being around everyone, and with time she gets used to it.

Because loving Cassandra and wanting to be with her forever means being around her family and they’re not bad at all.

#asks #this got too long again because i can't shut up about this lmao #house dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #resident evil village #daniela dimitrescu #resident evil 8 #bela dimitrescu #re8 #alcina dimitrescu #headcanon

[dreammeiser]

Hi! I love your work and I absolutely adore your DAWM designs!!! I hope this isn’t a rude question, but I saw you mention you previously were involved with the Jim Henson Company and was curious about your experience and what working there looked like for you? I hope this is not overly invasive of an ask, and I completely understand if you’re not willing to answer for whatever reason! :3 Thank you for your time ☆

Aw gosh! Thank you so much for the kind words! Not invasive or rude at all, I appreciate you asking-- I just usually keep most things to myself unless asked, haha!

Oh man, where do I start... Working there felt surreal! I got to see people I admired nearly my whole life around the office and TALK to them every day-- I don't want to drop names but a lot that are famous in the puppet community. And they were the nicest people at the office too, I still talk with them sometimes! They had a room that had some clay maquettes from previous projects that were gorgeous! We had a resident puppet chilling around the office from old pizza commercials named Bad Andy and sometimes we'd goof around with him! He was a little monkey guy! I was too shy to play with him a lot, which I shouldn't have been, because the others would just make him say bad words anyway, HA!

The guy, dying ^

One of the female Skeksis from the Dark Crystal movie was encased in glass near the kitchen so you had to pass by it every time you wanted coffee or a snackaroo... :'o) I was still very scared of Skeksis so I would walk very fast past her, hahaha! The Pinocchio puppet from The Adventures of Pinocchio movie was also chilling in the same room! There's puppets all over! When I was there, I was working on Sid the Science Kid! As an intern, I did not get a whoooole lot of responsibilities (as one can imagine, I was a very baby-level artist and I was 18/19), but I did get to contribute some art to a couple episodes, although... In the choices I would give them, they would always pick the paintings I was least proud of HAHAHA. When I have the time, I will try to revive my back-then work computer that still has some of my artwork so I can show you guys, I think it should be fine by now. :'o) But I do have a shirt from back then that I still wear all the time. If you remember Gerald from the show, he had this little dino shirt:

My shirt... and then the guy... Zooming at us, menacingly... My bird Kraken kinda chewed up the shirt around the shoulders, augh!

Also, they used some motion-capture animation for Sid! I remember the actors putting on these giant silly suits that had huge feet, huge heads, and huge hands that fit the proportions of the characters, with little ping pong ball-looking attachments to them. Those actors worked really hard to run around in those suits, it was impressive!

There was also!! A screen connected to a console and a controller that we would goof around on because you could control Sid's expressions with it, so we'd all have a turn on it sometimes to make the silliest faces with it and make each other laugh :oD

I remember back then my brain had a creative itch that Sid wasn't scratching enough (sorry if that sounds weird, I hope you know what I mean?), but talking with my dad about it, he recommended I make a story that I had wanted to work on at Henson's, so I took an existing character I had from high school (that's Earl!!) and started making a story with him about puppets, toys, and dolls that were all adventuring through a dream world and trying to overcome living nightmares. It has been dropped and picked back up and redesigned several times, but it eventually became Dream Along With Me. A lot of things I learned from Sid/Henson's actually helped inform how I redesigned the project too!

There's a lot more cool stuff I could talk about but I worry about being boring/rambling/accidentally writing a novel. I'll save it for later if asked again :'o) Thank you for asking!! It felt good to reminisce!

#you were so polite! thank you! please have a little cookie monster cookie! #thank you for the ask! #dreammeiser asks #dream along with me #dawm #dawm project

[love-toxin]

If Nancy's an elf queen, what would everyone else dress up as? I vote (half)orc barbarian for Steve 👀 (no shirt allowed btw). and for Robin... 🤔 I'm thinking tabaxi maybe? (maybe I just wanna see her wearing cat ears...) and angelface could be anything idk <3

yessss.....YESSSSSS HEHEHE

(cws: fruity four, d&d roleplay, plugs, a little hint at some spicier roleplay)

Steve gets a heap of leather straps and fur for his half-orc barbarian costume, his body mostly exposed save for the 'x' crossed over his pecs and the fur pelt that's tied around his waist, plus a pair of striking leather boots and some wrist guards with straps that lace up to his forearms and loop around. Eddie wants to put a little body paint on him to complete the look but Steve keeps refusing, up until the rest of you hold his arms back and smile at how he swaps between being furious and giggling at the tickling sensation of the paintbrush on his skin. you all agreed to go whole hog for this, and you weren't expecting it to be perfect but damn does Steve look good with those crimson handprints all over him, along with some markings down his cheeks so it looks like he's been crying blood. metal.

Robin's look is sexy for completely different reasons--when she comes out from the bathroom, the cat ear headband tucked under her hair is plenty cute, and the simple blouse tucked into her tight skirt is adorable on her frame. but the droopy cat tail she's got with a hole cut through her bottoms to lead it through is an awesome touch, although she swipes at you when you go to touch it and yelps when Nancy's hand manages to shoot out and grab it. and it's made very clear by that deep scarlet blush heating up her face that it's not just for aesthetics, and when she awkwardly whispers to you and Nance that it's really a tail, you both get the gist and giggle with each other as you tease her and stroke her fuzzy appendage, in the hopes that the plug it's attached to will shift around a little more inside her.

Eddie and Nancy's costumes are pretty standard in comparison; his ranger outfit is mostly dark, loose fabrics stretched over his lithe frame with a scarf, a cloak, and a bit of unshaved stubble to give him a more scraggly look. Nancy's elf queen outfit is pretty much just a long, white dress with more opaque cloth beneath it to protect her dignity, along with a delicate tiara and some gold jewelry and makeup along with a pair of elf ears securely attached to her real ones, and covered partially with her hair. with all of them dressed up, you're hoping your costume will be just as cool--hell, maybe it'll be even cooler if Eddie's saving it for last!

with that expectation at the forefront of your mind, you're a little confused and a touch disappointed when Eddie hands you a plain-looking dress and apron (with a corset, at least) and tells you that your character is gonna be a barmaid. a wench. an NPC. trying to hide it just makes it more obvious that you feel left out, but Eddie reassures you that yours is the most important part! put it on so he can start the scene, and he'll show you--and put on a smile, too!

part of you wishes you hadn't joined if you're probably just gonna be watching anyways, but since you know Eddie and you know he's not one to disappoint, you go along with it and hike the dress up over your shoulders--noticing right away that the corset cinches by itself, which is handy, but also that it pushes up your boobs so they're pretty much all out in the open, you swear you can feel air gliding under them from how exposed they are. you listen closely to Eddie laying out the scene for you, describing the tavern you're in and explaining the four of their roles as adventurers and a little backstory, while offering few details about your character aside from the fact that you "always swoon over the sexy adventuring party that comes through town now and again" which you roll your eyes at as the others giggle.

but when Eddie finally sets you all up in your spots--you at the makeshift countertop of your bar, and the four of them in various spots around the "tavern" which is just the wide backroom of the Hideout with all the furniture rearranged--you finally seem to get the driving force behind this elaborate scene Eddie's concocted. the elf queen sat demurely with her tabaxi attendant obediently standing by, the barbaric half-orc prince musing on his recent kills, the reanimated ranger from unspoken lands pulling out a d4 to shake in his hand.....and when he's got everyone's attention, including yours, Eddie produces a potion from his cloak to set it on the table with a thunk. he numbers off the four of them, ensuring they know how to react depending on what he rolls, and looks across the table he's at to wink in your direction before he lets the die go.

"first one to land gets dibs on the wench."

#fruity four #fruity four x reader #eddie munson #steve harrington #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #eddie's angelface #spicy writing #eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #robin buckley x reader #nancy wheeler x reader #st 4 #stranger things #ellie writes #anons

[nerdy-talks]

Obey Me! Nightbringer Lesson 40 Spoilers

I have read through all of Lesson 40, including in the Hard section.

And in the Hard section, it is shown that we have returned to the House of Lamentation.

But are we really supposed to believe that our return to the present/future is met with just a simple “hey, welcome home”?

I don’t know about you, but I think the devs could have easily written at least one full Lesson just celebrating our return, spending time with the brothers, explaining everything that we’ve been through in the past, etc.

Personally, I would love to see Lucifer just calmly telling Solomon “you’re lucky you brought them back home in one piece” and Solomon responding with “haha, is that a threat? Well don’t worry. I’d never let anything happen to my adorable apprentice. Anyway, we had quite the adventure. We even lived together.” just to try and piss Lucifer off. I love their little rivalry/feud when it comes to MC lol xD

And I mean, okay… Levi cried when he saw us and said it felt like we haven’t been there in so long. And Asmo agreed after hugging us.

But!

Are we truly back home?

There are so many theories and possibilities that I’ve been thinking about.

What if what we’re actually being shown is an alternate reality created by Nightbringer?

We haven’t seen or heard anything about Nightbringer for quite a while, so I’m highly skeptical that he just went away. In fact… I think he has a major role in everything going on right now. Why else would the devs introduce him in the first place?

Also, why wasn’t Solomon with us when we “returned” to the House of Lamentation?

It’s suspicious.

On the same note, what if Nightbringer has just intercepted our return home to show us “someplace we will be happy”, as he has said he could show us. It would explain why Solomon isn’t there (which begs the question : if this is the case, where is Solomon? Has the time travel been paused somehow and he’s temporarily unaware of what’s going on? Has he been returned home without us? Is he somewhere else within this new reality?)

Or what if we really are back home, and Lucifer is the only one who knows/remembers that we were missing (like, what if his brothers were losing it because it was taking so long for us to return, so he erased/altered their memories of all the time we weren’t there?)

OR!!! I know this is just me leaning into the whole “yandere Solomon” thing, but imagine if we are in a different reality where the brothers are just friendly towards us. No romantic feelings or love or anything like that.

I mean… Solomon did mention :

Side note on this silly, unrealistic theory : imagine Solomon working together with Nightbringer to make this happen.

Putting all of my dark fantasies aside, though!

I’m also super curious about Barbatos. Before we left, he dropped this on us :

He may not have given us any direct knowledge/information, but that's a big enough hint to convince me that he knew damn well we were from the future.

And if that’s the case… why would Barbaros allow us to be sent off to any place except back to where we came from? Unless he didn’t predict Nightbringer being involved?

I don’t know, though… I’m still super interested to find out more about Nightbringer and how/if he’s connected to Barbatos and Solomon.

I need more! *screams*

In all seriousness… I really hope there will be many more Lessons for us to look forward to, and that we'll get more direct answers soon ^^

#what does everyone else think? #our return seems very suspicious to me #there's no way the brothers wouldn't make a huge deal about us returning #and yet they seemed pretty indifferent? #it's suspicious as Hell #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me one master to rule them all #obey me nightbringer #obey me nightbringer lesson 40 #obey me theory #obey me nightbringer theory

[space-writes]

wip questionnaire tag

tagged by @ahordeofwasps, thank you! I’ll do this for Valloroth/Renegade Prince this time.

no-pressure tagging @hagscribes @talesofsorrowandofruin and @mjjune

[ID - a green and black decorative divider]

1 - What is the first part of your WIP that you created?

The main trio of boys: Lucian, Sorrow, and Vren. They were just the Prince, the Mercenary, and the Assassin at that point, and the story was supposed to be a one-book thing of Vren trying to kill Lucian, getting stopped by Sorrow, and then all three of them getting together.

That. is not how things have gone. stares at 5-6 book series in mild despair

2 - If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

man, i have so many songs across so many playlists for this book, but i think Make Them Gold by CHVRCHES would make a good intro theme for it; lyrically i like it for the themes, and it’s also got the right more upbeat tone I’d want a TV intro for this series to have

that or The Queen’s High Seas from the Divinity: Original Sin 2 soundtrack because it’s much more of the fantasy tone, and the right level of fun

3 - What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

Everyone knows that Sorrow is my beloved boy, but Vren’s been through so much that he breaks my heart (even though all of it is my fault.)

Sorrow gets so many good lines, because he’s a snarky little bitch, but Vren can keep up with him honestly with how deadpan he is. It’s fun to have a duo like that.

also i adore Lucian so much. precious baby runaway prince sunshine boy with trauma <3 im hugging him forever

4 - What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

Legend of Drizzt, naturally ;P

5 - What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

…actually sitting down and writing the rest of it. i keep getting distracted finishing other things TT_TT

also that time i had to sit down and map out the travel timeline so everyone was in the right place at the right time. i have to go back and relearn that when i start redrafting good grief my brain

6 - Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

several! i’ve posted about various beasties before, but we have wyverns and a dragon, and unicorns, and barometz & basilisks

7 - How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

there’s a lot of walking in this book, but there’s also a brief stint on a riverboat, the main crew get a wagon for most of the book, and Vren rides a demon-steed at some point as well.

8 - What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

very low and lazy worldbuilding, plus the very important Rotating Of The Wip in my brain

9 - What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

queer found family, snarky fun dialogue, d&d style adventure. that’s what’d get me in, anyway

10 - What are your hopes for your WIP?

i want to finish it and post it somewhere so people can read it, and i’d love to have some nice comments and for people to draw my characters <3

like that’s it. i want to have the level of reader love and interaction i have with my fic series for this thing.

[ID - a green and black decorative divider]

blank questions & taglist under the cut

What is the first part of your WIP that you created?

If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

What are your hopes for your WIP?

Valloroth taglist: @cherrybombfangirlwrites @reininginthefirewriting @memento-morri-writes @foxboyclit @lawful-evil-novelist

@at-thezenith @morganwriteblr @fayeiswriting @serenanymph

@sam-glade @viscerawrites @thegreatobsesso (ask to be +/-)

#writeblr #valloroth blogging #wip questionnaire #tag games

[svartalfhild]

A Case for Jezri

Listen, I know how the DS9 fandom feels about Jezri, but I just wanted to take a moment to explain why I like it. I'm not asking people to agree; I just want to give it some love because there are things to enjoy and to explore in that ship that haven't gotten any discussion.

(Also why is 99.9% of the Jezri tag just people tagging their hate? Who raised y'all? Please be respectful towards your fellow fans who may not feel the same as you.)

I'm no stranger to finding my gold nuggets in the trash heap when it comes to Star Trek ships. I'm the type to find the things to love about something that was executed poorly by the writers. Datasha is my TNG OTP. Need I say more.

So don't think I don't understand some of the main objections people have to Jezri. I get it. I do. So with that out of the way, let's get into the good stuff.

Julian's personal story, particularly in the later parts of the show, has a strong motif of loneliness, which comes from two or three different aspects of his life. The first one is of course the fact that he's an augment. He's socially isolated by his mental and physical superiority. No one can keep up with him, and he has to diminish himself to fit in, especially before the truth comes out. The second is the evolving lives of the people closest to him. There reaches a point where nearly all of his closest friends are either married or in committed relationships, and he's the free floater who has to hope he can still fit into their lives somewhere. The third aspect is his own shit luck with relationships. No one sticks with him for very long for whatever reason. And there was the everything with Jadzia on top of it all. Poor man couldn't catch a break.

And then along comes Ezri. Quark is quick to treat her as same old Dax with a new coat of paint, for whose affections he immediately tries to generate competition with Julian, because he is a sexist little toad. Julian, to his great credit, is like "what the fuck, Quark" and makes it clear that he sees Ezri as a different person, not Jadzia 2.0 who he now has a chance with. Ezri is his new friend, and he's not going to be pulled into Quark's bullshit.

The writing is unfortunately rather uneven when it comes to showing us the establishment and development of that friendship, so we have to piece together the vibes from several disparate moments, some big and meaningful and others more incidental, but that's not too difficult for me. Fandom has done more with less.

Anyway! Through all of that, we kind of get to see that Ezri sees Julian differently than Jadzia did in a way that allows them to click very quickly. Jadzia sort of saw Julian as an adorable puppy excitedly wagging his tail at her (and by the time he matured into someone who was more her type, he'd stopped pursuing her and then she was with Worf). Ezri sees him as the charming guy who knows how to have a good time. It seems natural to me that Julian would quickly latch onto someone who thought his holosuite adventures were demonstrative of a healthy sense of fun and not a sign of immaturity. Ezri is literally the bad bitch he pulled by being autistic.

