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gumnut-logic · 3 years

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I know I’ve posted this one before, but what the hell. It’s Johnny and one of my favs :D

-o-o-o-

John Tracy was sick.

Which meant John Tracy wasn’t allowed to go home.

Sure, he could say that he was home, but it didn’t really feel like home. It was full of brothers and people he loved, but it didn’t feel like home.

Home was among the stars.

But apparently astronauts with the flu weren’t allowed to go home.

“It won’t be for long, John. It will be over before you know it.” Virgil was kind and reassuring, but it didn’t really help.

He wanted to go home.

He was determined to work, of course. Until Scott caught him and cut him off.

There were some loud words over that, but the medical department of IR (aka Virgil) sided with the command department (aka Scott) and yeah, he was grounded, cut off from his ‘bird, holed up in his room and miserable.

Of course, his brothers attempted to cheer him up. Alan dumped himself on his bed chattering away with his latest game, all eager enthusiasm. Gordon brought him a pet crab. Even cared for it for him. John was left wondering if it was a snarky metaphor as the crab sat under a rock all day and had a distinct grumpy appearance.

Virgil and Scott were more subtle, but no less caring. Scott ran ideas past him for communications improvements. Piano music and the occasional piece of art found its way into his rooms uninvited.

He appreciated it. Truly, he did.

He just wanted to go home.

The morning he woke up with a cat sleeping on his chest was the last straw.

“C’mon, guys. You know I’m allergic to cats. Are your trying to kill me?” He held the cat out at arm’s length just waiting for his nasal passages to swell up. Though at this point considering his condition, he wasn’t really sure he would notice.

The cat meowed pitifully at him.

Virgil frowned.

Scott arched an eyebrow.

Gordon looked guilty....but then he always looked guilty. John was sure it was an inbuilt survival strategy.

Alan was cooing at the cat and reaching out to scratch it under the chin.

It was an orange stripy thing with big whiskers and that ragdoll floppiness all cats sported.

“Gordon?” Scott’s arched eyebrow was now pointed at the aquanaut.

“What are you looking at me for? I got him the crab, why would I get him a cat? The cat will eat the crab.” Gordon frowned at John. “Don’t let the cat eat the crab.”

Not a sentence John had ever predicted hearing in his lifetime.

“Can someone please take this thing?” He held out the cat even further.

Virgil, still frowning, gently collected the cat from John’s hands and automatically curled it up in his arms. A finger scratched under its chin.

“Thank you. I’m going back to bed.”

And he did.

The next time he woke, a pair of green feline eyes were staring at him, the cat, once again, curled up on his chest.

What?

It meowed at him and poked his nose with a paw.

“Virgil!”

He must have yelled a little too much because next minute his big brother barrelled into the room, panic on his face. “John, what the-?!”

His eyes landed on the cat and his shoulders literally sagged. “Goddamnit, that’s where you are. I’ve been looking for you for hours.” Virgil reached to pick up the cat.

The cat turned from mild mannered bed companion to spitting and screeching demon within a blink. Virgil yelped and fell backwards, his feet slipping on the mat and his butt hitting the floor with a crash.

One of John’s telescopes teetered before tipping ever so slowly. Virgil saw it and struggled to catch it. “Shiiit!” He threw himself in its path and the four-foot metal cylinder landed in his lap.

There was an oomph and Virgil was flat on his back on the floor.

Demon cat kneaded John’s chest a little before settling once more.

It began to purr.

“Virgil? You okay?”

His brother grunted and John struggled out of bed, shoving the cat out of the way. “Virgil?”

“I’m good.” It was up an octave higher than normal. “Sorry about your telescope.”

John grabbed the telescope off his brother and righted it. It was his own fault for leaving it there in the first place. Stargazing from bed was a habit much more easily exercised on TB5.

Virgil waved off his offered hand and rolled over, pushing himself to his feet with another grunt. He eyed the cat with suspicion. “I thought we had an understanding, Bagel.”

The cat eyed Virgil with equal suspicion.

“Bagel?”

“Gordon claims it is your cat so needs a John name.”

“A John name?”

“Yeah, Bagel it is.”

“It’s not my cat! And where did it come from anyway?” John frowned at Virgil. “Another stowaway on Two.”

“No! You know we have sensors for that now. And besides, that was only once.”

“Twice.”

“Once. The polar bear doesn’t count.”

“The polar bear most assuredly does count. Alan still hasn’t forgiven you.”

“Really?”

“It was a polar bear, Virgil.”

“Yeah, well, that is your cat.”

“That is not my cat.”

“Apparently she has decided she is yours.” Virgil held up his hands. Several scratches decorated his skin. “I have enough of these already. She’s yours.”

“I’m allergic.”

Virgil peered up at him, brown eyes assessing. “You don’t appear to be suffering a reaction. She’s been gone for hours. If she has been here, on your chest all that time, you should be showing the affects. All I can see is the remains of your flu.” A frown. “Are you feeling any better?”

It was John’s turn to frown. He had almost forgotten he was ill, but now his attention returned to his body, the signs were clear.

But he was feeling a little better.

“A little.”

Virgil reached up and squeezed his arm. “Good. You hungry?”

A brief consultation with his stomach and he realised that yes, he was. “Yes, I think so.”

A smile spread over his brother’s face. “Great. You’re on the mend.” Another squeeze of his arm and Virgil turned towards the door. “Meet you in the kitchen. Scott went all out this morning and made pancakes. I stashed you some. Gotta grab them before Gordon discovers them.”

“FAB.” John couldn’t help but return his brother’s smile.

Virgil grinned and with a half-hearted groan rubbed his butt and staggered with some exaggeration out the door. “Don’t forget your cat.”

John turned back to stare at the ginger monstrosity still sitting on his bed, calmly grooming.

“Bagel, is it?”

The cat blinked and kept licking its fur.

John sighed and grabbed his clothes.

-o-o-o-

The cat followed him downstairs for the meal, which turned out to be dinner. He had managed to sleep the day away. Apparently, this was a good thing, because for the first time in days, he could move without creaking.

Virgil had indeed stashed pancakes and within minutes there was a short stack piled up in front of him complete with ice cream and maple syrup. Before he even bothered to acknowledge the envy emanating from Gordon across the other side of the table, the stack began to disappear.

Scott knew how to make pancakes. John considered his big brother’s purpose in life and came to the immediate conclusion that it should be IR, family and pancakes.

Of course, pancakes could be a subset of family if considered that way, but there was always the possibility of him opening a business as a pancake chef.

Blink.

Yes, the flu had obviously taken part of his brain with it.

A pair of blue eyes and two pairs of brown were staring at him.

“What?”

“Did you bother to breathe between bites, bro?” Gordon gestured with his head at the table.

John looked down and found his plate empty. “Guess I was hungry. Scott makes great pancakes.”

“Yes, he does.” Virgil plonked a glass of orange juice in front of him and took away his sticky plate. “Now drink your juice and we’ll set up for family movie.”

“Aren’t you guys going to eat?”

“Already eaten.” Scott was poking at his phone, holograms bouncing around above it. “Grandma made meatloaf surprise again.”

John choked on his juice. “Really?”

“Uh-huh.” Scott did look a little green around the gills.

Well, that explained the envy on Gordon’s face and why Alan was very absent.

“Anyone feed the youngest?”

“All under control.” Virgil chucked Gordon a celery crunch bar and the aquanaut grabbed it from the air.

It was devoured faster than John’s pancakes.

Virgil wandered back into the kitchen proper and soon there was the delicious smell of hot popcorn wafting through the room. The engineer walked past the table again and dumped a chocolate bar in front of Scott. Another one landed in front of John.

“Consider it a survivor’s reward.” Virgil grabbed Scott’s phone out of his hand.

“Hey!”

“Stop working, this is family time. Everything can wait a couple of hours.”

Scott glared at his brother, but grabbed the chocolate bar and capitulated anyway.

Probably because he knew Virgil was right. It was so easy to get absorbed with International Rescue business. John knew he was a fantastic example case of such a syndrome.

A sigh.

Scott glanced up at him. “How are you doing, John?” A smirk. “How’s Bagel?”

As if beckoned, the cat in question suddenly leapt up on to the table and stalked the length of it towards Scott. John’s eyes widened as his eldest brother was targeted by a feline glare of epic proportions.

Scott’s expression was quite an amusing mixture and defiance and terror. Bagel sat down in front of him and after a moment of intense eyeballing decided Scott was boring and started washing herself.

“That is one weird cat, John.”

Everyone jumped as Bagel shot to her feet and dashed across the table at Gordon. “Holy crap!” The aquanaut scrambled backwards as Bagel ran at him. He tangled his feet in the stool he was sitting on and with a crash, ended up on the floor.

“Ow.”

Reaching the edge of the table, Bagel stopped and peered down at the fallen Thunderbird and, apparently deciding Gordon was no more interesting than Scott, sat down and returned to grooming.

The remaining three vertical brothers stared at each other and the cat.

No one said a thing.

“Uh, can someone give me a hand up, here?” Gordon vaguely waved an arm about and Virgil edged around the table to help his brother up.

His eyes barely left Bagel.

“Has anyone fed the cat?” John threw the question in there as a bit of an icebreaker since said cat had frozen the room almost solid.

Bagel looked up and stared at John for a moment before jumping to her feet and ambling over. A simple step off the table and she was in his lap, circling for moment to find a comfortable spot, then curling up and purring.

Again, everyone was staring at the orange fluff ball, John included.

“You have a very strange cat.” Apparently, Gordon hadn’t learnt from his earlier experience, but fortunately, Bagel ignored him this time.

John stared down at the purring ball of fur.

Yes, it seems he did.

-o-o-o-

Despite the possessed cat, the rest of the night went very well. All five brothers plus Kayo threw down some pillows, curled up in front of the holoprojector and waded through a trashy b-grade movie that looked like they were using mannequins for actors and plastic models for set pieces. There was popcorn, laughter and loving family. John felt warm and relaxed and better than he had in days. Somewhere between action scenes, he drifted off to the tinny soundtrack and the sound of his brothers criticising the special effects.

“Johnny?” It was whispered “Johnny, you’ve got to move or you’ll end up with one hell of a neckache.”

A blink and he found himself looking at Virgil upside down. Wha-?

“C’mon, bro. Up you get.” And his brother was lifting him up. Another blink and he realised he was lying on one of the couches...almost upside down, his feet at an angle above his head with his head hanging off the seat cushion. He was far too long for the piece of furniture and, apparently, he had stretched in his sleep.

Virgil was shifting his shoulders into a more horizontal position. Beyond him, the holoprojector was listing all the languages the movie was available in, complete with appropriate copyright warnings. Idly he noted that the Hungarian translation had an error in the third line.

John let his feet drop to the end of the couch before folding up enough to force himself upright. Ugh, Virgil was right. His neck cricked and creaked along with his spine. God, gravity was a nasty piece of work. It had also apparently dribbled all the mucus in his body into his head. His skull protested at the pressure as he sat up and he groaned.

“John?”

Why did everyone think Scott was the worry wart of the family? Virgil with his medical radar was just as bad, if not worse. “I’m fine. Just a head full of snot.” Ugh. Right between his eyeballs, throbbing to the beat of his heart. “Just kill me now.”

Suddenly there was an orange cat in his face, staring.

“What? Bagel, not now.” He gently picked up the cat and put her on the couch beside him. Where the hell had she come from anyway?

A pitiful meow was her response and she edged nearer brushing her cheek against his arm.

Despite himself, he turned to her. “What’s wrong?”

She looked up at him with a combination of adoration and haughtiness. He had no idea what to make of that expression.

Of course, she was a cat. Who understood cats?

“Are you two having a moment?” His brother’s smiling baritone broke the silence and to John’s surprise, Bagel turned to Virgil and hissed angrily.

His big brother took a hurried step back.

“Bagel! Leave him alone! He will never hurt you. For goodness sake, Virgil wouldn’t hurt a fly. Give him some respect.”

To his complete surprise, Bagel stopped hissing immediately. She turned to him almost a question on her face before once again looking at Virgil. Her head dropped and stared at the floor.

“What the hell?” It was little more than breath and all his big brother. Virgil was staring at Bagel, his brow crumpling into a deep frown.

Bagel’s head shot up and once again she was staring at Virgil.

Virgil’s frown got even deeper.

“John where did you get this cat from?”

“I told you, I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before in my life.”

Virgil continued his staring contest with the cat.

“What is it?” His brother’s expression was becoming unnerving, so suddenly determined, it was almost fierce.

“I don’t know.” A pause. “Keep her out of sensitive areas for me, will you?”

“Sure.”

Bagel continued to stare at Virgil.

Virgil continued to stare at Bagel.

A solid moment passed and then his brother was shaking his head, looking at his feet, looking at John. “You good to make it up to your rooms?”

“Yeah.”

“I need to go hunt down Scott. One of the TI directors in the States forgot the time zones. He’s been on the phone for half an hour already.” Virgil sighed.

“Need backup?”

“No.” A hand dropped to John’s shoulder. “You go to bed, you need it. I’ve got this.” The hand disappeared and Virgil climbed out of the lounge, heading towards the balcony.

Bagel was licking her paw.

John sighed. Perhaps some paracetamol would help. “C’mon, Bagel, apparently, you’re with me.” He picked her up and held her against his chest as he staggered to his feet. Cursed gravity. How he missed being able to make the smallest movements and coast across a room.

Bagel reached her head up and snuggled under his chin, her purr vibrating his sternum.

“Why me?” It was little more than an exhaled breath and he wasn’t sure it was a complaint or an actual question.

In either case, Bagel didn’t answer. She just purred into his chest.

So, it remained a mystery for another night.

-o-o-o-

“It just appeared. No trace on sensors, nothing. It’s as if it didn’t exist before the day before yesterday.”

Virgil’s puzzled voice echoed up the stairs as John approached the kitchen the next morning. He glanced at his watch. This was early for his brother; he usually wasn’t up for another hour at least.

“I’m telling you, Scott, there is something very strange about that cat.”

John paused at the top of the stairs, his hands curled around Bagel, gently scratching her under the chin. He had awoken again with her on his chest, but unlike the previous two incidents, he had found himself surprisingly comforted with her presence.

Her purring was strangely calming.

“I will admit she is quite volatile.” Scott’s voice was surprisingly reluctant. “She didn’t even take to Gordon. Every living creature takes to Gordon. Except lizards, I guess. Hell, she doesn’t even like you.”

“That’s just it. She doesn’t act like a cat.”

“What, just because she doesn’t like you?”

“I’m sorry, Scott. Something just doesn’t feel right. Why is she so attached to John? What if she is a plant after our technology?”

“A tech seeking cat? Really?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time an animal has been used for espionage.”

Scott sighed and John shifted, attempting to loosen the tense muscles in his shoulders.

“It’s just that John appears to have latched onto Bagel as much as the cat has to him. How often does John attach to anybody?”

“And that’s what scares me the most. What happens when he returns to TB5? He can’t take a cat with him. It wouldn’t be safe for either of them.”

“Then we look after Bagel for him.”

It was Virgil’s turn to sigh and it was a worried one.

John chose that moment to make his entrance. He stepped lightly down the stairs. “You two really do worry far too much.”

Both brothers started as he entered. The guilty expressions on their faces were quite amusing.

“Virgil, if you are worried about Bagel, scan her.” John held the cat out to his brother. “Take her up to the infirmary and run her through a thorough physical. In fact, I would prefer if you did since as you said, I have become somewhat attached to her. As to what we are going to do when I return to Five...” He shrugged. “I hope we can work something out.”

Virgil managed to look both apologetic and sad.

To John’s astonishment, Bagel wriggled out of his grip and jumped down to the floor. She ambled over to Virgil. His brother froze, obviously wary, but the cat gently brushed up against his leg and rubbed the length of her body across his boots.

The whole room stared.

“Good morning, Bagel.” Virgil’s voice was a little breathless.

“Good morning, Virgil.” The whole room jumped as Brains jogged down the stairs and passing them, bee-lined for the fridge.

“‘Morning, Brains, John.” Gordon wandered in from the pool rubbing a towel through his hair. “Yaargh! What the hell, Virgil. You gone to the cat side?” He took several steps back as he caught sight of Bagel.

Bagel, still wrapped around Virgil’s ankles, turned towards Gordon and spat at him.

“That damn cat is possessed.” The aquanaut made sure the table was between him and the feline.

Bagel glared at him, following with her eyes.

“Eos, I know G-Gordon can b-be a challenge, b-but really, h-he is a good man.” Brains was pouring milk into his cereal on the bench.

“Yes, but he is so annoying.” The AI’s voice bounced across the house’s comm system.

“He st-still deserves r-respect.”

The comm system grunted.

Every eye in the room stared at the engineer.

Gordon found his voice first. “Wow, Brains, thanks.”

John was staring at Bagel. “Eos what do you know about Bagel?”

“Oh, John, everything.” The little imp was so smug.

Two strides and John was beside Virgil. Reaching down, he snagged Bagel off the floor and held her up, his eyes raking over the cat. A moment of intense examination. Bagel stared back at him calmly.

“Okay, how did you do it?”

“Do what, John?”

“Do not mess with me, Eos. I want answers and I want them now.”

“Hiram helped me.”

“Helped you do what?” Scott’s voice was sharp. “Brains?”

“It was a v-very interesting challenge.”

“What did you do, Brains?” Commander Tracy stood up from the table, his height saying everything it needed to.

Brains didn’t notice.

“Oh, Eos had an e-excellent idea to equip Thunderbird F-Five with an internal m-mobile probe mechanism.

“Yes, something that could get into the spaces John cannot.” Still smug. Oh, there would be some serious talking at a later time.

“So, you built a cat.” Virgil’s eyes were wide.

Brains sipped his orange juice, still seemingly unaware of the tension in the room. “She didn’t think I could. So, I did.” He was definitely pleased with himself.

“You built a cat?” Gordon was an echo of his brother. “That cat?” He stabbed a finger in Bagel’s direction.

“Yes?” Finally, the man appeared to realise that something was amiss. “I’m v-very happy with the r-results. It performs v-very well.”

It certainly did. John had her under his arm and found himself scratching her under her chin despite everything.

He forced himself to stop.

“John?”

“Yes, Eos?”

“Do you like her?” Suddenly he was a parent faced with his child’s school science project and the need for approval.

Some science project.

“I like her, Eos.”

“Can we keep her?”

“That is yet to be decided.” It came out firm. It needed to be firm...even though he already knew the answer.

“But-“

“Eos, why didn’t you tell us Bagel wasn’t really a cat?”

“But she is...”

“Eos.”

“John...”

