#hobbit asked me about my sleeping patterns so yeah

[archiveofidentityconstellations]

Area Woman Discovers She Has Insomnia, More At 2 AM

#i'm pretending to be onion headlines #though this is true #hobbit asked me about my sleeping patterns so yeah

[zukos-scribe]

Your Heart

Hi! Could you do a Legolas x plus size reader?? The reader is the only female human to be a part of the fellowship and Gimli has basically sworn to protect her even though she can use a sword and fight her own battles. She is really sweet and Legolas has fallen hard for her. Lots of fluff please! If you're not ok with writing a plus size reader that's totally ok. Hope you have a good day!

I hope you like it! Let me know what you think! :)

“Again.”

Aragorn swung his sword at you as the both of you spared, running over some training exercises while you were all settled down for the night.

You blocked his attack and retaliated with your own, continuing on the short pattern that you had learned long ago.

“Good job,” Aragorn nodded. You thanked him, putting your sword down and grabbing a sip of water. Sitting down next to Gimli, you drank and looked around the small camp that you all had put up.

Frodo was sitting next to Sam, looking tired and not speaking. Sam talked to him while cooking, Merry and Pippin sat nearby smoking. Gandalf was carrying a new conversation with Aragorn and Legolas as Gimli stared at you.

“Are you alright?”

You nodded.

“Yeah, getting hungry though.”

He dug into his pack and brought out a small piece of bread. 

“Here, have this,” he said, handing you the bread. You felt bad that he was giving you so much of his own food, so you broke it in half and gave him one part.

“I don’t need all of this. You need to eat too. Besides don’t you think I could stand to lose a little weight?” you asked, pulling at some of the chub on your stomach.

Gimli glared at you.

“What’s gotten into your head? You need to eat, so why are you trying to skip out on your dinner?”

He shoved the bread back at you once again. You sighed, took it back and rolled your eyes.

“All I’m saying is that I have stores of fat to help me so that I don’t need as much food as you have been giving me. I’m sure that someone else needs food too.”

Gimli huffed.

“I don’t see why you have to bring your weight into this. I’ve got fat too, and the hobbits have some, and everyone else has enough food. So just eat.”

“Well what about Legolas,” you shot back. “I rarely see him eat.”

“Who cares about the stupid elf?” he retorted. 

You stuck your tongue out at him before standing up. You shoved one part of the bread in your mouth and walked over to where Legolas, Aragorn, and Gandalf were talking.

“Hey boys,” you said as you approached.

“Hello dear, what can we do for you?” Gandalf asked.

“I just wanted to know if any of you were hungry. I have some extra bread that I don’t need.”

“I am fine, thank you Y/N,” Aragorn responded. Gandalf responded in kind before asking Aragorn another question.

You turned to Legolas and offered the bread.

“Are you sure that you are full?” he asked with concern.

“I am sure, do not worry about me.”

He nodded his head in thanks as he took the bread.

“I always have concern for my friends. You are no different Y/N.”

You could feel a small blush cross your face. You nodded at him again before turning to make your way back over to Gimli. 

Gimli narrowed his eyes and looked between Legolas and yourself. He noticed the blush on your cheeks but didn’t say anything. He was more concerned with the way that Legolas was watching your figure as you moved along the edge of the camp. 

Not in the way that someone would if they were worried that you were about to be attacked. It was a loving way, with light in his eyes and a soft smile on his face.