And they are such adorable awkward nerds with each other! The big eyes! The soft touches! The fumbling! The trying to keep things platonic because they just like each other so much that they're afraid of messing things up! The breaking down and making out anyway because they can't escape the vibes! *chef's kiss*

The thing that completely sold me on Jezri, though, was their moment together at the end of the last episode where Julian is mourning Miles' departure and feeling lonely and then Ezri rolls up like "Hey~!" and expresses the desire to have dinner and do holosuite adventures with him. That was so beautiful to me. Everything is changing and so many of his friends have left and it's the ultimate pit of loneliness for him, but then there's Ezri. He has her now and he's not alone and the war is over and there's hope and the start of something new and soft. I cried, y'all. Like maybe it's because I'm at a place in my life where I feel left behind while I watch all my friends move on with their lives, but man, the way Ezri represents the light at the end of a dark tunnel for Julian just got me so good.

Here are some of the headcanons I have to supplement the sparse canon material and give further depth and enjoyment to my shipping experience:

They're both bisexual.

Since they're both healthcare professionals, they have a lot to talk about where their fields intersect. They make a great team when they're working, but this also results in them developing a shorthand with each other that is somewhat infuriating for others.

Ezri's closeness with Julian allows her to better develop her friendship with Garak, and there are several times when all three of them get up to shenanigans together.

They sometimes get each other new tea blends to try as a fun little surprise.

Ezri tries to teach Julian some of the gymnastics stuff she remembers at least once with mixed results.

Julian particularly loves hugging Ezri, and she particularly loves holding his hand.

Julian persuades Ezri to read Lord of the Rings, and she gets really into it, so they end up doing a holosuite adaptation as Legolas and Gimli. Ezri plays with her beard a lot.

Quark fucking hates how cute they are and Kira makes a point to tell him about every sweet moment she sees between them just to fuck with him.

Ezri very much gets in on the Fuck With Section 31 train and helps Julian do spy shit. The criminal psychology knowledge comes in handy.

Anyway, these are my feels. Please don't air your grievances here. I just want to sail on my dinghy and hope someone out there is sailing with me.

#Star Trek #DS9 #Julian Bashir #Ezri Dax #Jezri #if you're gonna comment just please don't be an asshole I'm so tired

[misslavenderlady]

Hello!! First off I just wanna say that I adore your blog! Especially your Daddy Dwayne stuff 🥰 (we all are weak for Daddy Dwayne). So I was wondering, what do you think Marko would be like as a dad? I've seen stuff about Dwayne and Paul but never Marko and now I'm truly curious lol.

Thank you love!

This is my first ask I've gotten, and getting it from someone whose writing I admire so much is a real honor. So thank you! 🥺💕

I'd love to share my thoughts! I hope this is well received and I'd love to give more of my HCs for the boys in the future!

Marko as a dad 💚

Everyone kind of underestimates Marko's potential as a parent. He's often seen as the wild, unpredictable one, so when the idea of him having kids comes up, there's a sense of doubt.

But to everyone's surprise, the best qualities in Marko shine through when he learns he's going to be a father. He's always been so loyal, doting and ready to be there for his friends, and he'd do the same for his child in a heartbeat. And that also applies to the situation BEFORE they're born.

Anything his partner needs or wants, they'll get with no questions asks. Have a very specific food craving? He'll have it ready in mere minutes. Can't get comfortable? He'll make the coziest nest you've ever seen. Need some supplies for the baby? He's got bags and bags of food, clothes, diapers, and anything else you need. Just don't expect him to actually buy the stuff. He's still a little thief at heart.

When his child is born, he's immediately in love. Like he would 1000% walk into the sunlight for his kid, even if they're only a few minutes old. He soothes them so sweetly and promises to keep them safe.

While it's very sweet, he's also a bit territorial with his child. Even with his own friends he's hesitant to let them hold the baby. After his fears are settled, Marko will let the others have turns spending time with the little one.

Only family and friends are allowed near his kid. If Marko doesn't like you, you're NOT getting near them.

The others tease that he's more of a guard dog than a dad. But with time and trust, Marko learns not to hover so much.

Despite being protective, he's definitely a fun dad!! He's the kind of parent that thinks kids should enjoy playing in the dirt, going on adventures and taking some risks.

He's also quite creative, so if his kid likes coloring books or arts and crafts, he's right by their side, making something special together.

Is definitely the parent that saves every single piece of art their kids make in school. Does he need to hold onto every stick figure drawing his child makes? No. Is he gonna do it anyway? YES.

If his kid is into sports, he's their biggest fan. Since they're vampires, his kid only plays during nighttime. No matter what it is, he's on the sidelines, cheering the loudest!

Is big on teaching his child to care for animals. He shows off his pet pigeons to them and let's them know how to handle the birds with care.

Definitely on board with getting his kid a pet. Dog, cat, bird, fish, it doesn't matter. Whatever makes them happy.

Another thing he's surprisingly great at is teaching his child valuable lessons. Like "treat others the way you want to be treated" or "it's okay to cry if you're feeling sad". Even his friends are surprised to see him act so wise.

PRIDE DAD🏳️‍🌈

YOU BET YOUR ASS HE'D BE THE COOL DAD THAT TAKES HIS KID TO A PRIDE EVENT. No cops at pride, just the Lost Boys.

He'd teach his child about the different flags and what they all mean, encourage them to learn more about the community, and to be respectful of everyone's identity and pronouns.

Fashion icon

What I mean is that he's definitely getting his kid a jacket of their own, and sewing on any patch they want. Maybe he'd even teach them how to sew as well.

He'd also encourage his kid to express themselves however they want with fashion. He's been around so long that he doesn't worry or care about stuff like who wears pink and who wears blue. So he's supportive no matter what.

Same goes for haircuts and makeup!

Now don't get me wrong, he's definitely a sweet kind of dad. But he's still a wild child at heart, and he's letting that rub off on his own baby.

He teaches his child how nazis deserve to be punched in the face, that cops aren't your friends and that privileged people in power try to keep down those who are poor, POC, or a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

In a way, Marko encourages his child to be a vigilante of some sort. Taking down those who think they can mistreat those who don't deserve it.

If his kid gets into a fight, he's either tagging in to help or defending them so they don't get in trouble.

When teaching his kid how to use their powers, he's encouraging them to be ruthless with their kills. Leave no survivors and enjoy your meal.

He also does a bit of combat training. Deep down, he's terrified that someone is going to hurt his baby, even if they've got powers to defend themselves. He just wants to do whatever he can to keep them safe.

Marko isn't the best with discipline. He loves trouble-making and being a bit chaotic, so unfortunately, his partner will have to be the "strict" one.

However, if his kid does something where they're potentially in danger, THEN he'll give them a serious talking to.

"I told you not to go with strangers! You could have gotten hurt! I was worried sick!"

He's worried about his baby.

Oh yeah, God help anyone who hurts his baby. They WILL die, and it will be painfully slow.

Now I personally HC him as being Italian and also Jewish (in honor of Alex Winter's faith). DISCLAIMER: I'm not Jewish myself. However, I believe whatever important teachings or stories he wants to share with his child would be done in great detail. He'd share details about his heritage and culture, teaching his child Italian and Hebrew as best as he can.

((Side note: If anyone out there does in fact practice Judaism, I would love to get your thoughts on how Marko would relate to it. I want to be as respectful as possible and learn whatever I can!))

Overall, Marko is an amazing father. He's devoted to his baby every step of the way. He's not perfect, but what parent is?

Would be referred to as "Avi" by his kid. (meaning 'My father' in Hebrew)

Favorite nickname for his kid would be "Bambino/a" (meaning 'little child' or 'baby' in Italian)

I hope I did Marko justice!! Thank you again!

#marko the lost boys #the lost boys #tlb #lavender headcanons #headcanon #lavender lady rambles

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Camp Wanamaker (Ch. 4/10)

July 8, 2023

Notes - As I said in my last post, I finished this earlier than expected and, honestly, I'm glad I did. However, all it did was drive my desire to write legitimately anything else 😫 I also have come to the realization that this month will be particularly busy for me as I now have to help with my church's summer program on top of work and everything. I still plan on getting things done, but it might take a bit more effort than usual, that's all. Anyway, there are quite a few parts in this chapter that I changed from the original idea, but I like this outcome far better, so I suppose it was worth it in the end haha.

Chapter 4 - Suddenly I See

The gentle breeze that blew in through the open window filled the small bedroom with the warmth of summer and the faint smell of the nearby lake. Water lapped gently against the shore, and for a fleeting moment, Carrie was sure she had fallen asleep on the beach. However, as crystalline blue eyes peeled open and stared up at the wooden logs that made up the ceiling of her room, she realized the truth. She was still at Camp Wanamaker, still holed up in her room after a long night on the beach. From what she could recall, the night before had been full of excitement - sitting around the small fire they had made on the beach after dinner in the mess hall, listening to everyone rant and rave about their experiences throughout the week.

Distantly, she recalled Vivien’s aunts arriving at camp and listening to stories of the different shows they had gone to see and the adventures they had gone on during their time away. The women divulged their new roles at the camp, and while Carrie was glad she and Riven had another set of hands willing to help them in the playhouse, she was more excited to get to know Charlie and her side of the events Vivien had told the blonde about prior. If things truly did transpire the way Vivien said they did, Charlie was in a similar position with Vivien as Carrie was with Royce and Bentley. With any luck, the older woman would have some insight into how to handle things with the two boys. The pink-haired woman was approachable and had seemed keen to talk with her at the campfire, supposedly having heard all about Carrie from Vivien’s never-ending calls and text messages, so Carrie could only hope the woman wouldn’t mind her prying.

Making her way to the window to see what the day had in store, Carrie sighed; she would do just about anything to find some sort of common ground with Miles’ brothers. Miles adored the boys with every fiber of his being, and while Carrie knew their bond was strong, it was exceedingly difficult to get either of the younger Murphy boys to talk with her unless they absolutely had to. Bentley was somewhat easier to converse with - approaching the blonde more than once in the playhouse during their stay at the camp and allowing the conversations to flow between them like water. Royce, on the other hand, was more standoffish. While their time together in the kitchen during their trial week had gone well, and they had gotten past whatever invisible barrier was between them enough that Royce hadn’t insulted her under his breath or made any snide comments during their time together, things had reached a bit of a stalemate. He hadn’t outright done or said anything against her since then, but then again, they hadn’t really had much time to spend together since the campers had begun arriving at camp. 

Well, Carrie couldn’t exactly say that. She had plenty of time. The playhouse was still being set up, the actors hadn’t been chosen yet, and the script was being worked on still, so those in the playhouse had been allotted more time in the afternoons to do as they pleased than most of the others. Riven had told her not to worry about not spending the whole day in the playhouse at first, as it was fairly normal, so she had spent most of her free time either in the music hall, exploring the camp, or hanging around the snack stand by the pool, talking with Erica and Jade who had taken a liking to having someone other than Noah, the lifeguard, to talk with. It was only after watching him spend the whole week wandering the grounds on his own that she realized that she could have spent her afternoons with Bentley, keeping him company and helping him find things to do while everyone else was busy.

Miles had confided in her that Bentley wasn’t fond of being alone, the same way Vivien wasn’t, and while Carrie knew Vivien was fine in the music hall with Miles all day, Bentley had been left practically alone, spending time in the art barn or wandering camp like a lost puppy. She wondered if Bentley would mind her tagging along until things were done at the playhouse. Grabbing some clothes to change into and making her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day, Carrie took in a slow, relaxing breath and smiled to herself. She wouldn’t know the answer until she asked.

Once Carrie had readied herself for the day, she made her way to the living room, where she found the trio who somehow always managed to be up at the crack of dawn as well as Vivien’s birth mother and the woman’s wife. The children had taken up some of the couch cushions whilst Hayley and Charlie filled a loveseat with ease; Charlie’s legs draped over Hayley’s thighs as the pair talked about their trip and showed the three teenagers some pictures. Charlie, as she was facing the hallway where the bedrooms were, was the first to notice Carrie’s arrival, giving the blonde a brilliant smile and a waving wiggle of her fingers. 

Carrie waved in return, perching herself on the arm of the couch with a smile as she said, “You guys are up early.”

“We usually get up early to get in a few laps at the pool,” Hayley claimed, “but we saw these three were up when we walked by, so we chose to stay and talk for a while instead.”

Vivien turned toward Carrie with a smile and explained, “They were just about to give me a sneak peek at what they got me while they were on vacation.”

Charlie shook her head with a smile, “Nice try, sunshine.”

“You’re not getting anything out of us until your birthday,” Hayley stated.

“But my birthday isn’t for another month,” Vivien complained. “You can’t just tell me that you got me something epic and not expect me to try to find out what it is!”

“We can and we will,” Charlie said. “All you need to know is that you’ll absolutely love it, no matter how long it takes you to find out.”

Slumping in her seat with an overdramatic huff, Vivien let her head fall onto Royce’s shoulder as she whined, “You try, Rolls. They like you more than me.”

With a snort, Royce smirked, “Somehow, I doubt that.”

“Depends on the day,” Hayley quipped with a shrug, earning a gasp of disbelief from her niece.

Turning to Bentley next, Vivien pleaded, “Bentley, you’ll help me, right?”

Bentley’s gaze fell on the two women who watched him with matching smirks, and he smiled in return before turning back toward Vivien. “Sorry, Viv, I don’t think it’ll work. They’d see right through me.”

In a last-ditch effort, Vivien pushed herself from the couch and draped her arms around Carrie’s shoulders, mustering her best puppy eyes as she peered at the blonde. “Carrie,” she began, an almost wounded tone in her voice, “you love me, don’t you?”

Snickering as she brought an arm around Vivien, Carrie nodded, “Sometimes I wonder why, but yes, I do.”

“In that case, will you please help me get some information out of those two very mean ladies over there?” Vivien pleaded, batting her eyelashes at the blonde in the vain hope that it would convince the actress to help.

“These ‘mean ladies’ can hear you, you little shit,” Hayley said, amusement clear in her tone.

Carrie chuckled as she glanced at Vivien’s aunts. Finding Vivien’s eyes once more, Carrie stage whispered, “I think they might already know you’re trying to get me to help.”

Letting her head hit Carrie’s shoulder, Vivien sighed, “Well, damn.”

Smiling at the brunette, Carrie patted Vivien on the back and suggested, “Maybe you can try roping Miles into helping you. You know he’s weak when it comes to those eyes of yours.”

Reviving almost instantly, Vivien beamed, “Maybe I’ll add in a little nickname or two - that always breaks him.”

“Like a twig,” Carrie nodded.

Vivien squeezed Carrie as tightly as she could, thanking her before bounding off down the hall to where Carrie knew her boyfriend was still likely fast asleep. Shaking her head as she let out a soft laugh, Charlie brought Carrie’s attention back to the present as she spoke, “Some things never change.”

Hayley nodded beside her, “And, for some reason, I’m grateful she’s one of those things.”

Deciding then was her chance to get some information from Charlie, Carrie asked, “Has she always been so close with the two of you?”

Charlie let out a bark of laughter, “Definitely not with me.”

The pink-haired woman had Bentley’s attention almost instantly as he asked, “What do you mean?”

Instead of allowing the woman beside her to answer, Hayley spoke, “Viv and I have always been close, but things between her and Charlie weren’t always sunshine and daisies.”

“Isn’t the saying ‘sunshine and roses’?” Royce wondered.

“It is,” Charlie nodded, patting her wife’s arm as she spoke, “but Hails here hates roses.”

Royce made a noise of understanding as Carrie spoke up, “You guys seem to get along really well, though.”

“We do now,” Charlie agreed. “At first, though, it was like a constant battle.”

“Vivien was a feisty little spitfire,” Hayley smiled, thinking back on the days when her niece would glare daggers at the woman she now adored, hoping the pink-loving woman would leave so that she could spend time with her aunt. 

“‘Was’?” Charlie chuckled. “That little shit did everything short of arson to try to make the two of us break up.”

“She was nothing if not determined,” Hayley sighed. “Between her picking fights, starting screaming matches, and the endless silent treatments, I was sure you would eventually get sick of her nonsense and leave once you’d had enough of dealing with her.”

Charlie beamed, proud of the fact that she had stuck it out through Vivien’s roughest years, “But I’m still here almost ten years later.”