“Eos!”

“I missed you.”

He froze. “I’m right here.”

“But it’s not the same.” That was a definite whine. “You’re not with me. It gets lonely up here without you. So, I built a way to be down there with you.” Bagel rubbed her cheek against his hand.

“Eos is in the cat?” Gordon’s jaw may as well have been on the floor. “She hates me that much?!”

“I don’t hate you, Gordon. You are quite funny. Somewhat clumsy, but funny.”

“Eos.”

“Yes, John?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

No answer.

“Brains, why didn’t you tell us?” Commander Tracy was glaring at the engineer.

“T-Tell you what?”

“About Eos and the cat.”

“That would have r-ruined the experiment.”

“What?”

“Eos w-wanted to see if the f-feline programming was sufficient. The b-best way to do that was test it.”

“On us?” Gordon spouted outrage.

“Surprisingly only V-Virgil appears to have b-been concerned. I w-would be interested to hear your evaluation.”

“Sure.” Virgil appeared to still be processing. Probably attempting to work out exactly how Brains had pulled it off.

“Brains, you, Eos, John and I are going to have a serious conversation.” Scott’s voice was stern. “This is not happening again. This family is not an experimental lab.”

“It was not his fault, Commander.”

Scott arched an eyebrow up at the ceiling. “Really, Eos? I have no doubt that John has a few choice words to be said on this matter.” Oh, yes, choice and many. “In the meantime, please cease the experiment.”

“But-“

“Eos.”

“Very well.”

The cat in John’s arms went completely limp.

He couldn’t help it; a gasp passed his lips and he caught the sudden dead weight with both hands. “Eos!”

All life had left Bagel. She became nothing more than a lifeless corpse. Something inside him lurched horribly.

Every eye in the room was staring at him.

“John?” Virgil’s eyes flashed concern.

He gathered up the cat in his arms and gently placed her on the seat of one of the kitchen chairs.

So real. He shivered.

“You okay?” His big brother was suddenly beside him.

“That was unnerving.” Both of them stared at the immobile TB5 internal remote probe mechanism.

“Eos, can you please reactivate Bagel.”

“Virgil-“

“No, Scott. Too creepy, too real. Please, just...leave her be.”

To John’s surprise, Scott didn’t protest.

But Bagel didn’t move.

“Eos?” His own voice sounded hollow in his ears.

“Yes, John?”

“Please reactivate Bagel.”

“Why?”

“Eos, just please.”

“Very well.”

And Bagel uncurled herself, sat up and glared at Scott. Before Eos could exact any form of petulant revenge, he grabbed Bagel off the chair and held her in his arms.

“Thank you, Eos.”

“You are very welcome.” Impertinent little brat.

“Now, I’m going to have breakfast, then we are going to have that conversation.”

“Yes, John.”

Something in the room snapped and suddenly everyone went back to their morning routine with only the occasional stare at the cat in his arms.

“Would you like some cereal, John?” Virgil was heading towards the fridge.

“You don’t have to get me breakfast, Virgil.”

“You have your hands full and I’ve already had mine.”

“How early were you up this morning?”

“Early enough. Your cat weirded me out.”

Bagel was rubbing her cheek against his fingers again. He grabbed a chair and sat himself down, placing Bagel on the chair beside him. She started grooming herself quite content.

A bowl was placed in front of him, followed by a cereal box, milk and another glass of orange juice.

Bagel stared up at him

He shook his head slowly. “What am I going to do with you?”

The cat tilted her head and licked her whiskers.

And he knew that somewhere far above the planet his daughter was laughing.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #nuttyfic reblog #sorry

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puppyexpressions · 2 years

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Why Are My Dog’s Eyes Red?

"Why are my dog's eyes red?" If you're asking, it might be time for a visit to the veterinarian. Red eyes usually indicate an underlying health problem — and the sooner it's treated, the better.

Read on to learn common causes of red eyes in dogs, what other signs to look out for and how your vet might treat your dog's eyes.

Why Are My Dog's Eyes Red?

Have you noticed that your dog's eyes appear bloodshot? Your dog's eyes could be red for a number of reasons. Here are some of the most common causes:

Irritation

If a foreign object, such as dirt, dust, grass or hair gets in your dog's eye, it can cause irritation and redness. Cleaning sprays and perfume can also irritate your dog's eyes.

Signs of irritation:

Redness

Tears or watery discharge

Itchy eyes (expressed by pawing at their eyes or rubbing their face)

Treatment: You should contact your veterinarian first before any applying any treatment. They may suggest to gently wash out your dog's eyes with lukewarm water. Wait an hour or two to see whether the redness clears up.

Allergies

Just like people, dogs can have allergies, too. They can have seasonal allergies and food allergies, as well as allergic reactions to dust, mold, household cleaners and other environmental allergens. Any of these allergies can cause a dog's eyes to turn bloodshot.

Signs of Allergies:

Redness

Tears or watery discharge

Itchiness

Licking and scratching

Sneezing

Red or inflamed skin

Hair loss

Treatment: Don't give your dog over-the-counter allergy medicine or eye drops without first consulting your veterinarian. Proper treatment depends on your dog's specific allergy, which your vet will determine by examining your dog and running tests. In some cases, pinpointing allergens can be a long process, especially if your vet suspects a food allergy (12-week food trials are required to properly diagnose food allergies).

Pink Eye

Pink eye, the common name for conjunctivitis, comes in two forms: infectious and non-infectious. Infectious pink eye is caused by a virus or bacterial infection, while the non-infectious type is generally caused by allergies, irritation, injury, a congenital condition or an illness such as distemper.

Signs of Pink Eye:

Red or puffy eyes

Itchy eyes

Eye discharge

Eyelids sticking together, squinting

Swelling of the eyelid lining (conjunctiva)

Treatment: Whether or not your dog's case of pink eye is infectious, it needs to be checked out and treated by a vet. They'll determine whether it's the contagious type before determining and treating an underlying cause. Infectious pink eye must be treated with antibacterial or antifungal medicine. Your vet may also give you anti-inflammatory medicine to administer to your dog.

Dry Eye

Another issue that might cause you to wonder why your dog's eyes are red is dry eye, the common term for keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS). This condition occurs when the tear glands don't produce enough moisture, causing the tissues of the eye to dry out. Dry eye can be a result of eye trauma, an underlying health condition or a corneal ulcer.

Signs of Dry Eye:

Redness

Itchy, painful eyes

Thick discharge

Treatment: Your vet will conduct a test to assess the level of moisture your dog's tear glands are producing. They may also check for corneal ulcers. Dogs with dry eye are commonly prescribed eye drops to keep their eyes moist. You'll need to clean their eyes on a regular basis. While dry eye sometimes clears up on its own, it can also be chronic and require lifelong treatment.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a painful condition caused by fluid buildup that creates swelling and pressure, leading to damage of the optic nerve. If left untreated, glaucoma can lead to blindness.

Signs of Glaucoma:

Redness

Pain

Swollen eyes

Receding eyeballs

Cloudy appearance

Dilated and unresponsive pupils

Poor vision

Treatment: If your dog shows signs of glaucoma, bring them to the vet immediately. If you manage to catch the condition early enough, there's a better chance that topical medicine or laser surgery will be effective and that your dog's vision can be saved, says Cuteness. In more severe cases, surgery may be required to relieve pain caused by fluid buildup and pressure. In the most severe cases, surgical removal of one or both eyes may be required.

In addition to the causes listed above, red eyes in dogs can be a sign of an illness, such as distemper, or a chronic health condition like diabetes or hyperthyroidism. Red eyes can also indicate a tumor or certain types of cancer. Some dog breeds are more prone to eye problems than others. This includes flat-faced breeds like pugs and bulldogs, as well as long-haired breeds whose hair can irritate or damage their eyes. Dogs also become more prone to eye problems and underlying health conditions that can cause eye redness as they age.

How to Help Your Dog and When to Call the Vet

When you first notice your dog's red or itchy eyes, you can wait a couple of hours to see if they clear up on their own. If your dog allows it you can check their eyes and around their eyelids to see if there is anything in it that might be causing the problem. For minor irritations like a loose hair, a lukewarm wet paper towel can do the trick for cleaning around the eyelids. If that doesn't clear up the red eye, call your vet to ask for guidance. If allergies are suspected, your vet might give the go-ahead to give your dog an over-the-counter antihistamine. They can also let you know whether you should bring in your dog for an examination.

Visiting the Vet: What to Expect

When you take your dog to the vet to have their red eyes examined, your vet will likely ask about your pet's recent activity, daily habits and health history. They'll conduct an eye exam and may draw blood to check for underlying health conditions. If allergies are suspected, the vet may ask about your dog's environment, including whether or not you someone in your household smokes, the household cleaners you use and the food you feed your dog. With your cooperation, your vet will be better able to determine the source of the redness, provide appropriate treatment and give you instructions on how to care for your pooch at home.

Dogs are precious and so is their eyesight. If you're curious as to the reason why your dog's eyes are red, it's best to contact your vet.

#dog red eyes #dog eyed #dog health

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radiorenjun · 4 years

Text

I Don't Need It

• Pairing: Na Jaemin x Reader

• Genre: Angst, Comedy, Fluff

• Na Jaemin despised the idea of soulmates, he wanted to fight against fate for choosing his soulmate for him. Even if it means his stubborn childhood best friend wouldn't stop trying to make him accept about the similar tattoos on their wrists.

• Warnings: mental breakdowns, heartbreak, mentions of blood, science (ew), mentions of death, major angst, arguments, flashbacks, physical injuries, fighting.

• Wordcount : 9.4 k

• Masterlist here!

• Chapters: IX, X

• Song rec of the chapter : Start Over Again - New Hope Club

“Shit, I didn’t think it would be this bad.” Hyuck exclaimed as they finally managed to drag Jaemin out of the arcade. “Why was his wrist glowing like that?!” Chenle exclaimed as Jaemin gripped his wrist tightly, trying to make the burning sensation subside. “Idiot, didn’t you pay attention to Science class?” Hyuck replied as they watched Jeno (who had ran off to the nearest run towards them with a small packet of ice cream mochi in his hand.

“This was the only thing nearby, put this on.” Jeno handed Jaemin the cold packet, who thanked him softly and carefully placed the packet on the burning skin. “What’s happening to him?” Jisung asked, looking at his seniors as Jaemin leaned his back against the wall, slumping against it with a heavy sigh, trying to ignore the searing pain.

“I’m fine, really. It’s just a little wrist pain. It’ll go away sooner or later. I-” Jaemin muttered under his breath before Jeno cuts him off with a strict tone. “Shut up, Jaemin. You’re not okay,” he spoke sternly before running a hand through his hair in distress. “Hyung, what’s going on?” Jisung asked, in a more serious tone, truly concerned for their dear friend.

“It’s his tattoo. It’s burning his blood.” Hyuck explained, his usual teasing tone was now replaced with a serious one. His eyes staring straight at the glowing red skin as the younger boys stared at him in shock, Jaemin’s head shot up in surprise, eyes wide to see if Hyuck was messing him or not. “Hyuck, that’s not funny.” Jaemin let out a strained laugh, letting out a sharp hiss when Jeno pressed the cold pack harder onto his skin. “It’s not a joke, Jaems.” Jeno scolded softly.

“How is that even possible?” Chenle asked, baffled. Jeno rolled his eyes as he released his tight grip on Jaemin’s wrist, causing the younger boy to glare at him, pressing the ice pack against his wrist gently. “Guess someone never payed attention to Science class,” Hyuck muttered under his breath, receiving a punch on the shoulder from Jisung. “Get to the point, hyung.” he frowned.

“From what I remembered, that tattoo is connected to your emotions. It’s like the old red string soulmate theory. It’s the only thing that connects you with your soulmate. if you found your soulmate but they reject you or hurt you in any shape or form, the brain registers emotional pain of heartbreak in the same way as physical pain.” Jeno explains briefly, as Jaemin’s eyes widened at the new information. How come he’s never heard of this before?

“When the tattoo appears, it turns into some kind of blood vessel that connects to the emotional part of your body. And when you experience some form of heartbreak that’s caused by your soulmate, the tattoo somehow produces bacteria that burns your blood on your left wrist, hence the bright glow.” Jeno adds on, sighing, a hand going back to scratch the back of his neck. Hyuck nodded, “I knew this because Jeno gave me his science notes when we had that science test,” Hyuck exclaimed, putting a hand on Jeno’s shoulder who gave him a deadpanned look.

“There are some cases that the pains were so bad that they had to be removed.” Hyuck added on. “And let me tell you, it’s not a fun process to do so. It’s pretty rare, but they say if you’re not careful, removing it might mentally break them.” Hyuck unconsciously rubbed his own wrist, wincing at the mere thought of getting a part of his skin peeled off.

“So all this time. All the chest pains, all the wrist pains I’ve been enduring, was because I was feeling emotionally hurt by my own soulmate?” Jaemin asked in a rather hesitant tone, his pupils filled with disbelief. “Not hurt, per say. More like jealousy.” Hyuck concluded with soft shrug. “Jealousy?” Jaemin gaped, his mouth opened in disbelief. He didn’t know what to say. Or if he could say anything at all. It was all too much to take in.

“Yep. I don’t know if you noticed, but every time you see Renjun and Y/N together these days, you often glare at them as if you were going to have lasers shooting out of your eyeballs into Renjun’s skull.” Jisung joked, a small smile appearing on his face, trying to ease the awkward tension around them. “You need to seriously stop lying to yourself. If the world set you up together, you’re bound to develop feelings whether you like it or not, that’s how this fucked up soulmate system works.” Hyuck groaned in annoyance.

“You’re more stubborn than Jeno when his mom told him to not get a cat because he’s allergic to fur.” Jisung nodded in agreement. Jeno turned his head to the younger boy, letting out a soft, “what?”

“Very funny, you two.” Jaemin rolled his eyes.

“Honestly, hyung, this wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t so stubborn bout going against fate.” Chenle huffed, leaning his arm against Jaemin’s left shoulder, looking at the older boy with sympathy in his eyes. “Wait, does this mean,” Jaemin paused as his mind drifted back to you, his brows furrowed in confusion and a slight tint of horror.

“All this time, y/n felt this excruciating sensation for two whole years?” Jaemin gulped. By the way Jisung and Chenle gazed at their older friends curiously, he assumed they didn’t know any of this. A part of him didn’t want to talk bout this in front of them. Yet, another part of him was too curious yet nervous to find out the answer, for his friends’ reactions had said it all. The two boys looked away sadly, bowing their heads to avoid eye contact with their best friend. Jaemin felt his heart drop into his stomach, your innocent smile flashing through his mind, causing his guilt to fill him up even more.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jaemin asked, guilt filling his veins like a running tap filling up a jug with water.

“We wanted to. At first, we thought you knew. That’s why we were rather hesitant when talking to you since that day,” Hyuck exclaimed with an exhausted sigh, biting his lip nervously, referring to your birthday. “Then when you said you almost failed science back then because you didn’t bother reading the notes we shared, we were about to tell you,” Jeno continued hesitantly, his own eyes filled with guilt, remembering how Jaemin hated the ideas of soulmates so much, he didn’t even want to listen to the teachers explanations when it comes to the soulmate system that he purposely didn’t study for the soulmate part of the topic for the test.

“But then,” Hyuck cut him off.

2 years ago

“Dude, you barely passed Science, what’s up with that?” Jeno gaped, seeing Jaemin’s low score displayed on the pin board their school had set up beside every entrance to each class for event posters and test scores. Jaemin shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes filled with disinterest. “This was like the easiest topic of the whole semester, how in hell did you get a 72?” Hyuck exclaimed in disbelief.

“I didn’t bother to study with this one,” Jaemin shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Dude, it’s about the soulmate system. The only interesting topic in the whole school year, it’s all basic knowledge.” Hyuck deadpanned, nudging Jaemin’s arm with his elbow. Jaemin rolled his eyes, groaning in annoyance. “So? I don’t want to know shit bout that lousy system.” Jaemin replied with pursed lips.

“Shit, man. That’s kind of mean. I bet you didn’t even know that if you hurt your soulmate you’ll-”

“Haechan! Jeno!”

The three boys turned to see you smiling widely at them, though the smile didn’t reach your eyes. You quickly jogged up to the two boys, grabbing the, by the elbows in each hand, gripping onto them tightly. “Hey Nana!” you greeted, giving your soulmate a loving smile who just sent you a small friendly smile and a small wave. “Sorry, do you mind if I borrow your friends for a bit? I got something to say to them,” you giggled nervously, tugging them backwards to say it’s urgent so that Jaemin couldn’t catch on.

“Where did you come from?” Jeno asked, raising a brow at you. You frowned slightly, “through the wall.” You replied in a sarcastic tone, causing Hyuck to let out a soft chuckle. “It’s really urgent. I really need to talk to you guys,” you spoke seriously, tugging them back as Jaemin raised his brow at you suspiciously. “What’s so urgent that you got to take my friends away from me, huh?” Jaemin teased, causing you to let out a soft laugh.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” you winked, giggling. “But we have class in less than-” Jeno was immediately cut off by your desperate tone as you tugged them back quite roughly. “It’ll just take a second!” you said nervously, eyes pleading at them to go with the flow. Hyuck and Jeno shared perplexed looks before letting you tug them away from Jaemin.

“See you in Chemistry, Jaemin!” Jeno waved at his friend, who waved back with a soft smile before turning to the other direction to get to his locker. You pulled Hyuck and Jeno around the corner, looking back to see if you were far enough from Jaemin. “What’s up with you Y/N? You look like my little sister when she told her teacher that I ate her homework.” Hyuck asked in a concerned tone.

Your smile from before dissipated into a rather exhausted expression, sighing as you leaned back against some random student’s locker. “You guys have to promise me to not talk to Jaemin anything related to the soulmate system.” you frowned, eyes boring onto theirs seriously. Jeno frowned, confused. “Okay. Why though?” he asked questioningly.

You looked back, making sure Jaemin was nowhere to be seen before hesitantly speaking. “He doesn’t know anything bout the soulmate system. Like, literally nothing.” you started, rubbing the back of your neck in distress, letting out a pained sigh. “He’s been that way ever since we were kids, you know that, Jeno. And it’s best if we keep it that way,” you explained.

“Y/n, no. You know full well what’s going to happen. You’re gonna get hurt, like physically hurt, y/n. We need to tell him,” Jeno shook his head, refusing boldly with Hyuck nodding in agreement. You sighed, smiling softly. “I knew you were going to say that. But really, I’m going to be fine. It’s nothing I can’t handle.” you waved it off with a light smile.