“Fukin stupid elf.”

~~~~

Gimli had been extremely protective over you for a long time. He owed you for his mother’s life after all.

You were a healer, and had been crossing through the area when Gimli’s mother had gotten extremely ill. Him and his father were trying to find anyone that could help, but there wasn’t anyone available. You had heard about the situation and made your way to the family home.

Through the course of three days you got no sleep, tending over the ill woman and her family (making sure that they get enough rest) and eventually bringing her back to the land of the living. 

Gimli was so thankful that when he realized you were a ranger and healer he swore to protect you from anything and everything for as long as he could, even though he knew you were a skilled fighter.

A natural friendship proceeded to bloom, which had led the two of you to Rivendell for the meeting of the ring. You had recognized Aragon from having met him a few years before, which helped you both even more in feeling comfortable.

You were excited to meet Legolas as well, even though Gimli was really cold towards the elf. You were naturally really sweet and friendly, so it wasn’t hard for the rest of the fellowship to warm up to you.

And then Legolas started developing feelings for you. And you for him, even though you didn’t realize it. Elven romance was something that you didn’t know much about. So you didn’t pay much attention to it. 

Aragorn and Gandalf noticed the attraction first, seeing how Legolas would watch you constantly. Then Gimli noticed, followed by Frodo and Sam. Merry and Pippin were oblivious towards it.

And you were oblivious towards the feelings that Legolas had for you.

As you realized more and more that you were falling for the elf, your insecurities started to grow. Elves were so graceful and elegant. They were skinny, fit, and all around beautiful.

You did not consider yourself to be beautiful. Especially by elven standards. Chubby, dirty, loud, and clumsy. What elf would fall in love with you.

Legolas would, as it turns out. 

As much as Gimli didn’t particularly like Legolas (or elves in general) he couldn’t deny that there was something special between the two of you. So he pushed his own opinions and feelings aside for you.

He began to try and set ‘traps’ for the two of you to have to work side by side. Only little things at first, cooking, scouting, cleaning. 

Sometimes it gave you time to have small conversations about unimportant things, but other than that, there wasn’t much going on between the two of you.

Gimli was getting fed up.

He finally got a better chance during a small fight with a group of orcs. There was only a small handful of them that ambushed you guys while you were hiking.

Both you and Legolas were standing quite close to one another, and Gimli noticed. There also happened to be a small drop in the earth that you were standing too close to.

And Legolas seemed worried that something might happen to you, and stayed particularly watchful of you.

Gimli had a new plan.

The next orc that came at him, he grabbed it by the arm and threw it. The orc knocked you into the small drop in the earth, then fell to the ground near Legolas, who killed him.

Legolas noticed that you were nowhere to be seen and it sent him into a complete panic. He ran over to the drop and noticed you lying on the ground. Without hesitation, he jumped into the hole and ran to your side.

“Are you alright?” he questioned.

You groaned and nodded, sitting up. 

“Yeah, just bruised.”

He frantically checked you over before crushing you into a huge hug. It was strange, because he was hugging you in the human style instead of the elven style. This was the first time he had ever shown you so much affection.

“I was so worried my love.”

“Love?!”

Legolas sighed before tilting your head up to meet his eyes. 

“Yes… I am in love with you. Everything about you makes my heart soar more than you know.”

You paused.

“But I am not an elf. I am not graceful, thin, or delicate like elves either. How could you love me?”

Legolas shook his head. 

“I love you because of your heart, and your smile. The way you laugh and the jokes you tell. Your spirit and cleverness. I don’t care what you look like. You have my heart anyway.”

A few tears gathered in your eyes. Legolas nudged your nose with his own before pressing a kiss to your lips. 

Above, Gimli stood there smiling. 

‘Finally,’ he thought. ‘He better make her happy though or I’ll axe him.”

#legolas #legolas x reader #legolas imagine #LOTR #lotr imagines #lotr x reader #lord of the rings #lord of the rings imagines #lord of the rings x reader

[thecheesiestcheese]

Hey everyone! I know I haven’t posted on here in forever, but I was going through some old notes of mine on my phone and came across this old piece of work that never found the light of day. Figured I’d let you all give it a read. I tried to fix any grammar mistakes, but there’s probably still a few. I also have a second chapter that’s pretty much done as well, just sitting there collecting dust. Hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you all think!

Bella Bonding Survival 101

This was not going to end well.

Beca just knew it.

Every time the Bellas do team bonding, something always goes wrong. For example, during their first year together, the girls decided to have their first official bonding session at the city park close to Barden.

Chloe and Aubrey were setting up everything they brought for a picnic later on, while Jessica and Ashley found a place beside a tree, cuddling with a book in each of their hands. Beca could be found sitting down with her back against a tree, headphones on and eyes closed, not having anything to do, since she wasn’t allowed to bring her laptop along, due to a certain redhead’s insistence of needing to enjoy nature and maybe Aubrey’s threat of ‘pitch’ing the laptop far, far away. Amy, Stacie, and Cynthia Rose were down a little ways walking along the side of the city pond, Amy seeming to take an interest in mocking the geese nearby. Lilly was nowhere to be seen, although Beca swore she saw her in a tree earlier shooting acorns at squirrels.

A few minutes go by when Beca feels a presence beside her. After quickly debating whether or not to acknowledge who was there, the brunette decides to open her eyes just in case its the she-demon herself there to take away her music as well. Luckily enough, she is greeted by a smiling Chloe looking down at her. Not even needing to know what the redhead was wanting, Beca pats the ground beside her offering an invitation. Chloe’s smile grows even wider, making her nose crinkle and plops down beside the small brunette immediately grabbing one of Beca’s earphones for herself. Being use to Chloe and her rule for no boundaries, Beca let’s her. As they sit there, the small brunette starts to zone out only to practically jump into the air due to a loud scream, followed by shouting.

Gathering her bearings, Beca looks down to the pond to see something out of a circus and couldn’t help but to laugh. It seemed that the geese that Amy was mocking had finally had enough and was chasing the trio around the pond.

Stacie could be seen throwing one of her shoes, completely missing the target while Cynthia Rose and Amy made their way around the pond, all the while Amy could be heard shouting, “Vertical running! I’m vertical running!”

The rest of the girls laughed as they watched the chaos happen in front of them. They all stopped though, when they noticed the three Bellas heading their way with the geese right behind them.

Eyes widening, Beca scrambles to her feet, helping Chloe up, joining the rest of the Bellas and making a run for it.

That day ended with them soaking wet and smelling like wet dog.

Another time for team bonding was when the Bellas were preparing for the World Championships.

Granted, it was technically Beca’s own fault for not paying attention to where she was going. In her defense, she was too heated to take in her surroundings.

That day ended with Beca in a bear trap.

Don’t get her wrong, team bonding is fun and she loves the Bellas, but Beca is starting to see a pattern and she’s growing weary of it.

That’s why when the idea of skydiving as a team bonding exercise was introduced by none other than Aubrey, Beca immediately shot it down.

“No. Absolutely not,” the small brunette shakes her head, not wanting to hear another word.

“Aww, but Beca, imagine the bonding time we could have,” Chloe pouts throwing her best puppy-dog eyes at the brunette. “Most of us haven’t seen each other in months and I think this would be a perfect way to catch up, especially while on tour!” The redhead exclaims while also taking Beca’s hand in her own, squeezing it.

Looking between Chloe and the rest of the girls, she’s met with pouts from all sides. “Fine.” She mutters. She’s quickly engulfed in a hug by Chloe making her blush then someone in the distance yells ‘Group hug!’ making all the Bellas rush in, crushing Beca further into her best friend.

Once the hugging fest was over, the girls decided to grab dinner at a small French Bistro they saw a few days ago while they were out shopping, getting a break from the USO tour. They all get back to their hotel in one piece, the girls splitting up.

Amy, Emily, and Flo head over to the bar, Amy already calling for shots all around. Jessica and Ashley head over to claim a table big enough for the gang. Lilly and Cynthia Rose started a game of pool, Lilly looking like she won the jackpot. And Chloe disappears once she sees Chicago, saying that he could get them free access to skydiving. Beca frowns slightly as she watches Chloe run into Chicago’s arms. An arm is draped around her shoulder pulling her focus away from the scene playing out in front of her.

“Keep frowning and your face will be stuck like that,” Stacie smirks.

Shrugging the taller brunette’s arm off her shoulder, Beca glares, crossing her arms. “Thanks,” she deadpans her face still impassive.

“I think it’s been permanent since freshman year,” Aubrey remarks making her way over and hands over a drink to each of the brunettes.

“Do I even want to know what’s in this?” the small brunette asks cringing catching a strong whiff of alcohol.

The tall blonde just smirks. “You looked like you needed it.”

Beca rolls her eyes. “Shouldn’t you guys be over at the bar or something?” motioning her hand towards the bar where Amy was giving Emily shot after shot of god knows what. She should probably stop them, but Stacie grabs her arm and starts pulling her over to Jessica and Ashley, Aubrey following closely behind.

“You need to relax. Let loose a little of that pent up frustration.” Stacie’s voice is muffled while drinking whatever concoction Aubrey gave her. Setting her glass down, a sly smile appears on the leggy brunette’s face, her eyes glinting with something Beca couldn’t quite figure out, but had a feeling it wasn’t going to be anything good. “Maybe we need to find you a tall blonde, I’m sure we could find someone here.”

“Dude! No!”

“I’m not sleeping with Beca!”

The loud commotion could be heard throughout the whole bar, catching the attention of many onlookers, including the girls at the bar. Emily could be seen spitting mid drink, eyes wide, Flo patting her back as she makes some comment related to Guatemala.

Amy quickly makes her way over. “Aww yeah, Shawshank! If I hear moaning of ‘auu-beca’ tonight,” pointedly looking at the tall blonde, “I’ll be taking twenty dollars to go out. I don’t know how you could pass up a good bloe though.” She comments while setting down a tray of shots that the girls were going to down, sooner rather than later.

Both of the girls groan, Beca’s face growing red, Aubrey’s showing disgust. “I would have to be completely inebriated before I even thought about sleeping with the hobbit.” Aubrey takes a long drink grimacing as the alcohol burned down her throat.

Beca raised her hand in the air, her head facedown on the table. “Likewise.”

Stacie rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t implying that you two should get together.” Groans could be heard. “But now that you mention it, I’m thinking I should have.” The tall brunette smirks. “Don’t worry Aubs, I know you’re more interested in taller brunettes.” She winks making Aubrey blush.

“Wait, what are y-?” Amy gets cut off.

“Nothing! She’s implying nothing.” The blonde stresses looking anywhere, but the Bellas.

Actually feeling bad for Aubrey, which never in a million years did she think she would ever feel anything other than anger towards the former Bellas captain until they spent time together outside of a cappella learning that they actually had more in common then they thought, Beca drags the focus back on her.

“So,” she clears her throat, “If not Aubrey, then who were you suggesting?” The shorter brunette shifts nervously in her seat averting her eyes every time she made contact with Stacie, having an inkling that she already knew who she was referring to. Stacie was grinning like the cat who caught the canary.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me...”she drags the wait out knowing she was making the brunette squirm, “..little maus.”

Beca covers her face with her hands too embarrassed to look at the girls. “Don’t remind me.” Knowing they most likely won’t believe her, Beca still tries to convince them. “She was just intimidating. She’s freakishly tall and we all know I’m small.” She shrugs looking indifferent when really inside she was anything but that.

“Alright shortie, you keep saying that, but we really know what you mean.” Amy winks. Beca just groans. She’s definitely not getting out of this one.

“Now wait you guys!” Emily blurts out. “I mean she was intimidating. Who wouldn’t be!” She exclaims loudly waving her hands around in the air. “I mean, she did call Beca a troll,” she drawls, “but tiny maus is a term of endearment soo...” Emily trails off. “Yeah, I’ve got nothing.” She slightly shrugs giving Beca a look of apology.

“Just face it Beca, you were interested in Kommissar, I’m pretty sure we all were.” Stacie claims, the other Bellas nodding along even Amy. “I don’t blame you. Besides, I think the German goddess was interested right back. In fact, I’m kind of surprised she didn’t try anything now that I think about it,” Stacie mentions, a curious look upon her face.

Someone coughs. “Oh, I know exactly why she didn’t.” The girls all face Cynthia Rose who looks like she knew one of the top secrets in the world.

Even Beca becomes curious as she gets closer to the edge of her seat. “Well?” Beca starts to grow impatient.

Cynthia Rose locks eyes with the tiny brunette. “Let’s just say a fiery fox seemed to have their claws in someone, not letting them out of their sight.” Smirking, she continues. “If that wasn’t the case, Kommissar would’ve ate you up...if you know what I mean.” C.R. winks.

At that moment Chloe seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Hey guys!” She beams. “So Chicago said we could do tomorrow afternoon if that worked for everybody.” Chloe is only met with silence. “What’s up?”

She looks around the group, eyes finally landing on Beca who seemed to be showing all signs of embarrassment. “Uh, what’s going on? What’d you guys do to our poor little DJ?” She coos taking the empty seat by Beca. The redhead wraps the brunette in her arms in a hug. “What’s got you all embarrassed?” She asks sneaking a quick sip of the brunette’s drink.

Beca remains silent.

“Oh, Shawshank has just realized that Kommissar was interested in her. She would’ve ate her up, if you know what I mean.” Amy says repeating the last part that C.R. said.

Beca could feel Chloe’s arms around her tighten.

“What?!What do you mean?” The redhead demands, eyes narrowed with a hint of agitation in her voice. “That dummkopf is the enemy! She just wanted to get into your head.” Chloe fumes.

Beca refuses to make eye contact. She could feel Chloe’s stare burning a hole in the side of her head.

“Well, it worked,” Beca mutters.

“You’ve got that right little shortie!” Amy and Stacie hi-five.

“She had you all kinds of flustered.” Stacie fans her face jokingly. “But who can blame you? It’s hard to resist tall intimidating blondes. Stacie comments winking at Aubrey.

Aubrey rolls her eyes. “Can we just move on from this conversation?”

Chloe immediately jumps in. “Yes! I think we need to forget about the past and talk about the present.” The redhead nods her head seeming to need to reassure herself. Beca finally looks up, making eye contact with Chloe beside her. Chloe sends her a smile, her face still holding a slight look of irritation. Beca sends a small smile back receiving a tiny squeeze from Chloe’s hand. They’re both interrupted from their staring contest by the girls laughing.

“Damn Em! I never thought I’d hear you say that!” Cynthia Rose laughs clapping the younger brunette’s back.

“Oh look, Bloe has decided to grace us with their presence again,” Amy announces. The rest of the Bellas were still laughing at whatever Emily said. “Hey, aca-child, wanna tell our two captains what you said?” Amy nudges Emily with her arm. Emily’s face turns bright red, but what she says next she can’t stop. Later, she’d tell them that it was because of the alcohol.

It’d already be too late.

“If we can’t find a tall blonde, other than Aubrey.” The blonde sends her a grateful look. “Then I think we could find a tall brunette who maybe or maybe not also has an interest in music and is here. As in the hotel....right now...Over at the bar.” Emily points her finger, the others follow with their eyes.

“O-M-ACA-G! Emily! She’s just as bad as that blonde giant!” Chloe shouts standing up and grabbing the attention of the Bellas and even the group of girls at the bar. Beca shrinks down into her chair, gulping down what was left of her drink.

“Hey Red!” Amy holds her hands up in slight fear, “Take it easy! We’re just stating the obvious.” The blonde looks over at Beca. “I mean, you did say that she smelt like vanilla and complimented her outfit, right?” The rest of the Bellas hold their breath, torn between what Beca’s reaction would be, but also fearing for her life or Amy’s.

“What the hell Beca?!” could be heard throughout the room.

Beca just groans.

She’s actually starting to wish that she was skydiving right now.

Instead she sinks further into her seat, face burning.

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

#bechloe #chloe beale #beca mitchell #pitch perfect #bechloe fanfic