“That you are,” Hayley smiled.

Bentley’s eyes slid from the woman to his brother as he tried to nudge Royce in the side without being caught. The story sounded all too familiar, and, if Bentley had noticed the similarities, he was sure Royce had too. Vivien hadn’t always been close with Charlie, just the same as they weren’t close at all with Carrie. If Charlie had somehow managed to gain Vivien’s trust over time, did that mean that, eventually, they would find some sort of friendship with Carrie if she stayed with Miles? Were they truly living through the same thing Vivien had years prior? 

Wide blue eyes met a pair of fiercely determined caramel ones as Royce turned to Bentley with a hardened stare. Although Bentley knew Royce wasn’t entirely ready to give up their efforts to break Carrie away from Miles, he hoped his brother wouldn’t go too far. Swallowing as Royce allowed his focus to drift back onto the conversation around them, Bentley let his gaze fall onto the hands he had kept in his lap. Maybe talking with Vivien and Charlie would give him better insight into how things changed over time. If anything, he could at least learn what had happened to make things switch so drastically. It couldn’t hurt, right?

Throughout breakfast, Bentley tried to pay attention to anything Charlie and Vivien said, hoping for something that could help him figure out what had changed between them. To his dismay, however, any conversation was drowned out by the others at the table who chose to talk about the upcoming week and what they were planning on doing while the kids were up in the woods for their wilderness week. As Vivien stood to bring her tray up to the counter, Bentley rose from his seat under the premise of getting another glass of juice and followed his brunette friend up to the counter.

Glancing toward Bentley and smiling, Vivien said, “Hey, Ben. You’ve been awfully quiet this morning.”

The unspoken question of his well-being was obvious, and Bentley sighed, “I’ve been thinking a lot.”

“About what?” Vivien asked as she handed her tray to the person behind the counter.

“You and Charlie,” he resigned. Making sure Vivien was following him, Bentley headed for the table of pitchers filled with different drinks as he continued, “She said you two weren’t always as close as you are now, and it got me thinking.”

“Oh yeah?” Vivien pressed, her eyebrow raising as she grabbed a cup from the stand.

Bentley nodded as he poured some apple juice into his cup, “Is there any way we could talk about what happened?”

“Of course,” Vivien smiled. “Do you want Charlie there too, or just me?”

After thinking for a moment, Bentley took a sip of his drink and said, “Just you, I think. I want to get to see both sides of it on my own.”

“Smart,” Vivien acknowledged with a nod. “Where do you want to talk?”

Bentley took in a breath as they began heading back toward their table, “I don’t know. Do you know any place where we can just sit without worrying about anyone interrupting?”

A smile spread across Vivien’s face as she nodded once again, “I do. Meet me up at the main office after breakfast, and we’ll go somewhere private.”

Curious as to where Vivien planned on taking him, Bentley nodded silently and made his way to his side of the table as they approached it. Vivien didn’t stay at the table for long, giving the others a brief farewell before declaring she was going to help her grandparents come up with a schedule for a few weeks out. With her presence gone from the table, it was only a matter of time before everyone else filed away. Hayley left soon after to meet up with the other lifeguards and get a feel for how they had started running things. Carrie, Riven, and Charlie were the next to leave as they had to make their way to the playhouse early so that they could start working more on the set designs for the play.

As the others began to leave, Bentley took his tray to the counter and handed it off before departing from the mess hall. The walk to the main hall was fairly short, but Bentley was sidetracked easily by the camp’s loyal guardian, who walked alongside him as he entered the office. It was easy for him to find Vivien as Ding took the lead, guiding him through the hall to an open door. Knocking on the frame of the door, Bentley alerted the trio inside to his presence and found himself practically pulled inside as Vivien excitedly waved him toward the desk she was sitting at.

Looking over the calendar on the desk, Bentley asked, “What’s all this?”

“The camp schedule,” Dawn replied. Sliding her finger from the second of July to the eighth, she said, “This week is wilderness week. Most of the campers will be hiking the trails up through the mountain, and the camp will be practically empty apart from meal times. Next week,” she slid her finger across the week below, “is a break week where it's just staff here for cleaning and prep for the next three weeks. The week after next week is Color Wars.”

“Color Wars?” Bentley wondered.

Vivien nodded, a beaming smile taking over her concentrated expression as she explained, “Color Wars is where we’re divided into four colors - red, yellow, green, or blue - and we fight to earn the most points throughout the week. The color team with the most points by Friday wins.”

“It’s one of the few weeks where we don’t have a program at the end of the week,” George added. “Everyone is too busy fighting for points that they don’t spend much time doing much else.”

Bentley smiled; it sounded like fun. “How many weeks do you guys have planned out?”

“We have a basic outline of the whole summer,” Dawn claimed. “Most weeks don’t have a special theme until we decide to add one. We’re trying to figure out a few more activity weeks this morning.”

“So far,” Vivien began, nudging her glasses further up her nose as she read, “we have wilderness week, Color Wars, and sports week.”

“That’s it?” Bentley asked. “Aren’t there, like, seven or eight more weeks of camp?”

Vivien nodded, turning her gaze back onto Bentley as she asked, “Any ideas?”

Bentley thought for a while. He had never thought of things to do at camp as he had assumed they had everything under control already. Chewing thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek, Bentley offered, “How about a murder mystery?”

“How do you mean?” George asked.

“Like a game of Clue in real life,” Bentley shrugged. “The counselors dress up as their own made-up characters and act out a murder mystery at every meal. It gives the campers something to work together to solve during the day and makes them all super quiet during meals so they pay attention.”

Beaming, Vivien said, “On Friday, they could put together the final show, and everyone could see if they had things right.”

“Exactly,” Bentley declared.

Scribbling down the idea and the concepts the children had pieced together, Dawn said, “Maybe we should get you to help us more often, Bentley.”

“We could always use another creative mind to work things out,” George acknowledged. “Now, what did you come in for?” 

“Viv said to meet her here,” Bentley admitted.

Dawn turned to her granddaughter and asked, “Is that why you asked for the keys?”

Vivien nodded, “Yeah. Can we go?”

“Go ahead,” George said with a wave of his hand. “Just be back before dinner.”

Chuckling as she pushed herself up from her office chair, Vivien smiled, “We all know I’m not going to miss out on spaghetti.”

“Have fun, you two,” Dawn said with a grin as she watched Vivien take Bentley by the hand and pull him out of the room.

“We will,” Vivien called in return as she made their exit as swift as possible. Once they were out of the main office, she led Bentley toward the car she had left parked in the shade of a large oak tree and released him so that he could climb into his side of the car.

Slipping into the passenger seat, Bentley asked, “Where are we going?”

“Just up the road,” Vivien replied.

“Couldn’t we have walked there?”

“If you feel like walking for almost an hour uphill in ninety-degree weather.”

“Nevermind,” Bentley relented, grabbing his seatbelt and clicking it into place.

“Didn’t think so,” Vivien snickered as she tugged her seatbelt tighter and slid the key into the ignition.

Vivien’s car started with a hum, and she pulled back out of her parking spot before throwing the car into drive and heading toward the camp’s exit. As opposed to Butchy’s truck, the smaller car had terrible suspension and bounced around the unpaved road like a pinball. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for them to reach the end of the road, but the pair sat at the end of the road for a moment, allowing their jostled bodies a moment of rest before Vivien flicked on her blinker and pulled out of the driveway.

Bentley looked around at the scenery, taking in the view of the rest of the town as they pulled past the tree line and into an area of good clarity. The houses on the street were few and far apart, but luxurious all the same. A few had large walls of windows, while others sported pillars on the porches and bushes that looked like the puffs of a freshly-groomed poodle. How people had so much money, he’d never know, but it was nice to look at, all the same. As the car slowed and Vivien, once again, put on her blinker, Bentley glanced at the indicator on the dash before looking toward the large house that sat fairly far back from the road.

“What are you doing?” he asked as Vivien turned into the driveway.

“Heading somewhere nobody else will find us,” she replied.

As Vivien rolled to a stop before the house, Bentley asked, “You know the people who own this place?”

“I sure hope so,” she snorted in return, turning the car off with a grin. “You do too.”

Confused, Bentley turned to Vivien with a raised brow, “Since when?”

“Well,” Vivien drawled, “you met my grandparents a few weeks ago.”

“Your grandparents own this place?!” Bentley asked in astonishment, gaping up at the large building before them.

“Partially,” Vivien confirmed. “Besides, you’ve known me for almost a year now, so I’d say you’ve known the owners for about that long.”

As Vivien popped open her door and climbed out of the car, Bentley was quick to follow, trying to sort through Vivien’s words as the brunette moved to the front door and slid a key into the lock. “So, let me get this straight, you and your grandparents own this huge house?”

“They’ve had it for a long time,” Vivien nodded. “They put me on the deed for it last year so that, when they move out, it stays in the family.”

As Vivien pulled the key from the door, Bentley asked, “How come they didn’t give it to your parents or your aunts?”

“My parents plan on going their separate ways once Abby and Olly move out,” Vivien sighed as she stepped into the house. “Aunt Hayley and Charlie, on the other hand, actually encouraged them to give it to me.”

“Do you plan on moving in?” Bentley asked as he followed Vivien inside and looked around.

“Probably,” Vivien shrugged as she closed the front door. “I don’t really need all the space, but it’ll be nice to be able to have people stay over and stuff.”

“Like us?” Bentley asked.

Vivien hummed, making sure Bentley was following her as she made her way toward the kitchen. “Exactly. I want a place for everyone to stay and enjoy themselves.”

While his friend opened the refrigerator and searched for something to drink, Bentley looked around. Despite the center island holding a bowl full of what looked like a tower of Oreos and the refrigerator being covered in artwork that had clearly been done by a small child, there was still a chandelier hanging above the marble countertops and a large wine fridge that showed just how expensive everything was. He couldn’t picture Vivien in such a luxurious place. Sure, her family had money - far more than Bentley could probably imagine - but Vivien never seemed to care about spending sprees or extravagant items.

A hand waved in front of Bentley’s face, and as he jumped, Vivien chuckled, pushing a can of soda into his hand before walking away. “Come on,” she instructed.

Bentley trailed behind at a slower pace, hoping to soak everything in as he went. Eventually, they came to a room with a large television mounted on the wall and a large, plush couch that enveloped them in comfort as they sat. Vivien popped open her can and took a long drag from it before setting it on the coffee table and turning toward the blond she had dragged up to the house, silently urging him to say what had been on his mind. Bentley followed her lead, taking a sip of his drink and setting it aside before clearing his throat and asking, “What happened between you and Charlie?”

“The two of them started going out when I was maybe eight or nine,” Vivien began. “Before that, I had spent as much time as possible with Aunt Hayley. She had taken me out to museums and concerts and it really helped me a lot while my parents were busy doing other things.”

As though he still feared being heard by someone, Bentley muttered, “Sounds like how Miles kept us busy until he moved.”

“It probably felt pretty similar,” Vivien nodded. Taking in a deep breath, she continued, “Anyway, when she told me she’d found someone over the summer, I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea. I didn’t want to give up the time I had with her just so that some other person could come into the picture.” 

Bentley’s gaze met Vivien’s as she waited for him to ask any questions he had. It was uncanny, really, the similarities he could see between himself, Royce, and Vivien. Instead of asking his friend a question, Bentley said, “You didn’t like her.”

“I didn’t,” Vivien agreed. “She’s the embodiment of the color pink, and Aunt Hayley, at the time, was this hipster who clung to her camera for dear life. I thought my aunt would go for someone cool and edgy, not Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony.”

“Sounds familiar,” Bentley mused with a sigh. “Is that why you found it so easy to befriend Carrie when you first met - because you had already found common ground with Charlie?”

“In a way,” Vivien admitted with a smile, “but it wasn’t easy to find that common ground with Charlie.”

“How come?”

“Because I didn’t make it easy,” Vivien stated, reaching for her drink once more. “I pushed her away and tried everything in my power to make one of them leave the other.”

Bentley’s eyebrow rose as he observed his closest friend, “Somehow, I can’t picture you doing that.”

“Be glad you can’t,” Vivien sighed. “I was a demon spawn, and everyone who was there can attest to it.”

Nodding, Bentley relaxed into the couch cushion and asked, “So, what changed?”

“We both did,” Vivien claimed. “Aunt Hayley left me alone with Charlie one day. She took me to the carnival in town and, after spinning around in the tea cups until I threw up, I took out all my frustrations on her.”

“What happened?”

“I won’t pretend I was nice,” Vivien chuckled humorlessly. “After trying so hard to get her to leave and fighting to get things to go my way, I just had enough, and I slapped her.”

“And she let you?” Bentley pressed, bewildered at the thought.

“I was eight and had weak wrists,” Vivien stated dryly, “it didn’t hurt. It’s the only time I’ve ever hit someone, and while I wasn’t proud of it, she gave me a taste of my own medicine soon after.”

Bentley was sure his eyes couldn’t widen any further than they already had as he pressed, “She hit you?”

“It wasn’t as much of a hit as it was a pat on the cheek, but it knocked some sense into me,” Vivien admitted with a smile. “When we got home after a super quiet car ride, we apologized in our own ways and smacked each other around with pillows while we aired our respective grievances. In the end, we found that we had more in common with each other than we thought we would.”

“What happened when Hayley came home?” Bentley asked softly.

Vivien chuckled, “By that time, we had cleaned everything up, made some ice cream sundaes, and begun watching Harry Potter.”

Bentley smiled, a soft laugh falling from him as he asked, “Was she upset with how things came to be?”

“I think she was too happy about us finally getting along that she never once questioned why it happened so quickly,” Vivien pondered. “It was the first time in two years that I had seen Charlie as something other than my enemy and I think Aunt Hayley was just glad she didn’t have to keep me from trying to break them up all the time.”

“Do you think that’s what could happen with us and Carrie?” Bentley asked hesitantly.

“Maybe,” Vivien spoke, “if you play your cards right.”

The blond sighed; he certainly had a lot to think about. Taking a sip of his drink, Bentley realized that he now had to get Royce on the same train of thought. It wouldn’t be easy - in fact, Bentley was sure that getting an angry cat to take a bath would be easier - but if Vivien’s relationship with Charlie was anything to go by, they all would be happier in the end. He just had to figure out how to go about it.

While campers filled the camp the next day, finding their places in their cabins and figuring out which group they would be in for their wilderness trips, Bentley found it easier to hide away from the crowds. Holing himself in the art barn, Bentley pulled an easel over to where he had planned on sitting and unwrapped a canvas to place atop the wooden stand, grateful to have all of the art supplies to himself for once. Gathering a rolling tray full of watercolor paints and acrylics, Bentley wheeled them over to where he planned to relax and had just perched himself on his stool when the door to the art barn opened. Letting out a sigh, Bentley slowly leaned to the side, glancing around his canvas to see who had disturbed his solitude.

Instead of finding himself frustrated by the person, Bentley discovered a smile tugging at his lips as he waved at Vivien’s biological mother. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “I thought you would be guarding the pool.”

The woman chuckled, ditching her hoodie on a chair as she grabbed a smock from the hangers on the wall, “I would if there was a reason to. The groups just headed out for the woods, so there’s nobody looking to swim right now.”

“Ah,” Bentley breathed, wetting his brush in the cup of water he’d set to the side before dipping it into a pan of blue watercolor paint. “So you wanted to come down here?”

“I did,” Hayley nodded, grabbing a paintbrush and twisting her hair around it before sticking it into place. “I enjoy coming in to paint or work on embroidery in my free time.”

As if the woman didn’t already have a portion of Bentley’s attention, she sure did now. Bentley watched as the woman pulled up an easel and canvas of her own, setting up some gouache paints and gathering a container full of threads before sitting near Bentley with a smile. Bentley gave a smile in return before focusing on his work once more. Sparing glimpses at the woman, he wondered briefly if Vivien had gotten her entire style from the woman. They both seemed to favor old band shirts, had wrists full of bracelets, and, to top it all off, they both had bangs of some sort. With how similar they looked, Bentley wouldn’t be surprised if, by the time Vivien was the woman’s age, she still dressed like her role model.

If the woman knew Bentley was observing her, she never said anything, but as Bentley dragged his brush across the canvas before him, he couldn’t help saying, “Vivien told me what happened between her and Charlie.”