Hyuck and Jeno gave you uncertain looks. “I’m serious.” you huffed with a slight pout, “I appreciate you two caring bout my well being but I’m really going to be okay. Trust me,” you held up two crossed fingers from your left hand, grinning sheepishly. Hyuck and Jeno eyed the sore mark around the tattoo on your wrist, identical to Jaemin’s which was red as if it had been gripped tightly by someone.

“Y/n, you’re gonna get even more hurt. You need to tell Jaemin, what if he stops being stubborn if you just tell him?” Hyuck tried to reason, feeling his own wrist sting by the sight of yours, wondering how painful it could be to feel such an awful sensation. You let out a soft shrug, “I don’t want to see him sad like that. I am his soulmate after all, soulmates are suppose to keep each other happy.” you smiled, though Jeno and Hyuck could see the sadness through your pupils.

“What’s the point in that? You’re just gonna keep him in the dark so he can be happy while you suffer in pain every day? That isn’t fair, y/n. It isn’t fair to you nor to Jaemin,” Jeno furrowed his brows, feeling frustrated with his stubborn friend. Why couldn’t he just get over the whole ‘I’m going against fate because this whole soulmate system sucks’ bullshit?

You gigged softly, looking down at the sore mark around your tattoo, caressing the balloon doodle with your thumb. “You two don’t fully understand. I want him to love me, but I don’t want him to love me just because he’s forced to.” you sighed, taking your two friends aback slightly. “Maybe one day-” you shook your head profusely, trying to shake the negativity out of your head.

“No, I know one day, he’ll love me back the way I love him. I just need to be patient with his stubborn ass. I’ll never stop trying until that happens. And when that happens, maybe none of us will be sad anymore.” the sad yet hopeful smile you plastered across your lips was enough to break Jeno and Hyuck’s heart. They wished you and Jaemin could have an easier plot to your story, wishing that you wouldn’t have to go through such a painful process just to make your soulmate happy. But love makes you do crazy things, and they knew they should respect your decision.

“How are you so sure? It’s been months, y/n.” Jeno asked rather hesitantly. But he needed an answer why you couldn’t just tell him. Hyuck nodded, he couldn’t find the courage to speak. Hell, Hyuck didn’t even know what to say to you, not when you were looking at him as if you were clinging on to your last hope of life. You gave him those sad smiles you only see in movies when a main character knows they’re in for a long painful ride through life.

“I’m actually not.” you replied shortly, putting your hands into the pockets of your jacket, “But this is what love does to me. It makes me feel as if I gave up on this, I’m going to have the whole world turned upside down. I guess I’m just that whipped.” you shrugged simply, kicking a crumpled ball of paper someone dropped earlier. “Love? What is love, really?” Hyuck asked in a rather bitter tone, recalling the hurt expressions you would always have whenever Jaemin wasn’t looking.

You paused to think bout it for a moment before looking at the two boys with a knowing look, “I don’t know myself. But it feels amazing to be in love, I want it to last as long as possible. Even if it might not work out for me in the end, I just want to at least cherish it while I can,” you grinned, giving them enthusiastic jazz hands.

“So, can you promise me that you’ll both keep this between the three of us?”

“So you both actually kept it from me all these years?” Jaemin exclaimed, feeling anger overwhelm his whole body. Hyuck’s head shot up, “she looked tired enough, we couldn’t say no, you asshole!” he shot back defensively, jaw clenching tightly. “Telling you would be like taking her last bit of hope, she didn’t want to burden you with the thought, so she kept it to herself, you ungrateful douchebag!” he spat, his face red with anger as he stared back at his friend in disbelief.

“Oh, so you decided to let her suffer internally so I can feel like shit about it later on? Sure, Donghyuck!” Jaemin shot back, pulling the frozen pack to clench his fists by his sides. “Oh, so it’s y/n’s fault now, is it? That’s what you’re implying?!” Hyuck growled, letting out a groan of annoyance at his best friend’s stubborn self.

“You ass, you really can’t see how fucking stupid you’re being? She’s your fucking soulmate, for fucks sakes! Get your head out of your ass and wake up, if you just showed a bit of interest with the whole soulmate system then this wouldn’t have happened in the first place!”

At this point, things were getting a bit too intense for the two boys, Jisung had to step forward and grip his senior’s shoulder, in case Hyuck tried to do something to Jaemin. “Shut up, Hyuck. You don’t even know what you’re talking about! You’re just one of those people who follows this fucked up soulmate system, you just don’t get it!” Jaemin took a step forward towards the older boy, jaw clenched tightly in anger.

“Yeah, sure, if this system is so fucked up, then what bout you, huh? What about you, Na Jaemin?”

“What about me?”

“If this whole system is fucked up, like you say it is. Then what about you? Don’t you think it’s fucked up that you keep hurting your own childhood best friend for your own selfish purposes, you prick?”

“Hyung, I think thats-” Jisung attempted to coax Hyuck to stop before he did some permanent damage to their whole friendship, only for the older boy to shrug his hand away with a harsh scowl on his lips. “Shut up, Jisung. I’ve had it with this bullshit, it’s time he opens his fucking eyes and stop acting like a fucking brat.” Hyuck spat back at the younger, causing the poor boy to sigh in defeat.

“What the fuck is that suppose to mean?” Jaemin felt his heart ache, not in the way whenever he would see you or Renjun. It was a different kind of ache, it felt as if tiny sharp objects were slowly piercing through his heart. And Jaemin was afraid that he didn’t know how to make it stop.

“It’s funny how you just tossed away her feelings for your own for two whole years. You didn’t even know that she was hurting, right? You treated her like shit for two years: throwing away her cookies, her gifts. Taking her kindness for granted, rolling your eyes at her whenever she was in the room. Not to mention talking shit bout her behind her back.”

“I do not talk shit about her behind her back-”

“Oh, really? What about those times you complained how clingy she was? How she was suffocating you with her presence? How she was getting annoying day by day, huh? What do you call that?”

“I was just-”

“You were just what, Jaemin? You were just pissed off? Or was it because you didn’t think she was right behind you listening? Or is it gonna be another of your petty excuses?”

Jaemin couldn’t respond, he didn’t know want to say. He admits that what he’s done in the past wasn’t the nicest things, but he was just upset whenever he said those things. He froze in his place, unable to find the right words to respond. Or rather, he couldn’t respond at all.

“Oh, so now you have nothing to say? Just admit that you’re being irrational about this whole situation, Jaemin. It’s not that hard to admit that you’re wrong, you bastard. No wonder Y/n replaced yo-”

Before Donghyuck could finish his sentence, Jaemin pushed Donghyuck by the chest harshly in anger. Hyuck took a few steps back at the harsh impact, his scowl turning into a smug grin. “Shut up, Donghyuck.” Jaemin growled, shrugging off Jeno’s hand when Jeno stepped forward to gently coax Jaemin to let it go before they both do something that’ll get them in trouble.

“Did I hit a nerve? You know it’s true, Na. You just won’t admit it!” Hyuck growled, causing Jaemin’s blood to boil under his skin. Both of his fists were clenched tightly, ready to punch something. Or rather, someone.

“Stop it, Hyuck.” Jeno barked, his tone getting an octave lower. At this point, Jisung and Chenle were eyeing their elders cautiously, ready to drop their snacks to the floor in case a fight breaks out. “What? I’m not lying, aren’t I? It wouldn’t take a genius to know that Y/n basically replaced him with someone clearly better for her. I mean, Renjun’s would be a way better soulmate than your selfish ass, anyways.” Hyuck taunted with a proud glint in his pupils.

“Hyuck, stop it before you’re gonna regret something,” Jeno barked once again as Jaemin clicked his tongue, his jaw clenching tightly as the atmosphere thickens between the three boys. “If only Y/n wasn’t cursed to be soulmate with an asshole like you, then she didn’t have to put up with your ungrateful ass for all these years!” Hyuck exclaimed, raising his hands up dramatically to rile Jaemin up even more.

It all happened so fast.

In a split second, Jaemin launched himself onto Hyuck, grabbing the younger boy by the collar. “Take it back,” Jaemin spat in his face, tone laced with anger. Hyuck still had a proud smirk on his face, provoking the boy even more by his smug expression. “I’m happy she didn’t have to get stuck with you for the rest of her life despite being cursed for having the same tat-”

Hyuck didn’t get to finish his sentence when Jaemin’s fist collided against the side of his face. “Jaemin! Hyuck!” Jeno ripped the two boys apart, holding Jaemin back before he causes a ruckus. Jisung and Chenle held Hyuck back as Jeno began to scold the younger boys, “Fuck off, Jeno!” Jaemin tried to shove Jeno off of him, but Jeno tightened his grip on Jaemin’s shoulder, holding him back tightly.

“Jaemin, stop it you’re making a scene.” Jeno hissed as Hyuck let out a cocky “Ha!”, getting out of Jisung and Chenle’s grip. “No, Jen. Let him go, maybe if he beats me up, he’s gonna realize how shitty of a human being he’s been.” Hyuck taunted with a sinister laugh, causing Jaemin to let out a harsh growl at his friend. “You little-”

“Hyuck, stop provoking him. Jaemin, calm down before someone calls security!” Jeno struggled to keep Jaemin at arms length from Hyuck, Jaemin’s pupils darted at the people around them staring, whispering and crying out for someone to get security. He felt anxiety crawl up his skin at the countless of eyes glaring at them, but one that truly caught his eye was your own figure walking out of the arcade.

You had a skip in your step with an enthusiastic smile on your face as you stared back at your friends, pointing at the nearest food court as you looked back at your friends. His eyes widened slightly when he saw one of your friends pointing towards the crowd around them, anger soon being replaced with a strong surge of panic.

Jaemin masked his panic with an incredulous scoff, shoving Jeno’s hand off of him with an annoyed huff before bumping his shoulder against Donghyuck who gave him a death glare as he stomped off to the parking lot as fast as he could, ignoring the eyes of strangers as he leaves his friends behind.

“Son of a bitch!”

Jaemin couldn’t be anymore thankful that his parents were away on a business trip for two weeks, they didn’t have to see their son experiencing a mental breakdown right before their eyes. Jaemin slammed the door shut as hard as he could, hitting his fist against the door in anger, swearing loudly as he vents his anger out on the white wooden door.

His fists were red with pain, but at that moment he couldn’t find it in himself to care. All he wanted was to block out the pain he was feeling deep down inside of him and let it out before it exploded inside him. Before the pressure broke him inside and outside.

Eventually, the sound of his fists hitting the wooden door stopped. Jaemin took a step back, panting, his hair messy, his blood boiling, his heart racing in his chest, exhaustion filling his entire body. He collapsed onto the mattress of his bed, sighing out. Jaemin felt exhausted, mentally and physically. He felt like being stuck in his room for the rest of his life. He felt like he wanted to just disappear.

Jaemin turned over to his stomach, burying his face against the soft fabric of his pillows. His heart ached even more, his wrist wasn’t burning anymore but it still left a dull ache in it’s wake. And for once in his life he wasn’t covering his soulmate tattoo with his watch or wristbands. Jaemin’s glassy eyes stared at the small tattoo that got him into this big of a mess in the first place as his mind keeps spinning in his head.

The tattoo that was once a bright doodle of a small red balloon floating in the middle of two clouds had now transitioned into a dim crimson red, the white color in the clouds and the bright red color in the balloon were barely visible. Jaemin assumed that was probably the side effects of either the pain killers he took or the tattoo releasing bacteria from the emotional pain in his chest.

Jaemin chuckled to himself, turning his head to see the half empty bottle of pain killers standing innocently on his desk. Laughing lightly to himself at how frustrated he gets whenever the pain wouldn’t stop despite taking the maximum dosage. “I’m so stupid.” he mumbled to himself, rubbing his face with his palms in frustration.

On second thought, he couldn’t remember the last time he saw your tattoo. Jaemin’s brows furrowed, at the thought. Come to think of it, you had been covering your own tattoo up these past couple months. Either with the matching friendship bracelet he got you for your 16th birthday, joking how you should cover your tattoo with it, hours prior to when your tattoo appeared.

You wore it all the time since then. The charms on the bracelet were large enough to cover the small tattoo on your wrist. Were you using the bracelet as an excuse to cover the marks your tattoo left on your skin from everyone else? Was your cheerful demeanor a facade all this time to cover your pain from Jaemin so that Jaemin wouldn’t feel guilty for hurting you?

Everything was a mess.

Jaemin wanted this whole problem to just disappear.

He groaned as he sat up from his bed, eyes examining his bedroom. The distant nostalgic sound of both of your laughter echoing in his mind as he recalled the times when you two used to joke around and make each other laugh so hard you had to hold your stomachs. The memory of him flicking your forehead whenever you do something annoying to make him laugh. Pupils staring at the small pebble that sat at the corner of his desk, his mind fluttering back to the time when you were 15.

“So I have a present for you.” you giggled, barging into his room and dropping your bag carelessly in the middle of the room. Jaemin looks up from his phone, raising his brow as a smile stretched across his face. “Is it food?” he asked, an eager smile stretching across his face as he watched you pounce on his bed with your arms stretched out like a starfish.

You turned to your best friend, giving him a bittersweet smile before letting out an evil, loud, maniac laugh, leaning you head back for a dramatic effect, abruptly turning to Jaemin with a deadpanned expression before letting out a cold emotionless, “no.”

Jaemin frowned, his bottom lip jutting out as he whined. “And here I thought you’d finally pay me back for all the peanut butter sandwiches I sacrificed every recess.” he complained under his breath, smacking your backside with one of the pillows behind him. You giggled, sitting up as you watched your best friend pursed his lips at you.

“You wish, Na Jaemin. That’s never going to happen, that I can assure.” you giggled, shaking your head as you snatched the pillow from his hands to lay it on top of your lap. “Then what did you get me?” he asked, a confused frown forming on his lips, leaning his head to the side in curiosity. You smiled simply at him, “close your eyes, first.”

“Why?” he eyed you suspiciously, watching as your right arm reached for something inside the pocket of the peach coloured hoodie you were wearing. “I swear if you get me one of those strawberry infused tea that the 6 year old girl from across the street constantly forces innocent bystanders to buy, I’m going to-”

You let out an incredulous scoff, putting your hand on your chest with an offended frown. “Preposterous!” You gasped dramatically. “I would never make my best friend suffer by buying him a disgusting drink made by a 6 year old who eats play doh for a living!” you exclaimed with an offended tone.

Jaemin gave you an incredulous look, leaning back on the bed with his arms supporting him as he raised a brow a you. “You literally made me try her special oreo, milo, peanut butter and jam, ‘expresso’ a few weeks ago.” he said, wiggling his index and middle fingers when he said ‘expresso’.

You gave him an innocent dorky grin in response, “no regrets.” You hissed with a smug smile. Jaemin rolled his eyes at you, “I’m serious, I’m actually concerned. Knowing you, you probably hired some weird psychic witch to make a voodoo doll of me.” he frowned jokingly. Actually, he was half joking considering you were weird enough to convince him that you were secretly a witch from another dimension.

You giggled, putting the back of your hand on the top of your head as you wailed out dramatically like those people in theaters and soap operas. “Oh dear God, Na Jaemin has no faith in his oh-so-amazing best friend! What have their friendship become!” you cried out, scrunching your face as you pretended to cry in front of him, causing Jaemin to reach his hand out to pinch your cheek gingerly.

“I don’t think ‘amazing’ is a word I would use to describe this whole experience of being your friend since diapers.”

Now it was your turn to purse your lips, causing Jaemin to send you a charming wink, rolling your eyes in response. “Is that so? I think it’s time to finally terminate our friendship.” you sniffled, wiping an invisible tear as Jaemin let out a laugh your statement. “I’m kidding, Y/n.” he cooed in a high pitched voice, putting both his palms against you cheek and squishing them together to pucker your lips.

He snickered as you smacked his hands away from your face, “get your hands off of my face, you peasant.” you giggled before sitting up straight and giving him a serious look. “Now. Close your eyes!” you frowned, booping his nose jokingly. Jaemin raised his brow at you, pushing your finger away from the tip of his nose. “Fine,” he sighed, closing his eyes slowly.

He felt you tug down the hood of the jacket he was wearing over his head, feeling your palm pat against the fabric against his eyelids .”No peeking, Jaemin!” you exclaimed eagerly, your hands moving to pull his hands out from behind him. He rolled his eyes with a small chuckle when he felt your fingers pry his own open to spread out his palms.

“Did you get me those old squishy stress balls you keep gazing at whenever we go to the mall?” he asked with a soft giggle when he feels you place something small and smooth in his palm. “I’m too broke for that, you know that, Jaemin. Now, open your eyes!” you giggled, he felt the bed sink, signalling you probably moved to lay down.

Jaemin placed the object in his hands in his left hand, his right moving to pull the hood over to the back of his head as he slowly opened his eyes and looks down at what you have placed in his palm. His brows furrowed in confusion at the grey object you had placed in his palm, his head shooting up to look at the cheeky grin displayed on your face.

In his palms was a small pebble.

A fucking pebble.

He squinted his eyes at you to see if you were joking, but you just kept giving him the same cheeky grin. You weren’t joking in the slightest. You two stared at each other for the next 15 seconds. Your eyes wide as if daring him to speak and complain while his dared yours to explain what level of degeneracy your weirdness has come to.

Jaemin clicked his tongue at you.

“You got me a rock?” he deadpanned after a pregnant pause. You were on your stomach, gazing up at him with your face in your palms with a chesire grin spread across your face. “First of all, it’s a pebble. Second, it’s not just a pebble, it’s a pebble with-” Jaemin watched you lean over to flip the pebble in his hands around.

“A picture of Doraemon!” you exclaimed cheerfully. Jaemin stared at the small cheap sticker of Doraemon winking at him, then stared back at you with a blank expression. He bit his lip to keep himself from bursting out laughing, watching you bite back your own laughs. “You got to be joking me. Please tell me you’re joking,” Jaemin threw his head back laughing, placing the pebble on his bedsheets in front of him as he applauded and laughed at the same time.

You shook your head as you wheezed, laughing loudly as you smacked your fists against the pillow you were laying on. “Oh you WISH I was joking. Hell no, dude, you’re gonna keep a rock as a momento of my iconic existence.” you shook your head, wiping the tears from your eyes as Jaemin stared at you incredulously.

“What the hell am I suppose to do with a rock? Also what’s with the sticker? It looks like some weird omen.” Jaemin snickered, he really couldn’t stop laughing at how stupid this situation looks. You shrugged innocently, giving him a teasing grin. “The sticker adds flavor to the pebble. I couldn’t find any permanent markers to decorate it with.” you shrugged, causing Jaemin to bawl out laughing, throwing his head back.