[worstloki]

Part 1

--[official naming and legal rights ceremony for Morgan]--

Tony: you know what would be really funny? Pepper: Tony... Tony: THINK about it Pep- how can you say no to this once in a lifetime opportunity? Pepper: Rhodey and Steve. We already decided. Tony: ok fine. FINE! I'll just give up the chance for our daughter to have two literal powerhouses watching over her Pepper: one of them isn't even alive! Tony, signing the paperwork: he was the dodgy one anyways! Pepper: oh g*d tell me you didn't Tony: too late. our daughter's got 1 thunderer and 1 deceased trickster listed as her ~*godparents*~ and no punishment you come up with will ruin this moment for me Pepper: its fine, this is fine, it wont even be legally binding since you can't have two male godparents listed so its invalid anyways, haha this is fine, everything is fine,,, Tony: i actually heard from Thor that Loki could be female if they wanted... Pepper: ... Pepper: TONY!! -- [later] -- Rhodey: dude did you seriously put LOKI down as a legal guardian for your kid instead of me Tony: well I wanted Thor but he insisted that I put Loki down too... something about honouring Asgardian tradition...? Rhodey: tradition is fine but isn't he DEAD? Tony: sure Thor thought he was dead 5 years ago, then again 4 years ago, and then again 2 years ago... but if he was alive he would have already, statistically speaking, shown up by now Rhodey shaking his head fondly: okay i forgive you for replacing me with Thor and his deceased brother, but the next kid has my name on it. I've already called dibs with no takebacks, okay? Tony: one kid is already keeping me busy enough, honeybear... 

---[3 years later]---

Tony: And. I. Am. Iron Man... *snaps* Thanos' army: *disintegrates* Tony: *taking his last breathes* Pepper: you can rest now... Loki: *shoves Pepper aside and pulls the gauntlet off Tony* Pepper and Rhodey and Peter who were standing around tony: LOKI ?!? Dr Strange: no SToP you cant juST do THAT- Loki, taking out the time stone: why not Dr Strange: if you change anything now it'll ruin the timelines!!! Loki, reversing time on Tony and bringing him back to life: that's not how time works, Dr. Supreme Dr Strange: It’s Strange, and- Loki: Yes, I agree, it is strange that you decided to let Earth's best hero die when literally every infinity stone is rigHT HERE Dr Strange: but its wrong to misuse their pow- Loki: Then it’s a good thing I'm evil and don't care Dr Strange: buT- Loki: no need to worry, I'm only helping you heroes out this one time because apparently while I was stardust Tony chose to give me partial ownership over his child so now i am bound to care for it  Pepper, remembering that Loki is legally Morgan’s godparent: oh my g*d   Rhodey: well, I bet Tony didn't expect this Tony, speaking in his sleep: frickity frackity Loki, looking at Tony disapprovingly: I agree.  --[a week later]-- Tony: okay, so like, i don't want to seem ungrateful for you saving my life, but i only wrote your name down to get Thor - Loki, annoyed: Yes I figured as much Tony: -yes but if you've saved my life I was wondering exactly how bound you are to help and how far you're willing to go to watch over her Loki: does this have anything to do with the 18+ end-of-the-world-celebration party at the end of the week? Tony: maybe Loki: *stares at him* Tony: ...okay, yES… do you think you could make sure Morgan is alive and well and safe while I go? It’s clear you don't appreciate being forced to be her godparent so if you do it I'll even get your name off the legal documentation by the end of the week and you can leave after Loki: If you so much as try to remove my name when it is THOR that has been neglectful of his duty and has been ignoring the implications of having a child under their name then I will have no choice but to hit you over the head with stormbreaker Tony: oh. okay. no name removing then that's cool i guess just please don't smite me or i'll dob to thor that you're going to try touching his shiny axe and have are regressing on your journey to goodness  Loki, pulling stormbreaker out of his pocket dimension: I’m afraid you’re too late to warn him about the potential theft of his favourite beer opener. I will, however, watch Morgan over both days of the party, IF I also get put in charge of the spider child and Wakanda's princess Tony, doing his best to ignore the huge axe: how do you even know about them, weren't you snapped for the past 5 years?? Loki: I understand that they're not allowed to attend the party either and will not have any parents or guardians available to care for them at the time... Tony: you're not going to try any funny business right...? even if you wont hurt Morgan how do i know you wont lay a hand on the others?? I cant just trust you to watch over a bunch of kids no matter how much bruce and thor vouch for your sanity Loki: you can trust I wouldn't risk scarring Morgan like that if you don't trust i wouldn't intentionally attack a bunch of literal children Tony: hmm okay I guess I’ll just cross my fingers and hope you don't relapse into villainy  Loki: wonderful. inform the children that I will pick them up 2 hours before the time of the party. Tony: need me to get you a ride? Peter lives close but Shuri lives just a tad bit out of walking range Loki: no thanks I'll be fine

---[at the party]---

Pepper: YOU LEFT HIM ALONE TO CARE FOR MORGAN?! Tony: he’s been doing a fine job of it while we’re around, and besides, it’s not like I left her with him alone or anything! Pepper: No, of course not Tony, that would be too simple, no, you left LOKI in charge of not JUST our child but also Peter, and the PRINCESS of Wakanda too Pepper: do you have any idea how badly this could work out?! putting aside the political disaster that would occur if something happened to Shuri the ethical considerations alone make strangling you very tempting right now Rhodey: Pepper, Tony would never do anything to put Morgan or Peter or even Shuri in danger... he knows they're kids, right Tony? Tony: Peter can benchpress a mag-lev and Shuri can design one in 60 seconds flat. I’m not concerned because they'll be fine even if he does try to pull off anything even 2% evil! Pepper: *not impressed* Tony: some sort of Asgardian binding magic was involved so he literally cant try to inflict any harm on Morgan, and that includes emotional distress just for the record, believe me, i checked Rhodey: what do you mean 'i checked', what did you do man Tony: Morgan wanted ice pops the other day so i told her to ask Loki Pepper: TONY he's a WAR CRIMINAL Tony: so anyways Morgan went up to the ally we’re kindly hosting - who literally takes residence on whichever couch is closest to Morgan by the way and it’s super funny to watch him move between couches every time she leaves the room - and he's reading when she asks if he'll get an ice pop with her Tony: and I've tried talking to him when he's reading and it does NOT end well Pepper: and you sent MORGAN to do it anyways?? Tony: and he said no at first, which was predictable, right? but then Morgan got sad and a bit teary-eyed and she asked again and when he saw she was sad he literally jolted in pain and he put the book aside and got up so fast to immediately lead her to the freezer to get some  Rhodey: so, what? he physically cant say no to Morgan or some wacky voodoo thing compels him? Tony: That is the conclusion I have come to with my findings, yes. It seems he can’t intentionally do anything to hurt her in any way. So Morgan and her new friends are completely safe, sweetie. Pepper: I'm leaving to make sure she's doing okay... Tony: I also installed cameras just to make sure no one gets murdered without thorough evidence to convict him, if that helps? Pepper: If you can get the live feed to go to my phone I'll consider staying Tony: deal.

--meanwhile, in Tony's house--

[Peter Shuri Morgan and Loki are wrapped up in blankets and watching The Hobbit. Loki is doing some paperwork and Morgan is drinking orange juice while Peter and Shuri share some popcorn] Peter: so are we going to talk about how we're watching a movie with the person who attacked New York with an alien army a few years ago or not Shuri: he was not acting of his own volition so i thought we were excusing that Loki, looking up: you are literally the first person to have mentioned that Peter: but Mr. Stark said that-- Shuri: footage of the 2012 attack conclusively showed that his eye colour changed before and after he had been subdued the final time, which was a phenomenon associated only with being under the influence of the sceptre containing the mind stone  Peter: he does magic though! it could be a trick or the cameras could've been too grainy to tell Shuri: They weren't. But the changes in his behaviour and speech patterns also indicate that he was being controlled or at least coerced to some extent. He's also sitting next to us doing paperwork and watching Bilbo sneak around a dragon. Loki: Congratulations, you are officially the only person from this planet for whom I can confidently vouch is not a- *covers Morgan’s ears* -complete imbecile. Shuri: Thank you. Peter: well, she is a genius Shuri: Yes I am, in fact I'm a genius that has the approval of Loki, which is even better, because I'm assuming he'll have some neat ideas on how to make a fool of T'Challa in my lab on camera more often Loki: I may have some experience in the making-a-fool-out-of-my-brother department Shuri: wonderful! we can brainstorm after the movie :) Peter: I don't have a brother to prank :( Loki: I can fix that Peter: ...what Shuri: yeah, what?? Loki: oh I meant that if you wanted I could legally become your godparent and then you'd have Harley and Morgan as prankable siblings Peter: you know what? I'm actually considering it Shuri: how angry do you think T'challa would be if I made Loki an official Wakandan by saying he's my godfather because I think that would get a hilarious reaction out of him Loki, nodding: According to Asgardian tradition claiming a godchild forms an irrevocable bond and he would have to accept that his sister has someone who pulls off legendary pranks keeping her safe from any attempts at his retaliation Peter: that’s so cool and i'm definitely accepting your offer Shuri: and I'm joining in because i have a folder filled with evidence that Loki was mostly innocent of the New York attack but some videos of us together pulling off harmless pranks would make fine contributions to it Loki: wonderful! Loki, holding out documents and a pen: just sign here, there, and there, Peter: wait you've been sitting next to us filling out godchild adoption forms this whole time??? Loki: well actually I started out filling out the godparent-removal forms because Thor is an irresponsible buffoon and i refuse to share custody with him Peter: do you think i could get ~*Thor*~ to adopt me- Loki: Nopity nope. Too late. You've already signed the forms so you're stuck with me, and I refuse to share any of my friends with him Peter: aww you called us your friends Loki: you have no proof i said that Shuri, pointing to the camera in the corner of the room: but that hackable camera does >:) [peter jumps over the sofa and is going to retrieve the camera for shuri to get the blackmail material when he gets hit by a pillow. shuri says 'hey that was not nice' as she hits loki with her pillow. peter throws the pillow he has at loki. morgan yells 'PILLOW FIGHT!!' before joining in, and by the time they settle down again all of them have missed the ending of the film and have to rewatch the last 20 minutes before drifting off to sleep together on the floor in a patchwork of all their blankets]

---[later at the party]---

Tony: sorry pal, I'm a certified genius and even I don't know how she managed to carry around and slip Morgan’s papers to you when that dress has no pockets and her purse is barely large enough to fit a small-to-medium-sized wrench Rhodey: it was probably the same way she switched your drink for Thor's godchild renouncement forms when you weren't looking Tony, whispering: I think she has CEO paperwork powers Rhodey whispering back: you're only noticing now?

[pepper and tony get home the next day]

Pepper: i still cant believe you left Loki near the kids Tony: and i still cant believe you didn't know how to check the live feed and decided to ignore me the entire night instead of bothering to ask. clearly deep down you trusted my judgement and the decision to leave the kids in Loki's capable, mischiefy, slightly-insane but apparently reformed hands.

[yelling is heard from the living room and Tony and Pepper run in to find Loki Peter Shuri and Morgan sitting around wrapped in blankets and playing Mario Kart and exclaiming their thoughts very vocally. when they are noticed all the kids freeze and stare at Tony. Loki mumbles something about telling Tony he lost the bet since he did in fact manage to keep everyone alive and at that point even Pepper is staring (glaring) at Tony.]

Tony, realising the kids have bonded™: oh no. what have i done.

#part 1 of my modern AU where tony has to deal with his batch of kinda-kids being monopolised by loki #the same loki who refuses to say he's ''reformed'' or ''better than he used to be'' because he's ''always been like this'' #the thing is that he's not TELLING anyone about the mind control so everyone assumes the worst #he goes around doing harmless pranks and flambouyantly messing with people and is listed as their Number 1 enemy #despite never harming anyone in the avengers get called in to deal with him all the time but he's not even close to evil? #good luck to tony who has to explain that to people when they see him having a regular conversation with loki #he's not evil he just likes causing mischief and if you're not running away and screaming like crazy the things he does are actually funny #no one gets hurt or anything they're all harmless and he's only a criminal because it counts as 'terrorising civilians' to make trees dance #shuri peter and morgan end up bonding with loki 2 weeks after thanos is gone #before that tony was just kind of hanging around tony's house anyways because ''morgan is here'' #spoiler alert: there is no magic binding him to the kids he just values the fact that someone would honour him with responsibility #why did thor ask for loki's name to also be put down? because he DIDNT WANT to be morgan's godfather #he was depressed and knew he was in no mental state to take on that role and didnt think he deserved it anyways #he asked for loki to be written down too because he thought tony would never do that and he would get out of it but that obvsly didnt work #i'm tagging this under: LokiAdoptsAU #LokiAdoptsAU #this is part 1 and I'll post part 2 tomorrow but there isnt going to be a storyline or anything its just everyone existing

[erosofthepen]

A Dwarf and his Child

So this is the second chapter of my OC fic, and I think it’s pretty good. Dwalin and Clara travel to the Blue Mountains.

Chapter One

Dwalin didn’t speak very much. But once Clara warmed up to him, he had no choice but to listen. She spoke very openly and it rarely ceased. But it wasn’t as annoying as it was endearing. She would ask very inquisitive questions for such a young girl, and Dwalin could tell she was very bright. In two weeks he learned much about her. And she learned much about where she was going to live.

“Are there any other children I can play with?”

“Aye. Actually, I’ve made arrangements with my friends sister, and you’ll be with her and her two boys while I am away.”

“Boys?’’ Clara said with a face. Dwalin chuckled.

“That bother ye?’’

“Boys are yucky.”

“Indeed they are. But these two are plenty of fun to be around and no doubt you’ll get into all sorts of trouble with them.”

‘’How old are they?’’

“One’s about your age. 32, no? His name is Kili. The other is just a few years older, he’s 38 and named Fili. You’ll be thick as thieves.”

“Thieves are bad!”

“Just a saying lass.”

“Oh. Wait. Kili and Fili? They sound just the same!”

“You’ll tell them apart, no worries.”

“How?’’

“Kili has brown hair, Fili’s a blond.”

Claira narrowed her eyes and was quiet for a bit.

“I’ve got it! Fili the fair! Because he has blonde hair. Now I won’t forget. Though, i’ll have to think of something for Kili. There’s no words for brown hair that start with K.”

Dwalin smiled and nodded before leaning back and taking a draw from his pipe.

The Blue Mountains looked very intimidating to a little one. Clara and Dwalin rode their way through different villages and rocky paths. Finally, just after noon one day, the two of them arrived at a village populated with mostly dwarrow. They stopped on the outskirts of town at a little house made of oak.

“Is your hole underneath?” Clara asked.

“Hole?”

“Yeah, your hole. Where you live.”

“Ah. Lass, we live in houses. Not holes. Holes are for hobbits and rabbits.’’

“Oh.”

“You’ll get used to it lass, don’t ye worry.”

“Alright.”

“Afternoon Brother! How was the journey?” A voice called. Clara looked over at the house and standing in the doorway was a grey-haired dwarf with a long beard and red robes.

“Afternoon! We fared just fine.” Dwalin called in return, getting off the pony before helping Clara off.

“Is this the wee lass then?” The grey dwarf asked, making his way over.

“Aye. Clara’s her name. Clara, this is yer Uncle Balin, or Irak’adad Balin, if you will.”

“Earackadad?” She questioned, jumbling the word.

“Irak’adad. It means uncle in the language of dwarves. You’ll learn.”

Clara narrowed her eyes and looked Balin up and down.

“I’m just going to call you Uncle Balin.”

The older dwarf chuckled.

“That’s quite all right. Tell me, did you have a good journey Clara?”

“Indeed I did. I didn’t think the mountains would be so big, but they were absolutely huge. In Hobbiton, there’s no mountains at all, did you know that? But there’s plenty of hills. I lived in the biggest hill, Bagend. Well, sometimes I did. Mostly I lived in Tuck-burough, but my family there didn’t like me very much. They kept calling me a bastard, whatever that means. I don’t think it means something very good. We also live in Holes, but I suppose dwarves don’t. Are houses very cozy?”

Balin looked a bit taken back by her speech, but smiled nonetheless.

“Aye, I think ours is cozy enough. I’ve made up a room for you, and made sure to find the warmest blankets in Ered Luin.”

“I get my own room?” She asked with wide eyes.

“Aye, would ye like me to show ye?”