The woman’s forest green eyes found Bentley with ease as she cleaned her brush and asked, “Oh yeah?”

Bentley nodded, “I think she thinks it will make me and Royce try to be better with Carrie this summer.”

Chuckling, Hayley swiped her brush across the painting before her and asked, “Is it working?”

“I don’t think it’s working on Royce much at all,” Bentley admitted, “but I also don’t think he’s asked much about it.”

“You have,” the woman presumed. When Bentley nodded, she smiled, “I’m not surprised. You seem to be the curious type.”

“I do?”

“You do.”

Humming, Bentley returned to his art as he thought about the woman’s words. He had always been curious - something Miles constantly reminded him was a thing he needed to be cautious with so he didn’t get in trouble - but something about the way Hayley said it made him wonder if he had pried too far in asking Vivien to tell him everything. Choosing to inadvertently speak his mind, Bentley cleared his brush once more and said, “Miles says that it’s good that I like to ask questions, but that I need to be careful not to push too far.”

“Solid advice,” Hayley remarked as she glanced over at the boy, “but you don’t have to worry about that with me or Hayley. We’re open books to practically everyone.”

Grateful the woman had answered his silent question, Bentley smiled and asked, “Since I already know Vivien’s side of the story, can I ask you what yours is?”

Hayley smiled at the blond as she dipped her brush into a pale green paint, “Of course, but I thought you would want Charlie’s more than mine.”

“I’ll get to her sooner or later,” Bentley decided. “I just figured that it might be easier to see things how I’m sure Miles sees them.”

“Miles is the one dating Carrie, right?” Hayley asked. “The tall one with the bright blue eyes who relies on coffee more than all of the cops in America?”

Snickering at the woman’s description of his brother, Bentley nodded, “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Ah,” Hayley breathed. She took a moment to think, adding a few swipes of color to her work before beginning, “At first, I thought it would be the best thing in the world. I could bring the person I love most in this world and my favorite little person together.”

“I can’t imagine Viv being little,” Bentley breathed.

“I meant Charlie,” Hayley said with a smile, absorbing Bentley’s laugh with ease. “Although Vivien is my niece, I still see her as my little girl, and that love runs far deeper than any other - even my love for Charlie.”

“But isn’t Charlie your family too now?” Bentley asked.

“Yes,” Hayley agreed easily, “but I made it very clear from the beginning of our relationship that, even though Vivien isn’t my daughter, she will always take precedence.”

Bentley thought for a while, taking in the woman’s words slowly and allowing himself to process them before slowly speaking, “So even though you loved Charlie, you would give up your relationship just for Vivien?”

“Vivien may not be my daughter,” Hayley began, “but she is my baby, regardless of what the adoption papers say. I would do anything to keep her safe and happy, even if it meant breaking up with Charlie.” 

Bentley sat in silence, finding nothing but honesty in the woman’s eyes. If she really felt so strongly, why did she and Charlie stay together despite Vivien’s hatred of the woman? “You would give up everything just like that?”

“Just like that,” Hayley confirmed. “The only reason I didn’t leave Charlie was because of how determined she was to put in the effort and make Vivien like her. I had thought about just throwing in the towel more than once, but her stubbornness and determination kept me from it, and I couldn’t be more grateful that I chose to hold out hope. If I had to guess, that’s probably the same reason Miles is still with Carrie despite both you and Royce not liking her.” 

“You think she wants us to like her?” 

“I do.” Returning to the artwork before her, Hayley spun her brush, adding a circle of light, almost white, yellow near the top of her canvas. “If she’s anywhere near as determined and headstrong as Charlie is, she won’t be giving up any time soon.”

Bentley knew just how stubborn Carrie could be; he had seen it many times before. His eyebrows furrowed as he realized just how many times over the last nearly two years he had seen Carrie try and fail to bring their relationship to some form of cordiality and how many times Miles begged them to at least try to find common ground with the actress. They had pressed him multiple times about his relationship with the blonde, asking him what he saw in such a woman and how on earth he had gotten to be in a relationship with someone so polar opposite to who they thought he should have been with. Miles had been calm through most of it, handling them and their questions with relative ease and trying to help them figure things out for themselves, but never once did he say anything about willingly breaking things off with her if they wanted him to.

“I don’t think Miles would give up on Carrie for us,” Bentley admitted. “There have been many times when he could have, but he didn’t.”

“Have you asked him to break up with her?”

“No, but we’ve questioned his sanity more than once,” Bentley claimed with a roll of his eyes.

“Vivien never did either, but if she had asked me to, I would have.” A ghost of a smile crossed Hayley’s face as Bentley’s eyes found hers, “In a way, I knew somewhere in Vivien’s mind, she wanted me to, but I held out hope that, someday, she’d see what I saw in Charlie and would begin to love her the way I did. If it didn’t, and she asked me to break things off for some reason, I would have because Vivien comes first to me, even if it comes at the cost of my happiness in a relationship.” Watching to make sure the young boy had taken the information in, Hayley smiled and admitted, “I’m sure your brother would say the same if you asked him.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

The confidence in the woman’s words and the honesty in her eyes gave Bentley pause. How many times had his brother contemplated giving up his relationship with Carrie just to appease them? If he was dealing with the same thing Hayley had, it had probably been far more than just once or twice. Taking in a deep breath, Bentley stared at his unfinished artwork and realized that, sooner rather than later, he would have to sit down with his brother and try to air his concerns. With any luck, he’d hear something similar to what Hayley had divulged. Then, as he glanced out the nearby window at the playhouse across the walking path, Bentley realized that if he wanted to see every side of the relationship, that meant he would also have to ask the she-devil herself. Great, Bentley sighed to himself, exactly what he didn’t want to do.

Deciding it would be easier to see Miles’ side of things first, Bentley set out for the music hall on Tuesday morning, following his brother up the hill to the old building as they talked about the new Transformers movie they had watched the night before. Though Vivien had initially followed them, she broke off when they reached the part of the trail that split off toward the pool, claiming she wanted to talk with Noah about something before the day went any further. Miles brushed off the girl’s departure and continued talking with Bentley, simply glad to have the chance to spend time with his youngest brother on what was typically a busy day.

By the time they had made it to the music hall, the conversation had shifted topics, and as Bentley perched himself in the cozy armchair Vivien usually claimed, he found himself taking a cautious breath and asking, “Can we talk?”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing?” Miles chuckled as he dropped into his chair.

“Well, yeah,” Bentley said with a roll of his eyes, “but I mean about… something else.”

Noticing the way Bentley’s eyes had drifted and how focused he was on fiddling with his shoelaces, Miles figured the topic had to have been eating at his younger brother, whatever it was. Attempting to make light of the situation, Miles joked, “If this is about how floppy the bacon was this morning, I have to say, I-”

“Miley,” Bentley interrupted curtly, hoping his brother would see the seriousness in his eyes as they met Miles’.

Sensing the importance of the conversation, Miles cleared his throat and turned toward Bentley, “Yeah, baby?”

There it was, the simple word that meant the world to Bentley. Miles had, according to Royce, picked up on the term of endearment from their mother, and, for as long as either of them could remember, they had always been called that. The gravity of a small, four-letter word had struck him more than once, but now, it seemed to have more power behind it - whether Miles knew it or not. Reflecting back on his conversation with Hayley the day before, Bentley recalled her saying that, despite Vivien not being her kid, she was still her baby. In a way, Bentley was sure Miles must have felt something similar after spending so much time practically raising both Royce and himself.

Taking in a breath, Bentley leveled his gaze on his brother and said, “I want to talk with you about Carrie.”

“What about her?” Miles asked, the small smile he had maintained faltering under his brother’s stare.

Despite his impeccable poker face around most other people, Miles wore his heart on his sleeve when it came to his brothers, his guard collapsing around him with ease. Though he hated to admit it, Bentley used this information and pinpointed the precise moments when hope left his brother's aquamarine eyes and fear coupled with hurt flooded in. It was easy to tell that Miles knew how serious the conversation was meant to be, and, while Bentley was grateful he was taking it seriously, he didn’t want his brother to be too worried.

Reaching over the gap between their chairs, Bentley took Miles’ hand in his and watched Miles’ tension loosen a fraction, seemingly grateful for his brother's quick squeeze. “Relax,” Bentley gently ordered. “I just want to ask you some stuff.”

“Like what?” Miles pressed in a breath.

Thinking for a moment, Bentley asked, “Are you genuinely happy with her?”

Taken aback by his brother’s question, Miles froze, his eyebrow raising as he replied, “I am; why?”

Avoiding answering, Bentley asked, “Do you want to marry her someday?”

“What?”

“Are you going to have kids?”

“Ben, I-”

“If you do, what happens to me and Royce?”

Startled by the complete curveball he had been thrown, Miles blinked and jerked backward as he sputtered some incoherent, half-sentences, and Bentley continued asking questions he didn’t have answers for. Righting himself, Miles took in a deep breath and took Bentley by the shoulders, cutting him off mid-question to ask, “Benny, what brought this on?”

Swallowing the lump of tension that had formed in his throat, Bentley spoke, “Vivien didn’t like Charlie at first.”

“Okay,” Miles began slowly, wondering where this non sequitur would bring them.

“They got close, and now they’re family,” Bentley continued. Miles nodded, and Bentley resumed his speech, “Charlie and Hayley can’t have kids because they’re two girls, but you and Carrie can.”

As hard as he tried to piece together the puzzle Bentley had dumped out before him, Miles couldn’t find where the two topics correlated. Giving his youngest brother a small, tentative smile, Miles said, “I’m not sure I follow.”

“It’s just…” Bentley’s voice faded into silence. Then, as he took a breath once more, he met Miles’ eyes and admitted, “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

Pushing the ball of pressure in his throat down again, Bentley muttered, “You kicking us out.”

Like a piece of glass being smashed in with a baseball, Miles shattered, reaching for Bentley with wide eyes as he stated, “I would never do that to either of you. Who on earth told you that you would get kicked out?”

“It’s only natural,” Bentley said with a shake of his head, taking in a shuddered breath. “If you and Carrie get married and stuff, it won’t be long before we get kicked out so you two can have kids.”

“Bentley,” Miles breathed, but he was quickly cut off by Bentley once more.

“With Hayley and Charlie, Vivien has nothing to worry about unless they adopt, and even then, she doesn’t live with them all the time,” he rambled. “You and Carrie can have kids whenever you want and after how Royce and I have treated her, I wouldn’t be surprised if Carrie convinces you to kick us out to make room for the kids you’ll have and-”

“And, if I thought that was even remotely close to being true,” Miles began, “I would have broken up with her a long time ago.” Using Bentley’s silence as a way to get his point across, Miles squeezed his brother’s hands as he said, “Even though Carrie and I have no intention of having kids any time soon, I know for a fact that the last thing she would do is kick either one of you out. Regardless of whether you see it or not, she does care about you two and is trying so hard to get that point across in any way she can.”

Steadying himself with a deep breath, Bentley asked, “She is?”

Allowing a smile to tug at his lips, Miles nodded, “Far more than you realize. She pays more attention to both of you and your interests than you might realize. Every time I drive her to work, she asks about you and the things you’d gotten up to. If you two would give her the chance to show it, you would be able to see just how deeply she cares.”

With a pensive look in his eyes, Bentley questioned, “Is that why you’ve stayed with her even though we didn’t like her?”

“There’s a list of reasons, but that’s a part of it, sure,” Miles agreed. With a thoughtful smile, he added, “In fact, she offered to lend me her car and give me gas money to pick you both up not long after I got your letter saying that you two had saved the money to come live with me.”

“She did?” Bentley wondered. Though he had tried to see what his oldest brother had seen in the blonde, he had allowed his vision of her to have been blurred by Royce’s distrust and Butchy’s distaste for the actress. At Miles’ nod of confirmation that the blonde had, in fact, offered such a grand gesture, Bentley asked, “How come you never told us?”

“It never occurred to me,” Miles shrugged, reaching up to brush some of Bentley’s golden locks from his face. “At the time, I was more surprised to see you both on my doorstep than anything, and as time passed, I found myself more occupied with caring for the two of you that I never thought to mention it.”

Letting out a breath of a laugh, Bentley said, “That might have made a lot of a difference.”

“You think so?”

Bentley laughed, hoping his emphatic nod would emphasize his statement, “Royce and I thought she was just this prissy, full-of-herself, wicked witch who had you trapped in some kind of evil love spell like in that movie we had watched where the octopus girl spelled the prince to fall in love with her instead of the mermaid.”

Letting out a snort at his brother’s warped description of his girlfriend, Miles shook his head, “She’s a lot friendlier when you get to know her.”

“Maybe a little too friendly with you,” Bentley remarked, wiggling his eyebrows with a smirk.

Smacking Bentley’s shoulder, Miles scoffed, “Shut up.”

After sitting for a while in relative silence, smiling at each other, Bentley softly spoke up, “I think I might try talking with her tomorrow. You know, get a feel for who she is and all that.”

“Really?” Miles asked, hope swelling in his eyes once more as Bentley chuckled and nodded.

“She deserves it after putting up with us for so long.”

Smiling, Miles leaned over the gap between their chairs and pulled Bentley into a hug, glad to feel his brother’s arms come around his back as he muttered his thanks over the blond’s shoulder. Before he could say much more, the door to the music hall pushed open, and, with a curious tilt of her head, Vivien asked, “What did I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Bentley said with ease. “We were talking about Carrie, and I think I’m finally willing to give her a shot.”

“You are?” Vivien questioned skeptically. Bentley’s nod and Miles’ beaming smile seemed genuine, so as Vivien smiled in return, she said, “Well, it’s about damn time if you ask me.”

Rolling his eyes at his friend’s comment, Bentley relaxed into his chair once more and began thinking of how he would approach Carrie without scaring her off. In the past, he had helped Royce and Butchy with more than one torturous prank on the girl. He couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t feel uneasy by his presence and sudden interest in her. Taking a deep breath and glancing at Miles as he stood and made his way to the guitars that hung on the wall, Bentley thought of how at ease the actress was around his oldest brother. If he could treat her similarly to how Miles did, maybe she would be willing to speak with him. While he couldn’t approach her with a kiss like Miles almost always did - not only because it would be inappropriate, but also the fact that the very thought had him fighting the urge to throw up - but he could try approaching her with a smile. 

Maybe, if she was lucky, she’d get a hug out of him like everyone else did.

Wednesday came and brought with it the invisible war paint on Bentley’s cheeks. In his head, he was preparing for battle, ready to fight the ingrained hatred he had for a certain actress to make some sort of progress toward a form of friendship he had once thought impossible. While it still felt nearly impossible, it was for an entirely different reason. Originally, the impossibility was willingly engaging in conversation with Carrie without one of his brothers or friends present. Now it had dissolved into the impossibility of getting the actress alone for more than five seconds.

His first plan had been to sort of ambush her before breakfast, using the early hours to talk, but given how easily he now managed to snooze his alarm and go back to sleep, his first plan was quickly scrapped, and he was hauled out of bed by Riven who told him to get dressed before Vivien chose violence. His second plan was similar to how he had managed to corner Vivien in the mess hall a few days earlier. That plan was also scrapped as everyone else seemed to get up from the table for something or another and had grabbed the blonde anything she needed while they were up. Bentley was officially on his third - and, hopefully, last - plan, which required him practically stalking Carrie, Riven, and Charlie to the playhouse.

“Spending the day in the art barn again?” Riven asked as he trailed alongside the blond boy.

Bentley was quick to shake his head as he softly answered, “I’m trying to spend time with Carrie.”

Confusion filled Riven’s expression as he reached up and slapped a hand to the boy’s forehead, “Why; are you sick or something? Trying to pass it along to her?”

Peeling Riven’s hand from his face, Bentley snickered, “No.”

“Are you sure?” Riven pressed rhetorically. “I can’t imagine you willingly spending time with her.”

“Yeah, well, I’m going to try,” Bentley sighed.

“What changed?” the auburn-haired boy asked.

Taking in a breath, Bentley explained, “The other day, I talked with Viv and Hayley about how things were when Charlie came into the picture and, after hearing their side of things, I talked with Miles to see how he felt.”

“And?”

“It sort of made things make sense,” Bentley admitted. “Now, I just want to hear her side of things to see if Royce and I were wrong about some stuff.”