“Remind me why I’m still friends with you?” he chuckled. You puckered up your lips gingerly, “because you just married me.” you winked, causing Jaemin to furrow his brows in confusion. “Have you been eating to many candies again, y/n?” he asked, placing the back of his palm against your forehead. You huffed, slapping his hand away, eliciting soft giggles from your best friend.

“You accepted my gift, that means we’re married!”

“How so? What kind of weird nonsense have you discovered this time?”

“Hush, this is actually a really cute fact.”

Jaemin sighed, nodding his head as he gestured you to continue on. You grinned gingerly, “Did you know that when penguins propose to their mates, they give their mates a pebble? Like some sort of wedding ring!”

There was a pregnant pause. Jaemin just giving you an incredulous smile, his cheeks flushed pink as he wonders how adorable this moment could possibly get. “Is this your way of saying you want to marry me or is this your way of calling me short?” Jaemin teased, his sweet wide smile never leaving his face as he leaned over towards you.

You raised your brows in surprise, a bright pink tint appearing on the soft skin of your cheeks. “Welp, this clearly backfired.” you muttered under your breath, causing Jaemin to let out an amused laugh. “What were you even trying to do here?” he exclaimed, stretching his arm out to gingerly pinch both of your pink cheeks as you whined out in embarrassment.

“I just want to pull a little harmless prank to make you blush. I clearly didn’t think this through.” you said, gripping his wrist as you try to pry his hands off of your cheeks. Jaemin giggled, his heart fluttering. “You’re getting weirder day by day.” He mumbled to himself, shaking his head profusely at you.

“Shut up, I thought it was cute and funny at the same time.”

“Would you marry me though?”

“What?”

Jaemin gulped, shaking his head when he realised he said that out loud. “Would you marry me though if we had the chance?” he asked shyly, rubbing the back of his neck shyly with a bashful smile. You leaned your head to the side, pondering for a small moment, attempting to ignore the heat rushing through your cheeks. “Would you?” you mused, chuckling at your best friend who just gave you a dopey grin.

Jaemin shrugged, “I don’t see why not. It’s better than marrying someone you met because of a stupid birthmark.” he smiled innocently. You rolled your eyes at this. “Your resentment towards the soulmate system will always be an unattractive point. I hate to be the person who blows a candle, only to have the same lame soulmate mark as you.” you joked, causing Jaemin to smack you with the pillow beside him.

“Rude!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “What if you were that unfortunate soul?” he asked with a giggle, causing you to frown. “Well screw that, I’ll peel the damn mark off of my skin.” you shot back, giggling in between words as Jaemin pouted at your words, pursing his lips in response. “Wouldn’t that be ironic, though? We’ve been friends since diapers, I’d be damned if I have to spend the rest of my life with you.” you commented.

Jaemin stopped laughing, leaning back on his arms as he took a moment to think about it. “But wouldn’t it be better that way though? Like, you wouldn’t have to go through that awkward introduction phase when we could just move on to the honeymoon phase.”

You scoffed. “I’d rather barf in my cereal.”

You let out a loud ‘oof’ when Jaemin tackled you against the sheets to smack you with his pillow repeatedly.

Jaemin chuckled to himself at the memory, smiling sadly at how ironic yet cliche this whole ordeal was. He walked over to his desk, picking up the pebble from the space in between his books and stationary. He tossed the pebble in the air, catching it in his other hand. His eyes pausing at the old Doraemon sticker on the pebble, half of Doraemon’s face had disappeared. (Jaemin’s weird desires to peel things off had kicked it when he was tossing around the pebble in boredom)

His thumb glazed over the sticker, causing it to fall off of the pebble and to the carpet floor. “Shit!” Jaemin cursed, kneeling down to find the Doraemon sticker. ‘Y/N’s gonna kill me,’ he thought to himself with a chuckle as he picked up the sticker, it took him a few seconds for him to realize that you two weren’t friends anymore. ‘Right, she probably doesn’t care about some stupid sticker anymore.’ he frowned, sighing heavily.

He gently placed the sticker back on the pebble despite the fact that it couldn’t stick anymore, placing the pebble back on his desk as he stood back up on his feet, He looks back down when he felt his wallet slip out of the pocket of his jacket when he stood up. His heavy heart weighing down on him when he looks down at his wallet.

His wallet had fallen open, revealing the photo of you two when you were still kids slipped into the transparent pocket of his wallet. Jaemin picked up his wallet in between his fingers, his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach as he collapsed back on the mattress of his bed. He tucked his arm under his head as he turned over to his side, never keeping his eyes off of the picture in his wallet.

The picture was slightly blurry. Baby Jaemin was attacking you with his latest transformers action figure, his lips puckered to make dramatic sound effects. Baby you had your face scrunched in laughter, a hand outstretched to shove him away by his shoulder. You had a barbie doll in your free hand, protecting your barbie from his transformers figure.

Baby Jaemin’s cap was floating in mid air, having been knocked off of his head when you threw your doll’s hairbrush at the perfect moment. The one who took the picture was your grandmother, who truly believed that you two were soulmates since the dawn of time. Jaemin’s frown deepened at the thought of your beloved grandma. How she would use any given time to take at least one picture of the two of you together. How she would walk in the middle of your play time to five you two some cookies or treats she made.

“Grandma, what’s a soulmate?” you asked in the middle of your play date with Jaemin. Your grandma smiled simply, sighing as she leaned her cheek against her palm. “Soulmate, huh?” she repeated as Jaemin sat beside you in front of her with a cookie in his between hands. “A soulmate is like..” your grandmother paused, eyeing the two of you as you sat side by side with cookies in your hands as you obediently listened to your grandmother’s words.

“To me, a soulmate is like a best friend. It’s the one person who knows you better than anyone else.” she explained briefly. “More than your own family?” Jaemin asked, chewing in between words, causing your grandma to chuckle. “Almost more than your own family,” she winked, grabbing a cookie of her own out of the container filled with chocolate chip cookies.

“It’s also someone who makes you a better person in life, because most of the times, they inspire you to be a better person. A soulmate is someone you can carry with you forever.”

“Forever? Wouldn’t they get bored?” You asked with an innocent tilt of your head. Your grandmother smiled briefly, “well, would you get bored of playing with Jaemin, Y/n?” she asked, causing the both of you to look at each other. You shook your head with a bright smile, “never! Jaemin is my best friend!” you exclaimed, causing Jaemin to let out a loud cheer. “And y/n is mine!” he exclaimed, wrapping his tiny arms around your figure as he gingerly pressed his cheek against yours, causing you to giggle.

“That’s good. Though, a soulmate will always support you and believe in you. They will stay by your side no matter what. They’ll always be there to make you smile.” your grandmother explained. “Does that mean a soulmate is someone who can make you happy all the time?” y/n asked, eliciting a soft chuckle from your grandma who just nodded simply.

“Exactly my dear!” she exclaimed. “Gross,” Jaemin teased, scrunching his face in disgust at the thought. Your grandma chuckled, leaning down to fondly ruffle Jaemin’s hair. “Jae, you shouldn’t say things like that. I’m sure you’ll understand and change your mind when you’re older and more mature.” she spoke gently, making Jaemin scoff lightly, crossing his arms stubbornly.

“No I won’t! Just you watch, Grandma! I’m not going to have a soulmate when I grow up!” he exclaimed with a huff. You giggled as you hugged your barbie doll to your chest, “well I do! It sounds like a forever friend!”

Jaemin raised a brow at you, tilting his head in confusion. “A forever friend?” he asked. You nodded eagerly, pulling your barbie doll away from your chest to play with it’s bendable arms as you continued to explain. “A friend that’s going to be with you forever and ever like Mr. Snuggles!” you exclaimed, pointing at the big teddy bear leaning against Jaemin’s power ranger action figure.

“I wish I could meet my soulmate now!” you exclaimed with a bright giggle. “I’m sure they’ll be the nicest person ever!”

At this point, Jaemin couldn’t hold back his tears. His heart aching like never before, but this time he didn’t bother grabbing the bottle of pain killers near him. He puts his wallet on his nightstand as he sniffled, his heart overwhelmed with different emotions all at one. Guilt. Anger. Regret.

Jaemin furiously wiped the tears from his face, his frustration growing by the second. “Fuck!” he cried out, sobs coming out of his throat as tears continuously cascade down his cheeks. He turned over to his stomach, burying his face in the soft fabric to muffle his cries and sobs.

They say karma hits back at the best of times. It was no different with Na Jaemin. Like what your grandma had said, he’d change his mind of his perception of this whole soulmate system. There was no point in fighting against fate. How could he be so selfish as to let the people he cared about get hurt? How could he be so foolish to take your kindness for granted?

Jaemin’s eyes screw shut tightly, trying to stop the flashbacks going through his head. He knew he couldn’t stop the nostalgic memories from flooding through his mind. After all, you two shared every moment of your lives with each other that it would be preposterous for the world to not make you two soulmates. This is what he wanted right? He wanted you to go away.

Now, he just wanted his best friend back. He wanted you to give him cookies again every week. He wanted you to sit next to him during every class you had together and make weird jokes or express abstract opinions of a certain topic. He missed those times when you two would go to the arcade to get the biggest stuffed animal in all the crane games you could find and play some Mario Kart afterwards.

He missed how you would sneakily wear his hoodie in the middle of class because you ‘were cold’ or ‘forgot to bring yours’. He missed blasting music loudly from his car radio as he drives you both to school, headbanging aggressively to the beat of whatever song was playing on the radio. The way you would comfort him by buying him desserts or cookies from the nearest bakery whenever he received a scolding from Coach or the former Team Captain.

Jaemin paused, remembering your bright smile when you stood in front of Renjun. That genuine smile you always used whenever he was in your line of vision. He sighed at the vivid memory, He moved so he was laying on his back, sniffling back his tears as his mind spun even more as he couldn’t help but think that maybe Donghyuck was right.

Whenever he was a jerk, Renjun was always there to comfort you. He was always there to help you whenever you were on the brink of failing a certain subject while Jaemin would always ditch you for practice or to hang out with Jeno and Haechan. Maybe it would be better if Renjun was your soulmate instead of Jaemin.

He’ll make you way more happier than he ever could. Jaemin’s heart clenched against his chest at the thought of you being in a romantic relationship with someone else. Though, who was he to complain if you and Renjun were secretly into each other? He knew it was very unlikely for a someone to fall for someone else that’s not their soulmate, but it wasn’t completely impossible for one to do so.

All that you ever wanted was to have someone by your side for the rest of your life to make you smile when you’re at your worst. Jaemin couldn’t even do that back when he broke your music box. What was the point in asking you to forgive him now if you wouldn’t even look him in the eyes without giving him an expression equivalent to what an injured puppy would at their owner?

You deserved someone like Renjun.

Maybe Hyuck was right. You were cursed to be born with a soulmate like him. You were cursed to have the same stupid tattoo as he did on your wrist. You didn’t deserve to suffer that much emotional pain for such a long time for his sake. You didn’t deserve all the pain he put you through. And he knew he didn’t deserve to have you in his life.

Jaemin spent the rest of his day crying his eyes out. Finally letting out the pent up emotions that his actions had caused him, letting his heart scream out in pain as it tries to release the tension that came with longing for the feeling of holding your delicate heart in the palms of his hands. At that single moment, he never wished for anything so bad as he did when he wished he could start this whole soulmate ordeal over again.

T A G L I S T : @candiednickles @itlittlefangirl @cherrym4rk @gotoartistprofile @d-nghyck @kingjvngins @aconeptun @chaeshii @lixseu @morks-watermelon @12am-musings @cherrystay @lowkeyviv @btm-taeyong @gothmingguk @luvlyjaemin @cowward @smileyyuta @cakelyn @uncovermenow666 @comically-sleep-deprived @wtfhaechan

Taglist is o p e n e d !

Do please inform me if you changed your username. Send me an ask, dm me or comment if you wanted to be added to the taglist!

#NCT-WRITERS #na jaemin #nct dream #jaemin x reader #nct dream jaemin x reader #nct x reader #nct dream x reader #nct u x reader #nct dream na jaemin x reader #na jaemin x reader #nct 127 x reader #nct x you #nct

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sry-chrlie · 2 years

Text

☁ mama who bore me, mama who gave me no way to handle things. ☁

a scene between charlie and his mother tw: child abuse references bc you know how it be

It had been months since Charlie had spoken to either of his parents. His mother had fallen from several texts a day to one or two a week, usually something benign like:

Oct 31: Happy Halloween, sweetie. Send me pictures of your costume! 🎃

Nov 5: Any requests for Thanksgiving supper? I got the last turkey at the store. Had to fight Elle’s mom for it lol! Have you talked to Elle lately? Miss seeing her around.

Nov 7: Are you coming home for Thanksgiving?

Nov 10: Have a good Wednesday, my love. Make sure you buy a Winter coat. It’s getting so cold out there, brrrr!! Mama is an icicle lol ☃️

Charlie wasn’t sure what was worse. The gentle kindness behind these texts or the ones blatantly telling him he needed to call Dad. Luckily, Talia had gotten Charlie’s message and had stopped sending anything like the latter. Apparently she understood that the more she mentioned his father, the less likely Charlie was to give in and answer her.

But the ones she did send, these small notes of affection, overwhelmed him with guilt. He had no reason to punish his mother. What was the point in hurting her when his father was away in DC doing enough of that on his own? He was shutting her out in reaction to imaginary conversations he had with her in his mind, ones where she took his dad’s side and blamed Charlie for their fight.

She hadn’t said these things, though. Charlie hadn’t given her the chance. He wondered, as he sat lonely on his bed, scrolling through all her unanswered texts, how cruel of him it was to refuse his mom the benefit of the doubt. She’d done so much for him. Given him the world. Suffered endlessly for her son to get into a decent school, to provide him a good future...

Ugh. He’d been thinking so much lately about Oliver and Alec, about Jamie Dyer, about Elle engaged to Elijah, and it was starting to put his life into perspective. Maybe he didn’t have anything to complain about. Maybe he was being so callous to his mother because he was selfish and spoiled. It would certainly fit in with recent behaviors.

With a heavy sigh, Charlie texted her back.

hey ma, thinking about you. how’s it going?

It was lame, but it was something. He tossed his phone to the side, half hoping his mother would have the balls to give him the silent treatment right back. But of course not. His phone vibrated with a notification not even five minutes later.

There you are, sweetpea. 😇 I am doing GREAT! Happy as a clam. It’s funny that you should message because I’m about to make your favorite!! Why don’t you come over for pani popo and tea?

His mom was more clever than most people gave her credit for. She would probably be the one ruling the House of Representatives if she hadn’t been relegated to the role of housewife so many years ago. Her text was a perfect example: it sounded simple and earnest to a stranger, but it was coded. She was making Samoan food. That meant Dad wouldn’t be home, without Mom explicitly having to say it.

Charlie, ever allergic to affection, sent his mom a pair of eyeball emojis and the single word “bet” before rolling out of bed to make an anxious trip home.

It was funny that Charlie’s new apartment was a mere 10 minute drive away from the childhood home he’d been running from. It made his months-long tantrum feel all the more pathetic - like a nightmare that only allowed you to run in slow motion. He hadn’t gotten anywhere. He was just jogging in place, waiting for someone else to make a choice for him.

“Oh my goodness, you are so handsome! I almost forgot how much,” his mother said when she opened the door. She stood on her toes to grab his face and Charlie had to lean down to let her kiss both of his cheeks. “I missed you, I missed you, I missed you!”

“Okay, okay, mama,” Charlie said, a laugh easing some of his anxiety, “I missed you too.”

Lunch was nice. Talia had cooked some Samoan favorites, which was a little indulgence she allowed herself when she was home alone. She paired coconut rolls and pork sliders with glasses of sweet iced tea, an amalgamation of her birthplace and the American South where she’d lived for so long now.

Talia was getting older, but she wore her age a lot better than Charlie’s father did. Her curly black hair was braided into a bun and she wore no makeup on her face; she didn’t need it. She wore a flowy green dress - a dark, West Virginia green that suited the golden brown tone of her skin. The whole kitchen smelled like fresh bread and coconut, which is what Charlie always remembered when he thought of his mom.

In that moment, he realized he had missed her in a visceral, agonizing way. She was right there, across the marble island, but Charlie’s heart still ached for the months he’d acted like an idiot. One day, she would be gone, and Charlie was terrified of a day, hopefully far in the future, when he sat lonely in a big house, trying to remember the smell of fresh bread and coconut, but coming up empty.

She talked to him about nothing and everything as they ate. Charlie was a chatterbox perhaps because his mother was. She went on and on about the jewelry she had started crafting, about the ladies at church, about new neighbors that had moved in. She had months of gossip for her son and Charlie listened dutifully, nodding his head and laughing at all the right moments, falling into an ease with his mother.

“So, Charlie, there’s something I want to run by you.”

When she said it, he immediately tensed up. It was like the trauma had given Charlie a sixth sense. He knew, from the subtle change in her tone and the way her posture had shifted, that he was going to hate what she said next.

“Oh yeah? What’s that, mama?” he asked, picking at bread crumbs on his plate. She hadn’t really said anything yet, but his heart was beating wildly in his chest. How easily it was for him to come undone. Being home was like driving top speeds down a highway made of black ice; Charlie was constantly prepared for the crash.

“Your father is on his way back from the city. He's got a couple weeks off for Thanksgiving. He should be here soon and I thought it would be nice if we all finally had a talk.”

Like a compact car right into the tail end of an 18 wheeler.

“God, Mom!” Charlie shoved his seat away from the kitchen island, jumping off the stool to make escape that much easier.

“Do not swear at me, Charlie. I’m trying to make things better.”

“No you’re not, you’re trying to pretend like it already is better. Newsflash, Mom: Dad’s an asshole. Unless he’s been invaded by a body snatcher, none of this is going to change.”

She wasn’t looking at him now. She hated confrontation as much as he did. She busied herself with the dishes, passive aggressively clinking them harder than she needed to.

“Do you really have to be so melodramatic?”

Charlie’s chest was on fire. Red hives of anxiety started to crawl up his neck, powered by the erratic nonstop pounding of his heart. He took deep, steadying breaths. His father wasn’t even in the room. He didn’t have to panic. He remembered what Jamie had said at The Gallows: tell your mom the truth, give her a chance to respond the right way.

“He’s sleeping with someone else, Mom. He left you here like the Kennedy sister they don’t talk about while he whips his dick out for every 20-something bimbo in DC.”