“Yes indeed!” She said excitedly.

Balin looked up at his brother.

“We’ll meet inside?”

“Aye, shouldn’t take long to unpack.”

Balin took Clara’s hand and led her up the steps. The inside of the house was large, and there were three rooms on the bottom floor. One was the bathroom, another was the study, and the third was Balin’s room. The space that wasn’t closed off was the hearth, table, pantry, and kitchen. There was a stairway that led up to the upstairs.

“That’s where ye and Dwalin be sleeping. He has a room and I’ve added yours.”

Balin eagerly led her up the stairs and opened the door to her room. There was a small bed in the corner and a wardrobe, as well as a vanity with a mirror, with a handsomely woven rug on the wood floor. But Clara wasted no time in letting Balin know her favorite part.

“That’s a ginormous window!” She said, letting go of his hand and crawling up on the bed to press her nose against the glass. It was chilly in the autumn weather but she could see the mountains and forrest’s.

“Aye, I installed it just last week. You like it lass?”

She nodded vigorously.

“I’ve never seen one so big! Not even in the Brandybuck’s lands!”

“I’m glad ye like it.”

They heard thumping coming up the stairs and Dwalin came in with her pack and lambie.

“Right. Let’s get you unpacked and then some luncheon.”

Balin had fished for lunch and they had some nice, plump, rainbow trout. When Balin was dishing the meal out, Dwalin interjected.

“She’s going to need a bit more than that, brother.”

“It’s already a plenty large portion!”

“She’s half-hobbit. Their appetites are something to be feared. And she is a growing girl.”

During luncheon, they spoke of taking Clara to the markets the next day to get fitted for warmer clothes.

“This isn’t the Shire, after all. Those dainty wee dresses won’t do much to keep out the frost.”

“Aye. And we’ll have to get her a pair of boots. Did she go bare-foot this whole way?”

“That’s the way of hobbits. Though, she has more cuts and bruises than I like to see. Seems like she didn’t inherit the hobbit feet.”

“Seems so. Oh, did ye tell her we’re dining with Thorin, Dis, and the lads tonight?”

“No, but might as well tell her now.”

“Can I meet Kili and Fili?” Clara asked, interrupting them.

“Of course lass. You know of them already?”

“Dwalin told me. Are they really princes?”

Balin and Dwalin exchanged a look.

“Aye, they are. In title at least.”

Clara shrugged and bit into a roll before letting her mind wander while the brothers talked.

After luncheon, Balin and Dwalin agreed to draw with Clara.

“Bilbo and I always drew after lunch, while Aunt Bella was cleaning up. She got me some fine charcoal from a craftsman and a sketchbook. They should be up in my room, Let me go get them!”

The brothers were certainly impressed by Clara’s skill. It wasn’t as if she could draw portraits, but it was far better than your average 32 year old.

“Ye must get it from your Adad,” Balin commented. Indeed, despite Dwalin’s fierce manner, he always was the most careful with crafting, and patterns and art in silvers and golds were his specialty.

They spent much of the afternoon drawing (with a snack or two in between), before they got ready to sup. Balin helped Clara choose an outfit and Clara sat patiently as Dwalin braided her hair half up, down the back. At 5 o’clock, they left the house and walked to the other side of the village, coming to stop at probably the grandest of houses. Balin knocked thrice and soon the door was flung open and they were greeted by a Dwarrow with beautiful brown hair. She hugged both the brothers and kissed their cheeks before smiling broadly at Clara.

“And what’s your name Lass?’’

“My name is Clara Took.”

“It is very nice to meet you, Clara. My name is Dís. I hear you are the same age as my son Kili, is that so?”

“Dwalin said he’s thirty three, and I’m thirty three, so it is true!”

A sudden shriek and shouting came from somewhere in the house. Dis closed her eyes and sighed.

“There be the boys now. They’re playing fox and rabbit, but I’m sure they have room for one more.”

“I love fox and rabbit! I always got chosen to be the fox whenever I played with my friends in Hobbiton.”

“That’s very well, my dear. Come in, come in.”

Clara, Balin and Dwalin stepped over the threshold and were nearly run into by two blurs of blue and brown.

“Boys!” Dis scolded. The two of them stopped and turned to look at their mum and the guests.

“Is that the girl?!” Kili asked excitedly. Dis was about to reply when Clara answered for her.

“I’m Clara! You must be Kili, since you have dark hair. Dwalin said you have dark hair and Fili has blonde hair!”

“Hi Clara!” Fili and Kili said as one.

“We’ve never had a friend our age! I mean, a friend whose a girl our age! A girl who is our age! You’re pretty special! What’s your favorite game? I hope you like hide-and-seek! That’s my favorite. Fili likes fox and rabbit, but he always wins because he’s a whole lot stronger and faster. But he won’t be for long. I’ll bet I’m taller than him one day!”

“You wish! I’ll always be taller than you, because I’m older than you!” Fili said.

“Boys,” a new voice said. All three of the children turned to look at a dwarf with black curly hair and piercing blue eyes.

“Hi.” Clara said shyly. The dwarfs glare turned into a smile as he met Clara’s eyes.

“Hello there lass. What’s your name?”

“My name is Clara. And you have got to be King Thorin! Adad said you’re the bravest King ever born!”

Thorin smile faltered for but a moment and his eyes flickered to Dwalin’s before coming back to Clara.

“He exaggerates. You may just call me Thorin.”

“Oh, alright!”

“Why is your voice like that?” Kili asked.

“Like what?”

“The way you talk, it’s so different!”

“That’s because she’s from a hundred miles away Kee!” Fili said with a sure nod, “All people from far away sound different.”

“Oh okay.”

“You sound different to me too. No hobbits talk like you!” Clara said.

“Hobbits are like rabbits, right?” Kili asked.

“Not at all!”

“Don’t you live in strange burrows?”

“No, we live in hobbit-holes!”

“In the ground?’ Fili asked.

“Yes, In the ground.”

“Then you are a rabbit!”

“No I’m not!”

“Oi!” Dwalin called. “That’s enough I think. Best to stop arguing.”

“Aye,” Thorin agreed. “How about you two show Clara your toy chest?”

“Great idea!”

The older dwarves all watched in amusement as Kili and Fili both grabbed Clara’s hands and dragged her away down the halls.

Chapter Three

#dwalin #balin #fili #kili #dís #thorin #oc #clara took #the hobbit #the hobbit fanfic

[anemonenemerosa]

The Spare - Chapter 11

And the story continues. This one is much less angsty. As always, a big thank you to @lumosinlove

Chapter 11

Regulus was woken by a heavy thud and someone swearing loudly. He was completely disoriented, his brain sluggish and not quite connecting what happened last night and how he ended up ...here. N’importe quoi… Whatever…

Blinking blearily, he spotted someone hopping on one leg, clutching their other foot in their hands, still generously swearing. Erm... He snorted at a remarkably colourful curse and the head of the girl, so it seemed, snapped up.

She looked him up and down through dark-rimmed glasses and the floppy top of her ashy-brown pixie-cut, presently sporting a rather impressive bed head, while gnawing her bottom-lip like Ben sometimes did.

"Sorry." But her barely concealed grin belied the soft mumbling. She wasn't so sorry.

He slowly began to comprehend what was amusing her. Regulus was sprawled on the couch, his feet tangling off one end, drool sticking to his cheek, half-entangled in the chicken-blanket and clad in a hideous shirt with cow pattern that barely covered his midriff. Short, he was the epitome of sophistication, grace and elegance. Ouais, enfin… c’est naze. Yeah, well... that sucks.

          He could feel himself turning beet red and sat up, violently scrubbing his cheek.

"Good morning, you want Tea?" she asks. Regulus nodded without listening to what he just agreed to. Maybe I won an Alpaca... Okay... I'm not awake yet. That is not an awake-Regulus thought.

While she turns to... get whatever he agreed to, he stood up and stretched in an attempt to wake up properly, feeling like he had barely slept at all. A glimpse on his phone confirmed his feeling: Half past five in the morning. He had about two and a half hours of sleep. He allowed himself his internal eyeroll, stretched again and winced, rubbing his stiff neck.

Then he took a look at the girl coming back from the kitchen with two steaming cups in her hands, a bottle of milk wedged between her upper arm and her ribcage and a paper bag of sugar pressed with her chin to her chest.

Regardless of the rather odd way of transporting stuff he notes that she is, no other way to say it, minuscule. Her shirt was reaching over her wide hips below mid-thigh and was most likely even smaller than the one he... clearly pulled off.

The girl -Josephine, he assumed- probably was around 5'2'' as she just reached the height of Regulus' shoulder, making him around a foot taller. How does she get to, like, half of the stuff in this room?

After briefly considering the height of Ben and Mateo, he wondered whether the door to the flat was a portal to the shire and he was now surrounded by friendly hobbits. Definitely mad. He snorted again. Since when did he even do this?

Jo dropped her cargo on the living room table without spilling anything, plopped down the couch and busied herself with the tea. When he settled down beside her, a cup was pressed into his hand while she poured milk into her own, gesturing for him to help himself. Concerning tea, Regulus had always been a purist. A bit of Lemon was acceptable in Earl Grey and that's about it. He eyed her milky-tea. Wasn't she british? Païenne. Heathen.

"I'm Jo. I sort of live here. Had an OK night?" she asked, not facing him.

"No" Regulus sore neck began to give him a tension headache and rubbing at it did not help at all.

At first, she just huffed at his deadpan answer but then looked up at him and he got a first look of her face. She was as pale as her brother, her face slim with a gentle jawline and high but not overexaggerated cheekbones. Her eyes were framed with very dark lashes, a dark blue borderlining green with hazel flecks around her Pupils similar to her brothers but also very different, open and sparkling, the bridge of her slightly broad button nose was sprinkled with pale freckles and the tip sported a silver septum-ring. Her full lips were currently being gnawed at, paired with a raised eyebrow. This soft and expressive face was about as different from his mother’s as possible and Regulus' stomach gave an undignified churn.

"Quoi?", he was suddenly very irritated, "I had about two hours of sleep and my brain is pounding through my skull! I have no nerve for idle chatter and polite exchange of pleasantries."

Jo gave him a second glance, put both their mugs at the table and sat down on top of the back of the couch, directly behind Regulus.

"What-" he started again but was curtly interrupted "Oh bloody hell, belt up!" What?!

"I am not nearly as socially gifted as the other two himbos. I do not beat around the bush, I do not small talk, I was a nice and considerate host, offered tea and stuff although I prefer my mornings calm and solitary. I do not have the patience to deal with snappy dudes on my couch so hold still. I'm gonna fix your neck and we try again." So, bullying people into feeling better runs in the family...

  That said, she pulled his shoulders back so that he was sitting straight and began carefully kneading his neck up to his hairline. I hurt. A lot, but somehow her hands tingled on his skin in a completely irrational matter. Then, Jos hands reached up to the base of his skull and her thumbs very precisely and firmly pressed on two rather sensitive spots he didn’t even know were there. Regulus gasped and tensed up.

"I know, but it gets better soon. Ben used to twist his neck all the time. I know what I’m doing." her voice was much softer now. Then, she pressed into similar tender spots on his shoulders and shuffled back to sit beside him.

"Better?"

He took a few breaths to realise that, indeed, the pain was almost gone. "Yes."

"Nice. Shall we have a civil and less snappy conversation now?" It came over rather rude but there was a smirk in her eyes and a corner of a lip was twitching slightly.

"Why are you even awake now?" Regulus mumbled after sitting in silence for a while.

"Just am. I've always been an early riser and as resident introvert I do genuinely enjoy mornings on my own to prepare for a day full of dealing with people and have other exasperating encounters."

Regulus turned his head towards her. "Are you always this plain about things?"

By now, Jo had tucked herself in the corner of the couch, sitting cross-legged and playing with a hole in her sock.

"As I told you, I do not beat around the bush. I mean, I am capable of cordiality but interaction with people is bound to lead to miscommunication. Why make it worse by hidden meanings, hinting on things or even expecting that the other one is a mind reader... People are hard work as is; Many of them are daft, stubborn or worse, both. I prefer to keep strangers at an arm’s length."

Instead of a witty remark, Regulus gave an embarrassing little chuckle. How very eloquent... He liked her view on society. "You are a little overdramatic now, don’t you think? Besides, you just gave me a neck massage. That was closer than an arm’s length."

"No and no." He risked a side glace at her, caught a short smirk and smiled into his tea, realised what he was doing and gave an internal admonishing glare at his composure.

"I suspect you know the difference between literally and metaphorically, too. So m'just gonna continue in the belief you're shitting with me. Here you go with the literal answer: The massage was self-preservation. You're an unbearable little git when in pain."

Regulus raised his eyebrows in a mock expression and leaned in the opposite corner of the couch "I see. Am I now of decent demeanour, your grace?"

"Surprisingly tolerable." She returned the with a smirk.

They bantered and talked about random stuff (A great amount of time was put into determining the best Disc World Series – Truce between Ankh-Morpok City Watch and Death) for what felt like hours and seconds at the same time. Regulus profession was not even part of the conversation and he didn't think he had ever talked for so long with someone without getting to hockey and the mess that came with the name Black, eventually.

He felt strangely at ease here, catching himself paying less attention to his meticulously established guard. He barely scanned Jos words for hidden implications or concealed prying, like he was so used to do. It became so much second nature to him that, until now, he didn't even realise how exhausting this habit was.

What the hell? Reg asked himself not for the first time since meeting Ben in the rink-showers and he was starting to freak out a little.

After an uncommonly long silence he noticed Jo looking at him again while gnawing her lips. It seemed to be a giveaway that she's about to ask something uncomfortable.

"Reg?" The use of the pet-name felt like a slap. He should really tell them to stop this.

"How do you know my name?" Apparently, Regulus was still not used to being known.

"The note this morning only read: The guy on the Couch is Reg, be nice." Jo really tried to sound light-hearted.

Regulus was starting to get suspicious again. "Ah. What?"

"I do not want you to feel like shit so tell me if you do not want to answer: Why are you here?" Jo shiften unconftably in her corner.

"I do not want to answer." Regulus prepared himself for the inevitable interrogation.

"OK." Here we go… Wait.

"That’s it?"

"Sure, why would I pry?" The girl furrowed her brows while looking at him over the brim of her cup.

He felt strangely content until now, that he remembered why he was here and asked himself what these people actually wanted from him. The knot in his stomach was back with full force as he felt the waves of guilt washing over him.

He ruined his brother live and was sitting on a couch, drinking tea and joking around with strangers? He got up abruptly, plucked is clothes from the heating unit and changed quickly, not giving a flying fuck about giving the girl a prime view of his naked arse. Jo stood between him and the couch, her brows still furrowed.

"I need to go." With that he was out of the door and only just heard her calling

"Hey idiot, you can come back this evening if you want to" before the doors of the elevator closed. Smooth, Black. Real smooth.

#the spare #regulus black #lumosinlove sweater weather #my oc's

[hannitizer]

To Have a Home Part 19

Summary: After Draco is found guilty of an attempted murder, he is  sentenced to the Lupin’s house with hopes he’ll finally understand what  it means to have a family. Only problem? Draco doesn’t want it.      

A/N: Hey Y’all! Here’s part 19 to To Have a Home! I’m super excited that the story has gotten this far! Sorry for the infrequent posting; this school year is a lot, and there’s so much going on, but I didn’t want to leave the story hanging, so here we are. As always, I hope you all enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Abigail, are you keeping an eye on the cake?” Remus called from the living room, his eyes skimming through that week’s copy of The Daily Prophet. 

“No, are you?” She called from the bedroom, where she was currently putting two braids in her hair. 

“No, but it does smell like it’s burning…”

Abigail shot out of the bedroom, her long light blue sundress billowing out around her. “Then why aren’t you doing anything about it? Remus!” She pulled her wand out from the front pocket of her dress, spelling the oven door open and sending the chocolate cake to a cooling tray. “You could’ve helped.”

“But I knew you had it under control,” he mused, not looking up from his newspaper.

“You’d better be careful, Remus, or you’re not going to get any of it. Draco and I will eat all of it right in front of you and you can just watch.” She smirked. “We’ll see if you like it when I’m in control.”

“You really don’t have to bake me a cake,” Draco mumbled, pushing his face further into his plush wolf. “It’s not that important.” 

“Oh, but it is!” said Abigail, getting to work on frosting the cake. She piped the light green mint frosting onto the top, making a swirling pattern. “You’re finally getting that boot off and we’re going to celebrate it!” 