Riven hummed, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he walked, “Well, if it means anything, I don’t mind spending all day with her in the playhouse. She’s fun, yet professional when she needs to be, and she puts in the effort to make sure everyone is having a good time regardless of what they’re doing.”

“You like spending time with her?” Bentley asked.

“I do,” Riven admitted. “Despite what Royce and Butchy say, she’s not the devil.”

“I didn’t think she was,” Bentley confessed.

“Maybe not,” the taller boy shrugged, “but I bet you’ve called her that because that’s how they see her.”

Bentley didn’t need to think about it to know. He had done it many times before out of habit, spewing out what he had heard them say just to feel included. “Maybe,” he muttered.

“Mhm,” Riven hummed knowingly. “Just do me a favor.”

“What’s that?” Bentley asked.

“Try to see her for who she actually is,” Riven said. “Push aside whatever you had heard from everyone else and get to know the real Carrie. You never know what side of her you’ll get, but you never know; maybe you’ll like what you see.”

Glancing ahead at the two women ahead of them, Bentley felt a smile tug at his lips as Charlie said something that got Carrie laughing hysterically. As they neared the playhouse, Carrie’s head turned toward the art barn and, subsequently, the library. After a moment, she turned to say something to Riven, but when she spotted Bentley beside him, she stalled. After what couldn’t have been more than a second or two, she bounced back to her smiling self and waved toward the boys before turning back to Charlie with something to say.

“Maybe,” Bentley conceded.

Normally, Bentley didn’t mind being covered in paint, but he preferred to paint on a canvas with brushes and precision. Spray-painting a gigantic hair spray canister in aqua and baby pink was certainly not the type of artwork he liked. It didn’t help that, with his job being kept outside, Bentley didn’t have a single opportunity to talk with Carrie alone. She was tasked with helping Riven and some girl with a name he couldn’t pronounce work on the photography ideas they’d had for promotion pictures they would eventually plaster all over the town. Instead, he was kept company only by Charlie, who came and went as she pleased and offered him company when she wasn’t busy preventing meltdowns and consoling scriptwriters who had to erase sections of their work due to it not making much sense in the grand scheme of things. Charlie wasn’t bad company by any means; she just wasn’t the person he had hoped to spend the day with. 

As the woman with the pink braids came back outside, Bentley smiled her way and gestured toward the giant spray can beside him as he set down his can of aqua paint. “What do you think?”

“It looks great, Bentley,” she complimented. “What do you think?”

“It’s good,” he nodded. “It’s not my normal art form, but I think I did alright.”

“More than alright,” Charlie claimed, nudging Bentley with her elbow. “Give yourself more credit.”

The sincerity in Charlie’s eyes was as clear as the sky above, and the sight made Bentley smile, “Alright, I did a good job.”

“I’ll take it,” Charlie sighed, her smile ever-present. Perching herself on one of the stump seats Bentley had used to get some of the higher portions of the can, Charlie began speaking with a knowing tone, “You know, I have the feeling you didn’t come here to help us paint.”

Though Bentley tried to figure out a way to argue the comment without being rude, the look in the woman’s eye was impossible to fight, and Bentley found himself nodding in defeat, “Okay, yeah. I came down to try to talk with Carrie.”

“Yeah?” When Bentley nodded, Charlie asked, “What about?”

Sighing, Bentley took a seat on another stump and said, “I talked with Viv and Hayley about what happened between you and Viv years ago and it’s a lot like what Royce and I are dealing with Carrie.”

Nodding understandingly, Charlie guessed, “You’re trying to see every angle possible.”

“Yeah,” Bentley nodded again. “I’ve tried to talk with her a bunch of times today, but something always seems to happen to keep me from it.”

“Maybe it’s the universe’s way of telling you that you shouldn't talk to her just yet,” Charlie mused.

“You think so?”

“Mhm.”

“Why?”

“Are you sure that you’ve seen everyone’s perspectives?” Charlie asked.

“I’ve talked with Miles, Viv, and Hayley,” Bentley listed, counting off people on his fingers. “I know Royce’s stance on the situation, but I’ll talk with him about it after. I think all that’s left is Carrie.”

Charlie sent the boy an amused smirk as she asked, “You don’t want my opinion, then?”

“What?” Bentley thought for a moment before realization filled his steel-colored eyes. “I totally forgot, I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be, sweetheart,” Charlie laughed, waving her hand dismissively. “I just figured that I would offer you the chance to hear things from someone who had been in Carrie’s position and made it to the other side with her sanity mostly intact.”

Bentley thought about the idea before nodding, “I would like that.”

With a smile and a sigh, Charlie crossed one leg over the other and gave the boy her full attention as she asked, “Where do you all stand as of right now?”

“I think I’m ready to move past everything and try to be friends with Carrie,” Bentley admitted. “I don’t think Royce is anywhere close to it, though. I think he still sees her as the enemy.”

Charlie hummed, knowing all too well how the other end of that situation felt. Reminiscing on her past relationship with Vivien, Charlie grinned, “I remember those days.”

“You do?”

“Of course,” Charlie chuckled. “I spent two years vying for Vivien’s friendship and for us to move past the animosity she had for me.”

“Two years?” Bentley wondered.

“Two long, stressful years where I walked a tightrope, hoping Vivien wouldn’t push me off,” Charlie sighed. “I worried about every word I spoke, every move I made, and, at some points, I even worried about breathing the wrong way. My love for both Hayley and Vivien was the only thing making me continue walking that rope.”

“You loved Vivien even though she didn’t like you?” Bentley asked. When Charlie nodded in confirmation, he asked, “Why?”

Smiling, Charlie simply replied, “Because she was a part of Hayley.”

That seemed to take Bentley by surprise, and if he was being completely honest, he wondered how he hadn’t seen it that way before. “Do you think Carrie sees us that way?”

“Whether she knows it or not,” Charlie said, “she must care about you in some way if she’s dealt with you both this long.”

“We have put her through the wringer,” Bentley admitted softly.

“She’s a strong young woman.”

“I know.”

“You should see the way she watches over the two of you,” Charlie commented with a smile, glancing back toward the playhouse.

Bentley followed her gaze just enough to see a wisp of blonde hair turning away from the window. Smiling, Bentley asked, “Does she do that often?”

“All the time.” Turning back toward the boy, Charlie confessed, “Carrie pays close attention to you both whether you notice it or not. She checks to make sure you two are going somewhere safe on the way to the playhouse.”

“She does?”

“I noticed it yesterday,” Charlie nodded. “She can see the art barn and the library from near the playhouse and checks to make sure you’re either there or that you both are somewhere safe for the day. Yesterday, Riven had to remind her that you had gone to the music hall with Miles and Vivien. She’s protective, which is good.”

“Yeah,” Bentley agreed. “I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before. I like to think I’m good at observing people.”

Charlie suggested, “Maybe your feelings toward her had blinded you.”

“Maybe.”

“Or,” she began again, “maybe you just didn’t look close enough because you didn’t want to see her being nice to you.”

“That could be,” Bentley agreed.

“You never know,” Charlie shrugged. “Either way, though, you should know that, even though you and Royce haven’t been the nicest towards Carrie, she still cares about you the way I did for Vivien all those years ago. You both are an extension of Miles and, although we all know that she loves Miles, she has to love you both to some degree, or Miles wouldn’t stay with her.”

“That’s what Hayley and Miles said,” Bentley claimed.

“Then you should listen to them.”

“I’m trying to.”

“Good,” Charlie beamed. Reaching over to take the boy’s hand, Charlie squeezed it momentarily before saying, “Take it from someone who desperately wanted to have some sort of bond with her partner’s kid; even if it takes a while to work through everything, Carrie will love that you’re at least willing to try. It makes a world of a difference.”

“It does?”

Charlie’s nod was deep and her smile sincere as she gave Bentley’s hand a final squeeze and stood. “Let things happen naturally. You never know, you might just find that she’s far different from the expectations you put on her.”

Smiling at the woman, Bentley watched her leave as he thought about everything they had talked about. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to work through things with Carrie. Vivien and Charlie had gotten close even after everything Vivien had put her through, and that gave Bentley a sliver of hope that his chances of befriending Carrie weren’t as slim as he’d previously thought. Sparing a glance to the windows of the playhouse, Bentley raised a hand and waved at the startled blonde, who somehow managed to catch his eye. Carrie gave a quick, stiff wave in return before leaving the window to continue working. Chuckling to himself, Bentley shook his head and tapped the giant hairspray can beside him, checking that it was at least partially dry before bringing his mask up and grabbing a white can of spray paint. He was fine with waiting a little longer.

As though the spring months hadn’t brought enough rain, Thursday brought showers. As the rain had started overnight, the morning wake-up call also instructed campers to stay close to their cabins in case of any outages, and counselors were told that food would be delivered to their doors as the winds whipped through the camp. The only thing the weather was good for was clearing the area of humidity, but even that did little to make people happy with the idea of being kept inside. Board games were brought out of cabinets, and card games were hosted in circles on the floor, but, while most campers were lamenting their missed day in the woods, Bentley found comfort in spending the day with his family and friends.

Though he had intended on spending the day getting to know Carrie better, he found his chances slimming by the minute. He had tried to find a way to talk with her alone, but as everyone else joined in their games, Bentley had to remind himself that it had to happen naturally and that, regardless of how much he wanted to just pull her aside, he couldn’t. Monopoly ended as it always seemed to - Bentley as the victor, Royce claiming he cheated, and Vivien laughing as Riven playfully threatened to kill him… Well, Bentley hoped Riven was being playful. The Game of Life had everyone breaking into teams, and, by the end, Mick and Butchy had come to a slim lead over Charlie and Hayley and the reluctant pair of Bentley and Riven in third. Once lunch had passed, Mick brought out a murder mystery game called Killer in the Camp, and Carrie stood to refill her drink, giving Bentley a window of opportunity he hadn’t anticipated.

Giving Carrie a moment alone, Bentley stood and mentioned something about grabbing a snack before following Carrie into the other room where they had ditched the food and drinks. Carrie looked up as the floorboard in the dining area creaked, sending Bentley a smile as she uncovered the container of juice that had been dropped off with lunch, “Hey, Bentley.”

“Hey,” Bentley greeted in response, grabbing a bag of crunchy Cheetos from the box of snacks they had received earlier. Tugging nervously at the opening of the bag, Bentley turned toward Carrie and watched her pour her juice. After trying so hard to find a way to talk with the blonde, he was surprised by how anxious he had become now that the opportunity had arisen.

Looking up from her juice and raising an eyebrow, Carrie asked, “Are you alright?”

Taking in a deep breath, Bentley nodded and sighed, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Setting the plastic jug of juice aside and twisting the cap into place, Carrie turned toward Bentley so that he knew he had her full attention before asking, “Sorry for what?”

“For being such a…” he paused to take a breath, “for being so rude to you the last year or so.”

Brushing off the boy’s words, Carrie waved a hand placatingly, “It’s okay-”

“No, it isn’t,” Bentley interrupted firmly, placing his Cheetos on the table. “It’s not okay. I shouldn’t have been so mean to you, but I just-” he stopped to take in a sharp breath and think of what to say, “I was scared that you would try to take Miles from us and it was easier for me to try to push you away than it was to try to be nice to you.”

“I could never take Miles from you or Royce,” Carrie said, taking a tentative step closer to the boy. “He adores you both with everything in him.”

Bentley nodded slowly as his gaze fell to the floor, “I know that now.”

“I’m so sorry I made you feel that I would try to take him from you,” Carrie offered, her hand twitching to reach for the blond, yet finding it nearly impossible to commit to the action. “I never meant for that.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Bentley said with a shake of his head.

“Neither do you,” Carrie stated, hoping that when the boy looked up again, he could see the insistent sincerity in her eyes.

Instead, Bentley shook his head and met her gaze with teary eyes, “How can you say that when I was such a jerk to you?”

Giving into the desire to pull the boy close, Carrie closed the gap between them, bringing her arms around Bentley’s shoulders as she fought the burning sensation in her eyes. Blinking up at the ceiling, Carrie took in a slow breath and said, “You were afraid I was going to take away your brother and, in turn, the only secure home you have. I can’t be upset with you for something like that.”

Finding himself trapped in the blonde’s embrace, Bentley allowed himself to relax, his arms coming up to loosely close around her middle as he muttered, “You have every right to be.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to act on it,” Carrie breathed, squeezing the boy just a fraction tighter.

Taking in the fact that Carrie harbored no ill will toward him, Bentley let out a choked breath, “You shouldn’t have had to put up with us for so long.”

“I put up with it because, believe it or not, I care about you two.” Pulling back enough to see Bentley’s face, Carrie swiped her fingers across his cheeks and gave the young blond a watery smile as she said, “It may not be nearly as much as Miles adores you, but even after all of the shit you two have given me, I still care about you guys.”

“I know,” Bentley claimed, allowing the blonde to hold his face hostage. Clearing his throat just enough to take in a breath, he said, “I talked to Miles a lot and heard from Viv and her aunts about what they went through. It sort of made me realize that pushing you away was just going to hurt everyone in the end.”

Dropping her hands from Bentley’s face and allowing Bentley to pull away a step, Carrie dried her face and smiled as she asked, “Do you feel up to telling Royce that?”

A snort of laughter came from the teenager as he admitted, “Royce might take some convincing.”

“Tell me about it,” Carrie snickered.

Taking a moment to breathe in the tension-free air between them, Bentley smiled at Carrie and asked, “How red are my eyes?”

“They’re not,” she said with a small shake of her head. “I, on the other hand, must look like a melted panda.”

Though Carrie’s makeup, if she had any on in the first place, hadn’t moved an inch, Bentley smirked and teased, “I was going to say raccoon, but that works too.”

Rolling her eyes with a smile, Carrie asked, “Doesn’t Vivien call those ‘trash pandas’?”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” Bentley claimed as he grabbed his snack from the table, “but if the shoe fits…”

Shaking her head, Carrie grabbed her drink from the table and watched the boy head toward the hallway before calling out to him. When Bentley turned, she said, “Thank you.”

Nodding, Bentley silently left the room, a smile tugging at his lips as he took in a breath of relief. After so long of seeing nothing more than a blonde she-devil any time he looked at Carrie, it felt almost nice to see her in a new light. Now that they had moved a step in the right direction, he had to focus his attention on helping Royce see the light as well. With any luck, they’d have things figured out in the next five years.

When the sun finally reappeared on Friday, most of the campers were excited to return to their wilderness trips. Bentley wasn’t entirely sure what they did on their trips other than pick up pinecones and shiny rocks to take back to camp, but they seemed to have fun regardless. While he could have easily tagged along throughout the week, he decided after a brief talk over breakfast on Monday that it just wasn’t his scene. He preferred to have the camp to himself, exploring all of the activities he could while everyone else was gone.

With most of the counselors and campers out of the camp, Bentley had free roam of the entire grounds, and most of the workers that guarded different areas had the day to themselves. The art barn was practically empty that day, as only Bentley had set up camp inside the log building. After a while of the constant silence that was only broken by his brush swiping across the canvas he was working on, Bentley grew tired of the quiet art room and returned his art supplies to wherever they needed to be before setting his canvas aside to dry and tossing his brushes into the sink to dry. 

Making his way to the library next door, Bentley was surprised to find his brother gone from his normal post at the front desk. Asking around, it seemed as though nobody had seen him leave his station. However, there was one person Bentley knew could have some notion as to where his brother had gone, and, as he entered the playhouse and bee-lined straight for the blonde who was singing along to some song that played over the building’s speakers, Carrie smiled, “Hey, Bentley!”

“Hey, Carrie,” he greeted. “Do you know where Royce went? He’s not at his desk.”

Sure enough, the actress nodded, “I saw Vivien go in there a while ago. She was in her swimsuit and had a few towels, so my guess would be that they went to the beach.”

“Thank you,” Bentley said, quickly leaning in to give the woman a hug. He gave Carrie just enough time to instinctively put her arms around him before turning and leaving the playhouse without giving her a chance to say anything.

Smirking at the stunned blonde, Charlie slid up beside Carrie and asked, “How did that feel?”

“Bizarre,” Carrie breathed.

“It’ll take some time to get used to,” Charlie reassured her, patting Carrie on the shoulder. “Just wait until you’ve got both of them coming to you like that.”