Charlie’s mom slammed a plate so hard into the sink that it cracked, sending shards of ceramic to the floor. She hissed, pulling her hand close to herself. Charlie rushed over.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said curtly, brushing off his attempts to help. She rinsed her finger under the faucet, droplets of blood washing down the drain. “I know that your father has certain... indiscretions,” she confessed, still refusing to look Charlie’s way. “Although I prefer not to think of them in such lewd terms, but Charlie, marriage is complicated and your father has a very stressful job. At the end of the day, he’s a good man and if you would sit down and have a talk with us, you would understand. Things are going to be different now.”

The concern for his mother warped into more righteous fury and Charlie raked his hands through his hair to try and calm himself.

“Do you realize that you’ve been saying the same thing since I was like five years old? It’s always, ‘things are going to be different’ but, Mama, things are exactly the same.”

“They’re not the same!” Talia argued. “You’re grown now, none of that old business matters anymore.”

The wind had been knocked out of him with that one. Charlie didn’t have words for it. Years of hidden bruises that didn’t matter anymore. Broken bones with secret origins that didn’t matter anymore. Little Charlie, on his knees, sobbing, begging Mom, Let’s just leave. Let’s go back to your home and live on the beach, far away from Dad. Please, please, please. And Mom’s eternal answer: It’s okay. Things will get better. Charlie had long since given up crying to a broken record, but he felt the ghost of a knot in his throat that afternoon.

“Dad isn’t a different person,” he tried explaining again, his voice aching, begging for this time to be the time his mom finally understood what he was trying to say. “If I was magically 14 again, he would still hit me for doing nothing. When did I ever do anything wrong, Mom?”

“Oh, please, Charlie, spare me the victim act. You are hardly innocent.” Talia had started sweeping up the broken plate, ignoring the cut on her finger, like she needed something to do to avoid looking into her son’s eyes. “I heard about that Halloween party of yours. There was a fight. It wasn’t even a day later that I saw Alec at the bodega with his face all messed up. I’m sure you had nothing to do with that.”

The mere mention of Alec and Oliver sent a flood of emotion through him. The pressure in his head was painful, his eyes watering despite himself. “I didn’t hit Alec,” he said, hating the way his voice had wavered. “Mom... do you really think I would do that? I would never hit...”

He trailed off, no longer able to juggle the task of talking and not crying. It was just as well. If his mom had known how royally he’d fucked up with Oliver, she might have felt vindicated, and thinking about that was too much for Charlie. His silence gave her the opportunity for a final, devastating blow.

“Right, Charlie. In all those fights you’ve had with your father, how many of them started because you hit him first?”

It was ridiculous and unfair but also it was true. Maybe Charlie was making it all up. Maybe, the whole time, Charlie had been the problem.

“Mom...” He sounded small. Weak. Pathetic. He didn’t want to be standing there, wet faced, begging, again, for his mother to choose him. For once. Please. Choose Charlie.

“Maybe you should go. Your father will be here soon and I don’t see us having any productive conversations today with this attitude of yours.”

Charlie didn’t need to be told twice. Running away was something he’d always been good at. He fled the scene of his own undoing, feeling ashamed that he’d ever expected it would be different this time.

Gravewood never changed. Not really. Charlie was just the only one stupid enough to take this long to figure that out.

#made myself sad with this one lads #~catharsis~#other

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andrewmoocow · 3 years

Text

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 4: Bluebird (originally published on December 28, 2020)

Author's note: We're at the halfway point of Part 1 here, two antagonists return for vengeance on Steven, but is there more to this than just screwing with him? We'll just have to wait and see!

Synopsis: A pair of old foes return, and Steven learns that he can't change everyone.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Larissa Gallagher as Bluebird Azurite

Della Saba as Aquamarine

Charlyne Yi as Eyeball

Shelby Rabara as Peridot

Jennifer Paz as Lapis Lazuli

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Tom Scharpling as Greg

Michelle Maryk as Larimar

Kimberly Brooks as Cherry Quartz

Martha Higerada as Topaz

Ted Leo as Steg

"Hello there, all you Gems out there in the universe!" Steven announced as he warped into Little Homeworld as part of a commercial for Little Homeschool. "Has this new era for our universe gotten you all lost and confused? Well, come on down to Little Homeschool!"

"Are you used to destroying things?" Steven continued speaking as he walked in on Lapis making a sculpture, and Lapis just turned her head to him. "Then try learning to be constructive instead!"

Next, Steven stood with Peridot in a cornfield. "Are you used to plotting? Then come tend to this big plot of land!"

Finally, the camera closed in on Steven's face. "Feeling lost without the Diamonds telling you what to do?" he asked as the camera zoomed out to show him doing a yoga pose with Garnet. "Then we can help you find your inner center!"

As the ad concluded, Steven posed with Peridot, Little Larimar, and Angel Aura Quartz at Little Homeworld. "Everyone deserves an opportunity to grow, so come on down to Little Homeschool today!" he exclaimed. "And cut! Thanks for helping out everyone."

"I'm an actor." Larimar said.

"I'll get home and get some editing done." Steven said, preparing to walk away with the camera when Peridot stepped up from behind. "Anything you need now, Peri?"

"Steven, you smell good." Peridot innocently complimented Steven with two thumbs up, much to his confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?" Steven asked the green Gem.

"That's what your back told me to do." Peridot explained before she took a crudely written note with that exact message off Steven's back. "See, you wrote this yourself!"

"No, I didn't." Steven claimed as he took a sip from a box, but realized too late what he was drinking. "Tomato soup?!" he gagged.

"I thought you loved that stuff!" Peridot assumed.

"Yeah but, where did my juice go?" Steven wondered. Suddenly, a roll of toilet paper rolled away from the Dondai Supremo, and it was covered in more rolls. "Oh no!" Steven yelled in surprise. "The Dondai's been….covered in toilet paper?"

The mystery prankster was nowhere to be seen, with only their cheeky laughter as a calling card.

"Okay, whoever's pranking me, you got a really weird idea of how to do it!" Steven called out for his new opponent. "Where did they even get this much toilet paper?"

A little while later, Steven drove his now toilet paper-free car back home, where he noticed the front porch all decorated and music coming from inside.

"Another welcome party?" Steven muttered while noticing the welcome banner above his front door. "Oh, a new Gem must've come!"

As Steven walked inside, another banner saying 'Welcome Bluebird' hung over him and a piñata in his image were not too far away. Speaking with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl was an unknown Gem with a burgundy bowl-cut, four legs, a pair of wings, and a suit jacket that was red on one side & blue on the other.

"Oh, hello Steven, our new friend here really wants to meet you." Pearl greeted Steven.

"Yeah, come over here and introduce yourself!" Amethyst added.

"Welcome to Earth." Steven greeted the new Gem politely. "My name's-"

"Of course I know who you are. Everyone does!" the new Gem interrupted him in a Cockney accent as she turned around to reveal that she was a fusion and had both her components' gems on her face. But they were two Gems that Steven recognized a little too well. In place of the fusion's left eye was a Ruby, and beneath it was an Aquamarine. "The old Gem savior himself, Steven Universe. Bluebird Azurite at your service." she declared before hugging him. "Come on now, give us a hug!"

"Cute." Garnet grinned.

"Oh, you like food, yes?" Bluebird asked a very unnerved Steven.

"Uh, yeah?" Steven replied sheepishly.

"Well sit tight then, I'll be right back!" Bluebird said before she flew away.

"What?!" Steven yelled.

"Yeah, she's just got here and already knows what she wants to do in life." Topaz said as she appeared next to Steven. "Isn't that great?"

"Don't you find this weird that the Gem who treated you like trash is suddenly all nice now?" Steven asked the big yellow fusion. "Why are you so chill?!"

"That was the past, Steven." Topaz assured Steven. "This is now, all thanks to you."

Just then, Bluebird returned to Steven with a plate of food. However, all of them were known to cause allergic reactions in people, as he observed.

"What's all this?" Steven asked.

"Why, it's food, of course!" Bluebird said as she presented the platter. "Clams, peanut butter, with a side of grass! Go on, try it."

"Yeah, don't wanna keep her waiting." Amethyst convinced Steven to try the dish.

"S-sure, I'll just dip this here." Steven reluctantly obliged, and took a bite of the grass. "Mmm!"

"Is it good?" Bluebird asked him.

"Yeah, I love it!" Steven fibbed in an attempt to keep their guest happy.

"Brilliant." Bluebird added with a cheeky grin.

"Can I see you guys in the bathroom?" Steven asked the Crystal Gems.

Greg was busy combing his hair in the bathroom when his son knocked on the door.

"Dad, it's Steven." Steven called for his dad. "We're gonna need you to let us in, emergency meeting."

After Greg let his son and friends in, Steven sat the Gems down to tell them what he thought of Bluebird. "Gems, I don't want to alarm you, but I think Bluebird may be a fusion of Aquamarine and Eyeball!"

"Uh, duh!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"It was incredibly obvious." Garnet added.

"Well, why are you guys so blasé about this?" Steven asked his guardians. "Did you suddenly forget when Aquamarine & Topaz came down to capture all my friends, and I had to surrender myself to save them? Or what about when Eyeball tried to kill me when we were stuck in space together? She also ratted me out during my trial!"

"Like Topaz said, that was then, and this is now." Pearl calmly assured him. "Besides, aren't you contradicting yourself a bit right now? I mean-"

"But I'm pretty sure they pranked me earlier at Little Homeworld." Steven explained. "They put a sign on my back saying I smelled good, switched my drink with tomato soup, and covered my car with neatly-stacked toilet paper."

"None of that seems particularly malicious," Garnet said. "Heck, Amethyst probably did one of those things at some point."

"It's true!" Amethyst responded. "There was this one time before you were born where Rose and I threw toilet paper all over town because Greg told us about it!"

"Besides, don't you like tomato soup?" Greg asked his son.

"Yeah, but don't you find it weird that she knew where I lived?" Steven asked.

"Steven, you've literally invited all problematic Gems across the universe to come to Earth and learn a better way of living." Pearl bluntly said.

"Listen Schtu-ball, if you don't like this new Gem, that's perfectly okay." Greg stated. "Just don't be so upfront about it and hurt her feelings."

"No, you're right guys." Steven agreed. "Everyone deserves a second chance."

"But if she really is more than she seems," Garnet declared. "we'll come in and squash her!"

"Thanks Garnet." Steven smiled at his favorite fusion before returning to the living room.

As Steven walked out of the bathroom, while the other Gems and Greg poked their heads outside, he found Bluebird chatting it up with Topaz by the couch. "Hey Bluebird!"

"Oh, hello Steven!" Bluebird cheerfully greeted him. "I was just reconnecting with an old chum and thought 'Hey, I should've given him something to wash all that food down with!' Want a drink?" she asked, offering him a soda.

"I'd love one." Steven accepted Bluebird's offer. "Y'know, maybe you two have changed." Just as Steven opened the can, soda squirted back in his face.

"Oh my, how did that happen?" Bluebird cheekily asked.

"YOU obviously shook it!" Steven accused the fusion of his old foes, when Garnet cleared her throat behind him.

"Chance to change." Garnet told Steven.

"You obviously shook it," Steven grumpily corrected himself. "By accident."

A while later, the party was over and everyone had left the beach house. As Steven walked downstairs to the living room, he discovered Bluebird holding a knife while Pearl was looking for something in the fridge.

"Pearl, watch out!" Steven cautioned Pearl. "Bluebird's got a knife!"

"Of course I did." Bluebird menacingly answered, but then immediately changed her tune. "Because I wanted to help cut this cake Pearl made for you!"

"Surprise!" Pearl exclaimed, presenting a cake with vanilla frosting that she got out of the fridge. On top of the cake was Steven's portrait, but his facial features were replaced with a butt. "Bluebird chose the design for me. You like it?"

Steven glared suspiciously at Bluebird as he stuck his finger in the cake, and licked the frosting off it.

Later on at Little Homeworld, Steven walked around to collect his thoughts when he discovered Bluebird grabbing Garnet and putting her in a wrestling hold. "Oh no, someone help! Bluebird's got Garnet!" he shrieked. "You let Garnet go this instant!"

"Don't fret Steven." Garnet calmed Steven's nerves as she was let go. "Bluebird was helping me do some stretches before I could teach her some yoga."

"Always important to stretch." The other fusion informed, eliciting an angry moan from Steven.

Back at home; Steven was angrily eating some Chaaaaps when he felt something that wasn't a chip inside the bag in his lap. In the bag, Steven discovered a poorly-drawn purple sketch of him with stink-lines surrounding him. "Ugh."

"What's up dude?" Amethyst asked him.

"Bluebird's really getting to me!" Steven complained as he showed the drawing to Amethyst. "I mean, look at this terrible drawing of me!"

"Steven, I-" Amethyst recognized the drawing as Steven scooped out more of them from his jacket.

"All of these too!" Steven cut Amethyst off. "I've been finding these awful scribbles all over!"

"Steven, these were all my drawings of you!" Amethyst began sobbing, and she ran away in tears.

"Amethyst, I'm sorry!" Steven tried apologizing to his Gem sister when Bluebird walked into the house.

"Aw, dry those tears, love, and tell me what's wrong." Bluebird comforted the bawling Quartz.

"Steven killed my art career before I could even get it off the ground!" Amethyst cried while Bluebird picked up her drawings.

"I don't know what art is," Bluebird said as she examined Amethyst's art. "but these are really good! They do need a little work, but I can help."

"Awww, thanks Bluebird!" Amethyst immediately cheered up. "In fact, I'm gonna do some more art right now! Wanna come?"

"Lead the way Amethyst!" Bluebird agreed, and the two left the house while Steven dropped his bag of Chaaaaps to the floor and angrily crushed it flat.

"Come on you flying rat; you can't be far." Steven growled as he searched Beach City for Bluebird, looking for something that would expose her components for being more than they seem, when he came across his father's car wash. "Oh, hey Dad!"

"AAAAAH!" Greg screamed from his Mister Universe van, catching Steven off-guard as he raced to the van.

"Dad, are you okay?!" Steven cried, finding the source of Greg's screaming to be him and Bluebird watching movies together.

"Hey Steven." Greg calmly greeted him. "I was just showing Bluebird my old-timey sci-fi horror flick collection."

"It's hilarious how poorly made they are!" Bluebird cackled at the flick she was currently watching. "Some of these 'special effects,' as he calls them, are so old-fashioned!"

"So what's going on, son?" Greg asked Steven, who forced a fake smile on his face. "And what's with your face? You're kind of creeping me out."

"I'm fine, Dad." Steven assured him as he walked away with creepy fake smile and all. "Everything's fine."

"And to make matters worse, they think those two have changed even after all the horrible things they did to us!" Steven later vented his feelings on Bluebird to Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth at Little Homeworld. "Please, you guys, I need someone to be on my side for once!"

"Oh, we're on your side Steven." Lapis assured her half-human pal, much to his relief. "After what Navy pulled, I don't really trust those Rubies all that much, especially her and Eyeball! Those other three working for the mayor, they're just meh."

"I don't trust Aquamarine either." Peridot added. "That blue runt's high and mighty attitude just keeps rubbing me incorrectly!"

"Don't you also hate Aquamarine because it's basically because of her we separated for a bit?" Lapis asked Peridot, who was just silent as she nervously looked away. "It's okay, you can open up to me."

"No way, she's not that petty!" Peridot said as she tried to hide her distress. Despite what the little Gem was saying, her body language told a whole different story.

"I just find Bluebird really creepy." Bismuth stated. "There's just something about that voice combined with her facial expressions that really give me chills."

Just then, a very loud clanging came straight from Bismuth's forge, and Cherry Quartz rushed out to see the four. "Bismuth, it's your forge! Someone's made a huge mess of the place!"

"Oh no!" Bismuth cried as she rushed to her forge to discover that the whole floor was now covered in all the weapons she helped build. "How could this have happened?! I was so careful to organize everything today!"

"Maybe Bluebird didn't like that you called her creepy." Peridot guessed.

"Well, I know something I hope they really won't like." Bismuth growled with determination. "Of course those little runts realize, this means war!"

Later that day, Bluebird had returned to Little Homeworld and was currently being given a tour of the town by Lapis, yet the fusion was unaware she was being led into a trap.

"Y'know, I'm feeling pretty parched." Lapis remarked sneakily. "You want a drink too?"

"Golly, I thought Gems didn't need sustenance." Bluebird wondered aloud.

"They don't really need to, but some Gems on Earth just like to eat." Lapis answered as they walked up to a conspicuous cooler filled with soft drinks. "Now then, which would you like? We got soda, OJ, purple stuff, two kinds of this other type of orange juice."

"I'll have the purple stuff!" Bluebird cheerily answered. Lapis took a purple soda can from the cooler and gave it a good shake, giggling all the way, before handing it to Bluebird and then turning away from her while plugging her ears.

After a few seconds, nothing happened, and Bluebird didn't drink the purple stuff. "Where's the kaboom?" Lapis wondered as she turned back to Bluebird. "There was supposed to be a big carbonated kaboom!"

"Oh, there seems to be something wrong." Bluebird observed the can slyly before handing it back to the terraformer. "Do you think you can help?"

But as Lapis realized, Bluebird didn't even open the can at all. "What the?!" she stuttered while taking the can from the small fusion. "You didn't even open-" When Lapis opened the can of purple stuff herself; she got a face full of the drink squirting directly in her face instead. As Bluebird laughed heartily, Lapis angrily crushed the can and glared back as Bluebird flew away.

"I already tried that trick Lazuli!" Bluebird cackled. "Try something original next time!"

Lapis's eye began to twitch as she dropped the can to the ground, fighting the urge to just launch Bluebird into space with a water fist.

"This is something humans like to do with their disposal units." Peridot explained to Bluebird as they stood by a metal trashcan atop the hill where the lighthouse sat. "You just insert yourself into the unit and just roll it down this hill. Now then, would you like to go first?"

"No, maybe you should go first." Bluebird suggested while offering Peridot a pair of rather unusual looking gloves from one of her gemstones. "And take these too. Safety first!"

"Where did you get these gloves?" Peridot asked as she put the gloves on. "They seem like old Homeworld equipment."

"Just found them lying around one day, nothing too important." Bluebird fibbed just as Peridot entered the trashcan. "Okay, are you ready chum?"

"Let 'er rip!" Peridot yelled from within the can before Bluebird kicked it, and it rolled down the hill with Peridot inside it. "ISN'T THIS FUN BLUEBIRD?!"

"Oh yes, plenty of fun." Bluebird snickered and walked away backwards from where the trashcan once stood.