“Now we know that jumping out of windows is not the best thing to do, right?” Remus looked over the top of the newspaper, a smile forming across his face. 

Draco rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever.” 

Remus set the newspaper down on the table. “What’re you reading there?” 

“Oh, nothing.” He flipped the book closest to him over, but Remus grabbed it quickly. 

“Charlotte’s Web, eh? It’s one of Abigail’s favorites.”

“You’re reading Charlotte’s Web?” Abigail perked up from behind her large cake. “Wilbur’s some pig, isn’t he? I used to read that book almost every day of my childhood. Then I discovered Little Women, and the game changed. Remus, what was your favorite?”

He thought about it for a moment, setting the book back by Draco. “Hmm… I think my favorite was The Hobbit when I was growing up. Something about the dwarfs and the dragon made it my favorite.”

Abigail smirked. “Of course the one with short people trying to get back their gold is your favorite.”

“This is coming from the person who was obsessed with a talking pig for most of their childhood.” 

“But that’s not… you know what? Nevermind.” She put the icing down on the counter, licking some of the stray bits off her fingers. “Draco, what’s your favorite?”   

“Well, I really like Little Women, but I don’t know if it’s my favorite.” But he did know. That was his favorite book he had ever laid his hands on. Whenever he was sad, he would pull it out from under the couch and just read. He’d read about Jo’s struggles to publish her book. He’d read about Amy and her relationship with Laurie. It made him feel safe and secure, like a friend that he could hold in both hands. 

“Oh, sure, agree with Abigail,”Remus rolled his eyes, “that’ll help boost her ego.” 

Abigail flung a bit of frosting at him, threatening to lay a silent spell on him. He held up his hands in mock defense. 

She went back to setting up the table, spelling plates and forks and fresh fruit on the table. Draco spied the discarded newspaper on the table and he grabbed for it. Remus was faster, snatching it away before Draco was even close. 

“But…”

“No Draco, you can’t read this.” Before Draco could protest any further, he threw it into the burning fireplace. It caught a flame immediately and burned to pieces, reduced to ashes. 

“I want to know what’s going on out there! I want news that you won’t tell me.” 

“There’s a reason that we don’t tell you Draco. Besides, you shouldn’t be worried about what’s happening out there. All you need to focus on is yourself.” 

Draco was about to open his mouth to argue again, but Abigail came up from behind him, all smiles. 

“I think it’s time for the boot to come off!”

Something about how excited Abigail was made Draco forget about the newspaper fiasco. He gripped his plush wolf hard as Abigail started to pull the straps loose on the boot. It came off fairly easily, but the skin underneath was incredibly dry. 

“Hmm… we’ll have to put some lotion on that sometime.” Abigail said, mostly to herself. “Honey, can you grab me a warm washcloth?” 

Remus didn’t get up from his seat, but he did pull his wand out of his pocket. Muttering accio under his breath, the washcloth came floating into the living room. He handed it to Abigail, who ran it over his ankle. Draco hissed a little under his breath.

“Is everything okay?” Abigail asked, confusion spread across his face.

“Yeah, it just feels different.” He said, looking down at his feet. His left ankle didn’t look too different from his other one; if anything, it was a little more swollen still. But since Abigail wasn’t worried, he decided he didn’t need to either. 

“Okay,” Abigail finished up cleaning his ankle, “I’m going to move it around a little bit. It might feel tight, but that’s normal. If it hurts more than a feeling of tightness, tell me.”

Draco nodded his head. When she started to move it, Draco felt his jaw clench up. The tightening sensation came up on him, but it wasn’t necessarily painful. Just… different. A good different. 

After a few minutes, Abigail stopped, straightening up as she dusted off the front of her dress. 

“I think that’s good enough for today. We can keep doing those stretches so you’ll have the full range of your ankle again. But…” she looked over her shoulder at the table. “The cakes all the way over there, and I think Remus is done giving piggyback rides…”

“For forever.” He said, standing up to join his wife. “But if you say please, I’ll drag you.”

Draco laughed, bracing himself at the end of the couch. For over a month he’d dreamed of this moment. When he had his leg back. When he wasn’t at the will of Remus and Abigail anymore. He could move where he wanted to, when he wanted to for whatever reason he wanted to. 

He felt the carpet with both of his feet, and very slowly, he pushed himself off the couch. He thought he was going to lose his balance, but at the last moment, he managed to find it. Taking in a deep breath, he took one step forward, and then the next. He felt a little pain, but it was enough to power through it. Abigail took to his side almost immediately, not close enough to touch him, but near enough to catch him if he were to fall. 

Finally, Draco was at the table. Abigail gave a cry of joy, throwing her arms around him. 

“Okay, thank you, Abigail, but please get off.” His voice was muffled under her. 

Abigail took her time, messing up his hair as Remus cut the cake with a spell. All three quickly dug into the cake, not bothering with formalities. After Draco’s third slice, Abigail cut him off. 

“No more, or you’re never going to sleep tonight.” 

“Wow, Abigail, you sound just like my…” Draco didn’t finish the sentence. A silence fell over the group, no one knowing how to cut the silence. 

“Well, um… What movie should we watch tonight?” Remus said, putting his fork down. “I was in the mood for something with a happy ending.”

“Is there any of those--Disney I think they’re called--Disney movies we haven’t watched yet?” Draco said, liking the way this conversation was going. 

“I think there was a new one that came out last year that we haven’t watched yet… Hercules, if I’m not mistaken.” Abigail got up, walking over to their vast VHS collection. She ran her finger over a few titles, before pulling out the right one. 

“Here it is! Or, if you want, we could watch Cinderella.” She pulled that one out too. “I know we haven’t watched that one either.”

“Yuck, Cinderella is a girl’s movie. I want to watch Hercules.” 

“I guess that settles it then. Hercules it is!” Remus winked at Draco. “I didn’t want to watch Cinderella anyways.” 

“Well, we can watch Hercules, but not because Cinderella is a girl’s movie. Cinderella is a wonderful movie. It’s about seeing someone for who they truly are, and I think that’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, well, that’s because you’re a girl.” 

Remus laughed at Draco’s remark, which landed him a pillow to the face courtesy of Abigail. 

“Whatever, boys, just get over here so we can watch this thing.” 

And for a moment, they seemed like a normal family. A loving one. The ones without cracks or blemishes. One without faults and secrets.

But alas, moments are only that: moments. 

Before anyone could move, the fireplace roared to life, fire spitting out in every direction. Abigail moved back quickly, and Remus went to bodyblock Draco. 

Out of the fire was spat Isla, looking dazed and angry. Her head swiveled towards Draco, and she rushed towards him. 

“What did he do to you?” 

Draco wrinkled his forehead in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re…” 

“Your father, Draco. What did he do to you?” 

#HP #HP Fandom #hp fanfic #hp imagine #Draco Malfoy #Draco needs a hug #draco imagine #Remus Lupin #remus imagine #lupin imagine #abigail #isla #lucius #to have a home #draco fluff #fluff

[lovemesomesurveys]

Has the person you like ever seen you in your pajamas? I don’t like anyone in that way.

Did the last person you kissed celebrate your last birthday with you? No. The last one they celebrated with me was six years ago.

What’s the first word of the last text message you received? “Will”

Do you think you’ve changed at all over the past year? Not in a good way.

Is there a song that reminds you of your ex? Do you still listen to that song? Lithium by Nirvana. Especially a cover of it done by ThePeteBox.

Did you tag anyone in your last Facebook status? No.

How do you behave when you’re drunk? I was chatty and annoying I feel like.

What is your least favorite type of chocolate? Dark chocolate, blech.

When was the last time you felt disappointed? What was the reason? I’ve felt disappointed in myself these past few years.

Is there someone that can make you smile, even when you feel like crying? My doggo.

Is there a certain person on your mind right now? Tell me about him/her. No.

You’re getting ready to go to bed, and the last person you kissed shows up, what do you do? That would be completely random and out of the blue. I haven’t seen or talked to him in almost 6 years. I would certainly be surprised and confused and caught off guard. I wouldn’t go out and talk to him, though. I wouldn’t want him to see me right now. I honestly don’t know if I’d text him at least or not.

What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? I don’t remember. My mind is a jumbled mess.

Do you think someone is thinking about you right now? Nope.

Are you okay right now? I’m tired.

What time did you get up today? Sigh, like 930 after hardly sleeping at all.

When was the last time you saw your mom? Last night before she went to bed. She had the opening shift at work today so I haven’t seen her yet today.

What is the last thing you drank today? Water.

Do you dislike/hate anyone? No.

Where is your best friend right now? She’s at work.

When will your next kiss be? I have no idea.

Will you be up before 7 am tomorrow? 7AM is usually when I go to bed. :X

Does anyone completely understand you? I was just asked this in the previous survey I did, but no.

Who was the last girl you hugged outside of family? A friend. That was like 4 years ago.

Have you held hands with somebody in the past three days? My doggo.

What will you be doing in 3 hours? *shrug*

How often do you straighten your hair? I haven’t straightened my hair in years.

What are you currently looking forward to? To when my mom gets off work because I’m gonna ask if she can get me a Starbucks on her way home. I’m also hungry and wanting a breakfast sandwich, so I’ll probably have one later. She’s not off for 5 more hours. D:

Is tomorrow gonna be a good day? What are you going to do? I don’t have anything out of the ordinary going on.

Who did you last hang out with? My mom.

Did anyone see your last kiss? Probably.

Could things possibly get any better? Uh, I sure wish they would.

Do you know who you’ll even kiss next? Nope.

Do you ever sleep in jeans? I haven’t in years, but I have before in the past. I don’t know how I did that. I’ve been living in leggings for the past few years and I can’t imagine doing that now.

Name something you dislike about the day you’re having? I only got like 2-3 hours of sleep.

Did you get a full 8 hours of sleep last night? Yesterday I got like 10 hours, which is insane. My brother came in and woke me up because it was after 6PM. I never get that much sleep anymore, so I have no idea what that was about. But now today I only slept like 2-3 hours. I tried going back to sleep, but couldn’t and now here I am. Sigh.

Are you in love lately? That’s a weird way of saying it, but no. It’s been a few years since I’ve had those kind of feelings.

How often do you see your ex? I haven’t seen him in almost 6 years.

Who was the last person to text you? My pharmacy.

Did you like anyone last summer? No.

Do you replay things that have happened in your head? All the time.

Who was the last person you stayed up with till 2am? My brother and I stay up late all the time, though we’re in our own rooms.

Do you want a boyfriend or girlfriend? Not at this time.

Are you currently in a relationship? No.

Do you use a full length mirror daily? No.

Would you be shocked if the person you have feelings for texted you? I don’t have feelings like that for anyone.

Is there anyone you wish you could fix things with? Yes. I have to fix myself first, though.

What are you planning on doing after this? I’m waiting for my church’s livestream service to start in like 30 minutes.

Is there a girl you would do anything for? I’d do a lot for my mom.

Who IMed you on facebook last? I had been messaging a family friend a couple weeks ago about something.

How old are you? 31.

Do you love dogs? Yesssss. I don’t know how anyone couldn’t.

Were you finished childhood and teens when Harry Potter movies came out? The first one came out when I was 12 and the last one came out when I was 22.

Did you keep all your VHS tapes? No, just the Disney ones.

Do you think Jack Nicholson is a good actor? Sure.

Have you ever watched an episode of "The Honeymooners"? Nope.

Have you ever owned a pair of high-top Converse? No, just flat tops.

Do you have rain boots with a cute pattern on them? I don’t own any rain boots.

Would you rather eat an apple or an orange right now? Neither, but if I had to I’d choose the apple cause I don’t like oranges.

Would you rather do a cartwheel on land or a backflip in water? I can’t do either one.

Have you ever performed on stage in front of people? Yeah, for choir and band concerts. Never by myself. 

Were you kinda scared of the goths in high school? No.

What size is your mattress?(single,twin,double,queen,king) Full size.

Do you eat foods from all 4 food groups everyday? Not even close.

Do you sleep in PJs? I always wear leggings and graphic tees and sleep in that as well.

Do you prefer watching TV or listening to music? Depends on my mood, but I haven’t been listening to music lately.

Would you rather watch a movie in theatre or at home? There are some movies I love experiencing in theaters for the first time. 

Do you prefer brown or white rice? Neither.

Do you like spaghetti? Yes.

What about lasagna? Not so much. It’s the type of noodle I have an issue with. I’m weird and particular about my food and when it comes to pasta, I like thin noodles.

Do you celebrate Christmas? Yesss.

Is your Thanksgiving celebrated in October too? No, it’s in November.

Do you like chocolate bars? Sure. 

what about ice cream? Sure. I haven’t had either one in awhile, though. 

Have you ever been stung by anything? What was it? No, thankfully.

Do you get tired easily? I’m just always tired.

Or do you always have plenty of energy to spare? Hahahah, no.

Have you ever done volunteer work? Where? Yeah, I’ve done a lot of volunteer work. What about court-ordered community service? No.

Have you ever worn contacts?(even just to try them out) No. I’ve always been too scared.

Would you wear contacts on a daily basis? No. 

Are your ears pierced? How many times? Just my earlobes.

Do you have GOD-GIVEN(not dyed) natural brown hair too? Yes.

Or were you born blonde? Nope.

Have you found a gray hair on your head or body before? Ugh, once I turned 30 they started popping up.

Have you ever had any suspicious moles removed? Nope.

Have you ever been screened for STDs? No.

Are all your wisdom teeth pulled? Yes.

Did you have your tonsils taken out? Nope.

Did you have your appendix taken out? No.

How many kidneys do you have?(have you donated one?) I have both of them.

Would you(to save someone)?^^^ I don’t know if I could, like health wise.

Have you ever found a bug or slug in your salad? skjflsfjklds nooooooo.

Do you like Harry Potter? I enjoyed the movies.

What about Twilight? I was really into Twilight back when the books and movies were coming out, but I outgrew it and find it kinda cringe now lol. How do you feel about Lord of the rings? I never got into that.

Are you going to see 'The Hobbit' when it comes out? ---

Do you have a glass that says 'Molson Canadian' on it? No.

Do you have any collector's glasses or cups or mugs? I do.

Would you rather have a white fridge or a black fridge or a stainless steel fridge? Black.

What size shoe do you wear? 6 in women’s (US). Each of my Adidas are actually a 3 or 4 in kid’s sizes, though.

Do you have a wide foot or a narrow foot or just average? Average, I guess.

Do you bite your nails when you're stressed? I pick and clip my nails constantly.

Do you have to take an allergy pill daily in order to live normally? No.

Are you on the birth control pill? Nope.

Or are you trying to get pregnant? Absolutely not. I’m just not sexually active, so.

You'd rather wear black sneakers or sneakers in a bright color or pattern? Black.

Has anyone ever told you they were attracted to you? Shockingly, yes.

Can you swim well in water way above your head? I can’t swim.

Are you afraid of thunder & lightening? No.

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? No.

What about a tornado? Nope. 

Are you closer to your dad?(more so than your mom) I’m closer to my mom.

Were you your parents' first born? I’m their first together, but not my mom’s. She had my older brother before meeting my dad.

Do you have a child? Is the father still with you? No.

Did you trade stickers at recess when you were a kid? No.

How old were you when you had your first crush? Do you remember their name? I was 9 and his name was Philip. 

Can you even remember what the hell they looked like? Vaguely. 

Have you ever operated any type of motorized vehicle before? No.

Are you going to drink alcohol tonight? Nope. I haven’t drank in 8 years and have no desire to.

Have you ever heard of the Canadian kids show called "Mr. Dressup"? Nope.

What about the kids show "Fred Penner's Place"? Nope.

Did you hate Sesame Street when you were little too? No.

Were you born perfectly healthy or with some(or a lot) of health issues? I was born healthy.

What are those 'said' health issues? –

Do you collect DVDs? No. I don’t have that many.

Do you download music? Nope. I’ve just used Spotify the past several years now.

Or do you still go to stores and buy CDs? No, I have’t done that in yearssss.

Did you skip(jumo-rope) a lot as a kid? No.

Did you ever catch any bugs or insects with your friends as a kid? EW, noooooo.

Didn't you just LOVE art class in elementary school?! Yeah.