Carrie chuckled, shaking her head as she met the older woman’s gaze, “Somehow, I don’t think that will happen any time soon.”

“You never know,” Charlie shrugged. “He might just surprise you.”

“He might,” Carrie allowed. Sighing, she admitted, “Either way, I doubt I’ll be ready for it when it comes.”

“Trust me,” Charlie began as she smiled a the blonde, “you won’t be. It will come when you least expect it to.”

“Great,” Carrie drawled sarcastically. Nudging the blonde with a supportive grin, Charlie turned and went back to her job, allowing Carrie to soak in the quick interaction she’d had with the youngest Murphy brother.

Meanwhile, Bentley took his time walking to the beach, relaxing in the knowledge that, regardless of where his brother had gone, he was safe with Vivien by his side. Waving to Noah and one of his friends as he passed them, Bentley kicked his shoes off as he reached the sand, not wanting to deal with a shoe full of sand later on. The last time he’d had to deal with that, it took almost a week to get all of the sand from his sneakers, and he could still feel the grit of it every time he wore that specific pair. One of his pet peeves, he supposed.

It didn’t take long for Bentley to find the pair sitting on the pier, a puddle around both of them as evidence that they had gone for a swim. Deciding to scare the pair with his sudden appearance, Bentley ditched his shoes under the edge of the pier and tucked his shirt under there for good measure before wading into the water, grateful he had worn board shorts to keep himself cool throughout the day. Hoping to make the least amount of noise possible, Bentley swam slowly out to where the piers met, just barely able to hear what Royce and Vivien were talking about as he approached.

“Now you,” Royce said. “What do you want?”

Vivien let out a sigh, leaning back against the wooden boards and staring up at the sky before saying, “I want a big, white house with purple shutters.”

“Purple shutters?” Royce wondered, his tone amused as he reclined next to his girlfriend.

“Mhm,” Vivien hummed, nodding against the pier. “The most offensive shade of purple we can find.”

“We’ll have to get Benny to paint them all,” Royce commented, the thought alone making Bentley smile. After a pause, his brother asked, “Anything else?”

Vivien was silent, but Bentley could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “I would love a big porch that wraps around the whole house. We can sit outside and drink tea and watch the sun go down together every day.”

“With my cat and your dog.”

“Naturally.”

A moment passed, and Royce asked, “What else do you have in that head of yours?”

“We need enough rooms for everyone to come and stay when they want to,” Vivien stated. “Your family, my family, my band, and our friends.”

Royce let out a laugh, “We’re going to need at least ten rooms, if we’re going all out.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Vivien breathed. “We’ll have to put in a movie theater and everything, especially for football season.”

“You like football?” Royce asked.

Bentley could hear Vivien’s snort, “No, but it’s always entertaining to watch Butchy, Miles, and Mick’s parents yell at the TV, telling the players what to do like they can hear them from a million miles away.”

“True,” Royce chuckled. “So, what else?”

Vivien hummed before claiming, “We need a room overlooking the beach.”

“We do?”

“Of course,” Vivien confirmed as she sat up. “It’s gotta have large windows and a balcony.”

As Royce moved to follow Vivien, he asked, “How come?”

“For Bentley and Miles to paint to their hearts’ content when they come to visit,” Vivien stated as she began walking back toward the beach. “Why else?”

Bentley pushed himself further under the cover of the pier as he watched his brother lace his hand into Vivien’s and say, “That’s a great idea.”

As the couple headed back toward the lodge, unaware of the blond boy hiding beneath the wood of the pier, Bentley took in a slow breath. Letting their words sink in, Bentley watched Royce and Vivien disappear into the lodge and slowly moved from his hiding spot. While he knew that, eventually, Royce and Vivien would move on with life and get a house of their own, he had always sort of figured that it would be the three of them. Sort of like in that show Vivien loved so much where, even when Monica and Chandler moved into a new house, they still had a room for Joey. 

Bentley thought that had been their plan. Once they felt ready to do so, they’d move into a place together. Together being the key word. Was that not what Royce and Vivien wanted? Sure, he had never asked them their thoughts on the matter, but he’d assumed that, since they were so close, they’d be together regardless. Until Bentley had a reason to move out on his own, that is. Did they really have no intention of keeping the gang together once they had a place to themselves?

Taking a deep breath, Bentley swam back to the shore, grabbing his shirt and shoes and drying himself off with a towel from the porch before making his way back toward the rest of the campground. If they didn’t want him around, that was fine. He could stay away. Maybe, if he gave them some space on their own for a while, they’d want him to stick around longer. Something about distance making people fonder and all that. 

Not wanting to wander for long yet also not wanting to be alone, Bentley headed for the closest place he knew he would find people who wouldn’t mind him hanging around for the rest of the afternoon - the playhouse. Opening the door and slipping inside fairly unnoticed, Bentley looked around at the circles of chairs that had formed in what was typically an open hall, examining each chair before finally settling on the one that housed a certain blonde, her hair barely contained in a claw clip that looked ready to burst at the slightest movement. Feeling Bentley’s gaze on her, Carrie looked around before meeting his eyes with a smile, waving him over.

As he sat beside her, Bentley asked, “Do you mind if I hang out here for the afternoon?”

“Of course not!” Carrie chirped. “Actually, you’re just in time for us to do a trial run of the script.”

The actress inched her chair closer to Bentley’s, and as he looked over the papers in her hand, he leaned closer to her and muttered, “I can’t read it.”

Carrie’s smile seemed to broaden as she replied, “I know; that’s why I moved closer. I figured we could work together on it and take it at your pace.”

Bentley let out a huff of a laugh, “That could take a few hours.”

“That’s fine,” Carrie shrugged, her pearlescent smile ever-present. “All that matters is that we work together. If you find it too hard, I can always take over reading and you can give me your thoughts on the script as we go.”

“Doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose of me working with you?”

Carrie was quick to shake her head, the movement testing the strength of the clip in her hair as it bobbed from one side to the other. “Of course not. I could always use an extra pair of ears.”

Skeptical of the blonde’s claim, Bentley raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Really?”

Carrie nodded, “Sometimes, when we read the script off the paper, we miss things that don’t sound right to people listening. It’s always useful to have someone else to just listen to the script.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Relaxing at the woman’s claim, Bentley nodded and allowed the blonde to hold the stapled papers between them, her excitement for the show contagious as she began listing off the character list and rambling about their personalities. Although Bentley had seen the movie a bunch due to Vivien’s infatuation with it and knew most of the characters by heart, he smiled and allowed Carrie to continue her spiel. Though he wouldn’t admit it just yet, he was happy to see the blonde so excited, especially because of his simple choice to join her in the playhouse. Looking across the circle to where Riven sat, watching them with a smirk, Bentley gave a small nod, which the auburn-haired man returned, granting the younger boy his silent approval. Smiling to himself, Bentley returned his focus to the actress beside him, silently wondering how on earth he had waited so long to see her as something more than an enemy.

After keeping himself particularly silent at dinner that evening, Bentley made his way back to the lodge with Riven by his side, trailing behind his siblings and their girlfriends. Riven had brought an arm around the blond’s shoulder, and while it was obvious that the auburn-haired boy had wanted to speak with Bentley, neither of them had chosen to speak thus far, and it seemed as though they wouldn’t begin any time soon. Maybe he knew Bentley needed his space, or maybe he just couldn’t find the words to say. Either way, once they arrived at the lodge, Bentley headed upstairs, planning on secluding himself in his room for the remainder of the night. Despite leaving his door closed and attempting to busy himself with the games on his phone, it seemed as though fate wasn’t on his side.

A knock on his door made Bentley jump, but after telling whoever was on the other side to come in, he let himself relax on his mattress. It didn’t take long for Miles to slip into the room, close the door behind him, and make his way to the edge of Bentley’s bed, where he sat. “Hey, baby,” he greeted.

“Hey,” Bentley muttered, clicking his phone off and setting it aside as he sat up. “What’s up?”

“Carrie told me that you spent the afternoon with her in the playhouse,” Miles claimed.

“I did,” Bentley nodded in response. “It was fun.”

“I’m glad.” Bringing an arm around his youngest brother’s shoulders, Miles smiled, “I’m not surprised you didn’t manage to convince Royce to join you.”

Bentley shrugged, his gaze dropping as he sighed, “He was busy with Vivien anyway, so I doubt it would have mattered.”

“What do you mean?”

Bentley gave a noncommittal noise before stating, “They’ve been spending a lot of their free time together and it feels like I haven’t been able to spend time with them much even though I’m not on a schedule.”

Nodding in understanding, Miles took in a breath before stating, “I can always ask them to make time for you, if you want. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

Bentley quickly shook his head. Though he desperately wanted his brother and Vivien to spend time with him, he knew that if they were going to do so, he wanted them to do it willingly, not because someone told them to. He didn’t want to be the unnecessary third wheel they grew to resent keeping with them. He wanted them to want him. “That’s alright.”

“Are you sure?”

Nodding as though he was reassuring himself more than anything, Bentley rolled his eyes and declared, “They’re probably just being all mushy and gross together and I’m perfectly fine being left out of that. When they want to hang out, I’ll still be here. In the meantime, I’ve been liking getting to know the real Carrie and hanging out in the playhouse.”

The blond’s segue had worked flawlessly as Miles beamed, “That’s great. You have no idea how glad I am to see you both spending time together.”

Bentley listened to Miles talk until the speakers throughout the camp crackled to life, announcing it was time to turn out the lights for the night. Once he was alone again, Bentley sighed and dragged himself to his dresser and changed into his pajamas before tugging his door open a fraction to receive some of the light from the hallway and slipping beneath his covers. He tried for a while to force himself to sleep, but it seemed fruitless. As Bentley worked up the desire to roll away from the window and onto his other side, he watched as the light from the hall that shone on his wall was blocked out by a looming shadow.

Faintly, he heard a soft, but not soft enough, girl’s voice mutter, “I think he’s sleeping.”

“Are you sure?”

Bentley tried to keep himself as silent as possible. He didn’t need Royce and Vivien knowing that he could hear them. The door to his room creaked open further, and as two sets of footsteps creaked across the floor, Bentley’s eyes snapped shut. Hoping his breathing seemed slow enough to mimic sleep, Bentley laid still on his mattress, listening as the couple inched closer. His bed sunk to one side as one of them knelt on the mattress, lolling Bentley closer to that side. Making a noise of discontent, Bentley rolled toward them, shifting onto his stomach as the bed moved once more.

“He’s asleep,” Vivien decided, her amusement obvious in her voice.

A hand threaded through Bentley’s hair, pushing it away from his face with a chuckle that he knew belonged to Royce. “I guess so.”

“Do you still want to join him?” Vivien asked.

“He’s usually a sound sleeper, but I don’t want to risk waking him,” Royce mused. “We can hang out in the morning.”

Though Bentley was curious as to what they had planned on doing if he had been awake, he didn’t want to make it obvious that he had been listening in. Royce’s hand in his hair moved once again, and Bentley felt a soft pressure against his forehead before his brother moved away, and the bed creaked as he got up. It creaked once more as an arm draped over Bentley’s back, and he faintly heard Vivien whisper a good night to him. As the pair moved away and the light from the hallway was blocked by their shadows once again, Bentley opened his eyes just enough to see Vivien and Royce leave the room, pulling the door to where Bentley had left it before giving each other a hug and going their separate ways.

Staring into the darkness of his bedroom, Bentley sighed and tried to force himself to sleep once more, knowing that, eventually, they would come to him with whatever they wanted to say. Until then, however, he would just have to wait it out the way he had originally planned - keeping his distance. Glancing down at the golden sun that dangled from the friendship bracelet Vivien had made for him to match the ones she had made for herself and Royce, Bentley wondered just how long he would be able to hold out.

Breakfast came and went in a flurry Saturday morning as many campers were in a rush to pack up their things and go, but there were some tables that had people who chose to let the morning pass by at its own speed and enjoy the company of those around them. Royce was one of those people. After spending most of his days in the library, doing practically nothing other than getting lost in the fantasy worlds that lived in the library’s walls, he had been glad to spend the week roaming around to different locations after lunch. Though he had spent little time in the playhouse during the week, he had noticed Bentley spending more and more time there, helping with painting set pieces and talking with the thespians who thrived within the playhouse’s walls.

Bentley loved to roam, a fact Royce knew all too well. However, he couldn’t imagine his younger brother willingly placing himself within the reach of their oldest brother’s girlfriend. As far as he was aware, they both couldn’t stand being near the blonde, but had to tolerate her presence for the summer as, if they were being honest with themselves, they had no choice in the matter. Whether they liked it or not, Carrie would be near them all summer. Royce had to admit, though, he loved annihilating her in the board games they played some nights.

By the time breakfast was over and everyone had gone their separate ways, Royce found himself walking his usual path to the library, ready to hunker down for a while with a good book. However, as he looked toward the art barn, he discovered that Bentley hadn’t followed the trail toward his favorite location on the grounds. Looking around the area, he smiled as he saw his younger brother heading into the playhouse with Riven. 

“Hey, Ben,” Royce called from the steps of the library, offering his brother a wave and a smile.

Bentley turned, meeting Royce’s gaze and sending him a brief wave before silently turning back toward the playhouse and following Riven inside. Though the gesture was quick, and Royce could feel a twinge of hurt in his chest as Bentley disappeared from view, Royce took a deep breath and brushed off the interaction. Maybe Bentley had been caught up in a conversation or something, and Royce’s greeting had taken him by surprise. There were a myriad of reasons why Bentley hadn’t responded with his typical brilliant smile and enthusiasm. Glad that his brother was having fun with friends, Royce sighed and returned to the library, making sure to shut the door to keep the building cool before finding his way to the chair he had shoved into place behind the desk.

Grabbing the book he had begun reading over the last week, Royce settled into place and flipped to where he had left his bookmark. It was easy to get absorbed in the book’s pages, and it didn’t take long for Royce’s worries about Bentley’s behavior to flee from his mind as he let the fantasy world between the pages envelop him. All too soon, the signal for lunch echoed throughout the camp, and Royce tucked his bookmark back into place before setting it aside. 

Stretching as he rose from his chair, Royce was none too surprised to hear the door open. His first thought was that Bentley had come to collect him, but as he turned, he found his girlfriend standing where he expected the blond boy to stand. “Oh, hey, Viv,” he greeted.

“Hey,” she said with a smile. “Is Ben here already?”

Shaking his head, Royce rounded the desk and asked, “Why?”

“He’s not down at the art barn or the beach,” Vivien replied.

“I saw him go into the playhouse with Riven,” Royce said with a smile. “He’s probably knee-deep in paint or something.”

“Alright,” Vivien sighed. “Well, when you see him, bring him down to the beach.”

“Why, what’s up?”

Vivien pulled the door open and stepped into the sunlight before sighing, “I figured we could have a picnic on the beach for lunch and talk about our plans for world domination.”

“Ah,” Royce breathed, nodding at his girlfriend’s idea. “Sounds good. We’ll meet you down there.”

As that was all the confirmation she needed, Vivien took off in a run, hoping to make up some plates at the mess hall before all of the good slices of pizza were gone. Chuckling at his girlfriend, Royce shook his head and descended the front steps, heading toward the playhouse with a smile. The doors opened just as Royce approached, and as Charlie tucked the door stopper into place, she said, “I was wondering how long it would be before you stopped in.”

“You were?” he asked the woman. 

Charlie smiled, nodding as she said, “Your brother has been practically glued to Carrie today.”

The surprise that flooded Royce's veins must have been evident on his face as he glanced toward the playhouse, unable to see far inside due to the lighting. “He has?”

Charlie chuckled, nudging the boy, “Relax, would you. They’ve been working on the script together and he’s helping her with making sure everything sounds alright.”

Royce took in a breath and sighed, “Is he okay?”

Charlie hummed thoughtfully as she glanced back toward the playhouse, “I may not know him as well as you do, but he seems particularly quiet today. I know he talked with Riven and Carrie at some point today and they got him to open up a little, but he doesn’t seem as vibrant as he usually is.”

“Do you think something’s wrong?”

Taking in a slow breath, Charlie sighed, “I might not be the best person to answer that. If I were you, I’d ask Carrie. As I said, he’s been right by her side all day. She’d know more than I would.”