"Wait, where are you going?" Peridot called as the can continued rolling. She tried to stop it with her ferrokinesis, but they didn't seem to work. "My stars, these old gloves are nullifying my powers!" she realized, and turned her attention to Bluebird in anger. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS YOU CLO-"

However, Peridot couldn't finish when the can finally collided with a wall, and her head poked out in a daze. "You're despicable." She hissed hatefully while stars danced around her head.

"Well, guess it's all up to me now." Bismuth declared to herself with Lapis and Peridot's failures to prank Bluebird. She now stood alone at the Warp Pad at the center of Little Homeworld where the barn once stood, in front of a mixer filled with lava. "She ain't ever gonna know what hit her."

"Who isn't going to know what hit her?" Bluebird asked rhetorically before she poured the lava in the mixer on Bismuth, though Bismuth barely felt a thing.

"You know this literally does nothing to Bismuths, right?" Bismuth asked as Bluebird took her leave.

"What happened to you guys?" Steven asked the soaked Lapis, dizzy Peridot, and mildly irritated Bismuth as they reported back to him on their efforts in the prank war.

"Bluebird saw my prank coming since she already tried it herself." Lapis answered.

"My mental powers were nullified by these old Homeworld gloves." Peridot added as she presented the gloves. "I think I'll keep them for further study."

"I barely got to do anything before Bluebird turned my own prank against me!" Bismuth whined in defeat.

"Oh, come now, put a smile on your face." Bluebird said as she landed behind the four. Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth turned around to see the little fusion before them, and immediately dropped to their knees with hands out and heads bowed. "Now, what's all this for?"

"We now recognize you as a superior prankster." Lapis declared.

"And now we must grovel in your presence!" Peridot theatrically added.

"We shall concede from this prank war, in recognition of the superior tricker." Bismuth stated.

"Guys, you can't just give up this easily!" Steven yelled angrily before he noticed his body taking on a slight pink hue. "That's four times now." He said to himself. "This can't be healthy."

"Oh, well, thank you all for the compliments!" Bluebird thanked the other three Gems. "Hopefully we can get up to more mischief together someday!"

As Bluebird flew away, Steven stomped to the Warp Pad and used it to return home with barely a word.

"Steven wait, we're sorry!" Peridot cried as Steven vanished from Little Homeworld.

"He's right. We gave up a little too easily." Lapis agreed with her Beach Summer Fun Buddy. "Maybe we should go apologize to him in the morning. You wanna come with Bismuth?"

"Sorry, I got a whole day of cleaning up the forge ahead of me." Bismuth rejected the chance. "But be sure to tell me if things turn out okay."

The next morning, Steven woke up in his room, the events of yesterday still fresh in his mind. From Bluebird's arrival, to almost no one believing him when he claimed that she was up to no good, and finally the help of the B-team proving pretty much useless, it was a very hectic day for him.

When Steven went downstairs to the bathroom, he discovered Bluebird's gemstones drawn on his face in the mirror. "Oh, haha." He muttered. "Very funny Bluebird."

Just then, the Warp Pad activated, followed by the sound of tires screeching. As Steven rushed out of the bathroom, he found Greg's van somehow in his living room, a trail of tire tracks left behind in its wake. "How did the van?" Steven asked himself in sheer confusion. "Oh, gotcha. I guess Bluebird and Dad must be having a ball." Just then, he heard someone cry out. "I guess they're watching another of his horror movies. I'm sure everything's fine."

Greg's cries for help proved otherwise, and Steven bolted outside to search for his human father. "It's okay Steven. Bluebird is cool." Steven assured himself. "Dad?"

"Up here son!" Greg screamed as Bluebird dangled him by the ankle on the roof.

"Are those screams of fun?!" Steven called.

"No they ain't!" Greg exclaimed. "Please help me, you were right!"

"An era ago, there were two Gems worshipped on Homeworld for their attempts on the life of their greatest traitor!" Bluebird declared. "But when he brainwashed everyone into worshipping him, those two were cast out and now have come to Earth for revenge!"

As Bluebird leaped into the air, she began to unfuse. "And now he shall rue the day he ever crossed-" To cap off her speech, Bluebird's components finally revealed herself.

"Aquamarine!"

"And Ruby!"

Steven and Greg didn't have anything to say to the two old foes.

"Well, it's us!" Aquamarine cried impatiently.

"Yeah, it was us all along, and no one ever knew!" Eyeball added.

"I always knew. Everybody knew." Steven replied. "You were really poor at hiding it."

"Well if you knew, why was everyone so nice to us?!" Eyeball yelled.

"Because we're nice!" Steven argued. "Something you don't know about!"

"Nice people, my facet!" Eyeball shouted. "You left me to rot in space!"

"And it's because of you that I'm a disgrace to our kind!" Aquamarine agreed. "Ugh, enough of this!" she groaned angrily before grabbing Greg again, this time by the hair, while Eyeball pulled her chisel from her gem.

"Hey, careful with my dad!" Steven cautioned the pair of angry Gems as he summoned his shield. "If this is another one of your pranks, then I'm not laughing, so you better cut it out!"

"That was just something to soften you up." Eyeball declared menacingly. "Now, the real torture begins!"

"We learned so much about you and your life Steven," Aquamarine taunted. "especially how you love My-Dad so much! But if you want him alive, you'll have to agree to our demands. Like destroying your home!"

"Yeah!" Eyeball added.

"Bubbling your friends and handing them over to us!" Aquamarine continued.

"YEAH!" Eyeball began getting more sadistically pumped up.

"And burning that silly Little Homeworld to ashes!" the little blue Gem stated.

"DO IT!" Eyeball shouted.

While Aquamarine and Eyeball were threatening Greg's life, they were caught off-guard by a few water droplets from above, coming from Lapis's wings as she and Peridot flew to see Steven.

"Oh crack, those two." Eyeball growled at the barn-mates while Lapis touched down to where Steven was standing.

"Hey Steven, we wanted to stop by because we didn't get a chance to apologize for yester-" Lapis began explaining to Steven, but immediately got distracted by the current situation. "Um, did we miss something?"

"It's Aquamarine and Eyeball!" Steven panicked. "They're out for revenge and they want me to do horrible things or else Dad gets killed!"

"Of course you'd sink that low, you filthy outcasts!" Peridot snarled at the other short Gems. "First, you took Steven away Aquamarine, and that led to some of the worst days of my life! Now, I'm gonna make you pay dearly!"

"Oh, here are some friends you can poof boy." Aquamarine told Steven. "Go on, listen to us for once."

"Never!" Steven rejected.

"Then My-Dad gets it!" Aquamarine threatened, but Eyeball was a little confused.

"Gets what?" the Ruby asked quizzically.

"Gets it!" Aquamarine scolded her partner. "It's like in those movies he showed us."

"Oh right!" Eyeball realized with a malicious laugh, and prepared to kill their human captive. However, Greg wasn't going to take this lying down.

"That's enough!" Greg yelled as he snatched Eyeball's chisel from her hand and used it to free himself by cutting his hair short, causing him to fall from Aquamarine's grasp.

"No!" Steven yelled.

"I got you!" Lapis exclaimed, summoning forth a water hand to catch Mr. Universe with. "Are you alright?"

"Just bereft of my glorious locks." Greg said mournfully when Aquamarine dropped the remainder of his hair next to him. "Oh my baby!" he cried before rushing to comfort the clump of hair.

"How could you let this happen, you meager soldier?!" Aquamarine yelled at Eyeball.

"You were distracting me!" Eyeball argued.

"I was directing you, My-Dad just caught us by surprise!" Aquamarine talked back.

As Steven, Peridot and Lapis watched the two enemy Gems bicker, Steven turned to his mourning dad. "Father, get inside."

"I'm sorry, Steven." Greg said boldly. "But after how they dangled me off the roof and made me lose my hair, I want in!" Just then, he got an idea. "In fact."

After whispering something into his son's ear, Greg fist bumped Steven, and it caused the two to glow right before everyone else's eyes. And as a result, the father and son fusion Steg was reborn, this time with a mullet in addition to his massive pompadour.

"He can fuse with humans?!" Aquamarine shrieked in surprise. "We were never told this!"

"Oh my stars!" Lapis and Peridot gasped in unison.

"This one goes out to all awesome hair across the stars." Steg boomed while summoning a double-necked guitar that he began playing. "I call this one, 'We Ain't Gonna Let You Get Away With This!'"

"Three against two?" Eyeball said nervously. "Y'know, I think maybe it's time we-" She was cut off by Steg braining her with his guitar while he turned pink.

"If you're saying we should run or surrender, you are sorely mistaken!" Aquamarine yelled while dodging attacks from Lapis. "They fused just now, somehow, so we must fuse in order to win!"

"Fine, whatever." Eyeball groaned as she noticed Peridot scampering into the house and racing back out with a kitchen knife to match the Ruby's chisel.

Eyeball raced away from the green Gem in fright and grabbed onto the fleeing Aquamarine's hand in an attempt to fuse, but it was cut short by the combined forces of their disharmony and Steg throwing Steven's shield between them that sent them flying face-first into the sand.

"What was that?" Eyeball asked.

"That was bad form you corun-dummy!" Aquamarine insulted. "Try again!"

The two of them attempted to fuse again, and again, and again, but every time resulted in failure. "That's it!" Eyeball yelled. "I've had it with you!"

"Tsk tsk tsk." Steg tutted smugly as he returned to his normal self and approached the arguing duo. "You guys only fused to get revenge on me, didn't you?"

"Yes, that's exactly it!" Aquamarine replied. "The only problem is she's too much of a moron to keep us together!"

"Me the moron?!" Eyeball shouted. "You're way too much of a bossy-boots!"

"If that's the reason, then I can see why you can't keep it together." Lapis stated from experience.

"What are you three talking about?!" Aquamarine asked scornfully.

"There are so many other reasons to fuse." Steg explained. "Like friendship, responsibility, maybe even love."

"Imagine how much better your lives would be if you fused to support each other instead of wanting to ruin someone's life." Peridot agreed with the massive fusion.

"She's right." Steg continued. "Your life would be filled with so much love and joy and friendship and warmth and-"

"Yes yes, blah blah blah!" Aquamarine rudely cut Steg off. "Ugh, love is so annoying!"

"I hate it as much as I hate Steven!" Eyeball agreed, but then the two realized something they had in common.

"Yeah, me too!" Aquamarine and Eyeball declared to each other as they fused back into Bluebird, much to Steg's irritation.

"This is bad comedy." Steg facepalmed as Bluebird triumphantly returned.

"Ah-ha, back in business!" Bluebird announced before summoning a cutlass made out of ice to attack Steg with, but he blocked the sword with his shield.

"En garde!" Bluebird cackled with a swing of her sword, spawning ice projectiles that turned into smaller cutlasses landing on the ground.

"Steven, why is the van inside the house?" Pearl asked while she, Garnet, and Amethyst emerged from the beach house as the fusion fight went on.

"Whatever Greg did, can you tell him to stop?" Amethyst asked before she let out a loud scream at what they were seeing. "Hey, is that Steg?!"

"We can explain everything, honest!" Peridot tried to apologize for everything that's happened.

"No need." Garnet boomed stoically while glaring daggers at Bluebird, continuing to swipe at Steg's shield.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Bluebird shrieked violently when she noticed a certain group of three angry Gems. "Oh, if it isn't my favorite trio!" she exclaimed while innocently hiding her cutlass behind her back.

The Crystal Gems responded by fusing together into a very grouchy Alexandrite who towered over Bluebird Azurite and raised one hand forward.

"Oh no." the rogue fusion whimpered before she was squashed flat by Alexandrite. As Alexandrite un-fused back into Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl, Steven & Greg un-fused and gazed at the groaning Aquamarine & Ruby.

"Are you two okay?" Steven asked while Greg raced to collect his cut hair.

"Oh no, we have been defeated!" Aquamarine theatrically declared. "Now we'll be forcibly indoctrinated into your lifestyle like every Gem before us!"

"Yep." Eyeball replied as she rubbed her head.

"I've completely learned my lesson." Aquamarine stated. "I'm sorry Steven. Please accept my apology so that we may become defenseless pacifists just like you." When she extended a hand to Steven, Steven brought his out too, expecting to give her a handshake, but she childishly snatched her gloved hand away. "GOTCHA!"

"Don't you run away you runts!" Peridot yelled while Aquamarine took Eyeball's hand and they flew away.

"You rebels may have gotten us this time, but we'll be out there!" Aquamarine declared haughtily.

"Hating you!" her Ruby partner added.

"Forever!" Aquamarine concluded as they flew far away from the Gems, presumably never to be seen for a long time.

"You smell!" Eyeball jeered as loud as she could.

"Think we'll really see them again?" Lapis wondered.

"Who knows Lapis?" Garnet replied. "But if they pull off what they did just now, we'll be there."

"I guess there are Gems out there who still hate your guts." Amethyst contemplated.

"Well, I'm not the only one they wanted to hurt." Steven replied while looking at Greg, sitting by the ocean with his hair in his arms. "I'm really sorry, Dad." Steven apologized to his father while sitting by him. "I never should've given Bluebird a chance."

"I love how you believe in everyone." Greg sighed to his son while drying his tears. "You stuck to your principles, and that made me proud. But sometimes, some people don't want to change."

"Yeah." Steven sighed as well, before Greg let his hair drift in the water.

"See you around, old friend." Greg bid farewell to his locks. "You're finally free."

Later that day, Aquamarine and Eyeball continued giggling as they found somewhere safe to hide in the woods close to Beach City.

"You have to admit, it was hilarious how that My-Dad was so attached to his hair." Eyeball admitted to her blue cohort.

"I mean, it's just hair!" Aquamarine agreed. "But enough about mocking others' misfortune, give me the communicator."

"You got it." Eyeball obeyed and began searching around her person for what her new friend requested. "Uh, where is it again?"

"In your gem you dolt!" Aquamarine yelled.

"Oh, right." Eyeball realized, pulling a black, octahedral object from her gemstone and handing it to Aquamarine. After Aquamarine gave it a few turns, the object slowly rose above the two and transformed into a screen displaying a coded message.

"Your clarity, we have garnered some minor success on our espionage mission." Aquamarine announced to the screen while positing her arms in a rectangular salute. "Though our cover was blown, we now know that he can somehow perform fusion with humans. Tell us, do you have any further orders?"

The screen replied by giving a coded message to Aquamarine that Eyeball couldn't understand. "Uh, what's it saying?" Eyeball asked.

"It's saying we must return to headquarters and await further instructions." Aquamarine translated the message. "A craft is being sent to our current location to bring us back."

As Aquamarine declared, a small, orb-like white space pod with a single red window at the entrance instantly warped to Earth via lightspeed and opened its door for the two Gems to board.

"Haha, just you wait Steven!" Eyeball shouted to the sky. "Your precious little family will soon be done for!"

The two little Gems cackled evilly as they entered the pod, and it blasted off back into space. But they didn't realize that a certain orange Gem was watching close by, and had a disgruntled look on her face all the while.

And so ends Bluebird. Fun fact, Steg was completely last minute as I thought it would be cool if he fought Aquamarine and Eyeball. Speaking of which, if you couldn't tell by now, Aquamarine & Eyeball will have a much bigger role than in Regular Future going forward as they now answer directly to our mystery villain from Cracks and Buds. So first we had Holly Blue Agate, and now these two? What could this ne'er-do-well have planned with these old villains? We'll just have to wait and see. Speaking of which, I should really get back to a certain other Steven Universe fanfiction.

#steven universe #steven universe future #fanfiction #steven universe alternate future #steven quartz universe #garnet #amethyst #pearl #bluebird azurite #eyeball ruby #aquamarine #lapis lazuli #peridot #bismuth #greg universe #steg

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cool-beans-scully · 5 years

Text

Mistletoe (13th Doctor x reader)

Summary: The Doctor’s plan to kiss you under the mistletoe, doesn’t go exactly as planned.

Warnings: None I think??

A/N: I am actually kind of proud of this one, I mean I’m procrastinating studying for a test but still.

Word Count: 997

It started when you decided to go home for a day, you kissed the Doctor on the cheek thanking her for taking you home, waved to the others and walked out. Leaving the Doctor to grin and stare at the place you had been moments ago. “Doctor?” Graham asked, she didn’t react. Ryan waved his hand in front of her face, the lovesick grin stayed frozen in place.

Yaz tapped her shoulder, “Doctor? You’re doing it again.”

The Gallifreyan snapped out of her trance, moving around the TARDIS console as if to make up for her inactivity earlier. “Sorry! So what should we do?”

“I think you should tell Y/N how you feel.” Ryan said.

“I second it.” Yaz added.

She froze sputtering, “I-there’s…” the companions shared a look as the Doctor continued to stutter over her words. “Maybe we should put up Christmas decorations?”

“Brilliant idea, while we’re at it why not some mistletoe?” Yaz smirked.

“Then you and Y/N might end up under it and finally kiss already.” Ryan stated.

“Ryan!” Graham scolded.

He shrugged. “Well? Tell me I’m wrong they’ve flirted so much I already thought they were together.”

As Ryan and Graham started off into their own conversation, Yaz walked over to the Doctor who seemed content to stare at the TARDIS’ controls. “She does like you, you know. I agree with Ryan putting up mistletoe would be a cute idea, then you could tell her how you feel.”

“You won’t let this go will you?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll decorate for Christmas and I’ll put up the mistletoe and I’ll…” The Doctor trailed off her face flushing.

“You know I think I might pop by my house for a day too. What do you say Ryan? Graham?” Yaz asked giving them a pointed look.

“Sounds delightful.” Graham answered.

--------

The plan was simple, strategically place the mistletoe so that you were under it, kiss you, and confess her feelings—the Doctor repeated it like a mantra as she hung the mistletoe. Taking a few steps back to admire her handiwork it occurred to her that you may not stand there, she sighed and hung up another. She planned on decorating the TARDIS anyways, so why not go all out?

After what seemed like hours she was sure that you would be under the mistletoe, after all every few steps had mistletoe above it.

The knock on the door spurred her into action, she met you at the door just in time preventing you from seeing inside. “Close your eyes.”

You watched her for a few seconds, before complying. Taking your hand she pulled you inside and stood behind you covering your eyes. “Tell me there’s not some alien that eats eyeballs on board.” You said only half-joking. To your dismay she didn’t say anything, your throat started to tickle as she continued guiding you along.

Her hands dropped and you heard her walk around in front of you. “Open them.”

“Well?” She spread her arms out and smiled. The TARDIS was decorated with Christmas lights strung around and your eyes started to tear up, your throat itching, which meant only one thing...mistletoe.