Have you ever played dodgeball? Ugh, yes. I hated dodgeball. I don’t find having a ball thrown at me to be fun at all. I was always scared of getting hit in the face.

What about Red Rover? Yes.

Have you ever played "What time is it mr. wolf?"? It doesn’t sound familiar.

Do you hate your weight? Yes.

Have you ever struggled with a mental illness? I do.

Serious question, peanut butter or nutella? Peanut butter, hands down. I don’t get the hype of Nutella.

Have you ever stepped on a snail? Gahhhh, I’ve run over one before.

Do you prefer baked potatoes or mashed potatoes? I like both.

Do you prefer ankle socks over regular socks? I only wear ankle socks.

Last movie you've seen in theaters? The Invisible Man. That was almost. a year ago now. I miss going to the theater.

What is your oldest sibling's middle name? I’m not sharing that.

Have you ever been to Disneyland or Disney World? I have been to Disneyland several times, I love it. I’d love to go to Disney World someday.

Would you ever go backpacking across any country? No.

Would you prefer to travel around the world by yourself or with a friend? I definitely wouldn’t go alone.

Do you like breadsticks? I do.

Do you usually wear shorts around your house all year long? I never wear shorts, I’m a leggings gal.

What state were you born in? California. 

Have you ever had a nose bleed? Nooo, thankfully. I would freak out.

How far away do you live from your birthplace? Still live there.

Do you have a weak stomach? Yes.

Do you know anybody who has been diagnosed with cancer? Yes.

Have you ever had to take care of an intoxicated person? No.

Have you ever considered becoming a lawyer? No. Definitely not cut out for that.

Do you *really* like donuts? Yesss.

Do you think Disney World could ever get old? Not to me.

If you could, would you hookup with the last person you texted? Uh, NO, absolutely not. The only people I text and text me are my parents, brother, and my Nana....

What are your favorite things to spend money on? Food, coffee, clothes.

Will you talk to the person you like on the phone tonight? I don’t like anyone in that way.

What do you usually order on a pizza? *finishing this hours later from when I started* White sauce, feta and ricotta cheese, garlic, spinach, crumbled meatballs, and pesto. Do you and your boyfriend/girlfriend fight a lot? I’m single.

Who's the first person with the letter "m" in your contacts? My mom.

Which would you rather have a new puppy or kitten? Puppy. 

How old will you be on your next birthday? 32.

What color are your underwear? Blue.

Do you ever feel self-conscious when you eat around other people? Yes.

#personal #text #survey #surveys #long survey

[lets-talk-appella]

They’re Us (Ch 1/5)

PP Horror Week Day 3 - [Evil] Doppelgangers

Summary:  When the enemy looks like your friends, how do you know who to trust?

Word Count: 2.5k

Rating: M (for horror themes, not for smut.)

AO3 and FFN

They moved in at night.

No one noticed, no one heard. It was ideal for them.

Their eyes, amber in the moonlight, found the house, taking in its darkened windows and quiet demeanor. They thought of its occupants, sleeping right now, completely oblivious to the outside world.

They grinned at one another, exchanging anticipatory looks. This was going to be fun.

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

It starts small.

Chloe’s felt it for a few days. She’s felt it on her walk to and from campus, while on campus between classes, and even at the grocery store. She’s sure it’s all stress—it has to be—what with midterms coming up and preparation for Worlds in the spring. It’s stress, and stress alone. It’s gotta be.

It’s not like anyone is really watching her. That’d be insane. No one would have any reason to just… follow her all day.

She’s imagining things. She’s sure of it.

Still, she doesn’t particularly enjoy the (totally imagined) feeling that someone, once again, is watching her as she walks across the campus quad. She should be able to blame the chill running down her spine on the cool fall air. She should be able to blame the prickling of the back of her neck on the cold dampness of the rain/fog mist combination enveloping campus. She should be able to blame her unexplained skittishness on some assignment she’d forgotten to turn in.

She tells herself these things as she walks, tries to force her heart rate into a slower, steadier pattern than its current rapid flutter.

It doesn’t work.

Unease rises in her chest as she once again feels the weight of eyes trained on her. She glances over her shoulder, only seeing other bedraggled-looking students following her, headed to their own classes. Most of their eyes are trained on the ground, or at nothing in particular ahead of them. No one is following her too closely, no one stands out from the crowd, and no one is watching her. She looks ahead again, scanning her surroundings and seeing nothing—not one thing—that should be making her this anxious.

She walks faster.

Her skin crawls at being out in the open in the quad. Her last class of the day isn’t far away, but the idea of being so visible for any further length of time is unbearable.

She veers left sharply without warning, cutting off several people on the sidewalk who bristle immediately and glare at her, but she pays them no mind. She speed-walks off the quad, taking a path that deposits her between two tall brick buildings that act as security blankets, enclosing her with a relative feeling of solitude that the wide-open quad could not provide. However, it doesn’t make her feel any better, and she walks faster, breath starting to come in short bursts. If anything, the feeling of being watched, scrutinized, examined only intensifies, growing and developing until it starts to weigh on her lungs, crushing the air from them until she’s walking so quickly she’s nearly running, and she doesn’t care that people are looking at her now, because they’re not the ones she’s afraid of—who is she even afraid of?—and her heart is pounding so violently that she can feel it trying to escape from the confines of her ribs and can hear its every pump in her ears. Her head swivels, eyes scanning, always scanning for anything, any sign of real danger that could make her feel this panicked but finding nothing. She rounds the corner of a building at top speed—and stops dead.

She registers bright blue eyes trained on her own and red hair, but her brain can’t comprehend what she’s seeing. Who she’s seeing, standing only twenty feet away, watching her. Her stomach jolts, flips, tries to throw itself from her mouth and she doesn’t know what to do.

A huge group of people walk in front of her, disrupting her line of vision, cutting between her and the person who’d been staring at her, and Chloe knows she should run or turn away or something, but she’s rooted to the ground. The mob passes and Chloe braces herself but—the stranger is gone.

“No, no, no, no, where…” Chloe mumbles to herself, looking around wildly, searching for the bright eyes, unable to find them. She stares uncomprehendingly at the spot the stranger had occupied. Gone. She spins on the spot, getting even more weird looks from the students walking around her, but she doesn’t find who she’s looking for. The agitation in her chest is fading, though, draining away, and she knows that whoever she’d seen is gone.

With one more pivot on the spot, she catches a glimpse of Cynthia Rose walking past, headed in the opposite direction.

Relief floods Chloe’s veins, rolling through her and leaving her weak at the knees. She’s stressed and imagining things and Cynthia Rose will make everything better.

“Cee!” she shouts, voice cracking. “Cynthia Rose! Hey, Cynthia Rose!” Chloe calls, moving towards her, but Cynthia Rose doesn’t look up. She walks quickly and must have her earbuds in or something because she gives no indication of having heard Chloe’s shouts.

With an exasperated huff, Chloe starts to follow, intending to tell her all about her hallucination—it was most definitely a hallucination—but then Chloe’s phone vibrates in her pocket.

Distracted, she pulls the phone out and glances at the screen: call from Aubrey.

She looks up—Cynthia Rose has already been swallowed by the crowd—and answers the phone.

“Aubrey?”

“Hey! This is super last minute, but are you doing anything in, like, half an hour?”

“I—uh, what?” Chloe asks, still searching half-heartedly for Cynthia Rose but unable to spot her.

“I… asked if you were free soon?” Aubrey repeats, her voice turning uncertain.

“Oh, sorry, I was just… um…”

Chloe can hear Aubrey’s intake of breath, can sense her concern through the phone. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Yes,” she answers more fully, forcing herself to focus on Aubrey and Aubrey alone.  “Sorry. Um, weird day. So, uh, yeah, I’m free!” There’s no way she’s going to her last class of the day if she’s hallucinating. “Why, did you want to talk about anything?”

“Actually, I’m in Barden!” Aubrey says, sounding happy and excited and so normal that it sets Chloe at ease instantly. “Had to run kind of a last-minute errand with the lodge, so I’m here and wondered if you had a sec to meet up for coffee or something.”

“Oh… oh, wow, sure!” Chloe exclaims happily. It’s unusual for Aubrey to stop in randomly, but she’d done it before, and Chloe can definitely use the company. “Where were you thinking?”

“Um, how about the Smiling Goat?” Aubrey suggests, and Chloe grins; they went there often before Aubrey had graduated, and she’s missed the friend-dates.

“Awes! I guess I’ll see you there in…”

“Twenty?”

“Great. I’m just on campus, so see you soon!” Chloe says before hanging up. The sound of Aubrey’s voice had completely calmed her down. With one last look around, she starts making her way toward the cafe on the edge of campus, only walking a little more quickly than she usually might.

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

Twenty minutes later, she’s seated across the table from one of her favorite people in the entire world. Aubrey sips at her usual hazelnut latte while Chloe admires the heart the barista had created on the surface of her caramel one. The warm drink in her hands grounds her just as much as Aubrey does, and Chloe feels more relaxed than she has in days.

“I’m really happy you were free this afternoon,” Aubrey says. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” Chloe says, meaning every word. “And, yeah, I’m glad it worked out.”

Something in her tone must give her away; Aubrey narrows her eyes suspiciously. “You were free, right? No classes or meetings or anything?”

Chloe shifts somewhat guiltily.

“Chloe!” Aubrey gasps, scandalized. “Are you skipping class right now?”

“Just Russian Lit!” Chloe exclaims defensively. “I’ve taken it a ton of times already, so it’s fine!”

Aubrey shakes her head reprovingly, but she’s smiling. “Are you actually going to graduate this time? Since a certain someone is graduating?”

“For your information,” Chloe says flatly, “that someone has nothing to do with my graduation.”

“Uh huh. She’s single now, right?”

Chloe hesitates. “Yes, but—”

“But still an oblivious little hobbit?”

“Aubrey,” Chloe chides gently.

“What? It suits her,” Aubrey huffs.

Chloe hums. “For the record, I stayed because the Bellas—”

“Would have been fine if you’d graduated with me,” Aubrey says gently, reaching out to rest her hand on Chloe’s. “But I know you wouldn’t have it any other way. You know,” she adds, leaning across the table. “Sometimes, I wish I’d had the idea to stay, too. Or the guts,” she says, shifting back into her chair and taking another sip of her drink.

“I wish you’d stayed, too,” Chloe sighs wistfully. “We could have had so much fun.”

“I have the lodge,” Aubrey shrugs, rubbing at the corner of one eye. “Maybe the Bellas need some bonding time before Worlds?”

Chloe ponders that for a moment. “You know, that’s a good idea,” she says. “I’ll probably take you up on that sooner or later.”

“Definitely,” Aubrey nods. “Just let me know.”

It’s easy to talk to Aubrey like this, to fall into rhythm as if it’d only been hours since they’d seen each other instead of weeks. They’ve always been able to do that, and Chloe knows it’s a testament to the strength of their friendship. They talk about each of the Bellas some more—with Aubrey displaying far too much interest in Beca’s newly single status and what Chloe might do in response (“Nothing, Aubrey,” she insists)—and also about the Worlds competition in less than six months. Aubrey talks about work, Chloe talks about classes, and when Chloe’s phone chimes and she automatically reaches for it, they see that nearly two hours have passed.

“Oh, wow,” Aubrey sighs, “I should probably go soon before it starts getting dark.”

“Already?” Chloe asks, hearing the whine in her own voice but not caring. She feels safe with Aubrey there, and had temporarily forgotten all about the stress and worry of the last few days.

Aubrey hesitates, apparently sensing that something is wrong. “You okay?” she asks, her eyes flicking between both of Chloe’s. “You seem… I don’t know. But earlier on the phone things were kinda—”

“Just stress,” Chloe sighs. “I think my mind has been playing tricks on me lately. Maybe I just need some sleep.”

“What kind of tricks?” Aubrey asks, absently rubbing at her eyes again. Chloe wonders if fall allergies are bothering her.

“Um, nothing major,” Chloe says, shifting in her chair. She doesn’t want Aubrey to worry about her. “Just, like, seeing things every now and then. Probably just need sleep,” she says again in response to Aubrey’s raised eyebrows.

“Okay, if you’re sure…” Aubrey trails off. “But call or text me if you need anything, okay? I mean it,” she says seriously.

“I will,” Chloe promises. “Thanks.”

Aubrey studies her for another long moment before again checking the time. She glances out the window as if checking the rapidly darkening sky. “I really should go,” she says. “I don’t like driving through the woods after dark. It gets creepy.”

“Okay, well,” Chloe says, standing as Aubrey rises from her chair. “In that case, drive safe! I’m really glad we could meet up.”

“Me too!” Aubrey says, pulling Chloe into a warm and solid hug. “This was so nice.”

“Yeah,” Chloe breathes, squeezing Aubrey more tightly for just a moment. “I’ve missed you.”

When the hug ends, Aubrey picks up her purse—it looks new, Chloe notices—and says her goodbyes. Chloe hangs back, intending to use the cafe’s Wi-Fi to email her professor and make up some excuse for missing class. Aubrey waves at her just before passing through the door, and then she’s gone.

It takes Chloe maybe five minutes to type up what she deems an acceptable email; she hopes her professor won’t ask too many questions about a sudden bout of food poisoning. As soon as the email sends, Chloe slips on her jacket, grabs her bag, and heads out the door with a friendly wave at the barista.

She doesn’t get more than ten steps from the cafe before she again feels eyes on her back.

Steeling herself with a deep breath, she looks over her shoulder, but doesn’t see anyone.

She pulls her jacket more tightly around herself and keeps walking, flipping up the hood of her jacket. She almost immediately lowers it again; the hood restricts her peripheral vision, and she wants to be able to see everything. Just in case.

It starts to rain lightly, and she wishes she’d brought an umbrella. The chilly drizzle seeps into her supposedly rain-proof jacket, making both it and her jeans cling to her as she walks. The noise of the raindrops hitting the pavement around her sounds like footsteps to her paranoid ears, which strain for anything unusual.

Chloe picks up her pace, jumping when a gush of rain from a nearby gutter startles her. She can’t wait to get home.

“Hey, wait!”

A hand lands on her shoulder, scaring Chloe so badly that she makes some strangled scream, twisting around to face her attacker.

The barista from the cafe, already drenched from rain, recoils in surprise.

“Sorry!” Chloe gasps, knowing she must seem hysterical. “I—you scared me.”

“I didn’t mean to!” the barista rushes out. “Just—your friend left her umbrella at your table,” she says, holding up Aubrey’s purple umbrella, all wrapped up. “I saw it when I was cleaning. Though... it looks like you could use it,” she adds, eyes flicking down Chloe’s sopping outfit.

“Oh,” Chloe breathes, taking Aubrey’s umbrella from her. “I’m glad you spotted it. Thanks for bringing it to me.”

“No problem.”

“And, uh, sorry for… yeah, that,” Chloe says, waving her hand in the air in reference to screaming at the barista.

The barista shrugs. “No problem,” she repeats. “Have a good day.”

“You too,” Chloe says as the barista turns and jogs back to the cafe to escape the rain and return to her job.

Without thinking about it, Chloe unfurls and opens the umbrella, holding it up to counter the downpour. She’s still soaked through, but at least she’ll keep the cold rain off her. She pulls out her phone as she walks back toward the Bella house, hoping she can get to Aubrey before she drives too far out of town. Maybe Aubrey will even take pity on her and give her a ride home in the rain.

The phone rings three times and Chloe almost ends the call, not wanting to bother Aubrey while she’s driving, but then Aubrey picks up.

“Chloe? What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing, you just left your umbrella,” Chloe answers.

“What?”

“Your umbrella?” Chloe says, raising her voice to be heard over the rain. “You left it at the cafe just now.”

There’s a pause, and Chloe wonders if Aubrey still hadn’t heard her properly. “You left your—”

“Chloe, what are you talking about?” Aubrey asks, sounding concerned. “Are you okay?”

“What?” Chloe blinks, confused. “Aubrey, just now, when we met for coffee. You left your umbrella.”

“My… are you sure?” Aubrey definitely sounds lost now.

“Of course I’m sure!” Chloe says, that sense of disquiet returning, threatening to cut off her voice. “We—I was with you!”

Another pause, this one longer.

Chloe’s heart is once again beating uncomfortably hard. “You’re kidding around, right? Aubrey, that’s not—”

“Where are you right now?”

“I’m still close to the cafe, just walking home. You could meet me—”

“No, no, I mean—” Aubrey cuts herself off sharply.

Pause.

Chloe walks faster.

“Aubrey?” Chloe asks. Her voice seems very, very small to her own ears. “You were just here. Just now.”

“I… you said we met for coffee?” Aubrey sounds as scared as Chloe feels.

“Yeah! I—I just saw you. Aubrey, I just saw you.” Chloe’s pleading with her.