Though Royce had no desire to speak with his older brother’s girlfriend, he knew he just might not have a choice in the matter. Smiling graciously at the older woman, Royce thanked her before heading into the building, allowing himself a moment to let his eyes adjust before looking around for his brother. It didn’t take him long. Bentley was sat cross-legged on the stage, his knees bouncing as he and Carrie listened intently to whatever story Riven was spieling. Riven said something to make both Bentley and Carrie laugh, and Royce found it fairly difficult not to smile as he approached the stage.

“What did you say?” Bentley asked, his eyes wide and sparkling with anticipation.

“I told him to give me shit about it later,” Riven claimed, a lopsided smile glimmering in the fluorescent lights overhead. “I mean, he’s the one who said to get the interview with the guy who owns the old hospital - he never said how.”

Carrie was the first to notice Royce, sending him a small smile as she waved, “Hi, Royce.”

Bentley turned as Riven gave his own greeting - something about welcoming Royce to their favorite hell hole. The older of the brothers let out a chuckle and pushed himself onto the stage before sliding across to where they had gathered. “You guys do realize it’s lunchtime, right?”

“Yeah,” Riven shrugged, “but who needs food when you feed off of drama?”

“They’re putting out pizza,” one of the workers - Kitty or Kallie, Bentley wasn’t sure - claimed before shoving in another bite of the slice she’d taken back from the mess hall.

“Any meat-lover’s?” Riven asked. When the girl raised a hand with a single thumb up, Riven clapped his hands together and declared, “That’s my cue to leave, then.”

“What happened to feeding off of drama?” Bentley taunted.

“Drama doesn’t taste like bacon,” Riven fired back as he jumped from the stage. “See you after break!”

Bentley smiled as he watched Riven practically run from the playhouse, but as he turned to Carrie and found the amused gleam in her eyes, he couldn’t resist the laughter that forced its way out. When it finally died down enough that he could think straight, Bentley sucked in a breath and turned to Royce, who watched the pair as though they had both grown an extra head or three. “What’s up, RJ?” he asked.

Blinking himself back to normality, Royce said, “Viv and I are having a picnic on the beach and we wanted to see if you wanted to tag along.”

Sparing a glance at the blonde to his left, Bentley watched as she nodded approvingly in his direction before standing. Carrie ruffled Bentley’s hair briefly before making her way to the edge of the stage and hopping down from it, giving the brothers some space to talk. Glancing toward the doors on the opposite side of the building, Bentley lowered his voice as he asked, “Are you sure you guys want me there?”

Bewildered by the question, Royce asked in return, “Why wouldn’t we?”

Bentley shrugged, offering his brother a weak smile as he stated, “I’m your third wheel. If you guys want to spend some time alone without me around, I’m okay with it.”

The statement confused Royce more than it answered anything. Glancing toward the departing blonde as she reached the front doors, Royce pressed, “Did Carrie say something to you? I swear, if she made you think that Viv and I need time away from you, I-”

“She didn’t,” Bentley interrupted, rolling his eyes at his brother. “In fact, she and Riven actually helped me think things through so I wouldn’t go off the deep end.”

“Oh,” Royce uttered. Allowing Bentley to nod, he asked, “So, what made you think we needed space from you?”

Finding his brother’s concern-filled, caramel eyes, Bentley took in a breath before sighing, “You both did, actually.”

“We did?” Again, Bentley nodded. “How? When?”

“Yesterday, I went looking for you guys after I finished in the art barn,” Bentley began. “Carrie said you guys looked ready to swim, so I went to the beach to look there and you were on the pier talking. I was hoping to scare you guys, so I swam out really quietly and hid under the pier.”

“Okay,” Royce muttered, wondering where his brother was going with the conversation.

“You guys were talking about the future,” Bentley shrugged, his gaze falling to his sneakers as he fiddled with the laces. “Something about ugly purple shutters and ten bedrooms and a big room for me and Miles to paint in when we come to visit.”

Royce appeared thoughtful as he tried to recall the conversation. After a while, he nodded, “I remember that.”

“I just…” Bentley drifted off as he tried to think of the right words. “I guess it made me realize that, when we’re older, I’ll be all alone.”

Concern pushed to the forefront of Royce’s mind as he reached for Bentley’s hand and asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Miles and Carrie have each other no matter how hard you try to break them up,” Bentley began, “and you and Viv will be happy in your ugly house. That leaves me on my own when the rest of you decide to move on with life.”

“The hell it does,” a voice chimed in from the side of the stage, and both brothers looked over to see Vivien coming from where the door led out to the back of the building. Setting down her well-balanced stack of paper plates and taking a seat with the boys, she said, “Even if Miles and Carrie eventually move in together and all that, you’re still stuck with us.”

“What do you mean?” Bentley asked.

“Regardless of what happens,” Royce began, “we’re going to stay together. Nothing can break up the dream team.”

“The three amigos,” Vivien continued, “the golden trio, the trinity of awesomeness, the trou-”

“Okay,” Bentley interrupted with a soft laugh, “I get it, but what does that have to do with how things will go when we’re older?”

“It means that, even if Viv and I move into a big house with horrendously purple shutters,” Royce began, jokingly shuddering at the thought and earning himself a smack to the arm, “it’s going to have space for you.”

As Vivien nodded, Bentley eyed the pair, searching their eyes for anything that would clue him into some private joke. When he found nothing, he asked, “Wouldn’t you guys get sick of me living with you?”

“You can’t get rid of us that easily,” Vivien agreed. “Besides, do you really think either of us are going to buy a house and not have a room just for you?”

“Are you sure?” Bentley asked.

“Positive,” Royce confirmed, squeezing Bentley’s hand with a smile.

Vivien beamed, reaching for Bentley’s free hand before stating, “You’re stuck with us for the rest of our lives.”

“Or,” Royce began, “until you decide otherwise.”

A wave of relief brushed over Bentley as he took in a deep breath, glad to have been wrong once again. He was grateful. He had been wrong about Carrie, wrong about Miles potentially kicking them out, and wrong about Royce and Vivien eloping to Mexico and building a huge, ugly house on the beach just to get away from him. The more he thought about it, the more Bentley was glad he had talked things over with Carrie and Riven ahead of time so that he had some sort of cushion to fall on in case the conversation went south. While he was immensely grateful all had gone over well, he could only imagine what kind of mess he would have been in if he hadn’t taken the time to talk things over with the pair. He’d have to thank them later on.

Smiling at Royce and Vivien, Bentley sighed, “Thanks, guys.”

The couple’s swift, casual ways of brushing off Bentley’s gratitude were pushed aside quickly as Vivien pushed herself from the stage floor and decided, “Now, let’s get going before the food gets any colder than it already is.”

Bentley glanced at Royce as they rose from their spots on the floor, sharing a smile with his older sibling as the brunet wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led the way out of the playhouse. Walking down to the beach, the youngest of the trio found it impossible to wipe the smile from his face as Royce and Vivien blabbered on about things they hadn’t talked with Bentley about just yet. As they sat on the beach together and ate the mostly-cold pizza Vivien had gotten from the mess hall, Royce and Vivien found themselves relaxing as they listened to Bentley spill out everything that had happened to him during the last week, happy to simply listen to his cheerful ramblings and enjoy each other’s company.

#Camp Wanamaker

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The Heart of a Wanderer: Letters

A collection of letters from Elain to her family throughout her travels across Prythian. Set in my THOAW universe.

Elain Week Day Five: travel & adventure

Dear Nesta,

I hope you are well and have continued your training with the Valkyries. I am writing to you from the sandy shores of Adriata, where I’m almost certain I’ve eaten my body weight in gelato. It really is beautiful here but so odd that it is eternal summer, all year round! It would have been splendid back when we were human, the winters always were the hardest.

Sometimes I sit and think about how far we have come from our little cottage in the mortal lands. How drab even the most magnificent of manors below the wall now seems. I wonder if I would have ever been granted the opportunity to travel and see all the wonderful things I’ve seen if I had wed a human Lord’s son. Thank the Mother I didn’t.

I have just arrived at the Summer Court after travelling through Day for longer than I had anticipated. Helion was kind enough to escort me here on his golden chariot pulled by his Pegasus— such a stunning creature! He claimed he needed to consult with Tarquin about some business or another, but I think he just wanted to show off his magnificent Meallan. But I think you would love it there. Helion has a great number of libraries, they’re far beyond anything I have ever seen! I fear if you ever visit, we may never see you again! We’d surely lose you to the labyrinth of books Helion houses in his court.

But Adriata really is lovely, it’s such a shame Cassian isn’t allowed back here. I would have loved to spend family holidays on the beach. Perhaps I can convince Varian to speak to Tarquin to have him consider rescinding the order on Cassian’s banishment? He does seem like a truly charming male.

How is Cassian, by the way? I know it is spring time back home. Please remind him that I made extra batches of the herbal tincture for his allergies before I left, the vials are in the far-right cabinet of the kitchen at Feyre’s. Just three drops in his morning coffee will do.

Anyway, I’m sending a few books I found whilst perusing the Day markets alongside this letter, I hope you enjoy them. One of them is rather scandalous!

All my love,

Elain.

P.S. Tell Cassian not to bother trying to replacing any pots he may break in my garden. I’ll know.

~

My Dearest Feyre,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And Happy Solstice to everyone back home. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you for your special day, but I know Rhys will have planned plenty of special surprises for you! I’m spending the Winter Solstice with Vivian and Kallias. They have been so gracious, showing me around their Winter palace and the grounds beyond. I’ll have to remember to write to Morrigan and thank her for her good word to them on my behalf.

The sleighs here are pulled by darling creatures, bears and wolves and reindeer! And they wear adorable little vests! Can you believe it? They are so clever! I think when I return to Velaris, I’d like a pet.

Everything here looks like a sparkling, diamond wonderland. It truly is breathtaking, particularly at sunrise when the light reflects off the ice just so. I do miss the flowers, however. Everything here is all covered in snow.

How is my precious Nyx? I hope he is sleeping better these days and not keeping you up too often at night. Although if he’s anything like his father, it would possibly be his favourite time of the day and wouldn’t want to miss seeing the stars.  

I sent my Solstice gifts to Rhysand last week to add to the pile for hiding. I hope the little onesies I sent Nyx still fit him, I managed to find a style in the Dawn Court that have little openings for wings! You cannot imagine how difficult it has been to find them, considering there are so many winged fae in the world.

Well, dear sister, I must leave you for now. But give a big kiss to Nyx from his aunty Lain and send my love to everyone back home. I miss you today, more than ever.

Love always,

Elain

~

Nuala & Cerridwen,

Well, you were indeed correct about the Dawn Court. The loveliest sunrises have been here so far! And the palace on the Eastern shore faces out toward the Continent. On clear days I swear I can almost see across the entire expanse of ocean to the lands on the other side. With any luck, I’ll be heading there by ship soon.

But I wanted to let you both know about a vision I had. I am unsure if it means anything but just in case it is of importance to Az the network, I thought I should let you know. I saw an autumn leaf wither and fall to the earth, I saw a giant hound’s paw crushing it, mincing it further into the dirt. I then saw the silhouette of a female running. However, she didn’t seem to be fleeing, but rather…flying? As if finally set free.

I have thoughts about what these images could mean, but in case of unwelcome interceptions of this letter, I shall not put into words my deductions. I know you both will understand my meaning.

I miss you both terribly. Thesan’s scullery maid taught me a new recipe for braided lavender bread! We’ll have to trial it out once I’m back home. I have it written down on a card in my knapsack.

Stay safe and look after one another,

Elain xo

~

Rhysand,

How are you, dear brother? I hope my sister and nephew have kept you smiling, and all is well in Velaris.

I am currently in the human realm below the wall. I will only be spending a few days with Queen Vassa and her court before sailing off to the Continent. However, as requested, I journeyed through the Spring Court on my travels here.

As you suspected, the beastly High Lord has still not emerged from his self-inflicted ostracism and his lands fall into further disarray. I am afraid your visits thus far with him have been fruitless.

I didn’t go searching for him, as promised, but murmurings on the roads travelled led me to believe that his people have lost faith in his leadership. They fear infiltration from bordering Courts as well as enemies from across the seas. There are now whisperings of assembling guerrilla groups of local fae for protection against such invasions.

I truly hope it doesn’t come to that. And if it does, I hope we can provide refuge for as many faeries that reside in his lands as we can.

Take care please, Rhys. And until I return, enjoy winning the family chess tournaments. We all know who the real Inner Circle chess champion is. Enjoy your reign while it lasts, old man.

Sending all my love,

Elain

Oh! P.S. If Nyx is particularly fussy in the next few weeks it will be a little growth spurt in his wings. I have a special salve that will relieve the ache. Cassian and Azriel usually fight over it- ask one of them where they would have left it. Ahh the perks of being an all-knowing Seer.

~

Darling Morrigan,

Thank you for putting in a kind word with Kallias and Vivian for me. The Solstice I spent with them was truly magical. They send their regards, as does Vivian’s sister.

They introduced me to a drink, a Winter Court specialty, they claimed. It is made with whiskey, a cinnamon quill, orange slices and honey. It’s delightfully warming. They also told me you were the curator of such a drink many many years ago. And that you all went on a spree of sorts after imbibing in one too many of them in your youths… Why Morrigan, I never saw you for one to place bets on sleigh races! Remind me to ask you of your adventures when I return. I feel as if I have centuries to catch up on.

I plan to travel to the mortal lands soon, and then onto Montesere and then Vallahan. If you are still visiting on the Continent for your duties as emissary and find yourself there in the coming weeks, perhaps we could see each other.

Anyway, I should be on my way. I hope Amren hasn’t been too cranky of late, I left Summer only a few days ago and Varian mentioned he had been extremely busy the last couple months. She can get quite scary when he isn’t around, don’t you think?

Miss you all.

Elain

~

Elain,

The past months have not been the same without you. I thought avoiding you would be best, but in truth it’s been complete anguish.

I miss your warm smile, your long hair that I find everywhere even after your gone, the soft lullaby’s you hum to Nyx, the adorable way your nose scrunches when you berate Cassian when his wings knock over your potted flowers. I miss your sweet laugh and your enchanting scent. I found jasmine oils in the Palace of Hoof and Leaf and have been adding them into my bath each morning. It is said jasmine has a relaxing effect on the mind. It’s not the same, but it helps me feel a little closer to you.

My shadows intercepted all the letters you sent to our family. And I noticed that I was absent from all of them. Do you truly not think of me?

I know I hurt you, I should never have never left you that night, but—

Azriel groaned, crumpling up the parchment in his hands. The scars on the back on his palms stretching as he closed his fist around the umpteenth letter he had attempted to write to Elain. All undelivered. All now reduced to ash in his fireplace. The same fate this one would meet too, no doubt.

She’d left months and months ago. And all their family had received numerous correspondence about her adventures throughout her travels. But not him. She hadn’t written to him once.

He couldn’t blame her.

He sighed, raking a hand through his hair and tossing the unfinished letter across the room into the crackling hearth. Gods, he missed her. The ache around his heart coiled tighter, leaving an empty feeling in his belly.

He slumped heavily into the chair behind his desk.

Come home Elain, he pleaded silently.

Just, come home.

*******

@elainarcheronweek​

tagging: @offtorivendell @fawnandshadows @the-laughing-bubble @swankii-art-teacher @pagemasters @tswaney17 @sakurakittypeach @thefangirlofhp @wingedblooms

#elainarcheronweek2022 #day five: travel & adventure #t writes #the heart of a wanderer #letters home #elain archeron #elriel fanfiction #elain x azriel #acotar #pro elain archeron #azriel shadowsinger #elain #elriel fic #elriel #the inner circle #elain x nuala x cerridwen #azriel #acotar fanfiction #pro elriel #writing

[fueledbysano]

HEY YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU 🥹

BESIDES ME JUST FINISHING YOHR PROLOGUE IN YOUR IF/THEN SERIES

i wanted to ask...... since you're a tokyo revenger enthusiast, i wanted to know deeply about your analysis on draken, mikey, toman, just the whole series in general

since tr has irl japan content, i'm quite hesitant to tackle it when it comes to writing, so here's me asking mikey's wife 🤭

i also.... really need a deep char analysis on draken when it comes to him, i was hoping that you knew more about him as well

like from the surfaces, to the depths of his character

just like you, i am so utterly smitten by him, there's just this wave of- maturity? around him that i cannot describe nnghgg

but anyways, i'm just stopping by again 🥹🩷 (and will continue to do so in the future)

your if/then prologue impacted me as always 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 fucking hell like i forgot toman literally goes ghost mode 😭 i love and adore your writing so damn much

with tears of admiration,

- hiraeth

Let me just start this off by saying that this is my personal view on the series and the characters, based on their canon personalities and everything that happened throughout the series. There will be some spoilers for arcs that haven't aired in the anime yet but I will be putting a warning for a heads up!