She watched as you teared up and left the TARDIS practically running out, that definitely wasn’t the reaction she was expecting. Poking her head out of the TARDIS, she found you sitting a few feet from the door. Tears running down your cheeks, “I’m sorry–I didn’t know you dislike Christmas I can take it down–”

“No it’s not that–” you coughed, your face reddening–“I’m allergic to mistletoe is all. It was…” You erupted into a coughing fit, before it died down. “...nice.”

She stepped out of the TARDIS, crouching next to you. “Do I need to take you somewhere? A hospital?”

Shaking your head, you coughed more. “Why was there so much mistletoe?”

Her face flushed, abruptly she stood up and started to pace in front of you. “I-I thought it would be good to decorate for Christmas and Ryan said I should hang up mistletoe, so I’d have an excuse to kiss you and Yaz said that I could tell you I like you then,” You stared in shock but she didn’t seem to notice her accidental confession, she continued. “-but they never told me you were allergic! I...I’ll go take them down, wait here.” She said before walking back into the TARDIS leaving you to grapple with the reality that she did like you.

It took her around forty-five minutes to take all of it down, forty-five minutes that you sat in silence trying to figure out what to do next when she finished.

The Doctor poked her head out of the TARDIS and you were still no closer to a plan. “It’s safe to come back in now.”

Smiling you stood up and followed her back in, the lights were still strung precariously though there was no mistletoe. She stood next to you awkwardly trying to find something to say, besides apologizing repeatedly. “Thanks.” You said quietly, she nodded absentmindedly still embarrassed about the whole ordeal. “Oh and Doctor? I like you too.” She looked up surprised finally meeting your eyes, her face flushed as she smiled.

“How did you–”

“It may have accidentally came out when you were explaining why there was so much mistletoe and since you had gone through all the trouble of arranging it…” You pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, she smiled that brilliant smile and you were sure that your heart melted.

“I think you owe me more kisses than that.”

“You’re right, you’re right. How many things of mistletoe did you put up?”

The Doctor looked away mumbling, “One hundred and nineteen.”

Your eyes widened and you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you, “A hundred and nineteen!?”

She smiled meekly and you kissed her again this time on the corner of her mouth, before pulling away. “Now only one hundred and seventeen to go.”

#13th doctor x reader #13 x reader #thirteenth doctor x reader #drabble december #my writing

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sinsoakedsaints · 5 years

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@galaeus sent -- ❝ I haven’t had so much fun since I killed my parents. ❞ (Eddie/echo)

One of Eddie’s mortal fears -- of which he had too many to count -- was choking. Not so much the sexy kind that some people were into ( not him ) but the actual, life threatening, there’s something in my windpipe oh fuckety fuck kind of choking.

Also known as, the type he was experiencing at that very second on his wine as The Stranger leaned over and spoke to him. It wasn’t that he was adverse to new people, even though that increased his likelihood of fatality tenfold, but this new person was upsetting the dynamic a little.

( He had barely gotten used to Tom and Audra. )

“Guys, guys..” He half splutters as his chair makes a scraping sound as he moves it closer to Bev and further from Echo, his eyeballs bulging with how he looked at her.

He knew he should have worn his bulletproof vest to dinner, but he had been too busy researching allergic reactions to Greek food.

“I can’t believe you fuckers sat me beside a murderer this isn’t fucking FUNNY.”

━━ 💉┊GAME GRUMPS SENTENCE STARTERS.

#galaeus #xxxvii. eddie kaspbrak / ˹ interaction. ˼#xxxvii. eddie kaspbrak / ˹ echo galaeus. ˼#i. meme / ˹ answered. ˼#i need a verse name for this mess DGHJSK

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 5 years

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You know what time it is? Time for me to carry on re-reading that clusterheck known as The Misadventures of Prince Kim, on an epic journey to correct typos and question my entire life!

K we’re up to chapter 11 let’s gooooo

This is pretty much the only time in the whole thing where Max proper has a go at Kim, and honestly he deserves it!! yes nerd boy, go off!!

how to deal with the guy you’re unknowingly crushing on being your parents’ deadly enemy -- just CHALLENGE HIM TO A SWORD DUEL apparently, Kim what the actual hell

srsly though where did Kim get that sword

Adrien is so good and blessed... and also everything in his lil speech is gonna be a plot point in the sequel

Kim thAT’S SO GAY OMG YOU’RE SUCH A DISASTER BI

Everything about Max and Kim’s friendship is just so good ugh that’s one thing at least I’m proud of in this fic, the epic slowburn Kimax, it’s good and I’m happy with it

Max saying “I realize that may have been short-sighted of me” is a pun by the way (because he wears glasses), pls appreciate it

“Seasons are a social construct, Max. Time is an illusion.” I will NEVER be able to outdo the genius of this line

Chapter 12 here we go

Max’s entire reason for being in this fic is being the love interest, I swear... like in the first half of the fic he just suffers internal gay heartbreak over and over, and in the second half he’s perfectly happy with his bae and doesn’t rly have any stakes in the plot aside from wanting to keep the people he cares about safe... he’s the Love Interest(TM)

More geography lessons now, mixed in with science and history too... I know I call Max a nerd but maybe I’M the nerd

the world of the fic is so messed up, I mean Chloe’s walking around in rococo clothing and her citizens are peasant farmers wanting to guillotine her, and then there’s kingdoms like Max’s and Alix’s, who have cars and planes and phones and stuff?? this really is a game of Civ, dang

hmm... I think it’s implied that later on in the fic satellites are already in space, but here Max says they’re still being built... eh whatever I can just pretend they launched inbetween at some point or that Max’s research is a bit out of date

his speech really did have a global impact okay, I swear it was plot relevant and not just filler because I think Max is really cool and super underrated or anything

the entire Animan episode is happening on the side as a B-plot just because why not

CHAPTER 13 NOW, HELL YES BRING ON THE GAY

Nath is me omg, that social anxiety amirite

Myvan is canon!!! Myvan is canon!!! I’d forgotten about that whoops

this is LITERALLY just Animan except at a ball

Adrien making puns and calling Marinette “princess”... I was not that subtle was I

yes the hot Italian noble is Lila, I wasn’t particularly subtle about that either

...I’ve just realized, the next time I’m around mistletoe I’ll just pretend to have a cold and then everyone will stay away from me lmao (Alix wasn’t pretending tho, she really did have a cold here)

YES HERE COMES THE ADRIKIM MISTLETOE KISS

it’s funny because Adrien partially decides to do it because he thinks his dad would be mad about him having a crush on Kim, but later in the fic when Gabe finds out he doesn’t really care lol

for the record the reason I skipped writing the actual kiss is because I had NO idea how to write kisses (the chapter 24 one is pretty much glossed over too!), I only started bothering later on when Kimax, because, yknow, KIMAX

Kim and Max talking about their boy crushes together is so adorable hhhhhhhh can I skip like 30 chapters already

“I can’t believe I had my first kiss, and I can never tell anyone about it because it was with a guy.” this is actually the funniest thing in hindsight because in exactly a year’s time, Kim just straight-up brags to people about how he’s so hot that even a boy kissed him last year

okay now chapter aeroplanes (that’s 14, btw)

Kim trying to stay away from home for as long as possible to avoid getting told off is the biggest mood and I hate it

the journey to Max’s kingdom took two days?? hmm... later on in the fic it seems to take less time... ahhh idk let’s just say they took the scenic route okay

now you readers get to learn some science stuff

can the show please give us Max’s canon family? I brushed over it entirely in this fic but idk how the hell I’d do that in the sequel

oh yeah so in this fic, most of the time they’re talking in French. however, they all know English too as a lingua franca thing, so that way all the stupid puns can still work because you can pretend they switched into English for those bits

KIM GEEKING OUT OVER AEROPLANES IS SO PRECIOUS OMG HOW DID I DO THAT

So if Alix took her pet snake on the plane... then I guess you could say there were... Snakes on a Plane AYYYYYY

Also, like... she doesn’t even talk to Kim and Max in the actual show, her being best friends with them is a fanon thing and that being said, I totally went for it lol I wanted her to be relevant okay

Jalil is so sarcastic in this fic (mostly because you see him from Kim’s point of view and he hates Kim lmao) I don’t even know why I did that, I just did, he’s basically just me

I swear this reads so... ugh what’s the phrase I’m thinking of? double nintendo-ey? IT FEELS MORE SHIPPY THAN IT IS, THAT’S WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY

oh dear I’m having an allergic reaction again

Alix is so violent I s2g, this is like the second time already she’s implied she really wants to beat someone up and it won’t be the last time

oh and she’s not 100% oblivious that Kim’s into her. (I know she tells him later on that she was, she’s lying to make him feel better.) she’s just very much in denial and decides to not notice bc she doesn’t want it to be true, which is like, a decent aro mood tbh

okay chapter food fight (15!)

you know what, the awkwardness between Kim and Adrien now is also giving me an allergic reaction, just TALK to each other you idiots oh my god

Kim and Marinette treat each other like cousins in this fic, idk how else to describe it really, I was going for “childhood friends” but they really have a cousin kinda dynamic

IVAN IS AN ABSOLUTE LEGEND FOR INDULGING IN THE ACCIDENTAL FOOD FIGHT and so is Chloe actually, huh

Alix just. slam dunks Nath into a vat of milk. I can’t with this fic

Typo-correcting-time!! It’s not Mr Damocles, it’s DUKE Damocles jeez Aish get it right

also whomst the heck snitched on poor Kim and got him into trouble??

OKAY SO. later on in the fic, I often mention that one monopoly match that ended up in a brawl, but I never bothered to write the match itself because I forgot it was supposed to be a plot point in the timelines thing. here in this chapter is the first time it’s mentioned. should I... go back and write it in properly? idk help

awwwww this is the first point that actually feels proper Kimax-y, they’re having a moment together at the fountain and omg it’s so cute

lol this bit where spider-destroyer Alix has to threaten Kim to put her back down is like the exact opposite of way later on when they’re playing the floor is lava and she cheats by sitting on his shoulder and he tries to annoy her into going away

also KIM I’M KINKSHAMING, YES, THE SCALIE MERMAID HASN’T EVEN SHOWN UP YET AND I’M STILL KINKSHAMING, HAVING A CUTE GIRL PLUCK OUT YOUR EYEBALLS IS NOT HOT

phew that’s enough I’m dying

#it's cursed. c u r s e d i'm telling you #misadventures #random stuff

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burnouts3s3 · 6 years

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Let's Talk About: Carl Foutley and Hoodsey

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.

"Let's Talk About" is a series of articles focused on individual character or characters and their development and commentary throughout the work in question. THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF THE WORK, but rather what the character says about the world around them. If you wish to read a strict review, please click on the link to read it. My reviews focus more on the purely technical aspects of the work. There are bad characters with good messages. There are good characters with bad messages and so on and so forth. Thank you.

Author’s Note: Okay, this is going to be a weird one. Originally, I wanted to do a review of As Told By Ginger, one of my favorite childhood shows and cartoon I sincerely hope people get to watch. But, thanks to Paramount, the studio that owns Nickelodeon and, by proxy, ATBG, trying to buy the official releases of this show have been a nightmare! While Paramount ‘has’ released DVDs of the show, they are very sparse and leave out way too many episodes. Even attempts to upload episodes to Youtube have been shut down by Paramount. For some reason, Nickelodeon refuses to sell episodes of the show digitally through venues like Amazon or itunes. As such, I’m going to be skipping over my review of this show and focusing on a topic near and dear to my heart.)

Let's Talk About: Carl Foutley and Hoodsey

As Told By Ginger is probably one of my favorite childhood shows growing up. The characters felt real. The situations were relatable and the humor was on point.

For those who don’t know, As Told By Ginger was a Nickelodeon Cartoon that ran through the 2000’s that depicted the everyday life of Ginger Foutley, a middle school student who tries to get through her day to day by writing in her journal. It was a simple premise but executed spectacularly thanks to the animation studio of Klasky Csupo (who also did other shows such as Rugrats, the Wild Thornberrys and Rocket Power).

While Ginger would be dealing with her problem (such as a cute boy who’s using her to get a good grade in Chemistry class or helping her friends, Dodie Biship and Macie Lightfoot, with a problem), her younger brother who was in Elementary School, Carl Foutley, and Dodie’s younger brother, Robert Joseph “Hoodsey” Bishop, would be getting into trouble.

In his Doghouse (a memory Carl holds onto in hopes his runaway dog, Monster, will return), he and Hoodsey create ideas to swindle his classmates. Carl and Hoodsey would usually have their own subplot where in Carl hatches a scheme to get money, get revenge or attempt to get his petrified eyeball away from Blake Gripling.

See, producers and executives are a bit wary to catering to a single demographic. In ATBG’s case, catering to girls. (To be fair, even in the original pilot Carl and Hoodsey were there). As such, while Ginger and Dodie were doing “girly” or “feminine” things, Carl and Hoodsey were doing “boy” things and had the share of the gross out humor.

It’d be easy for Carl and Hoodsey just to be the comic relief. Their material is funny and they break up a lot of the dramatic moments with their antics. But as the series progressed, I began to realize that the show runners were doing a lot more with the two than I realized.

For example, I thought there was a strong sense of “children during the face of mortality”. When Hoodsey and Dodie’s grandmother dies in “Losing Nana Bishop”, Hoodsey has a different reaction from the rest of his family. See, while Dodie, his father and his mother are all grief stricken with the loss of his grandmother, Hoodsey isn’t. And he feels weird about it, saying “But I don’t feel sad, Carl.”. A child realizing their apathetic towards their own relation’s death is a strangely mature arc to go through. Hoodsey eventually comes around saying he will miss her but in his own way stating “I’ll never look at blue foam or a raisin and not remember how Nana used to laugh at me and pinch my cheek really hard."

This happens earlier in the series. Carl begins a sort of May-December Romance with Maude, an elderly lady he meets at a nursing home. (To be fair, it’s said that these feelings only come from Carl and Maude doesn’t return his feelings but finds him entertaining company). As Carl prepares to propose to her, Maude dies and Carl has to deal with it.

But the biggest impact was during No Hope for Courtney, when Carl realizes Ms. Gordon has retired because Carl pulled a prank too far and traumatized her. Because of that, Carl does everything he can to get her back. Eventually, he wins her over. However, the night before class, Carl wakes up and calls out her name. The next day, it’s revealed that Ms. Gordon died in her sleep. (This was done as a tribute to her voice actress Kathleen Freeman passing away). The final shot is Carl crying over her death.

Religion is also a big part of the show (which is surprising, given that this was a Nickelodeon show meant for children). Carl is an atheist, but it’s only really mentioned in passing when Ginger nearly dies from a burst appendix.

In contrast, Hoodsey is seen more as the more religious of the duo, if not necessarily the more moral. What I mean is that Hoodsey is as willing, if not more so, to get into much trouble as Carl is but Hoodsey does believe in a divine power. We get glimpses of this. When Carl and Hoodsey get Mrs. Gripling’s money so Hoodsey can pretend to be a homeless boy for her (Mrs. Gripling was trying to become the head of a social club and did so by faking to do actual charity work), Hoodsey argues they should give the money back, stating "when the big guy sends me a message, I try to pay attention." In “Losing Nana Bishop”, Hoodsey says that their grandmother is somewhere in “that great big bingo hall in the sky”.

Normally, Christianity vs Atheism debates are reserved for the internet Youtube videos or conservative propaganda pieces. In fact, there’s a scenario you could see how Carl would argue with Hoodsey about religion.Instead, the writers of the show establish this through a clever and subversive way.

Hoodsey believes in Santa Claus while Carl does not. The two get into an argument about how ‘real’ Santa is, with Hoodsey being so devoted to Santa he breaks his friendship with Carl.

Eventually the two bury the hatchet and decide they’re better off laughing at things such as neon signs of reindeer pissing.

"Sure you're cool hanging with a non-believer?" Carl asks Hoodsey.

"To each his own and all that," Hoodsey replies.

What led to Carl’s jadedness towards Santa Claus, Carl replies "Something stupid. I think I used to wish my dad would come home for the Holidays or something like that". This is a reference to the fact that his birth father left his family when he was young.

In the world of sitcoms and cartoons, the showrunners sometimes depict various family units and how they contrast with one another. Carl’s family had a Single mother, Lois Foutley, and Ginger. He was the only male character in the house and the youngest child.

Through the 90’s most shows had nuclear, if dysfunctional, families with a mother and father and multiple children. Even if the sons were often trouble makers, they had father figures to look up to. Bud Bundy had Al, Chris Griffin had Peter, Eric Forman had Red, Bobby Hill had Hank and Bart Simpson had Homer.

Hoodsey, whose parents are still together and haven’t separated, even makes a side comment to Carl "You see how complicated having two parents can be?"

To be fair, as time went on other cartoons and cartoon characters have commented on divorce. Sharon Spitz from Braceface, Pepper Ann Pearson from Pepper Ann, Sammy "Squid" Dullard from Rocket Power, Will Vandom from W.I.T.C.H. and Tino Tonitini from the Weekenders are all products of divorced/separated couples. But whereas their mothers they stay with are considered embarrassing, overprotective, smothering, or strict, the absent father figure is usually idolized and admired, even with their actual presences hidden or built up. For the first times we hear about them, we never actually "see" what Pepper Ann's father and Tino's father looked like until later in the series after they're mentioned.

It's also implied that the absent father figure is the better off or the richer of the two households with a "cool" profession. Pepper Ann's father is a pilot, Squid's father is an executive, Will's father is seen driving a sports car (implying he's wealthy) and Sharon Spitz's father is a rock star. As such, it's seen as an idolization of the absent father figure. "My dad's not here because he's busy being cool somewhere else".

Then, we finally get hints of who Ginger’s father is.

In "Hello Stranger", Ginger gets a congratulations letter for graduating Elementary School (an event, as her friend Darren mentions, that happened ages ago) from her father. Ginger invites her father to attend her poetry reading only for him not to show up. Lois decides to send flowers to Ginger and has them written to be from Ginger's Father (even though he had nothing to do with them). Ginger sees through the guise but thanks her mother anyway.

When we do finally meet Ginger's Father, Jonas, the truth is finally revealed: he is a mall Santa who can't be bothered to make it to her daughter's poetry reading. It's also implied he's not well off financially. "I'm sort of a Jack of all trades and Master of none" he says in a later episode.

When Carl and Jonas do meet on Christmas Day, Hoodsey inadvertently stages a meeting between them, Carl, meets him with scorn and hatred. He even says "My Mom always warned me about getting in a car with a total stranger." Jonas gives Carl a globe full of peanuts, not knowing that Carl is violently allergic to them.