Aubrey takes a deep breath, one that makes the phone crackle in Chloe’s ear. When she speaks again, Chloe can tell she’s fighting to control her voice.

“Uh… Chloe, I’m—I’m at the lodge right now. At work. I haven’t been to Barden in… weeks.”

#pp horror week 2019 #HW193 #bechloe fic #my writing #chloe beale #beca mitchell #all of the bellas #horror #doppelganger #there will be mild gore later on #bechloe #pitch perfect

[transienturl]

the first half of the ask post you didn't reblog because you're doing them all anyways

Thanks, me!

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?Option 7, None of the above: highball glass. I looked up the glassware model I like; apparently the manufacturer calls them “nordic cooler glasses.” I much prefer glassware made of glass to any other type, and dislike the ridges/patterns on a lot of drinking glasses. Yep, I’m this picky.

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?Chocolate. I like chocolate’s texture and the way it melts, and I don’t like eating bits of paper.

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?Cotton candy. Bubblegum is gross.

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?Uhh… hm. “Smart,” probably, which wasn’t particularly helpful. They probably had a bunch more to say but I don’t remember what anymore.

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?I like this ask post! As mentioned, glass cups. I like how soda cans feel in the hand but the drinking experience is just alright. Plastic is just unpleasant.

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?I had to google “boho” and I’m still not super clear on what it encompasses, but it seems kinda neat! Also I have no idea what grunge really means. If I had a feminine body and thus felt like dressing up, I’d definitely pick boho out of the google image results of each of those terms.

7. earbuds or headphones?Both; if I wear either for too long I switch to the other for comfort. But I’m at least somewhat an audio enthusiast, so I could go on for a long time here. Ex:

The soundstage of open-back headphones is really unparalleled for one. Apple’s earpods/airpods actually fit me and have basically no microphonics, which usually are a big issue with IEMs for me, plus their resolution on the high end is surprisingly great.

Insert the rest of this discussion here.

8. movies or tv shows?I watch either of these not from seeking them out but from circumstance, but often wind up liking them. I’m one of those people who thinks, “I’d watch that,” and then never watches whatever that was. So I don’t really know which I do or would prefer.

9. favorite smell in the summer?Uh… hm. That’s a really good question. What’s most interesting about it, I think, is just the list of smells people associate with a season. Of course there’s environmental ones like rain, but for summer I assume you have to go with, I dunno, fair food or something like that.

Anyway, no idea! I can’t think of a lot of meaningful smells that aren’t food, honestly.

10. game you were best at in p.e.?I remember enjoying capture the flag a lot. I dunno if I was actually good at it, though. I did have pretty good short-duration speed, so I was a decent defender. I don’t really remember what else we did.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?Nothing. (I don’t like most American breakfast foods much, though that’s not why.)

12. name of your favorite playlist?I called it “the playlist which is entirely fire” because why not. Alternately, the playlist with all of my music is just named after me.

13. lanyard or key ring?Key ring; I’m not a… yeah actually that joke would only work for people who went to my high school and follow this blog (hi Xander).

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?That’s also a really good question and I’m positive I have an answer, but I can’t think of it. I eat candy once every like 3 months, so it doesn’t exactly come to mind easily. The candied pecans I just tried are pretty good, though. Insert reference to my halloween fanfiction.

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?Y'know how there are some things that you remember deciding at one point were your favorite, but don’t remember well enough to properly consider now? A lot of my favorite pieces of media are like that, but I have at least some confidence in the decision I made at the time. Not so much here. I remember thinking with surprise that I enjoyed The Mill on the Floss when I read it in class, so that’s what comes to mind, but I think it’s the wrong answer. I’m pretty sure there are some books I really enjoy that I’ve forgotten were originally for class. Random example that I think is also wrong: The Hobbit. The Giver is pretty darn good, too. Fahrenheit 451. I don’t remember this being the case but we might have read A Wrinkle in Time in a class. Et cetera.

Wait, no, actually, I figured it out: Island of the Blue Dolphins. (Which, actually, goes in the “this might be too much of a childrens’ book to enjoy rereading” category along with Summerland, The Great Tree of Avalon, The Marino Mission, What the Moon Saw, The Secret of Platform 13, and Island of the Aunts, all of which I loved at the time of reading. And potentially also The Book Thief, although I doubt it. Can you tell I like award-winning children’s books, though?)

16. most comfortable position to sit in?With crossed legs or on my feet, which people seem to find weird.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?I only have one regularly-used pair of shoes.

18. ideal weather?Still. I can’t stand wind of any kind. A range of temperatures is nice (not too hot; not *too* cold but snow is pretty so I’ll allow a wide range in that direction.)

19. sleeping position?In a ball, or at least partially curled up.

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?I haven’t written on paper in like a decade. I had to recently in order to leave a sticky note on something and had actual trouble making it legible. Essentially everything I write is on this 2013 Macbook Pro keyboard.

21. obsession from childhood?Um… existentialism? The pretend world my sisters’ and my stuffed animals lived in? Popular science topics and things from video game worlds, all of which went into said pretend world? Jet aircraft? Algebra and geometry puzzles? Configuring laptop computers?

22. role model?John Green. People who can communicate/present things effectively.

23. strange habits?I’m sure I have a ton. I’m not going to delay posting this to come up with any, but I’ll think about it. But especially if we’re using western society as the ‘norm’ for the sake of the question, I think there’s a ton of stuff I do that’d surprise people.

24. favorite crystal?Hm. I like the colorless ones like diamond, I guess? I just generally like gemstones, especially in fiction when they have powers. Oh, how’s this: I tend to like crystals that are (semi)transparent, so they have depth to them and change appearance as they’re rotated.

The other weird, mostly-unrelated thing that comes to mind is when I made a necklace for my best friend in elementary school and spent a lot of effort picking out the right sort of pendant, but I don’t think it was actually a crystal. (I often wonder what it would’ve been like if I hadn’t moved; I bet we’d still be close.)

25. first song you remember hearing?Neat question! I have no memory of a particular song being the first. My parents played music a lot when I was little, so a lot of their CD collection makes me think, “I’ve been listening to this since far before I noticed that I was.” The most recent one of those I heard and wrote down was Cathedral of the Pines by Tim Janis.

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?…complain about the heat? :D Hm, I don’t have a lot of outdoor hobbies.

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?…complain about the cold? :P I do like to ski somewhat. And I like hot cocoa.

28. five songs to describe you?

Eric’s Song – Vienna Teng

Doubt – Ruby Day

…hm. Looking through my playlists and the #media tag on this blog, there’s a ton of songs that I like, and where that fact tells you something about my taste in music, but it’s hard to find songs whose content particularly tells you something. Let’s just go with songs I find some meaning or relevance in?

Laughing With – Regina Spektor

Rainbow Connection – Kermit the Frog/various covers

Okay, I ran out of songs with particular meaning; let’s finish up with one whose meaning is arguably a lack of particular meaning?

Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell

29. best way to bond with you?Talking, I guess. Boring answer, maybe, but I think most bonding experiences I’ve had were just two people talking about something important.

30. places that you find sacred?My elementary school? Is that a weird answer?

Other than that… a lot of places, really. Depending how you use “sacred,” I think it could apply in my mind to lots of unique places, especially natural-wonder type things.

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?I haven’t got one. None of my clothes are things I’ve picked out to look good, honestly. The thing that makes me feel more “ready to go out and kick ass than usual” is, like, bringing a phone charger with me in case I run out of battery in the process of whatever ass kicking it’s going to be, and that’s not an outfit thing.

32. top five favorite vines?Remember vine? Good times.

1. A Legendary Argument (https://vine.co/v/enUmZjLFgw2/); the “just do it” “no” one

Yeah, that’s it. I don’t know of any other ones.

33. most used phrase in your phone?I… don’t know how to tell. That sounds like a cool thing to figure out but I dunno how to see that.

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?None, thank god.

35. average time you fall asleep?Too late.

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?No idea.

37. suitcase or duffel bag?I don’t really know what context to think of this question in. Like, is there a time both would be valid options? Anyway, suitcase. Honorable mention: backpack.

38. lemonade or tea?I only like either of these in moderation. Usually I’d say lemonade, but lately I’ve been disliking acidic drinks more than usual, so maybe I’ll say tea. Actually, what I like is chrysanthemum tea, which you can get at dim sum places sometimes.

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?I’ll go with lemon cake. I can only eat a really small amount of lemon meringue. If someone made more of a lemon meringue tart with a really thin layer of lemon (maybe 10mm or a bit less) and a lot of crust and meringue, that could be really good though.

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?If “bad” counts as “weird,” let’s just say it involved sexual misconduct.

41. last person you texted?My dad (a link to instructions to get free in-flight wifi; nothing interesting).

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?I prefer to put stuff in pants pockets so I have them if I take off my jacket, but then my pants fall down because I have no hips and my pants are all regular-person sized.

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?I immediately crossed off everything except hoodie and cardigan. With a different body I’d definitely pick cardigan.

44. favorite scent for soap?Unscented.

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?Eh, I mean, I think they all have potential. I’d pick sci-fi or fantasy over superhero; print comics have never interested me at all, though I’m sure there’s interesting stuff in there too.

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?I feel like it’s just whatever you’re used to, honestly.

47. favorite type of cheese?Maybe fresh mozzarella? Either way, it’s going to be something people who really like cheese would barely count as cheese.

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?If I were a fruit… not to take it too literally, but I can’t think of a better way to interpret it. Um… a ground cherry, because it’s cute and has a place to hide in.

49. what saying or quote do you live by?“Hope is the correct response to the human condition.”

There are probably better ones that correspond to things I live by more, but that’s the one I have a quote for. Guess who it’s by? I’ll give you one guess.

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?Not sure. Show of the Weekend (@outsidextra) definitely wins “hardest laugh that I can remember recently” though.

#long post #personal

[bofursunboundbraids]

85 Statements

I was tagged by @catthefearless Thank you!!

rules: answer these 85 statements about yourself, then tag 20 people

LAST

1. drink - Sparkling water.

2. phone call - Ummm...probably ordering dinner to go from Giovanni’s last week.

3. text message - My mama asking if I want to check out a new coffee place when she gets off work. (Answer: Fuck yeah!)

4. song you listened to - “Wrong Crowd” by my beautiful child Tom Odell

5. time you cried - Uh...last week after my employment counselor appointment. Cuz insecurity is a mutha!

EVER

6. dated someone twice? - Yes, because young and stupid/insecure (see a pattern forming?)

7. kissed someone and regretted it - There are a couple I side-eye, but regret? No.

8. been cheated on - Yes, but I’ve also cheated.

9. lost someone special - Yes.

10. been depressed - I experience bouts of frustration and disappointment, with and in life in general.

11. gotten drunk and thrown up - A number of times. I can no longer drink rum.

FAV COLORS

12. Midnight blue

13. Emerald green.

14. Lavender.

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

15. made new friends - Yes! Thank you tumblr!

16. fallen out of love - No.

17. laughed until you cried - Maybe?

18. found out someone was talking about you - No.

19. met someone who changed you - No.

20. found out who your friends are - Yes.

21. kissed someone on your Facebook friends list - No.

GENERAL

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life? - Most of them, I think. I’m still waiting for the day the website, along with Mark Zuckerberg, gets shot into the sun.

23. do you have any pets - My genday conure Butchie my Buddy bird.

24. do you want to change your name - I dumped my last name last fall for my maternal grandfather’s birth name. My first name is 500% me.

25. what did you do for your last birthday - Got the slip-on checker board vans I’ve wanted since junior high and had dinner with my mom and nephew at Cracker Barrel cuz that shit is my JAM!

26. what time did you wake up today - 8am

27. what were you doing at midnight last night - Reading “Kidnapped by the Pirate” by Keira Andrews, a most excellent mlm historical romance.

28. what is something you can’t wait for - To be employed, earning decent money, so I can FINALLY GO TO NEW ZEALAND FFS!

30. what are you listening to right now - I’m watching “It Came from Outer Space” (1953)

31. have you ever talked to a person named Tom - This is funny, because I was recently trying to remember when the last time I knew someone named Tom was. Junior High maybe?

32. something that’s getting on your nerves - I haven’t been to New Zealand yet, which is really starting to piss me off.

33. most visited website - Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube.

34. hair color - Currently John Frieda’s Brilliant Brunette (3N) which is a wonderful deep chocolate brown, what I call Arwen/Frodo brown. It’s dark without making me look washed out. Perfect.

35. long or short hair - It’s a toss up between a Louise Brooks bob and mid-neck length. Anything longer, on me, is pointless.

36. do you have a crush on someone - I’m kinda torn between Martin Freeman, Jack White, and NY attorney general Eric Schneiderman.

37. what do you like about yourself- I can’t give up and I will never settle.

38. want any piercings? - No.

39. blood type - O negative. I’m UNIVERSAL BABY!

40. nicknames - Steesh, Bobeesh

41. relationship status - happily single.

42. zodiac - Pisces

43. pronouns - she/her

44. fave TV shows - Hawaii 5-0 (original), Wild Wild West, Route 66, Perry Mason, X-Files, Twin Peaks, Hannibal, Streets of San Francisco, WKRP in Cincinnati, Unsolved Mysteries...

45. tattoos - No, but I have a list of the ones I want.

46. right or left handed - right

47. ever had surgery - I had an emergency appendectomy right before my 13th birday.

48. piercings - 2

49. sport - my ex was an Aikido instructor, so I have a brown belt, but I gaven’t trained in a really long time.

50. vacation - About a year and half ago, Mum and I went to Boise, Idaho to check it out as a possible place to move to. It was nice, but we’ve scratched it off the list. Now we’re looking at Virginia.

51. trainers - since Nike bought Converse (fuck you very much), I am now a 500% Vans girl.

MORE GENERAL

52. eating - The last thing I ate was chicken shawarma with basmati rice and hummus. So freaking good.

53. drinking - I’m a coffee girl and I love a good lavender mocha.

54. I’m about to watch - it’s bed time. Gotta do my Italian (Duolingo) then reading.

55. waiting for - me to be at a point where I can start being paid for building freaking websites so I can go to freaking New Zealand!

56. want - To be paid.

57. get married - I’ve never believed in the institution.

58. career - I wanna make pretty, responsive web sites that achieve high seo rankings - AND GET PAID!

59. hugs or kisses - I like them both, as long as it’s someone I want to be doing it with. I would kind of like to kiss a boy whose name I don’t know and then never see him again.

60. lips or eyes - For me it’s the holy trinity; eyes, nose, lower lip.

61. shorter or taller - At 5’7” I feel taller than most other women. If we’re talking guys...I’ve had both, but prefer taller.

62. older or younger - Age is irrelevant, unless they’re really young. I abide by the equation (half your age plus 7)

63. nice arms or stomach - How about hands?

64. hookup or relationship - I’ve never experienced a hookup, but I never say never.

65. troublemaker or hesitant - I’m game as long as no one is getting hurt and no laws are being broken and no assholery is being committed.

HAVE YOU EVER

66. kissed a stranger - once, a long time ago.

67. drank hard liquor - Yup.

68. lost glasses - Sunnies? Yes. Readers? Between Mum and I, there are like twenty pairs floating around the house, so that’s a big no. Have broken quite a few, however.

70. sex on the first date - Ewww, no! Unless...