We all know that the series circles around the themes of friendship, loyalty, growth, and the importance of second chances.

For those who don’t know, Ken Wakui himself was a gang member in the 2000s called “Black Emperor” which actually heavily influenced the series. He said in an interview that he has lots of regrets in his past and often wished to go back in time, so instead, he made a story out of it! (You can look this up yourself, I found out about this in 2020 through a Japanese forum whom I had my sister translate for me)

… Which is why I think the series feels very authentic and nostalgic! The mangaka himself experienced the gang life and made a whole story and characters around it. (Could it be that Takemichi was a self-insert and your other favorite characters are driven out of real people too?)

Draken

The #1 on the list as best boyfriend! I personally love the DrakEmma ship. They’ve always showed how they cared and love each other, but both are so stubborn :’)

*spoilers*

That’s why the Tenjiku arc and the beginning of the three deities arc really hurt like a bitch. I'm such a sucker for bittersweet tropes. But I’m very happy how Wakui gave them the ending they deserved. I don’t care that people say he had a Disney ahh ending but I truly think that it’s the right path to take here. These people deserve to be peaceful once and for all and they have it!

*end*

But here’s my relationship headcanons for him!

We see that this guy is practically Mikey’s father. He depended on Draken as a teen and Mikey even got him to be his motorcycle mechanic. This just shows how reliable he is. However, I feel like he may struggle with letting others in emotionally. He may be someone who values his independence and autonomy, and may be hesitant to open up and trust others. It takes time to fully know his heart. And once you do, he is deeply loyal and committed. He may value stability and consistency in his relationships and may dislike drama or unnecessary conflict.

Draken is an ESTP personality type and is known for his outgoing and spontaneous nature. He may be the type of person who enjoys adventures and new experiences, and may be spontaneous and impulsive. He may be someone who values excitement and variety in his relationships, and may struggle with staying still or with routine. On the other hand, he may also appreciate a partner who can help him slow down and appreciate the quieter moments.

Draken's love for muscle training and physical fitness may make him attracted to someone who also prioritizes physical health, well-being, and how they present themselves. He appreciates a partner who can be workout buddy or partner in his fitness journey. If he gets you to the gym with him, he is more than willing to be your very own personal trainer!

Draken's love language is acts of service and gift giving! He may show his affection by performing tasks or favors, and he may enjoy taking care of his loved ones in practical ways, like he does with Emma and Mikey. Like if you're a person who has dyed hair, he dyes your hair on your blind spots for you.

One thing I can also envision is him lending his iconic black and white patterned cardigans to you. the iconic style is recognizable at first glance and would send any delinquent out of your was from a mile.

And finally, Draken's love for motorcycles and his passion for riding them extends into the relationship too. He always has a helmet ready for you, in your favorite color. He loves having his partner holding him close throughout a joyride. Even when tinkling with motorcycle parts, he would find himself asking his partner to reach for certain parts and tools. They grow familiar with what certain parts are called and surprise Draken when they start to actually help him with the hands-on work. Kenchin appreciates someone who is adventurous and up for a challenge, as well as someone who can match his energy and intensity.

Mikey

Okay I put him last on purpose, and I’ll explain the best I can :’) Okay… He is a deeply complex character, who has a strong sense of honor and loyalty to his friends, but who also struggles with his own sense of self.

In this house, we love every Mikey version. Not only there is more to write about but also there’s just also a lot of him to love… thank you Ken Wakui <3

Now, being in a relationship with someone who has trauma is… not for the weak. Of course, everybody deserves to be loved. But never get into the relationship with the intent of “fixing”. It would be unhealthy to rely one’s happiness on another person. When you're in a relationship with someone who has trauma, it's natural to want to support and comfort them. However, it's important to be mindful of creating a healthy balance and avoid becoming your partner's sole source of happiness or support.

Mikey is often shown to be struggling with complex emotions. He just needs someone who can provide a safe and supportive space for him to open up and share his feelings in his comfort. We all know that he enjoys being taken care of and pampered by those around him. I believe that to be in a relationship with Mikey, you have to get on Draken’s level of dedication and trust. He loves the feeling of being taken care of and protected. Someone who is patient and understanding of his emotions may be a perfect match for Mikey.

In the relationship, this extends to having bath times with Mikey, making him bento boxes during lunch, doing his hair, or even the simple yet sweet snuggles. Just overall lots of acts of service and quality time. He is very lazy but for yo, he will never run out of ideas for dates and adventures.

Mikey is known to have a sweet tooth, he will always ask you to get him treats, but he prefers everything that you hand-made. And hey, look at that— he’d share his sweets with you too! Indulging his sweet tooth and his love for food in general truly is the way to this man’s heart.

This is something I came up with at the very last minute but since he is canonically a great singer, I feel like he loves singing you to sleep and learning your favorite songs. :')

Lastly, Mikey's childish side makes him a fun and loving person to be around. Matching his sense of humor and being able to bring out his playful side is a must. He enjoys spending time for spontaneous adventures and bringing you along to trips and hang outs with Toman captains.

But as much as he loves being babied, Mikey values someone who can give him the freedom to express his emotions. Someone who allows him to be himself and express his emotions without judgment. He appreciates someone who can understand his need for downtime and space, and who can encourage him to take self time breaks when he needs it.

That’s pretty much what I have to say for these two and Tokyo Revengers in overview. I’m pretty pleased with how everything played out in the story. I love the way that… a lot about these characters and their stories are open for us fans to interpret and imagine around. What do you mean “where’s the Haitani brothers’ backstory?” make your own! What was Hanma going to tell about his past? Come up with yours!

But what I really loved the most about TR… every depth of every single type of relationship was shown. friendships, romance, family, enemies, brotherhood, etc… There are many ways to experience relationships… there’s no one way.

I know this is long overdue but take my insights 🤲 this gave me a sense of inspiration and nostalgia from when I first discovered and fell in love with the series 🤍 I hope I answered what you were looking for 🤍

#💌 answered #tokyo revengers #character analysis #ken ryuguji #draken #mikey #manjiro sano #mikey sano

[nian-7]

hehehehe hiii yugeenn, I’m doing the thingg LMAO

anyways I’d like a matchup with Hypmic, (both romantic and platonic) ProSekai (platonic only) and honkai star rail (both romantic and platonic)

You already know my personality bbg.

I’m kidding here♡

nickname - mon!!

Zodiac - Aquarius

MBTI - INFP

Character gender doesn’t matter bbg !!

Hobbies

-drawing

-jewelry making (more just bracelets)

-collecting things ( lil Sanrio blind box figures :], manga, just anything that I like i wanna collect )

-editing

Likes

-Plushies

-anything cute

-Horror games

-jirai kei fashion

-Sanrio

Dislikes

-spiders

-the unknown

-how overly paranoid I am.

-hearing ppl eat with their mouths open

-ppl tapping their fingers.

Personality

Usually just kinda quiet if I’m by myself and even sometimes with friends, usually pretty paranoid, sleepy. I kinda struggle to express myself. sometimes I get kinda loud when I’m having fun with my friends

enjoy, mon!! i hope you like it!

I match you with... (platonically)

Jyushi Aimono!

-Jyushi would be the perfect friend for you to have. He doesn't mind whether you're quiet or loud around him, just as long as you're a genuinely good friend of his, he will cherish you!

-Although he does have a different style than you, he really likes how you dress! He thinks it's cute and would like to try it for himself sometime if he builds up enough courage to ask you about it.

-He loves that you have plushies as well! It makes him so happy knowing Amanda can have some friends as well.

-He tells Amanda all about you and how much fun he has with you! She'd practically know everything about you with how much he tells her. He's just super happy to have another friend he can cherish.

-The poor guy can't handle any horror games and any time you try to convince him to play one, he psychs himself out and gets too scared to even attempt to play.

-He cherishes all the bracelets you make for him and he gets really upset when he thinks he's lost one. He'd doesn't want them ever to break because he'd feel terrible about it.

I match you with... (romantically)

Ichiro Yamada!

-Ichiro is the perfect boyfriend for you. He also enjoys anime and would love to see your manga or figure collection! He lets you ramble on about whatever series you'd like as long as he can do the same!

-He'd be very reassuring for you seeing as he's got pretty stable. No matter how paranoid you are, he'll be doing his best to calm you back down, reassuring you that he's got you and nothing bad will happen.

-Not too into Sanrio but he's willing to learn about it through you when you show him it. He's not too sure exactly what it is and has probably only known about Hello Kitty but, he'll be sure to ask about it. His favorite is likely to end up being Gudetama.

-He'll wear any bracelets you make for him no matter what it looks like. Whenever someone asks him about it, he smiles and tells them that his lovely partner made them for him!

I match you with... (platonically)

Minori Hanasato!

-Minori also loves cute things just like you! She hopes you and her dog are able to get along because well, he's quite cute!

-She probably also has an interest in Sanrio and would love to see your collection. She probably likes My Melody the most and thinks they're all just too adorable!

-She thinks it's fun to doodle with you or even just watch you draw. It's always exciting to her to see your progress on any of your drawings!

-She tries to help you express yourself better and always tries to be there for you when you need it. She doesn't want you to feel like she's never there or a bad friend so she can be a bit of a worry wart because of that.

I match you with... (platonically)

March 7th!

-March just radiates cuteness and she loves all things cute! She's gotta love Sanrio and plushies.

-Says she can't pick a favorite Sanrio and she's just got a small plushie collection with a few of them. She always wants to show you any sort of new cute collectable she's gotten from her adventures.

-She'd love to make bracelets with you! Just teach her how and she'll make a bunch for you! She keeps them all in a special place in her room so that she can look back and remember how fun it was to make them with you!

-March can agree with you on the spiders part. She couldn't stand anything with that many legs and she'll be screaming with you the whole time. Dan Heng has to come in and kill it for the both of you even when it's the smallest one you've ever seen.

I match you with... (romantically)

Luocha!

-Luocha is a kind man and so whenever you get anxious or paranoid, he's always there to talk you down from it, soothing your worries and helping you calm down.

-He enjoys listening to you talk about your interests and doesn't mind if you're loud. He's truly glad you're comfortable with him and it makes him smile.

-He'll attempt to make a bracelet with you, likely putting his name on it and giving it to you to wear. Make him a matching one with your name on it and he'll cherish it as he keeps it on his wrist for as long as he can.

-He enjoys seeing all your plushies and finds it cute when you show them to him while you both are laying in bed together. Whether they be characters or not, he thinks you're just adorable while you show him.

#x reader #fluff #gender neutral reader #hypnosis mic #hypmic #hypmic x reader #nian-mutuals #jyushi aimono x reader #jyushi aimono #ichiro yamada #ichiro yamada x reader #minori hanasato #jyushi x reader #ichiro x reader #minori x reader #minori hanasato x reader #project sekai x reader #project sekai #honkai star rail #honkai star rail x reader #march 7th x reader #march 7th #luocha #luocha x reader

[hippotooth]

Do you have a Tav you would want fanart of? You are SUCH a paragon of artists in this fandom I wanna repay the favor

Ah! You are too kind!! This message is more than repayment enough, seriously, you are so sweet. Thank you!! <3 <3 <3

I'm just grateful this blog is having a bit of an impact - that it means something to artists and that it's helping people connect in the fandom. So much talent and creativity here, I love it and I'm happy to be a part of it in my own small way.

No obligation to draw anything - although I will take this opportunity to spam pics of my favorite Tavs because I love them lol. They are painfully boring compared to lots I see on this site (I don't use any mods because if anything messed up my save files I would cry) but I still enjoy showing them off. :)

This is my current play through monk durge, Tuatha. She's destroyed every home or family she's ever belonged to and has always loathed her urges. While she adores violence and bloodshed, she hates losing control and resents how isolated her outbursts make her. She trained as a monk hoping the pursuit of balance, self-control, and inner peace could help tame her dark urge. The only person she ever felt truly accepted by was Gortash, the truest love she's ever known. After losing her memory she is left with a great emptiness and need for belonging. She's desperate to fit in with the other misfits she adventures with and finds herself finally starting to feel seen and understood by Astarion in a way she has only known once in her life before.

This is the first character I ever played in the game, my bard Faeryl. She is a mess of a character because I did not know how to build a bard when I first started playing but I love her anyway. Pre-tadpole, she was a sensitive kid who was very close with her 3 brothers and often questioned the rigid structure of Drow society. Facing increasing pressure from her family to embrace Lolth, she began to wonder if she truly fit into Menzoberranzan society. One day her youngest brother was killed in a senseless accident and, seeing the nonchalant response from the community, a grief stricken Faeryl ran away from home. She now wanders feeling disconnected and lost. Music, acting, and wordplay become a defense mechanism, a way to process her feelings and keep a safe distance between herself and these strangers above ground. Thinking, and worrying, always about the siblings she left in the underdark, Faeryl strives to stand up for the under-dog whenever she can and protect the weakest among us. After her illithid encounter, Faeryl finally begins to feel kinship and happiness with her new found family.

#hippotooth talk

[silverbladexyz]

Since you asked for sb requests... How about bf hcs with Adam 😳😳

ANON THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REMEMBERING ABOUT OUR PRECIOUS ROBOT ADAM!!!

The image does not belong to me. It belongs to it's original owner.

TW: None. Stormbringer spoilers below!

Boyfriend headcanons with Adam

-Adam is the greenest flag in BSD. No questions asked

-He's kind, funny, loyal, and a whole lot of other good qualities too. *Sighs* why can't he be real... anyways let's get on with the relationship!

-At the start, you would have to teach him some stuff. Adam's not completely clueless, but there are some things that he needs updating on, like 'affection' and 'dates'. Don't worry, he's a fast learner, and it is adorable seeing him finally get what you were talking about

-Adam seems like the type to show his love through physical affection and quality time. So he literally compliments you whenever he can, holds your hand a lot, gives you piggyback rides, and cuddles with you. If you needed help with anything, he would immediately drop what he was doing and come to help you Adam my dear I love you too much

-He is more of a listener, but if you asked him about his cases, he would be more than happy to talk about them. Adam wouldn’t be able to tell you about the more top-secret cases, but he would tell you as much as he is allowed to. Maybe even incorporating a few android jokes in as well

-Teach him about food!!! Adam only ever eats gum and nuts, so introduce him to all sorts of cuisines! Even if his body has no use for it, he still loves the taste of the food, especially if you cooked it for him. He swears that the food tastes 10x better when it’s made by you

-Pretty affectionate once he knows that you’re alright with it. He would hold your hand, stroke it slightly, give you kisses everyday, basically lots of small romantic actions that proves his love for you. When you started doing it back to him, he was a bit confused and his inner computer was going haywire, but Adam managed to get it all under control and now he loves receiving affection from you too

-Would teach you how to defend yourself and knowledge about any tricky scenarios that you could get into. Adam literally is a robot so he knows a lot more facts than you about the world. When he is teaching you, he keeps it straightforward yet gentle at the same time

-If you have anything you needed help with, ask Adam! He wants to help you as much as he could whenever you have a problem, and he probably is the most useful and efficient person you could ask since he is a supercomputer

-Bonus points if you know a certain 160cm mafioso with a special hat. Adam’s eyes would light up when you mention the ginger-haired boy and he’ll tell you all about his adventures with Chuuya. Lowkey hopes one day he’d get to reunite with Chuuya with you alongside him (Asagiri I am begging please isn’t it about high-time Adam showed up in the manga-)

-Even if he may be a bit clueless sometimes, just know that Adam will always love you and be there for you 💗

I feel like I could’ve written so much more but brain refused to work shdhdjjjs

@pixyys @pianotross @chuuyas-beloved @nekokinax @xxelfmamaxx @yuugen-benni @lakeside-paradise @irethepotato @arisu-chan4646  @catzlivedforbsd

#bsd x reader #bungou stray dogs x reader #adam x reader #bsd adam #bsd adam x reader #adam frankenstein x reader #silverbladexyz