The show doesn't mince words; Jonas Foutley is a deadbeat dad who doesn't know his own children and his attempts to be there fall flat. (To be fair, the show gave him redeeming values such as giving GInger good advice or having him wrestle rogue attacking turkeys).

Ginger and Carl have very different reactions to their birth father. Ginger attempts to get Jonas back into her life as much as possible while Carl wants nothing to do with him.

Consider how strange that is. Ginger, the older female child, idolizes her father while Carl despises him. Carl instead attempts to help Dr. Dave, a recurring character and co-worker of his mother, help woo Lois. Carl who’s the younger child instead feels more comfortable with his step father while Ginger, who would be older and would have more memories of her father leaving her, is dedicated to making her father a part of her life as much as possible.

It’s interesting to see how he, who is barely entering middle school not only wants to embrace his potential new father, but harbors resentment against his birth father. He even goes so far as to address him as Jonas while calling Dr. Dave Dad. Carl even accuses Jonas of conspiring to ruin Lois and Dave's wedding!

In one of the final episodes of the season, Carl helps Lois find a new house. Lois decides to indulge Carl's gross out side and shows off houses that she thinks Carl would like before settling on a real house. Except, throughout the episode, Carl dismisses each of the houses and commits himself to finding an actual home.

When Lois asks why Carl is acting out of character, Carl responds.

"It's my last duty as Man of the House before Dave steps into the role", he says.

Think about that. Carl, despite admitting he loved the creepy and gross houses Lois showed him, decides to take the responsibility of house hunting seriously because he considers it the last duty "as man of the house" before Dave comes in. He is deliberately choosing to step away from his own selfish desires and deciding to 'act like a man'. Not masculine as in gaining muscles or beating up people or acting as an authority figure, but doing something as simple as helping his mother and changing his attitude and behavior.

Consider the context: Carl favors Dr. Dave, a step-father, despite Dave not being his birth father and him acting squeamish and cowardly, more of a man than his actual parent. Why? Because Dave is there and helps his family while Jonas, Carl's birthfather, has been mainly absent from his childhood.

So naturally, Carl's viewpoint of masculinity and manhood are changed. Rather than being assertive of muscular, it's simply being there and supporting his family when he can.

That's strangely profound in a child.

It feels like Carl’s arc is that of maturity. But through the series, attempts into forcing Carl to mature all fail. Ms. Gordo and George (a strict boy scout who uses military training to straighten out Carl), all fail. Attempts to force Carl to destroy the dog house, his secret lair and his nostalgia into hoping his long lost pet, Monster, will come back fail. Even when a classmate tricks Carl into growing up fails. But instead, Carl chooses by his own accord when he's finally ready to destroy his dog house. He chooses to turn his back against pranking. He chooses to help his mother out with the wedding and move.

(It should also be mentioned that Carl was willing to let his dog house be destroyed when George blackmails Carl that by leaving he would cast the blame on Ginger whose program is failing). Then, on Lois’ wedding day, Monster, the dog Carl has been waiting to come back, returns to him.

In some ways, Carl’s story is a view of masculinity but through the lens of grade school boy. Through this sense of jadedness, we see a boy who’s grown weary of the world but works through it by being as gross and angry as possible. But instead of pursing masculinity as a form of power or revenge fantasy, he views it as an aiding tool and someone who genuinely wants to help (even if that help causes more trouble than aids).

Tress MacNille is a voice acting professional who’s shown her merit through shows such as the Simpsons, Futurama and other works. But it’s with Hoodsey that she embodies a character and gives said character real depth. But it’s Jeannie Elias who absolutely delivers as Carl (she also played Botley in Jumpstart 3rd grade adventures). It’s not uncommon for female voice performers to voice young boys (this is done for a variety of reasons as animated shows can go on for years and female actresses tend to ‘sound’ younger than male ones), but Elias performance while holding a scratchy voice manages to convey anger, sadness, humor and cunning at all the right times. Kudos to her.

The series ends, showing an Adult Ginger reading her book to a group of her adult friends as well as Darren with their child. Hoodsey and Carl are seen sitting next to each other.

Though, there is one detail I do find funny. In an episode, Carl says "I can see Me and Hoodsey being friends 30 Years from now".

I guess some friendships do last a lifetime after all.

https://amzn.to/2UHi4lk

#carl #hoodsey #carl and hoodsey #robert joseph bishop #as told by ginger #atbg #nick #nickelodeon #carl foutley #klasky csupo #rugrats #the wild thornberrys #rocket power #dodie #dodie bishop #macie lightfoot #macy lightfoot #lightfoot

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jsenvs3000 · 3 years

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10 Wild Nature Facts

*Bonus Post*

Interpretation is everywhere. According to Beck et al. (2018), a nature guide in every locality who, around his home or in the nearest park could show with fitting stories the wild places, birds, flowers, and animals, would add to the enjoyment of everyone who lives in the region or who visits it. In other words, every place in which interpretation could occur should include some element of interpretation.

The most amazing thing about nature is that it continues to blow my mind. With effective interpretation, almost anything in the natural word can seem interesting. There is so much beauty and intrigue in the everyday aspects of nature. So, let’s take a look!

(1) Acacia trees can warn each other of danger

Acacia trees, which grow all over the African savannah, have a unique defense system. When animals like antelopes start to gobble up its leaves, the tree increases tannin production to levels that are toxic to animals (The Environmentor, 2021). But that's not all. The tree then emits a cloud of ethylene gas that travels through the air, reaching other trees so they too can begin producing more tannins (The Environmentor, 2021).

(2) Owls don't have eyeballs

What they have instead are better described as eye tubes. Since they can't move these tubes back and forth, owls have developed incredible neck flexibility to be able to see the world around them. They can turn their heads a whopping 270 degrees, whereas humans can only manage about 180 (The Environmentor, 2021).

(3) Baby giraffes use their butts as pillows

While adult giraffes usually sleep standing up, baby giraffes will get a bit more comfortable. They hunker down on the ground and take advantage of their extra-flexible necks, twisting around to plop their noggins on their own behinds (The Environmentor, 2021). It doesn't look especially comfortable, but it sure does look cute!

(4) Cows kill more people than sharks

Turns out, Jaws really blew things out of proportion for sharks. According to the Center for Disease Control, sharks kill an average of four people per year, while cows kill an average of 22 annually. Though some are due to road accidents, 75 percent were premeditated attacks (McLendon, 2018). "What's really chilling is that, in five cases, people were killed by multiple cows in group attacks," one Gizmodo reporter wrote. "Group attacks can be surprisingly well-coordinated. When they're feeling defensive, cows will gather in a circle, all facing outwards, lowering their heads and stamping the ground. When they're feeling offensive, certain cows lead the charge."

(5) An extinct species of penguins was nearly 7-feet tall

The biggest penguins around nowadays are emperor penguins, measuring a respectable 4 feet in height. However, 37 million years ago, a species known as Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, or colossus penguins, roamed Antarctica. They weighed about 250 pounds and stood about 6 feet, 6 inches tall, which is the height of the average NBA player (McLendon, 2018). Unfortunately, like modern penguins, these colossus penguins could neither fly nor, presumably, dunk.

(6) Goats have accents

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London found that though goats don't have their own language, they do seem able to pick up accents from one another (The Environmentor, 2021). You can listen to some of them here.

(7) Sloths only poop once a week

Everything about sloths is slow, including their metabolisms. The average adult sloth poops once every five to seven days, and when it does, it can expel one-third of its own body weight (The Environmentor, 2021). Unfortunately, these tree dwellers have to come down to the ground in order to defecate, which saps their energy and leaves them vulnerable to predators. About half of all sloth deaths occur during their once-a-week defecation (The Environmentor, 2021).

(8) Slow lorises are the only venomous primate

Found only in Southeast Asia, the slow loris is a small, monkey-like creature that you might recognize for its big round eyes (McLendon, 2018). They also have the distinction of being the only primate in the animal kingdom with a venomous bite. They lick a toxin-producing gland under their arm before deterring predators with their teeth. In humans, this venom provokes an allergic reaction that usually results in a painful swelling, though there is at least one report of a human dying of anaphylaxis from a slow loris bite (McLendon, 2018).

(9) A tiger's skin also has stripes

Beneath a tiger's fur, the animal's skin is striped as well. Although shaving a tiger is not recommended, if you were to do so, you would see dark and light stripes in the same pattern as its fur (McLendon, 2018). Just as some men have a very visible "five o'clock shadow" where their beards grow, the dark hair follicles of a tiger are easily distinguished from the light ones on its skin. Snow leopards and other big cats also have skin markings to match their fur (McLendon, 2018).

(10) Greenland sharks don't reach puberty until 150

The longest-living vertebrate animal on the planet is the Greenland shark. At 21 feet long and 2,200 pounds, it's also one of the world's largest predators (The Environmentor, 2021). In 2016, when scientists found a method of determining age by examining the proteins in the lens of the sharks' eyes, they realized their specimen lived to be between 300 and 500 years old. Perhaps because they live such a long time, Greenland sharks grow very slowly: only about a centimeter a year. On top of that, they don't reach sexual maturity until they're 150 years old (The Environmentor, 2021).

Want to read some more cool facts? Here are 116 more!

Jacob

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References:

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For a better world. CHAMPAIGN: SAGAMORE Publishing.

The Environmentor. (2021, January 20). 10 strange and Mind-Blowing facts about nature. Retrieved March 15, 2021, from https://blog.tentree.com/10-strange-and-mind-blowing-facts-about-nature/

McLendon, R. (2018). 36 random Animal facts that may surprise you. Retrieved March 15, 2021, from https://www.treehugger.com/random-animal-facts-that-may-surprise-you-4868818

Image Credits:

Image #1: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/385480049346960947/

Image #2: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/02/photos-superb-owl-sunday-iv/605854/

Image #3: https://www.boredpanda.com/giraffes-shortest-sleeping-animal/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Image #4: https://www.discovery.com/nature/cows-kill-more-people-than-sharks

Image #5: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/extinct-mega-penguin-was-as-tall-as-a-person

Image #6: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/173599760609626862/

Image #7: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/559749/facts-about-sloths

Image #8: https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/pygmy-slow-loris

Image #9: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/study-reveals-loss-of-laoss-final-tigers/

Image #10: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/greenland-shark-may-live-400-years-smashing-longevity-record

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jeremystrele · 4 years

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Artist Dawn Tan On Her Scary Start To Motherhood + Keeping Calm In The Time Of Corona

Family

Ashe Davenport

Photo – Sarah Collins.

Dawn Tan is sunshine in human form. One only needs to glance at her watercolours of Care Bears, croissants and Iced VoVos to figure that out. She makes things that make people happy. And very, very hungry.

Anything’s possible in Dawn’s world. Take for example, her yurt out the back of her Yarraville home, where she teaches art classes. It had been a dream of hers to build one, so that’s exactly what she did. She’s a dreamer and pragmatist, which, objectively speaking, is an unstoppable combination of things. When self-isolation became a reality only a few days ago, Dawn pivoted straight away to offering art resources and classes online to help cooped up kids and parents.

We spoke on the phone on a rainy weekday. Dawn was in her car outside a cafe, inside of which Darren and baby Louie were kindly buying us time. I was struck by her honesty, generosity and strength, both in general and regarding a truly messed up situation.

Dawn Tan for PM.

How are you guys coping with this whole Corona business?

We’re trying to keep calm and carry on! I guess we’re just going with it day by day because who knows what’ll happen tomorrow? A lockdown for a month? You never know!

Despite the uncertainty, we’ve chosen not to panic buy, as we figured we won’t be building any toilet paper + tinned food forts for protection. Instead, we’re choosing to try and keep things as normal as possible for Louie. I believe kids pick up on their parents’ anxiety, so we’re trying our best not to get too carried away with all the inaccurate social media reporting and political arguments. We’re upping our game with our sanitising regime and I’ve been wiping every surface down. I feel like I’m 38 weeks pregnant again, when my one sole mission was to clean down the entire house Hazmat-suit style! Call me crazy, but I actually do love cleaning.

What’s your parenting mantra?

Go with it. That’s our take. Darren and I made a conscious decision not to read any parenting books or download any of the (parenting) apps. All babies and kids are so different. There’s no ‘one size fits all.’ We figured we’d just wing it, and deal with the poop when the poop hits the fan.

Has it hit the fan?

Oh yeah. Several times. It’s been a pooplosion. Late last year in particular. There was a lot of crying from all involved. A huge amount of stress. Basically I was sent to a psych unit. It’s a long story.

We have time, if you feel like sharing it.

Well, Louie had severe eczema. He still does. It’s been tricky to manage. In spring last year, it was the worst it had ever been, because it was his first exposure to hay fever season. I couldn’t handle it. He was five months old and just always crying, always screaming, all day and night from all the pain. His onesies and sheets were often stained with blood from scratching. Darren and I slept on either side of him so that we could pin one of his hands each, to try and stop more irritation. We finally took him to emergency one night after his entire torso turned bright red. We were provided with a treatment plan, but it stopped working after two weeks. So we went back. And that’s when it all turned upside down.

How so?

I broke down in emergency and cried my eyeballs out. In addition to seeing Louie in so much pain, an immediate family member had just been diagnosed with cancer and another faced a job loss. Being so far from family, it was hard. Long story short, a social worker told me I had severe postnatal depression and anxiety. I was told it was okay that I couldn’t cope, but that it was normal for babies to scream and cry a lot. I was confused because I knew my normally happy baby was screaming because he was in pain, and yet I was told to accept it.

I was then recommended a night at the psychiatric ward, but I refused to be away from Louie, so we ended up staying with him while he was seen for his eczema. An MRI and scans were ordered, but I wasn’t sure why. We were stuck at the hospital for a week. Turns out, Louie’s MRI was to rule out head trauma. Child protection services even got involved!

HUH?! On what grounds?

I was asked if I’d hurt Louie by a social worker, who thought I’d said, ‘Yes.’ That was it. I had to be placed under supervision and could not be alone with Louie. I couldn’t even feed him in peace. All throughout the week, I was made to believe I had completely lost it. I kept questioning myself and wondering how I ever let it get that bad. There was so much self-blame. It broke me. I was ‘strongly encouraged’ to check into a mother and baby unit. We were told it would be nice and gentle, “like a sleep school.” So we went.

We were promised a calm and nurturing environment, a space where I could chat through my ‘problems’. But it was far from what was promised! Turns out, the unit was for mothers who had been deemed a danger to themselves or their babies. There were no locks on doors. You could tell, everything was ‘suicide-proof.’ We were checked on every hour during the day and even at night, a flashlight came poking in through the door hourly!

I was told admission was voluntary, but it felt like all my rights got taken away the moment I entered. There were words like “applying for leave” and warnings of what would happen if I didn’t return. Sleeping pills were prescribed to “calm my anxiety.” So yeah, the poop hit the fan, and by that stage, it was flinging everywhere.

How did you get out?

Eventually Darren got quite firm and insisted we speak with the head psychiatrist sooner rather than later. I also spoke to the admissions doctor prior to that, which was when we discovered the grossly inaccurate report. It was stated on my file that I’d hurt Louie, despite all the scans and checks coming back clear. Of course I didn’t hurt him!

Miraculously, I was fast-tracked to see the psychiatrist. And after all of five minutes she could see there had been a huge error. I’d been misdiagnosed. Any new mum would have had a total meltdown given the situation I was in… Simply put, I was under a tremendous amount of pressure, stress and coupled with the lack of sleep, I turned into an emotional wreck at Emergency. We were told to go home right away as being at the unit would do more harm for me mentally. Soon after, Child Protection Services came visiting and ended up apologising for all that had happened. They explained this was the first time in over 20 years that a case had escalated as quickly as mine! Lucky me!

What was the aftermath like?

We’re in the process of making a formal complaint now. It’s a tonne of paperwork, but we have a letter of support from the head psychiatrist, which should be helpful. It’s not a nice thing to have on my file, especially given that I’m a teacher. We’re just trying to stay positive. It happened, and we can’t change it. It can only make us stronger. We’re just so grateful for the two nurses at the crisis unit who could tell something was amiss with my report and advocated to have me discharged. And for all the nurses and pediatricians who took such great care of Louie and supported us.

Has the experience changed the way you seek support now?

Going to or even driving by the hospital can be quite triggering, but we tell ourselves if we are there, that we are there for Louie. So he can seek the best medical help possible. Fear aside, I still believe in speaking up. I always have. That’s why I spoke up in the first place. I think it’s really important to acknowledge and share what you’re going through. Especially if you need help. Mental health is so important and I believe the first step to helping ourselves is to speak up. Darren and I have an open and honest relationship. We share when we’re frustrated or pissed off about something. We have conversations all day long.

‘This too shall pass’ is a thing parents say when things are hard. What are your thoughts on that?

I don’t like it. I know it ‘shall pass.’ Louie has lots of allergic reactions, some that have required ambulance rides to the hospital, and he still has severe eczema. He has flare ups almost every other week. Even a play with some tan bark or a walk on a mildly windy day can trigger an entire week’s worth of flare up. He’s never slept all that much from day dot. He’s a piglet who prefers cat naps and breastfeeds every few hours, 24/7. Needless to say, he’s never slept through the night. The one time he did, we thought Christmas had arrived!

We count our blessings as we know we have it so good. We are so grateful that Louie is overall a healthy, happy and thriving baby. That said, some days are so hard. I cry my eyeballs out. Sometimes I even regret and question if I’ve ruined my life by becoming a Mum. Then I feel guilty that I’m not appreciating him more, and because I know not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to have kids.

Darren and I went through our own fertility journey with Endometriosis and tricky Fibroids. Louie’s our little miracle. So surely we should never ever feel frustrated about our new life as parents! But some days, it’s just so hard! People often tell me ‘This too shall pass’ but I see it as closing the door on what I’m feeling, and I don’t like that. Whether I’m having a good day or a bad day, I want to acknowledge it. I feel, to become better parents, I need to let my emotions out, accept them, then move on. There’s the good days and the bad. The ups and downs – It’s all part of parenting!

Family Favourites

Favourite at home family activity?

Snuggling in bed solving a Rubik’s cube – Louie’s favourite toy. Hah!

Sunday morning breakfast?

Pancakes with lots of berries and honey!

Go-to album?

We’re classical music nerds. We like old school jazz classics too, Etta James or Frank Sinatra.

From today, every Friday, Dawn will be releasing a FRIDAY FREEBIE FUN Art Lesson on her Instagram TV / Facebook page. Simple, easy to follow along videos for all ages. More great stuff will be released next week, and you can purchase art supplies from Dawn’s online store!

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gumnut-logic · 3 years

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