71. broken someone’s heart - Yes. My one big regret.

72. had your heart broke - Yes, but no.

73. been arrested - No

74. cried when someone died - No

75. fallen for a friend - Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

76. yourself - Fuck yeah!

77. miracles - No.

78. love at first sight - I believe in the chemical reaction that happens in the brain when physical attraction occurs.

79. santa claus - Fuck yeah Santa RULES!

80. kiss on a first date - Yes.

81. angels - No.

OTHER

82. best friend’s name - Her name’s Shannon and she’s my mom.

83. eye color - Green.

84. fave movie - The Three Musketeers (1973), The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit (Jackson), Casablanca, Jaws, Dracula (1931), The Big Sleep, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. I’d also like to give a big shout out to the entire genre of 40s/50s Film Noir as well as 1950s SciFi and teen exploitation films, that shit gives me life!

85. fave actor - Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Burr, Jack Lord, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn, Cate Blanchett, Mads Mikkelsen, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, Jack Lemmon, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Laird Creager (btw...if you don’t know who that is, Google him! He was a queer actor who died way too young, right before his career was on the verge of really taking off. Some say his would’ve been not unlike that of Vincent Price, another one of my most very favorites. Check out “The Lodger” from 1944. It’s a take on Jack the Ripper and he is BRILLIANT! It also stars George Sanders and Merle Oberon.)

I’m not tagging anyone specifically, therefore I tag EVERYONE! Let us know who you are, and please tag me if you do!😍

#ask lots of questions meme thing #why are there no questions regarding #books/writers/reading preferences #or music

[arc-17]

Hi! I wanna get to know you!

Rules: answer the questions and tag 20 followers you’d like to get to know better.

I got tagged by @cheesepots & @xo-endlessmayhem-xo thank you ladies!

Ok here we go…

Name: Stephen Nickname: usually people just call me Stephen, or Steph (pronounced “Steef”) I’ll also answer to Steve, though often online people use the short version of my gamer handle I use everywhere which is Arc.

Zodiac Sign: I had to Google this, but apparently I’m a crab 🦀. Cancer.

Hogwarts House: also had to Google this, used a quiz to find out, so Gryffindor, and when reading about it, agreed. Fits.

Hight: 6'1" or 185cm

Sexual orientation: I’m heterosexual

Ethnicity: Primarily white, but being an American mutt I’ve got a mix of just about everything including Native American.

Fav fruit: Golden Delicious Apples from Wisconsin! Followed by Strawberries, Georgia Peaches, Watermelon, Bananas, grapes, plums and a dozen others.

Fav Season: All four season have their beauty but… late spring is my personal favorite. Warm, green, flowers blooming, and not to hot or cold. And after being indoors most of the winter with short days the lengthening daylight and weather of spring is especially delightful.

Fav Book Series: Ooooh dear… so many but topping the list is: •All the works by J.R.R. Tolkien. (LotR, Hobbit, Children of Húrin, etc.) •All of the Star Wars Novels by Karen Traviss (Republic Commando, Clone Wars etc) •The historical documentary books written by Doug Stanton  (not a series but more a collection) •The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. •Recently started the Temeraire series of books by Naomi Novik. (His Majesty’s Dragon etc.) And many more!

Fav Fictional characters: oh wow! Ok… •Capt. Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, Will Turner… •Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, Fynn, Rey, Obi-wan, Capt. Rex… •Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Bilbo, Thorin… okay all if them. Oh Glorfindel! •Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Dr. Steven Strange… •Princess Diana! (Wonder Woman) •Jake, Estela… All of ES Crew •All of TCaTF crew especially Leon and Kenna and Dom. Ok better stop so I don’t write a novel…

Fav Flower: Orchids. Hands down. So many exotic colors and patterns.

Fav scents: Rain, the Sea, that crisp smell rolling down from a Mountain, Iris Flowers, Family Get-Togethers (all the cooking!) The smell of falling snow. Oh and Vanilla!

Fav color: Blue! Especially a royal blue, and Purple, dark purple most of all.

Fav animal: The Bald Eagle, Dolphins, Horses, cats, dogs (particularly Collies for some reason) and many more.

Fav Band: so many but a few are, •Two Steps From Hell •For King and Country •Within Temptation •BAP •The Piano Guys •Blackmore’s Night And more!

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: All of the above in a day.

Average Hours of sleep: 6-8 usually… unless its a work deadline then its 4 or less lol.

Number of blankets: 2-3… and depending on the season may cocoon or kick them off during the night.

Dream Trip: OMG! To many! Buuuuuut I’d love to go to Puerto Rico again. There’s this lagoon that… has La Huerta like bioluminescence waters and lights… its magical. And the rain forests, the animals, the ocean, the cities and the people! Yeah…

Last thing I Googled: Hogwarts Houses lol

How many blogs I follow: 90 and adding

How many followers: 83

What I usually post about: Reblogs and Anything relating to the Choices Fandom and the occasional Star Wars or Marvel thing.

Do I get asks regularly: No but love them when I do!

I’m Tagging: @hollyashton @pb-choices @lacksubstance-productions @tevandrammir @xo-endlessmayhem-xo @cheesepots @turtle-brownie @roseplayschoices @texanhusker @choochoochoosy @aleisterrrourke @aleister-rourke @stephschoices @misha726author @elizabethshark @raventear @shazrystyles @hopeschoices @zahranamazi @zahranamazis

Thanks again for sending this and pass it along folks!

[garden-ghoul]

return of the blog, part 11

“ghoul ‘can’t tell the difference between anxiety and hunger’ surname”

time for!! the chapter we’ve all been waiting for!! (all the ghouls anyway)

THE SCOURING OF THE SHIRE

There’s a large spiky gate blocking the ferry. Our hobbits hammer on it until some people come out, and then start telling them off for denying their friends entry on such a wet night. Apparently Lotho “The Chief” Sackville-Baggins has started hiring thugs to fuck with people?? I want to know if he was sponsored by Saruman or something, or if he genuinely just took owning Bag End as his big chance to be a huge dick. OH. One of the ruffians he has hired is none other than Bill “the Big Man” Ferny! I can’t remember, is Bill Ferny human? Is that why he’s Big, or is it more of an importance title? Anyway, this is interesting to see him as an ‘enforcer,’ since Butterbur straight-up called him a robber. Merry threatens to kill him; Bill the pony kicks him; he runs off and is Never Seen Again. How neat...

Even after our hobbits have gotten through the gate... nobody is allowed to put them up for the night. Pippin yawns showily; everyone nervously eyes his sword and mail. And they agree to take our hobbits in, just for one night. They have to provide their own food, and there’s a lot of this sort of thing:

‘Now you shut up, Hob Hayward!’ cried several of the others. ‘You know talk o’ that sort isn’t allowed. The Chief will hear of it, and we’ll all be in trouble.’

‘He wouldn’t hear naught, if some of you here weren’t sneaks,’ rejoined Hob hotly.

Despite the fact that the Brandywine is a good 40 miles from Bag End, the next day a bunch of “shirriffs” (distinct from sheriffs somehow? an actual spelling used somewhere in Britain? just for flavor?) block the road. While quaking in their boots they read off a list of incredibly petty-sounding crimes. Frodo laughs at them, and Sam gets this famous line:

‘I can add some more, if you like it,’ said Sam. ‘Calling your Chief Names, Wishing to punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools.’

Thinking someone is foolish cannot possibly be a crime, Mr Gamgee, those are the tamest crimes ever. Maybe that’s the joke. I love Sam. Throw an apple at ‘im! Everyone laughs even harder when the head Shirriff tries to arrest Frodo. Well, he happens to be going to Bag End anyway, on business! You lot can tag along, if you please! “Very well,” says the leader, “but don’t forget I’ve arrested you.” Frodo, I like to imagine, gives him a pitying look. But says he may forgive him someday. How generous!

Sam takes aside one of the shirriffs who he knows and has a little talk. Lotho has outlawed beer?? And that’s why there are no more inns. Sorry, what. How can you outlaw beer. How was there not mass rioting when he announced this. Sam’s shirriff friend would like some rioting, but he’s too afraid to try and start one himself. Lotho has been kidnapping people if they try to start anything. The next day our hobbits ride behind the shirriffs, so it looks like they’re the ones being arrested by fancy aristocrat hobbits! A bunch of people on the road make fun of the shirriffs, but Merry threatens them to make sure they can’t fight back. They ride so hard that the shirriffs get tired out and have to rest, leaving our hobbits to go on ahead. Meet you at the Green Dragon!

Unfortunately the Green Dragon is full of ruffians (humans!) The whole village of Bywater (which I assume is Hobbiton’s closest neighbor) is in a bad way: many homes have been burned down, and nobody is out. One of the ruffians in the Green Dragon mentions someone named Sharkey, which is extremely ominous. I’ve never heard an orc call Saruman that, but Orcsong Anon tells me they do, so I have to assume that Saruman is behind this. Somehow Frodo knows Saruman is Sharkey I guess? He’s a very clever person, I suppose. He tries to taunt the ruffians, but they don’t actually care if Saruman is a beggar in the wilderness. They can still threaten hobbits just fine without him.

Pippin has had enough bullshit.

He cast back his cloak, flashed out his sword, and the silver and sable of Gondor gleamed on him as he rode forward. ‘I am a messenger of the King,’ he said. ‘You are speaking to the King’s friend, and one of the most renowned in all the lands of the West. You are a ruffian and a fool. Down on your knees in the road and ask pardon, or I will set this troll’s bane in you!’

Oh yeah he killed one (1) troll at Morannon before getting squished. I mean, a troll is no mean feat. It just sounds like he’s misrepresenting himself a little bit to look tougher. Which I fully support. Merry and Sam step forward too, and Frodo just stands there with his arms folded, looking a bit like a mob boss. I DOUBLE approve. The ruffians flee, even though there are six of them and they are twice as tall as the hobbits. They don’t have swords!! They didn’t sign up for this. All the hobbits high five.

They called for help though. This may come to fighting, if they’re to rescue Lotho (probably a prisoner in Bag End by now), but Frodo wants no killing, especially not of hobbits. The young’uns are disgruntled, but who’s the mob boss here? That’s right. Don Baggins. With this, though, he leaves the younger hobbits to plan the night’s work: hiding is what the ruffians want them to do, so they have a short time to raise an army in the Shire. Let’s start with old Farmer Cotton! He’s stout and a big man in Bywater, as it were. Sam rides like hell for Cotton Farm. Merry blows the horn of Rohan, in the Buckland pattern that says Fire! Foes! Awake! Fuck yeah this rules.

Sam takes a moment to say hi to Rosie Cotton, who I really, I just love her, she’s a great person. She’s been expecting him since the spring, though everyone else thought he was dead, and she doesn’t need watching over when there are ruffians to roust! Personally I think she should help but she’d probably rather not get her hands dirty. I can respect that.

A small army of hobbits has gathered already, including a lot of defecting shirriffs; Pippin rides off to bring some Tooks, who already started armed resistance a while ago. He’ll have to Sneak. Twenty ruffians are surrounded and subdued, with only one casualty. We learn that Lotho mostly got rich by 1) already being rich enough to buy other people’s property and 2) selling tobacco at a premium to Saruman. He built a new mill that literally does nothing except produce sludge to pour into the river, because Saruman is a spiteful dumbass. Sam brings his gaffer back, who has a bone to pick with Mr Frodo: he never should of sold Bag End, because Sharkey’s men have gone and dug up all his taters. I would die for this gaffer.

More ruffians come, but the Tooks get there first. Also apparently the ruffians know zilch about strategy, whereas Merry has observed possibly up to five battle strategies. No omg maybe Eowyn was tutoring him. Anyway they pretty much defeat this party of ruffians too, but with a lot more casualties and injuries. Then our hobbits go to Bag End to find Lotho.

Ugh you guys this is the worst. They’ve cut down trees, old trees that probably grew for hundreds of years. Destroy something rebuildable, like houses! Or better yet, don’t destroy anything! Argh! LEAVE TREES ALONE. As they’re searching Bag End Saruman turns up. 

‘Sharkey!’ Frodo cried.

Saruman laughed. ‘So you have heard the name, have you? All my people used to call me that in Isengard, I believe. A sign of affection, possibly.’

Nobody has affection for you, you horrible fool. Saruman is extremely smug about ruining the home of the ones who took him down, because he’s petty, petty, petty. Frodo tells him to get out, and he kind of saunters sneeringly away. Grima tries to stab Frodo as he passes (in hopes of avoiding future beatings... ::( ) but Frodo says don’t kill him! He has been threatened and turned by Saruman, same as many here.

Saruman rose to his feet, and stared at Frodo. There was a strange look in his eyes of mingled wonder and respect and hatred. ‘You have grown, Halfling,’ he said. ‘Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and cruel. You have robbed my revenge of sweetness, and now I must go hence in bitterness, in debt to your mercy. I hate it and you!’

THIS is really good. Go sing “Javert’s Suicide” to yourself.  Who is this man hobbit? What sort of devil is he to have me caught in a trap and choose to let me go free? I loooove Frodo’s role as peacekeeper and voice of moderation. Trying to prevent the spread of Saruman’s ideals of violence in the Shire. Frodo offers to let Wormtongue stayy and rest, because “I know of no evil you have done to me” (it was only an attempted stabbing) and Wormtongue wants to accept but... Saruman tells everyone that he killed Lotho.

‘Didn’t you, Worm? Stabbed him in his sleep, I believe. Buried him, I hope; though Worm has been very hungry lately. No, Worm is not really nice. You had better leave him to me.’

A look of wild hatred came into Wormtongue’s red eyes. ‘You told me to; you made me do it,’ he hissed.

I love this kind of shittttt GET HIM GRIMA!!

Grima gets him, and then for some damned reason three people shoot him. Let him be, folks!! Ugh! Let him live! Too late for that. He is dead. Even Frodo, who offered him sanctuary ninety seconds ago, isn’t sad about it. Damn you!

THE GREY HAVENS

The first thing our hobbits do is let everyone out of prison. Lobelia, who was locked up for trying to hit some of the ruffians with her umbrella for mucking with Bag End, gets a cheer. She’s not used to being popular! She moves away and leaves Bag End to Frodo, and then after dying leaves him a large fund to help homeless hobbits. And So The Feud Was Ended. Really I think there are no more Sackville-Bagginses at all, but if there were it would still be ended. Frodo becomes Deputy Mayor. Merry and Pippin clean up the last of the ruffians. Sam is in charge of rebuilding. I’m not sure why--either he’s learning as he goes, or he has had a great deal of talent all along and never been listened to until he got famous. PROBABLY. He’s a good lad, our Sam!!

The trees were the worst loss and damage, for at Sharkey’s bidding they had been cut down recklessly far and wide over the Shire; and Sam grieved over this more than anything else. For one thing, this hurt would take long to heal, and only his great-grandchildren, he thought, would see the Shire as it ought to be.

And he shares my opinions about trees. Yavanna, are you watching? You better be watching. Sam uses Galadriel’s gift of magic soil, planting seedlings where the most beloved trees were destroyed. The Party Tree (where Bilbo used to host parties) is replaced by a mallorn seedling, which everyone is very excited about. That entire year is extremely fruitful, both in crops and in children. PROBABLY both owing to Sam’s magic dust, somehow. “No one was ill, and everyone was pleased. except those who had to mow the grass.” Hehehehe. OH. SAM IS ALSO DOING FORESTRY WORK. I LOVE HIM. FORESTRY IS MY NEW PASSION AND I LOVE SAM GAMGEE.

Frodo asks when Sam is going to move in. There’s been a hideous misunderstanding, Mr Frodo. I’m actually dating Rosie Cotton, not you. Frodo just says “Marry Rosie, and then move in here! Don’t be ridiculous!” And so Sam got married to both Rosie and Frodo. Merry and Pippin throw a lot of parties and swan about looking Lordly and everyone admires them. Sam is chagrined to note that Frodo receives no admiration, probably because his whole thing is not killing people. Frodo becomes more quiet and withdrawn; I fancy he knows he’ll be leaving Middle Earth soon, and is trying to prepare his husband for when he leaves.

Frodo and Sam set off together; Frodo is going to see Bilbo for his birthday (he’s now older than the Great Took). They’re going for Rivendell, but they’re hardly out of Bywater when they run into a party from that exact place! Including Elrond, Galadriel, and Bilbo himself. Bilbo invites Frodo to come with them where they’re going. Sam is devastated, but Frodo is just Too Traumatized to stay in the Shire. I didn’t mention all the times he got sick from magic wounds and also normal flavor trauma, but it was a couple times a year. He can’t really live in this world any longer, it just takes too much. Saaammmmmeee dude

Sam, Merry, and Pippin say goodbye to Frodo’s party (and Gandalf) at the Havens, and ride home in silence. In a great moment of narrative framing, the book ends with Sam putting his daughter on his lap and saying, “Well, I’m back.”

#tune in next time for appendices! #blog of the rings #I'm mad that mr tolkien made me feel a feeling #how dare you